bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
“Free” food: nectar bats at hummingbird feeders in southern Arizona
Authors: Fleming Theodore H , Richardson Scott , Scobie Emily H
Published: April 2021

We report the results of an 11-year (2008–2018) community science project (also known as citizen science) designed to document the use of hummingbird feeders by two species of nectar-feeding bats, the lesser long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae) and the Mexican long-tongued bat (Choeronycteris mexicana), in the Tucson area of southern Arizona. From 50 to > 100 households participated in this project each year. We supplemented their reports with occasional mist-netting of bats at 21 observer sites to determine age and sex composition of bats at feeders. Our results indicate that L. yerbabuenae was more widespread and common at feeders than C. mexicana, which occurred mainly at sites close to mountains. In the Tucson area, the geographic extent of feeder visitations by bats, mostly L. yerbabuenae, expanded since 2007 and by 2018, covered most of the city and its suburbs. Most bats of both species visited feeders between late August and late October with little year-to-year variation in timing; some individuals of both species continued to visit feeders during winter. The number of bats observed at many sites during September (the month of peak visitations) was relatively stable for at least 10 years; modal numbers of nightly visitors per site in most years was 6 – 10 bats. Capture data indicated that L. yerbabuenae that visited feeders in the Tucson area were not a random sample of the species’ age and sex composition in southeastern Arizona, where their food plants are located in late summer and fall. In Tucson, most bats visiting feeders were subadult females (juveniles and yearlings). We suggest that hummingbird feeders have substantially increased food availability for nectar bats in southern Arizona prior to their migration south into Mexico. However, reasons for the increased use of feeders by L. yerbabuenae, particularly subadult females, beginning in 2007 are not yet clear.
The Contribution of Wildlife Hosts to the Rise of Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases in North America
Authors: Tsao Jean I , Hamer Sarah A , Han Seungeun , Sidge Jennifer L , Hickling Graham J
Published: April 2021

Wildlife vertebrate hosts are integral to enzootic cycles of tick-borne pathogens, and in some cases have played key roles in the recent rise of ticks and tick-borne diseases in North America. In this forum article, we highlight roles that wildlife hosts play in the maintenance and transmission of zoonotic, companion animal, livestock, and wildlife tick-borne pathogens. We begin by illustrating how wildlife contribute directly and indirectly to the increase and geographic expansion of ticks and their associated pathogens. Wildlife provide blood meals for tick growth and reproduction; serve as pathogen reservoirs; and can disperse ticks and pathogens—either through natural movement (e.g., avian migration) or through human-facilitated movement (e.g., wildlife translocations and trade). We then discuss opportunities to manage tick-borne disease through actions directed at wildlife hosts. To conclude, we highlight key gaps in our understanding of the ecology of tick–host interactions, emphasizing that wildlife host communities are themselves a very dynamic component of tick–pathogen–host systems and therefore complicate management of tick-borne diseases, and should be taken into account when considering host-targeted approaches. Effective management of wildlife to reduce tick-borne disease risk further requires consideration of the ‘human dimensions’ of wildlife management. This includes understanding the public’s diverse views and values about wildlife and wildlife impacts—including the perceived role of wildlife in fostering tick-borne diseases. Public health agencies should capitalize on the expertise of wildlife agencies when developing strategies to reduce tick-borne disease risks.
Identification of Bloodmeals from Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) Collected in the Parque Nacional do Viruá, State of Roraima, Brazil
Authors: Rodrigues Bruno Leite , Costa Glaucilene da Silva , Shimabukuro Paloma Helena Fernandes
Published: April 2021

The transmission of pathogens that cause leishmaniases occurs by the bite of female sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in their vertebrate hosts, which makes the identification of their bloodmeal sources an important step for the control and epidemiology of these diseases. In Brazil, the state of Roraima has a great diversity of sand flies, vertebrate hosts, and protozoan Leishmania, but little is known about the host blood-feeding preferences of sand flies. Thus, we evaluated the bloodmeal sources of sand flies collected from their sylvatic habitats in Parque Nacional do Viruá, Roraima. Fieldwork was carried-out between 13th and 18th August 2019 using CDC light traps. Sand flies were slide-mounted and morphologically identified using the head and last segments of the abdomen. Engorged females had their DNA extracted, followed by amplification and sequencing of the cytochrome b (cytb) molecular marker for vertebrates. Sequences were analyzed and compared with those from GenBank using the BLASTn search tool, in addition to the reconstruction of a phylogenetic tree to demonstrate the clustering pattern of these sequences. A total of 1,209 sand flies were identified, comprising 20 species, in which the most abundant were Psychodopygus ayrozai (Barretto and Coutinho) (42.10%) and Psychodopygus chagasi (Costa Lima) (26.22%). Bloodmeal source identification was successfully performed for 34 sand flies, that confirm four vertebrate species, being the most abundant the armadillo Dasypus novemcinctus Linnaeus, 1758 (Cingulata: Dasypodidae).
Nomograms for Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma Patients Based on the Eighth AJCC Staging and Competing Risks Model
Authors: Li Chengzhuo , Xu Fengshuo , Huang Qiao , Han Didi , Zheng Shuai , Wu Wentao , Zhao Fanfan , Feng Xiaojie , Lyu Jun
Published: April 2021

Background

Differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) patients have a long survival period and good prognosis, so they are easily affected by competing risk events. The purpose of this study was to use the competing risks model to identify prognostic factors for cause-specific death (CSD) and death due to other causes (DOC) in patients with DTC.

Methods

Our screening process identified 34 585 DTC patients in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database and randomly divided them into a training cohort and a validation cohort. We used the Fine and Gray subdistribution hazards model to establish the CSD and DOC nomograms. The distinguishing ability and consistency of the nomograms were evaluated using the consistency indexes and calibration plots.

Results

Our analysis of a competing risks model revealed that pathological grade, tumor size, histological type, American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC)–8 stage, surgery status, adjuvant radiotherapy status, adjuvant chemotherapy status, and log odds of positive lymph nodes are prognostic factors for CSD, and age at diagnosis, year of diagnosis, sex, pathological grade, tumor size, AJCC-8 stage, surgery status, adjuvant radiotherapy status, and lymph node ratio are prognostic factors for DOC. The 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year concordance indexes in the validation cohorts were 0.942, 0.931, and 0.913 for the CSD nomogram and 0.813, 0.746, and 0.776 for the DOC nomogram. The calibration plots showed good consistency in both nomograms.

Conclusions

Our nomograms can be used as a tool to help clinicians individually predict the probability of CSD and DOC in DTC patients at 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years, which has certain guiding value in clinical applications.
Poor-Prognosis Metastatic Cancers in Adolescents and Young Adults: Incidence Patterns, Trends, and Disparities
Authors: Sheth Bhutada Jessica , Hwang Amie , Liu Lihua , Deapen Dennis , Freyer David R
Published: April 2021

Background

For adolescents and young adults (AYAs, aged 15-39 years) with cancer, metastatic disease at diagnosis is the strongest predictor of mortality, but its associations with age and sociodemographic factors are largely unexplored.

Methods

Using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program data from 2000 to 2016, we collected incident cases of poor-prognosis metastatic cancer (5-year survival < 50%) and compared the proportion, incidence, time trends, and incidence rate ratios for race and ethnicity, sex, and socioeconomic status among AYAs, middle-aged adults (aged 40-64 years) and older adults (aged 65-79 years).

Results

From 2000 to 2016, a total of 17 210 incident cases of poor-prognosis metastatic cancer were diagnosed in AYAs, 121 274 in middle-aged adults, and 364 228 in older adults. Compared with older patients, the proportion of AYAs having metastatic disease was equivalent or substantially lower in nearly every site except stomach and breast cancers, which were statistically significantly higher for AYAs compared with middle-aged and older adults (stomach: 57.3% vs 46.4% and 39.5%; breast: 6.6% vs 4.4% and 5.6%, respectively; 2-sided P < .001 for all comparisons). Incidence rates rose significantly faster among AYAs for breast, stomach, and kidney cancers and among AYAs and middle-aged adults for colorectal cancer. Markedly higher incidence rate ratios were noted for AYA racial and ethnic minorities with breast, stomach, and especially kidney cancer, where only non-Hispanic Black AYAs were at considerably higher risk. For most sites, incidence rate ratios were higher among male patients and individuals of low socioeconomic status across age groups.

Conclusions

For most cancers, AYAs are not more likely to present with metastases than middle-aged and older adults. Further investigation is warranted for the disproportionate rise in incidence of metastatic breast, stomach, and kidney cancer among AYAs and their excess burden among AYA racial and ethnic minorities. The rising incidence of colorectal cancer among AYAs and middle-aged adults remains an additional concern.
Estimating Marginal Costs of Additional Water Flow from a Loblolly Pine Stand in South Georgia, United States
Authors: Bawa Ranjit , Dwivedi Puneet
Published: April 2021

Certain silvicultural operations enhance the flow of ecosystem services derived from forestlands. Monetary estimates of an increased flow of such services that can impact forest management decisions are generally lacking. Here we use a growth-and-yield model to estimate physical changes in water yield and assign monetary values to these changes under different regimes of forest thinning and planting density in a loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) stand located in South Georgia. The model is expanded to develop corresponding measures of water yield and net present value per each management scenario. Results show an expected inverse relationship between average annual water yield and economic rent. Further, the marginal costs associated with producing an extra liter of water (per unit area) decrease as thinning intensifies and planting density declines (US$1.35/kL to US$0.72/kL under a site index of 18.3 m and US$1.20/kL to US$0.66/kL, assuming a site index of 21.3 m) relative to our baseline scenario. We emphasize that a landowner’s profits may be negatively affected by the provision of improved water yield downstream as it competes with timber extraction. Monetary payments are needed to encourage the net production of water from existing loblolly pine stands in South Georgia, United States.
The sexual dimorphism displayed by the roots of mulberry (Morus alba) saplings depends on the sex of the neighboring plants
Authors: Zhang Chunyan , Zhu Juan , Liu Gang , Huang Youyou , Huang Gaiqun , Xu Xiao
Published: April 2021

Aims

Dioecious plants present sexual dimorphism, but how the root traits and nutrient uptake of female and male plants in dioecious species response to the sexual identity change of the neighbor plants are poorly understood.

Methods

Mulberry (Morus alba L.), a dioecious plant widely distributed in China, was employed in our study. Male and female plants were grown with neighbors of the same and opposite sex for 3 months. At harvest, the root anatomy, root morphology, nutrient concentrations and biomass accumulation were measured.

Important Findings

When grown with the opposite sex, the males showed decreases in root xylem size, biomass of root and stem and increases in root N, P and K concentrations compared with grown with the same sex. By contrast, females showed significant increases in xylem size, fine root system (e.g. fine root length, root surface area and root volume), root carbon isotope composition (δ 13C) and root N, P and K concentrations. The changes in the δ 13C and N, P and K concentrations in male and female plants were associated with the changes of root traits. These results demonstrated that the sexual identity of the neighboring plants affected root anatomy and morphology of female and male mulberry plants. Meanwhile, the responses of female and male plants to the sex change of the neighboring plants showed sexual dimorphism, which influenced water-use efficiency and resource acquisition. These findings are important for understanding the population dynamics of other dioecious species in forestry and natural systems.
Provenance-specific ecophysiological responses to drought in Cunninghamia lanceolata
Authors: Gao Shuang , Cai Ze-Yu , Yang Cong-Cong , Luo Jian-Xun , Zhang Sheng
Published: April 2021

Aims

Cunninghamia lanceolata is one of the most important coniferous species in southern China, but its high sensitivity to drought restricts its expansion. Understanding the intraspecific variation of physiological responses to drought can help us manage this plantation better.

Methods

We selected 3-year-old seedlings of C. lanceolata, which originated from the low precipitation (LP), middle precipitation (MP) and high precipitation (HP) habitats, respectively. Seedlings were grown under drought stress (20% of soil volumetric water content) for 40 days. The ecophysiological responses and adaptive strategies with different drought tolerance were investigated.

Important Findings

LP provenance possessed the best tolerance to drought stress, suggesting that considerably increased carbohydrates and nitrogen-containing compounds as osmotic protective materials, which were driven by fast carbon and nitrogen metabolisms. In addition, the highest peroxidase activity could effectively eliminate hydrogen peroxide in drought-stressed LP provenance. The MP provenance reserved a large amount of non-structural carbohydrates, which may act as a certain buffer for encountering drought stress. Importantly, timely closure of stomata to reduce needle transpiration when encountering a water deficiency would help them adapt to long-term drought. MP provenance adopted a conservative water-saving strategy. However, HP provenance regulated root growth (increased root/shoot ratio) and reduced penetration potential to help them absorb water. The different strategies among provenances may be related to the long-term domestication of the geographical environments. Therefore, our results underline the importance of provenance-specific responses to drought stress. It is highly significant to accelerate the selection of drought-resistant germplasms and to cultivate high-yield plantations in the future.
Barriers to adverse drug reaction reporting in Malaysia: a narrative review based on theoretical domains framework
Authors: Shaik Rahmat Shakirin , Karuppannan Mahmathi
Published: April 2021

Objectives

This review aims to determine the common barriers to adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting in Malaysia based on theoretical domains framework (TDF).

Methods

Three online databases, PubMed (Medline), Scopus and Web of Science, were searched from 2000 to 2020 to identify related quantitative and qualitative studies.

Key findings

Eleven articles were reviewed – nine quantitative and two qualitative studies. Three domains from TDF were identified as the most common: (1) knowledge, (2) skills and (3) environmental context and resources. Lack of awareness of an ADR reporting system, lack of clinical and ADR knowledge and lack of time were identified as the main barriers. Additionally, assumption of healthcare professionals (HCPs) of ADR to be too insignificant or too well known and unavailability of the ADR form were also reported as barriers for reporting an ADR.

Conclusions

The findings from this narrative review could be useful for the policymakers in planning strategies at the national level to improve the reporting rate of ADR in Malaysia. It is necessary to promote and publicize pharmacovigilance activities and to enhance communication and engagement between the Malaysian ADR Advisory Committee and the HCPs and consumers. There is also a need to increase training and continuous education related to ADR and pharmacovigilance system and making ADR reporting compulsory for all HCPs.
Remodelling (Un)certainty: Outsourcing and Auditing Refugee Reception in Switzerland
Authors: Alberti Camilla
Published: April 2021

By approaching outsourcing through an ethnographic lens, this article focuses on the policies that enable public authorities to deal with the many uncertainties of refugee reception. It investigates how cantonal (subnational) governments in Switzerland remodel these uncertainties by implementing the policy of reception through private intermediaries, namely actors, instruments, and rationalities from the private sphere. The analysis shows that by thickening the interface between the decision-making and implementation spheres, these elements constitute a multilayer buffer zone that dilutes, absorbs, and also shifts the insecurities related to the governance of refugee reception. The article argues that the use of private intermediaries enables the state to ‘navigate within’ unpredictable temporalities and realities, but also to ‘govern through’ uncertainty as it is transferred and (re)produced in the implementation work carried out by the mandated organizations. This article thus apprehends uncertainty as a structural and organisational condition and a mechanism that together shape how different governmental actors engage with (the reception of) refugees.
Efficacy and safety of pentamidine isethionate for tegumentary and visceral human leishmaniasis: a systematic review
Authors: Piccica Matteo , Lagi Filippo , Bartoloni Alessandro , Zammarchi Lorenzo
Published: April 2021

Rationale for Review

We performed a systematic review of the literature to investigate the efficacy and safety of pentamidine isethionate for the treatment of human tegumentary and visceral leishmaniasis.

Key findings

A total of 616 papers were evaluated, and 88 studies reporting data on 3108 cases of leishmaniasis (2082 patients with tegumentary leishmaniasis and 1026 with visceral leishmaniasis) were finally included. The majority of available studies were on New World cutaneous leishmaniasis and visceral leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania donovani. At the same time, few data are available for Old World cutaneous leishmaniasis, mucosal leishmaniasis, and visceral leishmaniasis caused by L. infantum. Pooled cure rate for tegumentary leishmaniasis was 78.8% (CI 95%, 76.9–80.6%) and 92.7% (CI 95%, 88.3–97.1%) according to controlled randomized trial and observational studies and case report and case series respectively. Pooled cure rate for visceral leishmaniasis was 84.8% (CI 95%, 82.6–87.1%) and 90.7% (CI 95%, 84.1–97.3%) according to controlled randomized trial and observational studies and case report and case series, respectively. Comparable cure rate was observed in recurrent and refractory cases of visceral leishmaniasis. Concerning the safety profile, among about 2000 treated subjects with some available information, the most relevant side effects were six cases of arrhythmia (including four cases of fatal ventricular fibrillation), 20 cases of irreversible diabetes, 26 cases of muscular aseptic abscess following intramuscular administration.

Conclusions/recommendations

Pentamidine isethionate is associated with a similar cure rate of the first-line anti-leishmanial drugs. Severe and irreversible adverse effect appear to be rare. The drug may still have a role in the treatment of any form of human leishmaniasis when the first-line option has failed or in patients who cannot tolerate other drugs also in the setting of travel medicine. In difficult cases, the drug can also be considered as a component of a combination treatment regimen.
Nestorius and Nestorianism
Authors: Adams Robert Merrihew
Published: April 2021

This paper has three parts. The first outlines the history of Nestorianism. From the end of the fifth century all the way into the thirteenth century (c.e.), quite a large population—in fact most Christians in Asia—belonged to branches of the Nestorian church. The second part provides a brief biography of Nestorius, after whom this church was named. The third part explores two elements of Nestorius’s christology, as they are found in his posthumously discovered theological writings. (1) Does Christ have one nature or two (both human and divine), and if two, how can one person have two natures? (2) To what extent was Adam, the first man, created for a role that Christ eventually fulfilled?
ProteoSign v2: a faster and evolved user-friendly online tool for statistical analyses of differential proteomics
Authors: Theodorakis Evangelos , Antonakis Andreas N , Baltsavia Ismini , Pavlopoulos Georgios A , Samiotaki Martina , Amoutzias Grigoris D , Theodosiou Theodosios , Acuto Oreste , Efstathiou Georgios , Iliopoulos Ioannis
Published: April 2021

Bottom-up proteomics analyses have been proved over the last years to be a powerful tool in the characterization of the proteome and are crucial for understanding cellular and organism behaviour. Through differential proteomic analysis researchers can shed light on groups of proteins or individual proteins that play key roles in certain, normal or pathological conditions. However, several tools for the analysis of such complex datasets are powerful, but hard-to-use with steep learning curves. In addition, some other tools are easy to use, but are weak in terms of analytical power. Previously, we have introduced ProteoSign, a powerful, yet user-friendly open-source online platform for protein differential expression/abundance analysis designed with the end-proteomics user in mind. Part of Proteosign's power stems from the utilization of the well-established Linear Models For Microarray Data (LIMMA) methodology. Here, we present a substantial upgrade of this computational resource, called ProteoSign v2, where we introduce major improvements, also based on user feedback. The new version offers more plot options, supports additional experimental designs, analyzes updated input datasets and performs a gene enrichment analysis of the differentially expressed proteins. We also introduce the deployment of the Docker technology and significantly increase the speed of a full analysis. ProteoSign v2 is available at http://bioinformatics.med.uoc.gr/ProteoSign.
MoiRNAiFold: a novel tool for complex in silico RNA design
Authors: Minuesa Gerard , Alsina Cristina , Garcia-Martin Juan Antonio , Oliveros Juan Carlos , Dotu Ivan
Published: April 2021

Novel tools for in silico design of RNA constructs such as riboregulators are required in order to reduce time and cost to production for the development of diagnostic and therapeutic advances. Here, we present MoiRNAiFold, a versatile and user-friendly tool for de novo synthetic RNA design. MoiRNAiFold is based on Constraint Programming and it includes novel variable types, heuristics and restart strategies for Large Neighborhood Search. Moreover, this software can handle dozens of design constraints and quality measures and improves features for RNA regulation control of gene expression, such as Translation Efficiency calculation. We demonstrate that MoiRNAiFold outperforms any previous software in benchmarking structural RNA puzzles from EteRNA. Importantly, with regard to biologically relevant RNA designs, we focus on RNA riboregulators, demonstrating that the designed RNA sequences are functional both in vitro and in vivo. Overall, we have generated a powerful tool for de novo complex RNA design that we make freely available as a web server (https://moiraibiodesign.com/design/).
The emerging determinants of replication fork stability
Authors: Thakar Tanay , Moldovan George-Lucian
Published: April 2021

A universal response to replication stress is replication fork reversal, where the nascent complementary DNA strands are annealed to form a protective four-way junction allowing forks to avert DNA damage while replication stress is resolved. However, reversed forks are in turn susceptible to nucleolytic digestion of the regressed nascent DNA arms and rely on dedicated mechanisms to protect their integrity. The most well studied fork protection mechanism involves the BRCA pathway and its ability to catalyze RAD51 nucleofilament formation on the reversed arms of stalled replication forks. Importantly, the inability to prevent the degradation of reversed forks has emerged as a hallmark of BRCA deficiency and underlies genome instability and chemosensitivity in BRCA-deficient cells. In the past decade, multiple factors underlying fork stability have been discovered. These factors either cooperate with the BRCA pathway, operate independently from it to augment fork stability in its absence, or act as enablers of fork degradation. In this review, we examine these novel determinants of fork stability, explore the emergent conceptual underpinnings underlying fork protection, as well as the impact of fork protection on cellular viability and cancer therapy.
ProteoVision: web server for advanced visualization of ribosomal proteins
Authors: Penev Petar I , McCann Holly M , Meade Caeden D , Alvarez-Carreño Claudia , Maddala Aparna , Bernier Chad R , Chivukula Vasanta L , Ahmad Maria , Gulen Burak , Sharma Aakash , Williams Loren Dean , Petrov Anton S
Published: April 2021

ProteoVision is a web server designed to explore protein structure and evolution through simultaneous visualization of multiple sequence alignments, topology diagrams and 3D structures. Starting with a multiple sequence alignment, ProteoVision computes conservation scores and a variety of physicochemical properties and simultaneously maps and visualizes alignments and other data on multiple levels of representation. The web server calculates and displays frequencies of amino acids. ProteoVision is optimized for ribosomal proteins but is applicable to analysis of any protein. ProteoVision handles internally generated and user uploaded alignments and connects them with a selected structure, found in the PDB or uploaded by the user. It can generate de novo topology diagrams from three-dimensional structures. All displayed data is interactive and can be saved in various formats as publication quality images or external datasets or PyMol Scripts. ProteoVision enables detailed study of protein fragments defined by Evolutionary Classification of protein Domains (ECOD) classification. ProteoVision is available at http://proteovision.chemistry.gatech.edu/.
Pre-kidney transplant unintentional weight loss leads to worse post-kidney transplant outcomes
Authors: Harhay Meera N , Chen Xiaomeng , Chu Nadia M , Norman Silas P , Segev Dorry L , McAdams-DeMarco Mara
Published: April 2021

Background

Weight loss before kidney transplant (KT) is a known risk factor for weight gain and mortality, however, while unintentional weight loss is a marker of vulnerability, intentional weight loss might improve health. We tested whether pre-KT unintentional and intentional weight loss have differing associations with post-KT weight gain, graft loss and mortality.

Methods

Among 919 KT recipients from a prospective cohort study, we used adjusted mixed-effects models to estimate post-KT BMI trajectories, and Cox models to estimate death-uncensored graft loss, death-censored graft loss and all-cause mortality by 1-year pre-KT weight change category [stable weight (change ≤ 5%), intentional weight loss (loss > 5%), unintentional weight loss (loss > 5%) and weight gain (gain > 5%)].

Results

The mean age was 53 years, 38% were Black and 40% were female. In the pre-KT year, 62% of recipients had stable weight, 15% had weight gain, 14% had unintentional weight loss and 10% had intentional weight loss. In the first 3 years post-KT, BMI increases were similar among those with pre-KT weight gain and intentional weight loss and lower compared with those with unintentional weight loss {difference +0.79 kg/m2/year [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.50–1.08], P < 0.001}. Only unintentional weight loss was independently associated with higher death-uncensored graft loss [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 1.80 (95% CI 1.23–2.62)], death-censored graft loss [aHR 1.91 (95% CI 1.12–3.26)] and mortality [aHR 1.72 (95% CI 1.06–2.79)] relative to stable pre-KT weight.

Conclusions

This study suggests that unintentional, but not intentional, pre-KT weight loss is an independent risk factor for adverse post-KT outcomes.
Epidemiology of brain metastases and leptomeningeal disease
Authors: Lamba Nayan , Wen Patrick Y , Aizer Ayal A
Published: April 2021

Brain metastases affect a significant percentage of patients with advanced extracranial malignancies. Yet, the incidence of brain metastases remains poorly described, largely due to limitations of population-based registries, a lack of mandated reporting of brain metastases to federal agencies, and historical difficulties with delineation of metastatic involvement of individual organs using claims data. However, in 2016, the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program released data relating to the presence vs absence of brain metastases at diagnosis of oncologic disease. In 2020, studies demonstrating the viability of utilizing claims data for identifying the presence of brain metastases, date of diagnosis of intracranial involvement, and initial treatment approach for brain metastases were published, facilitating epidemiologic investigations of brain metastases on a population-based level. Accordingly, in this review, we discuss the incidence, clinical presentation, prognosis, and management patterns of patients with brain metastases. Leptomeningeal disease is also discussed. Considerations regarding individual tumor types that commonly metastasize to the brain are provided.
Realizing quinary charge states of solitary defects in two-dimensional intermetallic semiconductor
Authors: Gou Jian , Xia Bingyu , Wang Xuguang , Cheng Peng , Wee Andrew Thye Shen , Duan Wenhui , Xu Yong , Wu Kehui , Chen Lan
Published: April 2021

Creating and manipulating multiple charge states of solitary defects in semiconductors is of essential importance for solitary defect electronics, but is fundamentally limited by Coulomb's law. Achieving this objective is challenging, due to the conflicting requirements of the localization necessary for the sizable band gap and delocalization necessary for a low charging energy. Here, using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy experiments and first-principles calculations, we realized exotic quinary charge states of solitary defects in two-dimensional intermetallic semiconductor Sn2Bi. We also observed an ultralow defect charging energy that increases sublinearly with charge number rather than displaying the usual quadratic behavior. Our work suggests a promising route for constructing multiple defect-charge states by designing intermetallic semiconductors, and opens new opportunities for developing quantum devices with charge-based quantum states.
Soluble CD163 Identifies Those at Risk for Increased Hepatic Inflammation & Fibrosis
Authors: Sherman Kenneth E , Meeds Heidi L , Rouster Susan D , Abdel-Hameed Enass A , Hernandez Jacqueline , Tamargo Javier , Chen Jun , Ehman Richard L , Baum Marianna
Published: April 2021

Background

Liver disease remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in HIV-infected persons. Soluble CD163 is a marker of Kupffer cell activation that is highly associated with development of hepatic fibrosis. The relative contributions of HIV-associated systemic immune activation vs other etiologies of injury are poorly characterized.

Methods

We utilized subjects in the Miami Adult Studies on HIV (MASH) cohort to evaluate 464 participants including 361 people with HIV (PWH) and 103 hepatitis C virus (HCV)/HIV-uninfected controls. Subjects underwent testing for hepatic fibrosis using both magnetic resonance elastography and the Enhanced Liver Fibrosis Index. Steatosis was evaluated by magnetic resonance imaging–derived proton density fat fraction. Immune activation markers and cytokines were quantitated using Luminex methodologies.

Results

Participants with HIV with or without HCV coinfection had higher levels of sCD163 than uninfected controls (P < .05). Soluble sCD163 was highly associated with elevated alanine aminotransferase, a key marker of inflammation/injury and with hepatic fibrosis. Hepatic steatosis was also associated with a cytokine pattern suggestive of Kupffer cell activation but was not associated with an increase in sCD14 or sCD27.

Conclusions

Injury and resultant hepatic fibrosis occur by distinct though overlapping mechanistic pathways. In PWH, sCD163 is highly associated with both injury and fibrosis, suggesting that persistent systemic immune activation is a major contributor to long-term outcomes, adding to damage caused by alcohol, steatosis, and other hepatotoxic drug effects.
Race Brokers
Authors: Korver-Glenn Elizabeth
Published: April 2021

This book examines how housing market professionals—including housing developers, real estate agents, mortgage lenders, and appraisers—construct twenty-first-century urban housing markets in ways that contribute to or undermine racial segregation. Drawing on extensive ethnographic and interview data collected in Houston, Texas, the book shows that housing market professionals play a key role in connecting people—or refusing to connect people—to housing resources and opportunities. They make these brokering decisions through reference to racist or equitable, people-affirming ideas. Typically, White housing market professionals draw from racist ideas that rank order people and neighborhoods according to their perceived economic and cultural housing market value, entwining racism with their housing market activities and interactions. Racialized housing market routines encourage this entwinement by naturalizing racism as a professional tool. The book tracks how professionals broker racism across the housing exchange process—from the home’s construction to real estate brokerage, mortgage lending, and home appraisals. In doing so, it shows that professionals make housing exchange a racialized process that contributes to neighborhood inequality and racial segregation. However, in contrast to the racialized status quo, a small number of housing market professionals—almost all of color—draw on equitable, people-affirming ideas and strategies to extend equal opportunities to individuals and neighborhoods, denaturalizing housing market racism. The book highlights the imperative to interrupt the racism that pervades White housing market professionals’ work, dismantle the racialized routines that underwrite such racism, and cultivate a fair housing market.
Why Are Parents the Crucial Players?
Authors: Smith Christian , Adamczyk Amy
Published: April 2021

This chapter considers why parents are—and increasingly have become—the central players in their children’s religious socialization. It theorizes historical transformations of the American religious field and of family life that are crucial for understanding intergenerational religious transmission, particularly the centrality of parents talking to children about religion as a most powerful mechanism of socialization in religious faith and practice. It suggests that the “reflexive imperative” theorized by Anthony Giddens and Margaret Archer creates a culture that situates parents and talk with children at the center of religious transmission. It provides a big-picture interpretation of the transformation of American religion in recent decades as one from religion as communal solidarity project to personal identity accessory, which sheds light not only on the dynamics of religious socialization but also changes in the macro religious field.
Shareholder Democracy and Shareholder Activism
Authors: Anand Anita Indira
Published: April 2021

This chapter examines shareholder-driven corporate governance (SCG) through the twin concepts of shareholder democracy and shareholder activism. Taken together, these concepts are the vehicle through which SCG takes effect in practice. The term activist investor describes an institutional investor that seeks value-enhancing changes in the leadership, governance, capital structure, or strategy and operations of a corporation in which it is invested. There are two basic types of activism: offensive activism, in which a hedge fund takes over a poorly performing firm and then reforms it to enhance its performance; and defensive activism, in which the activist institution takes on an advocacy role when it is unhappy with a corporation of which it already holds a significant block. Meanwhile, shareholder democracy refers to the ability of shareholders to influence the corporation through their votes. It is an important concept in corporate law, one that underpins the legitimacy of shareholder activism.
Seeing
Authors: Cole Allan Hugh
Published: April 2021

This chapter recounts an experience of the author’s family taking a summer trip to Italy, approximately eight months after his diagnosis, and the many questions and struggles he experienced related to having Parkinson’s disease. He recalls an experience of existential angst and spiritual questioning while in Vatican City and visiting St. Peter’s Square, and a subsequent experience of watching an older Italian man craft a beautiful decorative metal handrail working from the back of his small car, which encouraged the author. Through that man, the author saw that significant, even beautiful works can be created with rather modest resources. The chapter ends with the memory of his family happening upon an outdoor fashion show in Florence and his watching the lead designer drive up to the staging area and being helped out of his car and into a wheelchair by a woman (presumably his wife), which also encouraged him and showed that those with disabilities make significant contributions.
Epilogue
Authors: Cole Allan Hugh
Published: April 2021

The book concludes as it began, with personal narrative. This Epilogue details three experiences. These include the author disclosing his illness to his boss and then publicly through an op-ed in his local newspaper; having lunch with a former colleague who expresses his sadness over the author’s having Alzheimer’s disease, which shows the author how much work is needed to educate others and raise awareness about Parkinson’s; and his experience in running the Texas Independence Relay on a twelve-person team, five of whose members live with Parkinson’s. The book ends on a hopeful note, based on the author’s realization that his life is far from over and that, in an exciting, interesting, and meaningful way, is only just beginning as a person living with Parkinson’s.
Homer and the Poetics of Gesture
Authors: Purves Alex
Published: April 2021

This book offers five readings of the Homeric poems through five different postures, actions, or gestures: falling, running, leaping, standing, and reaching. It argues for a connection between formularity and embodiment in Homeric epic by tracing, in each chapter, the story of a particular gesture through one or both of the poems. In doing so, it presents a new understanding of what the body does and suffers in Homer alongside original readings and arguments about the structure and meaning of the poems themselves. It revises our understanding of formula and type scenes in the Iliad and Odyssey by reading repetition through the body, identifying a relationship between familiar epic movements—learned through repetition, reinforced by muscle memory, and culturally engrained—and the verbal formulas through which many of the movements are conveyed. As a result, the book suggests a different way of thinking about epic repetition, both insofar as it relates to the sequencing of action through time, and in relation to the autonomy and agency of the Homeric body and its role within the narrative.
Skepticism
Authors: Stoltz Jonathan
Published: April 2021

This chapter entertains a series of skeptical criticisms of the very project of epistemological theorizing—criticisms leveled by the Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna. The chapter begins with a discussion of the role of skeptical scenarios in Western and Buddhist philosophy. The remaining portions of the chapter explore a series of criticisms of the whole pramāṇa-based epistemological program that is predominant within the Indian tradition of philosophy. It examines a series of arguments provided by the Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna against the very idea that epistemic instruments can be used to establish the existence of epistemic objects.
Experimental and Cross-Cultural Epistemology
Authors: Stoltz Jonathan
Published: April 2021

Chapter 10 examines how contemporary trends in experimental philosophy can benefit from the study of Buddhist epistemology. In particular, it explores the question of whether an appreciation of Buddhist epistemology could inform philosophers about both the merits of experimental epistemology and experimental philosophy’s emphasis on probing intuitions about knowledge. The second half of the chapter steps back from this examination of experimental philosophy and argues that there is value to be found in contemporary philosophers learning more about other traditions of epistemological theorizing, including the Indian and Tibetan Buddhist traditions of epistemology. Among other things, it can serve to change the way we view our own tradition of epistemology and lay bare the tacit assumptions that undergird contemporary discussions of knowledge.
Legislative Department
Authors: Collins Richard B. , Oesterle Dale A. , Friedman Lawrence
Published: April 2021

This chapter explains Article V of the Colorado Constitution, which structures the legislative department. Original Section 1 vested all of the state’s legislative power in the general assembly. The rest of Section 1—added in 1910 and after—established, defined, and modified powers of citizens’ initiative and veto referendum. Section 3 defines the terms of senators and representatives and imposes term limits. Section 32 defines appropriations bills subject to the governor’s line-item veto, and Section 21 protects that veto power. Sections 20, 22a, and 22b require committee consideration of all bills but also prevent committees and caucus positions from killing bills. Sections 44–48.4 define and empower commissions to redistrict congressional and legislative seats.
Education
Authors: Collins Richard B. , Oesterle Dale A. , Friedman Lawrence
Published: April 2021

This chapter studies Article IX of the Colorado Constitution, on public schools. Sections 1 and 15 establish the basic structure for administration of the state’s schools. Section 1 provides for an elected State Board of Education. Section 15 authorizes the general assembly to create school districts “of convenient size” and provides for an elected board of education for each, which “have control of instruction in the public schools of their respective districts.” Section 16 forbids the legislature and the State Board of Education from prescribing public school textbooks. Section 2 requires free public schools open to all residents between ages six and twenty-one. Sections 3, 4, 5, 9, and 10 concern the state public school fund and trust lands. Section 17 sets minimum levels of financial support for schools. Section 8 bans the teaching of sectarian tenets or doctrines in public schools and the use of religious criteria in hiring teachers or admitting students. Section 11 empowers the general assembly to require school attendance or education by other means.
Militia
Authors: Collins Richard B. , Oesterle Dale A. , Friedman Lawrence
Published: April 2021

This chapter describes Article XVII of the Colorado Constitution, authorizing the state militia. The Article establishes and defines the militia, now called the Colorado National Guard. Section 2 requires that rules for the Guard conform to regulations governing the U.S. Army. Section 3 empowers the governor to appoint officers of the Guard. Section 4 requires the general assembly to maintain armories for safekeeping of weapons, military records, and “relics and banners of the state.” Section 5 exempts from “militia duty in time of peace,” persons having “conscientious scruples against bearing arms.” A statute limits this exemption to religious beliefs and combat services. It also exempts other classes: persons in essential public jobs and those with disabilities.
Normalizing Illegality?
Authors: Frier Bruce W.
Published: April 2021

Although Roman jurists never accepted the idea that girls below the legal age for marriage (twelve years) could enter into a legitimate marriage, they did come to acknowledge that when such underage “marriages” did nonetheless occur, there could be important legal complications stemming especially from four problems: the transition into legitimate marriage when girls reached age twelve, the status of dowries, the application of the adultery law of Augustus, and the giving of gifts or legacies. Surviving sources in Justinian’s Digest show the jurists wrestling with creative solutions to such problems, without, however, ever reaching an entirely coherent doctrinal construction of underage marriage; instead, they prefer a case-by-case approach. The argument of Julian, that underage brides should be legally construed as “engaged” (sponsae) to their putative husbands, is, nevertheless, decisively rejected by late Classical jurists.
Conclusion: Torture in a State of Exception
Authors: Heath Deana
Published: April 2021

Colonial Terror concludes by exploring how the attempts of the British colonial regime in India, in the decades following the Madras torture commission, to deny the ongoing prevalence of torture in the Indian police began to unravel in the early twentieth century thanks to the emergence of a voluble Indian press and a mass nationalist movement. But it was not until 1909, following the failures of a series of high-profile ‘conspiracy’ trials due to the ongoing reliance of the police on extorted confessions as their primary form of evidence, combined with pressure exerted by yet another group of reformist MPs, that torture once again erupted into scandal. The Indian and British governments were thus forced to act, but although the actions they took exposed the sheer scale of police torture in colonial India, they did little, once again, to attempt to eradicate it, since eradication was impossible thanks to the importance of torture to the maintenance of colonial rule. They endeavoured, instead, to make it disappear by renaming it, as well as to transform India into a fully-fledged state of exception in which police torture could continue to flourish, freed from the constraints placed on it by the rule of law.
The Intermediary
Authors: Ó Dochartaigh Niall
Published: April 2021

Chapter Three traces the initial construction from late 1972 onwards of a back-channel that linked the IRA Army Council and the British government through intermediary Brendan Duddy. When the British government imposed a ban on direct contact with the IRA after the 1972 talks, it created a new opening for mediators and intermediaries. Archival sources reveal that the back-channel was built to a great extent from the middle out by the intermediary who initiated the contact and worked to draw the positions of the two parties closer together. It contributes to our understanding of the dynamics of mediation, explaining how an intermediary, even a private individual with no organizational backing, could acquire significant independent power and influence over the interaction between the parties.