bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Altered Mitochondria Functionality Defines a Metastatic Cell State in Lung Cancer and Creates an Exploitable Vulnerability
Authors: Chuang Chen-Hua , Dorsch Madeleine , Dujardin Philip , Silas Sukrit , Ueffing Kristina , Hölken Johanna M. , Yang Dian , Winslow Monte M. , Grüner Barbara M.
Published: November 2020

Lung cancer is a prevalent and lethal cancer type that leads to more deaths than the next four major cancer types combined. Metastatic cancer spread is responsible for most cancer-related deaths but the cellular changes that enable cancer cells to leave the primary tumor and establish inoperable and lethal metastases remain poorly understood. To uncover genes that are specifically required to sustain metastasis survival or growth, we performed a genome-scale pooled lentiviral-shRNA library screen in cells that represent nonmetastatic and metastatic states of lung adenocarcinoma. Mitochondrial ribosome and mitochondria-associated genes were identified as top gene sets associated with metastasis-specific lethality. Metastasis-derived cell lines in vitro and metastases analyzed ex vivo from an autochthonous lung cancer mouse model had lower mitochondrial membrane potential and reduced mitochondrial functionality than nonmetastatic primary tumors. Electron microscopy of metastases uncovered irregular mitochondria with bridging and loss of normal membrane structure. Consistent with these findings, compounds that inhibit mitochondrial translation or replication had a greater effect on the growth of metastasis-derived cells. Finally, mice with established tumors developed fewer metastases upon treatment with phenformin in vivo. These results suggest that the metastatic cell state in lung adenocarcinoma is associated with a specifically altered mitochondrial functionality that can be therapeutically exploited.

Significance:

This study characterizes altered mitochondria functionality of the metastatic cell state in lung cancer and opens new avenues for metastasis-specific therapeutic targeting.
Axl and Mertk Receptors Cooperate to Promote Breast Cancer Progression by Combined Oncogenic Signaling and Evasion of Host Antitumor Immunity
Authors: Davra Viralkumar , Kumar Sushil , Geng Ke , Calianese David , Mehta Dhriti , Gadiyar Varsha , Kasikara Canan , Lahey Kevin C. , Chang Yun-juan , Wichroski Michael , Gao Chan , De Lorenzo Mariana S. , Kotenko Sergei V. , Bergsbaken Tessa , Mishra Pankaj K. , Gause William C. , Quigley Michael , Spires Thomas E. , Birge Raymond B.
Published: November 2020

Despite the promising clinical benefit of targeted and immune checkpoint blocking therapeutics, current strategies have limited success in breast cancer, indicating that additional inhibitory pathways are required to complement existing therapeutics. TAM receptors (Tyro-3, Axl, and Mertk) are often correlated with poor prognosis because of their capacities to sustain an immunosuppressive environment. Here, we ablate Axl on tumor cells using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, and by targeting Mertk in the tumor microenvironment (TME), we observed distinct functions of TAM as oncogenic kinases, as well as inhibitory immune receptors. Depletion of Axl suppressed cell intrinsic oncogenic properties, decreased tumor growth, reduced the incidence of lung metastasis and increased overall survival of mice when injected into mammary fat pad of syngeneic mice, and demonstrated synergy when combined with anti-PD-1 therapy. Blockade of Mertk function on macrophages decreased efferocytosis, altered the cytokine milieu, and resulted in suppressed macrophage gene expression patterns. Mertk-knockout mice or treatment with anti-Mertk–neutralizing mAb also altered the cellular immune profile, resulting in a more inflamed tumor environment with enhanced T-cell infiltration into tumors and T-cell–mediated cytotoxicity. The antitumor activity from Mertk inhibition was abrogated by depletion of cytotoxic CD8α T cells by using anti-CD8α mAb or by transplantation of tumor cells into B6.CB17-Prkdc SCID mice. Our data indicate that targeting Axl expressed on tumor cells and Mertk in the TME is predicted to have a combinatorial benefit to enhance current immunotherapies and that Axl and Mertk have distinct functional activities that impair host antitumor response.

Significance:

This study demonstrates how TAM receptors act both as oncogenic tyrosine kinases and as receptors that mediate immune evasion in cancer progression.
Concurrent Dexamethasone Limits the Clinical Benefit of Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Glioblastoma
Authors: Iorgulescu J. Bryan , Gokhale Prafulla C. , Speranza Maria C. , Eschle Benjamin K. , Poitras Michael J. , Wilkens Margaret K. , Soroko Kara M. , Chhoeu Chhayheng , Knott Aine , Gao Yan , Lim-Fat Mary Jane , Baker Gregory J. , Bonal Dennis M. , Nguyen Quang-Dé , Grant Gareth R. L. , Ligon Keith L. , Sorger Peter K. , Chiocca E. Antonio , Anderson Ana C. , Kirschmeier Paul T. , Sharpe Arlene H. , Freeman Gordon J. , Reardon David A.
Published: November 2020

Purpose:

Dexamethasone, a uniquely potent corticosteroid, is frequently administered to patients with brain tumors to decrease tumor-associated edema, but limited data exist describing how dexamethasone affects the immune system systemically and intratumorally in patients with glioblastoma (GBM), particularly in the context of immunotherapy.

Experimental Design:

We evaluated the dose-dependent effects of dexamethasone when administered with programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) blockade and/or radiotherapy in immunocompetent C57BL/6 mice with syngeneic GL261 and CT-2A GBM tumors. Clinically, the effect of dexamethasone on survival was evaluated in 181 patients with isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) wild-type GBM treated with PD-(L)1 blockade, with adjustment for relevant prognostic factors.

Results:

Despite the inherent responsiveness of GL261 to immune checkpoint blockade, concurrent dexamethasone administration with anti–PD-1 therapy reduced survival in a dose-dependent manner. Concurrent dexamethasone also abrogated survival following anti–PD-1 therapy with or without radiotherapy in immune-resistant CT-2A models. Dexamethasone decreased T-lymphocyte numbers by increasing apoptosis, in addition to decreasing lymphocyte functional capacity. Myeloid and natural killer cell populations were also generally reduced by dexamethasone. Thus, dexamethasone appears to negatively affect both adaptive and innate immune responses. As a clinical correlate, a retrospective analysis of 181 consecutive patients with IDH wild-type GBM treated with PD-(L)1 blockade revealed poorer survival among those on baseline dexamethasone. Upon multivariable adjustment with relevant prognostic factors, baseline dexamethasone administration was the strongest predictor of poor survival [reference, no dexamethasone; <2 mg HR, 2.16; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.30–3.68; P = 0.003 and ≥2 mg HR, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.23–3.16; P = 0.005].

Conclusions:

Our preclinical and clinical data indicate that concurrent dexamethasone therapy may be detrimental to immunotherapeutic approaches for patients with GBM.
LncRNA MAFG-AS1 Promotes the Progression of Bladder Cancer by Targeting the miR-143-3p/COX-2 Axis
Authors: Li Dengbao , Zhong Siwen , Zhu Zhiqiang , Jiang Xinan , Zhang Junhao , Gu Jiang , Chen Fangmin
Published: November 2020

Background: Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are potential biomarkers that are very important for the development of cancer. Studies show that lncRNAs are significantly correlated with the carcinogenesis and progression of bladder cancer (BLCA). In this research, we aimed at probing into the role of lncRNA MAFG-AS1 in the tumorigenesis of BLCA. Methods: RT-qPCR was employed to detect MAFG-AS1 expression in BLCA tissues and cells. MAFG-AS1 siRNA and overexpression plasmid were transfected into 5637 and T24 BLCA cell lines to inhibit or upregulate MAFG-AS1 expression, respectively, and then the regulatory functions of MAFG-AS1 on BLCA cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were assessed using cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, EdU method, and Transwell experiments, respectively. Dual-luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation were conducted to validate the targeting relationships between MAFG-AS1 and miR-143-3p, and miR-143-3p and COX-2. In addition, miR-143-3p was repressed in MAFG-AS1-silenced 5637 and T24 cell lines, and the function of MAFG-AS1/miR-143-3p axis in BLCA cells was further evaluated. The regulatory effects of MAFG-AS1 and miR-143-3p on the expression of COX-2 protein were detected by Western blot. Results: MAFG-AS1 was remarkably upregulated in BLCA patient tissues and cell lines, and its high expression was closely related to histological grade, tumor size, and lymph node metastasis. Silencing of MAFG-AS1 inhibited BLCA cell proliferation, metastasis, and invasion, while overexpression of MAFG-AS1 in BLCA cells had opposite biological effects. MAFG-AS1 was proved to target miR-143-3p to repress its expression. Moreover, it was confirmed that MAFG-AS1 and miR-143-3p could modulate COX-2 expression. Conclusion: The MAFG-AS1/miR-143-3p/COX-2 axis contributes to BLCA progression.
Discontinuation of Maintenance Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in Philadelphia Chromosome-Positive Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia outside of Transplant
Authors: Samra Bachar , Kantarjian Hagop M. , Sasaki Koji , Alotaibi Ahmad S. , Konopleva Marina , O’Brien Susan , Ferrajoli Alessandra , Garris Rebecca , Nunez Cesar A. , Kadia Tapan M. , Short Nicholas J. , Jabbour Elias
Published: November 2020

Background: The addition of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) to chemotherapy has dramatically improved outcomes of patients with Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). When allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is performed, maintenance TKI is generally given for a fixed duration. However, the optimal duration of TKI outside of HSCT remains unknown, and the common practice is to continue indefinitely. Here, we report characteristics and outcomes of 9 patients treated with chemotherapy + TKI without HSCT and later discontinued TKI. Methods: Among 188 patients with Ph-positive ALL who did not undergo HSCT, 9 of them discontinued maintenance TKI mainly due to side effects. Patients were closely monitored with serial PCR testing for the BCR-ABL1 transcript. Major molecular response (MMR) was defined as BCR-ABL1 transcript ≤0.1% on the international scale for p210 transcripts and a 3-log reduction from baseline for p190 transcripts. Deep molecular remission (DMR) was defined as the absence of quantifiable BCR-ABL1 transcripts with a sensitivity of 0.01%. Molecular relapse was defined as loss of MMR. Treatment-free remission (TFR) was defined from time of TKI discontinuation to molecular relapse, last follow-up, or death from any cause. Results: At the time of TKI discontinuation, transcript level was undetected in 6 patients, <0.01% in 2 patients, and 0.01% in another patient. Prior to discontinuation, the median duration of TKI therapy and of DMR was 70 and 47 months, respectively. No morphological relapse occurred. Three patients (33%) had molecular relapse at a median of 6 months. All 3 resumed TKI therapy, and 2 of them regained DMR after a median of 13 months. After a median follow-up of 49 months, the median TFR was not reached, and the 4-year TFR rate was 65%. The median duration of DMR in patients with and without molecular relapse was 22 and 58 months, respectively (p = 0.096). Conclusion: TKI discontinuation outside of HSCT in Ph-positive ALL in the setting of compelling toxicity may be safe only among a highly selected group of patients with deep and prolonged DMR undergoing close and frequent monitoring. Validation of these findings in prospective clinical trials is highly needed.
Current Treatment of Refractory/Relapsed Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: A Focus on Novel Drugs
Authors: Smolewski Piotr , Robak Tadeusz
Published: November 2020

Recently, the use of novel targeted drugs has changed the treatment paradigms in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Among the several drugs used for the management of relapsed/refractory (R/R) CLL, Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors (ibrutinib and acalabrutinib), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitors (idelalisib and duvelisib), B-cell lymphoma 2 inhibitor (venetoclax), and novel CD20 monoclonal antibodies have demonstrated the greatest improvements in survival among R/R CLL patients. However, patients with relapsed but asymptomatic CLL do not need immediate alternative treatment and should be observed until evident sign of progression. Among available approved treatments, venetoclax + rituximab for 24 months or ibrutinib as continuous therapy is recommended. Another, less recommended, option is idelalisib in combination with rituximab. The correct treatment selection depends on the type of prior therapy, response to previous treatment and side effects, presence of comorbidities, and the risk of drug toxicity. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and investigational therapies such as chimeric antigen receptor-T-cell therapy are promising treatment options for high-risk patients, including those progressing after 1 or more targeted therapies. The present review discusses current treatment strategies for patients with R/R CLL.
Dialysis Modality and Mortality in Heart Failure: A Retrospective Study of Incident Dialysis Patients
Authors: Molnar Amber O. , Bota Sarah E. , Garg Amit X. , Ouédraogo Alexandra , Dixon Stephanie N. , Naylor Kyla , Oliver Matthew , Sood Manish M.
Published: November 2020

Introduction: Prior studies reported lower mortality with hemodialysis (HD) compared to peritoneal dialysis (PD) in patients with heart failure (HF). We examined mortality rate by initial dialysis modality in incident dialysis patients with a history of HF using contemporary data and methods that ensure comparable HD and PD groups. Methods: Retrospective cohort study using administrative databases in Ontario, Canada. Adults (age 50–80) with a history of HF who initiated maintenance dialysis between April 1, 2007 and March 31, 2016 were included. We excluded patients typically ineligible for PD as an initial modality (dialysis start in hospital, dementia, long-term care facility residency). We determined the cause-specific hazard ratio (transplant as a competing event) between initial dialysis modality (HD vs. PD) and all-cause mortality using an intention-to-treat approach. Results: We included 2,199 patients with HF who initiated maintenance dialysis (77% HD and 23% PD). There were 1,152 (67.8%) and 340 (68.1%) mortality events over a median follow-up of 2.4 and 2.5 years in the HD and PD groups, respectively. Patients initiating HD versus PD was not associated with the mortality rate (adjusted hazard ratio 1.0, 95% CI 0.9–1.1). Similar results were seen in analyses censoring at modality switches and treating modality as time-varying. Conclusions: We found no difference in mortality by initial dialysis modality. Our data support the current practice of selecting dialysis modality based on patient preference for patients with pre-existing HF.
A Case of Recurrent Atypical Anti-Glomerular Basement Membrane Nephritis Suspicion after Renal Transplantation
Authors: Isobe Shinsuke , Tomosugi Toshihide , Futamura Kenta , Okada Manabu , Hiramitsu Takahisa , Tsujita Makoto , Narumi Shunji , Goto Norihiko , Takeda Asami , Watarai Yoshihiko
Published: November 2020

Atypical anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) nephritis is a rare variant of the classical anti-GBM antibody disease. Patients present with an undetectable anti-GBM antibody but show linear glomerular basement membrane staining for immunoglobulin. We present a 69-year-old man who underwent a living-donor kidney transplant. The aetiology of the renal failure was a focal segmental glomerulonephritis-like lesion resistant to immunosuppressive therapy. A renal graft biopsy revealed diffuse endocapillary hypercellularity, and mild mesangiolysis with linear GBM staining for IgG. The patient was diagnosed with atypical anti-GBM nephritis since the patient tested negative for circulating anti-GBM antibodies. Treatment involved intravenous methylprednisolone, plasma exchange, and rituximab administration. Protocol graft biopsy performed 1 year after the renal transplant showed a focal segmental glomerulonephritis-like lesion possibly progressing from endocapillary hypercellularity and mesangiolysis. These findings were similar to his native kidney biopsy findings. Although classical recurrent anti-GBM nephritis is rare when a renal transplant is performed after decreased disease activity, this case was considered as a case of recurrent atypical anti-GBM nephritis after renal transplant.
Rethinking “Economic Fundamentals” in an Era of Global Physical Shocks: Insights from the Philippines Experience with COVID-19*
Authors: Monsod Toby Melissa C. , Gochoco-Bautista Maria Socorro
Published: November 2020

Having “strong macroeconomic fundamentals,” as the Philippines supposedly did pre-COVID-19, matters much less (if at all), in and of itself, to economic outcomes in the context of a physical shock. Using a model for 21 countries including ASEAN+3, developing East Asia and South Asia, as well as Australia and New Zealand to explain the difference in actual 2019 and forecasted 2020 GDP growth, we find that, ceteris paribus, stronger national capacities to detect and respond to emerging outbreaks (in particular, laboratory capacity) are associated with better short term economic outcomes. For the Philippines, up to 3.6 percentage points in lost GDP growth forecasted in 2020 could have been saved. Our results suggest that a dearth in health system capacity should be prioritized over and above any other type of spending, including traditional stimulus (e.g., large-scale infrastructure) spending. Our results also underscore the need to rethink what is necessary for the stability and resilience of an economy—what are the “economic fundamentals”—in an era of global physical shocks, including those brought about by climate hazards. Given physical shocks, efficient and prepared government institutions matter. A macro economy is not resilient if these are not.
COVID-19 in Korea: Success Based on Past Failure*
Authors: Lim Byeongho , Kyoungseo Hong Emma , Mou Jinjin , Cheong Inkyo
Published: November 2020

This paper analyzes how the Republic of Korea (Korea) halted the massive transmission of COVID-19 in just two months. The quarantine was achieved successfully without any need for a national lockdown because, simply, Korean citizens actively followed quarantine guidelines. During the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak, the country recognized the importance of an early response in the form of a systematic approach and adopted the necessary procedures. Comparing the spread of COVID-19 among different countries, Korea demonstrated several distinct characteristics. First, the duration of the coronavirus crisis was relatively short, and Korea was able to flatten the coronavirus curve in a brief period. Second, Korea blocked expanded transmission of the virus without implementing a national lockdown. Third, the coronavirus pandemic did not lead to economic panic. Korea, which had developed an institutional response to infectious diseases prior to COVID-19, used a strategy of balancing quarantine measures with economic policies. The paper summarizes the specific measures Korea implemented to overcome COVID-19, and discusses the sustainability of the economy after overcoming the virus.
Financial Spillover in Emerging Asia: A Tale of  Three Crises
Authors: Azis Iwan J. , Virananda I. G. Sthitaprajna , Estiko Fauzi I.
Published: November 2020

By measuring time-varying financial spillovers of five asset classes, we analyze the propagation of shocks originating in the United States and Japan into countries of emerging Asia (EA). We compare the scale and nature of spillovers during the 2008–09 global financial crisis (GFC), the 2013 “taper tantrum” (TT), and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (C-19). Based on the direct and indirect spillovers, the intensity of the spillover effect was largest during C-19 due to its global and multidimensional nature, and the United States was a net transmitter of spillovers particularly in bonds and equity markets. TT was an important episode for EA as it marked the beginning of the region's financial volatility and increased spillovers especially in bonds market. The impulse responses reveal that most spillovers were transmitted rapidly, in a matter of days. In times of recession whereby financial stability is in danger of being affected by spillovers, a concrete financial cooperation remains absent in EA although formal institutions designed to deal with the contagion have been put in place.
Multilingual Denoising Pre-training for Neural Machine Translation
Authors: Liu Yinhan , Gu Jiatao , Goyal Naman , Li Xian , Edunov Sergey , Ghazvininejad Marjan , Lewis Mike , Zettlemoyer Luke
Published: November 2020

This paper demonstrates that multilingual denoising pre-training produces significant performance gains across a wide variety of machine translation (MT) tasks. We present mBART—a sequence-to-sequence denoising auto-encoder pre-trained on large-scale monolingual corpora in many languages using the BART objective (Lewis et al., 2019 ). mBART is the first method for pre-training a complete sequence-to-sequence model by denoising full texts in multiple languages, whereas previous approaches have focused only on the encoder, decoder, or reconstructing parts of the text. Pre-training a complete model allows it to be directly fine-tuned for supervised (both sentence-level and document-level) and unsupervised machine translation, with no task- specific modifications. We demonstrate that adding mBART initialization produces performance gains in all but the highest-resource settings, including up to 12 BLEU points for low resource MT and over 5 BLEU points for many document-level and unsupervised models. We also show that it enables transfer to language pairs with no bi-text or that were not in the pre-training corpus, and present extensive analysis of which factors contribute the most to effective pre-training. 1
Mahāyāna Sūtras in Khotan
Authors: Chen Ruixuan , Loukota Diego
Published: November 2020

The present paper continues a serial article dealing with the identifications of sources for Chapter 6 of the Book of Zambasta, a Mahāyāna Buddhist poem in Khotanese. The first installment of this serial article was published in 2018 by the same authors in this journal. In this installment, we report on new identifications made in the interim, and offer a detailed analysis of four additional identified quotations, underlining their significance in historical and cross-cultural perspective.
Scepticism and Self-Detachment
Authors: Perin Casey
Published: November 2020

This paper takes up two questions. Is there a sense in which the Sceptic as described by Sextus Empiricus is detached from himself? Does this self-detachment by itself make the Sceptic’s way of life undesirable? I sketch two conceptions of self-detachment, and then conclude that the Sceptic faces a dilemma: either he is more detached from himself than the non-Sceptic or he is vulnerable to a non-standard version of the apraxia objection.
The Threat of Aerial Bombing in World War Two Lagos, 1938–1943
Authors: Coates Oliver
Published: November 2020

The spectre of air bombing attacks on West African cities during World War Two remains an unexplored dimension of World War Two history. Lagos had long been perceived as vulnerable to attack from neighbouring Dahomey (Benin), and the Fall of France in June 1940 intensified these threats, while increasing anxiety concerning potential Axis raids. Focusing on air-raid planning in Lagos particularly, this article will argue that the possibility of aerial bombing exposed not simply the incapacity of the colonial government and officials’ limited understanding of housing and employment in 1940s Lagos, but also the inadequacy of measures to protect African lives. Conversely, the air-raid threat motivated Africans to critique limited government provision and propose their own interpretations of this new and deadly threat. Although the feared aerial raids never materialised, the crisis and anxiety they provoked yield significant insights into wartime Nigeria, local participation in civil defence, and African responses to World War Two more generally.
The Censor’s Stele: Religion, Salt-Production and Labour in the Temple of the God of the Salt Lake in Southern Shanxi Province
Authors: Janousch Andreas
Published: November 2020

This case study analyses religious and technological changes that occurred during the last seventy years of the Ming dynasty (1574-1644) around the Hedong Salt Lake, situated south of Yuncheng City in southern Shanxi province. Based on a close reading of inscriptions found on stone steles at the Temple of the God of the Salt Lake and of different kinds of gazetteers, the article documents the processes and analyses the factors that shaped the expanding pantheon of local salt-production-related deities during this period. I argue that these religious changes need to be understood in the context of a wider sociotechnical system around the Salt Lake, especially the emergence of new salt production methods that were introduced at this time under the increasingly affirmative leadership of local salt merchants, as well as the changing conditions of local labour management. The larger methodological point the article makes is about the necessity to take stone steles themselves in their spatial and material dimensions as evidence of historical processes: this will allow us to see that by means of these steles and their inscriptions the temple became an architectural discursive space that facilitated new forms of social participation and of administrative intervention, while offering simultaneously a nexus between the sphere of human intervention and the relevant ‘natural’ factors of the salt production at the Salt Lake. Accordingly, the article proposes novel ways to understand the role of religious institutions such as temples in their relation to ‘natural’ and ‘technological’ processes.
Typography for a Modern World? The Ways of Chinese Movable Types
Authors: Bussotti Michela , Qi Han
Published: November 2020

This article presents a brief history and poses questions about traditional Chinese movable type printing. This is a technology that developed in the pre-modern period and never underwent in the mechanization in the ways that Western movable type printing did. Nevertheless, even today, Chinese traditional movable types continue to be used in some places in China. The authors not only describe the chronology of but also analyse significant cultural, political, and social factors affecting the development traditional Chinese typography.

The first part of this article discusses the movable type made of earthenware and of wood, which are described in various sources written by scholar-officials. In the case of movable type for the Tangut script, however, the main evidence come from chiefly religious imprints which provide information about material evidence as well as a few about printers, typesetters, etc. The second section describes the long hiatus from the Yuan until the second half of the fifteenth century in the utilization of metallic typography in the private circles in Wuxi in Jiangnan, whose publications still survive, and how during the last dynasty, the movable type production reflects some trends in book publishing in general, with the important engagement of some of the Manchu emperors. In the last section of the paper, the authors explain why although wooden types existed in the Kingdom of Xixia (1032-1227) and in the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), it was only in the Ming (1368-1644) to Qing (1644-1911) periods that their use became more widespread in China. Wooden movable type played a key role in the printing of genealogies in various areas (e.g. Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan, and Fujian). That all also indicates that wood is the “material medium” of traditional Chinese printing, never mind if employed in blocks or types.
The Qing Imperial Academy of Medicine: Its Institutions and the Physicians Shaped by Them
Authors: Chang Che-chia
Published: November 2020

This paper is intended to explain the changes in the activities of the Imperial Academy of Medicine during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). By tracing its precedents and comparing their functions, I will explain its role during the Qing dynasty. Furthermore, the seemingly hidebound institutional codes in fact reveal interesting information about the dynamics of the Academy. Through examining the impacts of the regulations on personnel and their careers, we are able to explain the very different requirements of the Qing rulers for their medical service. Up until the Ming period (1368-1644) there was an institutional boundary between medical services for the palace and those for the state, even though they shared the same personnel. The Qing was the first dynasty in which even this unclear line disappeared. In this sense, the Qing Academy did not simply copy the tradition of its predecessors. Instead, the services for the emperor’s individual needs became more and more central to its mission. Thus, the common people’s rather critical perceptions of the bureau were largely true.

In spite of its increased emphasis on serving the imperial household, the Qing Academy retained its connections with the government. As an alien regime, the Manchu court’s concern for the security of its rulers was much higher than during the previous dynasty. To meet the needs of the new regime, the device of the Qing Academy emphasized fostering elites rather than selecting them. Now the Academy not only provided medical education to the junior members as in earlier periods, but also shaped them in behavior. This affected both the organization of the Imperial Medical Academy, and the strategies of the physicians employed in it.
Blurring the Boundaries: Integrating Techniques of Land Surveying on the Qing’s Mongolian Frontier
Authors: Cams Mario
Published: November 2020

This article focuses on the role of spatial dynamics in effectuating the integration of two different sets of land surveying techniques. During the later stages of the Qing-Zunghar wars of the 1690s, the Kangxi emperor (r. 1661-1722) repeatedly asked French Jesuit missionaries, who had been sent to China in 1685 under the patronage of the French King Louis XIV, to join his imperial campaigns targeting the Khalkha-Mongolian borderlands. In the shadow of these imperial journeys, missionaries systematically determined latitudes with Paris-made instruments while Qing officials measured road distances all along the way with graduated ropes. A next step in the evolution of imperial cartographic practice came after the Qing- Zunghar wars had come to an end, when an all-out effort was launched by the emperor to integrate the newly conquered Khalkha Mongols and their lands into the Qing polity. As part of the effort, missionaries were asked to produce a map of the new frontier by integrating European and East Asian practices, which led to the discovery of a technical incompatibility. In 1702, the problem was solved by the precise measurement of the terrestrial degree and, immediately after, the restandardization of the Qing’s most basic unit of length, the chi 尺. Thus, I argue that the turn of the eighteenth century saw the crystallization of a new or hybrid Qing cartographic practice, driven by the need to explore the new Khalkha frontier. More concretely, I show how selected techniques as developed by the French Academy of Sciences were gradually absorbed into a pre-existing framework of Qing land surveying, a process that was shaped and facilitated by exchanges in via throughout the vast Mongolian frontier.
Consider the Qing Locust
Authors: Bello David A.
Published: November 2020

This article examines a 1761 locust eradication operation involving both Mongol and Han personnel, within a larger context of issues related to mutually conditioning relations between people, plants and animals. Such locusts outbreaks, as products of complex environmental relations still not fully understood, could provide unexpected opportunities for intense trans-Great Wall cooperation and bonding among groups often rhetorically and analytically separated by idioms of steppe and sown. Environmental interdependencies that emerge from these incidents may form the analytical basis for empire as a ‘multi-environmental,’ rather than as an anthropocentric multi-ethnic, construct in which ecological factors play a constructive role that is often inadvertent or unacknowledged.
Omen Watching, Mantic Observation, Aeromancy, and Learning to ‘See’: The Rise and Messy Multiplicity of Zhanhou 占候 in Late Han and Medieval China
Authors: Kory Stephan N.
Published: November 2020

This article investigates the early history of a Chinese mantic practice unattested before the late first century CE known as zhanhou 占候 (lit., omen watching; divination through observation; divination of atmospheric or meteorological conditions). While early occurrences of the term primarily present it as a learned form of divination used to forecast human fortune through the interpretation of anomalous emanations of qi 氣 in heaven-and-earth (e.g., wind; clouds; rain; rainbows), zhanhou is also variously classified as an astrological, Five Agents, or military technique; and variously identified as a hemerological, medical, and contemplative-visualization practice by the end of the Tang. I not only contend that zhanhou’s inherent polysemy and its multiple identities helped broaden and perpetuate its transmission during the first millennium of the Common Era, but also that the same messy multiplicity makes its early history and development difficult—but not impossible—to trace and understand. Zhanhou closely resembles many earlier named forms of astrology and divination focused on the observation and interpretation of macrocosmic qi conditions or phenomena, but late Han and early medieval writers carved out a space for zhanhou. This was done through increasingly frequent use of the term, by explicitly distinguishing it from similar families of techniques (e.g., astrology; turtle and yarrow divination; yinyang; algorithmic mantic techniques), and by identifying and constructing networks and lineages of practitioners, both of which helped form and perpetuate zhanhou’s identity as a discrete technique (shu 術). The present study compares different definitions and translations of zhanhou, analyzes a handful of late Han occurrences, and illustrates the term’s increasingly widespread medieval circulation, chiefly through biographic narratives and technical texts.
A checklist of marine sponges (Porifera) of peninsula India
Authors: GEORGE ANITA M. , VAN SOEST ROB W.M. , SLUKA ROBERT D. , LAZARUS S.
Published: November 2020

An inventory of sponges from the shallow subtidal reefs of the west and east coasts of southern India is presented. The specimens offered in this paper were based on in-situ collections unlike the previous records of dry and net-entangled collections. A total of 101 species belonging to 12 orders, 22 families, 5 subfamilies and 44 genera from 4 subclasses of Class Demospongiae and one species from Class Calcarea are recorded. We recorded 18 new records to India, six new species combinations, 37 potential new records, and 40 species for the first time from the southwest coast.
Species of the Maera-clade collected from Japan. Part 4: addenda to genera Maera Leach, 1814 and Quadrimaera Krapp-Schickel & Ruffo, 2000, with revised keys to Japanese species of the clade (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Maeridae)
Authors: ARIYAMA HIROYUKI , KODAMA MASAFUMI , TOMIKAWA KO
Published: November 2020

Two new species of Maera Leach, 1814 and Quadrimaera Krapp-Schickel & Ruffo, 2000 included in the Maera-clade are described from Japan. Maera denticoxa sp. nov. was collected from Iwate and Hokkaido Prefectures and can be distinguished from its congeners by the small notches on the posteroventral margins of coxae 1–6. Quadrimaera angulata sp. nov. from north of Tanegashima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture is characterized by the distal tooth on the mandibular palp article 1, the rounded palm of the female gnathopod 2, and the angular posterodistal margin of the pereopod 7 basis. Keys to Japanese species of the Maera-clade are provided. In total, seventeen species included in the clade occur in Japan.
Revision of Chaetacanthus Seidler, 1922 (Annelida, Phyllodocida, Polynoidae)
Authors: SALAZAR-SILVA PATRICIA , LÓPEZ-SÁNCHEZ DANIEL A. , SALAZAR-VALLEJO SERGIO I.
Published: November 2020

The polynoid genus Chaetacanthus Seidler, 1922 currently includes three nominal species provided with parapodial branchiae. Members of this taxon have palps with longitudinal rows of papillae, notochaetae abundant and neurochaetae spinulose. Most Chaetacanthus species were originally described as belonging to Lepidonotus Leach, 1816, and some of them were later regarded as subjective synonyms of Iphione magnifica Grube, 1876, the type species for Chaetacanthus. This species was described from the Caribbean Sea and later recorded for the tropical Eastern Pacific. After the supposed Amphi-American distribution, a revision of all available material was performed in order to clarify the generic delineation, and to improve the understanding of species systematics. Further, some non-type specimens collected in Panama allowed us to have a better understanding of the variation of elytral shape and ornamentation along the body. The type material of Polynoe brasiliensis de Quatrefages, 1866 was examined and despite its poor condition, it shows parapodial branchial filaments which were overlooked in the original description; these branchiae are also present in the holotype of I. magnifica. We identify that there are no relevant difference between both species, and they are regarded as synonyms, and Chaetacanthus brasiliensis (de Quatrefages, 1866) is newly combined and is the senior synonym. On the other hand, Chaetacanthus pilosus (Treadwell, 1937), from the Eastern Pacific, and C. pomareae (Kinberg, 1856) from the South Central Pacific are redescribed, and C. harrisae n. sp., and C. ornatus n. sp. are both newly described from the Eastern Pacific. A key to identify all species of Chaetacanthus of the World, together with an appendix for the reversal of precedence of Lepidonotus Leach, 1816 over Eumolpe Oken, 1807 are also included.
A new species of Sphaerotheca Günther, 1859 (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from the degraded urban ecosystems of Bengaluru, Deccan Plateau, India
Authors: DEEPAK P. , DINESH K.P. , OHLER ANNEMARIE , SHANKER KARTIK , CHANNAKESHAVAMURTHY B.H. , ASHADEVI J.S.
Published: November 2020

The dicroglossid genus Sphaerotheca was erected by Günther in 1859, with its range of distribution in South Asia. Since then, 13 species have been described and 10 species are considered valid. Many of these descriptions were from low to mid-elevation ranges of homestead areas, agroecosystems and degraded landscapes with a few from forested areas. In the present account, a new species of Sphaerotheca, a genetically distinct lineage with a morphological character set distinguishable from its congeners, is described from the surroundings of Bengaluru city, India. Based on evidence for the origin of the original specimen, we also designated a neotype for Rana variegata Gravenhorst, 1829, a junior primary homonym of Rana variegata Linnaeus, 1758, and permanently invalid name, so that it is now a subjective synonym of Rana (Tomopterna) breviceps rolandae Dubois, 1983.
Outlook for Exploiting Artificial Intelligence in the Earth and Environmental Sciences
Authors: Boukabara Sid-Ahmed , Krasnopolsky Vladimir , Penny Stephen G. , Stewart Jebb Q. , McGovern Amy , Hall David , Ten Hoeve John E. , Hickey Jason , Allen Huang Hung-Lung , Williams John K. , Ide Kayo , Tissot Philippe , Haupt Sue Ellen , Casey Kenneth S. , Oza Nikunj , Geer Alan J. , Maddy Eric S. , Hoffman Ross N.
Published: November 2020

Promising new opportunities to apply artificial intelligence (AI) to the Earth and environmental sciences are identified, informed by an overview of current efforts in the community. Community input was collected at the first National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) workshop on “Leveraging AI in the Exploitation of Satellite Earth Observations and Numerical Weather Prediction” held in April 2019. This workshop brought together over 400 scientists, program managers, and leaders from the public, academic, and private sectors in order to enable experts involved in the development and adaptation of AI tools and applications to meet and exchange experiences with NOAA experts. Paths are described to actualize the potential of AI to better exploit the massive volumes of environmental data from satellite and in situ sources that are critical for numerical weather prediction (NWP) and other Earth and environmental science applications. The main lessons communicated from community input via active workshop discussions and polling are reported. Finally, recommendations are presented for both scientists and decision-makers to address some of the challenges facing the adoption of AI across all Earth science.
Seasonality and Trends of Drivers of Mesoscale Convective Systems in Southern West Africa
Authors: Klein Cornelia , Nkrumah Francis , Taylor Christopher M. , Adefisan Elijah A.
Published: November 2020

Mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) are the major source of extreme rainfall over land in the tropics and are expected to intensify with global warming. In the Sahel, changes in surface temperature gradients and associated changes in wind shear have been found to be important for MCS intensification in recent decades. Here we extend that analysis to southern West Africa (SWA) by combining 34 years of cloud-top temperatures with rainfall and reanalysis data. We identify clear trends in intense MCSs since 1983 and their associated atmospheric drivers. We also find a marked annual cycle in the drivers, linked to changes in the convective regime during the progression of the West African monsoon. Before the peak of the first rainy season, we identify a shear regime where increased temperature gradients play a crucial role for MCS intensity trends. From June onward, SWA moves into a less unstable, moist regime during which MCS trends are mainly linked to frequency increase and may be more influenced by total column water vapor. However, during both seasons we find that MCSs with the most intense convection occur in an environment with stronger wind shear, increased low-level humidity, and drier midlevels. Comparing the sensitivity of MCS intensity and peak rainfall to low-level moisture and wind shear conditions preceding events, we find a dominant role for wind shear. We conclude that MCS trends are directly linked to a strengthening of two distinct convective regimes that cause the seasonal change of SWA MCS characteristics. However, the convective environment that ultimately produces the most intense MCSs remains the same.
Stochastorm: A Stochastic Rainfall Simulator for Convective Storms
Authors: Wilcox Catherine , Aly Claire , Vischel Théo , Panthou Gérémy , Blanchet Juliette , Quantin Guillaume , Lebel Thierry
Published: November 2020

Stochastic rainfall generators aim to reproduce the main statistical features of rainfall at small spatial and temporal scales. The simulated synthetic rainfall series are recognized as suitable for use with impact analysis in water, agricultural, and ecological management. Convection-driven precipitation, dominant in certain regions of the world such as the intertropical belt regions, presents properties that require specific consideration when modeling: (i) strong rainfall intermittency, (ii) high variability of intensities within storms, (iii) strong spatiotemporal correlation of intensities, and (iv) marked seasonality of storm properties. In this article, improvements for an existing stochastic generator of rainfall fields that models convective storms are presented. Notable novelties include (i) the ability to model precipitation event timing, (ii) an improved temporal disaggregation scheme representing the rainfall distribution at subevent scales, and (iii) using covariates to reflect seasonal changes in precipitation occurrence and marginal distribution parameters. Extreme values are explicitly considered in the distribution of storm event intensities. The simulator is calibrated and validated using 28 years of 5-min precipitation data from the 30-rain-gauge AMMA-CATCH network in the Sahelian region of southwest Niger. Both large propagative systems and smaller local convective precipitation are generated. Results show that simulator improvements coherently represent the local climatology. The simulator can generate scenarios for impact studies with accurate representation of convective precipitation characteristics.
The effect of hybridization on microstructure and thermo-mechanical properties of composites reinforced with different weaves of glass and carbon fabrics
Authors: Khan Tayyab , Fikri Arwa , Irfan Muhammad Shafiq , Gunister Ebru , Umer Rehan
Published: November 2020

In this research, an experimental investigation of the microstructural, viscoelastic, and flexural properties of glass/carbon hybrid Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites consisting of two different types of weaves (plain and twill) was carried out. The hybrid composites were manufactured by using the VARTM technique. The scanning electron micrographs showed that the hybridization resulted in a significant improvement in fiber-matrix adhesion of the hybrid composites compared to the pure glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites based on plain weave glass fabrics, whereas the best fiber-matrix adhesion was observed in carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites. The synergistic effect due to hybridization lead to substantial improvements in the dynamic mechanical and flexural response of the manufactured composites. The hybrid composites exhibited a 149% increase in flexural strength, and a 144% increase in the flexural modulus compared to the GFRP composites, and an increase of 109% in the average value of the storage modulus at three different frequencies (1 Hz, 5 Hz and 10 Hz) compared to the GFRP composites. Whereas, the highest values were observed for pure CFRP composites for both flexural strength and modulus. A positive hybridization effect was also confirmed by the higher experimental values compared to the estimated results calculated by using the Rule of hybrid mixtures (RoHM). Due to higher fiber volume content, the GFRP exhibited the highest thermal stability compared to other specimens.
Improvements of mechanical and tribological properties of carbon fiber reinforced composites via chemically grafting MA onto MnO2 nanosheets as interphase
Authors: Fei Jie , Liu Tian , Luo Lan , Zhou Man , Zhao Bei , Huang Jian Feng
Published: November 2020

To intensify the interfacial properties between carbon fiber (CF) and resin without sacrificing fiber, a new type of carbon fiber reinforced resin composite was designed and fabricated with MnO2 nanosheets and melamine (MA) as interphase. The MnO2 nanosheets were uniformly grown on the carbon fiber via hydrothermal method. And then MA was grafted on the MnO2 nanosheets to from chemical bond with resin by a simple bath shock method. The experiment results show that the flexural and tensile strength of the composite reinforced by CF-MnO2-MA increased by 24.1% and 14.5% compared to that of CF, respectively. And the wear rate is reduced by about 29.6%. In summary, the improvement of mechanical and frictional properties of the composite is related to the synergetic reinforcement in mechanical interlocking and chemical bonding of MnO2 nanosheets and MA.