bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Man Who had Nowhere to Go
Authors: Wells H. G.
Published: February 2022

In the early morning—it was the second morning after my recovery, and I believe the fourth after I was picked up—I awoke through an avenue of tumultuous dreams, dreams of guns and howling mobs, and became sensible of a hoarse shouting above me. I rubbed my eyes, and lay listening to the noise, doubtful for a little while of my whereabouts. Then came a sudden pattering of bare feet, the sound of heavy objects being thrown about, a violent creaking and rattling of chains. I heard the swish of the water as the ship was suddenly brought round, and a foamy yellow-green wave flew across the little round window and left it streaming. I jumped into my clothes and went on deck.
The Siege of Kemp’s House
Authors: Wells H. G.
Published: February 2022

Kemp read a strange missive, written in pencil on a greasy sheet of paper.
The First Making of Cavorite
Authors: Wells H. G.
Published: February 2022

But Cavor’s fears were groundless, so far as the actual making was concerned. On the 14th of October 1899 this incredible substance was made!
The Building of the Sphere
Authors: Wells H. G.
Published: February 2022

I remember the occasion very distinctly when Cavor told me of his idea of the sphere. He had had intimations of it before, but at the time it seemed to come to him in a rush. We were returning to the bungalow for tea, and on the way he fell humming. Suddenly he shouted, ‘That’s it! That finishes it! A sort of roller blind!’
The Grand Lunar
Authors: Wells H. G.
Published: February 2022

The penultimate message describes, with occasionally even elaborate detail, the encounter between Cavor and the Grand Lunar, who is the ruler or master of the moon. Cavor seems to have sent most of it without interference, but to have been interrupted in the concluding portion. The second came after an interval of a week.
The Time Traveller Returns
Authors: Wells H. G.
Published: February 2022

I think that at that time none of us quite believed in the Time Machine. The fact is, the Time Traveller was one of those men who are too clever to be believed: you never felt that you saw all round him; you always suspected some subtle reserve, some ingenuity in ambush, behind his lucid frankness. Had Filby shown the model and explained the matter in the Time Traveller’s words, we should have shown him far less scepticism. For we should have perceived his motives: a pork-butcher could understand Filby. But the Time Traveller had more than a touch of whim among his elements, and we distrusted him. Things that would have made the fame of a less clever man seemed tricks in his hands. It is a mistake to do things too easily. The serious people who took him seriously never felt quite sure of his deportment: they were somehow aware that trusting their reputations for judgment with him was like furnishing a nursery with egg-shell china. So I don’t think any of us said very much about time travelling in the interval between that Thursday and the next, though its odd potentialities ran, no doubt, in most of our minds: its plausibility, that is, its practical incredibleness, the curious possibilities of anachronism and of utter confusion it suggested. For my own part, I was particularly preoccupied with the trick of the model.
Explanation
Authors: Wells H. G.
Published: February 2022

‘So far as I could see, all the world displayed the same exuberant richness as the Thames valley. From every hill I climbed I saw the same abundance of splendid buildings, endlessly varied in material and style; the same cluttering thickets of evergreens, the same blossom-laden trees and tree ferns. Here and there water shone like silver, and beyond, the land rose into blue undulating hills, and so faded into the serenity of the sky. A peculiar feature, which presently attracted my attention, was the presence of certain circular wells, several, as it seemed to me, of a very great depth. One lay by the path up the hill, which I had followed during my first walk. Like the others, it was rimmed with bronze, curiously wrought, and protected by a little cupola from the rain. Sitting by the side of these wells, and peering down into the shafted darkness, I could see no gleam of water, nor could I start any reflection with a lighted match. But in all of them I heard a certain sound: a thud—thud—thud, like the beating of some big engine; and I discovered, from the flaring of my matches, that a steady current of air set down the shafts. Further, I threw a scrap of paper into the throat of one; and, instead of fluttering slowly down, it was at once sucked swiftly out of sight.
Chapter I
Authors: Zola Émile
Published: February 2022

Gervaise had waited up for Lantier until two in the morning. Then, shivering all over from sitting half undressed in the cold air from the window, she’d slumped across the bed, feeling feverish, her cheeks wet with tears. For a week now, when they came out of the Veau à Deux Têtes,* where they had their meals, he’d sent her home to bed with the children and not come in himself until the early hours, saying he’d been looking for a job. That particular evening, as she was looking out for him, she thought she saw him go into the Grand-Balcon* dance hall, whose ten blazing windows lit up the black expanse of the outer boulevards* with a sheet of flame, and she’d caught sight of little Adèle, a metal polisher who ate at their restaurant, five or six paces behind him, her hands dangling as if she’d just let go of his arm so they wouldn’t be seen together in the glaring lights of the doorway.
Chapter III
Authors: Zola Émile
Published: February 2022

Gervaise didn’t want to do anything special for the wedding. Why spend the money? Besides, she still felt a bit shy about it: she didn’t see any point in advertising the marriage to the whole neighbourhood. But Coupeau protested that you couldn’t get married just like that, without some sort of meal. He couldn’t care less about the neighbours! They’d do something quite simple, a little outing in the afternoon, then a spot of dinner in the first eating house they came to. And no music afterwards, for sure, nothing to get the ladies to wiggle their bums about. Just a few little drinks, then everybody back home and off to bye-byes.
Chapter XII
Authors: Zola Émile
Published: February 2022

It must have been the Saturday after rent day, something like the twelfth or the thirteenth of January, Gervaise wasn’t really sure. She couldn’t think properly because it was ages since she’d had anything warm in her belly. It’d been a hell of a week! They were totally cleaned out: two four-pound loaves on Tuesday that had lasted until Thursday, then a dry crust she’d come across the day before, and nothing more for the last thirty-six hours — bugger-all! But what she was sure of, because she could feel it on her back, was that the weather was foul, bitterly cold, with a sky as black as coal, and full of snow that wouldn’t come down. When you’ve got winter as well as hunger in your guts, you can tighten your belt all you like, it’s not going to help to fill your belly.
Letter 8
Authors: Austen Jane
Published: February 2022

Mrs Vernon to Lady De Courcy.

churchill
Letter 9
Authors: Austen Jane
Published: February 2022

Mrs Johnson to Lady Susan.

edward st.
Letter 11
Authors: Austen Jane
Published: February 2022

Mrs Vernon to Lady De Courcy.

I really grow quite uneasy my dearest Mother about Reginald, from witnessing the very rapid increase of Lady Susan’s influence. They are now on terms of the most particular friendship, frequently engaged in long conversations together, & she has...
Letter 27
Authors: Austen Jane
Published: February 2022

Mrs Vernon to Lady De Courcy.

churchill

This Letter my dear Mother, will be brought you by Reginald. His long visit is about to be concluded at last, but I fear the separation takes place too late to do us any good. — She is...
Letter 38
Authors: Austen Jane
Published: February 2022

Mrs Johnson to Lady Susan.

edward st.

I am greived, tho’ I cannot be astonished at your rupture with Mr De Courcy; — he has just informed Mr Johnson of it by letter. He leaves London he says to day. — Be assured that I partake in all your...
Letter 39
Authors: Austen Jane
Published: February 2022

Lady Susan to Mrs Johnson.

upper seymour st.
Letter 41
Authors: Austen Jane
Published: February 2022

Mrs Vernon to Lady De Courcy.

churchill
Conclusion
Authors: Austen Jane
Published: February 2022

This Correspondence, by a meeting between some of the Parties & a separation between the others, could not, to the great detriment of the Post office Revenue,* be continued longer. — Very little assistance to the State could be derived from the Epistolary Intercourse of...
Opinions of Mansfield Park
Authors: Austen Jane
Published: February 2022

‘We certainly do not think it as a whole, equal to P. & P. — but it has many & great beauties. Fanny is a delightful Character! and Aunt Norris is a great favourite of mine. The Characters are natural & well supported, & many...
Author’s Preface
Authors: de Sade Marquis
Published: February 2022

This is no novel we are offering here: the awful truth of the events we are to describe may be found in the Causes célèbres.* All Europe reverberated with the news of this lamentable episode. Did everyone not shudder when they...
Chapter I
Authors: de Sade Marquis
Published: February 2022

The testament of Louis XIII, which established a Regency council, annulled by a Court of Justice* decree according to the wishes of Anne of Austria, that monarch’s widow; the investiture of this Princess as Regent for an indefinite period; the war which obliged the Regent to arm the French against Philippe, her brother, whom she nonetheless loved very dearly (a disastrous war, which had endured for the last thirteen years); the Regent’s choice of Mazarin, who held sway over both this sovereign and all of France; the civil war, an inevitable result of discord, or of boundless ambition among ministers; the dangerous ongoing conflict between the Courts of Justice and the supreme ruler; the arbitrary arrests of Noviac, Chardon, Broussel, etc., carried out and resisted with shots fired, and which left Paris bristling with barricades on that fateful day in which the Cardinal de Retz took such brazen pride;* the court’s retreat to Saint-Germain,* where everyone slept on straw; the nonage of Louis XIV, who at the time was only eleven years of age; all these calamitous circumstances offered a less than serene prospect for the early days of the marriage which Mademoiselle de Rossan, daughter of one of the wealthiest gentlemen of Avignon, contracted in 1649 with the Comte de Castellane, son of the Duc de Villars.
Chapter VI
Authors: de Sade Marquis
Published: February 2022

‘What a deceitful creature!’ Alphonse said to his brother, as soon as they were alone. ‘How well she feigns religion, virtue, decency, and how well her face, with its air of sweetness, fools people all the more! But one can discern, in those seductive features, the mask of hypocrisy — I must have been blind not to recognize it straight away. Oh, how I would pity men, if all women resembled this one.’
‘My friend,’ said Théodore, ‘I fear you were too hasty; I advised prudence, and you listened only to your passions. What are we going to do now? A dead man! A guilty woman!’
Chapter IX
Authors: de Sade Marquis
Published: February 2022

The day after Madame de Gange’s arrival in Avignon, the three brothers went to pay her a first visit. The Marquis conducted himself marvellously well: self-interest, at this point, spoke to him more loudly than any other feelings he harboured in his heart.
‘A thousand of the most sincere apologies, Madame,’ said Alphonse, ‘if all that the violence of my love has brought you is misfortune. How is one to guard against jealousy when one is in love with someone of such beauty? We were deceived by the tricks, the ruses, of a hothead whom I can only despise even as I remember him now, for he is the one I hold responsible for all my injustices towards you. Is it too much to hope that my remorse might in time efface my wrongs?’
Chapter X
Authors: de Sade Marquis
Published: February 2022

With such a vivid imagination, and such recent memories of her woes, it is not difficult to imagine the distressing reflections to which Madame de Gange succumbed. How many sighs came from her oppressed heart . . . how many tears drenched her cheeks as she contemplated her terrible plight! Cruelly agitated, she wandered around this great chamber, unable to discern its dimensions, when she thought she spied a small door ajar. It was still night, and the room was lit only by some faint and fleeting beams from a pale moon constantly hidden by the squalling clouds. She flies to this door . . . misfortune grasps wildly at anything that chance presents: a spluttering lamp reveals a glimpse of a chamber on the other side of the door; she enters . . . But what hideous object greets her eyes! There on a table before her, she sees an open cadaver, almost entirely ripped asunder, on which the castle surgeon had just been working . . . for this is his laboratory. Euphrasie recoils with a bloodcurdling scream. She loses her way, stumbles . . . only terror is keeping her alive; were it not for the intense agitation making her heart pound she would die . . . But there is no way out . . . no means of escape left; and without her so much as touching it, the door by which she entered this terrible place closes behind her.
The discontent of Rasselas in the happy valley
Authors: Johnson Samuel
Published: February 2022

Here the sons and daughters of Abissinia* lived only to know the soft vicissitudes of pleasure and repose, attended by all that were skilful to delight, and gratified with whatever the senses can enjoy. They wandered in gardens of fragrance, and slept in the fortresses of security. Every art was practised to make them pleased with their own condition. The sages who instructed them, told them of nothing but the miseries of publick life, and described all beyond the mountains as regions of calamity, where discord was always raging, and where man preyed upon man.*
They enter Cairo, and find every man happy
Authors: Johnson Samuel
Published: February 2022

As they approached the city, which filled the strangers with astonishment, ‘This, said Imlac to the prince, is the place where travellers and merchants assemble from all the corners of the earth. You will here find men of every character, and every occupation. Commerce is here honourable: I will act as a merchant, and you shall live as strangers, who have no other end of travel than curiosity; it will soon be observed that we are rich; our reputation will procure us access to all whom we shall desire to know; you will see all the conditions of humanity, and enable yourself at leisure to make your choice of life.’
Disquisition upon greatness
Authors: Johnson Samuel
Published: February 2022

The conversation had a short pause. The prince having considered his sister’s observations, told her, that she had surveyed life with prejudice, and supposed misery where she did not find it. ‘Your narrative, says he, throws yet a darker gloom upon the prospects of futurity: the predictions of Imlac were but faint sketches of the evils painted by Nekayah. I have been lately convinced that quiet is not the daughter of grandeur, or of power: that her presence is not to be bought by wealth, nor enforced by conquest. It is evident, that as any man acts in a wider compass, he must be more exposed to opposition from enmity or miscarriage from chance; whoever has many to please or to govern, must use the ministry of many agents, some of whom will be wicked, and some ignorant; by some he will be misled, and by others betrayed. If he gratifies one he will offend another: those that are not favoured will think themselves injured; and, since favours can be conferred but upon few, the greater number will be always discontented.’*
The debate on marriage continued
Authors: Johnson Samuel
Published: February 2022

‘The good of the whole, says Rasselas, is the same with the good of all its parts. If marriage be best for mankind it must be evidently best for individuals, or a permanent and necessary duty must be the cause of evil, and some must be inevitably sacrificed to the convenience of others. In the estimate which you have made of the two states, it appears that the incommodities of a single life are, in a great measure, necessary and certain, but those of the conjugal state accidental and avoidable.
They visit the pyramids
Authors: Johnson Samuel
Published: February 2022

The resolution being thus taken, they set out the next day. They laid tents upon their camels, being resolved to stay among the pyramids till their curiosity was fully satisfied. They travelled gently, turned aside to every thing remarkable, stopped from time to time and conversed with the inhabitants, and observed the various appearances of towns ruined and inhabited, of wild and cultivated nature.
They enter the pyramid
Authors: Johnson Samuel
Published: February 2022

Pekuah descended to the tents, and the rest entered the pyramid: they passed through the galleries, surveyed the vaults of marble, and examined the chest in which the body of the founder is supposed to have been reposited.* They then sat down in one of the most spacious chambers to rest a while before they attempted to return.
The astronomer leaves Imlac his directions
Authors: Johnson Samuel
Published: February 2022

‘Hear therefore, what I shall impart, with attention, such as the welfare of a world requires. If the task of a king be considered as difficult, who has the care only of a few millions, to whom he cannot do much good or harm, what must be the anxiety of him, on whom depend the action of the elements, and the great gifts of light and heat!—Hear me therefore with attention.
A migration. The fortunate circumstances of our lives are generally found at last to be of our own procuring
Authors: Goldsmith Oliver
Published: February 2022

The only hope of our family now was, that the report of our misfortunes might be malicious or premature: but a letter from my agent in town soon came with a confirmation of every particular. The loss of fortune to myself alone would have been trifling; the only uneasiness I felt was for my family, who were to be humble without an education to render them callous to contempt.
A new and great acquaintance introduced. What we place most hopes upon, generally proves most fatal
Authors: Goldsmith Oliver
Published: February 2022

At a small distance from the house my predecessor had made a seat, overshaded by an hedge of hawthorn and honeysuckle. Here, when the weather was fine, and our labour soon finished, we usually sate together, to enjoy an extensive landschape, in the calm of the evening. Here too we drank tea, which now was become an occasional banquet; and as we had it but seldom, it diffused a new joy, the preparations for it being made with no small share of bustle and ceremony. On these occasions, our two little ones always read for us, and they were regularly served after we had done. Sometimes, to give a variety to our amusements, the girls sung to the guitar; and while they thus formed a little concert, my wife and I would stroll down the sloping field, that was embellished with blue bells and centaury,* talk of our children with rapture, and enjoy the breeze that wafted both health and harmony.
The family still resolve to hold up their heads
Authors: Goldsmith Oliver
Published: February 2022

Michaelmas eve happening on the next day,* we were invited to burn nuts and play tricks at neighbour Flamborough’s. Our late mortifications had humbled us a little, or it is probable we might have rejected such an invitation with contempt: however, we suffered ourselves to be happy. Our honest neighbour’s goose and dumplings were fine, and the lamb’s-wool,* even in the opinion of my wife, who was a connoiseur, was excellent. It is true, his manner of telling stories was not quite so well. They were very long, and very dull, and all about himself, and we had laughed at them ten times before: however, we were kind enough to laugh at them once more.
Fortune seems resolved to humble the family of Wakefield. Mortifications are often more painful than real calamities
Authors: Goldsmith Oliver
Published: February 2022

When we were returned home, the night was dedicated to schemes of future conquest. Deborah exerted much sagacity in conjecturing which of the two girls was likely to have the best place, and most opportunities of seeing good company. The only obstacle to our preferment was in obtaining the ‘Squire’s recommendation; but he had already shewn us too many instances of his friendship to doubt of it now. Even in bed my wife kept up the usual theme: ‘Well, faith, my dear Charles, between ourselves, I think we have made an excellent day’s work of it.’—‘Pretty well,’ cried I, not knowing what to say.—’What only pretty well!’ returned she. ‘I think it is very well. Suppose the girls should come to make acquaintances of taste in town! This I am assured of, that London is the only place in the world for all manner of husbands. Besides, my dear, stranger things happen every day: and as ladies of quality are so taken with my daughters, what will not men of quality be! Entre nous, I protest I like my Lady Blarney vastly, so very obliging. However, Miss Carolina Wilelmina Amelia Skeggs has my warm heart. But yet, when they came to talk of places in town, you saw at once how I nailed them. Tell me, my dear, don’t you think I did for my children there?’— ‘Ay,’ returned I, not knowing well what to think of the matter, ‘heaven grant they may be both the better for it this day three months!’ This was one of those observations I usually made to impress my wife with an opinion of my sagacity; for if the girls succeeded, then it was a pious wish fulfilled; but if any thing unfortunate ensued, then it might be looked upon as a prophecy. All this conversation, however, was only preparatory to another scheme, and indeed I dreaded as much. This was nothing less than, that as we were now to hold up our heads a little higher in the world, it would be proper to sell the Colt, which was grown old, at a neighbouring fair, and buy us an horse that would carry single or double upon an occasion, and make a pretty appearance at church or upon a visit. This at first I opposed stoutly; but it was as stoutly defended. However, as I weakened, my antagonist gained strength, till at last it was resolved to part with him.
The equal dealings of providence demonstrated with regard to the happy and the miserable here below. That from the nature of pleasure and pain, the wretched must be repaid the balance of their sufferings in the life hereafter
Authors: Goldsmith Oliver
Published: February 2022

My friends, my children, and fellow sufferers, when I reflect on the distribution of good and evil here below, I find that much has been given man to enjoy, yet still more to suffer.* Though we should examine the whole world, we shall not find one man so happy as to have nothing left to wish for; but we daily see thousands who by suicide shew us they have nothing left to hope. In this life then it appears that we cannot be entirely blest; but yet we may be completely miserable!
Why the Arts Are Not Progressive?
Authors: Hazlitt William
Published: February 2022

It is often made a subject of complaint and surprise, the arts in this country and in modern times have not kept pace with the general progress of society and civilization in other respects, and it has been proposed to remedy the deficiency by more carefully availing our-selves of the advantages which time and circumstances have placed within our reach, but which we have hitherto neglected, the study of the antique, the imitation of the best models, the formation of academies, and the distribution of prizes.
Character of Mr. Burke
Authors: Hazlitt William
Published: February 2022

It is not without reluctance that we speak of the vices and infirmities of such a mind as Burke’s: But the poison of high example has by far the widest range of destruction; and, for the sake of public honour and individual integrity, we think it right to say, that however it may be defended upon other grounds, the political career of that eminent individual has no title to the praise of consistency. Mr Burke, the opponent of the American war — and Mr Burke, the opponent of the French Revolution, are not the same person, but opposite persons — not opposite persons only, but deadly enemies. In the latter period, he abandoned not only all his practical conclusions, but all the principles on which they were founded. He proscribed all his former sentiments, denounced all his former friends, rejected and reviled all the maxims to which he had formerly appealed as incontestable. In the American war he constantly spoke of the rights of the people as inherent, and inalienable: After the French Revolution, he began by treating them with the chicanery of a sophist, and ended by raving at them with the fury of a maniac.
On a Landscape of Nicolas Poussin
Authors: Hazlitt William
Published: February 2022

Orion, the subject of this landscape,* was the classical Nimrod, and is called by Homer, ‘a hunter of shadows, himself a shade.’* He was the son of Neptune, and having lost an eye* in some affray between the Gods and men, was told that if he would go to meet the rising sun, he would recover his sight. He is represented setting out on his journey, with men on his shoulders to guide him; a bow in his hand, and Diana in the clouds greeting him. He stalks along, a giant upon earth, and reels and falters in his gait, as if just awaked out of sleep, or uncertain of his way, so that you see his blindness, though his back is turned. Mists rise around him, and veil the sides of the green forests; earth is dank and fresh with dews, ‘the grey dawn and the Pleiades before him dance,’* and in the distance are seen the blue hills and sullen ocean. Nothing was ever more finely conceived or done.
Two Views of a Cheap Theatre
Authors: Dickens Charles
Published: February 2022

As I shut the door of my lodging behind me, and came out into the streets at six on a drizzling Saturday evening in the last past month of January, all that neighbourhood of Covent–garden looked very desolate. It is so essentially a neighbourhood which has seen better days, that bad weather affects it sooner than another place which has not come down in the world. In its present reduced condition, it bears a thaw almost worse than any place I know.
Arcadian London
Authors: Dickens Charles
Published: February 2022

The retreat into which I have withdrawn myself, is Bond-street.* From this lonely spot I make pilgrimages into the surrounding wilderness, and traverse extensive tracts of the Great Desert. The first solemn feeling of isolation overcome, the first oppressive consciousness of profound retirement conquered, I enjoy that sense of freedom, and feel reviving within me that latent wildness of the original savage, which has been (upon the whole somewhat frequently) noticed by Travellers.
The City Of The Absent
Authors: Dickens Charles
Published: February 2022

When I think I deserve particularly well of myself, and have earned the right to enjoy a little treat, I stroll from Covent-garden into the City of London,* after business-hours there, on a Saturday, or— better yet—on a Sunday, and roam about its deserted nooks and corners. It is necessary to the full enjoyment of these journeys that they should be made in summer-time, for then the retired spots that I love to haunt, are at their idlest and dullest. A gentle fall of rain is not objectionable, and a warm mist sets off my favourite retreats to decided advantage.
Titbull’S Alms-Houses
Authors: Dickens Charles
Published: February 2022

By the side of most railways out of London, one may see AlmsHouses and Retreats (generally with a Wing or a Centre wanting, and ambitious of being much bigger than they are), some of which are newly–founded Institutions, and some old establishments transplanted. There is a tendency in these pieces of architecture to shoot upward unexpectedly, like Jack’s bean–stalk, and to be ornate in spires of Chapels and lanterns of Halls, which might lead to the embellishment of the air with many castles of questionable beauty but for the restraining consideration of expense. However, the managers, being always of a sanguine temperament, comfort themselves with plans and elevations of Loomings in the future, and are influenced in the present by philanthropy towards the railway passengers. For, the question how prosperous and promising the buildings can be made to look in their eyes, usually supersedes the lesser question how they can be turned to the best account for the inmates.
Mr. Barlow
Authors: Dickens Charles
Published: February 2022

A great reader of good fiction at an unusually early age, it seems to me as though I had been born under the superintendence of the estimable but terrific gentleman whose name stands at the head of my present reflections. The instructive monomaniac, Mr. Barlow, will be remembered as the tutor of Master Harry Sandford and Master Tommy Merton.* He knew everything, and didactically improved all sorts of occasions, from the consumption of a plate of cherries to the contemplation of a starlight night. What youth came to without Mr. Barlow was displayed in the history of Sandford and Merton, by the example of a certain awful Master Mash.* This young wretch wore buckles and powder, conducted himself with insupportable levity at the theatre, had no idea of facing a mad bull single-handed (in which I think him less reprehensible, as remotely reflecting my own character), and was a frightful instance of the enervating effects of luxury upon the human race.
Speaking for the Voiceless? Representative Claims-Making on Behalf of Future Generations in Belgium
Authors: Vermassen Daan , Caluwaerts Didier , Erzeel Silvia
Published: February 2022

Given that modern democracies face generation-transcending policy challenges, this study asks whether the interests of future generations are sufficiently taken into account in present-day parliamentary politics. Through analysis of parliamentary documents in Belgium (2010–2019), we examine whether present-day MPs make representative claims on behalf of future generations, how such claims are made and by whom. We find that MPs do formulate claims, but only to a limited extent and with little or no justification. Moreover, claims-making is driven by electoral-strategic considerations. Only those who hold prominent positions make claims for future generations and fewer claims are made in election years.
Building resilience: a case study of occupational factors influencing levels of ‘happiness’ for Abu Dhabi police officers
Authors: Al Kaabi Faisal
Published: February 2022

The policing and security community globally is in a race against time to develop strategies for improving mental health well-being amongst the profession. For professionals across the multiple contributing areas supporting police officer well-being, i.e. medical practitioners, psychologists, management professionals, mentors, coaches, counsellors, understanding contributing factors from the experience, and perception of police officers is a critical contributing area of research (Baker et al., 2020; Deschênes et al., 2018. Psychosocial factors linked to the occupational psychological health of police officers: preliminary study. Cogent Psychology 5(1): 1426271; Purba and Demou, 2019. The relationship between organisational stressors and mental wellbeing within police officers: a systematic review. BMC Public Health 19(1): 1286) The aim of the study reported in this paper was to evaluate the influence of work factors of organizational rewards, job characteristics, and factors relating to working in a public service agency on an officer’s perception of happiness. A survey was distributed to police officers in the Abu Dhabi police force, with an inferential analysis conducted to examine the relationships between work factors and levels of officer happiness. The findings identified employee perception of organizational rewards, job control, task significance, frequency of feedback, desire for helping others as primary reasons to work in the police, and opportunities available to help others in society were all predictors of police happiness. This article discusses specifically the employees’ perception of rewards at work and job characteristics as determinants of happiness. The findings contributing to development of future organizational response for enhancing officer well-being and importantly inform in building resilience to mental health illness for police officers.
A Bayesian Multi-Outcome Analysis of Fine Particulate Matter and Cardiorespiratory Hospitalizations
Authors: Thomas Emma G. , Braun Danielle , Kioumourtzoglou Marianthi-Anna , Trippa Lorenzo , Wasfy Jason H. , Dominici Francesca
Published: February 2022

Background:

Short-term fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure is positively associated with acute cardiovascular and respiratory events. Understanding whether this association varies across specific cardiovascular and respiratory conditions has important biologic, clinical, and public health implications.

Methods:

We conducted a time-stratified case-crossover study of hospitalizations from 2000 through 2014 among United States Medicare beneficiaries aged 65+. The outcomes were hospitalizations with any of 57 cardiovascular and 32 respiratory discharge diagnoses. We estimated associations with two-day moving average PM2.5 as a piecewise linear term with a knot at PM2.5 = 25 g/m3. We used Multi-Outcome Regression with Tree-structured Shrinkage (MOReTreeS) to identify de novo groups of related diseases such that PM2.5 associations are: (1) similar within outcome groups; but (2) different between outcome groups. We adjusted for temperature, humidity, and individual-level characteristics. We introduce an R package, moretrees.

Results:

Our dataset included 16,007,293 cardiovascular and 8,690,837 respiratory hospitalizations. Of 57 cardiovascular diseases, 51 were grouped and positively associated with PM2.5. We observed a stronger positive association for heart failure, which formed a separate group. We observed negative associations for groups containing the outcomes other aneurysm and intracranial hemorrhage. Of 32 respiratory outcomes, 31 were grouped and were positively associated with PM2.5. Influenza formed a separate group with a negative association.

Conclusions:

We used a new statistical approach, MOReTreeS, to uncover variation in the association between short-term PM2.5 exposure and hospitalizations for cardiovascular and respiratory causes controlling for patient characteristics, time trends, and environmental confounders.
Perinatal considerations for care of transgender and nonbinary people: a narrative review
Authors: McCracken Megan , DeHaan Gene , Obedin-Maliver Juno
Published: February 2022

Purpose of review

The visibility of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) communities, specifically the transgender and nonbinary (TGNB) communities, continues to grow. However, there is little description, much less guidance toward optimizing, the pregnancy-related care of TGNB people. The overarching goal of this paper is to provide guidance that aids in reimagining obstetrics to include people of all genders.

Recent findings

This article will review current literature and provide recommendations specific to the hospital birthing environment to help address the lack of knowledge regarding pregnancy-related care of TGNB individuals. This care is further divided into three main times: (1) preconception, antepartum care, and triage, (2) intrapartum, and (3) postpartum. We also discuss considerations for the general medical care of TGNB individuals.

Understanding facilitators and barriers to gender affirming pregnancy-related care of TGNB individuals are first steps toward providing a respectful, affirming, and evidence-based environment for all patients, especially TGNB individuals. Here we provide context, discussion, and resources for providers and TGNB patients navigating pregnancy-related care. Lastly, this review challenges researchers and clinicians with future directions for the care of TGNB individuals in this continually expanding field.
Differences in estimated glomerular filtration rate are associated with different patterns of 24-h ambulatory blood pressure in the general population
Authors: Yoon Sang Gon , Lee Seung Ku , Kim Seong Hwan , Shin Chol , Han Sang Youb
Published: February 2022

Background:

Alterations of the circadian blood pressure rhythm are associated with cardiovascular and chronic kidney diseases. We investigated the relationship between 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) patterns and eGFR differences in participants without chronic kidney disease.

Method:

This cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the ongoing Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study, which involves 1733 participants (age, 60 ± 7 years; 938 women) with an eGFR >60 ml/min per 1.73 m2. The blood pressure dipping status was stratified as reverse-dipper (<0%), nondipper (0 to <10%), and dipper (≥10%). They were also categorized into eGFR quartiles (Q4, 128.6–101.6; Q3, 101.5–95.7; Q2, 95.6–87.4; and Q1, 87.3–60.5), and Q4 was fixed as the reference.

Results:

The proportion of dippers progressively decreased and the proportions of reverse and nondippers significantly increased from the highest to the lowest eGFR quartile (P < 0.001). In the univariate analyses, the Q1 and Q2 groups were significantly associated with increasing odds ratios (ORs) for the nondipper, reverse-dipper, and nondipper plus reverse-dipper groups. After adjustment, the lowest eGFR group was significantly associated with the reverse-dipper and nondipper plus reverse-dipper patterns in comparison with the highest eGFR group [OR = 1.685, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.002–2.834; OR = 1.422, 95% CI, 1.023–1.978, respectively). The significant linear trend for an association of the nondipper plus reverse-dipper pattern with a decrease in eGFR was confirmed with the test for trend (P = 0.023).

Conclusion:

Differences in eGFR are associated with different 24-h ABPM patterns in non-CKD individuals. ABPM can identify individuals with a nondipper status in this population.
Proteomics in uveal melanoma
Authors: Heiferman Michael J. , Mahajan Vinit B. , Mruthyunjaya Prithvi
Published: February 2022

Purpose of review

This article reviews the latest proteomic research on uveal melanoma.

Recent findings

Proteomic analysis of uveal melanoma cell lines and tissue specimens has improved our understanding of the pathophysiology of uveal melanoma and helped identify potential prognostic biomarkers. Circulating proteins in patient serum may aid in the surveillance of metastatic disease. The proteomes of aqueous and vitreous biopsy specimens may provide safer biomarkers for metastatic risk and candidate therapeutic targets in uveal melanoma. Proteomic analysis has the potential to benefit patient outcomes by improving diagnosis, prognostication, surveillance, and treatment of uveal melanoma.

These recent findings demonstrate that proteomic analysis is an important area of research to better understand the pathophysiology of uveal melanoma and improve the personalized management of our patients.
SPP1 in infliximab resistant ulcerative colitis and associated colorectal cancer: an analysis of differentially expressed genes
Authors: Giannos Panagiotis , Triantafyllidis Konstantinos Katsikas , Giannos Georgios , Kechagias Konstantinos S.
Published: February 2022

Objective

Infliximab, a tumour necrosis factor-α (TNFα) antagonist, has advanced the management of ulcerative colitis. Although efficacious, considerable percentage of patients are resistant to treatment. Accumulative inflammatory burden in long-term ulcerative colitis patients refractory to therapy increases the risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC). Our study investigated anti-TNFα-naïve patients with active ulcerative colitis to identify gene biomarkers whose dysregulated expression correlated with resistance to infliximab (IFX) treatment and poor prognosis in CRC.

Methods

Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from two studies (GSE73661 and GSE14580) with colonic mucosal samples were retrieved. Noninflammatory bowel disease controls were compared with those with active ulcerative colitis that either responded or were resistant to IFX before treatment. DEGs from ulcerative colitis samples resistant to IFX were used to construct a protein–protein interaction network, and clustering gene modules were identified. Module DEGs that overlapped with ulcerative colitis samples responsive to IFX were analysed, based on topological closeness and radiality. Hub genes were obtained, and their correlation with CRC progression was evaluated. Their expression in CRC tissues and their tumour microenvironment immune status was estimated.

Results

Three clusters composed of 582 DEGs from ulcerative colitis samples resistant to IFX were retrieved. Comparative analysis identified 305 overlapping DEGs with ulcerative colitis samples responsive to IFX. Topological analysis revealed a hub gene – SPP1 – whose overexpression in CRC tissues and patients correlated with increased infiltration of immune signatures and poor prognosis.

Conclusion

SPP1 may serve as potential gene biomarker and predictor of resistance to IFX therapy in ulcerative colitis and CRC development.
A review of different methods used for quantification and assessment of FDG-PET/CT in multiple myeloma
Authors: Zirakchian Zadeh Mahdi , Ayubcha Cyrus , Raynor William Y. , Werner Thomas J. , Alavi Abass
Published: February 2022

The quantification of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in multiple myeloma (MM) is challenging. Different methods of PET/CT quantification for assessment of fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake in myeloma patients have been suggested. This is the first review article that focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. Use of the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) showed some promise in prognostic stratification of MM patients. However, it is affected by noise and time of flight and is subject to high variability. Volumetric PET metrics such as total lesion glycolysis and metabolic tumor volume are other proposed approaches. The high number of osteolytic lesions in MM patients makes this approach difficult in clinical practice. In addition, evaluation of small focal lesions is subject to partial volume correction. CT-based segmentation for assessment of FDG radiotracer is recently introduced. The methodologies are highly reproducible, but the clinical values of the approaches are unclear and still under investigation. We also discuss the Italian Myeloma criteria for PET Use (IMPeTUs), which is a qualitative approach, as a point of comparison. The reproducibility of IMPeTUs depends heavily on the level of user experience. We recommend further studies for assessing the prognostic significance of CT-threshold approaches in the assessment of MM patients.
Effect of proton pump inhibitors and other commonly prescribed drugs on rescanning of patients undergoing myocardial perfusion imaging: a case-control study
Authors: Rose David S. , Rowe Jennifer M. , Love Aimee E.
Published: February 2022

Objectives

Proton pump inhibitor use is associated with increased gastric wall activity on myocardial perfusion imaging; however, the clinical impact is unknown. We sought to determine the association of the use of proton pump inhibitors and nine other commonly prescribed classes of medications on the risk of rescanning patients undergoing myocardial perfusion imaging.

Methods

A matched case-control study was performed including 337 rescanned cases and 337 same-day controls from a total of 5432 patients undergoing myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) over a 4-year period.

Results

The odds of rescanning was higher in patients taking a proton pump inhibitor than those not [adjusted odds ratio (OR), 1.6; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.1–2.2] and in those taking an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor than those not (adjusted OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.0–2.2) adjusted for age, sex and BMI category. Eight other commonly prescribed medications showed no associations with rescanning. Among the cases of rescanning, the culprit organ site of extracardiac activity was the left lobe of the liver, 48%; gastric wall, 31%; gastric lumen, 12%; spleen, 7% and bowel <1%. Proton pump inhibitor use was strongly associated with rescanning due to gastric wall uptake (adjusted OR, 6.3; 95% CI, 2.8–14.1) but not the other causes of rescanning.

Conclusions

Proton pump inhibitor use and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor use are associated with an increased risk of rescanning of patients undergoing MPI. Gastric wall activity is likely to account for the excess cases of rescanning in those taking a proton pump inhibitor.
Optimization of image reconstruction method of cerebral blood flow perfusion imaging with digital CZT SPECT
Authors: Zhou Yaqian , Wang Shen , Wang Peng , Li Ning , Wang Xuan , Zheng Wei
Published: February 2022

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of filtered back projection (FBP), ordered subset expectation maximisation (OSEM), and different filters on cadmium zinc telluride single-photon emission computed tomography [CZT single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)] cerebral blood perfusion image quality to optimise the image reconstruction method.

Methods

Under routine clinical conditions, tomographic imaging was performed on the phantom and patients. Image processing included image reconstruction using FBP and OSEM, and the filtering method used Butterworth (Bw) and Gaussian (Gs) filters. Visual and semi-quantitative parameters [integral uniformity, root mean square (RMS) noise and contrast and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR)] were used to evaluate image quality to optimise image reconstruction parameters. One-way and two-way analysis of variance were used to process phantom and clinical data.

Results

In the tomographic images of the phantom, the semi-quantitative analysis showed that the integral uniformity of FBP+Bw was better than that of OSEM+Bw and OSEM+Gs (P < 0.05), and that the RMS noise of FBP+Bw was lower than that of OSEM+Bw and OSEM+Gs (P < 0.001). The contrast of FBP+Bw and OSEM+Bw in the cold area diameter ≥2 cm group was higher than that of OSEM+Gs (P < 0.001), whereas the CNR of FBP+Bw was higher than that of OSEM+Bw and OSEM+Gs (P < 0.001); the contrast of OSEM+Bw cold area diameter <2 cm was higher than that of FBP+Bw (P < 0.01). The semi-quantitative analysis results of the clinical images were consistent with the phantom’s.

Conclusion

In CZT SPECT cerebral blood flow perfusion imaging, it is suggested that the image postprocessing method of FBP+Bw (fc = 0.40; n = 10) should be used routinely in clinical application, and if there are uncertain small lesions in the processed image, it is suggested to use the reconstruction method of OSEM+Bw (EM-equivalent iterations = 60; fc = 0.45; n = 10) instead.