bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Triglyceride-glucose index as a prognostic marker after ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack: a prospective observational study
Authors: Hoshino Takao , Mizuno Takafumi , Ishizuka Kentaro , Takahashi Shuntaro , Arai Satoko , Toi Sono , Kitagawa Kazuo
Published: November 2022

Background

Triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index has been proposed as a simple and credible surrogate for insulin resistance and an independent predictor of cardiovascular outcomes. Due to lack of data on TyG index in stroke, we aimed to evaluate the predictive value of the index for recurrent vascular event risk among stroke patients.

Methods

This was a prospective observational study, in which 866 patients (mean age, 70.1 years; male, 60.9%) with ischemic stroke (n = 781) or transient ischemic attack (n = 85) within 1 week of onset were consecutively enrolled and followed up for 1 year. The TyG index was calculated as ln (fasting triglycerides [mg/dL] × fasting glucose [mg/dL]/2). Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the tertile of TyG index levels: tertile 1, < 8.48; tertile 2, 8.48–9.01; and tertile 3, > 9.01. The primary outcome was a composite of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), including nonfatal stroke, nonfatal acute coronary syndrome, and vascular death.

Results

The median TyG index was 8.74 (interquartile range, 8.34–9.16). Higher levels of TyG index were significantly associated with increased prevalence of ipsilateral extracranial carotid (P = 0.032) and intracranial (P = 0.003) atherosclerotic stenosis. There were significant differences in the MACE risk between the three groups (annual rate, 8.6%, 11.6%, and 17.3% in the tertile 1, tertile 2, tertile 3 groups, respectively; log-rank P = 0.005). After multivariable adjustments, the TyG index remains to be a significant predictor of MACE, with an adjusted hazard ratio for tertile 3 versus tertile 1 groups (95% confidence interval) of 2.01 (1.16–3.47). Similar results were also found for the risk of recurrent stroke.

Conclusions

TyG index is associated with cervicocerebral atherosclerosis and the MACE risk after a stroke, suggesting the potential value of TyG index to optimize the risk stratification of stroke patients.

Trial registration URL: https://upload.umin.ac.jp. Unique identifier: UMIN000031913.
BMI modifies HDL-C effects on coronary artery bypass grafting outcomes
Authors: Rezaee Malihe , Fallahzadeh Aida , Sheikhy Ali , Jameie Mana , Behnoush Amir Hossein , Pashang Mina , Tajdini Masih , Tavolinejad Hamed , Masoudkabir Farzad , Mansourian Soheil , Momtahen Shahram , Tafti Hossein Ahmadi , Hosseini Kaveh
Published: November 2022

Background

Despite the recognized implications of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in cardiovascular diseases, the role of body mass index (BMI) in HDL-C association with cardiovascular outcomes remains unclear. This study investigated the possible modifying implications of BMI on the correlation between HDL-C and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) outcomes.

Methods

The present cohort included isolated CABG patients (median follow-up: 76.58 [75.79–77.38] months). The participants were classified into three groups: 18.5 ≤ BMI < 25 (normal), 25 ≤ BMI < 30 (overweight), and 30 ≤ BMI < 35 (obese) kg/m2. Cox proportional hazard models (CPHs) and restricted cubic splines (RCSs) were applied to evaluate the relationship between HDL-C and all-cause mortality as well as major adverse cardio-cerebrovascular events (MACCEs) in different BMI categories.

Results

This study enrolled a total of 15,639 patients. Considering the final Cox analysis among the normal and overweight groups, HDL-C ≥ 60 was a significant protective factor compared to 40 < HDL-C < 60 for all-cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR): 0.47,P: 0.027; and aHR: 0.64,P: 0.007, respectively). However, the protective effect of HDL-C ≥ 60 was no longer observed among patients with 30 ≤ BMI < 35 (aHR: 1.16,P = 0.668). RCS trend analyses recapitulated these findings; among 30 ≤ BMI < 35, no uniform inverse linear association was observed; after approximately HDL-C≈55, its increase was no longer associated with reduced mortality risk. RCS analyses on MACCE revealed a plateau effect followed by a modest rise in overweight and obese patients from HDL-C = 40 onward (nonlinear association).

Conclusions

Very high HDL-C (≥ 60 mg/dL) was not related to better outcomes among obese CABG patients. Furthermore, HDL-C was related to the post-CABG outcomes in a nonlinear manner, and the magnitude of its effects also differed across BMI subgroups.
The immunological function of CXCR2 in the liver during sepsis
Authors: Liu Na , Bauer Michael , Press Adrian T.
Published: November 2022

Background

The chemokine receptor CXCR2 and its ligands, especially CXCL8, are crucial mediators for the progression of liver inflammation and liver failure in sepsis. Neutrophils have the highest CXCR2 expression in mice and humans, and their activation via CXCL8 facilitates their migration to the inflamed liver for the clearance of the pathogens and, in turn, the inflammation.

Main body

In sepsis, the inflammatory insult causes extensive neutrophil migration to the liver that overwhelms the immune response. To compensate for the strong receptor activation, CXCR2 desensitizes, incapacitating the immune cells to efficiently clear pathogens, causing further life-threatening liver damage and uncontrolled pathogen spread.

Conclusion

CXCR2 function during infection strongly depends on the expressing cell type. It signals pro- and anti-inflammatory effects that may prompt novel cell-type-specific CXCR2-directed therapeutics.
Minimal clinically important difference for the Mandarin version of the Tinnitus Questionnaire determined via anchor-based and distribution-based methods
Authors: Gu Hailing , Diao Cong , Tang Jiatong , Yang Bo , Ji Jinfeng , Zhou Mengyun , Meng Zhaoli
Published: November 2022

Background

The previous study showed that the Mandarin Tinnitus Questionnaire (MTQ) has satisfactory reliability and validity. We have also completed the classification of the severity of tinnitus based on MTQ scores. In clinical studies, efficacy is often judged by whether results are statistically significant; however, statistical significance does not necessarily equate to clinical significance, whereas the minimum clinically important difference (MCID) of the scale does. In the following project, we will explore the MCID of the MTQ.

Methods

We recruited participants aged 18 years and above who sought treatment for primary or secondary tinnitus at the Otorhinolaryngology Department of the Hearing Center of West China Hospital, Sichuan University from September 2020 to September 2021. The participants had to undergo the following four assessments of tinnitus severity: doctor evaluation, self-report, the MTQ, and the visual analog scale (VAS), all at baseline and at the follow-up. The MCIDs of the MTQ were established via anchor-based and distribution-based methods. The anchor method used the VAS and self-reported clinical impression as anchors and defined the treatment effectiveness by mean/median and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, while methods of effect size (ES), standard error of measurement (SEM), and reliability change index (RCI) were used in distribution-based methods.

Results

A total of 115 patients were investigated in this study, 57.4% of whom were women. The average age was 43.2 ± 13.20 years. The average MTQ and VAS scores at baseline were 31.3 ± 14.90 and 5.03 ± 2.24, respectively, while the average MTQ and VAS scores at follow-up were 15.9 ± 11.70 and 3.58 ± 2.48, respectively. Moreover, in terms of self-reported clinical impressions, 19 patients indicated that they were cured (16.5%), 24 that it was much better (20.9%), 63 that there was no change (54.8%), and 9 that it was much worse (7.8%). The MCIDs for the change in total MTQ ranged from 6.29 to 19.00, those for improvement from 1.09 to 22.75, and those for deterioration from 3.50 to 7.64.

Conclusion

We selected an absolute value of 7.5 as the MCID for the MTQ score. An increase in MTQ score more than 7.5 was considered aggravation of tinnitus, and a decrease in MTQ score more than 7.5 was considered a reduction in tinnitus.
Development of a quadruple PCR-based gene microarray for detection of vaccine and wild-type classical swine fever virus, African swine fever virus and atypical porcine pestivirus
Authors: Xia Ying-ju , Xu Lu , Zhao Jun-jie , Li Yuan-xi , Wu Rui-zhi , Song Xiang-peng , Zhao Qi-zu , Liu Ye-bing , Wang Qin , Zhang Qian-yi
Published: November 2022

Background

Classical swine fever (CSF), African swine fever (ASF), and atypical porcine pestivirus (APPV) are acute, virulent, and contagious viral diseases currently hampering the pig industry in China, which result in mummification or stillbirths in piglets and mortality in pigs. Diagnostic assays for the differentiation of infection and vaccination of CSFV, in addition to the detection of ASFV and APPV, are urgently required for better prevention, control, and elimination of these viral diseases in China.

Methods

A quadruple PCR-based gene microarray assay was developed in this study to simultaneously detect wild-type and vaccine CSFV strains, ASFV and APPV according to their conserved regions. Forty-two laboratory-confirmed samples, including positive samples of 10 other swine viral diseases, were tested using this assay to confirm its high specificity.

Results

This assay's limit of detections (LODs) for the wild-type and vaccine CSFV were 6.98 and 6.92 copies/µL. LODs for ASFV and APPV were 2.56 × 10 and 1.80 × 10 copies/µL, respectively. When compared with standard RT-PCR or qPCR for CSFV (GB/T 26875–2018), ASFV (MARR issue No.172), or APPV (CN108611442A) using 219 clinical samples, the coincidence was 100%. The results showed that this assay with high sensitivity could specifically distinguish ASFV, APPV, and CSFV, including CSFV infection and immunization.

Conclusion

This assay provides a practical, simple, economic, and reliable test for the rapid detection and accurate diagnosis of the three viruses and may have good prospects for application in an epidemiological investigation, prevention, and control and elimination of these three diseases.
Identified in blood diet-related methylation changes stratify liver biopsies of NAFLD patients according to fibrosis grade
Authors: Sokolowska Katarzyna Ewa , Maciejewska-Markiewicz Dominika , Bińkowski Jan , Palma Joanna , Taryma-Leśniak Olga , Kozlowska-Petriczko Katarzyna , Borowski Konrad , Baśkiewicz-Hałasa Magdalena , Hawryłkowicz Viktoria , Załęcka Patrycja , Ufnal Marcin , Strapagiel Dominik , Jarczak Justyna , Skonieczna-Żydecka Karolina , Ryterska Karina , Machaliński Bogusław , Wojdacz Tomasz Kazimierz , Stachowska Ewa
Published: November 2022

Background

High caloric diet and lack of physical activity are considered main causes of NAFLD, and a change in the diet is still the only effective treatment of this disease. However, molecular mechanism of the effectiveness of diet change in treatment of NAFLD is poorly understood. We aimed to assess the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms of gene expression regulation in treatment of NAFLD. Eighteen participants with medium- to high-grade steatosis were recruited and trained to follow the Mediterranean diet modified to include fibre supplements. At three timepoints (baseline, after 30 and 60 days), we evaluated adherence to the diet and measured a number of physiological parameters such as anthropometry, blood and stool biochemistry, liver steatosis and stiffness. We also collected whole blood samples for genome-wide methylation profiling and histone acetylation assessment.

Results

The diet change resulted in a decrease in liver steatosis along with statistically significant, but a minor change in BMI and weight of our study participants. The epigenetic profiling of blood cells identified significant genome-wide changes of methylation and acetylation with the former not involving regions directly regulating gene expression. Most importantly, we were able to show that identified blood methylation changes occur also in liver cells of NAFLD patients and the machine learning-based classifier that we build on those methylation changes was able to predict the stage of liver fibrosis with ROC AUC = 0.9834.

Conclusion

Methylomes of blood cells from NAFLD patients display a number of changes that are most likely a consequence of unhealthy diet, and the diet change appears to reverse those epigenetic changes. Moreover, the methylation status at CpG sites undergoing diet-related methylation change in blood cells stratifies liver biopsies from NAFLD patients according to fibrosis grade.
Genomic profiling of Nitrospira species reveals ecological success of comammox Nitrospira
Authors: Palomo Alejandro , Dechesne Arnaud , Pedersen Anders G. , Smets Barth F.
Published: November 2022

Background

The discovery of microorganisms capable of complete ammonia oxidation to nitrate (comammox) has prompted a paradigm shift in our understanding of nitrification, an essential process in N cycling, hitherto considered to require both ammonia oxidizing and nitrite oxidizing microorganisms. This intriguing metabolism is unique to the genus Nitrospira, a diverse taxon previously known to only contain canonical nitrite oxidizers. Comammox Nitrospira have been detected in diverse environments; however, a global view of the distribution, abundance, and diversity of Nitrospira species is still incomplete.

Results

In this study, we retrieved 55 metagenome-assembled Nitrospira genomes (MAGs) from newly obtained and publicly available metagenomes. Combined with publicly available MAGs, this constitutes the largest Nitrospira genome database to date with 205 MAGs, representing 132 putative species, most without cultivated representatives. Mapping of metagenomic sequencing reads from various environments against this database enabled an analysis of the distribution and habitat preferences of Nitrospira species. Comammox Nitrospira’s ecological success is evident as they outnumber and present higher species-level richness than canonical Nitrospira in all environments examined, except for marine and wastewaters samples. The type of environment governs Nitrospira species distribution, without large-scale biogeographical signal. We found that closely related Nitrospira species tend to occupy the same habitats, and that this phylogenetic signal in habitat preference is stronger for canonical Nitrospira species. Comammox Nitrospira eco-evolutionary history is more complex, with subclades achieving rapid niche divergence via horizontal transfer of genes, including the gene encoding hydroxylamine oxidoreductase, a key enzyme in nitrification.

Conclusions

Our study expands the genomic inventory of the Nitrospira genus, exposes the ecological success of complete ammonia oxidizers within a wide range of habitats, identifies the habitat preferences of (sub)lineages of canonical and comammox Nitrospira species, and proposes that horizontal transfer of genes involved in nitrification is linked to niche separation within a sublineage of comammox Nitrospira.
Potential drug-drug interactions and associated factors among admitted patients with psychiatric disorders at selected hospitals in Northwest Ethiopia
Authors: Dagnew Ephrem Mebratu , Ergena Asrat Elias , Wondm Samuel Agegnew , Sendekie Ashenafi Kibret
Published: November 2022

Background

Prescribing medications without potential drug-drug interactions (pDDIs) is one of the components of the rational use of medications. However, taking combined medications has resulted in life-threatening pDDIs, which are causing severe clinical outcomes for patients. This study was aimed at assessing the prevalence of pDDIs and associated factors in admitted patients with psychiatric disorders.

Methods

An institution-based multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted among patients with psychiatric disorders admitted to a selected hospital in Northwest Ethiopia. Samples were approached through a systematic sampling method. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26 was used to analyze the data. Logistic regression was applied to determine the association of variables with pDDIs. A p-value of < 0.05 was statistically significant.

Results

Out of 325 study participants, more than half (52.9%) were females, with a median age of 61 years. Overall, more than two-thirds (68.9%) were exposed to at least one clinically significant, either significant or serious level of pDDIs. Nearly one-fourth (23.2%) of participants had at least one serious level of pDDIs. Older patients were found more likely to have pDDIs compared to younger patients (p = 0.043). Similarly, patients with a higher number of prescribed medications (p = 0.035) and patients with longer hospital admissions (p = 0.004) were found more likely to be exposed to pDDIs than their counterparts.

Conclusion

In this study, a significant number of admitted patients with psychiatric problems encountered clinically significant pDDIs. As a result, healthcare providers could assess and follow patients with a combination of medications that potentially have a drug-drug interaction outcome.
Liver elasticity assessment after biliary drainage in patients with extrahepatic cholestasis by shear wave sono-elastography (SWE)
Authors: Aly Rasha Abdelhafiz , Foda Reham Fathy , Al-Warraky Mohamed Shawky , Korayem Enas Mohamed
Published: November 2022

Background

Extrahepatic cholestasis that is caused by benign and malignant diseases has been reported to influence liver elasticity, independent of liver fibrosis. Shear wave sono-elastography is a novel noninvasive ultrasound-based tool to assess liver stiffness that is indirectly measured by the propagation velocity of ultrasound waves within the liver parenchyma. The aim of our study is to explore the impact of extrahepatic cholestasis on liver elasticity assessed by sono-elastography.

Methods

This is the prospective cohort study of 80 patients with obstructive jaundice. Liver elasticity was measured before biliary drainage (day 0), with measures repeated 2 days (day 2) and seven days (day 7) after biliary drainage. Then, correlation with serum bilirubin and serum liver enzymes values was done.

Results

The studied patients with extrahepatic cholestasis (38 males and 42 females with mean age ± SD of 45.8 ± 14.6 years) referred to our department for biliary drainage. All underwent liver elasticity measurement by real-time shear wave sono-elastography before biliary drainage with the highest value of mean elasticity (± SD) 8.44 kPa (± 3.02) and then repeated on day 2 with mean elasticity 6.82 kPa (± 2.77), followed by maximum improvement of liver stiffness on day 7 with mean elasticity 4.8 kPa (± 1.80), coincided with improvement of cholestatic laboratory levels.

Conclusions

This study confirmed improvement of liver stiffness, measured by sono-elastography, after biliary drainage in patients with extrahepatic biliary obstruction.
Extracting mud invasion information using borehole radar — A numerical study
Authors: Zhou Feng , Giannakis Iraklis , Giannopoulos Antonios , Holliger Klaus , Slob Evert
Published: November 2022

In hydrocarbon drilling, mud filtrate penetrates permeable formations and alters the pore fluid characteristics in the immediate vicinity of the borehole. Typically, the prevailing in situ pore fluids are displaced by the invading mud filtrate, which leads to gradually changing distributions of the fluid and electrical properties. Understanding this invasion process is crucial for the interpretation of logging data and associated reservoir evaluations. Conventional logging methods tend to be inadequate for this purpose as their resolution is too low. We find that invasion depth can be determined from borehole radar data using an optimized antenna configuration and time-lapse measurements. A series of parametric sensitivity analyses provide information about the effects of variations of the rock and fluid properties on the identification and extraction of borehole radar signals reflected from the invasion front. Our results suggest that by embedding the radar antennas in cavities filled with an absorbing dielectric material, it is possible to minimize the interference arising from the metal components of the logging tool. In the simulated reservoir scenario, a time-lapse measurement mode with a time interval of at least 6 h can reliably extract the radar signals reflected from the invasion front, and the proposed borehole radar has a lateral detection range from 0.15 to 1 m. A comprehensive range of parametric sensitivity analyses indicates that the signals reflected from the invasion front are principally influenced by oil viscosity, porosity, and mud and formation water salinity, as well as by molecular diffusion coefficient and cementation exponent. These properties and parameters should be carefully explored and assessed when applying borehole radar to evaluate mud invasion information in a reservoir environment.
Nuclear magnetic resonance at the laboratory and field scale as a tool for detecting redox fronts in aquifers
Authors: Costabel Stephan , Hiller Thomas , Houben Georg
Published: November 2022

Surface nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) provides information not only on the lithology and water transport characteristics of aquifer systems but also on the state of iron mineralization within the pore space. This feature makes surface NMR a potential tool for the observation of changing redox conditions in the aquifer, which control the type and oxidation state of iron minerals and, relatedly, the buffering or release of pollutants that may pose a threat to drinking water resources. Our study aims on testing this potential and focuses on pyrite contained in the matrix of a sandy aquifer that serves as a natural denitrification buffer in a drinking water catchment area with intensive agricultural use. We observe a significant change in the surface-NMR relaxation times related to the pyrite content in the subsurface, which is most obvious at the transition from the pyrite-free oxic zone and the pyrite-bearing reducing zone. Complementary laboratory experiments using core material from the study site, including laboratory NMR and geochemical analyses, verify that the influence of pyrite content predominates the NMR relaxation behavior rather than pore size, porosity, or carbon content. The mean relaxation times measured in the sediment without pyrite exceed those with pyrite by approximately 20%–100%. We conclude that surface NMR can serve as a capable tool to locate and monitor the pyrite-based denitrification buffer. However, for general applicability within the given framework, more research is needed to address the natural ambiguity among iron content, its redox state and speciation, and pore size.
“Too Domestic to Admit of Calculation”: Jane Austen and Narrative Economics
Authors: Comyn Sarah
Published: November 2022

To address in economic terms what D. A. Miller calls “Austen Style” and Anne Toner, following G. H. Lewes, identifies as Jane Austen's “economy of art,” this article uses Austen's major novels and final unfinished manuscript to examine the changing relationship between literature and economics in the early decades of the nineteenth century. How, more specifically, does her fiction participate in the critical debates emerging between David Ricardo and Thomas Malthus about the purpose and disciplinary style of political economy? What do Miss Bates's verbal surplus and Diana Parker's incessant interruptions of domestic life that is “too domestic to admit of calculation” have to say about the paper currency crises that dominated most of Austen's writing career? Challenging the nineteenth-century commonplace that “Miss Martineau understands the science” and Austen “plays by ear,” the article insists that Austen's novels not only offer an explanatory but also a critical account and narrative enactment of the economic and social history of inflation, interest, and investment as well as an affective engagement with political economy's narrative strategies concerning the changing history of value.
Emma's Choices: Economics and Modern Narratives of Decision-Making
Authors: Garcha Amanpal
Published: November 2022

In its depictions of characters' processes of decision-making, Jane Austen's Emma incorporates a model of choice that later came to dominate neoclassical economics. This model is preferential choice, which asserts that individuals choose based on their subjective, idiosyncratic preferences rather than following socially sanctioned value systems. While Emma represents preferential choice and illustrates its connection to consumer capitalism, unlike neoclassical economists, the novel ultimately exhibits skepticism toward this modern model of decision-making. This skepticism is rooted in Emma's conservative economic and political vision. Its conservatism paradoxically gestures to a point that is important to some of today's progressive thought: that our valorization of preferential choice—of the idea that choices should be a matter of individual desire for one option among many—is not inevitable and comes with its own significant difficulties. This article shows that even as the novel distances itself from consumerism's mode of preferential choosing, Emma's representation of preferential choice acknowledges its aesthetic importance in the construction of interiorized characters and in open-ended narrative forms. Such an acknowledgment shows Austen's recognition that consumerist habits of mind are important to literary production, especially at a moment when novels vied for attention in a competitive literary marketplace. In such a marketplace, readers chose among many disparate titles; the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century literary field was, indeed, one of the first manifestations of modern consumerism wherein overflowing markets tried to convince shoppers to express their individuality through their preferences for some goods over others.
Ride-Sharing with Little Nell: The Gig Economy of Charles Dickens'sThe Old Curiosity Shop
Authors: Briefel Aviva
Published: November 2022

This article argues that Charles Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop demonstrates the ways in which labor exploitation can occur in situations of apparent generosity, freedom, or even kindness. One of the most insidious aspects of Little Nell's victimization by labor is that the situation is hard for her to detect until it is too late. This aspect of the novel anticipates the particular hardships of the twenty-first-century gig economy, at the core of which is the systematic representation of work as something other than work. I thus approach The Old Curiosity Shop as a hybrid text, solidly grounded in nineteenth-century concerns about work while forecasting the generalized uncertainty in which we currently find ourselves as workers and humans. In the first section, I examine the novel's attention to the particular temporalities of Victorian casual labor; in the second, I locate moments in which its depictions of temporary work compel us to think through our own. Dickens's novel teaches us that work does not have to be experienced as painful to cause irreversible damage.
Beckett's Big House:Watt, Waste, and the Fiction of Irish Autonomy
Authors: McGurk Michael
Published: November 2022

How can an economic model designed to eliminate waste produce nothing but? The answer, according to Samuel Beckett's Watt, can be found in the system of economic relations presupposed by the Anglo-Irish Big House novels that emerged after the 1800 Acts of Union. These novels, which contrasted the profligacy and neglect of absentee English landlords with the idealized social harmony and economic self-sufficiency of the homegrown Protestant Ascendency, allowed an Anglo-Irish readership to imagine a self-sustaining body politic, invulnerable to an unevenly developed empire's devastating cycles of scarcity and waste. The Big House in Watt is the estate of Mr. Knott, to which apparently “nothing could be added . . . and from it nothing taken away.” As his servant Watt discovers, however, the high quality of life inside the home is ensured by the continual production and export of detritus: human waste, leftover food, and pointless activity. The even-keeled manor house, moreover, lays waste to an ever-expanding network of territory and labor to feed itself. Drawing attention to the novelist's engagement with contemporary Irish economic policy, this essay shows how Beckett exploits the weaknesses of this model of national political economy to dismantle the form of the novel itself: Watt produces its own unassimilable waste in the form of aimless digressions and addenda. Rather than discard the exhausted form, as critical tradition would have it, Beckett releases his Big House novel to explore the exogenous play of wasteful contradictions and to overturn the genre's ideal equilibrium.
Capital Fictions in the Age of Fictitious Capital
Authors: Trimm Ryan
Published: November 2022

Theories of money have divided between viewing it as a substance and seeing it as deriving from a field. Conceiving money as a substance finds it as an inert entity passively and stably transmitting already accumulated value; this view is often linked with literary realism. Field theory envisions money's value as arising from and shifting with the market or social environment from which it arises. This essay examines how the field theory of money can be linked with money's role in three contemporary examples of speculative fiction: Hari Kunzru's Gods Without Men, Tom McCarthy's Remainder, and Ian McEwan's The Cockroach. In these novels, money is linked with communication as a system that produces value within itself without referring to an external origin (Gods), is affiliated with financial and other forms of speculation as a force of social projection (Remainder), and operates as credit for labor that must still be delivered (The Cockroach). However, as these novels also indicate, money's social field does not free it of its material debts to labor, for the material must ultimately underwrite fictitious capital.
Native Soil of Postmemory and Affective Archives in Wu Ming-Yi'sThe Stolen Bicycle
Authors: Wang Chialan Sharon
Published: November 2022

This article focuses on Wu Ming-Yi's 2015 novel, The Stolen Bicycle, and examines the way individuals’ storytelling is interwoven with scientific and historical facts to construct cultural memory and reinscribe the meaning of native soil. The novel unfolds with the narrator's search for vintage bicycles, which are at once commodities, war vehicles, objects of expertise and connoisseurship, and most important, fetishes that allow characters to articulate strained, alienated, colonial, and communal relationships. The bicycle as a legacy of coloniality and a memento of affection connects human and nature, embodying the symbiotic relationship among the people, animals, objects, and natural environment of Taiwan. In this sense, historical trauma is articulated in each character's memory about the generation before in relation to the bicycle. In scrutinizing the way the war generation's trauma is received by the generation after in the form of family tales, journals, recordings, strained parent-child relationships, invested sentiments in family bicycles, and even supernatural experiences, the article discusses the way the historical past is invoked as “affective archives.” As the bicycle serves as an index of the past, “native soil” is delineated in The Stolen Bicycle as shared, adopted, and recast intergenerational and interspecies memories.
The acute phase response in bats (Carollia perspicillata) varies with time and dose of the immune challenge
Authors: Viola Matheus F. , Gerardo Herrera M. L. , da Cruz-Neto Ariovaldo P.
Published: November 2022

The acute phase response (APR) is a core component of the innate immune response and represents the first line of immune defense used in response to infections. Although several studies with vertebrates reported fever, a decrease in food intake and body mass, and an increase in neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio and total white blood cell count after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) inoculation, there was great variability in the magnitude of these responses. Some of these differences might reflect, to some extent, differences in the time of endotoxin inoculation (during active or rest periods) and dose. Therefore, our study tested the interplay between LPS dose and time of injection on selected physiological (fever and increase in total white blood cell count and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio) and behavioral (food intake) components of the APR using a Neotropical fruit-eating bat (Carollia perspicillata) as a model organism. We predicted that LPS would trigger a dose- and time-dependent response in APR components. APR components were assessed in rest and active periods after injection of three doses of LPS (5, 10 and 15 mg kg−1 LPS). The results indicate a more robust decrease in food intake at higher doses during the active period, while increased neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio was more robust during the active period regardless of dose. Furthermore, the skin temperature increase lasted longer at higher doses regardless of the timing of injections. Our study offers important insights into the dependence of time as well as the LPS dosage effect in the APR of bats, and how they deal with the magnitude of infections at different times of day.
Prior parental experience attenuates hormonal stress responses and alters hippocampal glucocorticoid receptors in biparental rock doves
Authors: Farrar Victoria S. , Morales Gallardo Jaime , Calisi Rebecca M.
Published: November 2022

In the face of challenges, animals must balance investments in reproductive effort versus their own survival. Physiologically, this trade-off may be mediated by glucocorticoid release by the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and prolactin release from the pituitary to maintain parental care. The degree to which animals react to and recover from stressors likely affects maintenance of parental behavior and, ultimately, fitness. However, less is known about how gaining parental experience may alter hormonal stress responses and their underlying neuroendocrine mechanisms. To address this gap, we measured the corticosterone (CORT) and prolactin (PRL) stress response in individuals of both sexes of the biparental rock dove (Columba livia) that had never raised chicks versus birds that had fledged at least one chick. We measured both CORT and PRL at baseline and after an acute stressor (30 min restraint). We also measured negative feedback ability by administering dexamethasone, a synthetic glucocorticoid that suppresses CORT release, and measured CORT and PRL after 60 min. All hormones were measured when birds were not actively nesting to assess whether effects of parental experience extend beyond the breeding bout. Experienced birds had lower stress-induced and negative-feedback CORT, and higher stress-induced PRL than inexperienced birds. In a separate experiment, we measured glucocorticoid receptor subtype expression in the hippocampus, a key site of negative feedback regulation. Experienced birds showed higher glucocorticoid receptor expression than inexperienced controls, which may mediate their ability to attenuate CORT release. Together, these results shed light on potential mechanisms by which gaining experience may improve parental performance and fitness.
Development of liquid culture media mimicking the conditions of sinuses and lungs in cystic fibrosis and health
Authors: Ruhluel Dilem , O'Brien Siobhan , Fothergill Joanne L , Neill Daniel R
Published: November 2022

The respiratory tract is a compartmentalised and heterogenous environment. The nasopharynx and sinuses of the upper airways have distinct properties from the lungs and these differences may shape bacterial adaptation and evolution. Upper airway niches act as early colonisation sites for respiratory bacterial pathogens, including those, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, that can go on to establish chronic infection of the lungs in people with cystic fibrosis (CF). Despite the importance of upper airway environments in facilitating early adaptation to host environments, currently available in vitro models for study of respiratory infection in CF focus exclusively on the lungs. Furthermore, animal models, widely used to bridge the gap between in vitro systems and the clinical scenario, do not allow the upper and lower airways to be studied in isolation. We have developed a suite of culture media reproducing key features of the upper and lower airways, for the study of bacterial adaptation and evolution in different respiratory environments. For both upper and lower airway-mimicking media, we have developed formulations that reflect airway conditions in health and those that reflect the altered environment of the CF respiratory tract. Here, we describe the development and validation of these media and their use for study of genetic and phenotypic adaptations in P. aeruginosa during growth under upper or lower airway conditions in health and in CF.
Evaluation of shape, size, and location of mental foramen in dentulous and edentulous among Saudi population using 3D cone-beam computed tomography
Authors: AlOtaibi Mlook Ghazi , Tawfig Ahmad , Abouelkheir Hassan Mohamed
Published: November 2022

Background: Mental foramen (MF) and its accessories are the important anatomical considerations while placing implants or doing surgical procedures in and around the mandibular premolar region. This study aimed to evaluate the shape, size, and location of mental foramen in dentulous and edentulous patients among the Saudi population using 3D cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT).

Methods: In this retrospective study, CBCT scans that were taken between 2015 and 2020 from Riyadh Elm University were retrieved. A total of 180 samples of CBCT (90 dentate and 90 edentulous) were analyzed. Prevalence of different horizontal positions of the mental foramen (P1 to P6) and other additive parameters like the distance from mental foramen to alveolar crest and inferior border of the mandible, along with the mental foramen angle was assessed. The difference in the mental foramen location among dentate and edentulous subjects was assessed. Gender and age variation also was assessed. All the data were statistically analyzed using SPSS.

Results:The predominant horizontal position is P4 followed by P3 (59

% in males and 63 % in females at P4, and 15 % each in males and females at P3, respectively). The horizontal position of the mental foramen and gender showed a statistical significance difference, especially at the P3B, P5, and P4 positions. Moreover, a statistically significant difference was seen in the mental foramen to the mandibular inferior border of the mandible (MF_MSB) and the width of mental foramen in the transverse section (MFW). Comparison of the mental foramen among dentate and edentulous subjects showed a statistically significant difference. There was a change in the mental foramen with age.

Conclusions:Based on the methodology and sample of this study, it can be concluded that the edentulism only reduced the dimension of the mental foramen opening.
Development of prediction models to estimate the total number of mesophilic aerobic and lactic acid bacteria of squid rings that were cooked before marinating
Authors: Kılınç Berna , Bulat Fevziye Nihan , Demir Atalay Sevcan
Published: November 2022

This study was conducted in order to develop different statistical models for estimating the bacterial count of squid rings marinated with lemon juice and mineral water after cooking. The marination ratios and times were as follows: (10:90; 90:10; 50:50; 100:100/100 g squid ring) and (1, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 h), respectively. The effects of marination ratios and times on the microbiological and sensory changes of the cooked squid rings were observed at 4°C. Pathogenic bacteria (Vibrio spp., Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli) were not found in the cooked (C) and cooked marinated (CM) squid rings in the present study. The TMC (total mesophilic aerobic bacteria counts) of all groups were determined as consumable at 72 h, whereas the TMC of C and CM samples (C7, CM7, CM14, CM21, CM28) increased to 5.92, 5.83, 5.71, 5.57 and 5.42 log cfu/g, respectively. Regression models were created to estimate the TMC and lactic acid bacteria count (LBC) of cooked squid rings during the marination process at 4°C to determine the increasing rates of bacterial growth of samples. As a result of this study; when compared with Model I and Model II; both of them can be preferred for predicting the TMC of C and CM samples. The variability in the TMC of C and CM squid samples was obtained as 93% in Model I, whereas the variability in the TMC of these samples was observed as 91% in Model II. So, these two models performed well, and they can be used for predicting the TMC of C and CM samples. Additionally, Model III was also developed for estimating the prediction value of LBC of cooked squid samples during the marination process at 4°C. This model was also determined very good performance (86%) to estimate the predicting values of LBC and it can be very essential together used with Model I or Model II for marinated fishery products to estimate the real shelf-life.
Water basin managements in the World and Türkiye
Authors: Kızıltoprak Fatih , Arıkoğlu Ündücü Cemile
Published: November 2022

Water and basin management, which is an important aspect of the environmental economy, is significant in terms of energy production, development, and ecosystem integrity as well as drinking and usage purposes. Besides global warming and famine effects, the protection of water resources, industrial water supply, water quality improvement, and basin management issues have been emphasized in Türkiye within the “Water Framework Directive” scope. In this study, the examples of basin management in the world were investigated and compared their approaches with the current understanding of basin management in Türkiye.
Analogie i korelacje między religią Echnatona a jahwizmem
Authors: Waszkowiak Jacek Jakub
Published: November 2022

Religia faraona Echnatona (XIV w. przed Chr.) – atonizm – budzi ogromne zainteresowanie wśród badaczy. Głównym tego powodem jest jej podobieństwo do jahwizmu. Zauważone analogie dały podstawę do przypuszczenia, że religia Amarny mogła mieć wpływ na rozwój jahwizmu. Jednakże znawcy tematu są w tej kwestii bardzo podzieleni i pomimo licznych publikacji problem pozostaje ciągle nierozstrzygnięty. Niniejszy artykuł przedstawia główne zagadnienia dotyczące zarówno postaci Echnatona, jak i te, które w sposób szczególny charakteryzują atonizm w odniesieniu do religii Hebrajczyków. Mając na uwadze wyraźne analogie pomiędzy obu religiami oraz ich zbieżność czasowo-geograficzną, autor wyraża opinię, iż atonizm mógł znacznie wpłynąć na rozwój późniejszego jahwizmu.
Struktura J 13,1-17 i jej przełożenie na interpretację chrystologiczno-soteriologiczną, chrzcielną oraz etyczną
Authors: Wojciechowska Kalina
Published: November 2022

W artykule została przeanalizowana struktura opisu obmycia nóg: J 13,1–17. Tekst ten ma budowę ramową (ww. 1.3 i 17), składa się z dwóch równoległych wobec siebie części (4–10a oraz 12–16), z których każda kończy się podsumowującą sentencją (ww. 10a oraz 16). Na podstawie owych ram i sentencji zaproponowano interpretację tekstu z perspektywy chrystologiczno-soteriologicznej, chrzcielnej i etycznej. Wszystkie trzy perspektywy nakładają się na siebie, ale też pozwalają zwrócić uwagę na różne aspekty tekstu. W podsumowaniu wnioski wynikające z przyjęcia tych trzech perspektyw są przekładane na płaszczyznę ekumeniczną.
The Main Benefits of Application of Six Sigma for Productive Excellence
Authors: Da Silva Gomes Fabricia , Camargo Paulo R. , Salvador da Motta Reis José , Diogo Gabriel M.M. , Cardso Ronald P. , Medeiros de Barros José G. , de Souza Sampaio Nilo A. , Barbosa Luís C.F.M. , Santos Gilberto
Published: November 2022

Purpose: The present paper addressed the application of the Six Sigma method for process management to reduce the variability and scrap of packages manufactured at a company located in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Methodology/Approach: Exploratory research was conducted to understand the context, analyse, and create familiarity with the problems identified in the company, making them more explicit.
Findings: Through Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control (DMAIC) the company was able to identify the main causes of customer complaints and the factors that led to these complaints. Using management tools, it was possible to solve the problems with packaging outside the specifications, which was the reason for complaints from customers. The benefits of this research were the identification and analysis of the quality management tools.
Research Limitation/Implication: The present research had as a limitation the application of the method is only one company, so it is proposed as a future study of the application in different production processes of different organizations.
Originality/Value of paper: It was evidenced that there is a positive relationship between the application of Quality management methods and company billing, as there was an increase of 1.7% in company billing. In past surveys, new possibilities for improvement to be addressed emerged, making the team aware of the need to continue the process of continuous improvement.
Environmental, Social and Governance Information Disclosure Strategy of the Ten Main Spanish Listed Companies
Authors: Gutierrez Ponce Herenia , Arimany Serrat Nuria , Chamizo Gonzalez Julian
Published: November 2022

Purpose: This article aims to investigate the environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) disclosure strategy and its impact on the financial performance of the top ten companies in terms of operating income/turnover volume.
Methodology/Approach: The study methods used include parametric correlations and logistic regression analysis focusing on data from Spanish listed companies in 2019-2020.
Findings: The findings show that IBEX35 companies need to improve web transparency in ESG reporting and a significant relationship was found between financial indicators and ESG transparency. Companies with the best positions in liquidity and return on assets rank first in non-financial indicators. Finally, it was found that the sector of the company was a significant variable.
Research Limitation/Implication: The findings of this research will help define the ESG strategy and understand the relationship between ESG and financial results. One limitation is that the information on the websites changes frequently. However, the results may contribute to being a point of reference for future studies.
Originality/Value of paper: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous research has been conducted to assess the ESG information disclosure strategy based on its web transparency and the financial performance of major Spanish companies.
LA INTERCULTURALIDAD EN LA ENSEÑANZA Y EL APRENDIZAJE DEL ITALIANO
Authors: Aramburu Sánchez Celia
Published: November 2022

Celia Aramburu, Universidad de Salamanca
O ARRABALDE REESCRITO: O CASO DAS TRADUÇÕES BRASILEIRAS
Authors: Mallmann Vallerius Denise
Published: November 2022

This paper analyzes the existing translations in the Brazilian publishing market of one of the "orilleros" short stories - taking place in a neighborhood in Buenos Aires - by the Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges, entitled História de Rosendo Juarez. This study shows that those translations end up homogenizing the characters' local jargon to the Portuguese language pattern.
Presentación volumen VII (1-2)
Authors: UB Transfer
Published: November 2022

Presentación volumen VII (1-2)