bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Microplastics characteristics of lorjuk Solen sp. in east coastal waters of Surabaya
Authors: Pertiwi A P , Saptarini D
Published: October 2022

Microplastics (MPs) are plastic particles with sizes between <1 m to 5 mm. Microplastics are known to contaminate the environment and marine organisms. One type of marine organism that is often found on the east coast of the city of Surabaya is Lorjuk, namely bamboo shells or razor clams. Lorjuk is seafood and is known as a typical food of the city of Surabaya. This study aims to determine the potential for microplastic pollution in Lorjuk (Solen sp.) from 3 locations on the east coast of the city of Surabaya. Lorjuk observed were adult Lorjuk with a size of 5-6 cm. With the nature of Lorjuk as an infauna and filter feeder, microplastic observations were also carried out on sediment and water. The number, shape, color, size, and polymer type of microplastics were observed using an optical microscope and FTIR spectrophotometer. MPs were found in all samples of Lorjuk in the three locations, with an average number of 6-7 MPs/ind. The physical characteristics of microplastics indicate that fiber is the dominant form of microplastic (>90%) with the majority being blue. The MPs found in Lorjuk have an average size of 20-40 µm with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) polymer. The results of the Pearson correlation test showed that there was an effect of the relationship between the number of microplastics found in Lorjuk and microplastics in the environment around where Lorjuk lived (water column and sediment).
Water Modelling of Karang Mumus River Using QUAL2Kw Application
Authors: Betti S H , Nurhayati E
Published: October 2022

Karang Mumus River is one of the tributaries of Mahakam River in Samarinda. The utilization of this river is mostly for domestic activity and other activities by residents near the riverbank. Based on the regulation of local environmental bureau of Samarinda City, this river is not in accordance with the quality standards since some water quality parameters have reached above the threshold. Thus, it can be said that the Karang Mumus river is not suitable for use. This research was conducted using Karang Mumus River water modeling with the Qual2kw program conducted with the aim of being able to simulate both physical and chemical parameters. The data use both primary and secondary data. Primary data was obtained by sampling and measuring several related parameters to be such as BOD, COD, DO, NH4 and TSS. The capacity of Karang Mumus River pollution load for TSS was 218.93 kg/day, BOD was 15.17 kg/day, COD was 127.1 kg/day and NH4 was 2.46 kg/day. Pollution load capacity of the Karang Mumus River has exceeded the value that has been determined. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the pollution load so that the river can function properly as intended.
Experience Sampling Methodology
Authors: Koopman Joel , Dimotakis Nikolaos
Published: October 2022

Experience sampling is a method aimed primarily at examining within-individual covariation of transient phenomena utilizing repeated measures. It can be applied to test nuanced predictions of extant theories and can provide insights that are otherwise difficult to obtain. It does so by examining the phenomena of interest close to where they occur and thus avoiding issues with recall and similar concerns. Data collected through the experience sampling method (ESM) can, alternatively, be utilized to collect highly reliable data to investigate between-individual phenomena.

A number of decisions need to be made when designing an ESM study. Study duration and intensity (that is, total days of measurement and total assessments per day) represent a tradeoff between data richness and participant fatigue that needs to be carefully weighed. Other scheduling options need to be considered, such as triggered versus scheduled surveys. Researchers also need to be aware of the generally high potential cost of this approach, as well as the monetary and nonmonetary resources required.

The intensity of this method also requires special consideration of the sample and the context. Proper screening is invaluable; ensuring that participants and their context is applicable and appropriate to the design is an important first step. The next step is ensuring that the surveys are planned in a compatible way to the sample, and that the surveys are designed to appropriately and rigorously collect data that can be used to accomplish the aims of the study at hand.

Furthermore, ESM data typically requires proper consideration in regards to how the data will be analyzed and how results will be interpreted. Proper attention to analytic approaches (typically multilevel) is required. Finally, when interpreting results from ESM data, one must not forget that these effects typically represent processes that occur continuously across individuals’ working lives—effect sizes thus need to be considered with this in mind.
The Governance Roles of Private Equity
Authors: Manigart Sophie , Meuleman Miguel , Beernaert Tom
Published: October 2022

Private equity (PE) investors enhance the governance of portfolio companies by installing high-powered boards, structuring the senior management team, installing reward and performance management systems, and advising the portfolio company. The aim is to reduce agency risks and to increase shareholder value. A growing body of literature investigates the real effects of PE buyouts on their portfolio companies. Empirical evidence suggest that PE buyouts do not consider efficiency improvements as their main value-creating strategy, but PE enhances growth rather than efficiency. Researchers’ understanding of PE’s entrepreneurial growth approach to increase shareholder value is limited to date, although it is known that PE portfolio companies are active innovators and that PE portfolio companies extensively engage in acquisitive growth.

Financial performance of PE investors can also be driven by transferring value from other stakeholders to the portfolio company after buyout. Does PE buyout’s shareholder value creation come at the expense of other stakeholders, such as employees or customers, or do they also benefit? PE’s impact on employment and wages in portfolio companies has received considerable attention. The effect depends on the institutional setting and macroeconomic conditions and differs across PE groups and by type of buyout. PE buyouts do improve employees’ safety, well-being, and human capital. Research on the impact of PE on stakeholders other than employees is limited. Industry-specific studies uncovered fine-grained actions and mainly negative effects on various stakeholders beyond shareholders and employees. This highlights the tension between enhancing shareholder value at the expense of stakeholder value. Given the continuous development of practices in the PE industry, the governance roles of PE will remain a fertile ground for academic research.
Queer/ing Archives
Authors: DiCesare Morgan , Morris Charles E.
Published: October 2022

Communication scholars have taken up queer archives and their artifacts, often in a Western context, in relation to a range of presumptions that had previously structured (straight) archival engagement. Queer archives and memories have been buried and erased by homophobic histories. Nonetheless, revisitations of these histories seek to differentially unearth queer materials, challenge the terms of erasure, and revise modern conceptions of sexuality that tie it to identity, community, organization, and activism. Queer scholars and activists have rewritten archival standards that had previously functioned to exclude queer life, and they have challenged the terms of “queer” in relation to both past and present. Queer/ing archives thus addresses practices, places, objects, theories, people, and methods that have been articulated to queer pasts in the interest of its influences on queer presents and futures.
Diffusion of Innovations from the West and Their Influences on Medical Education in Japan
Authors: Morishita Mariko , Iwakuma Miho
Published: October 2022

In the 19th century, Western medicine spread widely worldwide and ultimately diffused into Japan. It had a significant impact on previous Japanese medical practice and education; it is, effectively, the foundation of contemporary Japanese medicine. Although Western medicine seems universal, its elements and origins as it has spread to other countries show localized differences, depending on the context and time period. Cultural fusion theory proposes that the culture of a host and influence of a newcomer conflict, merge, or transform each other. It could shed light on how Japanese medicine and medical education have been influenced by and coevolved with Western medicine and culture. Cultural fusion is not assimilation or adaptation; it has numerous churning points where the traditional and the modern, the insider (indigenous) and the outsider (immigrant), mix and compete. In Japan, medicine has a long history, encountering medical practices from neighboring countries, such as China and Korea in ancient times, and Western countries in the Modern period. The most drastic changes happened in the 19th century with strong influence from Germany before World War II and in the 20th century from the impact of the United States after World War II. Recently, the pressure of globalization could be added as one influence. Since cultural fusion is ubiquitous in Japanese medical fields, examples showing how the host and newcomers interact and merge can be found among many aspects of Japanese medicine and medical education, such as curricula, languages, systems, learning styles, assessment methods, and educational materials. In addition, cultural fusion is not limited to influence from the West but extends to and from neighboring Asian countries. Examining cases and previous studies on cultural fusion in Japanese medicine and medical education could reveal how the typical notion that Japan pursued Westernization of its medicine and medical education concealed the traditions and the growth of the local education system. The people involved in medicine in the past and the present have struggled to integrate the new system with their previous ideals to improve their methods, which could be further researched.
Motor Development: Biological Aspects of Brain and Behavior
Authors: van der Meer Audrey , van der Weel F. R. (Ruud)
Published: October 2022

Developmental psychology has a long history of linking motor development to enhancement in perceptual and cognitive abilities. Because of the haphazard appearance of the very first movements, the human infant is often thought to be born with an immature brain. However, behavioral and brain research shows that infants have advanced brains that are ready to learn even before birth. The infant brain doubles in both size and weight during the first year of life. During infancy, nerve cells increase dramatically in number, they become more specialized, and up to a thousand new connections per second are formed between them. The foundation for the brain’s infrastructure is formed during the first thousand days of life. Different neural networks are formed in response to the quantity and quality of experiences a child is exposed to. In addition, the growing brain is open and moldable, it can adapt to the changing conditions surrounding it, and the brains of infants and small children show the most plasticity. Developmental neuroscience research suggests that as soon as babies start crawling at around 9 months of age, they undergo remarkable development of prospective control and timing skills at both the brain and behavioral levels when dealing with visual motion. Only a few weeks after crawling onset, infants process visual motion faster and more efficiently, and they differentiate between motion speeds and directions. Stimulating the development of motor skills that allow babies to start exploring their surroundings by themselves earlier is therefore likely to facilitate brain development.
TACKLE: Supporting Learning and Identity Formation in a Native American Community
Authors: Orosco Lorraine , Vásquez Olga , Underwood Charles
Published: October 2022

Identity development involves complex processes through which individuals enhance their senses and come to understand themselves. This follows in the contextual state of the various cultural demands and the norms of the society. The development of identity could be viewed as a process that is crucial to adolescents and that enables individuals in transiting from childhood dependency into adults responsible of their needs, aspirations, interests, and desires. The process of transition includes a cognitive reorganization in the way the youth think and their relation to other individuals as they mature. Identity development is often associated with adolescence, but it is a continuous process throughout adulthood. It creates a sense of belonging in a bigger and contextual cultural transition. In Native America, universities and indigenous communities have had collaborative work to support learning and identity development among the communities. It has, however, had its share of challenges for a long time as the collaborative processes are complex in nature. One of the collaborative processes in the Native American community was the Technology And Culture Kumeyaay Literacy Education (TACKLE). The historical development of TACKLE as a university–community partnership is described in terms of the emergence of two key strategies—participatory collaborative activity and context embedded change—which came to guide the partners’ interactions as they worked together to bridge their cultural differences in developing the TACKLE program.
Education in British India
Authors: Kumar Deepak
Published: October 2022

Education was always given a place of pride in Indian civilization and culture. It was the process through which different kinds of knowledge were acquired and disseminated. Its significance was always recognized, but its structures varied according to time and place. Ancient Indian texts and mythologies are full of references to erudite gurus and their gurukulas (hermitages), wherein both the poor and the princes studied. Post Buddha, the viharas and the mahaviras were also centers of learning. Examples are the learning centers at Taxila, Nalanda, and Vikramshila. Interactions with Islamic culture brought maktabs and madrasas, and these were not very different from the previous learning centers. They all emphasized the significance of knowledge and conceived it in terms of temporal and spiritual (this worldly and otherworldly, i.e., para-apara, laukik-alaukik, maqul-manqul, ilm-i-duniya, and ilm-i-adyan). This was true of Europe as well. The great shift comes with the Renaissance and the Reformation, and these heralded some kind of an age of reason and modernity leading to the scientific and industrial revolutions of the 17th and 18th centuries. India was not aloof to these changes but could not keep pace with them. Education here suffered severe limitations in terms of caste, creed, theology, and so on. The result was India’s gradual colonization.

Big changes in both knowledge production and generation came riding the wave of colonization. Here it is important to note that under the East India Company, perhaps for the first time in Indian history, the state emerged as the producer of knowledge and the sole arbiter of what was to be delivered and to whom. The Company’s education policies in India had become more interventionist. The downward filtration policy, which was chosen as the course to transform Indian society, started neglecting the vernacular schools, thereby neglecting popular education, and it was the entry of the Christian missionaries, from the second decade of the 19th century onward, together with the activities of native educational societies that promoted popular education through new contents and methods of education. The beginning of the 20th century brought new hopes for middle-class Indians. Their “vision” of a new India, as evident in the writings in periodicals, pamphlets, and other contemporary publications, included the growth of technical and medical education, scientific research, and agricultural experiments, as well as the institutional dissemination of knowledge, among others. Although this vision was unitary, in a broad “national” sense it was discursive, with controversies and differences of opinions shadowing “national” goals in education and at times stunting its clear growth.
Fulani Pastoralism in West Africa
Authors: Turner Matthew D.
Published: October 2022

Histories of the Fulani people have generally focused not on their pastoralism per se but on their role in the political histories of different periods in West Africa. Nevertheless, the changing social relations of Fulani people and others have affected the Fulani settlement and herd mobility practices that constitute their pastoralism. Fulani pastoralism has undergone significant changes from the late 19th century to the present, including sociopolitical changes that arose with colonial rule and have led to new trajectories affecting Fulani pastoralism up to the present. A key issue is the uneasy dependence of herding Fulani on the state—a dependence that has qualitatively changed as the key threat to their mobile pastoral livelihood has shifted from insecurity to competition with crop agriculture, as shaped by colonial policy, laws, and rapid increases in rural population density.

The Fulani have always been a heterogeneous group. The herding Fulani, who manage livestock owned by themselves and others, is a focus of any reconstruction of the history of pastoralism. Unfortunately, these low-status “bush Fulani” are not often not included as protagonists in oral histories and colonial archives. A serious consideration of current understandings understandings of the needs of livestock and the constraints associated with herding offers a different lens through which to re-read standard accounts of the “Fulani” within colonial and post-colonial documents. By doing so, the hope is to demonstrate the responsiveness of herding Fulani to the changing constraints they have faced over time.
Coptic Christianity
Authors: Farag Lois
Published: October 2022

Copts received the Christian faith through Mark the Evangelist in ad 42. Through the first seven centuries of Greco-Roman rule, a distinctive Coptic theological stance was formed as well as its literature, art, and liturgy. Coptic monasticism shaped Coptic spirituality and influenced the universal church. With the Arab Islamic conquest in the 7th century and with its successive dynasties, followed by Ottoman, British, and French political rule, the Copts adapted to each political system. Coptic Christianity survived through all this political turmoil to the present time, emerging in the 21st century as a vibrant Coptic Christianity that is spreading throughout the world.
Cyril Ramaphosa
Authors: Butler Anthony
Published: October 2022

Cyril Ramaphosa became South Africa’s fifth post-apartheid president in February 2018. He was born close to the center of Johannesburg in 1952 and grew up in the dormitory township of Soweto. A Christian and black consciousness activist in his youth, he was detained and held in solitary confinement twice in the mid‑1970s. He founded the giant National Union of Mineworkers in the 1980s and rose rapidly in the liberation movement after Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. Ramaphosa led the African National Congress (ANC) team in the negotiations that enabled a transition to constitutional democracy in 1994, before political marginalization forced him to divert his energies into business. The unionist-turned-tycoon returned to political prominence fifteen years later, rising to deputy president of the ANC in 2012, president of the movement in 2017, and then state president the following year. As president, he has wrestled with intractable problems, including a sclerotic economy and public institutions weakened during the tenure of his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.
Identity and Regional Institutions in Latin America
Authors: Prieto Germán C. , Aguirre Juan Carlos
Published: October 2022

The relationship between identity and institutions has traditionally been a main explanatory factor of the unfolding of regionalism from a constructivist lens. Yet, this relationship has not been largely addressed in the study of regionalism in Latin America, where collective identity is often expected to be strong, but regional institutions are often considered weak. The relationship between institutional flexibility and inertia with collective identity can be illustrated by the cases of the Andean Community (AC) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), where due to harsh disagreement between member states about crucial issues, these regionalist projects risked being thrown into question or even terminated. The AC has stronger institutionalization than UNASUR. Analysis of the AC shows that institutional flexibility and inertia, articulated with certain dimensions of Andean collective identity and even triggering identification effects among member states, helped overcome certain critical moments. First, Peru’s reluctance to adopt certain commercial schemes for meeting the project’s aim of constituting a common market led the other AC members to consider expelling Peru from the regional scheme, but institutional flexibility and inertia, along with issues of collective identity, allowed Peru to remain an AC member. Second, Bolivia’s and Ecuador’s abandoning of collective FTA negotiations with the EU could have implied dismantling the regionalist project due to the impossibility of it acting as a bloc in the trade area, but the relationship between institutional flexibility and inertia with collective identity enabled maintaining the project and handling the critical moment successfully. In contrast, while the disagreement around the constitution of the Banco del Sur did not endanger the creation of UNASUR and later its continuity, mainly thanks to institutional flexibility though not so much to institutional inertia, the lack of a strong collective identity, together with the lack of institutional inertia, made the regionalist project fail in facing its first profound crisis regarding diplomatic conflict among its members around the legitimacy of Nicolás Maduro’s government in Venezuela, despite but also due to the huge institutional flexibility that had persuaded member states to join UNASUR in the first place.
The Hindu Right in the United States
Authors: Truschke Audrey
Published: October 2022

The Hindu Right is a dense network of organizations across the globe that promote Hindutva or Hindu nationalism, a political ideology that advocates for an ethnonationalist Hindu identity and to transform India into a Hindu state governed by majoritarian norms. Hindutva ideology was first articulated in India in the 1920s, and Hindu Right groups began expanding overseas in the 1940s, coming to the United States in 1970. Collectively, the Hindu Right groups that stretch across dozens of nations in the 21st century are known as the Sangh Parivar (the family of Hindutva organizations). From within the United States, Hindu Right groups exercise power within the global Hindutva movement and place pressure on American institutions and liberal values. The major interlinked Hindu Right groups in America focus on a variety of areas, especially politics, religion, outreach, and fundraising. Among other things, they attempt to control educational materials, influence policy makers, defend caste privilege, and whitewash Hindutva violence, a critical tool for many who espouse this exclusive political ideology. The U.S.-based Hindu Right is properly understood within both a transnational context of the global Sangh Parivar and as part of the American landscape, a fertile home for more than fifty years.
Community-Based Organizations
Authors: Seligman Amanda I.
Published: October 2022

Community-based organizations (CBOs) have been and remain a common vehicle for delivering services and promoting local improvement in the United States. CBOs were a subset of voluntary organizations, which the 19th-century French observer Alexis de Tocqueville saw as central to American democracy. They complemented the work of government. Since at least the 19th century, in US history, people have formed, joined, and volunteered for CBOs. However, historians have often taken for granted the existence of specific organizations and have not done much to explain them as a general phenomenon. CBOs are often treated as relevant actors in historical scholarship, but their larger institutional and collective history awaits a new synthesis. Historians should begin by explaining the development of different kinds of CBOs.

The main types of CBOs are social service organizations, autonomous organizations, networked organizations, and Alinsky-style organizations CBOs. Settlement houses were the most visible form of social service organizations in the 19th century. Among membership organizations, two types predominated: CBOs whose individual histories were primarily autonomous and those that were formally allied with other similar groups. Some connected groups were created within a network, and others developed relationships as they grew. The work of Saul Alinsky (1909–1972), often considered the “father of community organizing” in the United States, was particularly important. Alinsky practiced and promulgated a form of professional organizing that centered on identifying local leaders and helping them create sustainable, power-oriented CBOs.
Japanese in Peru
Authors: Palma Patricia , Iacobelli Pedro
Published: October 2022

Japanese migration to Peru is embedded within the broader experience of colonization and migration that characterized the modern Japanese empire (1868–1945). Between 1899 and World War II, thousands of men and women moved to Peru’s central and northern regions to work in sugar and rubber plantations. After their contracts ended, many of them moved to Lima and other coastal cities in search of better economic opportunities, opening small businesses and sponsoring brides and members of their families to move to Peru. In the 1920s and 1930s, a vibrant Japanese community in Peru established newspapers and associations to create protection networks for newly arrived immigrants. However, the Japanese community also had to face anti-Asian sentiments, violence, and restrictive migration laws, which hardened during World War II. During the heat of US-Japan hostilities, nearly 1,800 people were abducted and then sent to the United States, where they were placed in American internment camps in Texas and Montana until the end of the War. In the postwar years, the Japanese community worked hard to change the negative image that many Peruvians had of them and made efforts to reconstruct their community. Today, the Nikkei community is dynamic. Members of the Japanese Peruvian community have received accolades for their arts, gastronomy, and political successes, among other fields.
Phonological Variation and Change in European Spanish
Authors: Samper Padilla José Antonio
Published: October 2022

Spanish is a language characterized on the phonetic level by a rich variation in consonantism, especially in the syllable-final position (both word-inner and word-final), whereas vocalism shows a more fixed character and a less relevant variation. Thus, it is not strange that the majority of variationist studies have focused on consonantism. Investigations addressing prosodic variation are fewer and more recent and will not be broached here because of space limitations.

In the field of consonant variation, studies focusing on the weakening effect on certain elements of the coda stand out. The most relevant among these phenomena is the one which affects /s/, and this is so for various reasons: (a) because has been considered to be one of the isoglosses that divide the two great norms of current Spanish (Castilian and Atlantic); (b) because of its geographical extent; and (c) because it has led to theoretical approaches about the possible impact on number (singular/plural) and grammatical person (second/third-person singular) differentiation that implies the frequent presence of word-final -s. Additionally, variation which affects the liquid consonants (/l/ and /r/), leading to processes of both weakening and change in these two types of consonants, has been studied quite extensively (at least in Andalusia and the Canary Islands). The weakening process affecting the final nasal consonant, with velarization as a first step and potential elision as a second one, has been less frequently studied in Spain (much less than in the case of Caribbean Spanish, for example). In the field of syllabic tension, there is another phenomenon that has often been studied due to its geographic extent: the weakening of intervocalic /d/, which yields very different data depending on dialectal variety (evidence of the greater or lesser degree of progress in that weakening process). Sociolinguistic analyses also focus on the increasing expansion of yeísmo, a phenomenon usually conditioned by age as an explanatory factor in this advanced stage of the process. In Andalusian Spanish, the alternation between different pronunciations of the phonemes /s/ and /θ/ (mainly distinction, seseo and ceceo), the defricativization of /tʃ/ and the alternation between the realizations of /x/ as [x] and [h] have also been analyzed.

In the case of vowels, as has been said before, it should be pointed out that cases of sociolinguistic variation in Spanish are not as numerous or as relevant; therefore, they have been less appealing to researchers. Among the main phenomena, we shall discuss the vocalic metaphony registered in Cantabria and Asturias.
Smart Cities and Water Infrastructure
Authors: Lieberknecht Katherine
Published: October 2022

Water infrastructure is the system of physical (both built and environmental), social (e.g., governance), and technological elements that move water into, throughout, and out of human communities. It includes, but is not limited to, water supply infrastructure (e.g., pipe systems, water treatment facilities), drainage and flood infrastructure (e.g., storm sewers, green infrastructure systems, levees), and wastewater treatment infrastructure (e.g., pipe systems, wastewater treatment plants, reclaimed water facilities). Smart city approaches to water infrastructure emphasize integration of information and communication technologies with urban water infrastructure and services, usually with the goal of increasing efficiency and human well-being.

Smart water meters, smart water grids, and other water-related information and communication technologies have the potential to improve overall infrastructure efficiency, to reduce water use, to match new water supplies with appropriate water uses, to innovate wastewater treatment, and to protect residents from floods and other water-related climate events. However, without stronger attention to issues of equity, social systems, governance, ecology, and place, a smart city approach to water infrastructure may achieve efficiencies but fail to generate broader socioecological values or to contribute toward climate adaptation.
Functional implications of multiseriate cortical sclerenchyma for soil resource capture and crop improvement
Authors: Schneider Hannah M
Published: October 2022

Suboptimal nutrient and water availability are primary constraints to crop growth. Global agriculture requires crops with greater nutrient and water efficiency. Multiseriate cortical sclerenchyma (MCS), a root anatomical trait characterized by small cells with thick cell walls encrusted with lignin in the outer cortex, has been shown to be an important trait for adaptation in maize and wheat in mechanically impeded soils. However, MCS has the potential to improve edaphic stress tolerance in a number of different crop taxa and in a number of different environments. This review explores the functional implications of MCS as an adaptive trait for water and nutrient acquisition and discusses future research perspectives on this trait for incorporation into crop breeding programs. For example, MCS may influence water and nutrient uptake, resistance to pests, symbiotic interactions, microbial interactions in the rhizosphere and soil carbon deposition. Root anatomical phenotypes are underutilized; however, important breeding targets for the development of efficient, productive and resilient crops urgently needed in global agriculture.
miRNome-transcriptome analysis unveils the key regulatory pathways involved in the tumorigenesis of tongue squamous cell carcinoma
Authors: Gupta Pooja , Chattopadhyay Trisha , Mallick Bibekanand
Published: October 2022

Tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) is considered the most common malignant tumor among the oral squamous cell carcinomas with a poor prognosis. Understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms that underpin TSCC and its treatments is the focus of the research. Deregulated expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) has recently been implicated in various biological processes linked to cancer. Therefore, in this study, we attempted to investigate miRNAs and their targets expressed in TSCC, which could be involved in its oncogenesis. We performed next-generation sequencing of small RNAs and transcriptomes in H357 TSCC cell line and human oral keratinocytes as a control to find miRNAs and mRNAs that are differentially expressed (DE), which were then supplemented with additional expression datasets from databases, yielding 269 DE miRNAs and 2094 DE genes. The target prediction followed by pathway and disease function analysis revealed that the DE targets were significantly associated with the key processes and pathways, such as apoptosis, epithelial–mesenchymal transition, endocytosis and vascular endothelial growth factor signaling pathways. Furthermore, the top 12 DE targets were chosen based on their involvement in more than one cancer-related pathway, of which 6 genes are targeted by miR-128-3p. Real-time quantitative PCR validation of this miRNA and its targets in H357 and SCC9 TSCC cells confirmed their possible targeting from their reciprocal expression, with MAP2K7 being a critical target that might be involved in oncogenesis and progression of TSCC by acting as a tumor suppressor. Further research is underway to understand how miR-128-3p regulates oncogenesis in TSCC via MAP2K7 and associated pathways.
The interplay between forming planets and photoevaporating discs I: forbidden line diagnostics
Authors: Weber Michael L , Ercolano Barbara , Picogna Giovanni , Rab Christian
Published: October 2022

Disc winds and planet formation are considered to be two of the most important mechanisms that drive the evolution and dispersal of protoplanetary discs and in turn define the environment in which planets form and evolve. While both have been studied extensively in the past, we combine them into one model by performing three-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of giant planet hosting discs that are undergoing X-ray photoevaporation, with the goal to analyse the interactions between both mechanisms. In order to study the effect on observational diagnostics, we produce synthetic observations of commonly used wind-tracing forbidden emission lines with detailed radiative transfer and photoionization calculations. We find that a sufficiently massive giant planet carves a gap in the gas disc that is deep enough to affect the structure and kinematics of the pressure-driven photoevaporative wind significantly. This effect can be strong enough to be visible in the synthetic high-resolution observations of some of our wind diagnostic lines, such as the [O i] 6300 Å or [S ii] 6730 Å lines. When the disc is observed at inclinations around 40° and higher, the spectral line profiles may exhibit a peak in the redshifted part of the spectrum, which cannot easily be explained by simple wind models alone. Moreover, massive planets can induce asymmetric substructures within the disc and the photoevaporative wind, giving rise to temporal variations of the line profiles that can be strong enough to be observable on time-scales of less than a quarter of the planet’s orbital period.
Cosmological studies from HSC-SSP tomographic weak-lensing peak abundances
Authors: Liu Xiangkun , Yuan Shuo , Pan Chuzhong , Zhang Tianyu , Wang Qiao , Fan Zuhui
Published: October 2022

We perform weak-lensing tomographic peak studies using the first year of shear data from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) survey. The effective area used in our analyses after field selection, masking, and boundary exclusions is $\sim 58 \deg ^2$. The source galaxies are divided into low- and high-redshift bins, with 0.2 ≤ zp ≤ 0.85 and 0.85 ≤ zp ≤ 1.5, respectively. We utilize our halo-based theoretical peak model, including the projection effect of large-scale structures, to derive cosmological constraints from the observed tomographic high-peak abundances with the signal-to-noise ratio in the range of νN = [3.5, 5.5]. These high peaks are closely associated with the lensing effects of massive clusters of galaxies. Thus, the inclusion of their member galaxies in the shear catalogue can lead to significant source clustering and dilute their lensing signals. We account for this systematic effect in our theoretical modelling. In addition, the impacts of baryonic effects, galaxy intrinsic alignments, as well as residual uncertainties in shear and photometric redshift calibrations are also analysed. Within the flat ΛCDM model, the derived constraint is $S_8=\sigma _8(\Omega _{\rm m}/0.3)^{0.5} =0.758_{-0.076}^{+0.033}$ and $0.768_{-0.057}^{+0.030}$ with the source clustering information measured from the two cluster catalogues CAMIRA and WZL, respectively. The asymmetric uncertainties are due to the different degeneracy direction of (Ωm, σ8) from high-peak abundances compared with that from the cosmic shear two-point correlations, which gives rise to the power index α ≈ 0.5. Fitting to our constraints, we obtain α ≈ 0.38 and $\Sigma _8=\sigma _8(\Omega _{\rm m}/0.3)^{\alpha }=0.772_{-0.032}^{+0.028}$ (CAMIRA) and $0.781_{-0.033}^{+0.028}$ (WZL). In comparison with the results from non-tomographic peak analyses, the 1σ uncertainties on Σ8 are reduced by a factor of ∼1.3.
Cosmology under the fractional calculus approach
Authors: García-Aspeitia Miguel A , Fernandez-Anaya Guillermo , Hernández-Almada A , Leon Genly , Magaña Juan
Published: October 2022

Fractional cosmology modifies the standard derivative to Caputo’s fractional derivative of order μ, generating changes in General Relativity. Friedmann equations are modified, and the evolution of the species densities depends on μ and the age of the Universe tU. We estimate stringent constraints on μ using cosmic chronometers, Type Ia supernovae, and joint analysis. We obtain $\mu =2.839^{+0.117}_{-0.193}$ within the 1σ confidence level providing a non-standard cosmic acceleration at late times; consequently, the Universe would be older than the standard estimations. Additionally, we present a stability analysis for different μ values. This analysis identifies a late-time attractor corresponding to a power-law decelerated solution for μ < 2. Moreover, a non-relativistic critical point exists for μ > 1 and a sink for μ > 2. This solution is a decelerated power law if 1 < μ < 2 and an accelerated power-law solution if μ > 2, consistent with the mean values obtained from the observational analysis. Therefore, for both flat Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker and Bianchi I metrics, the modified Friedmann equations provide a late cosmic acceleration under this paradigm without introducing a dark energy component. This approach could be a new path to tackling unsolved cosmological problems.
WHTZ 1: a high excitation Planetary Nebula not a gaseous cocoon from runaway star HD 185806
Authors: Parker Quentin A , Le Dû Pascal , Ritter Andreas , Goodhew Peter , Rasool Sakib , Charbonnel Stephane , Garde Olivier , Mulato Lionel , Petit Thomas
Published: October 2022

We present evidence that the nebular cocoon and bow-shock emission nebula putatively and recently reported as deriving from the 9th magnitude ‘runaway’ star HD 185806 is the previously discovered but obscure Planetary Nebula WHTZ 1 (Ra 7). It has a Gaia DR3 G∼16 blue ionizing star at its geometric centre. We present imagery, spectroscopy, other data and arguments to support that this emission source is a high excitation Planetary Nebula not a stellar wind bow shock.
Would You Like Wood or Plastic? Bin Material, Sanitation Treatments, and Bin Inoculum Levels Impact Blue Mold Decay of Stored Apple Fruit
Authors: Jurick Wayne M. , Choi Mei-Wah , Gaskins Verneta L. , Peter Kari A. , Cox Kerik D.
Published: October 2022

Blue mold, caused primarily by Penicillium expansum, is a significant postharvest disease of apples. It not only causes economic losses but also produces mycotoxins that contaminate processed fruit products, which contributes to food waste and loss. Previous research has shown that packing and storage bins harbor Penicillium spores and that steam and hot water efficiently reduce spore inoculum levels. However, studies using wooden and plastic bins regarding their ability to harbor spores, the effect of chemical sanitation treatments on spore levels, and the impact of rinsate from treated bins on apple fruit decay have not been investigated for the Mid-Atlantic area ( Okull et al. 2006 ; Rosenberger 2009 ). We evaluated different sanitation treatments (chemical and physical) to reduce P. expansum inoculum levels on wooden and plastic bins. We determined that wooden bins bound P. expansum spores four orders of magnitude higher than plastic. When both bin types were treated with steam (wooden) or sterile hot water (plastic), Thyme Guard, or Academy, all treatments resulted in significantly (P < 0.05) lower spore levels compared to untreated controls. Although, plastic bins retained lower numbers of spores after inoculation with contaminated spore rinsate and required much higher concentrations of P. expansum spores in rinsate to retain spores at levels that would lead to decay on apple fruit. Overall, we demonstrated that plastic bins retain fewer spores than wooden bins and that both can be sanitized by various physical or chemical treatments. We envision that our findings will be applicable in the future as the techniques implemented in this study were used to investigate industry-relevant questions. Our goal is that the research techniques and findings become feasible with advancements in technology and/or accompany other shifts in existing processes in commercial pome fruit packing and storage facilities.
MicroCrystalline Tyrosine-adsorbed immunotherapy
Authors: Al Saleh Helal , Mösges Ralph
Published: October 2022

Purpose of review

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the literature pertaining to the use of MicroCrystalline Tyrosine (MCT) in the immunotherapy with an emphasis on recent developments.

Recent findings

In addition to significant effectiveness and safety profiles, additional aspects of interest such as booster immunotherapy concepts, sustained clinical effects, long-term efficacy and disease-modifying effects are being focused on in the recently published studies. The depot adjuvant MCT also shows potential in promising disease-challenge models such as for malaria and melanoma.

MCT-adsorbed immunotherapy products have been shown to provide convincing overall safety, tolerability and efficacy outcomes, as well in vulnerable groups such as children and asthmatic patients.
Associations Between Inpatient Induction on Medications for Opioid Use Disorder and Postdischarge Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Adherence, Overdose, and Service Use
Authors: Noam Krista R. , Schmutte Timothy J. , Pirard Sandrine , Bourdon Carol , Langless Daniel , Plant Robert
Published: October 2022

Objectives

This study aimed to examine outcomes of a pilot program designed to increase inpatient medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) induction and to support MOUD adherence after discharge.

Methods

This retrospective cohort analysis examined Medicaid adults diagnosed with opioid use disorder discharged from 2 freestanding inpatient withdrawal management facilities between October 1, 2018, and December 31, 2019. Participants had ≥90 days of continuous Medicaid enrollment before and after admission. Odds ratios (ORs) examined associations of inpatient MOUD induction with discharge against medical advice, 7- and 30-day all-cause hospital readmission, and postdischarge MOUD adherence. Mixed-effect models examined changes associated with MOUD induction and postdischarge MOUD adherence in acute service utilization and opioid overdose in the 90-day postdischarge period.

Results

Of the 2332 patients discharged, 493 started MOUD inpatient care (21.1%), with most initiating buprenorphine (76.5%). Induction of MOUD was associated with a lower likelihood of discharge against medical advice (OR, 0.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.37–0.64), 30-day all-cause hospital readmission (OR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47–0.80), and higher odds of postdischarge MOUD adherence (OR, 3.83; 95% CI, 3.06–4.81). In the 90 days after discharge, MOUD adherent patients had significant reductions in emergency department visits for behavioral health, inpatient days, withdrawal management episodes, and opioid overdoses compared with the 90-day preadmission period.

Conclusions

Inpatient MOUD induction is associated with a higher likelihood of short-term MOUD adherence after discharge, which in turn is associated with significant reductions in short-term service utilization and opioid overdose after discharge.
Pregnant and Postpartum Individuals' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceptions of Extended-release Buprenorphine for Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder
Authors: Lai Miao , Bowman Justin , Charles Jasmin , Smid Marcela C.
Published: October 2022

Objective

The objective of this study is to explore pregnant and postpartum individuals' knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions regarding extended-release buprenorphine (XR-BUP) treatment for opioid use disorder.

Methods

We conducted a paper-based survey of pregnant or postpartum individuals with opioid use disorder attending a multidisciplinary perinatal addiction specialty care clinic where XR-BUP is available. Participants' nonidentifiable demographic and treatment characteristics were collected, including duration and satisfaction of current medication for opioid use disorder. Participants' knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions about XR-BUP were assessed using a 5-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data.

Results

From February 2021 to August 2021, 79 of 98 eligible participants completed the survey (81% response rate). More than 9 of 10 participants were currently taking medication for opioid use disorder, and 7 individuals (8.9%) were taking XR-BUP. Nearly half (49.4%) had never heard of XR-BUP, and 84.8% did not personally know anyone taking XR-BUP. However, 45.6% and 29.1% would consider an injectable medication for opioid use disorder to avoid trouble remembering to take their daily medications and avoid opioid withdrawal symptoms, respectfully.

Conclusions

In a population of pregnant and postpartum individuals, nearly half were unaware of a monthly XR-BUP option for the treatment of opioid use disorder. Many were interested in considering this medication. Future studies are needed to rigorously assess outcomes associated with XR-BUP among pregnant and postpartum individuals with opioid use disorder.