bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Delayed Neurological Improvement After Full Endovascular Reperfusion in Acute Anterior Circulation Ischemic Stroke
Authors: Talavera Blanca , Gómez-Vicente Beatriz , Martínez-Galdámez Mario , López-Cancio Elena , García-Cabo Carmen , Castellanos Mar , Roel Alexia , Tejada-Meza Herbert , Marta-Moreno Javier , Pérez-Lázaro Cristina , Navarro-Pérez María Pilar , Bravo-Anguiano Yolanda , Bártulos-Iglesias Mónica , Tejada-García Javier , Rodrigo-Stevens Gabriela , Martínez-Zabaleta Maite , de la Riva Patricia , Timiraos-Fernández Juan José , del Mar Freijo María , Luna Alain , García-Sánchez Juan Manuel , del Carmen Gil-Alzueta María , Palacio-Portilla Enrique Jesús , Jiménez-López Yésica , López-Mesonero Luis , Redondo-Robles Laura , Mayo-Iscar Agustín , Arenillas Juan F. ,   on behalf of the NORDICTUS Investigators*
Published: May 2021

Background and Purpose:

We aimed to determine the prevalence and predictors of delayed neurological improvement (DNI) after complete endovascular reperfusion in anterior circulation acute ischemic stroke (AIS).

Methods:

Retrospective analysis of an online multicenter prospective reperfusion registry of patients with consecutive anterior circulation AIS treated with endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) from January 2018 to June 2019 in tertiary stroke centers of the NORDICTUS (NORD-Spain Network for Research and Innovation in ICTUS) network. We included patients with AIS with a proximal occlusion in whom a modified Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction 3 reperfusion pattern was obtained. DNI was defined if, despite absence of early neurological improvement during the first 24 hours, patients achieved functional independence on day 90. Clinical and radiological variables obtained before EVT were analyzed as potential predictors of DNI.

Results:

Of 1565 patients with consecutive AIS treated with EVT, 1381 had proximal anterior circulation occlusions, 803 (58%) of whom achieved a modified Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction 3. Of these, 628 patients fulfilled all selection criteria and were included in the study. Mean age was 73.8 years, 323 (51.4%) were female, and median baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale was 16. Absence of early neurological improvement was observed in 142 (22.6%) patients; 32 of these (22.5%) achieved good long-term outcome and constitute the DNI group. Predictors of DNI in multivariable-adjusted logistic regression were male sex (odds ratio, 6.4 [95% CI, 2.1–22.3]
P
=0.002), lower pre-EVT National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score (odds ratio, 1.4 [95% CI, 1.2–1.5],
P
<0.001), and intravenous thrombolysis (odds ratio, 9.1 [95% CI, 2.7–30.90],
P
<0.001).

Conclusions:

One-quarter of patients with anterior circulation AIS who do not clinically improve within the first 24 hours after complete cerebral endovascular recanalization will achieve long-term functional independence, regardless of the poor early clinical course. Male sex, lower initial clinical severity, and use of intravenous thrombolysis before EVT predicted this clinical pattern.
Theology through Eschatological Story
Authors: Lear Joseph M.
Published: May 2021

Daniela Augustine’s The Spirit and the Common Good is a preachable theology because it is story – the story of the coming kingdom made present by the Spirit’s outpouring on Pentecost. Her book finds a fruitful locus of theological reflection in the former Yugoslavia’s Third Balkan War, by which she confronts the protological narrative of human violence with the counternarrative of the Scriptures, the Spirit, and the glorious transformation at the end of the age. In order to put flesh on Christian hope in the contemporary contexts, Augustine turns to hagiographical stories in the former Yugoslavia. Hagiography is not without perils for the theological task, not least in that it can downplay the sinfulness of the saints’ lives. But, as in the practice of Pentecostal testimony, Augustine’s work gives glory to God, not humans for the work of God in the world.
Scholtzia kalbarri, a replacing name for Scholtzia denticulata (Myrtaceae: Chamelaucieae)

Authors: DESHMUKH UMAKANT BHOOPATI
Published: May 2021

The Western Australian genus Scholtzia Schauer (1843: 241), is one of the larger genera in the tribe Chamelaucieae of family Myrtaceae with more than 40 species, chiefly found from Carnarvon south to near Harvey and inland to Anderson Rocks, north of Hyden, northern sand plains of the South West Botanical Province and Kalbarri National Park (Rye, 2019). Recently Rye (2019), described twenty-five new species and five new subspecies. One newly described species, Scholtzia denticulata Rye (2019: 55) is illegitimate as it is a later homonym of Scholtzia denticulata F. Mueller (1864: 75).Therefore, a new replacement name is proposed here in accordance with article 53.1 of Shenzhen Code (Turland et al. 2018).
Cloud microphysical structure analysis based on high-resolution insitu measurements
Authors: Konwar Mahen , Prabhakaran Thara , Khain Alexander , Pinsky Mark
Published: May 2021

This study investigates the microphysical parameters and shapes of droplet size distributions (DSDs) along three aircraft traverses of developing convective clouds during Cloud Aerosol Interactions and Precipitation Enhancement EXperiment (CAIPEEX) 2015 at a sampling frequency of 25 Hz. The droplet number concentration (Nc, cm−3), and liquid water content (LWC, gm−3) present steep gradients within a few tens of meters’ zones near the cloud edges and relatively gentle gradients in the strong updraft zones. Sometimes, the horizontal LWC distribution resembles a trapezoid-like shape with steep LWC and Nc gradients near the cloud edges. The LWC maximums (LWCmax) are lower than the adiabatic LWC, but the high adiabatic fractions in the cloud core indicate low dilution. High LWC/LWCmax, largest droplets, and narrow and similarly-shaped DSDs are found in the regions of high updrafts. Zones of low LWC/LWCmax are found close to the cloud edges, where DSDs are highly diverse, containing both large and small droplets. Finally, we analyze the mixing diagrams.

Significant in-phase turbulent fluctuations in LWC and Nc were found. The effective radii change slightly across cloud updraft zones but decrease at the low LWC/LWCmax ratio zone close to cloud edges. The spectra of LWC and Nc obey Kolmogorov -5/3 turbulence law. The radii of the correlation of LWC and Nc in updraft zones are of several tens of meters. Filaments up to 120-175 m in size are also noticed.
Using Climate Model Simulations to Constrain Observations
Authors: Santer Benjamin D. , Po-Chedley Stephen , Mears Carl , Fyfe John C. , Gillett Nathan , Fu Qiang , Painter Jeffrey F. , Solomon Susan , Steiner Andrea K. , Wentz Frank J. , Zelinka Mark D. , Zou Cheng-Zhi
Published: May 2021

We compare atmospheric temperature changes in satellite data and in model ensembles performed under phases 5 and 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5 and CMIP6). In the lower stratosphere, multidecadal stratospheric cooling during the period of strong ozone depletion is smaller in newer CMIP6 simulations than in CMIP5 or satellite data. In the troposphere, however, despite forcing and climate sensitivity differences between the two CMIP ensembles, their ensemble-average global warming over 1979–2019 is very similar. We also examine four properties of tropical behavior governed by basic physical processes. The first three are ratios between trends in water vapor (WV) and trends in sea surface temperature (SST), lower-tropospheric temperature (TLT), and mid- to upper-tropospheric temperature (TMT). The fourth property is the ratio between TMT and SST trends. All four ratios are tightly constrained in CMIP simulations but diverge markedly in observations. Model trend ratios between WV and temperature are closest to observed ratios when the latter are calculated with datasets exhibiting larger tropical warming of the ocean surface and troposphere. For the TMT/SST ratio, model–data consistency depends on the combination of observations used to estimate TMT and SST trends. If model expectations of these four covariance relationships are realistic, our findings reflect either a systematic low bias in satellite tropospheric temperature trends or an overestimate of the observed atmospheric moistening signal. It is currently difficult to determine which interpretation is more credible. Nevertheless, our analysis reveals anomalous covariance behavior in several observational datasets and illustrates the diagnostic power of simultaneously considering multiple complementary variables.
SC-Earth: A Station-Based Serially Complete Earth Dataset from 1950 to 2019
Authors: Tang Guoqiang , Clark Martyn P. , Papalexiou Simon Michael
Published: May 2021

Meteorological data from ground stations suffer from temporal discontinuities caused by missing values and short measurement periods. Gap-filling and reconstruction techniques have proven to be effective in producing serially complete station datasets (SCDs) that are used for a myriad of meteorological applications (e.g., developing gridded meteorological datasets and validating models). To our knowledge, all SCDs are developed at regional scales. In this study, we developed the serially complete Earth (SC-Earth) dataset, which provides daily precipitation, mean temperature, temperature range, dewpoint temperature, and wind speed data from 1950 to 2019. SC-Earth utilizes raw station data from the Global Historical Climatology Network–Daily (GHCN-D) and the Global Surface Summary of the Day (GSOD). A unified station repository is generated based on GHCN-D and GSOD after station merging and strict quality control. ERA5 is optimally matched with station data considering the time shift issue and then used to assist the global gap filling. SC-Earth is generated by merging estimates from 15 strategies based on quantile mapping, spatial interpolation, machine learning, and multistrategy merging. The final estimates are bias corrected using a combination of quantile mapping and quantile delta mapping. Comprehensive validation demonstrates that SC-Earth has high accuracy around the globe, with degraded quality in the tropics and oceanic islands due to sparse station networks, strong spatial precipitation gradients, and degraded ERA5 estimates. Meanwhile, SC-Earth inherits potential limitations such as inhomogeneity and precipitation undercatch from raw station data, which may affect its application in some cases. Overall, the high-quality and high-density SC-Earth dataset will benefit research in fields of hydrology, ecology, meteorology, and climate. The dataset is available athttps://zenodo.org/record/4762586.
Aortic Stiffness, Inflammation, and Incidence of Cardiovascular Events in Elderly Participants From the General Population
Authors: Nilsson Wadström Benjamin , Persson Margaretha , Engström Gunnar , Nilsson Peter M.
Published: May 2021

Low-grade inflammation and arterial stiffness are key factors in the development of vascular aging. However, the interplay between arterial stiffness and inflammation for cardiovascular (CV) disease is unclear. Aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV) and the inflammatory markers, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) and orosomucoid, were measured in 2710 participants (median age: 72 years). These participants were followed up for a mean of 7.6 years for a composite CV disease end point. Per 1 interquartile range increment of CRP and orosomucoid, respectively, aPWV increased by 0.19 m/s (95% CI: 0.07-0.32) and 0.19 m/s (0.11-0.27), after multifactorial adjustment. Mediation analysis showed that aPWV, after multifactorial adjustment, mediated 8% (−4, 20) of the CV disease risk associated with CRP and 8% (−4, 18) of orosomucoid risk. The associated risk increased with combinations of high aPWV and high CRP or orosomucoid. We found no evidence that arterial PWV acted as an important mediator of the relationship between systemic inflammation and CV disease risk in this elderly population. The results instead indicate an additive effect. Our study supports the view that arterial stiffness and chronic inflammation affects CV risk mainly through separate causal pathways.
Children With Complex Febrile Seizures: Is Hospital Admission Necessary?
Authors: Kannikeswaran Nirupama , Sivaswamy Lalitha , Farooqi Ahmad , Sethuraman Usha
Published: May 2021

Children with complex febrile seizure (CFS) are often hospitalized for concerns for serious bacterial infection (SBI) or seizure recurrence. We describe the yield of diagnostic studies and seizure recurrence during hospitalization in CFS children. We performed a retrospective review of 372 visits in 350 developmentally normal children aged 6 to 60 months between 2011 and 2016 for CFS. Majority of patients were male (200; 57.1%), with a mean age of 19.8 ± 11.3 months. Active seizures were noted in 42 (11.3%), status epilepticus in 35 (9.4%) while 97 (26.1%) had a seizure in the pediatric emergency department. The distribution of SBI was as follows: bacteremia (3; 1.1%), urinary tract infection (7; 3.7%), pneumonia (15; 6.8%), and bacterial meningitis (0; 0%). Electroencephalography (EEG) abnormality was rare (7/158; 4.4%). Seizure recurrence during hospitalization was uncommon (19; 5.1%). Logistic regression analysis did not reveal any predictors for seizure recurrence. The seizure recurrence rate during hospitalization, EEG yield, and SBI incidence was low in children with CFS.
Men’s and women’s changing attitudes towards fatherhood and working fathers in Australia
Authors: Churchill Brendan , Craig Lyn
Published: May 2021

Since the Second World War there have been significant changes in the gender systems of industrialised countries, largely driven by increased female labour force participation. Changes in men’s domestic participation have been comparatively incremental, and researchers contend the gender revolution will only be complete when men’s and women’s commitments are matched. Prior research on attitudes about gender roles has concentrated on women, but in this research, the focus is on men. Using growth curve analyses of Australian longitudinal data ( N = 24,397), this article examines attitudes towards fatherhood and working fathers and how they changed between 2001 and 2015. Workforce status, relationship status and parenthood are strong predictors of different attitudinal outcomes and change for men and women, indicating that views were influenced by interest and exposure in ways that differed by gender. Further, the authors find attitudes towards fatherhood and working fathers have changed over the last 15 years, particularly amongst working fathers and mothers, which have become more supportive of greater father involvement in the care of children and the ability of working fathers to meet the needs of their children.
Contentious buildings: The struggle against eviction in NYC’s Lower East Side
Authors: Accornero Guya
Published: May 2021

The article focuses on the mobilization carried out by tenants living in a rent-stabilized building in NYC’s Lower East Side. Their action was a central part of a large and successful struggle against the landlord, blocking his continuous attempts at eviction. The main research question is: what are the reasons of the success of this action? In other words: what has tipped the balance in favor of the tenants in a conflict in which the landlord clearly had stronger economic, political and power resources? The article argues that this success was highly based on the intersection of three main elements: the specific resources of the tenants, the organizational resources of the territory and the institutional and legal configurations. Moreover, the study considers these three levels closely interconnected and mutually influencing each other. Based on the direct observation of the mobilization, on semi-structured interviews and on biographical sources, the article aims to contribute to the understanding of the multifaceted dimensions of the fight against evictions. The article also aims to contribute, theoretically and methodologically, to a relational and interactionist approach both for the study of social movements and of gentrification and to strength the dialogue between the two fields.
From self-censorship to contention: Shame triggered participation in the 2013 Gezi Protests
Authors: Över Defne
Published: May 2021

Focusing on journalists’ professional behaviors during the 2013 Gezi Protests in Turkey, this article offers a theoretical framework for understanding the transformation of inertia into contentious action. Accordingly, the emotion of shame triggers contention when it is experienced with a contingent event that generates hope for change. In Turkey, journalists working in the mainstream media extensively practiced self-censorship before the 2013 Gezi Protests and felt ashamed of themselves. This feeling became a trigger for joining public protests, resigning and/or producing non-compliant news stories when Gezi offered them an opportunity for social change. This argument builds on the sociology of emotions and events, and is inductively derived from 20 in-depth interviews conducted with journalists. The article presents the social context in which shame arises and the place of this emotion in generating contention. Through this research, the Gezi Protests assert their continuing relevance for understanding the relationship between repression and contention, especially in countries hit by the current wave of authoritarianism.
Examining Potential User Experience Trade-Offs Between Common Computer Display Configurations
Authors: Burruss Caleb C. , Bjornsen Elizabeth , Gallagher Kaitlin M.
Published: May 2021

Objective

To determine how ultrawide (UW) and dual displays configurations can influence neck biomechanics and performance compared to a single display.

Background

Studies have assessed neck kinematics and performance when using dual displays, but these studies have used screen sizes smaller than today’s display size, have inconsistent participant placement, and few have assessed these two variables together.

Methods

Seventeen participants completed five tasks on six display configurations. Neck kinematics and performance were tracked for each configuration.

Results

Centered configurations produced significantly different median neck rotation angles compared to secondary configurations ( p < .001) for three of the tasks. A 34” curved UW display with a longer viewing distance produced similar neck kinematics to a single 24” display with the potential to also reduce screen interactions. When compared to single, the benefit of secondary versus centered monitors was dependent on the type of task being performed. Users may prefer the UW, centered dual, and secondary dual configurations over the single display.

Conclusion

The benefit of secondary versus centered displays is dependent on the type of task being performed. Dual displays are still beneficial but should be used with a monitor arm to switch between centered and secondary configurations as necessary. Future work should look at larger UW displays to see if these results hold compared to dual display configurations.

Application

The results can be used to make evidence-based guidelines for displays based on size and task. Researchers can use this information to design future studies looking at specific configurations.
Academic labour as professional service work? A psychosocial analysis of emotion in lecturer–student relations under marketization
Authors: Nixon Elizabeth , Scullion Richard
Published: May 2021

The marketization of higher education entails a radical reshaping of the educational relationship as one in which the lecturer is recast as a professional service worker, implicitly or explicitly tasked with ensuring the satisfaction of fee-paying students as sovereign consumers. What does an organizational discourse of high customer satisfaction mean for the emotional experiences of lecturers on the frontline? In this article, we conduct a psychosocial analysis of academics’ experiences of interacting with students in a marketized higher education context. We illustrate how institutional imperatives readily align with lecturers’ internalized professional duty of care for students who are discursively constructed as highly anxious and vulnerable. At the same time, changing power differentials wrought by marketization heighten the likelihood of emotional responses in the relationship that are intense, spontaneous, and sometimes involuntary – and thus appear replete with unconscious meanings. Informed by Freudian psychoanalysis, we illustrate how academics enact various defence mechanisms in response to unconscious feelings of dependence, subordination, vulnerability and resentment of the student as an authority figure. We conclude that organizational imperatives to ‘corporately care’ for students have the unintended consequence of generating acute ambivalence that drastically intensifies the psychological demands on teaching staff.
Globalisation and Economic Growth in India: An ARDL Approach
Authors: Wani Suadat Hussain , Mir M. Afzal
Published: May 2021

This study aims to investigate the relation between globalisation, which includes foreign direct investment (FDI), exports, imports, foreign remittances and economic growth in India. To achieve the said objective, Autoregressive Distributed Lag bounds testing approach has been utilised. The study indicates that imports and FDI positively affect economic growth in India. On the other hand, exports and foreign remittances have negative and significant relationship with economic growth. This suggests that exports and foreign remittances take more time to spillover positive impact on economic performance of India. The findings suggest that FDI should be encouraged to promote exports, export-led growth and joint ventures with foreign investors in the country.

JEL Codes: F30, F10, F10, F24, C22
Do Employee Share Owners Face Too Much Financial Risk?
Authors: Kruse Douglas , Blasi Joseph , Weltmann Dan , Kang Saehee , Kim Jung Ook , Castellano William
Published: May 2021

A major theoretical objection against employee share ownership is that workers are exposed to excessive financial risk. Theory posits that 10 to 15% of a typical worker’s wealth portfolio can be prudently invested in employer stock. The authors analyze employee share ownership in US family portfolios using the 2004 to 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances. Overall, 15.3% of families with private-sector employees held employer stock in 2016, and one in six of these families exceeded the 15% threshold. Employee share ownership appears to generally add to, rather than substitute for, both pension and overall wealth. Employee share owners express higher risk tolerance and financial knowledge and greater understanding of the value of diversification. While financial risk does not appear to be a substantial problem for most employee share owners, a small minority may face excessive risk, and the authors suggest approaches to reduce such risk.
Labor Unions and American Poverty
Authors: VanHeuvelen Tom , Brady David
Published: May 2021

American poverty research largely neglects labor unions. The authors use individual-level panel data, incorporate both household union membership and state-level union density, and analyze both working poverty and working-aged poverty (among households led by 18- to 64-year-olds). They estimate three-way fixed effects (person, year, and state) and fixed-effects individual slopes models on the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), 1976–2015. They exploit the higher quality income data in the Cross-National Equivalent File—an extension of the PSID—to measure relative (<50% of median in current year) and anchored (<50% of median in 1976) poverty. Both union membership and state union density have statistically and substantively significant negative relationships with relative and anchored working and working-aged poverty. Household union membership and state union density significantly negatively interact, augmenting the poverty-reducing effects of each. Higher state union density spills over to reduce poverty among non-union households, and there is no evidence that higher state union density worsens poverty for non-union households or undermines employment.
Shedding Light on the Dark Side of Firm Lobbying: A Customer Perspective
Authors: Vadakkepatt Gautham G. , Arora Sandeep , Martin Kelly D. , Paharia Neeru
Published: May 2021

Firms spend a substantial amount on lobbying—devoting financial resources on teams of lobbyists to further their interests among regulatory stakeholders. Previous research acknowledges that lobbying positively influences firm value, but no studies have examined the parallel effects for customers. Building on the attention-based view (ABV) of the firm, the authors examine these customer effects. Findings reveal that lobbying negatively affects customer satisfaction such that the positive relationship between lobbying and firm value is mediated by losses to customer satisfaction. These findings suggest a dark side of lobbying and challenge current thinking. However, several customer-focused moderators attenuate the negative effect of lobbying on customer satisfaction, predicted by ABV theory, including the chief executive officer’s background (marketing vs. other functional area) and the firm’s strategic use of resources (advertising spending, research-and-development spending, or lobbying for product market issues). These moderators ensure consistency between lobbying and customer priorities or direct firm attention toward customers even while firms continue to lobby. Finally, the authors verify that lobbying reduces the firm’s customer focus by measuring this focus directly using text analysis of firm communications with shareholders. Collectively, the research provides managerial implications for navigating both lobbying activities and customer priorities, and public policy implications for lobbying disclosure requirements.
Examining the Responding Component of Teacher Noticing: A Case of One Teacher’s Pedagogical Responses to Students’ Thinking in Classroom Artifacts
Authors: Luna Melissa , Selmer Sarah
Published: May 2021

In this study, we investigated how an experienced fourth-grade teacher responded to her students’ thinking as part of her teacher noticing practice in a formative assessment context. Our primary purpose in doing this work was to decompose the responding component of teacher noticing and use our findings to present an emerging framework characterizing the multidimensional nature of this practice. We present two key outcomes based on the findings of this work. First, we show how a formative assessment context situated outside of instruction can engage teachers in practice-based noticing. Second, we present an emerging framework of the responding component of teacher noticing and discuss how it can be used by teacher educators to engage teachers in analytic work in ways that reveal the relationships between what teachers see in students’ thinking and how, when, and toward whom they respond.
Violence against healthcare personnel in India: Covid-19 prompts stricter laws
Authors: Manoj Matthew A , Padubidri Jagadish Rao , Saran JSRG , Rao Sowmya J , Shetty B Suresh Kumar , D’Souza Haneil
Published: May 2021

During the past 10 years, the “Prevention of Violence Against Medicare Persons and Institutions Act” has failed to achieve its object. With the advent of the pandemic, stricter measures were taken and on 22 April 2020, all acts of violence against healthcare personnel confronting the Covid-19 pandemic became “cognizable and non-bailable offences” by means of the Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Ordinance, a direct statement from the Government of India that there would be zero tolerance for violence against its health care workers. The Amendment aims to fill gaps in the previous law which did not protect healthcare workers against occupational violence at the workplace and at home. The amendment of the Ordinance will have a positive impact on the medical community which is much needed, particularly during the pandemic.
Narrative Medicine for Healthcare Providers: Improving Practices of Advance Care Planning
Authors: Wallace Cara L. , Trees April , Ohs Jennifer , Hinyard Leslie
Published: May 2021

Advance care planning (ACP) conversations about treatment preferences and end-of-life goals relate to positive outcomes for patients and families, though ongoing barriers exist. Additionally, providers personal discomfort and personal experiences may influence how they engage (or avoid) ACP conversations. Narrative medicine (NM) offers one approach to help practitioners develop ability to hear and understand the story of others in ways that may overcome barriers to quality conversations. This study investigated the effectiveness of a 3-hour NM workshop to develop communication skills around ACP and facilitate reflection on the relationship between personal experiences and professional practices in ACP and end-of-life care. Twenty-five participants completed post-assessments of the workshop. Key themes included increased awareness, improved skills for active listening and eliciting stories, and improved understanding of how personal experiences shape professional practice. Results indicate practitioners value the NM approach to ACP suggesting this approach may provide impactful change in practice.
Years of Life Lost Due to Main Causes of Deaths in Yazd Province, Iran
Authors: Askari-Nodoushan Abbas , Sabbaghchi Maryam , Mohammadi Masoud , Askari Maryam
Published: May 2021

Aim

One approach to measure the demographic impacts of death is to examine the number of lost years of life. The present paper aims to estimate the “Years of Lost Life” (YLL) due to the main causes of death in Yazd province of Iran.

Method

The present study is an epidemiological examination for which the statistical population included all the death incidents in Yazd province (excluding stillbirth cases) over two time periods of 2011 and 2016 with a 5-year distance. The required data were obtained based on the Comprehensive System of Mortality Registration maintained by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education; while the standard life expectancy data were based on the World Health Organization standards using standard life table, level 26 of the West model (Coale and Demeny) for Japanese men and women. The standard YLL was calculated according to the WHO standard using a 0.03 relaxation rate for the future time and weighting coefficient for various ages and life years through the formula using the Microsoft Excel software.

Results

The findings of the present study suggest that two main causes of YLL in Yazd province during the year of 2011 were cardiovascular difficulties with the rates of 31.6 per 1000 persons for women and 27.1 per 1000 persons for men, and cancers with the rates of 14.9 per 1000 persons for women and 16.2 per 1000 persons for men. While the above numbers in 2016 were, respectively 22.5 per 1000 persons for women and 25.5 per 1000 persons for men due to cardiovascular difficulties; and 18 per 1000 persons for women and 15.5/1000 for men due to various types of cancers.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that cardiovascular diseases and cancers are the main factors leading to Years of Lost Lifetime for the residents of Yazd province in Iran.
Captives at Large: On the Political Economy of Human Containment in the Sahara
Authors: Brachet Julien , Scheele Judith
Published: May 2021

A closer look at recent reports of “modern slavery” in the Sahara, particularly the exploitation of sub-Saharan migrants in contemporary southern Libya, shows that they speak of other forms of captivity, such as debt bondage, forced prison labor, and hostage taking for ransom. Such forms of exploitation have an equally long history in the region but are more obviously enmeshed with contemporary phenomena: repressive migration policies, state incarceration, and the worldwide ranking of nationalities. This article seeks to understand them for what they are, using fieldwork and historical examples. Understanding shifts the blame for the migrants’ plight from “local culture” to the international political economy and grants migrants a degree of agency that blanket condemnations of slavery often deny. It also opens up more general questions about links between labor, mobility, and captivity; the relationship between state and nonstate systems of political control, their boundaries and overlaps; and the different ways value is accorded to individual lives—or actively created, negotiated, or denied—in the Sahara and beyond.
Development and Application of an Interdisciplinary Rapid Message Testing Model for COVID-19 in North Carolina
Authors: Bartels Sophia M. , Gora Combs Katherine , Lazard Allison J. , Shelus Victoria , Davis C. Hunter , Rothschild Allison , Drewry Maura , Carpenter Kathryn , Newman Emily , Goldblatt Allison , Dasgupta Nabarun , Hill Lauren M. , Ribisl Kurt M.
Published: May 2021

Introduction

From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health officials have sought to develop evidence-based messages to reduce COVID-19 transmission by communicating key information to media outlets and the public. We describe the development of an interdisciplinary rapid message testing model to quickly create, test, and share messages with public health officials for use in health campaigns and policy briefings.

Methods

An interdisciplinary research team from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assembled in March 2020 to assist the state health department in developing evidence-based messages to influence social distancing behaviors in the state. We developed and iteratively executed a rapid message testing model; the components of the 4-step model were message creation, survey development, survey administration, and analysis and presentation to health department officials. The model was executed 4 times, each during a 7-day period in April and May, and each subsequent survey included new phrasing and/or messaging informed by the previous week’s survey. A total of 917 adults from North Carolina participated in the 4 surveys.

Results

Survey participants rated messages focused on protecting oneself and others higher than messages focused on norms and fear-based approaches. Pairing behaviors with motivations increased participants’ desire to social distance across all themes and subgroups. For example, adding “Protect your grandmother, your neighbor with cancer, and your best friend with asthma,” to messaging received a 0.9-point higher score than the base message, “Stay 6 feet apart from others when out in public.”

Practice Implications

Our model to promote social distancing in North Carolina during the COVID-19 pandemic can be used for rapid, iterative message testing during public health emergencies.
Partha Nath Mukherji (1940–2021): The Scholar and His Scholarship
Authors: Jayaram N.
Published: May 2021

This essay is a tribute to the memory of Partha Nath Mukherji (1940–2021), the past President of the Indian Sociological Society (2004–2005). After briefly tracing his scholarly career, it provides an overview of his sociological contributions spanning almost six decades. His oeuvre covered a variety of themes and issues, both empirical and theoretical, which can be categorised under the following rubrics: social movements and social change, sociology of agrarian relations, democratic decentralisation and panchayats, nationalism and nation-building, research methodology, indigenisation of the social sciences, regional (South Asian) sociology, and the question of approach and relevance in Indian sociology.
Food as medicine: Making ‘better bananas’ in Uganda
Authors: Calkins Sandra
Published: May 2021

Cooking bananas ( matooke) are a main staple in central Uganda and are very important to well-being and health. Recently, matooke have also been associated with micronutrient deficiencies among children and women. For a number of years, this fruit has been at the heart of a public health strategy that seeks to create ‘better bananas’, that is, biofortified or nutritionally enriched bananas. The efforts to biofortify food crops are part of a recent trend in the nutrition world towards improving the quality and not only the quantity of food. This article unpacks recent configurations of philanthropy, plant science and global public health and the ways in which they make conventional food crops thinkable, for instance, as cost-effective medicines. This emergent and economized form of valuing bananas is in tension with how Ugandans appreciate bananas in everyday life. I show that emerging valuations of food matter but still should not be mistaken for changes on the ground. This article thereby searches for a middle ground between critiques of global public health and everyday practice in Uganda as well as between praxeological and structuralist/culturalist approaches to food. Instead of dismissing this banana as part of a mere paternalistic project, I show that it also is ‘good’ conceptually in that it makes bananas and health thinkable in new ways.
(Bio)politics of existence and social change: Insights from the Good Food Movement
Authors: Zhang Joy Y.
Published: May 2021

How can we break away from a fixation on top-down power dynamics and track the impact of social movements in societies that do not easily fit with Western neoliberal theorisations? Building on Foucault’s insights on governance, this article proposes an analytical lens of the ‘biopolitics of existence’ to address this problem. The term existence refers not simply to the ‘corporeal’ needs of survival (be it of an individual or an organisation) but also to the freedom to (self-)develop and the ability to interact with others. By examining how the Good Food Movement has transformed the bios of ordinary people into agency and reshaped the governing ethos in China’s food system, this article demonstrates that to assess the gravity of social change is to first comprehend how actors calculated their action in a particular socio-political ecology. To speak of the politics of existence is to recognise that existence is simultaneously something to be defended and to be established. A ‘biopolitics of existence’ lens is instrumental in making visible social actors’ logic in (re)forming socio-political norms while keeping in sight the entanglement of different stakeholders.
Nation building and social change in the United Arab Emirates through the invention of Emirati cuisine
Authors: Martín Eloísa
Published: May 2021

This article aims to analyse how the invention of a national cuisine in the United Arab Emirates takes part in the journey of building the nation, both as a metaphor and as performance of larger political and ideological processes. It analyses the discourses of chefs and professional cooks that are or have been tagged as Emirati food experts. In the Emirati nation building process, the construction of identity is not ‘defined by the other’ against which the image of a common ‘us’ should be reflected. This is also mirrored in the national cuisine in the making, which is developing mostly endogamously. Emirati food both participates in and tells the story of nation building in the UAE, through three overlapping stages of development: traditional, modern and fusion food, which correspond to different moments of the perceived nation development and its fit within Western definitions of both national-states and modernity. Emirati food also helps to create identity borders, by defining who is allowed to taste the authentic flavours, through practices of commensality, and who is able to replicate them in restaurants. This article highlights the connections between nation building, social transformation and food, and explores the ways in which constructions of Emirati cuisine reflect discourses and practices of national belonging.
An Overview of Community Cultural Wealth: Toward a Protective Factor Against Racism
Authors: Acevedo Nancy , Solorzano Daniel G.
Published: May 2021

Community cultural wealth (CCW) as an asset-based framework challenges the deficit notion that Communities of Color do not possess “cultural” capital. Here, we adapt CCW as a framework that can help Students of Color navigate PK-20 educational contexts, particularly when experiencing interpersonal and structured racism, such as racial microaggressions. We begin by discussing the conceptual origins and intent of CCW. Next, we provide an overview of research studies that exemplify Students and Faculty of Color accessing CCW. Finally, by framing racism as an everyday risk factor, we consider how CCW can be used as a protective factor when experiencing racism.
Robustness and Model Selection in Configurational Causal Modeling
Authors: Parkkinen Veli-Pekka , Baumgartner Michael
Published: May 2021

In recent years, proponents of configurational comparative methods (CCMs) have advanced various dimensions of robustness as instrumental to model selection. But these robustness considerations have not led to computable robustness measures, and they have typically been applied to the analysis of real-life data with unknown underlying causal structures, rendering it impossible to determine exactly how they influence the correctness of selected models. This article develops a computable criterion of fit-robustness, which quantifies the degree to which a CCM model agrees with other models inferred from the same data under systematically varied threshold settings of fit parameters. Based on two extended series of inverse search trials on data simulated from known causal structures, the article moreover provides a precise assessment of the degree to which fit-robustness scoring is conducive to finding a correct causal model and how it compares to other approaches of model selection.
Placenta accreta spectrum: Management and outcomes in a tertiary centre in India: An observational cross-sectional study
Authors: Bassetty Karthik C , Vijayaselvi Reeta , Yadav Bijesh , David Liji S , Beck Manisha M
Published: May 2021

Our observational cross-sectional study looked at the risk factors, diagnosis, management and outcomes of placenta accrete spectrum at the Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore, India, between January 2013 and December 2018. A total of 21 cases of placenta accrete spectrum are described among whom a preop diagnosis was available in 14 cases. A previous history of Caesarean section and placenta previa was present in 90%. Caesarean hysterectomy was carried out in 80%, but none of those managed conservatively required interval hysterectomy. Urinary tract injury was the most common surgical complication, seen in over 50%. The mean blood loss was 3.5 l and 14 patients required intensive care unit admission, but no maternal mortality ensued. Thus, we conclude that the conservative management in carefully selected cases is feasible.
Operative results after xiphoidectomy in patients with xiphodynia
Authors: Garssen Frank P , Aalders Margot B , van der Poel Marcel J , Zuidema Wietse P
Published: May 2021

Background

Xiphodynia, the painful xiphoid process, is a rare condition with an atypical presentation. Symptoms differ in severity and site, and can consist of chest, throat, and upper abdominal pain. Primarily, other more severe causes of these symptoms need to be excluded. After this exclusion as xiphodynia is diagnosed, treatment can consist of a multitude of options, since there is no consensus regarding the optimal treatment. The aim of this study was to describe the outcomes and efficacy of one of the options, namely surgical resection of the xiphoid in patients with xiphodynia.

Methods

In this retrospective case series, all consecutive patients that underwent xiphoidectomy for xiphodynia between January 2014 and December 2017 were included. Patients’ medical files including pre-operative work up, NRS scores, surgical outcomes, and follow up were reviewed. All patients received a questionnaire with follow-up questions.

Results

A total of 19 patients were included. None of the patients had surgery-related complications. Response rate of the questionnaire was 84% and showed that 94% of patients had an improvement of complaints after surgery, with 10 patients (63%) being totally pain free, after a mean follow-up from 34 months after surgery.

Conclusions

Xiphoidectomy is feasible and safe for the treatment of patients with xiphodynia with an improvement of complaints in nearly all patients.
Durability of suture versus ring tricuspid annuloplasty: Looking at very long term (18 years)
Authors: Carino Davide , Zancanaro Edoardo , Sala Alessandra , Ruggeri Stefania , Lapenna Elisabetta , Forno Benedetto Del , Verzini Alessandro , Schiavi Davide , Castiglioni Alessandro , Alfieri Ottavio , Bonis Michele De
Published: May 2021

Background

Several papers already reported better outcomes of tricuspid valve repair with ring annuloplasty compared to suture techniques. However, the follow-up is usually limited to 10 years. With this study, we aim to analyze the results of tricuspid valve repair according to the technique employed when the follow-up is extended to more than 15 years.

Materials and methods

A retrospective review of our institutional database was carried on to find all patients who underwent tricuspid valve repair between January 1998 and December 2004. Kaplan–Meier method was employed to estimate survival and log-rank test was used to make intergroup comparison. Cox regression was employed to identify risk factor for mortality. Cumulative incidence function using death as competitive outcome was used to estimate cardiac death. To describe the time course of tricuspid regurgitation, a longitudinal analysis using generalized estimating equations with random intercept for correlated data was performed.

Results

One hundred forty-six patients were identified: 89 in the suture group and 57 in the ring group. No difference in term of long-term survival and cardiac death was evident between the two groups. A significant higher rate of tricuspid regurgitation ≥2+ and ≥3+ recurrence was evident in the suture group during the whole follow-up (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Our results corroborate the better results of tricuspid valve repair by means of ring implantation compared to suture techniques also when the follow-up is extended up to 18 years. Ring annuloplasty should be considered the first option for tricuspid valve repair due to a better durability.
Treatments for sleep disturbances in individuals with acquired brain injury: A systematic review
Authors: Pilon Louise , Frankenmolen Nikita , Bertens Dirk
Published: May 2021

Objective:

To systematically review the evidence on the treatments of sleep disturbances in individuals with acquired brain injury.

Data sources:

PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and PsycINFO were searched from inception to January 2021.

Review method:

Eligibility criteria were (1) participants with mild to severe acquired brain injury from traumatic brain injury and stroke (⩾three months post-injury), (2) individuals aged 16 years and older, (3) participants with self-reported sleep disturbances, (4) controlled group studies and single case (experimental) studies, and (5) interventions aimed at treatment of sleep disturbances. Two researchers independently identified relevant studies and assessed their study quality using the revised Cochrane assessment of bias tool (RoB 2.0) and the risk-of-bias in N-of-1 trials (RoBiNT) scale.

Results:

The search yielded 655 records; 11 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included, with a total of 227 participants (207 individuals with traumatic brain injury, 20 stroke patients). Two studies included pharmacological therapy, six studies examined the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy and three studies investigated alternative interventions such as acupuncture.

Conclusion:

Although there was heterogeneity in the study quality of the included studies, their outcomes suggest that cognitive behavioral therapy is recommended as treatment of choice for improving sleep in individuals with acquired brain injury, especially for patients with mild to severe traumatic brain injury. Future research should examine the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy in more high-quality randomized controlled designs.