bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Trends in the use of neuromuscular blocking agents, reversal agents and neuromuscular transmission monitoring: a single-centre retrospective cohort study
Authors: Krijtenburg Piet , de Boer Arjen , Bash Lori D. , Scheffer Gert Jan , Keijzer Christiaan , Warlé Michiel C.
Published: March 2024

Background

Residual neuromuscular blockade (rNMB) remains a persistent and preventable problem, with serious risks.

Methods

Our objective was to describe and assess patterns in the use of neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs), neuromuscular transmission (NMT) monitoring, and factors associated with the use of sugammadex. We performed a retrospective, observational cohort study based on electronic medical records in a large teaching hospital in the Netherlands that introduced an integrated NMT monitoring module with automatic recording in 2017. A total of 22,000 cases were randomly selected from all surgeries between January 2015 and December 2019 that required endotracheal intubation with the use of an NMBA. A total of 14,592 cases fulfilled all the inclusion criteria for complete analyses.

Results

Relative NMBA usage remained the same over time. For rocuronium, spontaneous reversal decreased from 86 to 81%, sugammadex reversal increased from 12 to 18%. There was a decline in patients extubated in the operating room (OR) with neither documented NMT monitoring nor sugammadex-mediated reversal from 46 to 31%. The percentage of patients extubated in the OR without a documented train-of-four ratio ≥ 0.9, decreased from 77 to 56%. Several factors were independently associated with the use of sugammadex, including BMI > 30 kg/m2 (odds ratio: 1.41; 95% CI: 1.24–1.60), ASA class 3 or 4 (1.20; 1.07–1.34), age > 60 years (1.37; 1.23–1.53), duration of surgery < 120 min (3.01; 2.68–3.38), emergency surgery (1.83; 1.60–2.09), laparoscopic surgery (2.01; 1.71–2.36), open abdominal/thoracic surgery (1.56; 1.38–1.78), NMT monitoring used (5.31; 4.63–6.08), total dose of rocuronium (1.99; 1.76–2.25), and (inversely) use of inhalational anaesthetics (0.88; 0.79–0.99).

Conclusion

Our data demonstrate that the implementation of NMT monitoring with automatic recording coincides with a gradual increase in the (documented) use of NMT monitoring and an increased use of sugammadex with a more precise dose. Factors associated with sugammadex use include higher age, ASA score, BMI, abdominal and thoracic surgery, higher rocuronium doses, emergency surgery and the use of NMT monitoring.

Trial registration

N/A.

Key points

• Introduction of NMT monitoring with automatic recording coincides with an increase in (documented) use of NMT monitoring.

• Sugammadex is more frequently used in patients with a presumed higher a priori risk of pulmonary complications.

• Despite increased NMT monitoring and use of sugammadex a significant percentage of patients remain at potential risk of rNMB.
Role of GABA pathway in motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease: a bidirectional circuit
Authors: Alharbi Bandar , Al-kuraishy Hayder M. , Al-Gareeb Ali I. , Elekhnawy Engy , Alharbi Hind , Alexiou Athanasios , Papadakis Marios , Batiha Gaber El-Saber
Published: March 2024

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease as a result of the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). The fundamental features of PD are motor and non-motor symptoms. PD symptoms develop due to the disruption of dopaminergic neurotransmitters and other neurotransmitters such as γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). The potential role of GABA in PD neuropathology concerning the motor and non-motor symptoms of PD was not precisely discussed. Therefore, this review intended to illustrate the possible role of GABA in PD neuropathology regarding motor and non-motor symptoms. The GABA pathway is essential in regulating the inhibitory tone to prevent excessive stimulation of the cerebral cortex. Degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in PD is linked with reducing GABAergic neurotransmission. Decreasing GABA activity promotes mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress, which are highly related to PD neuropathology. Hence, restoring GABA activity by GABA agonists may attenuate the progression of PD motor symptoms. Therefore, dysregulation of GABAergic neurons in the SNpc contributes to developing PD motor symptoms. Besides, PD non-motor symptoms are also related to the dysfunction of the GABAergic pathway, and amelioration of this pathway may reduce PD non-motor symptoms. In conclusion, the deregulation of the GABAergic pathway in PD might be intricate in developing motor and non-motor symptoms. Improving this pathway might be a novel, beneficial approach to control PD symptoms.
Relationship between albumin-corrected anion gap and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease varied in different waist circumference groups: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Lu Ye , Zhan Ya-zhen , Li Wan , Liao Shu-li
Published: March 2024

Objectives

To investigate the association of albumin-corrected anion gap (ACAG) with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and clinically significant fibrosis (CSF) defined by vibration-controlled transient elastography measurements.

Methods

This cross-sectional study including 4531 participants was conducted using the data from the NHANES database of cycles 2017–2018. The outcomes were set as NAFLD vs. non-NAFLD and NAFLD with CSF vs. NAFLD without CSF. The generalized additive model and restricted cubic spline analyses were used to assess the nonlinear relationship. The generalized linear models, logistic regression models, sensitivity analysis, P trend test, subgroup analysis, and mediation analysis were employed to analyze the association. Finally, an ACAG-based model was constructed and evaluated.

Results

A higher ACAG level was an independent risk factor for NAFLD (P < 0.05), but not for CSF (P > 0.05). The sensitivity analysis and P trend test results substantiated the significantly positive relationship between ACAG and NAFLD (P < 0.05). Interestingly, the obvious connection between ACAG and NAFLD varied in different waist circumference groups and played a central role in the central obesity group. In addition, alanine aminotransferase and waist circumference were the mediators in their relationship. Moreover, the ACAG-based model performed well in predicting NAFLD.

Conclusions

ACAG level is independently associated with NAFLD but not CSF. ACAG might be a novel and reliable biomarker for predicting NAFLD clinically especially in the central obesity population.
Endovascular treatment of vein of Galen aneurysmal malformation: hospital-based case series in two tertiary centers
Authors: Ali Abdelghany Wael M. , Nouby Radwan , Ramadan Osama M. , Habib MA.
Published: March 2024

Background

Vein of Galen aneurysmal malformation (VGAM) is considered a rare vascular malformation, constituting over 1% of all arteriovenous shunts. This malformation represents around 30% of congenital vascular malformations in the pediatric population. The focus of our study is to examine both the clinical and radiological outcomes following endovascular embolization in pediatric patients with Galenic arteriovenous shunts. Our aim is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of endovascular management. This research aims to contribute to understanding the management and outcomes of VGAM in pediatric patients, particularly in the context of endovascular embolization.

Method

This study included 19 patients with vein of Galen malformation evaluated clinically and radiologically and we treated them with endovascular embolization with aim to assess safety and efficacy of endovascular treatment of VGA in the period from May 2019 to December 2022.

Results

We evaluated 12 male patients 63.2% and 7 females 36.8% in pediatric age group with vein of Galen malformation. Patients were followed for 1 year. Our study included 3 neonates (15.8%), 10 infants (52.6%) and 6 children (2–10 years) (31.6%). Increase SC (skull circumference) was the most common presenting symptoms 8 (42.1%). We have reached total occlusion in 15 patients (78.9%) while 4 patients had residual (21.1%). 11 patients improved (57.9%) and 2 patients died (10.5%).

Conclusion

VGAM are not very rare and should be kept in mind in children with refractory heart failure. Introduction of endovascular embolization as the primary therapy has significantly improved prognosis. Good selection of cases based on their score and good timing of treatment has impact on prognosis with less morbidities.
Blue Humanities and the Color of Colonialism
Authors: Ferwerda Susanne
Published: March 2024

The cultural study of water has seen a prismatic shift toward the color blue. This is often articulated as a move away from the terrestrial focus of green ecologies and environmentalism, toward blue aquatic inquiries. What happens when green becomes blue and the blue humanities take shape under the umbrella of the environmental humanities? This article examines the blue humanities to argue that its blues address colonial inheritances and critique colonial desires. Blue has long appealed to the colonial imaginary; it drew European ships across the seas to mine blue pigment from Afghan rocks and raise indigo plantations on stolen land, with stolen labor. The article analyzes the lapis lazuli series by Dutch artist Pieter Paul Pothoven and the performance of the poem “Unity” by Aotearoa New Zealand poet Selina Tusitala Marsh. Pothoven’s work shows how blue analysis accounts for the fact that the color blue has built empires, taken lives, and altered environments. Marsh’s poetry and presence in the heart of the British Empire visualizes blue resistance against imperial power and the persistent defiance of colonization in the Pacific region. The article argues that blue transoceanic European and Pacific colonial connections become disarticulated in the blue humanities and their aquatic encounters.
Blue Crush Cinema
Authors: Blackett Emma
Published: March 2024

This article discusses the settler-colonial femininity at work in two films that foreground the Pacific Ocean, Blue Crush (John Stockwell, 2002) and The Piano (Jane Campion, 1993). With these film readings it offers a critique of the feminist new materialist turn toward water. The feminist hydrological turn aims to amplify the oceanic sensorium’s potential to dissolve the always-already-illusory boundedness of Western subjectivity into a recognition of watery enmeshment, and it aligns, though does not often directly engage, with Indigenous Pacific and trans-Pacific anti-colonial hydropolitics. This article brings feminist hydrological writing into conversation with psychoanalysis and explains that blue crush cinema has the following elements and functions: (1) it tells of a settler woman with a powerful draw toward the water—here crush is polyvalent; (2) the ocean is at once literal and psychic; (3) the film camera allows water’s diffractive animacy to distort human form, a distortion that hydrological feminists associate with dissolving Western subjectivity, and that psychoanalytic theorist Julia Kristeva associates with “oceanic feeling”; but (4), in the end, the blue crush enables the settler woman to return to colonial work. This final function has critical implications for feminist readings of water, which, as this article’s central speculation goes, may work paradoxically to recuperate Western thought.
SeaTE: Subjective ex ante Treatment Effect of Health on Retirement
Authors: Giustinelli Pamela , Shapiro Matthew D.
Published: March 2024

The paper studies the effect of health on work among older workers by eliciting two- and four-year-ahead subjective probabilities of working under alternative health states. These measures predict work outcomes. Person-specific differences in working probabilities across health states can be interpreted as Subjective ex ante Treatment Effects (SeaTEs) in a potential outcomes framework and as taste for work within a discrete choice dynamic programming framework. There is substantial heterogeneity in expectations of work conditional on health. The paper shows how heterogeneity in taste for work correlated with health can bias regression estimates of the effect of health on retirement. (JEL D84, I12, J14, J22, J26)
Multigenerational Transmission of Wealth: Florence, 1403–1480
Authors: Belloc Marianna , Drago Francesco , Fochesato Mattia , Galbiati Roberto
Published: March 2024

By using hand-collected data on households’ wealth assessments, we study multigenerational mobility in Florence during the late Middle Ages. We find that Florentine society was more mobile than one would expect but also that multigenerational mobility was lower than implied by two-generation estimates. We reconcile these findings by showing their consistency with a model where wealth transmission is governed by an unobserved latent factor. We also show that, given our estimates, this model is compatible with the long run persistence obtained by previous studies. Finally, we find that participation in marriage networks and politics correlates with persistence of economic status across generations. (JEL D31, G51, J12, J62, N33)
Μέθοδοι μηχανικής μάθησης βασισμένες στη γνωσιακή επιστήμη για μείωση διαστατικότητας και προσαρμογή μεταξύ πεδίων μοντέλων φωνής και γλώσσας σε περιβάλλοντα με περιορισμένους πόρους
Authors: Παρασκευόπουλος Γεώργιος
Published: March 2024

Τα τελευταία χρόνια, μια κυρίαρχη στρατηγική έχει προκύψει στη μηχανική μάθηση, δηλαδή η κλιμάκωση της χωρητικότητας του μοντέλου και των δεδομένων εκπαίδευσης, με εντυπωσιακά αποτελέσματα. Ωστόσο, η ανάπτυξη τεχνικών για περιβάλλοντα με περιορισμένους πόρους μπορεί να έχει μεγάλο οικονομικό, περιβαλλοντικό και ερευνητικό αντίκτυπο, ειδικά για ψηφιακά υποεκπροσωπούμενες κοινότητες. Σε αυτή τη διατριβή, η οποία χωρίζεται σε δύο κύρια μέρη, αντλούμε κίνητρα από τους τομείς των γνωσιακών επιστημών και των νευροεπιστημών για να σχεδιάσουμε αποδοτικούς και αποτελεσματικούς αλγόριθμους μηχανικής μάθησης για αναπαράσταση δεδομένων και προσαρμογή μοντέλων. Πρώτον, προτείνουμε έναν νέο αλγόριθμο για τη μείωση διαστάσεων μέσω πολυδιάστατης κλιμάκωσης με βάση τη συνολική γεωμετρία των δεδομένων εισόδου. Ο προτεινόμενος αλγόριθμος, Pattern Search MDS βασίζεται σε άμεση αναζήτηση χωρίς παραγώγους και είναι σε θέση να συλλάβει τη γεωμετρία σύνθετων “ψευδομετρικών” χώρων. Η αναγωγή του αλγορίθμου στην οικογένεια αλγορίθμων General Pattern Search παρέχει θεωρητικές εγγυήσεις σύγκλισης, ενώ παρέχεται μια βελτιστοποιημένη υλοποίηση στην ερευνητική κοινότητα. Η απόδοση και η σύγκλιση του Pattern Search MDS επιδεικνύεται σε διάφορες εργασίες, π.χ., γεωμετρία πολλαπλοτήτων, σημασιολογική ομοιότητα και αναγνώριση συναισθημάτων από φωνή. Στο δεύτερο μέρος στρέφουμε την εστίασή μας στο πρόβλημα της μη επιβλεπώμενης προσαρμογής μοντέλων λόγου και γλώσσας σε νέους τομείς. Για να αντιμετωπίσουμε το εγγενές δίλημμα σταθερότητας-πλαστικότητας σε αυτό το πρόβλημα, προτείνουμε μικτή αυτο-επίβλεψη, μια ισχυρή και αποτελεσματική στρατηγική προσαρμογής, όπου η εργασία μαθαίνεται χρησιμοποιώντας επισημειωμένα δεδομένα εκτός τομέα, ενώ σχετική γνώση εντός τομέα από την προεκπαίδευση διατηρείται μέσω αυτο-επίβλεψης σε δεδομένα εντός τομέα χωρίς ετικέτες. Αξιολογούμε τη μικτή αυτο-επίβλεψη για την ανάλυση συναισθήματος από κείμενο με βάση κριτικές προϊόντων και την προσαρμογή συστημάτων αναγνώρισης ομιλίας σε νέους τομείς για τα Νέα Ελληνικά. Ιδιαίτερη έμφαση δίνεται στην αποτελεσματικότητα της προτεινόμενης στρατηγικής προσαρμογής για λίγα δείγματα, όπου δείχνουμε ότι 500 κριτικές ή 3 ώρες ήχου εντός τομέα είναι αρκετές για επιτυχημένη προσαρμογή.
Les transformations des friches industrielles en écoquartiers, un tremplin vers la ville durable
Authors: Τούρα Βαρβάρα
Published: March 2024

Η διατριβή εξετάζει την έννοια της «βιομηχανικής κληρονομιάς» στις πρώην βιομηχανικές πόλεις, τόσο με όρους της διατήρησης της βιομηχανικής κληρονομιάς όσο και από τη μεριά των σύγχρονων πολιτικών πολεοδομικού σχεδιασμού, όπως αυτές που συνδέονται με την αειφόρο ανάπτυξη και τη συμμετοχή των κατοίκων. Η παρούσα έρευνα προτείνει μια κριτική εξέταση δύο προγραμμάτων μετασχηματισμού εγκαταλελειμμένων βιομηχανικών περιοχών σε οικολογικές γειτονιές, τα προγράμματα των Ile-de-Nantes και Docks-de-Seine στην πόλη της Σαντ-Ουέν της περιφέρειας Ile-de-France. Οι βιβλιογραφικές πηγές αναφέρονται αφενός στο ζήτημα του αστικού/πολεοδομικού σχεδιασμού βιομηχανικών ζωνών στη Γαλλία και σε άλλες χώρες, ειδικότερα ευρωπαϊκές, κατά τη διάρκεια των δεκαετιών της μεγάλης ανάπτυξης της βιομηχανίας και των συνεπειών που επέφερε αυτή η βιομηχανική ανάπτυξη στο περιβάλλον, στην κοινωνική συνοχή και στο τοπικό οικονομικό μοντέλο ανάπτυξης. Μία δεύτερη βιβλιογραφική κατηγορία είναι αυτή που αναφέρεται στις συνέπειες της αποβιομηχάνισης στις εθνικές οικονομικές δραστηριότητες και στη μετανάστευση πρώην βιομηχανικών εργατών σε πόλεις και σε χώρες όπου η βιομηχανία εξακολουθεί να είναι σε πλήρη άνθιση. Η τελευταία βιβλιογραφική κατηγορία αναφέρεται στις συζητήσεις σε παγκόσμιο επίπεδο στο ζήτημα του επανασχεδιασμού/επανάχρησης υφιστάμενων εγκαταλελειμένων βιομηχανικών περιοχών, στο εσωτερικό και στα προάστια πόλεων, ως απάντηση στα ζητήματα της σημαντικής αύξησης του πληθυσμού των πόλεων, της προστασίας των στοιχείων του φυσικού περιβάλλοντος και του οικολογικού αποτυπώματος των μεγάλων αστικών κέντρων το οποίο αποτελεί συνέπεια της αστικής επέκτασης προς τις αγροτικές περιοχές. Επιπλέον, στα πλαίσια της διατριβής διεξήχθησαν έρευνες πεδίου στις δύο περιοχές με συνεντεύξεις και ερωτηματολόγια στους κατοίκους των περιοχών, στους τοπικούς δημοτικούς και περιφερειακούς συμβούλους, στους αρχιτέκτονες και πολεοδόμους/χωροτάκτες που εργάζονται στα δύο προγράμματα αναπλάσεων καθώς και σε εκπροσώπους των τοπικών επαγγελματικών οργανώσεων που ειδικεύονται σε ζητήματα προστασίας και ανάδειξης της τοπικής βιομηχανικής κληρονομιάς των δύο περιοχών. Σκοπός της έρευνας πεδίου ήταν η μελέτη της εξέλιξης των δύο προγραμμάτων αστικών αναπλάσεων και της συνεργασίας μεταξύ των θεσμικών φορέων και αυτών της κοινωνίας των πολιτών. Οι δύο μελέτες περίπτωσης μας δείχνουν ότι η ενεργός συμμετοχή των τοπικών φορέων στα προγράμματα αστικών αναπλάσεων θα μπορούσε να οδηγήσει σε νέα μοντέλα αρχιτεκτονικής και πολεοδομικού σχεδιασμού (οικολογικά, βιώσιμα) εστιασμένα στις ανάγκες των χρηστών και των κατοίκων, διατηρώντας παράλληλα τα ίχνη του βιομηχανικού παρελθόντος. Το τελικό συμπέρασμα της διατριβής είναι ότι ο στόχος της αστικής ανάπτυξης στις πρώην βιομηχανικές πόλεις θα μπορούσε να επιτευχθεί μέσω της διατήρησης της «βιομηχανικής κληρονομιάς» και των δημιουργικών δραστηριοτήτων που προτείνονται από τις τοπικές αρχές, τους κατοίκους και τους αρχιτέκτονες/πολεοδόμους, συμπεριλαμβανομένων των ερευνητικών κέντρων και των βιομηχανικών μουσείων.
Digitally enabled perinatal mental health programmes' role in contemporary maternity care
Authors: McEwan Tom , Balment Marie , Farrow Lorraine , Wright Chris , Shankland Marie Claire
Published: March 2024

This article explores the use of digitally enabled programmes to support perinatal mental healthcare in the NHS. Focusing on the Perinatal Wellbeing Programme from SilverCloud® by Amwell®, participant experiences drawn from published case studies are considered. With mental health conditions recognised as a continued and significant cause of maternal death in the UK, the need for innovative, flexible and effective interventions and support has never been more important. Exploring the place of digitally enabled programmes in contemporary midwifery practice, and the need for further evidence of their efficacy, this article continues the discourse of a previously published article on digital mental health platforms.
Volvulus of the gastrointestinal tract
Authors: Brown Jasmine , Dick Lachlan , Watson Angus
Published: March 2024

Volvulus describes the twisting of the intestine or colon around its mesentery. Intestinal obstruction and/or ischaemia are the most common complications of volvulus. Within the gastrointestinal tract, there is a preponderance towards colonic volvulus. The sigmoid is the most commonly affected segment, followed by the caecum, small intestine and stomach. Distinguishing between the differing anatomical locations of gastrointestinal volvulus can be challenging, but is important for the management and prognosis. This article focuses on the main anatomical sites of gastrointestinal volvulus encountered in clinical practice. The aetiology, presentation, radiological features and management options for each are discussed to highlight the key differences.
Enhanced supportive care
Authors: Monnery Daniel , Droney Joanne
Published: March 2024

Enhanced supportive care is a care model providing earlier access to multiprofessional, coordinated care for patients from the point of cancer diagnosis. As a proactive model of care, it stands as a contrast to providing access to a multidisciplinary team once a patient has hit a crisis point, or when their prognosis has become sufficiently poor that they are able to access traditional end-of-life services. Its arrival in the UK through palliative care teams working in cancer care has led to enhanced supportive care being synonymous with early palliative care. While enhanced supportive care has enabled early palliative care, as it has become more embedded in the UK, it has taken on a wider remit for patients living longer with cancer and the management of side effects. Enhanced supportive care services have also begun to provide care for cancer survivors.

Enhanced supportive care services have a key role in modern cancer care in maintaining and improving patients' quality of life alongside cancer treatment and ensuring that patients' priorities and preferences for treatment are considered. Furthermore, enhanced supportive care has been shown to support the wider healthcare system by creating capacity within the NHS, reducing demand on hospital services and saving money.

As enhanced supportive care services continue to grow and venture into the care and support of cancer survivors and those receiving potentially curative treatments, ongoing work is needed to determine how these services can be made available throughout the NHS and how a shared vision of the way enhanced supportive care operates can be realised.
Physiological responses to wearing face masks during exercise
Authors: Polastri Massimiliano , Reed Robert
Published: March 2024

In this editorial, Massimiliano Polastri and Robert Reed discuss the effects of wearing face masks during exercise for patients with respiratory disease and typically healthy individuals.
Fractal Interpolation Function based Thin Wire Antennas
Authors: Kalender Gizem , Zoral Emine Yeşim , Günel Serkan
Published: March 2024

This paper presents an approach for the design of wire antennas based on fractal interpolation functions (FIFs). The interpolation points and the contraction factors of the FIFs are chosen as free parameters to modify the antenna geometry. The proposed structures’ gain and radiation pattern can be optimized using FIF parameters. Producible prefractal antennas obtained in the intermediate iterations of fractal generation have compact sizes compared to classical counterparts. The error in prefractal geometry and the original fractal is bounded, and can be determined in terms of the finest producible detail’s dimensions. The emerging structures have multiband behavior due to their self-similar and symmetric nature. To illustrate the approach, we have provided finite element based simulations for several prefractal antennas. |S11|, the gain, the radiation efficiency, the radiation patterns, and feed point impedances for the demonstrated antennas are calculated numerically. The results indicate that produced antennas can be used in applications that require limited mechanical size, multiple operating bands, and controlled radiation patterns.
Navigating through the Cracks of the State System: Shifting Spaces of Hope in the Portuguese Mobility Regime
Authors: Challinor Elizabeth
Published: March 2024

ABSTRACT: Portugal's tolerance towards irregular migration and its relatively extensive citizenship rights, in comparison with other European countries, have contributed towards its reputation as a migrant friendly state. However, when the state turns a blind eye to the irregular status of migrants and when the outsourcing of refugee reception to civil society fails to deliver according to Weberian expectations of an orderly, rational bureaucracy, who has the right to call whom to account? Through an examination of the blurred accountabilities in different sites of service provision in Portugal, the article examines the complex, shifting and incomplete strategies employed by social workers, civil society hosting staff and migrants in struggles over claims and resources. The challenges are like those of a game of cards in which players, searching for clarification regarding the rules of the game and how to apply or even manipulate them, may be partners in one round and adversaries in the next. These sites of struggle extend beyond two-sided confrontations between bureaucrats and their clients to include the wider structural context with its multiple actors, multiple accountabilities, and complex positionalities at play. A common outcome in these struggles for migrants and service providers alike is a transition from hope in state service delivery to hope in their own ability to navigate the system. There are limits to what service providers can achieve due to the structural conditions beyond their control. When they fail to deliver, relations between migrants and service providers sour. Feeling that clients have acted contrary to their expectations of compliant gratitude, service providers employ strategies which range from cutting relationships altogether to providing minimal formal support and questioning their own reactions. Migrants, believing that they have been let down or even tricked by the state, may even feel legitimatized to trick it in return.
My Brother's Keeper
Authors: Hurni Korey
Published: March 2024

Abstract: A sibling recounts the life of their brother who has passed away. They intertwine a hunting story told countlessly by the brother to examine their relationship and the world itself. The author uses various anecdotes around philosophy, history, and art in hopes of answering his questions and grappling with his familial tragedies.
Freedom Trees
Authors: keim noam
Published: March 2024

Abstract: An essay using the image, history, and cultural connections of the linden tree to examine its role within countries and historical events. The linden tree is considered the oldest tree in the world and has been witness to several of history's definitive moments. The author describes how different cultures have utilized the help of the linden trees through its natural properties. In juxtaposition, there is an examination on the impact of the empires on the lindens and the current livelihood these empires provide the narrator. The author also uses this collected history to examine their connection to the linden tree through personal anecdotes while living in Philadelphia.
A Community of E-Scavengers
Authors: Manzella Abby
Published: March 2024

Abstract: This essay examines the author's experience of the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. Living in New York at the time, the author describes the preparations she undertook along with her husband to stay secure during and after the storm raged on. Due to the storm, the author lost power to her apartment, causing her and her husband to e-scavenge. E-scavenging is described as searching for charging ports and services in order to charge devices, connect to the internet, and receive phone calls and text messages. The author examines the emotional tolls that a disruption of this nature can bring, along with anxiety and fears. She recounts the changes in daily life; the lack of hustle and bustle that usually fill the streets of New York City. The author is voicing a need to look at the costs of Superstorm Sandy in terms of social and human costs rather than simply the monetary costs reported by New York's MTA and news media.
“The name is Blacula!”: Identity and Palimpsest in William Marshall’s Vampire Diptych
Authors: Perrello Tony , Wilke Nathan
Published: March 2024

Abstract: In the early 1970s, a new cinematic genre, the Blaxploitation film, emerged from a creative scene which saw Black actors, writers, and directors enabled to produce their own original works for the first time. Often accused of trafficking in unsavory racial tropes, Blaxploitation films nevertheless displayed aspects of America’s racial problems and subtly complicated Black stereotypes while capitalizing on them to entertain both Black and White audiences. Films such as Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (dir. Melvin Van Peebles, 1971) and Shaft (dir. Gordon Parks, 1971) may be most recalled as having catapulted this genre to fame, but an often-overlooked subgenre—the Blaxploitation horror film—also offered its unique brand of cultural insight. William Crain’s seminal Blaxploitation horror film, Blacula (1972), and its fast-tracked sequel, Scream Blacula Scream (dir. Bob Kelljan, 1973), demonstrate the power of the Blaxploitation framework to transcend its harmful stereotypes and to expose oppressive cultural practices. Our analysis of this pair of Blaxploitation horror films focuses upon two aspects of their position as representatives of their subgenre: first, their influence upon the wider cinematic culture, particularly the culture of horror cinema; second, the ability of Blacula and its sequel to play with and against their racial stereotypes.
Hands across Black America: Visions of Isolation and Social Life in Modern Black Horror Film
Authors: González Andrés Emil
Published: March 2024

Abstract: As Black horror film production flourishes in the wake of Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017), the greater number of movies allows for a closer analysis of the filmic and generic traditions that contemporary Black horror invokes and draws from. The premise of this investigation is that a cohort of Black horror films have taken older, white-directed horror that includes Black characters as inspiration for their thinking on the question of Black social life. This essay proposes that contemporary Black directors and writers have looked to these older films, which often rely on stereotypes and tropes of Black experience, precisely as a way to grapple with contradictions in Black experience which have been thematized, sometimes crudely, by white directors of horror. Following the work of Robin R. Means Coleman, Kinitra D. Brooks, and others on the mechanics of racial tropes in cinema, I suggest that representations of Black social life begin to appear as a turbulent, at times terrifying, yet captivating alternative to relations premised on either the individualism of the private sphere, or the indistinct unity of the monoracial community. This alternative, adapting a term from Fred Moten, is the Black polis .
Afrofuturist Horror on the Western Frontier: Capitalism’s Reckoning and Queer Possibilities in Jordan Peele’s Nope
Authors: MezaGuerra Hilary R.
Published: March 2024

Abstract: As in all his films to date, Jordan Peele deftly weaves metaphor in Nope , his latest film, to critique capitalism and its white supremacist foundations. The film’s monsters include an abstracted alien and a domesticated chimpanzee gone violent and come to signify capitalism’s recalcitrant reckoning. Drawing from Black feminist studies, Afrofuturism, and queer theory’s work on utopia and potential in queer failure, Peele compels viewers to consider Black Americans’ centrality in the formation and destruction of American capitalism. What other worlds become possible in the process of the Black and queer protagonists’ survival against the Lovecraftian monster? This study examines how horror becomes a useful lens—for rethinking the role of Black people in horror, for its contribution towards more critical discussion on capitalism’s legacy and its impending collapse(s). And, most importantly, for centering and imagining decolonial futures led by queer people of color.
Factors associated with the uptake of intermittent preventive treatment for malaria during pregnancy in Cameroon: An analysis of data from the 2018 Cameroon Demographic and Health Survey
Authors: Guimsop Dominique Ken , Talla Ange Faustine Kenmogne , Kodji Haoua , Ateudjieu Jerome
Published: March 2024

Malaria in pregnancy is a major public health concern that contributes to a significant increase in maternal and child mortality and morbidity. Intermittent preventive treatment of malaria during pregnancy using sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (IPTp-SP) is a key intervention recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and implemented in Cameroon to reduce the morbidity associated with malaria during pregnancy. This study aimed to assess the distribution of the poor uptake of IPTp-SP (i.e. fewer than three doses) in Cameroon and the factors associated. We conducted a secondary analysis of data extracted from the 2018 Cameroon Demographic and Health Survey. Data was collected using a face-to-face questionnaire administered to mothers with at least one child under the age of five. The participants were selected using a two-stage stratified sampling process. We estimated the frequencies of mothers receiving fewer than three doses of IPTp-SP. Multilevel logistic regression modeling was used to assess the associations between key suspected determinants and uptake of fewer than three doses of IPTp-SP. Crude and adjusted Odds-Ratio (ORs) were estimated. A total of 13,527 women of childbearing age were interviewed, of whom 5,528 (40.9%) met our selection criteria. Among them, 845 (15.3%) women had no antenatal consultation (ANC) visit, 1,109 (20%) had 1–3 visits, 3,379 (61.1%) had 4–7 visits, and only 195 (3.5%) had at least eight visits. Moreover, 3,398 (61.5%, CI: 60.2–62.8) had received fewer than three doses of IPTp-SP. Our findings show that the predictors of poor uptake of IPTp-SP include attending the first ANC visit after the third month of pregnancy (aOR = 1.52, CI: 1.30–1.77), attending fewer than four ANC visits (aOR = 1.29, CI: 1.06–1.56), and not being attended to by a healthcare professional during the prenatal period (aOR = 4.63, CI: 2.81–7.64). Residing in the Sahelian regions was not increasing the risk of poor IPTp-SP uptake on its own but was positively modifying the effect of not being attended by a healthcare professional (p < 0.001). We did not find a significant association between a higher level of education and the uptake of IPTp-SP (aOR = 1.10, CI: 0.90–1.32). Nearly two third of the pregnant women in Cameroon have a poor uptake of IPTp-SP. Interventions focused on ANC provision ought to be explored and tested to address this gap, with priority assigned to the Sahelian region.
The social determinants of migrant domestic worker (MDW) health and well-being in the Western Pacific Region: A Scoping Review
Authors: Chan Jamie , Dominguez Georgia , Hua Antonia , Garabiles Melissa , Latkin Carl A. , Hall Brian J.
Published: March 2024

The health and well-being of transnational migrant domestic workers (MDWs) is a pressing but largely neglected public health concern. The Asia Pacific region is home to over 20% of the global MDW population. Living and working conditions, social contexts, political environments, and migration regimes are recognized as consequential to the health of this population, but currently no synthesis of available literature to prioritize research or policy agenda setting for MDW has yet been conducted. This scoping review screened 6,006 peer-reviewed articles and 1,217 gray literature sources, identifying 173 articles and 276 gray literature sources that reported key MDW health outcomes, social determinants of health, and related interventions. The majority of identified studies were observational and focused on the prevalence of common mental disorders and chronic physical conditions, with most studies lacking population representativeness. Identified social determinants of health were primarily concerned with personal social and financial resources, and health knowledge and behaviors, poor living and working conditions, community resources, experienced stigma and discrimination, poor healthcare access, exploitation within the MDW employment industry, and weak governance. Six interventional studies were identified that targeted individual-level health determinants such as financial and health knowledge with mixed effectiveness. Future population representative epidemiological and respondent driven sampling studies are needed to estimate population health burdens. In addition, randomized control trials and public health intervention studies are needed to improve women’s health outcomes and address proximal health determinants to reduce health inequalities. Leveraging social networks and community facing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are promising directions to overcome access to care for this population.
Breastfeeding, cognitive ability, and residual confounding: A comment on studies by Pereyra-Elìas et al.
Authors: Sorjonen Kimmo , Nilsonne Gustav , Ingre Michael , Melin Bo
Published: March 2024

Recent studies found positive effects of breastfeeding on the child’s cognitive ability and educational outcomes even when adjusting for maternal cognitive ability in addition to a large number of other potential confounders. The authors claimed an important role of breastfeeding for the child’s cognitive scores. However, it is well known that error in the measurement of confounders can leave room for residual confounding. In the present reanalyses, we found incongruent effects indicating simultaneous increasing and decreasing effects of breastfeeding on the child’s cognitive ability and educational outcomes. We conclude that findings in the reanalyses may have been due to residual confounding due to error in the measurement of maternal cognitive ability. Consequently, it appears premature to assume a genuine increasing effect of breastfeeding on the child’s cognitive ability and educational outcomes and claims in this regard may be challenged.
Triggering Chinese lecturers’ intrinsic work motivation by value-based leadership and growth mindset: Generation difference by using multigroup analysis
Authors: Zhao Xiangge , Wider Walton , Zhang Xinxin , Fauzi Muhammad Ashraf , Wong Chee Hoo , Jiang Leilei , Udang Lester Naces
Published: March 2024

This cross-sectional study investigated the effects of value-based leadership and growth mindset on the intrinsic work motivation of Chinese lecturers. In addition, this study used age as a categorical moderator to investigate generational differences between the effects of Millennials and their predecessors. A sample of 518 lecturers from various Chinese universities was used to collect data, and SEM-PLS was used to analyse the data. The results showed that value-based leadership and growth mindset had a significant positive impact on both younger and older lecturers’ intrinsic work motivation, with the effect of value-based leadership on younger lecturers’ intrinsic motivation being significantly stronger than on older lecturers’ intrinsic motivation, whereas the effect of growth mindset on intrinsic work motivation did not differ significantly between the younger and older groups. This study contributes to the existing research literature by contrasting the value-based leadership and growth mindset in relation to lecturers’ intrinsic work motivation across younger and older groups in Chinese higher education settings, where greater heterogeneity between age groups was identified. The findings also provided university administrators with recommendations for boosting the intrinsic work motivation of lecturers, influencing future education policy.
Estimating turnover and industry longevity of Canadian sex workers
Authors: Kennedy Lynn
Published: March 2024

How long indoor sex workers stay employed in collectives is a poorly understood aspect of sex worker agency in industrialized democracies. This study provides estimates of turnover, the rate at which workers leave employment, using a subsample of 76 collectives representing 3545 workers over a one-year period. All the collectives provided data on individual workers via external websites. The collectives were identified in a larger random sample of 783 advertisers from a popular Canadian classifieds site used by sex workers, all of whom provided URLs as part of their ad contact information. Monthly between October 2022 and October 2023, individual workers associated with the subsample of advertisers were identified from web pages maintained by these advertisers and scheduling data was collected where available. Worker turnover was estimated based on whether workers were visible one month to the next. Over the year, estimated turnover ranged from 12.0% to 16.0% (mean 14.2% SD 1.1%). Turnover was not affected by month or number of workers in the collectives. Mean 41.1% workers (SD 23.5%, N = 51 advertisers) were scheduled on any given day. Workers were visible for a mean 5.5 months (SD 4.5) with those visible for one month being the largest single group. Most sex workers in collectives are likely not permanent full time employees, and the extremely brief work histories of many suggest that failure in the industry may be common for this subpopulation.
Exploring the drivers of agricultural wages growth in China: A comprehensive framework utilizing input-output and structural decomposition methods
Authors: Zheng Peijiang , Li Yang , Qi Yingying
Published: March 2024

This study explores the factors driving agricultural wages growth in China from 1981 to 2020. We propose a comprehensive framework that combines input-output analysis and structural decomposition analysis to investigate the drivers of agricultural wages growth from four perspectives: supply, demand, industrial linkages, and agricultural support policies. The findings indicate that changes in consumer demand, investment demand, and labor mobility play significant roles in driving the growth of agricultural wages in China. Additionally, agricultural support policies have contributed to an increase in agricultural wages to some extent. However, changes in industrial linkages negatively affect agricultural wages growth. A notable strength of this study lies in the methodology employed, which ensures a comprehensive and systematic analysis encompassing diverse factors rather than a restricted perspective.
A machine learning based depression screening framework using temporal domain features of the electroencephalography signals
Authors: Khan Sheharyar , Umar Saeed Sanay Muhammad , Frnda Jaroslav , Arsalan Aamir , Amin Rashid , Gantassi Rahma , Noorani Sadam Hussain
Published: March 2024

Depression is a serious mental health disorder affecting millions of individuals worldwide. Timely and precise recognition of depression is vital for appropriate mediation and effective treatment. Electroencephalography (EEG) has surfaced as a promising tool for inspecting the neural correlates of depression and therefore, has the potential to contribute to the diagnosis of depression effectively. This study presents an EEG-based mental depressive disorder detection mechanism using a publicly available EEG dataset called Multi-modal Open Dataset for Mental-disorder Analysis (MODMA). This study uses EEG data acquired from 55 participants using 3 electrodes in the resting-state condition. Twelve temporal domain features are extracted from the EEG data by creating a non-overlapping window of 10 seconds, which is presented to a novel feature selection mechanism. The feature selection algorithm selects the optimum chunk of attributes with the highest discriminative power to classify the mental depressive disorders patients and healthy controls. The selected EEG attributes are classified using three different classification algorithms i.e., Best- First (BF) Tree, k-nearest neighbor (KNN), and AdaBoost. The highest classification accuracy of 96.36% is achieved using BF-Tree using a feature vector length of 12. The proposed mental depressive classification scheme outperforms the existing state-of-the-art depression classification schemes in terms of the number of electrodes used for EEG recording, feature vector length, and the achieved classification accuracy. The proposed framework could be used in psychiatric settings, providing valuable support to psychiatrists.
Outcome of complicated osteoarticular brucellosis in a tertiary care center in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Mahmoud Ebrahim , Alaman Areej , Alsayari Raghad , Hakeem Anadel , Bosaeed Mohammad , Ibrahim Azaheer , Algazlan Saleh , Almanea Abdullah , Abulaban Ahmed A.
Published: March 2024

Objective

To evaluate the outcome of complicated osteoarticular brucellosis.

Methods

A retrospective chart review was conducted at King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC), in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. All patients aged more than 14 who have been diagnosed with complicated brucellosis with osteoarticular disease between July 2016 and December 2022 were included.

Results

A total of 82 (10.7%) patients met the criteria, with a male predominance of 66 (80.4%), and their mean age was 56.4 ± 19.3 years. A positive blood culture was found in 33 (40.2%). The most common clinical presentation was fever (57.3%). All patients received a doxycycline-based regimen except one. 62 (75.60%) patients were treated with three or more medication regimens, while 20 (24.40%) patients received two drug regimens. The mean duration of therapy was 94.2 days for two-drug therapy and 116.4 days for three-drug therapy. A total of 78 out of 82 (95.1%) cases were cured at the end of treatment. Unfavorable outcomes were documented in four cases (two relapses and two treatment failures). Neither using three drugs regimen nor longer duration of therapy was associated with better outcome.

Conclusions

Unfavorable outcomes have been noticed to be minimal in our cohort of patients with osteoarticular brucellosis, treated mainly with a three-drug regimen and a longer duration of therapy.
Designing Iranian hospital organizational charts: Global comparisons
Authors: Amini-Rarani Mostafa , Mokhtari Somayeh , Akbari Mohammad , Zamani Zahra , Mahdiyan Somayeh
Published: March 2024

Background

Hospitals should have effective and efficient organizational charts to face the changing healthcare environment. Thus, for this purpose, the present study seeks to compile an organizational chart for Iranian hospitals.

Materials and methods

The present study was conducted in two phase overview and qualitative (using focus group discussion). In the overview phase, the organizational charts of hospitals were analyzed in terms of complexity (i.e., degree of horizontal and vertical separations), and the initial hospital organizational chart was developed based on the results. Subsequently, experts were interviewed in a focus group discussion to finalize and validate the initial organizational chart.

Results

The final organizational chart was designed to contain features such as internal divisions, specialization, reduction of organizational hierarchies, expansion of supervision scope, and moderate-sized organizational pyramid.

Conclusion

Using designed organizational chart would eliminate the redundant managerial levels since it reduces organizational hierarchies to two levels of management, expands the supervision scopes, fosters a moderate-sized organizational pyramid, and catalyzes communications.