bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Bioassembly of hemoglobin-loaded photopolymerizable spheroids alleviates hypoxia-induced cell death
Authors: Norberg Axel E , Bakirci Ezgi , Lim Khoon S , Dalton Paul D , Woodfield Tim B F , Lindberg Gabriella C J
Published: February 2024

The delivery of oxygen within tissue engineered constructs is essential for cell survivability; however, achieving this within larger biofabricated constructs poses a significant challenge. Efforts to overcome this limitation often involve the delivery of synthetic oxygen generating compounds. The application of some of these compounds is problematic for the biofabrication of living tissues due to inherent issues such as cytotoxicity, hyperoxia and limited structural stability due to oxygen inhibition of radical-based crosslinking processes. This study aims to develop an oxygen delivering system relying on natural-derived components which are cytocompatible, allow for photopolymerization and advanced biofabrication processes, and improve cell survivability under hypoxia (1% O2). We explore the binding of human hemoglobin (Hb) as a natural oxygen deposit within photopolymerizable allylated gelatin (GelAGE) hydrogels through the spontaneous complex formation of Hb with negatively charged biomolecules (heparin, hyaluronic acid, and bovine serum albumin). We systematically study the effect of biomolecule inclusion on cytotoxicity, hydrogel network properties, Hb incorporation efficiency, oxygen carrying capacity, cell viability, and compatibility with 3D-bioassembly processes within melt electrowritten (MEW) scaffolds. All biomolecules were successfully incorporated within GelAGE hydrogels, displaying controllable mechanical properties and cytocompatibility. Results demonstrated efficient and tailorable Hb incorporation within GelAGE-Heparin hydrogels. The developed system was compatible with microfluidics and photopolymerization processes, allowing for the production of GelAGE-Heparin-Hb spheres. Hb-loaded spheres were assembled into MEW polycaprolactone scaffolds, significantly increasing the local oxygen levels. Ultimately, cells within Hb-loaded constructs demonstrated good cell survivability under hypoxia. Taken together, we successfully developed a hydrogel system that retains Hb as a natural oxygen deposit post-photopolymerization, protecting Hb from free-radical oxidation while remaining compatible with biofabrication of large constructs. The developed GelAGE-Heparin-Hb system allows for physoxic oxygen delivery and thus possesses a vast potential for use across broad tissue engineering and biofabrication strategies to help eliminate cell death due to hypoxia.
Intravenous push antibiotics in the emergency department: Education and implementation
Authors: Brady Rachel E , Giordullo Elizabeth L , Harvey Charles A , Krabacher Nicholas D , Penick Alyssa M
Published: February 2024

Purpose

Intravenous push antibiotics can serve as an alternative to intravenous piggyback antibiotics while providing the same pharmacodynamics and adverse effect profile, easing shortage pressures and decreasing order to administration time, as well as representing a potential cost savings. The purpose of this study was to determine whether intravenous push antibiotics could decrease the time from an order to the start of administration compared to piggyback antibiotics in emergency departments. This study also measured the cost savings of antibiotic preparation and administration and assessed nursing satisfaction when using intravenous push antibiotics.

Methods

Sample instances of use of intravenous push and piggyback antibiotics were identified. Patients were included if they were 18 years of age or older and received at least a single dose of intravenous push or piggyback ceftriaxone, cefepime, cefazolin, or meropenem in one of the institution’s emergency departments. The primary outcome of the study was to compare the time from the order to the start of administration of intravenous push vs piggyback antibiotics. The secondary outcome was to compare the cost of antibiotic preparation for the 2 methods.

Results

The intravenous push and piggyback groups each had 43 patients. The time from the order to the start of administration decreased from 74 (interquartile range, 29-114) minutes in the piggyback group to 31 (interquartile range, 21-52) minutes in the push group (P = 0.003). When the estimated monthly cost savings for ceftriaxone, cefepime, and meropenem were added together, across the emergency departments, an estimated $227,930.88 is saved per year when using intravenous push antibiotics.

Conclusion

Intravenous push antibiotics decrease the time from ordering to the start of administration and result in significant cost savings.
Recent and anticipated novel drug approvals for 2024
Authors: Rim Matthew H , Karas Brittany L , Barada Farah , Levitsky Andrew M
Published: February 2024

Purpose

Health-system pharmacists play a crucial role in monitoring the pharmaceutical pipeline to manage formularies, allocate resources, and optimize clinical programs for new therapies. This article aims to support pharmacists by providing periodic updates on new and anticipated novel drug approvals.

Selected drug approvals anticipated in the 12-month period covering the first quarter of 2024 through the fourth quarter of 2024 are reviewed. The analysis emphasizes drugs expected to have significant clinical and financial impact in hospitals and clinics, as selected from 59 novel drugs awaiting US Food and Drug Administration approval. This year’s pipeline includes recently added drugs with various indications including oncology, infectious diseases, genetic disorders, and rare diseases. New cellular and gene therapies are rapidly evolving and being studied for several rare diseases and cancers.

Conclusion

More oncology agents, including gene therapies, oral agents, and monoclonal antibodies, are in the pipeline this year. Additional diseases targeted by new novel drugs, including cellular and gene therapies, are hemophilia, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, Alzheimer’s disease, and rare diseases such as galactosemia and epidermolysis bullosa.
Bariatric surgery patients in AUD treatment in Norway—an exploratory cross-sectional study
Authors: Bramness Jørgen G , Lien Lars , Moe Jenny S , Toft Helge , Pandey Susmita , Lid Torgeir G , Strømmen Magnus , Andersen John R , Bolstad Ingeborg
Published: February 2024

Aims

Patients who have undergone some forms of bariatric surgery have increased risk of developing alcohol use disorder (AUD). In the present observational study, we compared patients with AUD who themselves reported to having undergone bariatric surgery with other patients in treatment for AUD.

Materials

One-hundred-and-six consecutively enrolled patients in residential treatment for AUD were asked if they had undergone bariatric surgery. Sociodemographics, mental health-related, and alcohol use-related parameters were compared between those who had and those who had not undergone bariatric surgery.

Results

Of the 106 patients with AUD, seven (6.6%; 95% confidence interval, 2.7%–13.1%) had undergone bariatric surgery. Six of seven patients had undergone such surgery were women (P < .001). The patients with AUD who had undergone bariatric surgery were similar to other patients with AUD on most other parameters, the exception being a larger number of alcohol units ingested to feel an effect of alcohol (adjusted odds ratio 7.1; 95% confidence interval 2.0–12.2; P = .007).

Conclusion

The high number of patients with AUD that reported having undergone bariatric surgery emphasizes the risks following such a procedure. The overrepresentation of women may reflect than more women undergo such procedures. The unexpected finding that patients with AUD having undergone bariatric surgery seemed to need more alcohol to feel intoxicated warrants further research.
Paradoxical eruption exclusively located on the ear in patients with psoriasis treated with biologics: a case series
Authors: Burlando Martina , Salvi Ilaria , Parodi Aurora , Cozzani Emanuele C
Published: February 2024

Psoriasis and atopic dermatitis are chronic inflammatory diseases driven by two opposite inflammatory pathways, and the occurrence of atopic dermatitis during biologic therapy for psoriasis has been described. We present a series of 10 patients with paradoxical eczema where there was exclusive involvement of the ears.
Cutaneous immune-related adverse events: incidence rates, risk factors and association with extracutaneous toxicity – a prospective study of 189 patients treated with checkpoint inhibitors at a Spanish tertiary care hospital
Authors: Juan-Carpena Gloria , Martínez-Banaclocha Natividad , Palazón-Cabanes Juan Carlos , Niveiro-de Jaime María , Betlloch-Mas Isabel , Blanes-Martínez Mar
Published: February 2024

Background

Clinicians are increasingly prescribing immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) to treat cancer, but the real-world incidence, characteristics and risk factors of cutaneous immune-related adverse events (cirAEs) are unclear.

Objectives

To determine the incidence, features and risk factors of cirAEs and to measure their possible association with extracutaneous toxicity.

Methods

We conducted a prospective observational study in a Spanish tertiary care hospital, including people who started an ICI between March 2020 and May 2022. We used a survival analysis and a log-rank test to obtain and compare incidence rates, and a multivariate Cox model to detect risk factors for cirAEs.

Results

We included 189 patients, 82 (43.4%) of whom presented cutaneous toxicity. The incidence of cirAEs was 75.0 per 100 person-years, with a 50.0% probability of the appearance of a cirAE at 10 months of follow-up. The most frequent cirAE category was inflammatory dermatoses, and the most frequent types were pruritus, eczema and maculopapular eruptions. ICI combination therapy, a family history of psoriasis and rheumatological and pulmonary immune-related adverse events increased the risk of cirAEs.

Conclusions

We found a high incidence of cirAEs, and they occurred early in the follow-up period. Dermatologists should be involved in the management of cirAEs, especially in people with risk factors.
Pericardial anisakiasis: unravelling diagnostic challenges in an unprecedented extra-abdominal manifestation: a case report
Authors: Giovacchini Jacopo , Menale Silvia , Scheggi Valentina , Marchionni Niccolò
Published: February 2024

Background

Anisakis infects humans by consuming contaminated undercooked or raw fish, leading to gastric anisakiasis, gastro-allergic anisakiasis, or asymptomatic contamination. Although larvae usually die when penetrating the gastric tissue, cases of intra- and extra-abdominal spread were described. We report the first probable case of pericardial anisakiasis.

Case summary

A 26-year-old man presented to the emergency department because of progressive lower limb oedema and exertional dyspnoea. Two months prior, he had consumed raw fish without any gastrointestinal symptoms. The echocardiogram reported a circumferential pericardial effusion (‘swinging heart’) and mildly reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). He was diagnosed with myopericarditis after a cardiac magnetic resonance. A fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography scan revealed an intense pericardial metabolism. Blood tests exhibited persistent eosinophilia and mild elevation of Anisakis simplex IgE—as for past infestation. A pericardial drainage was performed, subsequently, serial echocardiograms revealed a spontaneous recovery of his LVEF. No autoimmune, allergic, or onco-haematologic diseases were identified. Based on a history of feeding with potentially contaminated raw fish and on long-lasting eosinophilia, we suspected a pericardial anisakiasis, despite a low but persistent titre of specific IgE. Albendazole was administered for 21 days, along with colchicine and ibuprofen for 2 months; pericardial effusion resolution and eosinophil normalization occurred two weeks after.

Discussion

We hypothesized that Anisakis larvae may have migrated outside the gastrointestinal tract, penetrating the diaphragm and settling in the pericardium, causing pericarditis and pericardial effusion. Clinicians should know that the pericardium may be another extra-abdominal localization of anisakiasis, beyond pleuro-pulmonary involvement.
Unicuspid aortic valve by cardiac computed tomography: the best view is from the mountaintop—a case report
Authors: Rosencher Julien , Cescau Arthur , Baccouche Mohammed , Boyer Clément , Monin Jean Luc
Published: February 2024

Background

Unicuspid aortic valve (UAV) is a rare valvular heart disease and a challenging diagnosis. Advanced imaging techniques, particularly cardiac computed tomography (CT), appear to be invaluable tools to correctly identify this disease pre-operatively, as this may have an impact on the optimal surgical treatment.

Case summary

We describe the case of a young patient admitted with heart failure, due to a severely stenotic UAV. Cardiac CT allowed adjusting the imaging plane to the best view in two orthogonal planes to identify the top of the ‘dome’ and to accurately measure the smallest valve opening by planimetry. Surgical inspection confirmed a rare case of acommissural UAV.

Discussion

Cardiac CT angiography is crucial to understand the complexity of UAV disease and to differentiate the acommissural from the unicommissural type. Accurate positioning of the imaging plane through the smallest valve opening in systole reduces the risk of missing the diagnosis of this rare disease.
China, international competition and the stalemate in sovereign debt restructuring: beyond geopolitics
Authors: Hameiri Shahar , Jones Lee
Published: February 2024

Until recently, developing countries were supposedly enjoying an unprecedented ‘age of choice’ when borrowing. Many observers were arguing then that geopolitical competition between lenders allowed them to extract better terms. Today, many face a looming debt crisis: financing options have shrivelled and restructuring talks are painfully slow, compounding debtors' misery. This is frequently attributed to creditors' geopolitical rivalry, reflecting China's rise as a sovereign lender. But why should competition between providers, once supposedly a boon for borrowers, now be a bane? This article explains this, by switching an inadequate geopolitics lens for a political economy analysis. The earlier expansion in lending was primarily driven not by geopolitical contestation but by prevailing politico-economic conditions within China and on international financial markets amid US-led quantitative easing, and was, furthermore, facilitated by China's fragmented internal governance. As economic conditions changed, financing dried up and creditors scrambled to secure returns. China's current chief competitors are not western states, but rival lenders: commercial bondholders and multilateral development banks. Given China's fragmented governance, lenders' commercial motives to recoup their loans primarily drive Chinese behaviour, not geopolitical objectives. This limits China's hegemonic potential and suggests developing countries may benefit less from the ‘second Cold War’ than some imagine.
Histamine-3 Receptor Availability and Glutamate Levels in the Brain: A PET-1H-MRS Study of Patients With Schizophrenia and Healthy Controls
Authors: Arumuham Atheeshaan , Nour Matthew M , Veronese Mattia , Beck Katherine , Onwordi Ellis Chika , Lythgoe David J , Jauhar Sameer , Rabiner Eugenii A , Howes Oliver D
Published: February 2024

Background

The histamine-3 receptor (H3R) may have a role in cognitive processes through its action as a presynaptic heteroreceptor inhibiting the release of glutamate in the brain. To explore this, we examined anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and striatum H3R availability in patients with schizophrenia and characterized their relationships with glutamate levels in corresponding brain regions.

Methods

We employed a cross-sectional study, recruiting 12 patients with schizophrenia and 12 healthy volunteers. Participants underwent positron emission tomography using the H3R-specific radio ligand [11C]MK-8278, followed by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to measure glutamate levels, recorded as Glu and Glx. Based on existing literature, the ACC and striatum were selected as regions of interest.

Results

We found significant inverse relationships between tracer uptake and Glu (r = −0.66, P = .02) and Glx (r = −0.62, P = .04) levels in the ACC of patients, which were absent in healthy volunteers (Glu: r = −0.19, P = .56, Glx: r = 0.10, P = .75). We also found a significant difference in striatal (F1,20 = 6.00, P = .02) and ACC (F1,19 = 4.75, P = .04) Glx levels between groups.

Conclusions

These results provide evidence of a regionally specific relationship between H3Rs and glutamate levels, which builds on existing preclinical literature. Our findings add to a growing literature indicating H3Rs may be a promising treatment target in schizophrenia, particularly for cognitive impairment, which has been associated with altered glutamate signaling.
Systemic immune response to a CD40 agonist antibody in nonhuman primates
Authors: Caudell David L , Dugan Gregory O , Babitzki Galina , Schubert Christine , Braendli-Baiocco Annamaria , Wasserman Ken , Acona Gonzalo , Stern Martin , Passioukov Alexandre , Cline J Mark , Charo Jehad
Published: February 2024

The cell surface molecule CD40 is a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily and is broadly expressed by immune cells including B cells, dendritic cells, and monocytes, as well as other normal cells and some malignant cells. CD40 is constitutively expressed on antigen-presenting cells, and ligation promotes functional maturation, leading to an increase in antigen presentation and cytokine production, and a subsequent increase in the activation of antigen-specific T cells. It is postulated that CD40 agonists can mediate both T cell–dependent and T cell–independent immune mechanisms of tumor regression in mice and patients. In addition, it is believed that CD40 activation also promotes apoptotic death of tumor cells and that the presence of the molecule on the surface of cancer cells is an important factor in the generation of tumor-specific T cell responses that contribute to tumor cell elimination. Notably, CD40 agonistic therapies were evaluated in patients with solid tumors and hematologic malignancies with reported success as a single agent. Preclinical studies have shown that subcutaneous administration of CD40 agonistic antibodies reduces systemic toxicity and elicits a stronger and localized pharmacodynamic response. Two independent studies in cynomolgus macaque (Macaca fascicularis) were performed to further evaluate potentially immunotoxicological effects associated with drug-induced adverse events seen in human subjects. Studies conducted in monkeys showed that when selicrelumab is administered at doses currently used in clinical trial patients, via subcutaneous injection, it is safe and effective at stimulating a systemic immune response.
A Guide to Fixation and Staining of Biological Samples for Electron Microscopy
Authors: Hart Rachel C , Carroll Darian T , Vinogradova Maria , Krystofiak Evan S
Published: February 2024

Proper fixation and staining of biological samples for electron microscopy (EM) is critical for preserving ultrastructure and providing sufficient contrast for imaging. Depending on experimental goals, different fixation and post-fixation staining methods can be chosen to elucidate the details needed to answer scientific questions. In this guide, we discuss the importance of primary fixation of biological samples and then focus on two major post-fixation staining schemes: the “TOU” and the “OTO” methods, with and without modifications, for highlighting specific structures within the tissue being examined. While both methods can be used for transmission (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), we discuss which imaging technique is best suited for each method.
Kinetic effects of dust size distribution on Alfvén waves in magnetized space plasmas
Authors: De Toni L B , Gaelzer R , Ziebell L F
Published: February 2024

Dust populations in space plasmas are often described by a size distribution function, generally a power law distribution. In view of that, we include this feature in the kinetic description of a homogeneous magnetized dusty plasma with electrically charged immobile dust grains, in order to study its effects in the propagation and damping of Alfvén waves. The dispersion relation is numerically solved using parameters typically found in the dust-driven stellar winds of carbon-rich stars and in Earth’s auroral acceleration region, two space systems with unalike plasma parameters and in which Alfvén waves are known to play important roles in the plasma acceleration and heating processes. We show that the characteristics of the normal modes, namely the ion cyclotron and whistler modes, will change when one considers a power law distribution of dust sizes in the theory, as compared to a mono-sized dust population; and that these differences will depend on the exponent p of the power law, which alters the plasma charge imbalance between electrons and ions. We also notice that power-law distribution functions will modify the waves’ damping rate values. In particular, we show that in a stellar wind environment the ion cyclotron mode at very small wavenumber decreases with the reduction of p, while for higher wavenumber the damping of this mode increases with the reduction of p. For the Earth’s magnetosphere, the results obtained show that the wave damping increases with the decrease of p for all wavenumbers, for the parameters considered in the analysis.
Deep Neural Networks for estimation of gamma-ray burst redshifts
Authors: Aldowma Tamador , Razzaque Soebur
Published: February 2024

While the available set of gamma-ray burst (GRB) data with known redshift is currently limited, a much larger set of GRB data without redshift is available from different instruments. This data includes well-measured prompt gamma-ray flux and spectral information. We estimate the redshift of a selection of these GRBs detected by Fermi-GBM and Konus-Wind using machine learning techniques that are based on spectral parameters. We find that Deep Neural Networks with Random Forest models employing non-linear relations among input parameters can reasonably reproduce the pseudo-redshift distribution of GRBs, mimicking the distribution of GRBs with spectroscopic redshift. Furthermore, we find that the pseudo-redshift samples of GRBs to satisfy (i) Amati relation between the peak photon energy of the time-averaged energy spectrum in the cosmological rest frame of the GRB Ei,p and the isotropic-equivalent radiated energy Eiso during the prompt phase; and (ii) Yonetoku relation between Ei,p and isotropic-equivalent luminosity Liso, both measured during the peak flux interval.
ExoMol line lists – LV: hyperfine-resolved molecular line list for vanadium monoxide (51V16O)
Authors: Bowesman Charles A , Qu Qianwei , McKemmish Laura K , Yurchenko Sergei N , Tennyson Jonathan
Published: February 2024

The new hyperfine-resolved HyVO line lists for vanadium monoxide (51V16O) are presented. The new line list considers 15 electronic states and comprises almost 59 billion transitions between 3.4 million energy levels, up to 45 000 cm−1. Empirical energy levels obtained through the Marvel procedure are used to update calculated values to experimental accuracy, making the line list well suited for high-resolution experiments. Machine learning is utilized to refine the energies of levels in important bands, where empirical values are not known. These updates allow for the accurate prediction of line positions in regions of astrophysical interest, particularly in strong rovibronic bands in the infrared and visible. Previously published ab initio transition dipole moment curves are adjusted based on experimental lifetime measurements, resulting in increased intensities in key regions. The line list covers levels up to F = 150 and is complete up to 5400 K, making it well suited for studies of ultra-hot Jupiter and M-type stellar atmospheres where VO is believed to be a strong source of opacities. The full line list is made available via www.exomol.com.
DNA methylation landscapes in DIPG reveal methylome variability that can be modified pharmacologically
Authors: Tetens Ashley R , Martin Allison M , Arnold Antje , Novak Orlandi V , Idrizi Adrian , Tryggvadottir Rakel , Craig-Schwartz Jordyn , Liapodimitri Athanasia , Lunsford Kayleigh , Barbato Michael I , Eberhart Charles G , Resnick Adam C , Raabe Eric H , Koldobskiy Michael A
Published: February 2024

Background

Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a uniformly lethal brainstem tumor of childhood, driven by histone H3 K27M mutation and resultant epigenetic dysregulation. Epigenomic analyses of DIPG have shown global loss of repressive chromatin marks accompanied by DNA hypomethylation. However, studies providing a static view of the epigenome do not adequately capture the regulatory underpinnings of DIPG cellular heterogeneity and plasticity.

Methods

To address this, we performed whole-genome bisulfite sequencing on a large panel of primary DIPG specimens and applied a novel framework for analysis of DNA methylation variability, permitting the derivation of comprehensive genome-wide DNA methylation potential energy landscapes that capture intrinsic epigenetic variation.

Results

We show that DIPG has a markedly disordered epigenome with increasingly stochastic DNA methylation at genes regulating pluripotency and developmental identity, potentially enabling cells to sample diverse transcriptional programs and differentiation states. The DIPG epigenetic landscape was responsive to treatment with the hypomethylating agent decitabine, which produced genome-wide demethylation and reduced the stochasticity of DNA methylation at active enhancers and bivalent promoters. Decitabine treatment elicited changes in gene expression, including upregulation of immune signaling such as the interferon response, STING, and MHC class I expression, and sensitized cells to the effects of histone deacetylase inhibition.

Conclusions

This study provides a resource for understanding the epigenetic instability that underlies DIPG heterogeneity. It suggests the application of epigenetic therapies to constrain the range of epigenetic states available to DIPG cells, as well as the use of decitabine in priming for immune-based therapies.
Blacks in American Electoral Politics
Authors: Lusane Clarence
Published: February 2024

African Americans have been engaged in US political campaigns and elections since the beginning of the nation despite numerous obstacles along the way. During the slavery era, only “free” Blacks in a few Northern states and even fewer in Southern states had the legal right to vote although they could be involved in campaigns. Despite some African Americans having fought on the side of the rebels in the Revolutionary War, as the US electoral system and US society evolved, slavery, racial discrimination, and prejudice were pervasive and made it difficult if not impossible for widespread formal participation by African Americans and other minority groups such as Native Americans. Millions of enslaved Blacks were excluded from any role in US elections or its political system. It would take Constitutional amendments (the 13th, 14th, 15th, 24th, and 26th), hard-won congressional action (Voting Rights Act of 1965), Supreme Court rulings (South Carolina v. Katzenbach, Evenwel v. Abbott, Smith v. Allwright, and United States v. Reese among others), massive protests, and a massive social movement of heartbreaking sacrifices, over many decades for African Americans to be included legally and substantially in US electoral politics. As Hanes Walton argues, Black politics has been a continuous collective effort at addressing the causes of Black exclusion, inequality, and marginalization, and winning policy and political remedies. Despite significant and revolutionary gains made in the political and electoral arenas, conservative and racially-driven efforts to pass or implement voter suppression policies and laws, such as felony disenfranchisement, voter ID laws, and congressional districts drawn to disempower African Americans, continue today.
Sir Herbert Baker
Authors: Bremner G.A.
Published: February 2024

Herbert Baker was a prominent British architect who was especially active between the 1890s and late 1930s. He spent much of his early career in South Africa, where he came under the influence of the leading South African politician and mining magnate Cecil Rhodes. Baker established his reputation during this early period designing houses for the colonial patrician classes in Cape Town and Johannesburg, as well as several key civic buildings, including the Union Buildings in Pretoria (1910–1913), the seat of the newly united Dominion of South Africa government. He would go on to assist Edwin Lutyens in planning and designing key administrative buildings in the imperial capital of New Delhi in British India. Of these his two most significant were the Secretariat Buildings (1912–1927), flanking King’s Way in front of Lutyens’s majestic Viceroy’s House. In Britain Baker is noted for having designed the high commission buildings of India House (1928–1930) and South Africa House (1930–1933), both in London, as well as for the unenviable task of rebuilding the Bank of England (1921–1942), for which he was later much criticized, somewhat unfairly. His relationship to Cecil Rhodes also saw him receive the commission to design Rhodes House, Oxford (1929), the base for Rhodes’s now famous Oxford scholarship scheme. Baker is of interest as an architect as much for his intellectual musings on the nature of architecture as for his buildings. He wrote and lectured on architecture a great deal throughout his career, leaving behind a rich corpus of handwritten, typed, and published manuscripts. This body of work betrays not only his passion for the architecture of Christopher Wren, but also his commitment to the British empire and ideas concerning the merits of imperialism more generally. In this regard Baker was one of the most ideologically driven architects operating during the “high noon” of the British empire, capturing in his words and buildings the cultural, racial, and political sentiments of empire more than any other British architect, before or since. His output therefore provides a near unparalleled window onto the relationship between architecture and empire in the history of British architecture. Most of the works listed below touch on this legacy in one form or another. The following bibliography is not exhaustive but covers most of the major works by and on the architect. Smaller journalistic pieces in newspapers and magazines, of which there are many, are largely omitted.
Homelessness: Ending Homelessness as a Grand Challenge
Authors: Henwood Benjamin , Padgett Deborah , Semborski Sara
Published: February 2024

Homelessness in the United States has been a long-standing problem, but it became a national crisis in the 1980s as unprecedented numbers of individuals and families fell into deep poverty amid a rapidly shrinking stock of affordable housing. The persistence of this problem spurred a variety of emergency responses ranging from soup kitchens to temporary shelters. Despite well-intentioned outreach to help those most in need, the numbers of persons experiencing homelessness rose steadily as charitable groups and government officials struggled to keep pace. Initially, this focus on emergency services left little time for research and evaluation of different models of care. However, recent decades have witnessed the rise of empirically supported interventions to address homelessness. Although homelessness continues to be a national crisis, consensus has grown regarding the optimal means of ending homelessness rather than simply managing it. Summoning political will and bringing stakeholders to work together make this possible. The Grand Challenge to End Homelessness (GC2EH) was first introduced in 2015 as part of an ambitious social agenda sponsored by the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare. It was among twelve Grand Challenge proposals initially selected based on a number of criteria: that (a) it is an issue that is big, important, and compelling; (b) scientific evidence suggests that it is achievable; (c) its pursuit is likely to generate interdisciplinary or cross-sector collaboration; and (d) achieving it will require significant innovation. The GC2EH, which was built on existing efforts and a knowledge base of effective practices, was presented as a call to action to the social work profession to make significant progress toward ending homelessness in ten years. As an initiative, the GC2EH is decentralized such that anyone inspired by the challenge to address homelessness can do so under its auspices. At the start of the GC2EH initiative in 2016, the number of people experiencing homelessness in the United States had been steadily decreasing for nearly a decade, demonstrating that progress could be made. Unfortunately, this trend reversed in 2018, with national estimates increasing in the subsequent two years. As a result, there have been calls both in and outside of government to focus exclusively on policies and practices that have been shown to be effective—most notably, Housing First. Perhaps not surprisingly, there has also been opposition to Housing First as being too lenient in providing immediate access to housing without demands of conformity and sobriety. Since 2016, schools of social work have taken up the GC2EH through educational innovations, research collaborations, policy proposals, and university-community partnerships. These efforts represent building blocks toward the goal of ending homelessness.
Islam in Sicily
Authors: Davis-Secord Sarah
Published: February 2024

The Muslim period in Sicily is typically dated from 827 to about 1061, but Muslims were active on the island before and after those dates, and the influence of Islamicate arts, architecture, and scholarship continued long after the last Muslim minorities were deported from the island in the thirteenth century. In the modern period, Sicily regularly receives boats filled with migrants from Muslim-majority countries, many of which sail from Libya or Tunisia across the relatively short (but still dangerous) Strait of Sicily. Islam is now the second largest religion in Italy, with a population estimated at around 3 million people, or nearly 5 percent of Italy’s total population (as of 2022). Current debates in Italy about the roles of Muslims within Italian society have focused on the presence of mosques in urban landscapes, the integration of migrants from Muslim-majority countries into Italian society, and the rise of Islamophobic rhetoric among politicians, writers, and the general population.
Hinduism in Africa
Authors: Penumala Pratap
Published: February 2024

Hinduism in Africa is not necessarily present in all the countries of the continent. The current bibliographical survey, therefore, covers the regions where Hindus and Hinduism are found. Specifically, this survey covers Mauritius, East Africa (primarily Kenya), West Africa (primarily Ghana), and South Africa. As is evident from the following survey, readers will have noticed that some sections are well resourced while others have fewer sources. This is due to the paucity of research publications available, which perhaps begs the point that scholarly attention to all parts of Africa has not been even. While East Africa, particularly Mauritius, and South Africa have received better scholarly attention, West Africa generally has been limited in this regard. This is due to, inter alia, the limited presence of Indian Hindus in that region. Additionally, scholars also need to know that in some parts of Africa (East Africa), the Indian population has decreased over the years due to political changes. With the exception of West Africa, Hinduism in the parts of Africa that are covered here is primarily dependent on the presence of Indian Hindus in those regions. In the case of East Africa, better attention from scholars has been noticed for Mauritius than for other East African countries on the mainland (Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania). Also, in the case of Mauritius, it is also notable that the researcher pool is not limited to Hindus or Indian scholars, but has included European scholars. In the case of South Africa, the majority of scholarly interest seems to be from the Indian/Hindu scholars themselves, and surprisingly has not attracted many overseas researchers, be they from the Western countries or from the East. Possible reasons could be attributed to the political climate of South Africa—during the apartheid era, international scholarly attention was limited, and in the post-apartheid South African context, the growing political instability is largely the reason for a lack of international scholarly attention. These limitations need to be borne in mind in reading the following bibliography.
The Bourbon Reforms in the Spanish Atlantic
Authors: Tavárez Fidel
Published: February 2024

In a very basic sense, the Bourbon reforms began shortly after the arrival of the Bourbon dynasty to the Spanish throne in 1700, when Charles II, the last Spanish Habsburg, died without an heir. In his will, Charles II stipulated that the Sun King’s (Louis XIV of France) grandson would become the next Spanish king. Concerned that the Bourbons now ruled over France, Spain, and their respective empires, Europe worried about the advent of “universal monarchy,” a development that contemporaries thought would upset the European balance of powers, which ultimately provoked the War of Spanish Succession (1701–1714). Thus, the early Bourbon reforms must be understood in the context of this succession war, which pitted France and Spain against the other contending European powers, including Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Dutch Republic. The early Bourbon reforms were, at their core, an effort to streamline Spain’s fiscal and military efficiency to cope with the demands of war during one of the most consequential military confrontations in early modern Europe. While the Spanish crown spent much of the century attempting to restructure its fiscal system and military apparatus to meet the ever-increasing demands of war, during the second half of the century a host of Spanish ministers began to suggest that developing Spain’s military capacity was an insufficient measure to protect and increase Spain’s power in a modern commercial society. Rather, Spain also had to worry about bringing about economic improvement, a task which it could accomplish by integrating its imperial economy. It was in this context that the idea of comercio libre (free internal trade) emerged as a replacement for the highly regulated fleets and galleons system. By instituting a system of free internal trade, many argued, Spain would be able to synergize its vast territories across the world, potentially creating the conditions for the erection of a highly integrated imperial economy. In the end, this effort proved to be unrealizable, as warfare engulfed the Spanish Atlantic during the 1790s and the first few decades of the 19th century.
Potosí
Authors: Lane Kris
Published: February 2024

The city of Potosí, in today’s Bolivia, sprang up soon after massive silver deposits were discovered in 1545 on a neighboring mountain, dubbed the Cerro Rico, or Rich Hill. A rare boomtown that managed to survive, Potosí’s population swelled to some 40,000 by 1570, and to over 100,000 by 1610, making it the most populous city of the colonial Americas. Visitors claimed the city’s colonial-era population topped out at around 150,000 in 1650 before declining to about half this number by 1700, and dropping to roughly 60,000 by 1720. Falling silver production and Indigenous death by disease and overwork drove the city’s population down, but the mining sector revived after 1750, only to be hammered again by the wars of independence in the 1810s and 1820s. By the time of Simón Bolívar’s visit in 1825, Potosí was a shadow of its former self but still treated as the promise of a new, independent future. The city underwent several booms and busts in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, adding tin, zinc, lead, and other metals to its famous output of silver. Potosí today is a thriving regional capital driven, as in colonial times, by the mining industry. Potosí was an unlikely city, perched on a sloping plain at over 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) above sea level. Only the legendary richness of its silver mines and access to water from the neighboring Kari Kari massif helped keep what soon became known as the Imperial Villa alive. Within a decade of discovery, all roads in the south-central Andes led to Potosí, supplying the Imperial Villa and its diverse inhabitants with all manner of food, drink, entertainment, and merchandise. A commercial as well as a mining hub, Potosí consumed enormous quantities of nearly every imaginable commodity, just as it consumed thousands of Indigenous mineworkers forced to migrate from the countryside each year. The paradox of Potosí was that the “Mountain that Ate Men” was also a global fountain of fortune, sustaining everyone from female Indigenous market vendors to the kings of Spain. Potosí silver made possible a thriving city with its own unique culture, a cosmopolitan hodgepodge. Some see Potosí’s tortured history as an object lesson in the promise and peril of uninhibited resource extraction and the unintended consequences of early globalization.
Cultural Economy
Authors: Garfield-Abrams Jennifer , Wynn Jonathan
Published: February 2024

The cultural economy has become an increasingly important slice of local and regional economies as actors and organizations at a variety of levels turn to culture hoping to solve some of society’s most pressing social problems. Municipalities, states, and federal governments see culture—the goods, ideas, traditions, activities, and practices that we produce and consume—as revitalizing communities, attracting human capital and consumers, providing jobs, and boosting quality of life. While artists, support personnel, manufacturers, and patrons continue to anchor the field, because of culture’s entrée into the economic arena there has been an influx of diverse actors and institutions with various stakes and logics. These new actors with a vested interest in the field include local elected officials, small-business owners, and the creative class, as well as national nonprofits, state agencies, and commercial institutions. With the emergence of creativity as an economic growth strategy, there has been a great deal of analysis on the cultural economy in a variety of disciplines, including but not limited to sociology, economics, public policy, city and regional planning, and urban studies. Scholarship has had a wide range in terms of the methodologies used and the scale of analysis. Scholars and policymakers debate over culture as an economic and policy lever, particularly around whom local cultural economies aim to serve and how the benefits of the cultural economy should be distributed.
Environmental Education in Brazil
Authors: Marcello Carvalho Luiz , Moura Carvalho Isabel , Gules Borges Marcelo
Published: February 2024

Scientific research on environmental education in Brazil, whose first productions date back from the 1980s, has undergone significant growth since the 2000s. Such phenomenon is closely related to the expansion of postgraduate programs around the country. Hence, this academic environment, itself comprised of several fields of knowledge, has been the main locus of research production in this area. Environmental education research (EER) is characterized by interdisciplinarity and its diversity of epistemological, theoretical, and methodological approaches. This field of research emerged in Brazil in the 1980s—the first master’s dissertation was concluded in 1981 and the first doctoral thesis in 1990. Several dissertations were presented throughout the 1980s as well as a significant number of theses in the 1990s; nonetheless, EER was not yet widely noticeable, still holding a timid and disperse presence in the scientific scope. EER found its expansion as a relatively autonomous field in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a period when scientific events in education—such as the meetings of the National Postgraduate and Research Associations (ANPED and ANPPAS) and the Environmental Education Research Meeting (EPEAs) dedicate specific attention in their programming for discussion about the research developed in this field. One may also trace back to the 2000s the emergence of the first scientific journals focused on EER. Environmental education has been the object of constant production of scientific investigation papers, most recently even by works of meta research which, in its vast majority, converge regarding their critical stances on the developmental capitalist model. In the past decades research in environmental education has incorporated new epistemic debates stemming from the field of social sciences which involve, for instance, post critical thinking, decolonial perspective, neo-materialism, post-humanism, among others; seeking to propose pedagogical pathways capable of standing against both crescent environmental fragility and social exclusion which are deepening in the 21st century.
Battle of Tours (732?)
Authors: Ottewill-Soulsby Sam
Published: February 2024

Despite being one of the most famous engagements of the medieval period, there are many uncertainties about the Battle of Tours, including its date, precise location, and significance. The traditional dating of the battle to October 732 has been questioned by scholars on the basis of Iberian sources, with many preferring to place it in late 733 or 734. Because the encounter took place between Tours and Poitiers, it is sometimes also named after the latter city. What is known is that the battle took place because the Muslim governor of al-Andalus, ʿAbd al-Rahman b. ʿAbd Allah al-Ghafiqi, invaded Aquitaine, motivated by an alliance between its Duke, Eudo, and the rebel Berber border lord ʿUthman b. Naissa. After being defeated, Eudo turned to the Frankish Mayor of the Palace, Charles Martel. The Frankish and Muslim armies met on the road to Tours, with the former being victorious. Al-Ghafiqi was killed, but his army retreated in good order. The significance of this clash has long been debated. The battle has been hailed as one of the most important in history for halting the expansion of the caliphate in western Europe and cementing the prestige and power of Charles Martel and his descendants, the Carolingians. More recent scholars have questioned this assessment, pointing to the continuation of Muslim raids into Frankish territory in subsequent years and the limited presence of the battle in Carolingian history writing. Beyond dispute is the modern importance of the Battle of Tours, inspiring numerous books, works of art, and political movements.