bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Identification of a Novel Costimulatory Molecule-Related Signature to Predict Prognostic Risk and Immunotherapy Response in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Authors: Yu Qian , Zhang Hongjian , Wang Ruijuan , Deng Tianxurun , Feng Wei , Zhang Xin , Wan Cheng , Wang Qingyu , Wang Yuzhuo , Hu Jie , Liu Yun , Yu Yun
Published: January 2023

Background

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent malignancies with high mortality. Costimulatory molecule genes (CMGs) play significant roles in establishing anti-tumor immune response. This study is aimed to identify a costimulatory molecule-related gene signature (CMS) for the prospective assessment of the immunotherapy and prognosis in HCC.

Methods

Data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma (TCGA-LIHC) for bioinformatics analysis. Five costimulatory molecule genes were identified to construct a prognostic risk model according to LASSO and stepwise Cox regression analysis. Then, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that the prognostic signature could accurately evaluate the survival outcomes for HCC as an independent predictor factor. Based on the median risk score, patients were divided into the high- and low-risk groups which exhibited significant differences of clinical outcomes, gene set enrichment, immune cell infiltration and immunotherapy response. Drug sensitivity correlation analysis was conducted through CellMiner Database for targeted chemotherapeutic agents.

Results

Five prognosis-related CMGs, including CD40LG, TMIGD2, TNFRSF11A, TNFRSF11B and TNFRSF4, were selected to establish a novel signature which was then validated as an independent prognosis prediction in HCC patients. The five-gene signature could stratify patients into high- and low-risk group which had significant difference in several clinical characteristics, including gender, grade, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stages, T, N and M stages. Furthermore, the ROC curve and the calibration curve of a nomogram showed good predictive function for survival risk. According to functional enrichment analysis, CMGs were highly involved in immune-relevant responses and various metabolic processes, which might help explain the underlying molecular mechanisms and guide treatment for HCC patients. We also found that the signature had a positive correlation with the infiltration of immunocytes and tumor immune microenvironment, illustrating that CD4+ T cell and macrophages play important roles in HCC immune responses. Additionally, TMIGD2 was found to has good sensitivity to a variety of anti-tumor drugs, making it a potential target for HCC precise immunotherapy.

Conclusion

We established and validated a costimulatory molecule gene signature to reliably predict the prognosis, immunotherapy outcomes, and immune cell infiltration for hepatocellular carcinoma.
Time–Cost Optimization In Construction Management Using Multi-verse Optimizer
Authors: Pham Vu Hong Son , Dang Nghiep Trinh Nguyen
Published: January 2023

Since the start of critical path method development, time–cost trade-off problems have been intensively explored and have become one of the most essential parts of construction project planning and control. Reasonable use and operation of the works can increase the project’s cash flow as well as avoid unfavorable weather conditions. The time–cost relationship of a construction project is referred to as a trade-off, especially the less expensive the resources utilized, the longer it takes to finish a project. The Multi-verse Optimizer (MVO) is a new tool introduced in this work to handle the discrete-time–cost trade-off problem (DTCTP). Three benchmark test issues with 18 activities are employed to evaluate the performance of the MVO. The findings indicate that the MVO is highly effective in solving the small-scale DTCTPs against state-of-the-art methods.
An analysis of hand-offs in internal medicine using the I-PASS mnemonic.
Authors: Huber Aurélie , Moyano Belinda , Katherine Blondon
Published: January 2023

Background
Miscommunications account for up to 80% of preventable medical errors. Mnemonics structuring these communications, such as I-PASS (Illness severity, Patient summary, Actions list, Situation awareness, Synthesis), have demonstrated a positive impact on the error rates. Currently, physicians our hospital do not follow a particular structure during their hand-offs. We sought to explore the current hand-offs without prior training compared with a gold standard, and with the I-PASS tool in terms of content and sequence.
Methods
We followed a secondary analysis of data collected during a simulation study of a Friday evening hand-off to the night resident. Thirty physicians received a hand-off of 4 patients and were asked to manage two other patients through nursing pages during the start of the night shift, and then generated six sign-outs for a total of 177 sign-outs in this dataset. The gold standard (GS) was defined by a focus group, who reached a consensus on the essential content of each sign-out.
The analysis focused on their rate of pertinence and completeness and the exploration of the distribution of the 4 first I-PASS categories and their sequences.
Results
Relevance and completeness rates were 37.2%±0.07 and 51.9%±0.1, respectively, with no significant difference between residents and supervisors, and a positive correlation with total hand-off time (residents: R2=0.62 for relevance and 0.32 for completeness; supervisors: R2 =0,67 and 0.56, respectively).
The distribution of I-PAS(S) categories was highly skewed in both GS (I=2%, P=72%, A=17%, S=9%) and participants (I=6%, P=73%, A=14%, S=7%), with significant differences between them for categories A (p=0.046) and I (p≤0.001).
The sequences of I-PASS categories followed a general P-A-S-I pattern. The first S category was most frequently absent and only one participant began his hand-off by announcing the severity level of the case as suggested by the I-PASS tool.
Conclusion
Our results show that a significant number of features handed off were not considered relevant by the GS (pertinence), and that many features considered relevant were not mentioned (completeness), and inversely proportional to the duration of the hand-off. Moreover, current hand-offs differ from the I-PASS tool both in terms of content (frequent absence of categories S and I) and sequence (category I almost never at the beginning). These results highlight clear objectives for future training in medical communications.
Effect of melatonin on oxaliplatin induced neuropathy in patients receiving FOLFOX and XELOX chemotherapy regimens for stage II-IV colorectal cancer; A randomized, placebo controlled, double blind trial
Authors: Kheshti Raziyeh , Dehghani Mehdi , Namazi Soha , Firouzabadi Dena , Mahmoudi Laleh , Haem Elham
Published: January 2023

Purpose
Peripheral neuropathy is a major side effect of oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy. The aim of this placebo-controlled double-blind randomized study was to evaluate the effect of melatonin on prevention of oxaliplatin induced peripheral neuropathy (OXIPN) in patients receiving oxaliplatin for colorectal cancer.
Patients and Methods
Patients with stage II-IV colorectal cancer, who were to receive oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy, were enrolled according to the inclusion criteria and randomly assigned to take either melatonin (20 mg/day) or placebo, during chemotherapy and one month after.
Neuropathy was assessed by several patient- and physician-based reports, including the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events scale (NCI-CTCAE), European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy 20 (EORTC QLQ-CIPN20) scale, and oxaliplatin specific scale (OSS).
Results
From a total of 80 selected patients, 54 completed the study and were evaluated for the final analysis.
Grade 3 neuropathy measured by NCI-CTCAE and OSS in the melatonin arm was significantly lower than the placebo group. But according to EORTC QLQ-CIPN20scale, no statistically significant difference was observed between the groups. In addition, melatonin use did not improve patients' quality of life compared with placebo.
Conclusion
Reduction in grade 3 neuropathy based on NCI-CTCAE and OSS can be of great importance, as it is the higher-grade neuropathy that may lead to functional impairment. Given that to date no medication has been approved for prevention of OXIPN and considering the limited number of patients in the present study, conducting a larger clinical trial on the effect of melatonin may lead to beneficial results in this group of patients.
Trial registration
Study was registered (date: 2018-07-23) in the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT). Trial Registration Number: IRCT20170326033139N1. https://www.irct.ir/search/result?query=IRCT20170326033139N1
Water Microdroplets Form Urea from Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen
Authors: Song Xiaowei , Basheer Chanbasha , Abdulazeez Ismail , Mofidfar Mohammad , Suliman Mohammed A , ZARE RICHARD
Published: January 2023

The authors have requested that this preprint be removed from Research Square.
Vanishing of the El Niño-induced delay effect on the ice mass loss of West Antarctica in future climate change
Authors: Lee Hyun-Ju , Jin Emilia Kyung , Kim Byeong-Hoon , Lee Won Sang
Published: January 2023

The strong El Niño has delayed the ice mass loss of West Antarctica under global warming by inducing weakening of the Amundsen Sea Low (ASL) and consequent extreme snowfall. However, it is not yet clear whether the mechanism will continue in the future warmer climate. Analysis of future climate scenarios from the CMIP6 models shows that the El Niño-induced increases in snowfall over West Antarctica will disappear with intensifying global warming. In the high-emissions scenario (SSP5-8.5), precipitation anomaly owing to El Niño turns to negative from the 2050s, and from the 2060s in the SSP3-7.0, and consequently the El Niño-induced mass loss delay effect vanishes. This is because the stronger polar jet related with positive SAM trend would shift the ASL anomaly toward the east and the equator in the warmer climate, which would prevent water vapor transport into the interior of West Antarctica.
The same rate of parastomal hernia reparations in the different approaches to colostomy
Authors:   511521199710222718 Xiao, Shen Yu , Yang Xuyang , Zeng Hanjiang , Wei Mingtian , Meng Wenjian , Wang Ziqiang
Published: January 2023

Backgrounds

Parastomal hernias are common with permanent colostomies and result in complications. This study aimed to compare the rate of parastomal hernia reparations in the different approaches to colostomy after abdominoperineal resection for rectal cancer and to further investigate the risk factors for parastomal hernia formation in patients with permanent colostomies.

Methods

Consecutive rectal cancer patients who underwent abdominoperineal resection from June 2014 to July 2020 in West China Hospital were divided into the extraperitoneal group and transperitoneal group according to their surgical approach for permanent colostomies. The impact of different approaches to colostomy on parastomal hernia reparations was determined by comparing a group of patients receiving an extraperitoneal route to colostomy with a group receiving transperitoneal. Potential variables were evaluated first with univariate and then multivariate analyses to identify the risk factors for the formation of parastomal hernia.

Results

In total, 202 subjects in the transperitoneal group and 103 in the extraperitoneal group attended the follow-up visit with a median follow-up period of 33 (25th–75th percentiles, 17–46) months. Clinically and radiologically detectable parastomal hernias were present in 76 of 202 (37.6%) and 14 of 103 (13.6%) subjects in the transperitoneal and extraperitoneal groups during the follow-up period (p<0.01). Besides, 10 of 76 (13.1%) subjects in the transperitoneal group and 2 of 14 (14.3%) subjects in the extraperitoneal group underwent a parastomal hernia operation during the follow-up (p = 0.82). In addition, the transperitoneal approach of colostomy (p = 0.002), older age (p<0.001), and higher BMI (p = 0.013) were identified as independent risk factors for the occurrence of parastomal hernia.

Conclusions

Extraperitoneal colostomy decreased the rate of detectable parastomal hernias but didn’t reduce the rate of surgical reparation of parastomal hernias.
Reduced-order modeling for stochastic large-scale and time-dependent flow problems using deep spatial and temporal convolutional autoencoders
Authors: Abdedou Azzedine , Soulaïmani Azzeddine
Published: January 2023

A non-intrusive reduced-order model based on convolutional autoencoders is proposed as a data-driven tool to build an efficient nonlinear reduced-order model for stochastic spatiotemporal large-scale flow problems. The objective is to perform accurate and rapid uncertainty analyses of the flow outputs of interest for which the input parameters are deemed uncertain. The data are constituted from a set of high-fidelity snapshots, collected using an inhouse high-fidelity flow solver, which correspond to a sample of the uncertain input parameters. The method uses a 1D-convolutional autoencoder to reduce the spatial dimension of the unstructured meshes used by the flow solver. Another convolutional autoencoder is used for the time compression. The encoded latent vectors, generated from the two compression levels, are then mapped to the input parameters using a regression-based multilayer perceptron. The proposed model allows for rapid predictions for unseen parameter values, allowing the output statistical moments to be computed efficiently. The accuracy of the proposed approach is compared to that of the linear reduced-order technique based on an artificial neural network through two benchmark tests (the one-dimensional Burgers and Stoker’s solutions) and a hypothetical dam break flow problem, with an unstructured mesh and over a complex bathymetry river. The numerical results show that the proposed methods present strong predictive capabilities to accurately approximate the statistical moments of the outputs. In particular, the predicted statistical moments are oscillations-free, unlike those obtained with the traditional proper orthogonal decomposition method. The proposed reduction framework is simple to implement and can be applied to other parametric and timedependent problems governed by partial differential equations, which are commonly encountered in many engineering and science problems.
Multi-step solar UV index prediction using deep learning methods
Authors: Al-Musaylh Mohanad S , Ghimire Sujan , Al-Daffaie Kadhem , Ali Mumtaz , Deo Ravinesh C , Downs Nathan , Igoe Damien P. , Parisi Alfio V
Published: January 2023

The impact of ultraviolet (UV) radiation on public health is severe and can cause sunburn, skin aging and cancer, immunosuppression, and eye damage. Minimization of exposure to solar UV is required in order to reduce the risks of these illnesses to the public. Greater public awareness and a prediction of the ultraviolet index (UVI) is considered an essential task for the minimization of solar UV exposures. This research has designed artificial intelligence based deep learning models to predict multistep UVI index. It has developed a convolutional neural network integrated with long short-term memory network (CLSTM) as the main model to forecast UVI for Brisbane with latitude − 27.47 and longitude 153.02, the capital city of Queensland, Australia. Solar zenith angle (SZA) data were used together with UVI as inputs in the CLSTM for 10-min, 30-min and 60-min UVI prediction. The CLSTM model was benchmarked against long short-term memory network (LSTM), convolutional neural network (CNN), Deep Neural Network (DNN), multilayer perceptron (MLP), extreme learning machine (ELM), random forest regression (RFR), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGB), and Pro6UV Deterministic models. The experimental results showed that the CLSTM model outperformed these models withRMSE = 0.3817,MAE = 0.1887,RRMSE = 8.0086%,MAPE = 4.6172% andAPB = 3.9586 for 10-min prediction. In addition to that, these metrics for 30-min and 60-min prediction wereRMSE = 0.4866/0.5146,MAE = 0.2763/0.3038,RRMSE = 10.4860%/11.5840%,MAPE = 8.1037%/9.6558% andAPB = 5.9546/6.8386, respectively. Thus, the CLSTM model can yield improved UVI prediction for both the public and the government agencies.
Inequity in Mortality Rates and Potential Years of Life Lost caused by COVID-19 in the Greater Santiago, Chile
Authors: Ayala Andrés , Vargas Claudio , Elorrieta Felipe , Dintrans Pablo Villalobos , Maddaleno Matilde
Published: January 2023

Background
Several studies have shown that in Chile income inequality is relevant in explaining inequities in health outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic has also had a non-neutral impact, with higher mortality rates in municipalities with lower socioeconomic status.
Methods
We study inequity in mortality based on Potential Years of Life Lost (PYLL) in 34 urban municipalities of the Metropolitan Region (Greater Santiago) and analyze its evolution between 2018 and 2021 and by COVID-19 waves. In order to compare the results obtained for PYLL, we also computed the mortality rates adjusted by direct standardization. In addition, we used the concentration index to measure the health inequalities between municipalities.
Results
In the first year of the pandemic, the absolute PYLL and the crude mortality rate for all causes of death showed an increase of 13.6% and 19.8%, respectively. Moreover, 409,086 years of life were prematurely lost in 2020, one-fifth of them due to COVID-19. The concentration indices show signs of inequality in both mortality rates and PYLL, where it is more pronounced when calculating the latter measure.
Conclusions
Results show that the excess deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic affected the most economically disadvantaged municipalities, and even more so the young people in those places.
Evaluation of the efficacy of household insecticides against Aedes aegypti in Sri Lanka
Authors: Sānu M. Nowmaan S. , Fernando Sachini D. , De Silva B. G. D. Nissanka K.
Published: January 2023

Background: Mosquito coils and liquid vaporizers are commonly consumed as household insecticides against mosquitoes in Sri Lanka, but their efficacy have not been evaluated. The current study is the first step in evaluating three brands of mosquito coils and liquid vaporizers that are commercially available in the Sri Lankan market against the major dengue vector Aedes aegypti and to find the impact of mosquito knock-down resistance (kdr) on the efficacy of household insecticides.
Methods: WHO recommended “Peet-Grady” protocol was followed to evaluate both field and reference strains and the genomic mutation responsible for knock-down resistance (kdr) was examined.
Results: Mean knock-down percentage of field strain after 60 minutes of exposure for d-trans-allethrin (w/w 0.12%), dimefluthrin (w/w 0.01%) and metofluthrin (w/w 0.005%) mosquito coils and prallethrin (w/v 1.24%), prallethrin (w/v 1.26%) and transfluthrin (w/v 0.9%) liquid vaporizers ranged from 0 - 10%. A higher percentage of knock-down observation to field strain was recorded from dimefluthrin (w/w 0.01%) (5.5%) mosquito coil and transfluthrin (w/v 0.9%) (5.0%) liquid vaporizer. All three brands of mosquito coils and liquid vaporizers were able to kill less than 5% of field strain and more than 80% of reference strain. KT50 and KT95 values were calculated only for dimefluthrin (w/v 0.01%) mosquito coil and transfluthrin (w/v 0.9%) liquid vaporizer while the remaining tested products showed less than 5% knock-down. The mutant allele (Cys) frequency was 0.72 in mosquitoes that resist household insecticide exposure and 0.67 in susceptible and the mutant allele (Gly) frequency was 0.1 in survived mosquitoes and 0.29 in dead mosquitoes.
Conclusions: The present study provides experimental evidence on the development of pyrethroid resistance role in reducing the efficacy of commercial household insecticides as tested all product lost their efficacy against Sri Lankan Ae. aegypti mosquitoes.
Assessment of Arsenic levels in rice brands sold in Kampala. An experimental study to demonstrate the modifying effect of boiling, soaking and washing
Authors: Nfambi Joshua , Lugaajju Allan , Namaganda Agnes , Acen Ester L. , Kalyesubula Robert , Sembajwe Lawrence F.
Published: January 2023

Background: Arsenic is one of the major toxic metals in the environment that is also known to be carcinogenic with several other health side effects in human beings. It can cause both acute and chronic toxicity depending on the doses available or duration of exposure in the human body. The major sources of arsenic exposure to humans include; via contaminated water, food and inhalation of arsenic dust from polluted air from car-fumes or industrial wastes and mining/ smelting grounds. Due to the fact that high levels of arsenic have been reported in rice from major rice-growing countries in Asia and rice being a major stapple food in Uganda, some of which is imported, this study aimed at determining the concentration of total arsenic in various rice brands sold in Uganda.
Methods: Various rice brands weresampled from different supermarkets and grocery shops, taken to the laboratory and analyzed for arsenic using atomic absorption spectrometry. The arsenic concentration in the rice were determined following boiling or overnight soaking in plenty of water to see if these two approaches can help in significantly reducing the arsenic in the rice. The concentration of arsenic in the various brands of rice were compared using an unpaired t-test after setting a p-value of ≤0.05 as significant.
Results: The York taste rice brand had the lowest arsenic levels of 1.4±0.0002 ppm and Zhong Yi rice brand had the highest levels of 2.4±0.004 ppm. The tap water used to boil, soak and wash the rice brands had much higher arsenic levels of 3.5±0.000003 ppm, which caused increased retention of the heavy metal in the rice.
Conclusion: Rice brands sold in Kampala city seem to have higher than acceptable arsenic levels than what is recommended by WHO or American food and drug authority. The high levels of arsenic in tap water used in preparing the rice causes increased retention of the metal on boiling, soaking and washing. It is therefore, necessary to routinely monitor for arsenic levels in the rice on the market and domestic water sources so as to protect the general public from arsenic toxicity.
Quantity and quality of job creation in renewable energy and energy efficiency: A review of international evidence
Authors: Hanna Richard , Heptonstall Philip , Gross Robert
Published: January 2023

In this paper we present findings from a systematic review on job creation, quality, and skills, focusing on decarbonisation in the energy sector. We compare a range of gross job employment factors which indicate that overall, investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency can deliver more jobs than gas or coal power generation. In addition, we review a subset of recent studies which estimate the net employment effects of decarbonisation in the energy sector at a national scale, across various international contexts. These national studies largely agree that the most likely outcome over the next few decades is a modest net positive creation of jobs and moderate economic growth. In certain regions within these countries, jobs in fossil fuel industries may be lost faster than the pace at which low carbon energy sectors can offer new employment. There may be mismatches between regions where displaced workers live and where new opportunities become available, which may be a barrier to accepting alternative employment even if former workers have the requisite skills. In these cases national government transition plans are recommended, co-ordinated with local governments, to manage the impacts of displacement from carbon intensive sectors and respond to the need to build a new low carbon workforce including through skills development and training. We highlight a lack of metrics and data in the literature on job quality, skills, and the geographic distribution of employment impacts in decarbonising energy systems, and these should be priority areas for further research.
Commemorative Stamps as a Recognition Tool: A Cross-Sectional Analysis
Authors: Galliford Patricia , Chan Ho Fai , Torgler Benno
Published: January 2023

Commemorative stamps have a place in the cultural, economic, and geopolitical status of a nation; and the nature of what is printed on stamps is very much a reflection of the culture, regime, and values of a country. Whilst commemorative stamps can be a source of celebration for monuments, flora and fauna, and key points in a nation’s history; they are also a source of recognition, designed to publicly celebrate and showcase the contribution of key figures based on their performance in areas deemed significant to the nation’s culture and evolution. In this empirical study, we analyse commemorative stamp data in a cross-sectional setting to understand key determinants that shape their provision. The award literature has developed some propositions that so far have not been tested empirically. We find strong evidence that the political process strongly influences the use of postage stamps as a recognition tool. The political regime as well as governance matter. For example, controlling for regime, more corrupt countries are more likely to use stamps to recognize personalities. On the other hand, more democratic regimes are more frequently using stamps as a recognition tool. We also find that cultural factors and ideologies show substantial heterogeneity in their influence while factors such as fractionalization or income inequality do not seem to matter. Factors such as personal and impersonal pro-sociality or creativity seemed to reduce the need for stamps as a recognition tool, while other factors such as market orientation, individualism, or traditionalism encourage the use of stamps to recognize individuals. Overall, we find that some results are consistent with the theoretical propositions while others are not, requiring more empirical evidence around awards and a better understanding of how stamps differ from other recognitions.
Profiling of Aspergillus species’ metabolites in maize using different analytical approaches
Authors: Ngum Nji Queenta , Christianah Adetunji Modupeade , Mulunda Mwanza
Published: January 2023

Mycotoxin contamination of food has become a global food safety issue mainly as a result of climate change. Mycotoxin estimation is crucial for their management plan as it is difficult to manage what cannot be quantified. Choosing the right analytical technique in mycotoxin quantification is essential in acquiring accurate data as mycotoxins occur in minute concentrations. Good, feasible and sensitive techniques are therefore needed for mycotoxin detection at such minute concentrations. The aims of this work are to compare the efficiency of HPLC and LC-MS/MS techniques for mycotoxin detection as well as assess the diversity of Aspergillus mycotoxins in maize. One hundred and twenty-three maize samples were analyzed using the HPLC and the LC-MS/MS techniques. Both methods had acceptable LOD, LOQ as well as recovery rates. Secondary metabolites such as 3-Nitropropionic acid and sterigmatocystin which are of safety concerns were detected in South African maize among others. Aspergillus species could be producing other unfamiliar metabolites that are uncounted for that might be underestimated contributors of toxicity to humans and animals. The co-occurrence of multiple toxins in food matrices requires multi-analyte detection techniques, therefore both methods will be suitable for monitoring maize quality, as the HPLC is suitable for the detection of major mycotoxin while LC-MS/MS for minor metabolites.
Increased KCNN4 expression related to poor survival in lower grade glioma
Authors: Lehrer Steven
Published: January 2023

Background
Networks of glioma cells are linked to small groups of pacemaker cells in which levels of calcium ions pulse periodically, driving a signal through the network that causes tumor growth. Using inhibitors, one study blocked the activity of the Ca2+ activated potassium-channel protein KCa3.1 in in vitro models and mice, preventing proliferation of glioma cells and tumor expansion. Marked reduction of tumor cell viability occurred within the entire network, as well as reduced tumor growth in mice and extended animal survival.
Methods
KCa3.1 is encoded by the gene KCNN4 (Potassium Calcium-Activated Channel Subfamily N Member 4) on chromosome 19q13.31. We used the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to evaluate the effect of KCNN4 on human glioma survival in the TCGA Lower Grade Glioma (LGG) dataset.
Results
In humans KCNN4 is prognostic in glioma: high expression is unfavorable. In addition, KCNN4 copy number variations are prognostic. Increased masked copy number segments are unfavorable in lower grade glioma. KCNN4 is lost in gliomas with the 1p 19q codeletion, which may explain in part the comparatively favorable prognosis of 1p 19q codeletion tumors.
Conclusion
Our finding of increased KCNN4 expression related to poor survival in human lower grade glioma suggests that development of novel therapies, such as KCa3.1-inhibiting drugs, might be worthwhile.
Approaching and Re-stating the Question of Global Anxieties: Some Suggestions for Psychology and Therapy Studies
Authors:   Professor and Research Fellow, University of Guanajuato, Mexico., Mukhopadhyay Tirtha
Published: January 2023

Anxiety caused by the psychosocial reality of war, pandemic, natural disasters, or poverty, among other factors, may be studied from two kinds of methodological premises: first, the deep and unencumbered perception of anxiety as a metacognitive process indicating diminution in energy levels and normative expression or behaviors of individuals. The subject finds oneself in a situation that is out of sync with the environment, and experiences low emotive valence. Anxiety is cognitively visible as a state of depression that continues to intimidate and demoralize the person. It represents a dispirited state of the individual as it encounters a world of depleted resources, and as it constantly fears for its existence or survival. The collective cognitive fear that underlays human survival also creates preconditions for global anxiety. Global anxiety is a global category – an obscure, introspective moment in the lives of peoples within a territory or among migrant populations across frontiers. Secondly, it could indicate toward historically localized expressions and as such anxiety could be studied pluralistically – as its pre-conditions arise in times and locations. Yet on the whole, if we were to analyse the causal variants or consequences of anxieties on a quantitative scale, we could possibly determine how conditions conducive to emotional redressal could be procured or administered for well-being and the Human devolopment index. In either case, the need to identify, analyze and alleviate the pressures and tensions causing anxiousness, and to diminish or palliate physiological conditions that induce anxiety remain our conscious rudder for anxiety studies.
Mapping Caste Violence in the Domestic Front: Representation of the Caste Questions in Contemporary Malayalam Cinema
Authors:   Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli (NIT Trichy)., Karthika V. K.
Published: January 2023

Conservative modes of representation of the Dalit lives and the caste questions in Malayalam cinema used to adhere to the stereotypical portrayal of caste-based violence as a tool to evoke pity, fear or laughter. However, recent movies emphasise the revolt of the subaltern both in personal and public domains of discourse. This paper attempts to analyse two recent Malayalam films, Puzhu (the Worm) and Malayankunju (The Malaya Child) released in 2022 that blatantly deal with caste-based violence operational in the domestic sphere. The critique is based on two major questions: how do caste identity and caste-based violence function in the domestic interiors and in what ways do the dominant patriarchal discourses complicate the subjective positioning of women within and outside the household? The study identifies various elements that contribute to the construction of subjectivity of the Dalit and discusses the issues embedded in caste pride leading to catastrophe at the home-front through ostracisation and excision (either through murder or through mutilation) processes of those ones who do not conform to the dictated norms of casteists. Within the theoretical framework of structural and cultural violence, the paper analyses how caste-based violence and gender-based violence are types of structural violence, and discusses the legitimation of it sanctioned by various cultural elements.
The Artistic Narrative in Times of War: NENKA project of Ukrainian Visual Artists
Authors:   Department of Art and Enterprise, University of Guanajuato, Mexico, Gurieva Natalia , Espino Victor Manuel Reyes
Published: January 2023

Art is deeply linked and contributes to the fundamental axes of culture, that is, norms and standards of behavior, national traditions, principles of life and value systems. During periods of social crisis, art is one of the most vulnerable components, but at the same time a powerful catalyst for creative processes, as well as an expressive vehicle for a critical view of the current situation. Particularly in times of war, artistic expression is presented with a powerful life-giving potential and allows to accurately express the enormous emotional tension of people, whose lives have been disrupted by death, pain, and destruction. This is the case of Ukrainian artists who, through visual exploration, build a complex narrative that seeks to interpret and express the pain and hope of what happened in their native country and which, since 2014, has been experiencing the ravages of war.
The Phenomenon of Social Invisibility of Certain Ukrainian Citizens Categories during Crisis Periods
Authors:   Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University, Ukraine., Zhuravska Oksana , Rosinska Olena ,   Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University, Ukraine.
Published: January 2023

Social invisibility is a complicated psychological and social phenomenon reflected by particular strategies of the society’s attitude to individual groups, their marginalization or “invisibility”, which is especially noticeable in the periods of crises. Ukraine has experienced revolutions, a partial territorial occupation, a pandemic and a large-scale invasion since 2013. The crises of these years influenced society’s life, its readiness or unreadiness to tolerate particular social issues. The analysis of the tendency in covering the issues concerning the LGBT community in the Ukrainian online media of Ukrayinska Pravda (UP), Gazeta.ua (G), Obozrevatel.com (Ob) during 2010 – the first part of 2022 based on statistical and content-analysis of publications gives a chance to prove that. The research findings demonstrated that, in general, publication activities of the media do not demonstrate tendencies to increased amount of media content devoted to the problems of the LGBT community. The thematic range of publications is also relatively limited, its core is the issues of the Equality March organization and holding, social reaction to this event, world’s news and activity of local politicians. The serious analytical publications concerning the problems of the LGBT-community are at the periphery of the themes. Stories of the LGBT-community representatives, including media persons who demonstrate positive examples of social adaptation, an issue of gender-based tolerance in the society, etc., remain beyond the attention of the editorial staff, observation of human rights, issues of the queer culture. The reasons for such a situation can relate to the editorial staff’s policy and influence on formation of the narrative in the country concerning the rights of the LGBT-community representatives. The research of other top-rated media publications is also prospective not only with regard to quantity and themes, but also quality; in particular, compliance with journalist standards and ethical norms by the authors. That will allow reception of a more complete picture concerning the representativeness of the LGBT community’s problems in the country’s media environment and the specification of the indicators influencing their formation, as well as understanding mechanisms of social invisibility in media.
‘Healing the World with Comedy’: Anxiety and Sublimation in Bo Burnham’s Inside
Authors:   Vellore Institute of Technology-Vellore, Pereira Ann Christina , Tyagi Sarika ,   Vellore Institute of Technology-Vellore
Published: January 2023

Bo Burnham is a critically acclaimed American stand-up comedian and filmmaker. The usual themes in his works are the hypocrisy of artists, the commercialisation of art, and the role of social media in erasing the boundary between the public and the private. However, during the pandemic, he chose to focus on the theme of anxiety, a minor theme in his earlier works. Anxiety has been considered an integral part of modernity as discussed by Anthony Giddens and Zygmunt Bauman. In psychoanalysis, anxiety has been explained in a number of different ways. In current psychological discourse, anxiety is described as an unpleasant state of mind that can cause significant bodily and mental stress. The anxiety that Burnham experienced prior to the pandemic appears to have amplified during the pandemic. Two main types of anxiety are observable in the shows of Burnham—performance anxiety and existential anxiety. This paper seeks to understand Burnham’s show Inside (2021) using Anna Segal’s contribution to the concept of ‘sublimation’. We argue that in doing the show Inside, Burnham discovers a new way to acknowledge and channel his ‘depressive’ symptoms towards contemporary times, and he achieves sublimation in the process.
Memory, Trauma and Affect: The Implicated Subject in Anuk Arudpragasam’s A Passage North
Authors:   Dept. of Management, Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology Agartala, India, Majumder Atri , Khuraijam Gyanabati ,   Dept. of Management, Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology Agartala, India
Published: January 2023

In A Passage North, Anuk Arudpragasam invades the consciousness of the protagonist to reveal the subliminal enmeshed spaces of the personal and the political. The distance between the traumatic events of the Sri Lankan civil war and the alienated individual who has apparently remained aloof, is obliterated through the refracted memories that have embedded the subject in the matrix of his country’s political history. The individual memory thus coalesces into the fabric of collective memory as the narrative unfolds. The concatenation of the traumatic realities and the sequestered psyche, untethers the individual from its ensconced private sphere and situates it within the macrocosmic and pervasive sociopolitical structure. The transmutation of subjectivity is attuned to the affective sites of collective trauma. The dichotomy of proximity and distance elucidated by the apprehensive reflections of the survivor is symptomatic of the subterranean intensities that elude corporeal presence and agency. The memories of the individual become resonant with the affective (un)lived experiences of traumatic violence, that deconstruct the tension of presence/absence, and consequently reconfigure the preconceived notions of subjectivity. The theoretical framework of this paper would foreground Michael Rothberg’s conceptualization of the implicated subject, to limn the trajectory of identities who are indirectly implicated in traumatic legacies. This paper argues that the trauma of the genocidal war and its aftermath is transcribed into affective memories, that bear the potential to reconstitute identity by recognizing and transcending the state of implication.
From Tattered Past to Triumphant Present: Weaving Partitioned Lives by a Dalit Girl-child in Kalyani Thakur Charal’s Novella Andhar Bil O Kicchu Manush
Authors:   National Institute of Technology Mizoram, Sinha Atreyee , Shuchi
Published: January 2023

Inherited memory reflects the intensity of the impact of incidents, experienced by the ancestors on the descendants, and in the case of the partition of Bengal, these memories of memories are about both the violence-induced partition and its distressful reverberations as well as about the amiable and delightful past habitation in East Bengal. However, the awful commotion that the survivors confront steals all the researchers’ attention, pushing the amicable exhibition in the past land to the background. Again, the transportation of memory to the second generation of these refugees assists them to reconstruct as well as to dismantle the eulogized notion of the lost land and look to analyze the past incident in a more pragmatic way that consequently leads to a dichotomous intellection of the two generations, as can be found in the novella Andhar Bil O Kicchu Manush (Waterbody Named Andhar and Some People) by Bengali Dalit writer Kalyani Thakur Charal. The juvenescence dealing with the postmemory of past times by the progeny of the refugees, more specifically by a Dalit girl in this novella, paves the way for further study on the class, caste, and gendered space of Dalit women in partitioned Bengal from the perspective of a child. A deductive, analytical, and objective method has been used in this research to comprehend the factual local historiography of a particular community in a specific locality of the border region of West Bengal through a fiction based on the collective memory of the populace.
Crises and Community Construction in the Post-Epidemic Era: Posthumanist Survival in Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy
Authors:   English Department, Beihang University, Beijing, China., Li Lingfei
Published: January 2023

Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy centers around a global pandemic that almost wipes out all human beings. In such a post-catastrophic world, the survivors have to defeat fierce criminals who escaped from the Painball arena and construct a new community with nonhuman beings. This article puts forward a posthumanist interpretation of survival in three novels and redefines the position of humans in the world through the decline of anthropocentrism and the rise of nonhuman agents. The pandemic’s danger, as well as the severity of the environment, bring about insecurity and anxiety for human beings. Therefore, to confront the severe social crises and anxiety caused by the current global pandemic, Margaret Atwood provides us with a paradigm that human beings ought to abandon the conquest of nature, insert themselves into a larger framework of cross-species identification, and construct a new community that characterizes a harmonious, tranquil and respectful coexistence of multitudinous species. Our comprehension of Atwood’s opposition to anthropocentrism will be strengthened by an examination of survival from the perspective of posthumanism, which will also arouse widespread worries about ecological consciousness in this post-epidemic era.
An Investigation into Teacher Preparedness for Emergency Remote Teaching in the Context of Vietnam
Authors:   Ho Chi Minh City University of Banking, Vietnam., Duc Dao Nguyen Anh
Published: January 2023

This study examined the preparation English teachers in Vietnam had for Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, it investigated the levels of confidence teachers had about their pedagogical and technological knowledge. It also looked at their attitudinal readiness and the institutional support offered to them. Ninety-seven teachers of English in the southern areas of the country, which were severely hit by the fourth wave of the pandemic from May to September 2021, were invited to complete an online survey. The responses were analyzed descriptively, and item-level means were calculated to identify teachers’ greatest challenges and the instructional aspects they found most confident about during ERT. Cross tabulations were also employed to compare different groups of teachers’ readiness to teach online. The results showed that English teachers in the affected areas perceived themselves to be relatively prepared for the swift transition to online teaching and substantially positive about their pedagogical approach to lesson delivery in the virtual environment. Regarding technological know-how, they exploited various ready-made resources but were unknowledgeable about authoring software and uncertain of how to use technological tools effectively. They also reported receiving little support from their superiors and authorities.
Assimilation of the Anglo-Saxon System of Education in the Conflicted Ambazonia: Delinking from Colonial Language Ideologies
Authors:   The Cape Peninsula University of Technology., Foncha John Wankah , Abongdia Jane-Francis Afungmeyu
Published: January 2023

Education is a mind builder and should be taken as a matter of importance in any nation. Following this, the curriculum designer is responsible for building learners’ minds. Seen through this lens, this theoretical article intends to project the importance of community schools in conflict-stricken Ambazonia against the backdrop of the French curriculum. Education guidelines are addressed with reference to language planning, policy, and implementation. Additionally, the paper seeks to explain the current situation in Ambazonia and make arguments regarding the community schools’ guidelines that aspire for multilingualism, where indigenous languages are taken seriously in teaching and learning. Another point discussed is the transitional authority (Ambazonia Transitional Authority), which was put in place to deal with implementing education guidelines and administrative issues. The paper concludes with the argument that what we think must be transformed into what we do and be shown by what we have done.
Preparing Students for Post Covid-19 Transnational Study with Unassisted Repeated Reading and Extensive Reading Materials
Authors:   Binh Duong University, Thu Dau Mot City, Vietnam, Vân Ngô, T. T. , Baker John R. ,   Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Published: January 2023

As Covid-19 restrictions promise to loosen and international borders begin to open, transnational students are again preparing for language education abroad. However, due to students’ low reading rates (RRs), target institutions’ courses’ large reading demands pose potential challenges to students’ success. To address this, this study explored the potential of employing an unassisted repeated reading procedure (rate build-up, RBU) to increase prospective transnational students’ RRs. The study investigated the RBU procedure’s potential with this population by comparing the procedure’s effects on traditional degree-seeking learners’ RRs in a Taiwanese university setting and those of potential transnationals targeted for studies in a similar setting. Assessing each group’s pre and post-reading gains using inferential statistics, significant reading gains and large Cohen d effect sizes were found for both groups, indicating the generalizability of this procedure. It was further found that students with higher starting RRs demonstrated greater gains. Limitations and suggestions for further research are also addressed.