bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Reforming South Korean Higher Education for Female Marriage Migrants
Authors: Jo Ji-Yeon O. , Jung Minseung
Published: November 2020

South Korea has experienced a surge of foreign immigration since 1990, and one of the major migrant groups is female marriage migrants. Although the South Korean government has implemented a variety of policies to reform its education system in order to accommodate the growing multicultural population, it has been mainly focused on K–12 education for children of migrants. In addition, the issues of access to and quality of higher education for female marriage migrants in South Korea are seldom discussed in academic and public spheres. Although female marriage migrants have a great degree of motivation to pursue higher education, they face multilayered hurdles before, during, and after receiving their higher education in South Korea. Narratives of female marriage migrants in higher education not only challenge the common stereotype of “global hypergamy” and gender stereotypes related to female marriage migrants but also provide chances to reexamine the current status of higher education in South Korea and the notion of global citizenship. Their stories highlight the changes in self-perception, familial relationships, and social engagement and underscore female marriage migrants’ process of embracing global citizenship. Their narratives articulate how gender, migration, and higher education intersect in their daily lives, how their lives are connected to the globalizing world, and how these reveal two essential components of the sense of global citizenship—dignity and compassion.
The Culture of Travel in Edo-Period Japan
Authors: Goree Robert
Published: November 2020

The expansion of travel transformed Japanese culture during the Edo period (1603–1867). After well over a century of political turmoil, unprecedented stability under Tokugawa rule established the conditions for men and women from all levels of the hierarchical society to travel safely for purposes as varied as the cultural consequences of a country increasingly on the move. Starting in the first half of the 17th century, institutionalized forms of compulsory travel for the highest-ranking samurai and a limited number of elite foreigners made for conspicuous political spectacle and prompted the Tokugawa shogunate to develop and maintain an extensive system of roads, post-towns, checkpoints, and sea routes. Prompted by the economic prosperity of the Genroku era (1688–1704) in the late 17th century, an ever-growing portion of the population, including commoners from cities and villages, took advantage of newfound leisure to embark on journeys for pilgrimage, medical treatment, and sightseeing. This change was accompanied by the expansion of tourism, which grew into a sophisticated commercial enterprise in the 18th century. Poets, writers, painters, performers, and scholars took to the road throughout the Edo period for artistic and intellectual pursuits, often as teachers or students, generating and spreading culture where they went. With an astonishing output of travel literature, guidebooks, maps, and woodblock prints featuring landscapes, a thriving commercial publishing industry, which first blossomed in the Genroku era, used woodblock printing technology to popularize travel in increasingly diverse ways. Together with such influential forms of print, the things that people wore, packed, bought, enjoyed, and rode while traveling formed a rich body of material culture that reveals the lived experience of travel for the duration of Tokugawa rule.
Archaeology of Farming Communities in Mpumalanga Province and the Adjacent Lowveld in Northeastern South Africa
Authors: Schoeman Alex
Published: November 2020

Farming Communities have lived in northeastern South Africa since the 4th century ad. Archaeologists use pottery style and radiocarbon dates in their reconstructions of the temporal and spatial distribution of these farming community settlements in the Lowveld, on the Great Escarpment and on the Central Plateau. Early Farming Community sites tend to be restricted to the Lowveld and river valleys, while Middle and Late Farming Community sites are distributed more widely. Early Farming Communities lived in scattered homesteads until the development of chiefdoms toward the end of the first millennium. Chiefly settlements comprised larger, aggregated sites. After the 16th century, larger-scale aggregation started, resulting in extensive, dense settlements such as the stonewalled Bokoni towns. Food production and procurement ranged from small household-scale practices to specialized hunting and intensive farming. Salt and metal extraction and production also were important components in the regional economy. The initial production of salt was household based, but Middle Farming Communities developed this into a specialized industry. Metal production was not industrialized and, while the scale of metal production increased through time, production took place at a household level. Since the early 10th century ad, these local enterprises intersected with international trade systems, thereby linking the interior of South Africa into international trade networks. These indigenous networks, however, were disrupted and at times intentionally disarticulated when European colonial powers extended their control over southern Africa.
Maputo
Authors: Morton David
Published: November 2020

Maputo (Lourenço Marques until 1976) is the capital of Mozambique and one of the busiest port cities on the east coast of Africa. The Bay of Lourenço Marques had already been a source of ivory for the Indian Ocean world and Europe for centuries when, in the late 18th century, Portugal established a permanent garrison there, among the Mpfumo and other Xi-ronga-speaking clans. From 1898 until independence in 1975, the fort-turned-city was the administrative headquarters of Portugal’s territory of Mozambique, a home to many Portuguese settlers, and a stark example of racialized exploitation and urban segregation under colonial rule. It was also the principal transit hub for hundreds of thousands of southern Mozambican men recruited to labor in neighboring South Africa. Following independence, the city became a laboratory of revolutionary socialist experimentation as well as an overcrowded safe haven for refugees of Mozambique’s long and terrible civil war. Despite closer historical ties to South Africa than to most of Mozambique, Maputo is the country’s economic center and its gateway for foreign investment. According to 2017 census figures, the metropolitan population exceeded 2.5 million, making it one of the larger urban areas in southern Africa.
The Fundamentals of Arbitration
Authors: Franck Susan
Published: November 2020

Used for hundreds of years and adapted to a variety of contexts, arbitration is a form of adjudicative dispute settlement where parties consent to selecting third-party neutrals that resolve a specific dispute by applying the applicable law to the facts. Part of arbitration’s success involves its flexibility in adapting procedures and selecting applicable law to meet parties’ unique needs, including having some control over the appointment of an arbitrator who may have unique substantive expertise. Parties may agree to arbitration hoping to avoid the time-consuming, expensive, and complex process of litigation by streamlining or tailoring dispute mechanics. Yet, it is not empirically verifiable that arbitration always saves time and costs, as assessing relative savings requires comparison to a national court and there are over 190 national judiciaries to which arbitration could be compared, as well as nonadjudicative forms of dispute resolution like direct negotiation and mediation. As parties inevitably negotiate in the “shadow of the law,” arbitration aids the assessment of conflict management options; and, particularly internationally, arbitration remains a powerful tool that incentivizes voluntary compliance with awards and streamlines enforcement.

Despite the availability of many types of arbitration with different policy considerations, the parties’ consent to it and their agreement to arbitrate (including the applicable law) is the backbone of this form of dispute settlement. Arbitration agreements require parties to make core choices, such as deciding on the scope of agreements submitted to arbitration, the legal place of arbitration, and applicable rules. Such an agreement then provides the framework for fundamental elements of the proceedings, namely, the basis of the tribunal’s jurisdiction and power over the dispute, the standards for appointing arbitrators, the structure and rules of the proceedings, and the content and form of derivative awards. Having a valid arbitration agreement (and an arbitration proceeding conducted in accordance with those legal obligations) also influences whether courts at the place of arbitration will set the award aside and whether courts at a place of enforcement will recognize and enforce an arbitration award. In the modern era, arbitration will continue evolving to address concerns about local policy considerations (particularly in national arbitration), confidentiality and ethics, technology and cybersecurity, diversity and inclusion, and to ensure arbitration is an ongoing value proposition.
Discounting and Climate Policy
Authors: van der Ploeg Frederick
Published: November 2020

The social rate of discount is a crucial driver of the social cost of carbon (SCC), that is, the expected present discounted value of marginal damages resulting from emitting one ton of carbon today. Policy makers should set carbon prices to the SCC using a carbon tax or a competitive permits market. The social discount rate is lower and the SCC higher if policy makers are more patient and if future generations are less affluent and policy makers care about intergenerational inequality. Uncertainty about the future rate of growth of the economy and emissions and the risk of macroeconomic disasters (tail risks) also depress the social discount rate and boost the SCC provided intergenerational inequality aversion is high. Various reasons (e.g., autocorrelation in the economic growth rate or the idea that a decreasing certainty-equivalent discount rate results from a discount rate with a distribution that is constant over time) are discussed for why the social discount rate is likely to decline over time. A declining social discount rate also emerges if account is taken from the relative price effects resulting from different growth rates for ecosystem services and of labor in efficiency units. The market-based asset pricing approach to carbon pricing is contrasted with a more ethical approach to policy making. Some suggestions for further research are offered.
How Perceptions of Risks Affect Responses to Climate Change: Implications for Water Resource Planning
Authors: Akter Sonia , Khanal Shaleen
Published: November 2020

The link between risk perception and risk response is not straightforward. There are several individual, community, and national factors that determine how climate change risk is perceived and how much of the perception translates to response. The nexus between risk perception and risk response in the context of water resource management at the individual, household, community, and institutional level has been subject of a large body of theoretical and empirical studies from around the globe. At the individual level, vulnerability, exposure, and cognitive factors are important determinants of climate change risk perception and response. At the community level, risk perception is determined by culture, social pressure, and group identity. Responses to risk vary depending on the level of social cohesion and collective action. At the national level, public support is a key determinant of institutional response to climate change, particularly for democratic nations. The level of global cooperation and major polluting countries’ willingness to curb their fair share of greenhouse gas emissions also deeply influence policymakers’ decisions to respond to climate change risk.
Augusto C. Sandino and the Mexican Revolution
Authors: Bendaña Alejandro
Published: November 2020

Augusto C. Sandino (1895–1934) led a peasant rebellion against the armed forces of the United States which occupied Nicaragua between 1926 and 1932. While much has been written about Sandino’s military prowess in this 20th-century guerrilla warfare, less is known about the development of his political thought and intellectual formation. That issue necessarily takes historians to the Mexican Revolution, and specifically to the period between 1923 and 1926 when Sandino was an immigrant worker in the oil fields of the larger Tampico area. Radical labor unionism and anarcho-syndicalism were the principal currents that Sandino encountered, and that helped shape his outlook and subsequent political manifestos. Because Sandino did not directly refer in any detail to this period of his life in subsequent interviews and statements, an examination is made of the cultural and social roots of working-class formations in which he immersed himself. Fortunately, historians have explored the social aspect, labor union activity, economics, and politics of the oil fields in depth (Adleson, Alafita-Mendez, Alcayaga Sasso); Dospital and Hodges were among the first to point to Sandino’s early experience in Mexico including his encounters with the metaphysical schools and mentors who shaped the idealism underpinning his anti-imperialism economic, political, military, and cultural thinking. During a military campaign and at the peak of his fame, Sandino returned to Mexico (1929–1930) expecting that the “revolutionary” government, on the one side, and the Communist Party of Mexico, on the other side, as representative of the international communist movement (Comintern) would lend political, financial, and military support for the war in Nicaragua. Cerdas Cruz told that story well, although without the benefit of primary sources. But Sandino was mistaken and eventually felt betrayed by both sides that laid claim to the revolution. He returned to Nicaragua where he fought successfully until the US Marines’ withdrawal at the end of 1932. Months after signing a peace treaty, Sandino was assassinated (February 1934) in Managua by the leaders of the proxy military constabulary or Guardia Nacional left behind by the United States in Nicaragua. At that time, he was establishing communes in northern Nicaragua according to the teachings of his first intellectual and spiritual mentors.
Rius: The Cartoonist Voice of the Mexican Left
Authors: Deane (Howard) Sarah
Published: November 2020

Fatherless, poor, seminary educated, and neck deep in the ebbs and flows of the political Left, Eduardo del Río (popularly known as Rius) lived a fascinating life. He experienced, within one lifetime, rural and urban living, religious and secular education, conservative and liberal politics, and the life of a worker and an artist. Awash in experience, Rius’s untraditional trajectory contributed to his ideas of national identity construction. Rius became a voice of distinction at the moment when the Mexican Miracle began to crack, and the promises of the Revolution were left unfulfilled. In his comics, he presented the complex and pressing issues of his country, city, and people brilliantly within the humble setting of a small rural town and the lives of his simple characters. Deep readings of Rius’s books, cartoons, two autobiographies, and two comic books (Los supermachos and Los agachados) provide road maps of the artist’s politics, beliefs, and position of importance in the cultural landscape of Mexico.

Rius’s work, a form of subversive enlightenment, transformed the mundane, day-to-day realities of existence into a project of national identity construction. His unique position allowed for an authentic satire so extreme and hilarious that its audience would absorb new information without realizing. He believed that when an unsuspecting reader (such as a conservative Catholic) read his dramatic arguments soaked in humor and satire, they might just learn something new. A study of Rius’s life and work contributes to knowledge of the cultural pulse of the period. His personal history, political leanings, and understanding of gender echo through his work and exemplify the emotions and national identity of the period. Carlos Monsiváis once declared, in a 2011 article (Montero Diaz, “Rius, El monero sabio”), that there have been three educational institutions in Mexico: Televisa, SEP, and Rius. Examining Rius’s work and life makes clear how the insights found upon his pages drew directly from his life and his position within the movement known as the Mexican Left.
Assessment Principles for Glacier and Permafrost Hazards in Mountain Regions
Authors: Allen Simon , Frey Holger , Haeberli Wilfried , Huggel Christian , Chiarle Marta , Geertsema Marten
Published: November 2020

Glacier and permafrost hazards in cold mountain regions encompass various flood and mass movement processes that are strongly affected by rapid and cumulative climate-induced changes in the alpine cryosphere. These processes are characterized by a range of spatial and temporal dimensions, from small volume icefalls and rockfalls that present a frequent but localized danger to less frequent but large magnitude process chains that can threaten people and infrastructure located far downstream. Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) have proven particularly devastating, accounting for the most far-reaching disasters in high mountain regions globally.

Comprehensive assessments of glacier and permafrost hazards define two core components (or outcomes):

1. Susceptibility and stability assessment: Identifies likelihood and origin of an event based on analyses of wide-ranging triggering and conditioning factors driven by interlinking atmospheric, cryospheric, geological, geomorphological, and hydrological processes.

2. Hazard mapping: Identifies the potential impact on downslope and downstream areas through a combination of process modeling and field mapping that provides the scientific basis for decision making and planning.

Glacier and permafrost hazards gained prominence around the mid-20th century, especially following a series of major disasters in the Peruvian Andes, Alaska, and the Swiss Alps. At that time, related hazard assessments were reactionary and event-focused, aiming to understand the causes of the disasters and to reduce ongoing threats to communities. These disasters and others that followed, such as Kolka Karmadon in 2002, established the fundamental need to consider complex geosystems and cascading processes with their cumulative downstream impacts as one of the distinguishing principles of integrative glacier and permafrost hazard assessment.

The widespread availability of satellite imagery enables a preemptive approach to hazard assessment, beginning with regional scale first-order susceptibility and hazard assessment and modeling that provide a first indication of possible unstable slopes or dangerous lakes and related cascading processes. Detailed field investigations and scenario-based hazard mapping can then be targeted to high-priority areas. In view of the rapidly changing mountain environment, leading beyond historical precedence, there is a clear need for future-oriented scenarios to be integrated into the hazard assessment that consider, for example, the threat from new lakes that are projected to emerge in a deglaciating landscape. In particular, low-probability events with extreme magnitudes are a challenge for authorities to plan for, but such events can be appropriately considered as a worst-case scenario in a comprehensive, forward-looking, multiscenario hazard assessment.
Exposure to Hand-Arm Vibration in the Australian Workforce
Authors: Lewkowski Kate , Ytterstad Elinor , Pugliese Matthew J , McCausland Kahlia , Heyworth Jane S , Li Ian W , Pettersson Hans , Williams Warwick , Fritschi Lin
Published: November 2020

Objective

To estimate the prevalence of hand-arm vibration (HAV) in Australian workplaces.

Methods

The Australian Workplace Exposure Survey (AWES)—Hearing was a cross-sectional telephone survey of Australian workers conducted in 2016–2017. Respondents were asked about the time spent using tools or performing tasks known to be associated with HAV during their most recent working day. We created a library of HAV magnitude levels for each tool/task and estimated each worker’s daily HAV exposure level using standard formulae. We categorized each worker as to whether they exceeded the daily occupational limits of 2.5 and 5.0 m/s2. Results were extrapolated to the Australian working population using a raked weighting method.

Results

In our sample of 4991 workers, 5.4% of men and 0.7% of women exceeded the HAV action limit of 2.5 m/s2 on their most recent working day. We estimate that 3.8% of the Australian workforce exceeds the HAV limit of 2.5 m/s2 and 0.8% exceeds the 5 m/s2 limit. Men were more likely to exceed the HAV limits than women, as were those with trade qualifications, and those who worked in remote locations. Workers in the construction, farming, and automobile industries had the highest prevalence of HAV exposure. Tool groups that contributed to higher exposure levels included: compactors, rollers, and tampers; power hammers and jackhammers; and underground mining equipment.

Conclusions

HAV is common in the Australian working population. Given the health risks associated with this exposure, reduction strategies and interventions should be developed, with engineering controls as the starting point for exposure reduction strategies.
Development of a Job-Exposure Matrix for Ultrafine Particle Exposure: The MatPUF JEM
Authors: Audignon-Durand Sabyne , Gramond Céline , Ducamp Stéphane , Manangama Guyguy , Garrigou Alain , Delva Fleur , Brochard Patrick , Lacourt Aude
Published: November 2020

Objective

Ultrafine particles (UFPs) are generated from common work processes and have thus existed for a long time. Far more prevalent than engineered nanoparticles, they share common toxicological characteristics with them. However, there is no existing retrospective assessment tool specific to UFPs, for example, for epidemiological purposes. Thus, we aimed to develop a job-exposure matrix dedicated to UFPs.

Method

Fifty-seven work processes were identified as well as the chemical composition of UFPs emitted, following a literature review and the input of an expert panel. These work processes were associated with occupational codes as defined by the ISCO 1968 classification. The probability and frequency of UFP exposure were assessed for each combination of occupational code and process. Summarized probabilities and frequencies were then calculated for all ISCO occupational codes associated with several processes. Variations in exposure over time or across industrial sectors were accounted for in the assessment of each occupational code.

Results

In the ISCO classification, 52.8% of the occupational codes (n = 835) assessed were associated with exposure to UFPs, consisting mainly of carbonaceous, metallic, and mineral families (39.5%, 22 and, 15.8%, respectively). Among them, 42.6% involved very probable exposure, and at a high frequency (regularly or continuously).

Conclusion

These results suggest that occupational exposure to UFPs may be extensive at the workplace and could concern a wide variety of workers. Pending the integration of a third parameter assessing the intensity of UFP exposure, the MatPUF JEM already constitutes a promising and easy-to-use tool to study the possible adverse health effects of UFPs at work. It may also guide prevention policies in the occupational environments concerned, including those involving engineered nanoparticles.
Normative Data for a Tablet-Based Dual-Task Assessment in Healthy Older Adults
Authors: Lussier Maxime , Saillant Kathia , Vrinceanu Tudor , Hudon Carol , Bherer Louis
Published: November 2020

Objective

The objective of this study is to provide normative data for a tablet-based dual-task assessment in older adults without cognitive deficits.

Method

In total, 264 participants aged between 60 and 90 years, French and English-speaking, were asked to perform two discrimination tasks, alone and concurrently. The participants had to answer as fast as possible to one or two images appearing in the center of the tablet by pressing to the corresponding buttons. Normative data are provided for reaction time (RT), coefficient of variation, and accuracy. Analyses of variance were performed by trial types (single-pure, single-mixed, dual-mixed), and linear regressions assessed the relationship between performance and sociodemographic characteristics.

Results

The participants were highly educated and a large proportion of them were women (73.9%). The accuracy on the task was very high across all blocks. RT data revealed both a task-set cost and a dual-task cost between the blocks. Age was associated with slower RT and with higher coefficient of variability. Men were significantly slower on dual-mixed trials, but their coefficient of variability was lower on single-pure trials. Education was not associated with performance.

Conclusions

This study provides normative data for a tablet-based dual-task assessment in older adults without cognitive impairment, which was lacking. All participants completed the task with good accuracy in less than 15 minutes and thus, the task is transferable to clinical and research settings.
DeepPurpose: a deep learning library for drug–target interaction prediction
Authors: Huang Kexin , Fu Tianfan , Glass Lucas M , Zitnik Marinka , Xiao Cao , Sun Jimeng
Published: November 2020

Accurate prediction of drug–target interactions (DTI) is crucial for drug discovery. Recently, deep learning (DL) models for show promising performance for DTI prediction. However, these models can be difficult to use for both computer scientists entering the biomedical field and bioinformaticians with limited DL experience. We present DeepPurpose, a comprehensive and easy-to-use DL library for DTI prediction. DeepPurpose supports training of customized DTI prediction models by implementing 15 compound and protein encoders and over 50 neural architectures, along with providing many other useful features. We demonstrate state-of-the-art performance of DeepPurpose on several benchmark datasets.

Availability and implementation

https://github.com/kexinhuang12345/DeepPurpose.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Comprehensive Health Assessment 3 Months After Recovery From Acute Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Authors: van den Borst Bram , Peters Jeannette B , Brink Monique , Schoon Yvonne , Bleeker-Rovers Chantal P , Schers Henk , van Hees Hieronymus W H , van Helvoort Hanneke , van den Boogaard Mark , van der Hoeven Hans , Reijers Monique H , Prokop Mathias , Vercoulen Jan , van den Heuvel Michel
Published: November 2020

Background

Long-term health sequelae of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may be multiple but have thus far not been systematically studied.

Methods

All patients discharged after COVID-19 from the Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, were consecutively invited to a multidisciplinary outpatient facility. Also, nonadmitted patients with mild disease but with symptoms persisting >6 weeks could be referred by general practitioners. Patients underwent a standardized assessment including measurements of lung function, chest computed tomography (CT)/X-ray, 6-minute walking test, body composition, and questionnaires on mental, cognitive, health status, and quality of life (QoL).

Results

124 patients (59 ± 14 years, 60% male) were included: 27 with mild, 51 with moderate, 26 with severe, and 20 with critical disease. Lung diffusion capacity was below the lower limit of normal in 42% of discharged patients. 99% of discharged patients had reduced ground-glass opacification on repeat CT imaging, and normal chest X-rays were found in 93% of patients with mild disease. Residual pulmonary parenchymal abnormalities were present in 91% of discharged patients and correlated with reduced lung diffusion capacity. Twenty-two percent had low exercise capacity, 19% low fat-free mass index, and problems in mental and/or cognitive function were found in 36% of patients. Health status was generally poor, particularly in the domains functional impairment (64%), fatigue (69%), and QoL (72%).

Conclusions

This comprehensive health assessment revealed severe problems in several health domains in a substantial number of ex–COVID-19 patients. Longer follow-up studies are warranted to elucidate natural trajectories and to find predictors of complicated long-term trajectories of recovery.
Household Prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, and Plasmodium ovale in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2013–2014
Authors: Mitchell Cedar L , Topazian Hillary M , Brazeau Nicholas F , Deutsch-Feldman Molly , Muwonga Jeremie , Sompwe Eric , Tshefu Antoinette K , Mwandagalirwa Melchior K , Parr Jonathan B , Juliano Jonathan J
Published: November 2020

In a cross-sectional molecular study in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 78% of households had ≥1 member infected with Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, and/or Plasmodium ovale spp.; 47% of children and 33% of adults tested positive for ≥1 species. Risk factors varied by species and age group.
Delayed manifestation of COVID-19 presenting as lower extremity multilevel arterial thrombosis: a case report
Authors: Schweblin Cecilia , Hachulla Anne Lise , Roffi Marco , Glauser Frédéric
Published: November 2020

Background

Venous thrombo-embolic events have been described in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), suggesting the presence of coagulopathy induced by the viral infection. To date, only rare cases of arterial thrombosis related to COVID-19 have been reported.

Case summary

A 54-year-old patient with an influenza-like illness 15 days earlier, which resolved, and no known cardiovascular risk factor presented with acute right lower limb ischaemia. A computed tomography angiogram of the abdominal aorta and lower extremities showed, in the absence of vascular disease, a subocclusive thrombosis of the right common iliac artery and an occlusion of the right internal iliac, profunda femoral, and popliteal arteries. On the left side, the computed tomography angiogram demonstrated a non-occlusive thrombosis of the common femoral artery. The patient underwent emergency surgical thrombectomy as well as endovascular revascularization on the right side followed by therapeutic anticoagulation, with normalization of the limb perfusion. A nasopharyngeal swab for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by real-time reverse transcription–PCR (rRT–PCR) was negative three times. Haemostasis analysis showed a mild hyperfibrinogenaemia and a shortening of the activated partial thromboplastin time. An extensive screening for cardio-embolism was negative. As the thrombotic event was unexplained, antibody testing for SARS-CoV-2 was performed and the result was positive.

Discussion

Venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms have been observed in COVID-19. As in our case, the first reports on COVID-19-associated arterial thrombotic events have emerged. A better understanding of the coagulopathy in COVID-19 is essential to guide prevention and treatment of venous as well as arterial thrombo-embolic events.
Long-term cardiovascular outcomes after orlistat therapy in patients with obesity: a nationwide, propensity-score matched cohort study
Authors: Ardissino Maddalena , Vincent Matthew , Hines Oliver , Amin Ravi , Eichhorn Christian , Tang Alice R , Collins Peter , Moussa Osama , Purkayastha Sanjay
Published: November 2020

Aims

The rising prevalence of obesity and its associated comorbidities represent a growing public health issue; in particular, obesity is known to be a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Despite the evidence behind the efficacy of orlistat in achieving weight loss in patients with obesity, no study thus far has quantified its long-term effect on cardiovascular outcomes. The purpose of this study is to explore long-term cardiovascular outcomes after orlistat therapy.

Methods and results

A propensity-score matched cohort study was conducted on the nation-wide electronic primary and integrated secondary healthcare records of the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). The 36 876 patients with obesity in the CPRD database who had completed a course of orlistat during follow-up were matched on a 1:1 basis with equal numbers of controls who had not taken orlistat. Patients were followed up for a median of 6 years for the occurrence of the primary composite endpoint of major adverse cardiovascular events (fatal or non-fatal myocardial infarction or ischaemic stroke), and a number of secondary endpoints including primary endpoint components individually, the occurrence of new-onset heart failure, coronary revascularization, new chronic kidney disease stage III+ (CKD3+), and all-cause mortality. During the median study follow-up of 6 years, the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events was lower in the orlistat cohort [hazard ratio (HR) 0.74; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.66–0.83, P < 0.001]. Patients who took orlistat experienced lower rates of myocardial infarction (HR 0.77; 95% CI 0.66–0.88, P < 0.001) and ischaemic stroke (HR 0.68; 95% CI 0.56 to −0.84, P < 0.001) as well as new-onset heart failure (HR 0.79; 95% CI 0.67–0.94, P = 0.007). There was no differences in revascularization rates (HR 1.12; 95% CI 0.91–1.38, P = 0.27), but a lower rate of both CKD3+ development (HR 0.78; 95% CI 0.73–0.83, P < 0.001) and mortality (HR 0.39, 95% CI 0.36 to −0.41, P < 0.001) was observed.

Conclusion

In this nation-wide, propensity-score matched study, orlistat was associated with lower rates of overall major adverse cardiovascular events, new-onset heart failure, renal failure, and mortality. This study adds to current evidence on the known improvements in cardiovascular risk factor profiles of orlistat treatment by suggesting a potential role in primary prevention.
Introducing a “core steel microbiome” and community functional analysis associated with microbially influenced corrosion
Authors: Garrison Cody E , Field Erin K
Published: November 2020

Microorganisms attached to aquatic steel structures play key roles in nutrient cycling and structural degradation processes. Corrosion-causing microbes are often the focus of studies involving microbially influenced corrosion, yet the roles of remaining community members remain unclear. This study characterizes the composition and functional potential of a ‘core steel microbiome’ across stainless steel types (304 and 316) and historic shipwreck steel along salinity gradients in North Carolina estuaries. We found higher phylogenetic evenness and diversity on steel surfaces compared to sediment, and at lower salinities. The core steel microbiome was composed of heterotrophic generalist taxa, and community composition was most strongly influenced by salinity. Substrate type was a secondary factor becoming more influential at higher salinities. The core steel microbiome included members of Sphingobacteriia, Cytophagia, Anaerolineaceae, Verrucomicrobiaceae, Chitinophagaceae, and Rheinheimera. While salinity differences led to phylogenetic separations across microbial community assemblages, functional genes were conserved across salinity and steel type. Generalist taxa on steel surfaces likely provide functional stability and biofilm protection for the community with limited functional trade-offs compared to surrounding environments. Further, characterization of a core steel microbiome increases the understanding of these complex steel surface microbial communities and their similarities to core microbiomes in other environments.
Advances and opportunities in image analysis of bacterial cells and communities
Authors: Jeckel Hannah , Drescher Knut
Published: November 2020

The cellular morphology and sub-cellular spatial structure critically influence the function of microbial cells. Similarly, the spatial arrangement of genotypes and phenotypes in microbial communities has important consequences for cooperation, competition, and community functions. Fluorescence microscopy techniques are widely used to measure spatial structure inside living cells and communities, which often results in large numbers of images that are difficult or impossible to analyze manually. The rapidly evolving progress in computational image analysis has recently enabled the quantification of a large number of properties of single cells and communities, based on traditional analysis techniques and convolutional neural networks. Here, we provide a brief introduction to core concepts of automated image processing, recent software tools and how to validate image analysis results. We also discuss recent advances in image analysis of microbial cells and communities, and how these advances open up opportunities for quantitative studies of spatiotemporal processes in microbiology, based on image cytometry and adaptive microscope control.
Critical health literacy in pandemics: the special case of COVID-19
Authors: Abel Thomas , McQueen David
Published: November 2020

In the current COVID-19 pandemic the active participation of the public is of central importance, however, certain factors found in this new pandemic disease complicates the participation. Addressing these complications needs public health and health promotion experts to understand the role of critical health literacy in a pandemic. We present the case for a definition of critical health literacy in a pandemic, CHL-P. We suggest that CHL-P can help professionals to support individuals and communities as agents for effectively dealing with the unique features of this pandemic.
On Weissler’s Conjecture on the Hamming Cube I
Authors: Ivanisvili P , Nazarov F
Published: November 2020

Let $1\leq p \leq q <\infty $ and let $w \in \mathbb{C}$. Weissler conjectured that the Hermite operator $e^{w\Delta }$ is bounded as an operator from $L^{p}$ to $L^{q}$ on the Hamming cube $\{-1,1\}^{n}$ with the norm bound independent of $n$ if and only if $$\begin{align*} |p-2-e^{2w}(q-2)|\leq p-|e^{2w}|q. \end{align*}$$It was proved in [ 1], [ 2], and [ 17] in all cases except $2<p\leq q <3$ and $3/2<p\leq q <2$, which stood open until now. The goal of this paper is to give a full proof of Weissler’s conjecture in the case $p=q$. Several applications will be presented.
The COVID-19 Trial Finder
Authors: Sun Yingcheng , Butler Alex , Lin Fengyang , Liu Hao , Stewart Latoya A , Kim Jae Hyun , Idnay Betina Ross S , Ge Qingyin , Wei Xinyi , Liu Cong , Yuan Chi , Weng Chunhua
Published: November 2020

Clinical trials are the gold standard for generating reliable medical evidence. The biggest bottleneck in clinical trials is recruitment. To facilitate recruitment, tools for patient search of relevant clinical trials have been developed, but users often suffer from information overload. With nearly 700 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) trials conducted in the United States as of August 2020, it is imperative to enable rapid recruitment to these studies. The COVID-19 Trial Finder was designed to facilitate patient-centered search of COVID-19 trials, first by location and radius distance from trial sites, and then by brief, dynamically generated medical questions to allow users to prescreen their eligibility for nearby COVID-19 trials with minimum human computer interaction. A simulation study using 20 publicly available patient case reports demonstrates its precision and effectiveness.
The case for information fiduciaries: The implementation of a data ethics checklist at Seattle Children’s Hospital
Authors: Montague Elizabeth , Day T Eugene , Barry Dwight , Brumm Maria , McAdie Aaron , Cooper Andrew B , Wignall Julia , Erdman Steve , Núñez Diahnna , Diekema Douglas , Danks David
Published: November 2020

There is little debate about the importance of ethics in health care, and clearly defined rules, regulations, and oaths help ensure patients’ trust in the care they receive. However, standards are not as well established for the data professions within health care, even though the responsibility to treat patients in an ethical way extends to the data collected about them. Increasingly, data scientists, analysts, and engineers are becoming fiduciarily responsible for patient safety, treatment, and outcomes, and will require training and tools to meet this responsibility. We developed a data ethics checklist that enables users to consider the possible ethical issues that arise from the development and use of data products. The combination of ethics training for data professionals, a data ethics checklist as part of project management, and a data ethics committee holds potential for providing a framework to initiate dialogues about data ethics and can serve as an ethical touchstone for rapid use within typical analytic workflows, and we recommend the use of this or equivalent tools in deploying new data products in hospitals.
Roles of endovascular aneurysm repair in management of secondary aorto-enteric fistulas
Authors: Farquharson Barnaby Jmc , Erete Leanna , Morgan-Rowe Luke , Metcalfe Matthew
Published: November 2020

Secondary aorto-enteric fistulas (AEFs) are an uncommon but serious complication of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair. Case review of two cases of secondary AEF are as follows: the first case involved a 75-year- old male who presented with AEF 1 year post-emergency open AAA repair, successfully managed with endovascular aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) without complication. The second case involved a 75-year-old male patient 14 months post open AAA repair for an inflammatory aneurysm who presented with an iliac-enteric fistula. The previous repair was relined with a bifurcated EVAR with subsequent laparotomy and resection of the affected portion of the small bowel. Both patients on lifelong antibiotics without further episodes of sepsis, recurrence of AEF or mortality at 12 months follow up. EVAR can be successful in the management of secondary AEF. Careful patient selection, accurate image interpretation, and expedient management are key factors to successful short- and long-term outcomes.
A large gastric rupture due to blunt trauma: a case report and a review of the Japanese literature
Authors: Ueda Shiro , Okamoto Noritomo , Seki Tadahiko , Matuyama Takeshi
Published: November 2020

Gastric rupture due to blunt trauma is rare, occurring in only 0.07–1.2% of all abdominal blunt traumas. We reported a case with a 10-cm-long hole and review 25 cases in Japan. A 22-year-old man was involved in a traffic accident, 2 h after eating a lot of food. He had suffered muscular defense in the abdomen. An abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan revealed free air, disruption of the gastric wall and a lot of food residue. The laparotomy showed a burst of 10 cm that ran parallel to the long axis from the cardia to the body. A simple closure was primarily performed and drains were placed in the abdominal cavity. The patient was discharged on the 32nd day. Most cases of gastric rupture are diagnosed intraoperatively, but careful evaluation of CT scans and patient interviews are needed to make an accurate preoperative diagnosis.
Water ice deposition and growth in molecular clouds
Authors: Rawlings Jonathan M C , Williams D A
Published: November 2020

In interstellar clouds, the deposition of water ice on to grains only occurs at visual extinctions above some threshold value (Ath). At extinctions greater than Ath, there is a (near-linear) correlation between the inferred column density of the water ice and AV. For individual cloud complexes such as Taurus, Serpens, and ρ-Ophiuchi, Ath and the gradients of the correlation are very similar along all lines of sight. We have investigated the origin of this phenomenon, with careful consideration of the various possible mechanisms that may be involved and have applied a full chemical model to analyse the behaviours and sensitivities in quiescent molecular clouds. Our key results are as follows: (i) the ubiquity of the phenomenon points to a common cause, so that the lines-of-sight probe regions with similar, advanced, chemical, and dynamical evolution; (ii) for Taurus and Serpens Ath and the slope of the correlation can be explained as resulting from the balance of freeze-out of oxygen atoms and photodesorption of H2O molecules. No other mechanism can satisfactorily explain the phenomenon; (iii) Ath depends on the local density, suggesting that there is a correlation between local volume density and column density; (iv) the different values of Ath for Taurus and Serpens are probably due to variations in the local mean radiation field strength; (v) most ice is accreted on to grains that are initially very small (<0.01$\,\mu$m); and (vi) the very high value of Ath observed in ρ-Ophiuchi cannot be explained in the same way, unless there is complex microstructure and/or a modification to the extinction characteristics.
Modelling neutron star mountains
Authors: Gittins F , Andersson N , Jones D I
Published: November 2020

As the era of gravitational-wave astronomy has well and truly begun, gravitational radiation from rotating neutron stars remains elusive. Rapidly spinning neutron stars are the main targets for continuous-wave searches since, according to general relativity, provided they are asymmetrically deformed, they will emit gravitational waves. It is believed that detecting such radiation will unlock the answer to why no pulsars have been observed to spin close to the break-up frequency. We review existing studies on the maximum mountain that a neutron star crust can support, critique the key assumptions and identify issues relating to boundary conditions that need to be resolved. In light of this discussion, we present a new scheme for modelling neutron star mountains. The crucial ingredient for this scheme is a description of the fiducial force which takes the star away from sphericity. We consider three examples: a source potential which is a solution to Laplace’s equation, another solution which does not act in the core of the star and a thermal pressure perturbation. For all the cases, we find that the largest quadrupoles are between a factor of a few to two orders of magnitude below previous estimates of the maximum-mountain size.
Chemical mechanism for the decomposition of CH3NH2 and implications to interstellar glycine
Authors: de Jesus Diego N , da Silva Jean M B A , Tejero Tatiane N , de Souza Machado Gladson , Xavier Neubi F , Bauerfeldt Glauco F
Published: November 2020

Complex organic molecules from extraterrestrial source are expected to have contributed to the Early Earth chemistry. Methylamine (CH3NH2)has already been observed in the interstellar medium (ISM) and is generally related to the formation of glycine, although the latter has not been identified in the ISM yet. In this work, a chemical model for CH3NH2 was investigated, comprising twenty-eight reactions and including reactions involving NH3 and HOOC, aiming to understand the main routes for formation and decomposition of methylamine and also to infer about the chemical behaviour of glycine in the ISM. Calculations were performed at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ//M06-2X/aug-cc-pVTZ level and rate coefficients were calculated adopting the canonical variational transition state theory (CVTST), in the temperature range 100 to 4000 K, including tunnelling effects. Starting from HCN, the preferred pathway for methylamine formation is through consecutive hydrogenation steps, forming CH2N, CH2NH, and CH2NH2 intermediates. Considering the decomposition, dissociation into CH3 and NH2 is the most favourable step. NH3 and HCN are common compounds in interstellar ice analogues and react producing NH2 and CH2N through NH2NCH2 and H2NCH2N intermediates. The latter is proposed here and spectroscopic data for any future experimental investigation are given. Finally, an extension to the ISM glycine chemistry is explored and routes to its formation, from the simplest compounds found in interstellar ices, are proposed.