bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Privacy and Speech
Authors: Tourkochoriti Ioanna
Published: February 2021

This chapter discusses the concept of privacy and case law which shows the different approaches between Europe and the US concerning the balancing of freedom of speech when it conflicts with other rights. Judges and scholars also refer to the concept of human dignity in this area. The concept of dignity can serve in the US in order to limit freedom of expression, whereas it serves in Europe as a foundation of the need to limit freedom of expression. The requirement for government transparency creates a presumption in favour of protecting expression. The extended interpretation of ‘privacy’ in the law of many European states means depriving the public debate from information that would be crucial to a well-informed electorate. The chapter then looks at the intermediate concepts that judges have come up with in order to balance the exercise of rights in conflict. Those criteria concern the periphery of the activities that are to be protected by the right to privacy. The chapter concludes with a consideration of the right to be forgotten.
Insult of Public Officials
Authors: Bezemek Christoph
Published: February 2021

This chapter assesses public insult, looking at the closely related question of ‘fighting words’ and the Supreme Court of the United States’ decision in Chaplinsky v New Hampshire. While Chaplinsky’s ‘fighting words’ exception has withered in the United States, it had found a home in Europe where insult laws are widely accepted both by the European Court of Human Rights and in domestic jurisdictions. However, the approach of the European Court is structurally different, turning not on a narrowly defined categorical exception but upon case-by-case proportionality analysis of a kind that the US Supreme Court would eschew. Considering the question of insult to public officials, the chapter focuses again on structural differences in doctrine. Expanding the focus to include the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACtHPR), it shows that each proceeds on a rather different conception of ‘public figure’.
Hate Speech
Authors: Harel Alon
Published: February 2021

This chapter highlights hate speech, which is abusive speech that targets members of certain groups—typically minority groups—including racial groups, ethnic groups, religious groups, and groups defined on the basis of sexual orientation. Most groups protected by hate speech legislation are groups that have been subjected to past discriminatory treatment. However, the restrictions on hate speech legislation have often been expanded and the proper scope of the groups that deserve protection have been subject to a fierce debate. While much of hate speech can be legitimately prohibited by standard recognized legal exceptions to free speech, such as fighting words or incitement to violence, other forms of hate speech cannot. To address the prevalence of hate speech as such, many legal systems prohibit some forms of hate speech and impose criminal or civil sanctions for violating such prohibitions. Those systems need to address the serious challenge of defining the category of hate speech, draw its boundaries, and determine the sanctions. The chapter then explores the moral and political arguments for and against the legal regulation of hate speech as such or, at least, some sub-categories of hate speech.
Glorifying Censorship? Anti-Terror Law, Speech, and Online Regulation
Authors: Bechtold Eliza , Phillipson Gavin
Published: February 2021

This chapter investigates how many Western democracies—and the European Union—are enacting increasingly draconian measures against terrorist-related speech that undermine long-standing free speech principles. It outlines a number of factors that tend towards skewed perceptions of the risks of terrorism. The chapter then sketches the rapid spread of laws aimed at terrorist propaganda, noting the unusual role of the UN Security Council in ‘directing national legislative practice’ in the criminal sphere. While there are legitimate arguments for restricting certain types of terrorist material, existing laws and policies tend indiscriminately to lump truly dangerous material together with mere expressions of support or sympathy for groups that use violence, including against despotic regimes, or groups that once, but no longer, used violence to achieve political ends. Skewed perceptions of the threat of terrorism appears to have an almost unique capacity to cause the weakening, if not outright abandonment of the standards that normally provide robust expression to freedom of speech.
Freedom of Speech and Human Dignity
Authors: Grimm Dieter
Published: February 2021

This chapter assesses how human dignity relates to freedom of speech as a fundamental right. Freedom of speech is among those rights that can be traced back to dignity. Indeed, it seems difficult to imagine human dignity without a person’s right to express ideas, beliefs, or interests, and to receive the expression of others and thus form opinions. This does not mean, however, that freedom of speech is connected to dignity in all its ramifications. Some limitations of the scope of free speech become problematic if freedom of speech is related to dignity. In its positive relation, dignity re-enforces freedom of speech. On the other hand, it may also occur that dignity limits freedom of speech. The chapter then looks at what happens if dignity enters into conflict with freedom of speech. The hardest cases of conflict between freedom of speech and dignity are probably hate speech and pornographic expression.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Hyman Larry M. , Sande Hannah , Lionnet Florian , Rolle Nicholas , Clem Emily
Published: February 2021

This chapter maps out the tonal, accentual, and intonational properties of sub-Saharan African languages, focusing particularly on Niger-Congo. It distinguishes tone systems by the number of contrastive tone heights and contours and their tonal distributions, as well as grammatical functions of tone. It considers positional prominence effects potentially analysed as word accent and concludes with discussion of both intonational pitch and length marking syntactic domains and clause types.
Central and Eastern Europe
Authors: Karpiński Maciej , Andreeva Bistra , Asu Eva Liina , Daugavet Anna , Beňuš Štefan , Mády Katalin
Published: February 2021

The languages of Central and Eastern Europe addressed in this chapter form a typologically divergent collection that includes Slavic (Belarusian, Bulgarian, Czech, Macedonian, Polish, Russian, pluricentric Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Ukrainian), Baltic (Latvian, Lithuanian), Finno-Ugric (Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian), and Romance (Romanian). Their prosodic features and structures have been explored to various depths, from different theoretical perspectives, sometimes on the basis of relatively sparse material. Still, enough is known to see that their typological divergence as well as other factors contribute to vivid differences in their prosodic systems. While belonging to intonational languages, they differ in pitch patterns and their usage, duration, and rhythm (some involve phonological duration), as well as prominence mechanisms, accentuation, and word stress (fixed or mobile). Several languages in the area have what is referred to by different traditions as pitch accents, tones or syllable accents, or intonations.
Intonation Systems Across Varieties of English
Authors: Grice Martine , German James Sneed , Warren Paul
Published: February 2021

This chapter focuses on the structure and systematicity underlying the expression of intonation in varieties of English. Phonologically, this involves tones and clusters of tones with associations to heads and edges of prosodic domains, functionally highlighting and delimiting units within these domains. Phonetically, it involves pitch and its acoustic correlate, in addition to other phonetic parameters that contribute towards structuring speech, such as duration and spectral quality. Both mainstream and non-mainstream varieties are considered, the latter often showing contact effects determining the presence or absence of lexical tone and lexical stress, as well as post-lexical structures that do not fit neatly into Jun’s (2006) head/edge-prominence dichotomy. The survey shows that an account of the intonation of ‘Englishes’ has to cover a broad range of typological phenomena and be flexible enough to capture properties of emerging varieties, some of which will be briefly discussed.
South America
Authors: Costa Chacon Thiago , de Carvalho Fernando O.
Published: February 2021

This chapter discusses the prosodic systems of South American native languages. It provides the state of the art of the current knowledge and lays out promising directions for future research. The main focus of the discussion concerns the phonetics and phonology of word-level prosody, given the limited information about prosody beyond the word in this part of the world. A typology of stress, tone, and mixed systems is presented that summarizes the main typological studies to date and suggests new, relevant parameters. The chapter further explores the most salient typological parameters in relation to geographic regions and linguistic families. The majority of South American languages appear to have only stress, followed by restricted tone systems. Finally, the chapter suggests directions for future research, emphasizing the need for more acoustic studies, the use of quantitative methods, and an approach within a framework of experimental or laboratory phonology.
Development OF Phrase-Level Prosody from Infancy to Late Childhood
Authors: Chen Aoju , Esteve-Gibert Núria , Prieto Pilar , Redford Melissa A.
Published: February 2021

This chapter reviews the state-of-the-art research on phrase-level prosodic development. The chapter first discusses prosodic variation in early vocalizations, its communicative connotations, and perception of tonal patterns and prosodic phrases in infancy. Second, it reviews the main findings on development in the inventory of phonologically distinct tonal patterns (i.e. pitch accents, boundary tones) and in prosodic phrasing and rhythm from the one-word stage to the multi-word stage in speech production. Third, it considers developmental patterns at the interface between prosody and information structure and in the expression of emotions and epistemic meanings from both a production and a comprehension perspective. In the chapter’s treatment of these topics, it reviews proposals for factors that shape the rate and route of development where appropriate. Finally, the chapter suggests directions for future research.
Prosody in Automatic Speech Processing
Authors: Batliner Anton , Möbius Bernd
Published: February 2021

Automatic speech processing (ASP) is understood as covering word recognition, the processing of higher linguistic components (syntax, semantics, and pragmatics), and the processing of computational paralinguistics (CP), which deals with speaker states and traits. This chapter attempts to track the role of prosody in ASP from the word level up to CP. A short history of the field from 1980 to 2020 distinguishes the early years (until 2000)—when the prosodic contribution to the modelling of linguistic phenomena, such as accents, boundaries, syntax, semantics, and dialogue acts, was the focus—from the later years, when the focus shifted to paralinguistics; prosody ceased to be visible. Different types of predictor variables are addressed, among them high-performance power features as well as leverage features, which can also be employed in teaching and therapy.
Automatic Prosody Labelling and Assessment
Authors: Rosenberg Andrew , Hasegawa-Johnson Mark
Published: February 2021

Automatic prosody labelling is a useful front-end for automatic speech recognition, for automatic speech understanding, and for the development of corpora used to create speech synthesizers. Automatic labelling of prosody has also proven to be quite useful in the linguistic analysis of new speaking styles in a known language. This chapter provides a survey of the state-of-the-art best practices and open questions in the automatic labelling of prosodic information and its assessment. It describes the major prosodic inventories that are used in prosody labelling. It then discusses the relevance of acoustics and syntax in automatic labelling. A brief description of AuToBI, a tool that performs automatic ToBI labelling of US English, is provided. The chapter concludes by discussing methods of evaluating automatic prosody labelling.
Stress, Meter, and Text-Setting
Authors: Kiparsky Paul
Published: February 2021

Verse meter organizes prominence-marking categories into isochronous and binary hierarchical rhythmic structures, subject to principles that are rooted in the faculty of language, stylized in verbal art, and manifested in a generalized and more abstract form in music and dance. This chapter outlines a theory of constraint-based generative metrics, and sketches out how it represents metrical structure and derives the typology of metrical systems. It illustrates the analysis of stress-based meters with Shakespeare’s blank verse, and it reviews the typology of quantitative meters with a view to showing that they have rhythmical properties and that they are built from the same foot types that are familiar from the phonological theory of stress. A final section discusses ways in which different musical traditions reconcile conflicts between phonology, verse meter, and musical rhythm in text-setting.
Tone–Melody Matching in tone-Language Singing
Authors: Ladd D. Robert , Kirby James
Published: February 2021

Singing in tone languages has been the subject of a good deal of research, which shows that text-setting constraints are the heart of the solution to respecting both the linguistic and the musical functions of pitch. The most important principle in maintaining intelligibility of song texts seems to be the avoidance of contrary settings: musical pitch movement up or down from one syllable to the next should not be the opposite of the linguistically specified pitch direction. This chapter reviews the variations on this theme that have been described in the recent literature, including differences between languages and musical genres. It briefly considers how tonal text-setting might be incorporated into a general theory that includes traditional European metrics.
Pathological Prosody
Authors: Van Lancker Sidtis Diana , Yang Seung-yun
Published: February 2021

Prosody in speech arises from fundamental frequency (f0), temporal measures, amplitude, and voice quality. These parameters in various combinations signal linguistic, emotional-attitudinal, and personal identity information. Prosodic processing engages cortical, subcortical, cerebellar, and brainstem systems, and damage to any of these can result in dysprosody. Despite the crucial role played by prosody in communication, little attention has been paid to clinical evaluation and even less to treatment. Numerous research studies of deficient emotional prosodic production and recognition reveal temporal deficits in association with left hemisphere damage and pitch processing failure in right hemisphere damage. Limited attempts at linguistic-prosodic testing suggest that damage to either cerebral hemisphere or to subcortical systems can affect production as well as comprehension. Treatment of linguistic dysprosody has revealed challenges in protocol design and performance evaluation. Prosodic insufficiency, present in cortical, subcortical, and cerebellar disease, has substantial implications for communicative function and deserves to be a strong focus of future research.
Paired-pulse measures (SICI, SICF, ICF, LICI, LCD)
Authors: Cash Robin F. H. , Ziemann Ulf
Published: February 2021

Paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) techniques provide an opportunity to examine and better understand the excitatory and inhibitory circuitry in the human cortex in health and disease. Typically, a conditioning stimulus is applied and the effect on cortical excitability is inferred by the change in motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude elicited by a test stimulus delivered shortly (milliseconds) thereafter. This approach has revealed a range of distinct, but generally overlapping, excitatory and inhibitory phenomena, which have been characterized according to their temporal and pharmacological profile, activation threshold, and various other properties. These phenomena have provided new pathophysiological insights into neurological and psychiatric disorders, and paired-pulse TMS measures have demonstrated clinical diagnostic utility. More recently, via implementation of TMS-evoked electroencephalography (TMS-EEG), paired-pulse TMS protocols have started to expand into nonmotor regions.
What is the Septuagint?
Authors: Boyd-Taylor Cameron
Published: February 2021

In standard English usage the term Septuagint typically denotes the earliest Greek version of the Old Testament. Despite this seeming clarity, it is in fact a fuzzy concept, insofar as the boundaries of its application shift significantly from one context to another. This chapter delineates the four principal ways in which the term is currently used by biblical scholars, and discusses the historical background of each with reference to the reception of the Jewish Greek Scriptures. It begins with their inception in Hellenistic Judaism, and traces their reconfiguration by early Jewish and Christian tradents through to the advent of modernity and the rise of critical scholarship. Current issues in the field of Septuagint Studies are addressed.
Megillot (Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther)
Authors: Hiebert Robert J. V.
Published: February 2021

This chapter discusses the primary ancient Greek versions of a group of five books in the Hebrew canon that are called the Megillot or Scrolls. Each book in this collection—which consists of Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, and Esther—is associated with the commemoration of a different event in the Jewish liturgical calendar. In the Septuagint, as transmitted by the Church, these books are not grouped together and there is no specific linkage to that liturgical practice. There are, however, some commonalities among the Greek versions, particularly with respect to certain aspects of the translation and transmission histories of most of them, that create some sense of connection, despite the diversity of their content. This has to do specifically with the so-called Kaige tradition, which features a translation approach marked by a significant degree of formal equivalence to the Semitic source text and distinctive translation equivalents.
The Psalter
Authors: Olofsson Staffan
Published: February 2021

The LXX Psalms, dating from the second or the first century bce, is one of the most frequently discussed books in Septuagint studies. The chapter assesses major theories and recent developments in studies regarding the date and provenance of the translation, discusses its Sitz im Leben, gives an overview and emphasizes the importance of textual criticism of the Hebrew as well as the Greek text for scholarly work, presents translation models employed, with an emphasis on the Interlinear Paradigm, but also delves into specific details regarding the literal translation technique in the Psalms. The question whether and in what sense the translators’ theological background and milieu has influenced his translation is discussed. In the end the dependence of the Pentateuch on the Psalms and the extensive use of LXX Psalms in later Jewish and Christian literature is briefly presented.
Aquila
Authors: Veltri Giuseppe , Salvesen Alison G.
Published: February 2021

Subsequent to its inclusion in Origen’s Hexapla, the text of the biblical translation ascribed to Aquila, who according to both patristic and rabbinic testimony was a convert to Judaism, has been transmitted only fragmentarily in Greek. Isolated readings from Aquila’s version are cited in Greek in the margins of LXX manuscripts and in patristic works, but also in Hebrew translation in rabbinic literature. The discoveries of the Cairo Genizah and of the Hebraizing recension reflected in the Naḥal Ḥever Minor Prophets scroll have made possible a fresh look at Aquila’s translational approach and the transmission of his version, as well as the history of its reception among both Jews and Christians.
The History of Septuagint Studies
Authors: Albrecht Felix
Published: February 2021

The editorial history of the Septuagint goes back to antiquity and is essentially connected with the emergence of the Septuagint itself, i.e. with the concept of Alexandrian ekdosis. However, this chapter focuses principally on the development of printed scholarly editions (both diplomatic and critical) up to the present day, and the principles on which they are based. Among other tasks, this involves noting scribal changes, both intentional and unintended; and the identification and reconstruction of text types or groups and the stages of transmission. The difficult process of producing critical editions of each book of the Septuagint corpus is ongoing work within the project of the Göttingen Septuaginta Unternehmen.
The Proto-Lucianic and Antiochian Text
Authors: Kauhanen Tuukka
Published: February 2021

The Lucianic or Antiochian text of the Septuagint supposedly goes back to a recension dating to around 300 ce. It is the text quoted by the Antiochian patristic authors and transmitted in a small group of Septuagint manuscripts that vary from book to book. Its notable trait is that it often presents the text in a slightly better Greek style than the rest of the witnesses. However, particularly in the so-called Kaige sections of Samuel–Kings, the Antiochian text has noteworthy agreements with pre-Lucianic witnesses such as the Qumran Samuel scrolls, Josephus, Old Latin translations, and early patristic authors. Thus it seems that the base text underlying the Lucianic recension, the proto-Lucianic text, was an old text near to the original translation.
Armenian, Georgian, and Church Slavonic Versions
Authors: Torijano Pablo A.
Published: February 2021

The Armenian, Georgian, and Slavonic versions constitute a useful secondary witness to the text of the LXX and its history. These versions follow quite closely the recensional history of their Greek Vorlage. Their study and use in LXX textual criticism present problems due to the sheer number of manuscript witnesses and the lack of editions that follow modern editorial standards. The three versions were the first works of their national literatures and caused the invention of their respective scripts. Both the Armenian and the Georgian attest OG readings partially preserved in the Greek tradition. The Church Slavonic version should be used with more care; it kept being edited to adapt the original translation to linguistic changes, producing a very mixed text whose variants do not reflect necessarily a Greek Vorlage but different linguistic and geographical stages of the translation.
Textual Criticism
Authors: Lemmelijn Bénédicte
Published: February 2021

Once upon a time, the task of defining ‘textual criticism’, its aims and methods, was relatively straightforward. The ‘modern’ idea of unilateral rational criticism was confident of reconstructing unambiguously the development of the biblical text back to its single point of origin. However, increasing factual evidence and developing insight have brought us today to a much more complicated situation. Within this context, the role that the Septuagint plays within the process of textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible has also undeniably changed. This chapter first describes how textual ‘facts’ have changed our understanding of the development of the biblical textual material and how they have changed our view and perception of the discipline of textual criticism itself. Thereafter, it will focus on the role that the Septuagint has played within this changing panorama and illustrate this altered significance of the Septuagint on the basis of a concrete textual example.
Josephus and the Septuagint
Authors: Rajak Tessa
Published: February 2021

The primary concern of the present chapter is to establish what the Greek Bible meant for Josephus. We ask how his own Greek version of the Bible was facilitated by the Septuagint, or rather by Greek translations current in his day, and more precisely how far we can establish whether such texts underlie his own presentation. At the same time, any such investigation will also tell us important things about the fate and fortunes of LXX, above all within first-century Judaism. There is much more in this exploration than just the occasional light that Josephus’s renderings have shed on the history of the versions, though it is for textual evidence that Josephus has mainly been invoked in LXX scholarship.
The Letter of Aristeas
Authors: De Crom Dries
Published: February 2021

Even though the Letter of Aristeas was unmasked as a pseudepigraphon over 400 years ago, the question of its value as a historical source continues to dominate the field of Septuagint Studies. First, this chapter discusses how the genre of the Letter of Aristeas is actually a mix of historiography, rhetorical display, Hellenistic philosophy, and biblical wisdom literature. Next, it discusses several recent approaches to the problem of historicity: the search for a kernel of historical truth in the Letter, the application of insights from the study of ancient historiography, and the Letter as a source for the reception history of the Septuagint. Finally, it addresses the identification of the Aristeas story as a social myth of Alexandrian Jewish society.
Syntaxin of plants31 (SYP31) and SYP32 is essential for Golgi morphology maintenance and pollen development
Authors: Rui Qingchen , Tan Xiaoyun , Liu Feng , Li Yanbin , Liu Xin , Li Bingxuan , Wang Junxia , Yang Huiting , Qiao Lixin , Li Tingting , Fang Shuo , Gao Rongrong , Wang Wang , Bednarek Sebastian Y , Bao Yiqun
Published: February 2021

Pollen development is a key process for the sexual reproduction of angiosperms. The Golgi plays a critical role in pollen development via the synthesis and transport of cell wall materials. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying the maintenance of Golgi integrity in plants. In Arabidopsis thaliana, syntaxin of plants (SYP) 3 family proteins SYP31 and SYP32 are the only two Golgi-localized Qa-soluble N-ethylmaleimide sensitive factor attachment protein receptors (SNAREs) with unknown endogenous functions. Here, we demonstrate the roles of SYP31 and SYP32 in modulating Golgi morphology and pollen development. Two independent lines of syp31/+ syp32/+ double mutants were male gametophytic lethal; the zero transmission rate of syp31 syp32 mutations was restored to largely normal levels by pSYP32:SYP32 but not pSYP32:SYP31 transgenes, indicating their functional differences in pollen development. The initial arrest of syp31 syp32 pollen occurred during the transition from the microspore to the bicellular stage, where cell plate formation in pollen mitosis I (PMI) and deposition of intine were abnormal. In syp31 syp32 pollen, the number and length of Golgi cisterna were significantly reduced, accompanied by many surrounding vesicles, which could be largely attributed to defects in anterograde and retrograde trafficking routes. SYP31 and SYP32 directly interacted with COG3, a subunit of the conserved oligomeric Golgi (COG) complex and were responsible for its Golgi localization, providing an underlying mechanism for SYP31/32 function in intra-Golgi trafficking. We propose that SYP31 and SYP32 play partially redundant roles in pollen development by modulating protein trafficking and Golgi structure.
OsGRETCHENHAGEN3-2modulates rice seed storability via accumulation of abscisic acid and protective substances
Authors: Yuan Zhiyang , Fan Kai , Wang Yuntong , Tian Li , Zhang Chaopu , Sun Wenqiang , He Hanzi , Yu Sibin
Published: February 2021

Seed storability largely determines the vigor of seeds during storage and is significant in agriculture and ecology. However, the underlying genetic basis remains unclear. In the present study, we report the cloning and characterization of the rice (Oryza sativa) indole-3-acetic acid (IAA)-amido synthetase gene GRETCHEN HAGEN3-2 (OsGH3-2) associated with seed storability. OsGH3-2 was identified by performing a genome-wide association study in rice germplasms with linkage mapping in chromosome substitution segment lines, contributing to the wide variation of seed viability in the populations after long periods of storage and artificial ageing. OsGH3-2 was dominantly expressed in the developing seeds and catalyzed IAA conjugation to amino acids, forming inactive auxin. Transgenic overexpression, knockout, and knockdown experiments demonstrated that OsGH3-2 affected seed storability by regulating the accumulation level of abscisic acid (ABA). Overexpression of OsGH3-2 significantly decreased seed storability, while knockout or knockdown of the gene enhanced seed storability compared with the wild-type. OsGH3-2 acted as a negative regulator of seed storability by modulating many genes related to the ABA pathway and probably subsequently late embryogenesis-abundant proteins at the transcription level. These findings shed light on the molecular mechanisms underlying seed storability and will facilitate the improvement of seed vigor by genomic breeding and gene-editing approaches in rice.
Stress Tests, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation
Authors: Doerr Sebastian
Published: February 2021

This article shows that postcrisis stress tests have negative effects on entrepreneurship and innovation at young firms. Exploiting unique data on business-related home equity loans in Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, I show that stress-tested banks strongly cut small business loans secured by home equity, an important source of financing for entrepreneurs. Lower credit supply leads to a relative decline in entrepreneurship in counties with higher exposure to stress-tested banks. The decline is stronger in sectors with a higher share of young firms using home equity financing, that is, in which the reduction in credit hits hardest. More-exposed counties also see a decline in young firms’ patent applications as well as labor productivity, reflecting young firms’ disproportionate contribution to growth.
Current Trends in Genetics and Neonatal Care
Authors: Uveges Melissa K. , Holm Ingrid A.
Published: February 2021

Background:

Genetic and genomic health applications are rapidly changing. A clear and updated description of these applications for the neonatal population is needed to guide current nursing practice.

Purpose:

To provide scientific evidence and guidance on the current genetic and genomic applications pertinent to neonatal care.

Methods:

A search of CINAHL and PubMed was conducted using the search terms “newborn/neonatal” and “genetics,” “genomics,” “newborn screening,” “pharmacogenomics,” “ethical,” and “legal.” Google searches were also conducted to synthesize professional guidelines, position statements, and current genetic practices.

Findings/Results:

Components of the newborn genetic assessment, including details on the newborn physical examination, family history, and laboratory tests pertinent to the newborn, are reported. The history and process of newborn screening are described, in addition to the impact of advancements, such as whole exome and genome sequencing, on newborn screening. Pharmacogenomics, a genomic application that is currently utilized primarily in the research context for neonates, is described and future implications stated. Finally, the specific ethical and legal implications for these genetic and genomic applications are detailed, along with genetic/genomic resources for nurses.

Implications for Practice:

Providing nurses with the most up-to-date evidence on genetic and genomic applications ensures their involvement and contributions to quality neonatal care.

Implications for Research:

Ongoing genetic/genomic research is needed to understand the implications of genetic/genomic applications on the neonatal population and how these new applications will change neonatal care.
Polypharmacy, Dosing Trends, and Drug-Drug Interaction Patterns After High-Level Limb Amputation Surgery
Authors: Bastas Gerasimos , Dallas Jonathan , Miller Patricia Blair , Kloosterman Nicole , Yannopoulos Ion
Published: February 2021

Objective

The aim of this study was to examine perioperative medication patterns surrounding major amputation surgeries.

Design

A retrospective chart review of 216 cases of major amputations (transfemoral, hip disarticulation, hemipelvectomy, forequarter) at an academic hospital was conducted, examining medications, dosing changes, and drug-drug interaction warnings preoperatively and postoperatively.

Results

Medications increased in 76.9% (166/216), remained the same in 10.6% (23/216), and decreased in 12.5% (27/216) of cases. Average number of medications was 7 preoperatively and 10 postoperatively. In 189 cases with preoperative medications present, postoperative dosing remained the same for 74.3%, increased for 9.2%, decreased for 7.6%, and was unknown for 8.9% of medications. Increases in each of type C (“monitor therapy”), D (“consider therapy modification), and X (“avoid combination”) drug-drug interaction warnings were seen respectively in 59.7%, 62.0%, and 5.1% of cases.

Conclusion

Polypharmacy is involved preoperatively and increased postoperatively in most cases of major limb amputation, with agent dosing remaining the same or increased in most cases. Drug-drug interaction warnings also increase. These occur at a time of abrupt changes to the body’s size, compartments, and physiologic responses. More research and clinical attention are warranted given anticipated changes in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.
Second Victim Experience and Support Tool: An Assessment of Psychometric Properties of Italian Version
Authors: Pieretti Alessia , Bastiani Luca , Bellandi Tommaso , Molinaro Sabrina , Zoppi Paolo , Rasero Laura
Published: February 2021

Introduction

Second victim syndrome is a hidden pitfall inside health care organizations. The impact of a patient safety incident on health and safety of health care workers (HCWs) is still a matter with limited evidence in terms of prevalence, etiology, and effects. The aims of this study were to validate the Italian version of the Second Victim Experience and Support Tool (I-SVEST) and determine its psychometric properties in a group of HCWs exposed to patient safety incidents.

Materials and Methods

An observational cross-sectional study was conducted using an online survey. Construct validity for the total score and for each of the 7 subscales was assessed using principal component analysis and internal consistency using Cronbach α coefficient.

Results

The prevalence of second victims in our sample was 35.4% (85/240). The component SVEST was positively associated with turnover intentions but not directly related to absenteeism and sociodemographic characteristics. Absenteeism and sociodemographic characteristics components were positively associated with turnover intentions. Factor analysis confirmed that the questionnaire has 7 dimensions: psychological distress, physical distress, colleague support, supervisor support, institutional support, non–work-related support, and professional self-efficacy. Cronbach α for the Italian version was strong at α = 0.855. Cronbach α ranged from 0.613 for colleague support to 0.882 for supervisor support.

Conclusions

The Italian version of the SVEST has excellent psychometric properties and can be used to detect prevalence in different contexts, to support studies and preventive interventions for Italian HCWs. The SVEST provides a robust model to describe the concept of second victim and to conduct comparisons with cross-sectional and longitudinal studies.
Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Young Adulthood and Midlife Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Late-life Cognitive Domains
Authors: Peterson Rachel L. , George Kristen M. , Gilsanz Paola , Ackley Sarah , Mayeda Elizabeth R. , Glymour M.M. , Mungas Dan M. , DeCarli Charles , Whitmer Rachel A.
Published: February 2021

Background:

Midlife cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) increase dementia risk. Less is known about whether CVRF identified before midlife impact late-life cognition in diverse populations.

Methods:

Linear regression models examined hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and overweight/obesity at ages 30 to 59 with late-life executive function, semantic memory, verbal episodic memory, and global cognition in a cohort of Asians, blacks, Latinos, and whites (n=1127; mean age=75.8, range=65 to 98). Models adjusted for age at CVRF, age at cognitive assessment, sex, race/ethnicity, participant education, and parental education.

Results:

Overall, 34% had 1 CVRF at ages 30 to 59; 19% had 2+. Blacks (26%) and Latinos (23%) were more likely to have 2+ CVRF than Asians (14%) or whites (13%). Having 2+ CVRF was associated with lower global cognition [β=−0.33; 95% confidence interval (CI)=−0.45, −0.21], executive function (β=−0.26; 95% CI=−0.39, −0.13), verbal episodic memory (β=−0.34; 95% CI=−0.48, −0.20), and semantic memory (β=−0.20; 95% CI=−0.33, −0.07). Interaction by age (P=0.06) indicated overweight/obesity was negatively associated with executive function at ages 30 to 39 but not at ages 40 to 59. Race/ethnic-specific effects showed disparities in CVRF prevalence impact population disparities in late-life cognition.

Conclusion:

Being overweight/obese in early adulthood and having 2+ CVRF in early adulthood/midlife are modifiable targets to redress racial/ethnic disparities in cognitive impairment and dementia.
Low oxygen levels can help to prevent the detrimental effect of acute warming on mitochondrial efficiency in fish
Authors: Thoral Elisa , Roussel Damien , Chinopoulos Christos , Teulier Loïc , Salin Karine
Published: February 2021

Aerobic metabolism of aquatic ectotherms is highly sensitive to fluctuating climates. Many mitochondrial traits exhibit phenotypic plasticity in response to acute variations in temperature and oxygen availability. These responses are critical for understanding the effects of environmental variations on aquatic ectotherms' performance. Using the European seabass,Dicentrarchus labrax, we determined the effects of acute warming and deoxygenationin vitroon mitochondrial respiratory capacities and mitochondrial efficiency to produce ATP (ATP/O ratio). We show that acute warming reduced ATP/O ratio but deoxygenation marginally raised ATP/O ratio, leading to a compensatory effect of low oxygen availability on mitochondrial ATP/O ratio at high temperature. The acute effect of warming and deoxygenation on mitochondrial efficiency might be related to the leak of protons across the mitochondrial inner membrane, as the mitochondrial respiration required to counteract the proton leak increased with warming and decreased with deoxygenation. Our study underlines the importance of integrating the combined effects of temperature and oxygen availability on mitochondrial metabolism. Predictions on decline in performance of aquatic ectotherms owing to climate change may not be accurate, since these predictions typically look at respiratory capacity and ignore efficiency of ATP production.
Cladogenesis and replacement in the fossil record of Microsyopidae (?Primates) from the southern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming
Authors: Silcox Mary T. , Selig Keegan R. , Bown Thomas M. , Chew Amy E. , Rose Kenneth D.
Published: February 2021

The early Eocene of the southern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, is notable for its nearly continuous record of mammalian fossils. Microsyopinae (?Primates) is one of several lineages that shows evidence of evolutionary change associated with an interval referred to as Biohorizon A.Arctodontomys wilsoniis replaced by a larger species,Arctodontomys nuptus, during the biohorizon interval in what is likely an immigration/emigration or immigration/local extinction event. The latter is then superseded byMicrosyops angustidensafter the end of the Biohorizon A interval. Although this pattern has been understood for some time, denser sampling has led to the identification of a specimen intermediate in morphology betweenA. nuptusandM. angustidens, located stratigraphically as the latter is appearing. Because specimens ofA. nuptushave been recovered approximately 60 m above the appearance ofM. angustidens, it is clear thatA. nuptusdid not suffer pseudoextinction. Instead, evidence suggests thatM. angustidensbranched off from a population ofA. nuptus, but the latter species persisted. This represents possible evidence of cladogenesis, which has rarely been directly documented in the fossil record. The improved understanding of both evolutionary transitions with better sampling highlights the problem of interpreting gaps in the fossil record as punctuations.
Mathematical foundations of moral preferences
Authors: Capraro Valerio , Perc Matjaž
Published: February 2021

One-shot anonymous unselfishness in economic games is commonly explained by social preferences, which assume that people care about the monetary pay-offs of others. However, during the last 10 years, research has shown that different types of unselfish behaviour, including cooperation, altruism, truth-telling, altruistic punishment and trustworthiness are in fact better explained by preferences for following one's own personal norms—internal standards about what is right or wrong in a given situation. Beyond better organizing various forms of unselfish behaviour, this moral preference hypothesis has recently also been used to increase charitable donations, simply by means of interventions that make the morality of an action salient. Here we review experimental and theoretical work dedicated to this rapidly growing field of research, and in doing so we outline mathematical foundations for moral preferences that can be used in future models to better understand selfless human actions and to adjust policies accordingly. These foundations can also be used by artificial intelligence to better navigate the complex landscape of human morality.
Computational analysis the relationships of energy and mechanical properties with sensitivity for FOX-7 based PBXs via MD simulation
Authors: Fu Jianbo , Wang Baoguo , Chen Yafang , Li Yunchuan , Tan Xing , Wang Biyuan , Ye Baoyun
Published: February 2021

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been applied to investigate 1, 1-diamino-2, 2-dinitroethene (FOX-7) crystal and FOX-7 (011)-based polymer-bonded explosives (PBXs) with four typical polymers, polyethylene glycol (PEG), fluorine-polymer (F2603), ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) and ester urethane (ESTANE5703) under COMPASS force field. Binding energy (Ebind), cohesive energy density (CED), initiation bond length distribution, RDG analysis and isotropic mechanical properties of FOX-7 and its PBXs at different temperatures were reported for the first time, and the relationship between them and sensitivity. Using quantum chemistry, FOX-7 was optimized with the four polymers at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level, and the structure and RDG of the optimized composite system were analysed. The results indicated that the binding energy presented irregular changes with the increase in temperature. The order of binding ability of different binders to the FOX-7 (011) crystal surface is PEG > ESTANE5703 > EVA > F2603. When the temperature increases, the maximum bond length (Lmax) of the induced bond increases and the CED decreases. This result is achieved in agreement with the known experimental fact that the sensitivity of explosives increases with temperature, and they can be used as the criterion to predict the sensitivity of explosives. The descending order ofLmaxis FOX-7 > F2603> ESTANE5703≈EVA > PEG. The intermolecular interactions between FOX-7 and the four polymers were mainly weak hydrogen bonding and van der Waals interactions, and these interactions helped to reduce the bond length of C-NO2, leading to a decrease in the sensitivity of FOX-7. The addition of polymers can effectively improve the mechanical properties of explosives. Among the four polymers, EVA has the best effect on improving the mechanical properties of FOX-7 (011). At the same temperature, the modulus can be used to predict the sensitivity of high-energy materials. Cauchy pressure can predict the sensitivity of non-brittle energetic materials. The nature of the interaction between FOX-7 and the four polymers is hydrogen bonding and van der Waals force, of which hydrogen bonding is the main one. These studies are meaningful for the formulation design and sensitivity prediction of FOX-7 and its PBXs.
Non-kin adoption in the common vampire bat
Authors: Razik Imran , Brown Bridget K. G. , Page Rachel A. , Carter Gerald G.
Published: February 2021

Individual animals across many different species occasionally ‘adopt’ unrelated, orphaned offspring. Although adoption may be best explained as a by-product of adaptive traits that enhance parental care or promote the development of parental skills, one factor that is possibly important for the likelihood of adoption is the history of cooperative interactions between the mother, adopted offspring and adopter. Using 652 h of behavioural samples collected over four months, we describe patterns of allogrooming and food sharing before and after an instance of non-kin adoption between two adult female common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) that were captured from distant sites (340 km apart) and introduced to one another in captivity. The first female died from an illness 19 days after giving birth. The second female groomed and regurgitated food to the mother more often than any other group member, then groomed, nursed and regurgitated food to the orphaned, female pup. The substantial increase in alloparental care by this female after the mother's death was not observed among the 20 other adult females that were present in the colony. Our findings corroborate previous reports of non-kin adoption in common vampire bats and are consistent with the hypothesis that non-kin adoption can be motivated, in part, by a history of cooperative interactions.