bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Specter of the Primitive
Authors: Rizzolo Gregory S.
Published: January 2018

Traditional psychoanalytic theories of development hold that the adult neurotic can regress, or has already regressed, to the childhood arrests and/or fixations in which his pathology originated. More recent critiques have called this possibility into question. It is unlikely that anyone can roll back the additions and modifications of lifespan development in a full-fledged return to the needs, wishes, and anxieties of childhood. By regression, though, some analysts mean not a full-fledged return to an earlier developmental phase, but a non–phase-specific slip into primitive fantasies and defenses. The operational term, in this particular variation, is not regression but primitive. The shift from the depressive to the paranoid-schizoid position is, for instance, considered not a phase-specific regression but a regression to primitive forms of mentation. The psychoanalytic conception of the primitive originated in Freud’s reading of late nineteenth and early twentieth century anthropology. Freud and later Klein believed that the neurotic regresses to a psychological childhood, which in turn preserves the thought patterns of our prehistoric ancestors. Although this proposition and the underlying principle of recapitulation have been disproven, its traces are nonetheless preserved in what are termed the primary processes and primitive defenses. A tradition of theoretical critique and developmental research, however, shows that the primary processes and primitive defenses are not in fact primitive. That is, they are neither evolutionarily nor developmentally primary in human life. By implication, psychoanalysis should discard the term primitive and adopt a lifespan approach to the processes it describes.
The Authentic Appeal of the Lying Demagogue: Proclaiming the Deeper Truth about Political Illegitimacy
Authors: Hahl Oliver , Kim Minjae , Zuckerman Sivan Ezra W.
Published: January 2018

We develop and test a theory to address a puzzling pattern that has been discussed widely since the 2016 U.S. presidential election and reproduced here in a post-election survey: how can a constituency of voters find a candidate “authentically appealing” (i.e., view him positively as authentic) even though he is a “lying demagogue” (someone who deliberately tells lies and appeals to non-normative private prejudices)? Key to the theory are two points: (1) “common-knowledge” lies may be understood as flagrant violations of the norm of truth-telling; and (2) when a political system is suffering from a “crisis of legitimacy” (Lipset 1959) with respect to at least one political constituency, members of that constituency will be motivated to see a flagrant violator of established norms as an authentic champion of its interests. Two online vignette experiments on a simulated college election support our theory. These results demonstrate that mere partisanship is insufficient to explain sharp differences in how lying demagoguery is perceived, and that several oft-discussed factors—information access, culture, language, and gender—are not necessary for explaining such differences. Rather, for the lying demagogue to have authentic appeal, it is sufficient that one side of a social divide regards the political system as flawed or illegitimate.
Towards a measure of gender-related challenges faced by male primary teachers
Authors: Cruickshank Vaughan , Pedersen Scott , Cooley P Dean , Hill Allen
Published: January 2018

Debate about teacher gender balance in primary education is a constant. This debate is fuelled by recommendations to increase recruitment and retainment of males into primary education. In parallel, 10-year trend data indicate a continual decrease in male primary school teachers. Although many factors contribute to the decreasing percentage of male primary teachers, one factor is the gender-related challenges they face in their profession. Previous research has identified some of these challenges; however, a limitation of these claims is contextual and individually bound data derived from qualitative research methods. Large-scale interventions have not been realised as current trends are unable to be generalised to the wider population of male primary teachers. Thus, the aim of this paper is to expand upon previous literature through discussing the development and validation of a scale which quantifies the gender-related challenges faced by male primary teachers.
The School Experiences of Male Adolescent Offenders: Implications for Academic Performance and Recidivism
Authors: Fine Adam , Simmons Cortney , Miltimore Sarah , Steinberg Laurence , Frick Paul J. , Cauffman Elizabeth
Published: January 2018

Adolescents with juvenile justice system experience may be enrolled into alternative schools to increase academic success or to reduce delinquency. This study used longitudinal data on a racially/ethnically diverse sample of 1,216 male, first-time adolescent offenders to examine how youthful offenders’ school experiences were associated with academic outcomes, school attitudes, and delinquency. Effects varied by domain in important ways. Youth who attended alternative schools generally fared better academically than youth who attended traditional schools. However, importantly, youth who attended alternative schools subsequently engaged in more delinquency and violent reoffending than youth in traditional schools. The findings indicate that disrupting normative schooling appears to be the most detrimental to youth outcomes across domains.
The identity of class in Latin America: Objective class position and subjective class identification in Argentina and Chile (2009)
Authors: Elbert Rodolfo , Pérez Pablo
Published: January 2018

Class identity is a key mechanism in the explanation of class-based collective action. For decades, this was particularly relevant in Latin America, where objective class inequality was persistent and there was a long history of collective action, originating in the workplace and expressed through unions and labor parties. Despite persistent inequalities in the region, since the 1990s scholars increasingly claimed that the relation between objective class position and subjective class identification weakened significantly, and that class dynamics centered on work were no longer central to explain group formation and collective action among the popular sectors. While in countries like Argentina scholars have explained these processes by focusing on the effects of the de-industrialization of the economy and the informalization of the job market, in Chile analysts have done so by emphasizing the growth of the service sector and the emergence of a middle-class society where ‘old-fashioned’ working-class identities have become irrelevant. This article questions these arguments based on a comparative analysis of the relationship between objective class position and subjective class identification in Argentina and Chile in 2009. The results show that class still matters. In both countries, people with a working-class position or a working-class trajectory are significantly more likely to uphold working-class identity than individuals with a privileged class position or trajectory. Surprisingly, the authors’ analysis also demonstrates that the overall rates of working-class identification are higher in Chile than in Argentina. The authors explain these unexpected results by looking at contemporary class-related phenomena (e.g. higher inequality and economic concentration in Chile) and longer-term class dynamics (particularly differences stemming from the ‘radical’ party–union configuration in Chile and the state-corporatist incorporation of labor in Argentina).
Pharmacy Operationalization of the Intralesional Oncolytic Immunotherapy Talimogene Laherparepvec
Authors: McBride Ali , Valgus John , Parsad Sandeep , Sommermann Erica M. , Nunan Robert
Published: January 2018

Objective: Oncolytic immunotherapy involves the use of viruses to target and destroy cancer cells and to induce immune responses for an enhanced antitumor effect. Talimogene laherparepvec, a genetically modified herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) that selectively replicates in tumors to induce lytic cell death, tumor antigen release, and the local production of granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), has been approved for the treatment of a defined population of patients with metastatic melanoma. Talimogene laherparepvec is administered as a series of intralesional injections, and specific procedures are implemented to minimize the risk of viral exposure. Because talimogene laherparepvec represents a novel therapeutic modality, its preparation, administration, and handling requirements differ from current therapies; pharmacists have an important role in developing new procedures to incorporate it into clinical practice. Methods: In this review, pharmacists with experience dispensing talimogene laherparepvec, in the clinical trial setting and/or as a commercially available product at US academic institutions, synthesized their personal experiences through group discussions to provide insights on the ordering, receipt, storage, preparation, administration, and handling of talimogene laherparepvec. Results: Suggestions for patient education and practical guidance to assist hospital pharmacists and decision makers with implementing talimogene laherparepvec at their institutions are provided. Conclusion: These insights may further inform the development of policies or procedures to incorporate talimogene laherparepvec into clinical settings and improve patient outcomes.
Different Tales of John Glasgow: John Brown’s Evolution to Slave Life in Georgia
Authors: Asaka Ikuko
Published: January 2018

This article seeks to advance conversation on the literary and political agency of fugitive slave narrators and their far-reaching archival footprints by focusing on the evolution of John Brown’s narrative of John Glasgow, a Demerara-born free Black sailor with whom Brown toiled side by side on a Georgian plantation. In British and U.S. abolitionist discourse, Glasgow’s tragic story—he was imprisoned under Georgia’s seamen law upon arriving in Savannah and eventually fell into bondage—made him the symbol of the southern seamen acts’ egregious infringement of British freedom. Brown, a formerly enslaved expatriate resident in England, told this tale in his autobiography Slave Life in Georgia, but the authorship of this story has some ambiguity. It is believed by some scholars that the narrative’s editor, London-based White abolitionist Louis Alexis Chamerovzow, concocted the tale. By drawing on newly discovered documents, this article demonstrates that Brown originally attributed Glasgow’s enslavement to kidnapping by deceit, not to a Black seamen law. Furthermore, an examination of British diplomatic dispatches and the details of the Black seaman law operating in Savannah at that time posits the likelihood that Glasgow became enslaved by deception rather than law. What do we make of these findings? Instead of marshalling them to confirm Chamerovzow as the story’s creator, this article speculates that John Brown himself invented the Glasgow story and imagines a transatlantic Black political circuitry connecting England and Canada.
Stress analysis of a carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy plate with a hole undergoing tension: A comparison of finite element analysis, strain gages, and infrared thermography
Authors: Bougherara Habiba , Saleem Muhammad , Shah Suraj , Toubal Lotfi , Sarwar Ahmed , Schemitsch Emil H , Zdero Radovan
Published: January 2018

This is the first study, to the authors' knowledge, to simultaneously perform a direct comparison of finite element analysis, strain gage measurements, and infrared thermography for stress analysis under both static and dynamics tensile loads of the classic geometry of a composite plate with a center hole. The plate was made from a carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy composite with dimensions of 250 mm length × 25 mm width × 2.2 mm thickness and a 5 mm diameter center hole. Using static tensile loads of 1000 N, 2000 N, and 3000 N, the plate Von Mises stress field was evaluated using strain gages versus finite element analysis. Using cyclic tensile loads of 1000 N and 1600 N at 5 Hz, the plate Von Mises stress field was assessed using strain gages versus infrared thermography. The strain gages versus finite element analysis line-of-best-fit showed poor agreement (slope = 2.1, R = 0.81), although the slope could easily be applied as a correction factor when comparing the two methods. The strain gages versus infrared thermography showed much better agreement (slope = 0.95, R = 0.91). Finite element analysis displayed a “butterfly” stress field around the hole with peaks of 73.5 MPa (at 1000 N), 147 MPa (at 2000 N), and 220.5 MPa (at 3000 N). Infrared thermography showed a “ring” of high stress around the hole with peaks of 74.8 MPa (at 1000 N) and 102.9 MPa (at 1600 N). All three methods showed similar relative trends for the carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy plate.
Evaluation of drilling parameters on surface roughness and burr when drilling carbon black reinforced high-density polyethylene
Authors: Uysal Alper
Published: January 2018

In this study, surface roughness and burr were investigated in drilling of pure and carbon black reinforced high-density polyethylene at three cutting speeds and feeds with three drill point angles. The measurement results of surface roughness of drilled holes were evaluated by Taguchi and analysis of variance statistical methods to specify the optimal drilling parameters and the effects of selected drilling parameters. According to the results, lower surface roughness and fewer burrs were obtained in drilling at high cutting speed and low feed with drill tools having small point angle and it was specified that the carbon black reinforcement reduced the surface roughness. Additionally, the optimal drilling parameters were determined as drill point angle of 80°, feed of 0.1 mm/rev and cutting speed of 120 m/min and the most effective parameter was found as drill point angle and the least effective parameter was found as feed.
What Do We Rate When We Rate Our Health? Decomposing Age-related Contributions to Self-rated Health
Authors: Idler Ellen , Cartwright Kate
Published: January 2018

Self-ratings of health (SRH) indicate current health-related quality of life and independently predict mortality. Studies show the SRH of older adults appears less influenced by physical health than the SRH of younger adults. But if physical health accounts less for the SRH of older adults, what factors take its place? To understand the relative contributions of social, emotional, and physical states to SRH by age, we analyzed data from the National Health Interview Survey 2006 to 2011 ( N = 153,341). In age-stratified regressions, physical health and functional limitations declined as correlates of SRH for older age strata, while social factors, such as gender and race, increased in importance. Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition showed that if younger respondents had similar health conditions, they would rate their health more poorly than current cohorts of older adults do. The declining influence of physical health on SRH in old age appears to be due in part to displacement by social factors.
Religious/Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs, Frequency of Contact, and Gender as Predictors of Attitudes Toward Persons With Disabilities
Authors: Fioramonti Daniel L. , Ebener Deborah J. , Arrastia-Chisholm Meagan C.
Published: January 2018

Although much research has been carried out to identify the demographic and psychological variables linked to attitudes toward persons with disabilities (PWD), little research has examined the association between religious/spiritual (R/S) involvement and beliefs and attitudes toward PWD. In this study, a sample of university students without disabilities was surveyed to explore the relationship between R/S involvement and beliefs, frequency of contact with PWD, gender, and attitudes toward disability in four attitudinal domains: inclusion, discrimination, gains, and prospects. Higher endorsement of R/S involvement and beliefs was positively and significantly related to more favorable attitudes concerning inclusion of PWD and the prospects of PWD. Frequency of contact was found to significantly and positively associate with more favorable attitudes about the prospects of PWD. Male respondents reported significantly more favorable attitudes toward PWD in terms of discrimination and gains, whereas female respondents endorsed significantly more favorable attitudes toward PWD for prospects. When controlling for frequency of contact and gender, R/S involvement and belief was found to predict slightly less favorable attitudes about the prospects of PWD. Implications are discussed in light of the interactions between PWD and R/S communities.
African health diplomacy: obscuring power and leveraging dependency through shadow diplomacy
Authors: Anderson Emma-Louise
Published: January 2018

Health crises pose fundamental challenges to international relations and have been a major focal point of contests for global influence, particularly in the global South, where such crises are most acute. This necessitates a focus on the arenas of global health diplomacy and the power struggles that emanate from them, including the often-overlooked agency of African actors within these arenas. Drawing upon a total of 3 months of fieldwork in 2007 and 2014 that included 68 key-informant interviews, participant observations, and informal discussions, this article interrogates the mechanics of multi-stakeholder health diplomacy in Malawi, where a near-permanent state of health crisis and underdevelopment has generated extreme dependency on external health assistance. This article conceptualises shadow diplomacy as the informal networks and channels of influence that run parallel to, but are not recognised as part of, formal diplomacy. This concept reveals how health is key to struggles for leverage by both international and local actors, giving rise to informal and subversive manifestations of diplomacy in the ‘shadows’. It enables us to understand not only how Western powers consolidate and obscure their enduring power but also how the ‘shadows’ benefit African political elites as they leverage their dependency to subvert global power structures for their own ends. It disrupts the external/internal binary of international donors/African states and reveals that these are not monolithic actors but instead comprising complex individuals with multi-faceted motivations and divided loyalties.
Principled Machine Learning Using the Super Learner: An Application to Predicting Prison Violence
Authors: Baćak Valerio , Kennedy Edward H.
Published: January 2018

A rapidly growing number of algorithms are available to researchers who apply statistical or machine learning methods to answer social science research questions. The unique advantages and limitations of each algorithm are relatively well known, but it is not possible to know in advance which algorithm is best suited for the particular research question and the data set at hand. Typically, researchers end up choosing, in a largely arbitrary fashion, one or a handful of algorithms. In this article, we present the Super Learner—a powerful new approach to statistical learning that leverages a variety of data-adaptive methods, such as random forests and spline regression, and systematically chooses the one, or a weighted combination of many, that produces the best forecasts. We illustrate the use of the Super Learner by predicting violence among inmates from the 2005 Census of State and Federal Adult Correctional Facilities. Over the past 40 years, mass incarceration has drastically weakened prisons’ capacities to ensure inmate safety, yet we know little about the characteristics of prisons related to inmate victimization. We discuss the value of the Super Learner in social science research and the implications of our findings for understanding prison violence.
Psychology, migration studies, and their disconnections: a review of existing research and future possibilities
Authors: Palmary Ingrid
Published: January 2018

In this article, I review the increasing academic interest in migration globally and consider what psychology is, and could be, contributing to the topic. I begin with a brief review of where psychology and migration have intersected and follow with some commentary on the blind spots and possible areas of meaningful intervention. Migration offers a lens through which we can re-evaluate psychology and its role in Southern African contexts in the creation and challenging of structures of inclusion and exclusion. Using migration as such a lens allows for a consideration of the ongoing ways in which psychology participates in constructing the socio-political conditions of our time and place. Furthermore, doing so feeds into contemporary debates about the place of psychology in Africa and its possibilities for developing local, and locally relevant, knowledge.
Numerical simulation of CH4 hydrate formation in fractures
Authors: Li Sheng-Li , Sun You-Hong , Su Kai , Guo Wei , Zhu You-Hai
Published: January 2018

Fracture-hosted methane hydrate deposits exist at many sites worldwide. The growth behavior of CH4 hydrate in fractured media was simulated by TOUGH + HYDRATE (T + H) code. The effects of fracture size, initial condition, and salinity on the growth behavior of hydrate in fractures were investigated. In general, the hydrate layer grew from the two ends and gradually covered on the surface of the fracture. With the formation of hydrate in fractures, the temperature increased sharply since the hydrate acted as a thermal insulation layer. In longer fractures, fast growth of hydrate at the ends of the fracture led to the formation of hydrate plugs with high saturation (called as stopper). In narrower fractures, hydrate dissociation occurred in the middle of the fracture during hydrate growing in the whole fracture due to the cutoff of gas supply by the stopper at the ends. At a low initial subcooling, hydrate formed both on the surface and in the micropores of the media, which was different from that at higher subcooling. In salt solution, the formation of hydrate stopper was inhibited by the salt-removing effect of hydrate formation and the growth of hydrate was more sustainable.
Access, Deconstructed: Metajournalistic Discourse and Photojournalism’s Shift Away From Geophysical Access
Authors: Ferrucci Patrick , Taylor Ross
Published: January 2018

This study examines metajournalistic discourse published surrounding the intersection of photojournalism and access. Researchers conducted a textual analysis of metajournalistic discourse published in articles by The Image, Deconstructed, the photojournalism industry blog, from 2011 to 2017 ( N=70). Findings suggest that photojournalists define access differently than scholars. They obtain access through purposeful body language and verbal communication, clarity of intent, and persistence. These findings are interpreted through the lens of the theory of metajournalistic discourse.
Social Finance Meets Financial Innovation: Contemporary Experiments in Payments, Money and Debt
Authors: Clarke Chris , Tooker Lauren
Published: January 2018

This special section explores the intersection of social finance and financial innovation in contemporary technologies of relational finance. The articles that follow study detailed cases of contemporary experiments in payments, money and credit-debt relations. By way of introduction, in this short piece we outline three paradoxes at the heart of these experiments: the feudal life of capitalist financial innovation; the social life of supposedly asocial crypto-currencies; and the market life of relational financial dissent.
How individuals who are blind locate targets
Authors: Graven Torø
Published: January 2018

How do individuals who are blind locate, for example, the ‘@’ in an email address, the black king on a chessboard or their own house on a map? To locate information in peri-personal (non-rotated) tabletop space is a two-phase process: Phase 1 is to detect and identify the target; Phase 2 is to discover its position. This study investigated the relationship between Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the location process. A total of 23 individuals who are blind participated. Their accuracy in Phase 2 was affected by what strategy they had adopted in Phase 1; their location time was not. Three location strategies were identified in Phase 2 – the routing strategy, the global view strategy, and the touch vision strategy: the location time and accuracy not affected by which strategy had been adopted. 50% adopted the same strategy for ranking (Phase 1) target-discriminating features and (Phase 2) target-locating cues in order of importance.
An Ordinary Polish Town: The Homecoming of Holocaust Survivors to Kalisz in the Immediate Aftermath of the War
Authors: Krzyzanowski Lukasz
Published: January 2018

The rapidly growing historiography on the aftermath of the Holocaust in Poland has focused primarily on post-war anti-Semitism. Scholars have traditionally concentrated on the post-war death, community destruction and emigration of Holocaust survivors rather than their attempts to return to their former homes. This article explores who these survivors were and what their return was like. Using the medium-sized industrial town of Kalisz in western Poland as a case study, the article argues that the composition of survivors' communities and the difficulty of adapting to the new economic reality, together with the already well-researched anti-Jewish violence, played a significant role in preventing a revival of Jewish communal life in provincial Poland in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War.
Living in the Age of Axis Internationalism: Imagining Europe in Serbia Before and During the Second World War
Authors: Antić Ana
Published: January 2018

This article explores how ‘European civilization’ was imagined on the margins of Europe in the first half of the twentieth century, and how Balkan intellectuals saw their own societies’ place in it in the context of interwar crises and World War II occupation. It traces the interwar development and wartime transformation of the intellectual debates regarding the modernization of Serbia/Yugoslavia, the role of the Balkans in the broader European culture, and the most appropriate path to becoming a member of the ‘European family of nations’. In the first half of the article, I focus on the interwar Serbian intelligentsia, and their discussions of various forms of international cultural, political and civilizational links and settings. These discussions centrally addressed the issue of Yugoslavia’s (and Serbia’s) ‘Europeanness’ and cultural identity in the context of the East–West symbolic and the state’s complex cultural-historical legacies. Such debates demonstrated how frustrating the goal of Westernization and Europeanization turned out to be for Serbian intellectuals. After exploring the conundrums and seemingly insoluble contradictions of interwar modernization/Europeanization discussions, the article then goes on to analyse the dramatic changes in such intellectual outlooks after 1941, asking how Europe and European cultural/political integration were imagined in occupied Serbia, and whether the realities of the occupation could accommodate these earlier debates. Serbia can provide an excellent case study for exploring how the brutal Nazi occupation policies affected collaborationist governments, and how the latter tried to make sense of their troubled inclusion in the racial ideology of the New European Order under the German leadership. Was Germany’s propaganda regarding European camaraderie taken seriously by any of the local actors? What did the Third Reich’s dubious internationalism mean in the east and south-east of Europe, and did it have anything to offer to the intelligentsia as well as the population at large?
Clinical significance of intrapancreatic choledochal cyst excision in surgical management of type I choledochal cyst
Authors: Fan Fei , Xu Da-Peng , Xiong Zheng-Xiang , Li Hai-Jia , Xin Hai-Bei , Zhao Huan , Zhang Jin-Wei
Published: January 2018

Objective

To investigate the effectiveness of intrapancreatic choledochal cyst excision in treating type I choledochal cyst, and increase understanding of the need for thorough surgical management of the disease.

Methods

Primary and secondary (including multiple) surgical cases, treated between 2005 and 2015, were retrospectively analysed, and follow-up data of post-treatment effectiveness to date were reviewed. Differences in curative effects were compared between whole and partial excision of the choledochal cyst.

Results

Out of 350 cases, patients with whole excision of the choledochal cyst ( n = 272) experienced no associated symptoms in the long-term (3/272 [1.1%] experienced stomach ache or fever). Patients with partial resection of the choledochal cyst ( n = 78) developed associated symptoms, including new cyst, calculus of the bile duct (51/78 [65.4%]), and carcinogenesis (11/78 [14.1%]) in the residual intrapancreatic biliary duct. Post-treatment clinical manifestations were significantly different between patients with partial resection versus whole excision of the choledochal cyst ( P<0.05).

Conclusion

Surgical re-excision should be considered in patients with a residual intrapancreatic portion of the choledochal cyst due to prior incomplete surgery, regardless of clinical symptoms.
CD133 expression and MYCN amplification induce chemoresistance and reduce average survival time in pediatric neuroblastoma
Authors: Zhong Zhi-Yong , Shi Bao-Jun , Zhou Hui , Wang Wen-Bo
Published: January 2018

Objectives

Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common pediatric solid tumor derived from the sympathetic nervous system. MYCN is amplified in nearly half of patients with NB, and its association with rapid disease progression and poor outcome is controversial. Characterization of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in NBs has been rarely studied. This study was performed to determine whether MYCN and CD133+ CSCs are associated with chemotherapy resistance and the survival time of patients with NB.

Methods

Fifty patients with an unequivocal pathological diagnosis of NB were recruited. MYCN expression levels were measured before therapy. CSCs were derived and their multipotency tested by directed differentiation. The patients’ responses to chemotherapy and average survival time were compared among the groups as follows: CD133+, CD133−, MYCN amplification ≥5 times (i.e. MYCN≥5), MYCN<5, CD133+ plus MYCN≥5, and CD133− plus MYCN<5.

Results

CD133+ CSCs differentiated into neuron-like cells. CD133+ patients had a significantly poorer response to chemotherapy than did CD133− patients. CD133+ plus MYCN≥5 patients had a significantly shorter average survival time than did CD133− plus MYCN<5 patients.

Conclusions

CD133+ CSCs are chemoresistance. CD133 expression and MYCN amplification can be used together as a prognostic indicator of disease outcome.
‘Radicalisation: the journey of a concept’, revisited
Authors: Silva Derek M. D.
Published: January 2018

Over the past decade, radicalisation has emerged as perhaps the most pervasive framework for understanding micro-level transitions towards violence. However, the concept has not only become a dominant policing framework, but also an overarching governmental strategy encompassing surveillance, security, risk and community engagement. The emergence of this strategy has been accompanied by a whole host of analysts, advisers and scholars, who claim to possess ‘expert’ knowledge of individual transitions towards political violence. Revisiting ‘Radicalisation: the journey of a concept’, Arun Kundnani’s 2012 typology of such ‘expertise’ ( Race & Class, doi 10.1177/0306396812454984), the author comparatively examines scholarly developments in relation to ‘radicalisation’ and juxtaposes new knowledge claims with official government counter-radicalisation strategies and funding programmes in the UK, US and Canada to highlight how some of the most problematic knowledge claims continue to influence social policy as we move forward in the global ‘war on terror’.
The Responsiveness of Patient- Reported Outcome Tools in Shoulder Surgery Is Dependent on the Underlying Pathological Condition
Authors: Unger R. Zackary , Burnham Jeremy M. , Gammon Lee , Malempati Chaitu S. , Jacobs Cale A. , Makhni Eric C.
Published: January 2018

Background:

Given the high number of available patient-reported outcome (PRO) tools for patients undergoing shoulder surgery, comparative information is necessary to determine the most relevant forms to incorporate into clinical practice.

Purpose:

To determine the utilization and responsiveness of common PRO tools in studies involving patients undergoing arthroscopic rotator cuff repair or operative management of glenohumeral instability.

Study Design:

Systematic review.

Methods:

A systematic review of rotator cuff and instability studies from multiple databases was performed according to PRISMA guidelines. Means and SDs of each PRO tool utilized, study sample sizes, and follow-up durations were collected. The responsiveness of each PRO tool compared with other PRO tools was determined by calculating the effect size and relative efficiency (RE).

Results:

After a full-text review of 238 rotator cuff articles and 110 instability articles, 81 studies and 29 studies met the criteria for final inclusion, respectively. In the rotator cuff studies, 25 different PRO tools were utilized. The most commonly utilized PRO tools were the Constant (50 studies), visual analog scale (VAS) for pain (44 studies), American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES; 39 studies), University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA; 20 studies), and Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH; 13 studies) scores. The ASES score was found to be more responsive than all scores including the Constant (RE, 1.94), VAS for pain (RE, 1.54), UCLA (RE, 1.46), and DASH (RE, 1.35) scores. In the instability studies, 16 different PRO tools were utilized. The most commonly used PRO tools were the ASES (13 studies), Rowe (10 studies), Western Ontario Shoulder Instability Index (WOSI; 8 studies), VAS for pain (7 studies), UCLA (7 studies), and Constant (6 studies) scores. The Rowe score was much more responsive than both the ASES (RE, 22.84) and the Constant (RE, 33.17) scores; however, the ASES score remained more responsive than the Constant (RE, 1.93), VAS for pain (RE, 1.75), and WOSI (RE, 0.97) scores.

Conclusion:

Despite being frequently used in the research community, the Constant score may be less clinically useful as it was less responsive. Additionally, it is a greater burden on the provider because it requires objective strength and range of motion data to be gathered by the clinician. In contrast, the ASES score was highly responsive after rotator cuff repair and requires only subjective patient input. Furthermore, separate PRO scoring methods appear to be necessary for patients undergoing rotator cuff repair and surgery for instability as the instability-specific Rowe score was much more responsive than the ASES score.
Investigating Effects of Sex Differences and Prior Concussions on Symptom Reporting and Cognition Among Adolescent Soccer Players
Authors: Brooks Brian L. , Silverberg Noah , Maxwell Bruce , Mannix Rebekah , Zafonte Ross , Berkner Paul D. , Iverson Grant L.
Published: January 2018

Background:

There has been increasing concern regarding the possible effect of multiple concussions on the developing brain, especially for adolescent females.

Hypothesis/Purpose:

The objectives were to determine if there are differences in cognitive functioning, symptom reporting, and/or sex effects from prior concussions. In a very large sample of youth soccer players, it was hypothesized that (1) there would be no differences in cognitive test performance between those with and without prior concussions, (2) baseline preseason symptoms would be better predicted by noninjury factors than concussion history, and (3) males and females with prior concussions would not have differences in cognition or symptoms.

Study Design:

Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3.

Methods:

Participants included 9314 youth soccer players (mean = 14.8 years, SD = 1.2) who completed preseason baseline cognitive testing, symptom reporting, and a health/injury history questionnaire from the ImPACT battery (Immediate Post-concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing). On the basis of injury history, athletes were grouped by number of prior concussions: 0 (boys, n = 4012; girls, n = 3963), 1 (boys, n = 527; girls, n = 457), 2 (boys, n = 130; girls, n = 97), or ≥3 (boys, n = 73; girls, n = 55). The primary measures were the 4 primary cognitive scores and the total symptom ratings from ImPACT. Primary outcomes were assessed across injury groups, controlling for age, sex, learning disability, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), treatment for headaches/migraines, substance abuse, and mental health problems.

Results:

Cognitive test performance was not associated with concussion history but was associated with sex, age, learning disability, ADHD, and prior mental health problems. Greater symptom reporting was more strongly associated with psychiatric problems, older age, learning disability, substance abuse, headaches, being female, and ADHD than with a history of multiple concussions. Boys and girls did not differ on cognitive scores or symptom reporting based on a history of concussion.

Conclusion:

In this very large sample of youth soccer players with prior concussion, there was no evidence of negative effects on cognition, very weak evidence of negative effects on symptom reporting, and no evidence of sex × concussion differences in cognition or symptom reporting.
Cytokine Removal during Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy: An Ex Vivo Comparison of Convection and Diffusion
Authors: Cole L. , Bellomo R. , Davenport P. , Tipping P. , Ronco C.
Published: January 2018

Background and objectives

It is unknown whether cytokine adsorption to the membrane during continuous renal replacement therapy is affected by the technique. Such knowledge might affect the choice of technique in vivo. Accordingly, we conducted an ex vivo study to test whether continuous veno-venous hemofiltration (CVVH) or continuous veno-venous hemodialysis (CVVHD) affect cytokine adsorption differently.

Setting

Laboratory attached to the Intensive Care Unit of a tertiary hospital

Design

Six healthy human volunteers donated blood, which was incubated with endotoxin. Control blood was left at room temperature, and treatment blood was recirculated for eight hours through closed circuits using polyacrylonitrile membranes (AN69). The effect of CVVH and CVVHD on cytokine removal from the circuits was compared.

Measurements

The concentrations of interleukins (IL)-1ß, 6, 8, 10 and TNF were measured in the control samples, pre-and post-filter and in the effluent at baseline and hourly thereafter. The clearances by adsorption, and filtration were calculated.

Results

Control cytokine concentrations remained the same or increased slightly. Adsorption was the major mechanism of removal for all cytokines with the exception of IL-1ß, but the effect was short-lived. Peak adsorption generally occurred at baseline before the start of CVVH and CVVHD, with clearances ranging from 43.7ml/min (for IL-8) to 7.6ml/min (for IL-10). The time-weighted average total clearances during CVVH were 23.3, 4.3, 3.8, –2.0, and 15ml/min for IL-8, IL-1ß, TNF, IL-6, and IL-10 respectively. The corresponding clearances during CVVHD were 19.0, 10.7, 2.7, 2.4, and 0.3ml/min. IL-10 clearances were greater during CVVH than CVVHD (p=0.03). Non adsorptive CVVH clearance of IL-1ß was greater than CVVHD clearance, but this advantage was outweighed by an increased tendency of the membrane to release IL-1ß into the circuit during HF.

Conclusions

The technique of solute removal had only a minor effect on the magnitude of cytokine adsorption, and neither technique had the advantage for all the measured cytokines.
First Clinical Trial for a New Crrt Machine: The Prismaflex
Authors: Salvatori G. , Ricci Z. , Bonello M. , Ratanarat R. , D'intini V. , Brendolan A. , Dan M. , Piccinni P. , Bellomo R. , Ronco C.
Published: January 2018

A new CRRT machine has been designed to fulfill the expectations of nephrologists and intensivists operating in the common ground of critical care nephrology. The new equipment is called “Prismaflex” (Gambro-Dasco, Mirandola, Modena) and it is the natural evolution of the Prisma machine that has been utilized worldwide for CRRT in the last decade.

We performed a preliminary “alfa trial” to establish usability, flexibility and realiability of the new device. Accuracy was also tested by recording various operational parameters during different intermittent and continuous renal replacement modalities. Forty-one runs were conducted on 13 patients and the difference between delivered and prescribed parameters was always lower than 2%. We concluded that the new Prismaflex is a well designed new machine for CRRT and can be safely and effectively utilized in the critical care nephrology setting.
An Easy Technique to Digest and Isolate UHMWPE Wear Particles from a Hip Joint Simulator
Authors: Affatato S. , Emiliani D. , Bersaglia G. , Traina F. , Toni A.
Published: January 2018

The size and morphology of polyethylene wear particles isolated from in vitro tests were analysed in this study. There are some major controversies emerging in the literature that will only be resolved by careful particles analysis. Since it is difficult to identify the factors that affect size and morphology of the wear particles, the goal of this study was to compare four different polymer wear debris isolation techniques (base method and acid treatment) under identical conditions in a hip joint simulator to obtain polyethylene wear particles. We investigated achieving particulate isolation by using a different approach to the one reported in the literature that involved an easier and streamline method of particle debris isolation. The new method, compared to the previous one, used a strong base, normal centrifugation, and filtration to digest the serum constituents thus isolating the polyethylene particle debris from lubricant.

In all four methods the isolation involved some or all of the following steps: density gradient separation, centrifugation or ultracentrifugation, and washing. However, a requirement for all these techniques was that the lubricant had to be devoid of organic compounds in order to effectively image and count the particle debris.

The results from these studies clearly show that this new method of particle isolation is easier and more streamlined than the three methods analysed and reported in literature because it did not involve ultracentrifugation and is quicker.
Biomedical Coatings to Improve the Tissue-Biomaterial Interface
Authors: Rizzi G. , Scrivani A. , Fini M. , Giardino R.
Published: January 2018

One of the most important factors determining the degree of tissue interaction of an implanted device is the property of its surface. Thus, great importance is given to chemical and morphological characteristics of biomaterial surfaces to improve biocompatibility, cell migration, proliferation and differentiation, mechanical stability and endogenous tissue ingrowth.

In order to obtain new and healing stimulating properties, it is possible to apply a coating or more generally a surface treatment to the surface of a prosthetic device. One of the most versatile methods for coating is thermal spray technology. This paper considers the principle of thermal spray processes and their application in the biomedical field, namely the coatings used for orthopedic prostheses and dental implants. Among thermal spray processes, plasma spray as well as High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) processes will be particularly considered and their most important aspects will be illustrated.
Robust Motor Speed Control under Time Varying Loads in Moving Actuator Type artificial Heart (AnyHeart)
Authors: Lee J.J. , Kim W.E. , Choi J. , Park J.W. , Chung J. , Nam K. , Park S.K. , Son H.S. , Sun K. , Min B.G.
Published: January 2018

The Moving Actuator type artificial heart(AnyHeart) as well as many other artificial hearts uses a motor as its power source. For controllability of control parameters such as pump rate, pump output, blood pressure profile and flow form, the precise motor speed control is important. However, because the implantable device has limited carrying capacity of hardware components in size and number, applying diverse motor control methods are not possible. In addition, the existing PI (Proportional-Integral) motor controller does not show satisfactory performance.

A new controller that is sufficiently robust for the changes of load and physical system parameters has been designed and tested. The robust speed controller is based on the sliding mode control method that is applicable to a system of which the ranges of uncertainty in physical parameters are known.

In a mock circulation system test, the actual speed showed good tracking characteristics in respect to the reference speed. Fast follow-up characteristics were also observed under high afterload and speed conditions. The speed error, current and power consumption were reduced by about 40%. The proposed control technique overcomes the limitations of the PI controller, and makes important improvements in both performance and stability.
Extracorporeal Blood Treatment (EBT) Methods in SIRS/Sepsis
Authors: Bellomo R. , Honoré P. , Matson J. , Ronco C. , Winchester J.
Published: January 2018

Background

Extracorporeal blood purification treatment (EBT) methods have been used in the treatment of experimental and human SIRS/Sepsis in a variety of settings and with variable reports of efficacy and safety. Their role in the management of SIRS/Sepsis remains controversial.

Objectives

To develop consensus statements regarding important aspects of research, practice and technical management concerning EBT.

Methods

Systematic review of published study. Evidence-based grading of information available. Consensus development regarding fundamental questions about EBT.

Results

Consensus was achieved on all questions posed during the conference. It was agreed that there is currently a clear biological rational for EBT in SIRS and Sepsis. It was agreed that conventional CVVH has sufficiently been shown not to be effective in SIRS/Sepsis in the absence of concomitant ARF and that other therapies such as plasmapheresis or high-volume hemofiltration or coupled plasma filtration adsorption appear more promising and should be tested in multicentre randomized controlled trials. Patients with ARF and SIRS/Sepsis should be treated differently from those with ARF alone even though current practice in this field is not well known. Patients with refractory septic shock should be considered for EBT. Appropriate end points for clinical trials can be defined and chosen according to the goals of the trial. Different technologies exist for EBT and better understanding of the merits and safety of each is needed as well as better standardization of methodology and dose.

Conclusions

Broad consensus can be achieved on several aspects of EBT and can be used to inform clinical practice and to help guide the establishment of a future research agenda.