bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Francophobia and Interimperial Politics in late Bourbon Puerto Rico: The Duke of Crillón y Mahón’s Failed Negotiations with the Spanish Crown, 1776-1796
Authors: Chinea Jorge Luis
Published: April 2021

Reconstructs how Louis Balbes des Berton, or Duke of Crillón y Mahón, a Frenchman naturalized as Spaniard, attempted to persuade the Spanish Crown to grant him liberal commercial and colonizing concessions in Puerto Rico in the later 18th c. Author describes how Crillón at first wanted to settle and colonize parts of Santo Domingo near French St Domingue, but the Crown refused this, as part of increased measures against (further) foreign encroachments in Spanish territories, and granted him land in Puerto Rico in 1776 instead, for growing sugar, coffee, and other crops. He places this within the context of the Bourbon reforms, aimed at preventing foreign intrusions in more peripheral Spanish colonies like Puerto Rico then, by aligning these with Spanish imperial objectives. Author further relates how Crillón sought to elaborate the land grant through planning, proposals, and several appeals to the Spanish Crown, up to 1796, for concessions to facilitate his introduction and trading in African slaves, and exempting him from certain extant legal taxes and requirements regarding colonists and land sale, aiming to achieve a sort of feudal power. These proposals and appeals, or calls for financial support, were mainly dismissed by the Crown, seemingly for several legal reasons or transgressions. The author argues, however, that while Crillón was avaricious, the Crown's dismissal related as much to Crillón being a foreigner, whose loyalty to Spain seemed doubtful to some Hispanophiles in the Crown's inner circle.
Postcolonialism, Identity, and the French Language in St. Lucia
Authors: St. Hilaire Aonghas
Published: April 2021

Examines attitudes toward cultural identification with the French language, recently increased in education, relative to English and Kwéyòl, among St Lucians, through a postcolonial conceptual framework. Author contextualizes this within St Lucia's history, as first French and later British colony, and relates it to the multiplicity, characteristic of St Lucia (and Caribbean) Creole identity, and a connected fluidity in language use. Through a rural and Castries sample, he further studies the evaluations of St Lucians of French, English, and Kwéyòl, in relation to their sense of cultural and social relevance and affinity of and with these languages. He shows how English is seen by most as high-status and important for St Lucians, especially for upward and outward mobility, while especially for St Lucia's national identity Kwéyòl is also valued by most, despite its recent partial waning. French, recently stimulated as main second or third language, is seen as quite important, and should according to a majority of the sample (especially in Castries) be learned more by St Lucians, and is seen as more relevant than Spanish. Author points out how this is related to a strong cultural affinity St Lucians sense with nearby Martinique, practical connections (traveling, migrating) to Martinique, or French/Martinican tourists in St Lucia, as well as to French's similarity to Kwéyòl, thus possibly helping to bolster Kwéyòl's status.
What Price Sugar? Land, Labor, and Revolution
Authors: Littlefield Daniel C.
Published: April 2021

[First paragraph]Sugar, Slavery, and Society: Perspectives on the Caribbean, India, the Mascarenes, and the United States. Bernard Moitt (ed.). Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2004. vii + 203 pp. (Cloth US $ 65.00)Tropical Babylons: Sugar and the Making of the Atlantic World, 1450-1680. Stuart B. Schwartz (ed.). Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004. xiii + 347 pp. (Paper US $ 22.50)These two books illustrate the fascination that sugar, slavery, and the plantation still exercise over the minds of scholars. One of them also reflects an interest in the influence these have had on the modern world. For students of the history of these things the Schwartz collection is in many ways the more useful. It seeks to fill a lacuna left by the concentration of monographs on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, suggesting that we know less about the history of sugar than we thought we did. Perhaps in no other single place is such a range of information on so wide an area presented in such detail for so early a period. Ranging from Iberia to the Caribbean and including consumption as well as production of sugar, with a nod to the slave trade and a very useful note on weights and currencies, this volume is a gold mine of information. It considers (briefly) the theoretical meaning as well as the growing of this important crop, contrasting its production in Iberia with that on the Atlantic islands of Madeira and the Canaries, colonized by Iberian powers, and continuing the contrast with São Tomé, off the coast of Africa, and on to Brazil and the Spanish American empire before ending with the British in Barbados. In the transit, it of necessity considers and complicates the meaning of “sugar revolution” and shows how scholars using that term do not always mean the same thing. John McCusker and Russell Menard, for example, tackling a cornerstone of the traditional interpretation of the development of sugar, argue that there was no “sugar revolution” in Barbados; economic change had already begun before sugar’s advent, though sugar may have accelerated it, and yet sugar production was transformed on the island. They also undercut, without quite denying, the significance of the Dutch role in the process. Schwartz, while questioning, lings to the traditional expression if not the traditional outlook, seeing in Barbados “the beginning of the sugar revolution” (p. 10).
Carribean migration and the construction of a black diaspora identity in Paul Marshall's Brown Girl, Brownstones
Authors: Chin Timothy S.
Published: April 2021

Analyses the novel 'Brown girl, brownstones' (1959) by Paule Marshall. Author argues that this novel offers a complex and nuanced understanding of how Caribbean migration impacts upon cultural identity, and how this cultural identity is dynamically produced, rather than static. He describes how the novel deals with Barbadian migrants to the US in the 1930s and 1940s, and further elaborates on how through this novel Marshall problematizes common dichotomies, such as between the public and the private, and between racial (black) and ethnic (Caribbean) identity. Furthermore, he indicates that Marshall through her representation of the Barbadian community, foregrounds the central role of women in the production of Caribbean identity in the US. In this, he shows, Bajan women's talk from the private sphere is very important. Further, the author discusses how the Barbadian identity is broadened to encompass Caribbean and African Americans in the novel, thus creating transnational black diaspora connections, such as by invoking James Baldwin and Marcus Garvey.
Through the looking glass on Cuba
Authors: Stubbs Jean
Published: April 2021

[First paragraph]State Resistance to Globalisation in Cuba. Antonio Carmona Báez. Sterling VA: Pluto Press, 2004. vii + 264 pp. (Paper US$ 29.95)La Lucha for Cuba: Religion and Politics on the Streets of Miami. Miguel A. de la Torre. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. xi + 181 pp. (Paper US$ 21.95)By Heart/De Memoria: Cuban Women’s Journeys in and out of Exile. María de los Angeles Torres (ed.). Philadelphia PA: Temple University Press, 2003. vii + 192 pp. (Paper US$ 19.95)Looking at Cuba: Essays on Culture and Civil Society. Rafael Hernández. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003. vii + 145 pp. (Cloth US$ 24.95)In the politically charged world of scholarship on Cuba, it is salutary to comment in one review essay on four quite different volumes, each complementing the others. Three are single-authored, two on island Cuba (by Antonio Carmona Báez and Rafael Hernández) and one on Miami (by Miguel A. de la Torre). All three draw on theory and concepts and are male-authored and place-centric (Cuba/Miami). The fourth (by María de los Angeles Torres) is an edited collection of the personal testimonies of women seeking a place in between the hardened politics of Cuba and Miami.
A view from the concrete jungle: diverging enviromentalisms in the urban caribbean
Authors: Jaffe Rivke
Published: April 2021

Examines the disconnect between supralocal environmental discourse and policy and local understandings of environment and nature in urban areas of Jamaica and Curaçao. Through research among residents of ghettos or marginal neighbourhoods Riverton and Rae Town in Kingston, and Wishi/Marchena and Seru Fortuna in Willemstad, the author examines local environmental perceptions, placed also in a wider Caribbean context, and if and how these differ from "professional", or Western environmentalist discourse and themes. She notes that the respondents value wild, unpolluted nonurban places, but value natural resources for their instrumental above their intrinsic value, while they further object against garbage, waste, and pollution, but see them as connected to social problems. They further display coherent beliefs about the earth and human-environment relationships, influenced by religious views, combining misanthropy, anthropocentrism, and animism. Author then points out how these views diverge from "professional" versions of environmentalism of governmental or nongovernmental organizations. These can be attributed to differences in environmental worldviews, and to the fact that supralocal actors articulate environmental problems as separate, whereas the local residents consider these as interrelated with social and economic (urban) problems, including poverty, and marginalization. Author calls for incorporation of local-level environmental perceptions to make environmental policies more relevant and successful.
Bookreview
Authors: KITLV Redactie
Published: April 2021

Marcus Wood; Slavery, Empathy, and Pornography (Lynn M. Festa)Michèle Praeger; The Imaginary Caribbean and Caribbean Imaginary (Celia Britton)Charles V. Carnegie; Postnationalism Prefigured: Caribbean Borderlands (John Collins)Mervyn C. Alleyne; The Construction and Representation of Race and Ethnicity in the Caribbean and the World (Charles V. Carnegy)Jerry Gershenhorn; Melville J. Herskovits and the Racial Politics of Knowledge (Richard Price)Sally Cooper Coole; Ruth Landes: A Life in Anthropology (Olivia Maria Gomes Da Cunha)Maureen Warner Lewis; Central Africa in the Caribbean: Transcending Time, Transforming Cultures (Robert W. Slenes)Gert Oostindie (ed.); Facing up to the Past: Perspectives on the Commemoration of Slavery from Africa, the Americas and Europe (Gad Heuman)Gert Oostindie, Inge Klinkers; Decolonising the Caribbean: Dutch Policies in a Comparative Perspective (Paul Sutton)Kirk Peter Meigho; Politics in a ‘Half-Made Society’: Trinidad and Tobago, 1925-2001 (Douglas Midgett)Linden Lewis (ed.); The Culture of Gender and Sexuality in the Caribbean (David A.B. Murray)Gertrude Aub-Buscher, Beverly Ormerod Noakes (eds.); The Francophone Caribbean Today: Literature, Language, Culture (Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw)Sally Lloyd-Evans, Robert B. Potter; Gender, Ethnicity and the Iinformal Sector in Trinidad (Katherine E. Browne)STeve Striffler, Mark Moberg (eds.); Banana Wars: Power, Production and History in the Americas (Peter Clegg)Johannes Postma, Victor Enthoven (eds.); Riches from Atlantic Commerce: Dutch Transatlantic Trade and Shipping, 1585-1817 (Gert J. Oostindie)Phil Davison; Volcano in Paradise: Death and Survival on the Caribbean Island of Montserrat (Bonham C. Richardson)Ernest Zebrowski jr; The Last Days of St. Pierre: The Volcanic Disaster that Claimed Thirty Thousand Lives (Bernard Moitt)Beverley A. Steele; Grenada: A History of Its People (Jay R. Mandle)Walter C. Soderlund (ed.); Mass Media and Foreign Policy: Post-Cold War Crises in the Caribbean (Jason Parker)Charlie Whitham; Bitter Rehearsal: British and American Planning for a Post-War West Indies (Jason Parker)Douglas V. Amstrong; Creole Transformation from Slavery to Freedom: Historical Archaeology of the East End Community, St. John, Virgin Islands (Karin Fog Olwig)H.U.E. Thoden van Velzen; Een koloniaal drama: De grote staking van de Marron vrachtvaarders, 1921 (Chris de Beet)Joseph F. Callo; Nelson in the Caribbean: The Hero Emerges, 1784-1787 (Carl E. Swanson)Jorge Duany; The Puerto Rican Nation on the Move: Identities on the Island and in the United States (Juan Flores)Raquel Z. Rivera; New York Ricans from the Hip Hop Zone (Halbert Barton)Alfonso J. García Osuna; The Cuban Filmography, 1897 through 2001 (Ann Marie Stock)Michael Aceto, Jeffrey P. Williams (eds.); Contact Englishes of the Eastern Caribbean (Geneviève Escure)In: New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids (NWIG) 79 (2005), no. 1 & 2
Colonial Migrants: Recent Work on Puerto Ricans on and off the Island
Authors: Duany Jorge
Published: April 2021

[First paragraph]Colonial Subjects: Puerto Ricans in a Global Perspective. Ramón Grosfoguel. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. xi + 268 pp. (Paper US $ 21.95)Boricuas in Gotham: Puerto Ricans in the Making of Modern New York City. Gabriel Haslip-Viera, Angelo Falcón & Félix Matos Rodríguez (eds.). Princeton NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2004. viii + 240 pp. (PaperUS $ 24.95)Recent studies of Puerto Ricans have revisited their colonial status, national identity, and transnational migration from various standpoints, including postcolonial, transnational, postmodern, queer, and cultural studies.1 Most scholars in the social sciences and the humanities no longer question whether Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States. What is often discussed, sometimes angrily, is the exact nature of U.S. colonialism, the extent to which the Island has acquired certain “postcolonial” traits such as linguistic and cultural autonomy, and the possibility of waging an effective decolonization process. The issue of national identity in Puerto Rico is still contested as intensely as ever. What is new about current scholarly discussions is that many intellectuals, especially those who align themselves with postmodernism, are highly critical of nationalist discourses. Other debates focus on the appropriate approach to population movements between the Island and the U.S. mainland. For example, some outside observers insist that, technically speaking, the Puerto Rican exodus should be considered an internal, not international, migration, while others, including myself, refer to such a massive dispersal of people as transnational or diasporic. Much of this1. D uany 2002; Pabón 2002; Martínez-San Miguel 2003; Ramos-Zayas 2003; Rivera 2003; Negrón-Muntaner 2004; Pérez 2004. controversy centers on whether the geopolitical “border” between the Island and the mainland is equivalent to a national “frontier” in the experiences of Puerto Rican migrants.
Santería grand slam: Afro-Cuban religious studies and the study of Afro-Cuban religion
Authors: Palmié Stephan
Published: April 2021

[First paragraph]Living Santería: Rituals and Experiences in an Afro-Cuban Religion. MICHAEL ATWOOD MASON. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002. ix + 165 pp. (Paper US$ 16.95)Divine Utterances: The Performance of Afro-Cuban Santería. KATHERINE J. HAGEDORN. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001. xvi + 296 pp. (Cloth US$ 40.00)The Light Inside: Abakuá Society Arts and Cuban Cultural History. DAVID H. BROWN. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2003. xix + 286 pp. (Cloth US$ 44.23)Santería Enthroned: Art, Ritual, and Innovation in an Afro-Cuban Religion. DAVID H. BROWN. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2003. xx + 413 pp. (Paper US$ 38.00)Ethnographic objects behave in curious ways. Although they clearly are “our constructions,” field sites and even topically circumscribed (rather than spatially delimited) ethnographic problems lead double lives: places and problems change not merely because they factually undergo historical changes, but because researchers come to them from historically no less changeable epistemic vantage points. One can imagine generational cohorts of ethnographers marching across the same geographically or thematically defined terrain and seeing different things – not just because of substantial changes that have factually occurred, but because they have come to ask different questions. The process obviously has its dialectical moments. The figures we inscribe in writing from fleeting observations (based on changing theoretical conceptions) are no less subject to history than the empirical grounds from which our discursive efforts call them forth. The result is a curious imbrication of partially autonomous, but also partly overlapping, historicities of lives and texts which, at times, are more difficult to keep apart than it would seem at first glance. At least in the study of Afro-Cuban religious culture, the two practical and discursive fields – one circumscribed by the practical, but perhaps misleading label “Afro-Cuban religion,”1 and the other designated by whatever term one might like to affix to the study of it – cannot be easily separated: much as in the Brazilian case (Braga 1995, Capone 1999, Matory 1999, 2001), practitioners of Afro-Cuban religions and their ethnographers have engaged each other in a dialogue since at least the second decade of the twentieth century. That it took us so long to understand this fact has much to do with the way both “Afro-Cuban religion” and “Afro-Cuban ethnography” originally (and lastingly) became discursively objectified: the former largely under the sign of a search for “authentically African” elements in New World cultural practices, the second as an instrument for “verifying” (and thereby authorizing) such “Africanisms” (Scott 1991).
Pauline Adoption: a Sociological Approach
Authors: Burke Trevor
Published: April 2021

Paul’s term huiothesia, ‘adoption as sons,’ has often been investigated along the more traditional lines of Christology, soteriology etc. However, rarely, if at all, have commentators recognised or acknowledged that this metaphor is an (other) important conversion-initiation term ' best viewed against the ancient Roman socio-legal practice of adoption ' thereby making it a most appropriate term to describe what was happening to the early Pauline Christians who embraced the gospel. Just as adoption in Roman society signified a break with old familial ties and a commitment to a new familia, so conversion, or in Pauline nomenclature ‘adoption,’ denoted a new allegiance or a re-socialisation by joining the new family of God. But, whereas adoption as social reality caused no conflicting loyalties, in its metaphorical sense, applied to Christian converts, it invariably identified the tensions which existed between the natural and the new spiritual family. Moreover, according to modern sociological theory (i.e . Berger and Luckmann), if such a re-socialisation is to 'succeed,' it will best do so in circumstances where one’s primary socialisation took place i.e. a family-like fellowship. In light of this, it is instructive to note that Paul's letter to the Galatians is not only the context where Paul employs his adoption term but is also the locus where he refers to the early Christians as a ‘household/family of believers’ (Gal. 6: 10) thereby indicating the apostle's awareness of adoption as a resocialisation process (cf. Gal. 1:13-16). This letter is one replete with familial terminology (e.g. ‘household-guardian,’ ‘infant,’ ‘father,’ ‘slaves,’ ‘sons,’ ‘heirs’ etc.), including the central focus on these early Christians as 'adopted sons' (Gal. 3:26-4:7) who probably came to regard the ekhle.sia, ‘ the family of God,’ as an alternative or replacement for their natural families.
Women in the Church: A Response to Kevin Giles
Authors: Köstenberger Andreas J.
Published: April 2021

In the present article one of the editors of Women in the Church responds to the two-part critique of this book published previously in this journal. The response takes up the various criticisms lodged against the book chapter by chapter. It also responds to the charge that the contributors to Women in the Church do not hold to the 'historic' position on the issue but present a 'novel' view. The primary burden of this response is to clear up misunderstandings, to defend the volume against unjust charges, and to subject the presuppositions underlying the critique of Women in the Church themselves to a critical examination.
Biblical Anthropology and the Intermediate State: Part I
Authors: Edgar Brian
Published: April 2021

While there has always been a tradition of theoanthropological dualism involving a disembodied, intermediate state, this tradition is neither as widespread nor as theologically central as it is often claimed. In the first part of the article it is argued that the biblical evidence for a dualist anthropology is not convincing as the various conceptual distinctions (including body, soul, spirit, and inner and outer self) do not require ontological separability. Moreover, the alleged evidence for an eschatological intermediate state is better interpreted in terms of immediate resurrection. While there is clearly evidence for the intermediate state throughout the history of the church its significance has been over-stated and it has continued as a possibility primarily because it has appeared to be a philosophically logical necessity. This process of deduction is illustrated with examples from early, proponents of the intermediate state. Later proponents will be discussed in the second part of the article.
The Genesis of John Ray and his Successors
Authors: Roberts Michael
Published: April 2021

Most writers assume that, until geological findings forced them to modify their beliefs in the 19th Century, all Christians believed that the earth was created in 4004 BC on the basis of Ussher’s chronological calculations. By considering first John Ray and his contemporary theologians, poets and naturalists, it is clear that few followed Ussher even in the 17th Century. They favoured a Chaos-Restitution interpretation of Genesis One allowing a longer time. Most held this in the 18th Century but after the awareness of vast geological time the duration of Chaos was vastly extended to include all geological time. This preceded the Gap Theory of Chalmers in 1802. Until the 1850s this was the dominant interpretation, when Hugh Miller and Rorison rejected it. After that most conservative Christians rejected it, but it found new life in the Scofield Bible only to be rejected after the rise of Creationism in 1961.
The Giving of the Spirit in John’s Gospel – A New Proposal?
Authors: Bennema Cornelis
Published: April 2021

John 20:22 has always caused major interpretative problems for scholars because of its obscurity. The majority of Johannine scholarship interprets 20:22 as the so-called ‘Johannine Pentecost’, parallel to Acts 2. Others use 20:22 to support the Pentecostal position. We disagree with both views and put forward a new proposal, which contributes to a better understanding of 20:22 in four ways. First, we understand 19:30 in relation to 20:22, in that the proleptic giving of the Spirit at the cross foreshadows the actual giving of the Spirit on the resurrection evening. Second, we interpret 20:22 relationally, in that the disciples receive a new relationship with the Spirit that secures and sustains the disciples’ salvation. Third, the eschatological conditions for the reception of the Spirit (7:39 and 16:7) refer to two distinct events, namely to the start and the end of Jesus’ glorification. Fourth, we give a plausible account for the missiological cotext of 20:22.
A Bombshell of a Book: Gaussen’s Theopneustia and its Influence on Subsequent Evangelical Theology
Authors: Stewart Kenneth J.
Published: April 2021

Louis Gaussen (1790-1863), Reformed pastor at Geneva, was a cultured upholder of Protestant orthodoxy in an age of decline and a supporter of the evangelical awakening in Geneva after the Napoleonic wars. From 1834, he taught in a shadow faculty of evangelical theology in the Swiss city. No work of Gaussen’s has had a wider influence than Theopneustia: The Bible Its Divine Origin and Entire Inspiration (Paris, 1840; Edinburgh and London 1841). This work was continuously in print for at least 130 years, with the latest American edition being issued in 1971. Yet this work rankled some reviewers from the start. Francophone reviewers questioned its theological method. Those in the United Kingdom resented his criticisms of three native evangelical theologians: Daniel Wilson, John Dick, and J. Pye Smith, who argued that only varying degrees of a plenary inspiration had been required to produce the Bible. Impatient with this (it seemed to him concessive view), Gaussen contended that inspiration had been uniformly oracular – i.e. prophetic in manner. USA reviews lionized the volume by judging it to represent historic orthodoxy. By the turn of the century, Gaussen and portions of his argument had entered the evangelical mainstream and Theopneustia had become the handbook of a rising Fundamentalist movement. But was it perhaps a Trojan horse? And has recent evangelical theology eliminated some questionable emphases it introduced?
Two new species of Zamia (Zamiaceae, Cycadales) from the Magdalena-Urabá moist forests ecoregion of northern Colombia

Authors: CALONJE MICHAEL , HERNÁNDEZ JONATAN CASTRO , COCA LUIS FERNANDO , JARAMILLO DANIEL , ARISTIZÁBAL ARTURO
Published: April 2021

We describe and illustrate Zamia imbricata and Z. sinuensis, two new species (Zamiaceae, Cycadales) from the Magdalena-Urabá moist forests ecoregion of northern Colombia. The new species appear to belong to the manicata clade, an assemblage of species strongly supported by recent molecular phylogenetic analyses and which shares a set of morphological characters such as hypogeous to semi-hypogeous stems, distinctly toothed leaflets, long peduncles, megasporophylls with relatively flat shields, and diminutive pollen cones containing microsporophylls with a much-reduced fertile section of the lamina. Zamia imbricata, a species from the Middle Magdalena Valley Basin of Caldas, is distinguished from other members of the clade by its planar leaves comprised of diminutive, highly imbricate papyraceous leaflets. Zamia sinuensis, a species from the Sinú River Basin of Córdoba is similar to Z. manicata, from which it is distinguished by the absence of the petiolule and gland-like collar that characterize the latter, and by its strongly undulate leaflets. The two new species are discussed within the context of the manicata clade, and a vegetative key to the clade is provided.
Ceropegia heidukiae (Apocynaceae-Asclepiadoideae)—a morphologically intriguing and rare novelty from South Africa

Authors: STYLES DAVID G.A. , MEVE ULRICH
Published: April 2021

A new species of Ceropegia (Apocynaceae: Asclepiadoideae-Ceropegieae-Stapeliinae) is described from Ngome in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This new species shares a subset of vegetative and floral characters with the long-lost C. rudatisii, but is clearly separated by its sophisticated floral morphology. Ceropegia heidukiae occurs in Northern Zululand Mistbelt Grassland, an endangered vegetation type. A comprehensive species description is provided together with information on habitat and distribution; photographs of plants in habitat are also provided. A preliminary assessment of conservation status according to IUCN criteria suggests that C. heidukiae is Critically Endangered (CR).
Begonia bangsamoro (Begoniaceae, section Petermannia), a new species from Mindanao Island, the Philippines

Authors: BUENAVISTA DAVE P. , ANG YU PIN , PRANADA MC ANDREW K. , SALAS DARYL S. , MOLLEE EEFKE , MCDONALD MORAG
Published: April 2021

Begonia bangsamoro, a new Philippine Begonia species from the section Petermannia is described and illustrated. The new species was discovered in the fragmented riparian forest of Lanao del Sur, along the Ginapukan river in Wao, Mindanao island, Philippines. The previous collections also revealed that it occurs in the nearby province of Bukidnon. Begonia bangsamoro is distinguished from other Philippine Begonia by its lacerate leaf margins, terminal inflorescences, 4-tepaled staminate flowers, and sparsely hirsute ovaries. The new species is compared with the phenetically similar B. quercifolia. Based on IUCN Red List criteria, B. bangsamoro is designated as Endangered (EN).
The identities of Capsulea and C. bashanensis

Authors: FENG HUI-ZHE , MENG KAI-KAI , WANG LONG-YUAN
Published: April 2021

A recently described genus Capsulea in the family Urticaceae is merged with Fatoua of the family Moraceae. And the only species C. bashanensis is conspecific with F. villosa.
Resurrection of the genus Similisinocarum (Apiaceae) based on evidence from morphology and ITS sequences

Authors: GUO XIAN-LIN , PRICE MEGAN , GOU WEI , ZHOU SONG-DONG , GAO XIN-FEN , HE XING-JIN
Published: April 2021

The genus Similisinocarum Cauwet & Farille (Apiaceae, Apioideae), was first described by Cauwet & Farille in 1984, but it has been considered as a synonym of Sinocarum H.Wolff ex R.H. Shan & F.T. Pu. In this study, Simlisinocarum normanianum, the type species of Similisinocarum was found in China for the first time, and the molecular phylogenetic evidence based on ITS sequences reveals that Similisinocarum normanianum occupies an individual clade, which is sister to the clade comprising seven species of Acronema, Sinocarum, and Oreocomopsis in Acronema clade, the values of genetic distances (ITS) between Similisinocarum and Acronema, Similisinocarum and Oreocomopsis, Similisinocarum and Pternopetalum, Similisinocarum and Sinocarum are close (≥0.0916), while deviated from the values within Acronema, Sinocarum and Pternopetalum (≤0.0580). Morphologically, we found Similisinocarum normanianum develops reflex bracteoles with white membranous margin, petals with an entire margin and incurved apex, and mericarps with many vittae in the furrow (≥ 3) and commissure (6), which are distinguishable from other species of the Acronema clade. Consequently, results manifested in molecular and morphological analyses indicate that Similisinocarum should be treated as an independent genus distinct from Sinocarum.
Rediscovery of Parahyparrhenia bellariensis (Poaceae: Andropogoneae): A presumed extinct grass from Andhra Pradesh, India

Authors: LANDGE SHAHID NAWAZ , SHINDE RAJENDRA D.
Published: April 2021

Parahyparrhenia bellariensis, an extremely rare and highly narrow endemic grass, has been rediscovered after almost 184 years from Cuddapah [Kadapa] district, Andhra Pradesh. The first description of its complete habit, basal portion and other features of the spikelets are provided along with new locality of its occurrence. In addition, photographs of the habitats, live plants, and a key to distinguish two Indian endemic species, distribution map and illustration are provided. As per the IUCN Red List Criteria this species is assessed here as Critically Endangered (CR). In order to facilitate the prospective conservation of this grass, we have discussed about the peculiarity of its habitat.
The identity of Indosylvirana nicobariensis (Stoliczka 1870) (Amphibia, Ranidae) from northeast India
Authors: LALRONUNGA SAMUEL , VANRAMLIANA VANRAMLIANA , SAILO LALKHAWNGAIHA , ZOSANGLIANA ISAAC , LALMUANPUIA LALMUANPUIA , LALHMANGAIHA K. , SAILO SAIPARI , LALRINCHHANA C. , LALHMINGLIANI ESTHER
Published: April 2021

Stoliczka (1870) described Hylorana nicobariensis from the Nicobar Islands of India. The generic allocation of this enigmatic species is yet to be fully resolved (Chan et al. 2020b) and it has been placed in different genera (Boulenger 1885; Frost et al. 2006; Che et al. 2007; Oliver et al. 2015; Chan et al. 2020a; Chandramouli et al. 2020). As of now, the species is assigned to the genus Indosylvirana (Oliver et al. 2015; Chan et al. 2020b; Frost 2020). Apart from Nicobar archipelago, this species is distributed in the insular regions of southeast Asia (Oliver et al. 2015; Chandramouli et al. 2020; Frost 2020) and the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram, Tripura and West Bengal in northeast India (Sarkar et al. 1992, 2002; Sarkar & Ray 2006; Ahmed et al. 2009; Mathew & Sen 2010; Lalremsanga 2011; Lalremsanga et al. 2015, 2016). However, Frost (2020) doubted the records of this species in northeast India. Systematic studies on the herpetofauna of northeast India based on molecular evidence are scanty (Lalronunga et al. 2020a), and species recorded from the area need confirmation (Frost 2020). Recent studies revealed that many species previously recorded from northeast India were based on misidentifications (Das et al. 2019; Giri et al. 2019; Lalronunga et al. 2020b), therefore, a review and revalidation on the herpetofaunal list of the area is warranted. Herein, we examined the identity of the species recorded as I. nicobariensis from northeast India using morphological data and a fragment of 16S rRNA mitochondrial gene.
A new species of planthopper in the genus Haplaxius (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Fulgoroidea: Cixiidae) from coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) in Costa Rica
Authors: BARRANTES EDWIN A. BARRANTES , ECHAVARRIA MARCO A. ZUMBADO , BARTLETT CHARLES R. , HELMICK ERICKA E. , BAHDER BRIAN W.
Published: April 2021

Haplaxius is a large genus of cixiid planthoppers that is widespread in the New World and economically important due to the role of H. crudus in transmitting palm lethal decline phytoplasmas. A new species of Haplaxius, here described as Haplaxius pocococo sp. n., was discovered during survey work on palms in north-central Costa Rica. Placement in Haplaxius is supported by sequence analysis of the COI and 18S genes relative to congeners and by morphological characters.
The Caucasian relicts: a new species of the genus Niphargus (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Niphargidae) from the Gelendzhik–Tuapse area of the Russian southwestern Caucasus
Authors: MARIN IVAN , KRYLENKO SERGEY , PALATOV DMITRY
Published: April 2021

A new species of the genus Niphargus is described from the Gelendzhik–Tuapse area of the Russian southwestern Caucasus. It belongs to the “puteanus” species group and phylogenetically related to Caucasian N. ciscaucasicus and N. talikadzei, separating from other Caucasian species of the genus by the presence of 2 hooks in retinacules on pleopods, different rami of uropod I both in males and females, and relatively large inner ramus of uropod III. Molecular study has revealed that Niphargus bzhidik sp. nov. and related N. ciscaucasicus are relicts of the Late Miocene speciation, associated with the Messinian crisis (5.96–5.33Mya) separated widespread Paratethys species, which survived in long-term genetic isolation for a long time. The new species is blind and epigean, and probably unable to spread over long distances, but this way of life probably allowed surviving in refugee during the Quaternary period with a colder climate. Analysis of stable isotopes (δ13C/δ15N) revealed that the new species is carnivorous, in contrast to another studied stygobiotic herbivorous Niphargus species (e.g., Niphargus cf. tauricus). The key to the Caucasian and Eastern Asian species of the genus Niphargus, known from the territory of the former USSR, is presented in the article. [http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:E0019189-2432-4B64-B153-94C43FDD93E3]
Delivery of Ferulic Acid with PEGylated DiphenylalanineBased Nanoparticles for the Treatment of Arthritis in Early Stage
Authors: He Liming , Zeng Yingchun , Qin Xianyan , Pan Lihua , Chen Tao , Wang Qin , Ma Yiping , Fang Jiyu
Published: April 2021

Ferulic acid (FA), an active component extracted from Chinese medicine, shows excellent anti-inflammatory properties and favorable safety in various animal models. However, the application of FA as an anti-inflammatory drug is hindered by its instability and short half-life in vivo
. In this paper, we synthesize PEGylated diphenylalanine nanoparticles by using glutaraldehyde (GTA) as a cross-linker of diphenylalanine NH2 -Phe–Phe-COOH and poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether amine (PEG5k -NH2). The PEGylated Phe–Phe nanoparticles
are used to deliver FA for the treatment of Rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We find that the FA-loaded PEGylated Phe–Phe nanoparticles are biocompatible and inhibit the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) from cells effectively. After being intravenously administrated in vivo , the
FA-loaded PEGylated Phe–Phe nanoparticles show prolonged circulation time and accumulate in arthritic joints. More importantly, we show that the pre-arthritis treatment with the FA-loaded PEGylated Phe–Phe nanoparticles can significantly block the progression of RA.
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats System of Genome Engineering in Embryos to Repair Genes
Authors: Niazvand Firoozeh , Fathinezhad Zohre , Alfuraiji Narjes , Etajuri Enas Abdalla , Amini-Chermahini Fatemeh , Chehelgerdi Mohammad , Ranjbar Reza
Published: April 2021

CRISPR is a powerful gene editing tool for correcting disease-causing mutations. It is becoming more and more evident that CRISPR is a promising approach to treating human genetic diseases. The technologies for adding or removing genes have made significant advances over the past few
years and have shown promising potential outcomes. In the current study, we mainly introduce the CRISPR/Cas system and there are several applications in the treatment of genetic diseases, particularly during embryo development.
Interferon Regulatory Factor 5 siRNA-Loaded Folate-Modified Cationic Liposomes for Acute Lung Injury Therapy
Authors: Xu Qin , Guo Mengran , Jin Xiaodong , Jin Quansheng , He Zhongshan , Xiao Wen , Zou Wei , Xu Ruiling , Cheng Lizhi , He Siyan , Cao Lili , Elbahnasawy Mostafa A. , Peng Wentao , Jiang Chunling , Song Xiangrong
Published: April 2021

Acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ALI/ARDS) is an overwhelming pulmonary inflammation with limited clinical treatment strategies. Interferon regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) is a crucial regulator of inflammation factors, which can be upregulated under an inflammatory
state and related to the efferocytosis of macrophages. Herein, IRF5 was knockdown by small interfering RNA (siIRF5) to promote the anti-inflammatory effect of macrophages. Macrophage-targeting cationic liposome modified by folate (FA-LP) was developed to deliver siIRF5 (FA-LP/siIRF5). Liposomes
were characterized for their particle size, zeta potential, protein adsorption and hemolysis of red blood cells. The amount of IRF5 mRNA and the expression of IRF5 were measured using quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) and western blot, respectively. The phenotype and efferocytosis
of macrophages and the regulatory pathway of efferocytosis and biodistribution of liposomes in the ALI mice model were investigated. Data revealed that FA-LP/siIRF5 could obviously downregulate the expression of IRF5 in macrophages, skewing the polarization of macrophages to M2 phenotype (anti-inflammatory
state) and thus improving their efferocytosis. Moreover, regulation of efferocytosis of macrophages by siIRF5 is related to the NF- B pathway. The in vivo biodistribution of FA-LP exhibited higher accumulation in the inflammatory lungs, suggesting that FA-LP could be considered as a promising
gene delivery system and FA-LP/siIRF5 is an alternative strategy for the treatment of ALI/ARDS. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study reporting that siIRF5 can be used for the treatment of ALI/ARDS.
Effect of siRNA Interference with Upregulated Gene 11 Expression on the Biological Functions of Osteosarcoma Cell Line MG63 and Their Mechanisms
Authors: Gao Shangming , Huang Lingling , Zhao Xiaofeng , Wang Yunlong
Published: April 2021

This study investigated the effect of siRNA interference with URG11 expression on biological function of osteosarcoma cell line MG63 and its mechanism. MG63 cells cultured in vitro were apportioned to make up a control group (not transfected), NC-siRNA group (transfected nonspecific
NC-siRNA), and URG11-siRNA group (transfected URG11-siRNA). The expression of URG11 was detected through reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The metastasis, infiltration, and apoptosis of MG63 cells were examined through CCK-8, Transwell, and flow cytometry techniques,
respectively. The expressions of URG11 protein in each group of cells and of proteins β-catenin, c-Myc, cyclin D1, MMP-2, and survivin, which are related to the Wnt/β-catenin signal pathway, were visualized by the Western blot method. In comparison with the control
group, transfected URG11-siRNA may reduce the expression levels of URG11 and URG11 mRNA, β-catenin, CyclinD1, c-Myc, MMP-2, and survivin proteins in MG63 cells, and may decrease the metastasis and infiltration of MG63 cells and enhance apoptosis; nevertheless, there was no obvious
change in MG63 cells after NC-siRNA transfection. The proliferation and infiltration of MG63 cells can be inhibited by interference with URG11 expression, and the apoptosis of MG63 cells can be promoted by interference with URG11 expression. The mechanism of interference with URG11 expression
may relate to inhibiting the activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway.
Parthenolide Enhances Cisplatin Sensitivity in Uveal Melanoma by Regulated Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Signal Pathway
Authors: Shu Baotong , Liu Yi , Ma Yu , Li Li
Published: April 2021

To investigate parthenolide (PTL)’s effect to cisplatin (DDP) sensitivity in uveal melanoma and to show the underlying mechanism. Human uveal melanoma cell line M23 was split into the control group, PTL treatment group, DDP treatment group, PTL + DDP treatment group, DDP + Mitogen-activated
protein kinase (MAPK) signal inhibitor (SB203580) treatment group, and PTL + DDP + MAPK signal activator (anisomycin) treatment group. CCK-8 test was conducted to detect cell viability, flow cytometry was utilized for cell apoptosis detection, and western blot was utilized to determine the
phosphorylation of p38MAPK and JNK. Compared to the control group, PLT treatment group M23 cell activity, and expression of p-p38MAPK, p-JNK were reduced notably (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, these indices of DDP treatment group were lower than of the control group but higher than of the
PTL treatment group. In the PTL + DDP treatment group M23 cell activity and expression level of p-p38MAPK, p-JNK was significantly lower than in the PTL and DDP treatment groups (P < 0.05). Inhibition of MAPK signal pathway increased the DDP effect to proliferation inhibition and apoptosis
promotion. In contrast, MAPK signal pathway activator treatment alleviates PTL + DDP treatment effect on M23 cell line apoptosis and proliferation. Parthenolide (PTL) increased cisplatin (DDP) sensitivity in uveal melanoma through the inhibition of MAPK signal pathway.
Exosomes from Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Alleviates Rat Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury by Inhibiting Oxidative Stress and Inflammatory Response
Authors: Du Wen , Wang Xumin , Maimaitiyiming Dilinuer , Sai Qing , Zhao Guixiang , Tuerxun Gulizhaer
Published: April 2021

Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) can inhibite cell apoptosis and promote angio-genesis. Exosomes mainly serve as signaling molecules mediating cell communication. Unlike elaborating research about bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells, the role of exosomes secreted
by ADMSCs in ischemic diseases is unclear. Oxidative stress and inflammatory response are established to cause ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. We assume that exosomes secreted by ADMSCs may exert a protective role in I/R injury by inhibiting oxidative stress and inflammation. 20–22
months-old rats were used to establish I/R injury model and treated with exosomes from ADMSCs, followed by analysis of infiltration of inflammatory cells, myocardial infarction area, the expression of IL-1B, TNF-α, SOD, MDA, NO and 3-NT in the cardiomyocytes. I/R injury resulted
in significantly reduced SOD content, elevated NO and 3-NT content, which were all significantly reversed by exosomes from ADMSCs (P < 0.05). Besides, I/R injury did not cause alteration in MDA content which was elevated by exosomes administration (P < 0.05). Further analysis
showed that exosomes suppressed IL-1B, TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1/β levels. Finally, TCC staining displayed that exosomes administration reduced myocardial infarct size. ADMSCs exert a beneficial role in I/R injury by inhibiting oxidative stress and inflammation mediated
by IL-1B.
LncRNA Phosphoglucomutase 5-Antisense RNA 1 Modulation Affects the Proliferation and Metastasis Capabilities via Upregulating miR-484 Expression in Colorectal Cancer Cells
Authors: Zhou Yongsheng , Wu Jijin , Yin Shushan
Published: April 2021

Background: LncRNA emerges to be helpful in the diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC). We intended to uncover the underlying modulatory pathway of lncRNA PGM5-AS1 in CRC cells. Materials and Methods: The prediction of target of PGM5-AS1 was by informatics
and verified by dual luciferase assay. Transcription levels of PGM5-AS1 and miR-484 were determined by qPCR. Cell viability was measured by cell counting kit (CCK)-8. Migration rate was assessed by wound healing assay and invasion by Transwell. Cell growth was evaluated by colony formation
assay. Results: PGM5-AS1 was up-regulated in CRC tissue and cell lines while its down-regulation contributed to the decreasing of cell viability, growth, migration and invasion capabilities of SW480 and HCT116 cells. Moreover, miR-484 was the target of PGM5-AS1. In addition, the down-regulation
of PGM5-AS1 partially restored the elevated cell viability, growth, migration and invasion capacities following the inhibition of miR-484 expression in SW480 and HCT116 cells. Conclusions: The loss of miR-484 expression in CRC might be involved in the promotion and metastasis of CRC,
the consequence which could be the result of the overexpression of PGM5-AS1. Hence, the down-regulation of PGM5-AS1 could be a therapeutic target in the prevention or intervention of CRC.