bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A circular RNA derived from the insulin receptor locus protects against doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity
Authors: Lu Dongchao , Chatterjee Shambhabi , Xiao Ke , Riedel Isabelle , Huang Cheng-Kai , Costa Alessia , Cushman Sarah , Neufeldt Dimyana , Rode Laura , Schmidt Arne , Juchem Malte , Leonardy Julia , Büchler Gwen , Blume Jonas , Gern Olivia-Luise , Kalinke Ulrich , Wen Tan Wilson Lek , Foo Roger , Vink Aryan , van Laake Linda W , van der Meer Peter , Bär Christian , Thum Thomas
Published: June 2022

Aims

Cardiotoxicity leading to heart failure (HF) is a growing problem in many cancer survivors. As specific treatment strategies are not available, RNA discovery pipelines were employed and a new and powerful circular RNA (circRNA)-based therapy was developed for the treatment of doxorubicin-induced HF.

Methods and results

The circRNA sequencing was applied and the highly species-conserved circRNA insulin receptor (Circ-INSR) was identified, which participates in HF processes, including those provoked by cardiotoxic anti-cancer treatments. Chemotherapy-provoked cardiotoxicity leads to the down-regulation of Circ-INSR in rodents and patients, which mechanistically contributes to cardiomyocyte cell death, cardiac dysfunction, and mitochondrial damage. In contrast, Circ-INSR overexpression prevented doxorubicin-mediated cardiotoxicity in both rodent and human cardiomyocytes in vitro and in a mouse model of chronic doxorubicin cardiotoxicity. Breast cancer type 1 susceptibility protein (Brca1) was identified as a regulator of Circ-INSR expression. Detailed transcriptomic and proteomic analyses revealed that Circ-INSR regulates apoptotic and metabolic pathways in cardiomyocytes. Circ-INSR physically interacts with the single-stranded DNA-binding protein (SSBP1) mediating its cardioprotective effects under doxorubicin stress. Importantly, in vitro transcribed and circularized Circ-INSR mimics also protected against doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity.

Conclusion

Circ-INSR is a highly conserved non-coding RNA which is down-regulated during cardiotoxicity and cardiac remodelling. Adeno-associated virus and circRNA mimics-based Circ-INSR overexpression prevent and reverse doxorubicin-mediated cardiomyocyte death and improve cardiac function. The results of this study highlight a novel and translationally important Circ-INSR-based therapeutic approach for doxorubicin-induced cardiac dysfunction.
Seismic surface wave focal spot imaging: numerical resolution experiments
Authors: Giammarinaro Bruno , Tsarsitalidou Christina , Hillers Gregor , de Rosny Julien , Seydoux Léonard , Catheline Stefan , Campillo Michel , Roux Philippe
Published: June 2022

Numerical experiments of seismic wave propagation in a laterally homogeneous layered medium explore subsurface imaging at subwavelength distances for dense seismic arrays. We choose a time-reversal approach to simulate fundamental mode Rayleigh surface wavefields that are equivalent to the cross-correlation results of three-component ambient seismic field records. We demonstrate that the synthesized 2-D spatial autocorrelation fields in the time domain support local or so-called focal spot imaging. Systematic tests involving clean isotropic surface wavefields but also interfering body wave components and anisotropic incidence assess the accuracy of the phase velocity and dispersion estimates obtained from focal spot properties. The results suggest that data collected within half a wavelength around the origin is usually sufficient to constrain the used Bessel functions models. Generally, the cleaner the surface wavefield the smaller the fitting distances that can be used to accurately estimate the local Rayleigh wave speed. Using models based on isotropic surface wave propagation we find that phase velocity estimates from vertical–radial component data are less biased by P-wave energy compared to estimates obtained from vertical–vertical component data, that even strong anisotropic surface wave incidence yields phase velocity estimates with an accuracy of 1 per cent or better, and that dispersion can be studied in the presence of noise. Estimates using a model to resolve potential medium anisotropy are significantly biased by anisotropic surface wave incidence. The overall accurate results obtained from near-field measurements using isotropic medium assumptions imply that dense array seismic Rayleigh wave focal spot imaging can increase the depth sensitivity compared to ambient noise surface wave tomography. The analogy to elastography focal spot medical imaging implies that a high station density and clean surface wavefields support subwavelength resolution of lateral medium variations.
Nontargeted metabolomics-based multiple machine learning modeling boosts early accurate detection for citrus Huanglongbing
Authors: Wang Zhixin , Niu Yue , Vashisth Tripti , Li Jingwen , Madden Robert , Livingston Taylor Shea , Wang Yu
Published: June 2022

Early accurate detection of crop disease is extremely important for timely disease management. Huanglongbing (HLB), one of the most destructive citrus diseases, has brought about severe economic losses for the global citrus industry. The direct strategies for HLB identification, such as quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and chemical staining, are robust for the symptomatic plants but powerless for the asymptomatic ones at the early stage of affection. Thus, it is very necessary to develop a practical method used for the early detection of HLB. In this study, a novel method combining ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (UHPLC/MS)-based nontargeted metabolomics and machine learning (ML) was developed for conducting the early detection of HLB for the first time. Six ML algorithms were selected to build the classifiers. Regularized logistic regression (LR-L2) and gradient-boosted decision tree (GBDT) outperformed with the highest average accuracy of 95.83% to not only classify healthy and infected plants but identify significant features. The proposed method proved to be practical for early detection of HLB, which tackled the shortcomings of low sensitivity in the conventional methods and avoid the problems such as lighting condition interference in spectrum/image recognition-based ML methods. Additionally, the discovered biomarkers were verified by the metabolic pathway analysis and content change analysis, which was remarkably consistent with the previous reports.
Fate of dissected arch vessels by adventitial inversion technique for acute type A aortic dissection repair
Authors: Takeuchi Yuriko , Suzuki Ryo , Kurazumi Hiroshi , Nawata Ryosuke , Yokoyama Toshiki , Tsubone Sarii , Matsuno Yutaro , Mikamo Akihito , Hamano Kimikazu
Published: June 2022

OBJECTIVES

The adventitial inversion technique is used widely for aortic reconstruction for acute type A aortic dissection, as it easily controls the bleeding at anastomotic sites and closes the patent false lumen. However, this technique for arch vessel reconstruction has not been previously reported. Therefore, we applied the adventitial inversion technique for dissected arch vessel reconstruction to close the patent false lumen.

METHODS

Among 57 consecutive patients who underwent emergency surgical treatment for acute type A aortic dissection from July 2006 to July 2012, the adventitial inversion technique for the dissected arch vessels was performed in 26 patients (42 arch vessel stumps). The patency and morphologic change of the false lumen of the arch vessels were evaluated using contrast-enhanced computed tomography.

RESULTS

Overall, 2 hospital deaths were recorded, and the hospital mortality rate was 4%. No postoperative cerebral strokes and reoperations due to bleeding occurred. Follow-up by contrast-enhanced computed tomography was completed in 24 patients (37 stumps) with a mean duration of 99 ± 35 months. The postoperative closure rate of the false lumen after adventitial inversion was 86%, which was higher than when adventitial inversion was not used. No adverse events including stroke occurred during follow-up period.

CONCLUSIONS

This technique facilitates the closure of the false lumen of dissected arch vessels and might improve clinical outcomes.
Merger histories of brightest group galaxies from MUSE stellar kinematics
Authors: Loubser S I , Lagos P , Babul A , O’Sullivan E , Jung S L , Olivares V , Kolokythas K
Published: June 2022

Using Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) spectroscopy, we analyse the stellar kinematics of 18 brightest group early-type (BGEs) galaxies, selected from the Complete Local-Volume Groups Sample (CLoGS). We analyse the kinematic maps for distinct features, and measure specific stellar angular momentum within one effective radius (λe). We classify the BGEs as fast (10/18) or slow (8/18) rotators, suggesting at least two different evolution paths. We quantify the anticorrelation between higher order kinematic moment h3 and V/σ (using the ξ3 parameter), and the kinematic misalignment angle between the photometric and kinematic position angles (using the Ψ parameter), and note clear differences between these parameter distributions of the fast and slow rotating BGEs. We find that all 10 of our fast rotators are aligned between the morphological and kinematical axis, consistent with an oblate galaxy shape, whereas the slow rotators are spread over all three classes: oblate (1/8), triaxial (4/8), and prolate (3/8). We place the results into context using known radio properties, X-ray properties, and observations of molecular gas. We find consistent merger histories inferred from observations for the fast-rotating BGEs, indicating that they experienced gas-rich mergers or interactions, and these are very likely the origin of the cold gas. Observational evidence for the slow rotators is consistent with gas-poor mergers. For the slow rotators with cold gas, all evidence point to cold gas cooling from the intragroup medium.
Quality Improvement Evaluation of a Veterans’ Palliative Care Telehealth Music Therapy Program
Authors: Zeiser Shelly R
Published: June 2022

Music therapy is an important psychosocial aspect of hospice and palliative care programs to address pain, grief, and anxiety. The COVID-19 pandemic introduced new challenges to psychosocial therapies in palliative care, including the inability of families to be at the bedside of seriously ill patients, and the need to provide services remotely through video technology. Due to this sudden shift in service delivery, music therapists adapted without research evidence or evaluation of service quality. This evidence-based quality improvement (QI) evaluation examined the program effectiveness of music therapy telehealth services at one Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) for patients in palliative care, their family members, and VAMC staff during this time of societal grief, anxiety, and isolation. Evaluation metrics included patient (n = 39), staff (n = 27), and family member (n = 3) responses to QI surveys, and analysis of journal entries from key stakeholders (i.e., music therapist, nurse case manager, palliative care physician). We conducted a content analysis of QI surveys and completed the first and second cycle coding of journal entries. Results from the QI survey indicated that music therapy telehealth provided affective and interpersonal benefits, and increased compliance with other therapies. Reflections from key stakeholders included clinical recommendations for service implementation and descriptions of the influence of the telehealth modality on the therapeutic relationship. Findings suggested that music therapy telehealth services can provide psychosocial support for veterans, families, and staff in palliative care. QI research may be utilized to provide helpful ongoing feedback regarding clinical effectiveness.
RUV-III-NB: normalization of single cell RNA-seq data
Authors: Salim Agus , Molania Ramyar , Wang Jianan , De Livera Alysha , Thijssen Rachel , Speed Terence P
Published: June 2022

Normalization of single cell RNA-seq data remains a challenging task. The performance of different methods can vary greatly between datasets when unwanted factors and biology are associated. Most normalization methods also only remove the effects of unwanted variation for the cell embedding but not from gene-level data typically used for differential expression (DE) analysis to identify marker genes. We propose RUV-III-NB, a method that can be used to remove unwanted variation from both the cell embedding and gene-level counts. Using pseudo-replicates, RUV-III-NB explicitly takes into account potential association with biology when removing unwanted variation. The method can be used for both UMI or read counts and returns adjusted counts that can be used for downstream analyses such as clustering, DE and pseudotime analyses. Using published datasets with different technological platforms, kinds of biology and levels of association between biology and unwanted variation, we show that RUV-III-NB manages to remove library size and batch effects, strengthen biological signals, improve DE analyses, and lead to results exhibiting greater concordance with independent datasets of the same kind. The performance of RUV-III-NB is consistent and is not sensitive to the number of factors assumed to contribute to the unwanted variation.
Quality-controlled R-loop meta-analysis reveals the characteristics of R-loop consensus regions
Authors: Miller Henry E , Montemayor Daniel , Abdul Jebriel , Vines Anna , Levy Simon A , Hartono Stella R , Sharma Kumar , Frost Bess , Chédin Frédéric , Bishop Alexander J R
Published: June 2022

R-loops are three-stranded nucleic acid structures formed from the hybridization of RNA and DNA. While the pathological consequences of R-loops have been well-studied to date, the locations, classes, and dynamics of physiological R-loops remain poorly understood. R-loop mapping studies provide insight into R-loop dynamics, but their findings are challenging to generalize. This is due to the narrow biological scope of individual studies, the limitations of each mapping modality, and, in some cases, poor data quality. In this study, we reprocessed 810 R-loop mapping datasets from a wide array of biological conditions and mapping modalities. From this data resource, we developed an accurate R-loop data quality control method, and we reveal the extent of poor-quality data within previously published studies. We then identified a set of high-confidence R-loop mapping samples and used them to define consensus R-loop sites called ‘R-loop regions’ (RL regions). In the process, we identified a stark divergence between RL regions detected by S9.6 and dRNH-based mapping methods, particularly with respect to R-loop size, location, and colocalization with RNA binding factors. Taken together, this work provides a much-needed method to assess R-loop data quality and offers novel context regarding the differences between dRNH- and S9.6-based R-loop mapping approaches.
Nicotinamide riboside alleviates cisplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy via SIRT2 activation
Authors: Acklin Scarlett , Sadhukhan Ratan , Du Wuying , Patra Mousumi , Cholia Ravi , Xia Fen
Published: June 2022

Background

Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy represents a major impairment to the quality of life of cancer patients and is one of the most common dose-limiting adverse effects of cancer treatment. Despite its prevalence, no effective treatment or prevention strategy exists. We have previously provided genetic evidence that the NAD+-dependent deacetylase, SIRT2, protects against cisplatin-induced peripheral neuronal cell death and neuropathy by enhancing nucleotide excision repair. In this study, we aimed to examine whether pharmacologic activation of SIRT2 would provide effective prevention and treatment of cisplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) without compromising tumor cell cytotoxic response to cisplatin.

Methods

Using von Frey and dynamic hot plate tests, we studied the use of nicotinamide riboside (NR) to prevent and treat CIPN in a mouse model. We also performed cell survival assays to investigate the effect of NAD+ supplementation on cisplatin toxicity in neuronal and cancer cells. Lewis lung carcinoma model was utilized to examine the effect of NR treatment on in vivo cisplatin tumor control.

Results

We show that NR, an NAD+ precursor and pharmacologic activator of SIRT2, effectively prevents and alleviates CIPN in mice. We present in vitro and in vivo genetic evidence to illustrate the specific dependence on SIRT2 of NR-mediated CIPN mitigation. Importantly, we demonstrate that NAD+ mediates SIRT2-dependent neuroprotection without inhibiting cisplatin cytotoxic activity against cancer cells. NAD+ may, in fact, further sensitize certain cancer cell types to cisplatin.

Conclusions

Together, our results identify SIRT2-targeted activity of NR as a potential therapy to alleviate CIPN, the debilitating and potentially permanent toxicity.
Two is not always better than one: ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction and acute pulmonary embolism in COVID-19
Authors: Radhakrishna Avinash , Abdelaziz Mohammed Omar , Mulvihill Niall
Published: June 2022

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a significant global health burden with potential consequences on the cardiovascular system. We describe a case of a healthy male with no prior cardiovascular risk factors who developed ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction and pulmonary embolism following a diagnosis of severe COVID-19 pneumonitis. The patient made a significant recovery following coronary thromboaspiration and anticoagulation therapy. Multiple mechanisms including an indirect hyperinflammatory immune response and/or direct endothelial damage may explain the prothrombotic state related to COVID-19. The cytokine storm leads to endothelial dysfunction and subsequent thromboembolism. Awareness of the lethal cardio-pulmonary sequalae of COVID-19 is important as surges continue across the world owing to new variants.
A case report of a large right atrial myxoma: the role of virtual consultations and imaging during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Velvet Anju JJ , Parekh Vishal , Khan Waqas , Ahmed Irfan
Published: June 2022

We present a case report of a right atrial myxoma first diagnosed on a transthoracic echocardiogram after telephone consultations held in lieu of face-to-face consultations during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The echocardiogram was requested on the second telephone consultation 3 months after an initial presentation with a dry cough and fatigue due to new symptoms of palpitations and shortness of breath raising suspicion of heart failure. Virtual consultations continue to replace face-to-face consultations to avoid unnecessary exposure to COVID and reduce health care costs. This case report focuses on the importance of obtaining a systematic history, identifying red flags, referring to appropriate specialties and requesting the right investigations for early diagnosis and management of conditions with serious complications.
Neonatal venolymphatic malformation with spontaneous parotid duct rupture: first case report
Authors: Gamage Darshanika C T , Jayamanne Bernard Deepal Wanniarachchi , Quasim Syed Faizan , Kailidis Kosmos , Olabi Anas
Published: June 2022

Disorders of salivary glands especially the parotid gland very rare among neonates and children other than cytomegaly and parotitis epidermica. Venolymphatic malformations are very rare in children. Such presentation around the parotid region yet to be reported. This case report describes a rare presentation of a neonatal venolymphatic malformation on the parotid duct. A 4-week-old termly delivered male infant referred to by a general practitioner bruising over the left buccal area for 1 day from non-consanguine healthy parents. On examination a bluish discoloration in the buccal mucosa over a firm mildly tender area without signs of inflammation was seen. Ultrasound examination of the lesion showed fluid and solid soft tissue suggestive of haematoma and magnetic resonance imaging scan confirmed the rupture of the parotid duct with venolymphatic malformation. The child has been referred to the vascular malformation clinic and plastic surgical clinic in a tertiary care hospital for follow-up.
Carney complex with multiple breast tumours including breast cancer: a case report
Authors: Fujimoto Akihiro , Sakakibara Ayaka , Numajiri Yoshiki , Matsuura Kazuo , Kawasaki Tomonori , Osaki Akihiko , Saeki Toshiaki
Published: June 2022

Carney complex (CNC) is a rare multiple tumour syndrome characterized by cutaneous pigmented lesions, myxoma and endocrine tumours, among others, and is inherited as an autosomal dominant trait. Protein kinase cAMP-dependent type I regulatory subunit alpha (PRKAR1A) is known to be the responsible gene. Breast myxomatosis and ductal adenoma, which are regarded as benign, are well-known mammary lesions of CNC and are included in the main diagnostic criteria. In this case, a 59-year-old woman with repeated cardiac myxoma was diagnosed with CNC with PRKAR1A mutation. She also had three multiple breast tumours bilaterally: breast cancer, adenomyoepithelioma and intraductal papilloma. In mammary lesions of CNC, attention should be paid to benign lesions, such as breast myxomatosis or ductal adenomas, and the development of breast cancer or breast tumours with malignant potential. Mammary lesions should be aggressively scrutinized and considered for resection, as required.
The heart of the matter: secretory pheochromocytoma presenting as recurrent biventricular heart failure (Takotsubo cardiomyopathy)
Authors: Turner Lauren M , Serraro-Brown Hazel , McLaren Mairi , Rachel Lau , Mosse Charles
Published: June 2022

Takotsubo’s syndrome (TS) is an acute, transient cardiomyopathy occurring secondary to physical or emotional stressors through catecholamine excess. Secretory pheochromocytomas have been previously implicated in cases of TS (PTS), however, often present atypically, are associated with reoccurrence, and have higher rates of complications. We describe the case of a 70-year-old female who presented central chest pain, hypotension and electrocardiogram changes on a background of a 6-month prior episode of resolved Takotsubo’s with unknown cause. After progressing to cardiogenic shock with biventricular failure, computerized tomography coronary aortogram revealed an incidental adrenal mass, later proven to be a secretory pheochromocytoma on biochemistry and subsequent histology. PTS has been associated with recurrence and rarely presents as cardiogenic shock. This case highlights the complexity of TS presentations and complications and the diagnostic delays that may occur in PTS.
Popular Music in Times of Neo-Liberalism and Beyond
Authors: Gedik Ali C.
Published: June 2022

This chapter discusses the struggles for cultural hegemony in Turkey as manifested in the practices of Turkish popular music by focusing on the last two decades of neoliberalism, roughly between years 2000–2020. This period corresponds to one of the most striking changes in the history of Turkey where the state and its institutions, and thus official ideology and popular culture, have been subject to a conspicuous neoliberal transformation. The theoretical framework of this study is based on an old Marxist antinomy between political economy and cultural studies approaches. Therefore, the theoretical premises of the relevant literature ranging from musical commodity to cultural hegemony are critically revisited based on the works of Marx, Gramsci, Adorno, Benjamin, Williams, and Hall. Finally, this chapter presents a theoretical framework for the study of popular music in times of neoliberalism within the context of the political economy of cultural hegemony where Turkish popular music is considered as a case study.
“Don’t Be Afraid to Pogo!”
Authors: Ríos-Hernández Marlén
Published: June 2022

Inspired by the early Los Angeles punk band the Gears and their seminal hit “Don’t Be Afraid to Pogo,” this chapter unearths a genealogy of the mosh pit as a window into an alternative Chicanx/Latinx punk historiography by way of its long-forgotten ties to the pogo. The missing link between the pogo and the mosh pit is one created out of the outright erasure of people of color from broader punk history, which has generally centered the experiences of cis-heterosexual white middle-class men. The author argues that the erasure of the Los Angeles punk scene and queer Chicana/Latina/black youth from punk history can be mapped through the story of when and how the pogo was replaced, or rather gentrified, by slamming, and later by the mosh pit. Guided by Diana Taylor’s notion of “cultural memory,” “intellectual dumpster diving” as method, and the oral testimonies with Chicana and Latina punks, the author shows how Latina and Chicana punks have redefined the dances they inherit, the white punk histories they both love and hate, and how they see ways to make the pit their own.
A Little Bit of Evil
Authors: Haider Najam
Published: June 2022

The city of Kūfa in southern ‘Irāq was home to myriad religious communities through the 2nd/8th and 3rd/9th centuries. All of these groups ascribed a particular importance to the Masjid Kūfa, located at the center of the city and attached to the governor’s complex. This chapter traces the evolution of the mosque in the religious imaginary of the Twelver Shī‘a who came to dominate Kūfa by the 5th/11th century. Rather than simply elide the mosque’s connection to political power or other religious groups, the Twelver Shī‘a tackled the space’s ambiguity head-on. For example, they integrated this ambiguity into the spatial distribution of the mosque itself, placing its footprint within a biblical narrative centered on Nūḥ (Noah). The end result was the demarcation of the Masjid Kūfa into discrete spaces, some of which were particularly blessed while others held problematic historical associations.
Mediated Spaces of Collective Ritual
Authors: Caidi Nadia , Karim Mariam
Published: June 2022

This chapter examines the contemporary manifestations of the pilgrimage tradition of Hajj and engages a deeper reflection on how Muslim pilgrims encounter and negotiate space(s)—both physical and virtual—in a globalized, hyperconnected era. The embodied experiences of Hajj pilgrims in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, are examined through the lens of artefacts produced and publicly shared with others on social-networking platforms. A visual-content analysis conducted on a sample of one hundred selfies taken at Hajj point to the work that these artefacts do in the context of the construction of affiliative identities among geographically dispersed communities of pilgrims. Our findings suggest that the selfies contribute to interrogating and complicating religious spaces. The heterotopic discursive fields opened by the sacred selfies may even constitute meaningful ritual spaces through a recentering around the devotee. Sacred selfies can thus be read as a tactic used to create opportunities for self-representation and community building.
Eastern Orthodox Spaces in America
Authors: Denysenko Nicholas
Published: June 2022

Eastern Orthodox architecture in America is diverse and draws from a variety of sources. Church buildings typically follow one of three patterns. The immigrant church model features architectural configuration that resembles the models from a community’s native homeland. Orthodox America experienced a wave of liturgical renewal in the second half of the twentieth century, and those principles inspired modifications in the architectural style for many parishes, contributing to the shape of the liturgical renewal model. Existing Christian styles influenced the Orthodox architectural form identified as the American church model. This chapter presents examples of each of the three models while discussing parallel patterns such as semipermanent missions and structures inspired by specific historical models.
Sacred Space in Nineteenth-Century Cape Town
Authors: Saloojee Ozayr
Published: June 2022

This chapter discusses a method of theorizing and interpreting the space and identity of the nineteenth-century Muslim community in the Bokaap neighborhood of Cape Town, South Africa. It suggests that it is through a radical empiricism of the spatial (a linking of ideas from postcolonial theory and religious studies) that the spaces of this community can be made more fully known or conceptualized in a different way. The outcome is a proposal for an emergent spatial framework for the study of Muslim space, developed through a methodology that links empirical research with a phenomenological heuristic. The framework suggests that an infrastructural, associative, contingent, and anticipatory reading of space might allow for new conceptions of sacred space.
(In)visible Priorities
Authors: Simonowitz David
Published: June 2022

Although the King ‘Abdullah Mosque, inaugurated in 1989, is perhaps the most recognizable ritual space in modern Amman, the important role of the inscriptions on the building is less apparent to observers who are unfamiliar with Arabic. This study shows how these inscriptions augment the dialogic potential and spatializing power of the ritual site. Key exterior epigraphs intertextually reference structures surrounding the mosque, drawing pedestrians into contemplative engagement with scriptural space and coloring conceptions of the national civic space for those passing them by more rapidly. As the chapter shows, when combined or deployed in different contexts, even well-known texts can take on novel meanings. In certain circumstances, however, they may also convey unanticipated messages. The municipal response to one such epigraphic anomaly reveals the underlying power of inscriptions, but also the contextual polysemy and instability of familiar texts.
The Hermeneutics of 21st-Century Sacred Space
Authors: Crosbie Michael J.
Published: June 2022

The current millennial generation in North America reflects different attitudes about the role of spirituality in their lives, and how that spirituality is expressed. According to recent studies, millennials often describe themselves as spiritual, not religious. There is greater focus on defining sacred space as “situational” versus “substantive” by which a space is made sacred through the interaction of human beings seeking the spiritual, as seen in the work of architect. This contrasts with the approach of many architects who believe that space is made sacred through the power of architectural design and that the architect acts as the creating agent. Other architects see their role in providing a place for sacred memory to reside, to create metaphors in the architecture for religious experience. This chapter presents a graduate architecture design studio that offered the author opportunities to explore new definitions of sacred space drawn from millennial students’ own experiences with the spiritual.
Women’s Mosques
Authors: Shiekh Irum
Published: June 2022

This chapter combines historical research and ethnographic fieldwork to examine the rituals of Friday prayer at the Women’s Mosque of America, based in Los Angeles, California. The research reveals that the mosque has provided women with opportunities to be fully involved in all aspects of prayer without placing any limitations on their bodies. This full participation has led to the emergence of new areas of inquiry within theological spaces that had gone unnoticed because of the absence of women in leadership and decision-making spaces. Through engaged discussions and practices, mosque-going women are widening the circles of female scholars in local communities, making the mosque instrumental in the development and dissemination of Islamic knowledge that deconstructs patriarchal interpretations of the Qur’an and empowers women.
Remnants of Israel
Authors: Streit Jessica Renee , Stiefel Barry L.
Published: June 2022

This chapter examines Jewish sacred spaces in medieval and Early Modern Europe by looking at case studies. As its point of departure, it affirms that sacred spaces are socially constructed, dynamic, and often multifunctional products of human creation that respond to the changing needs of the communities they serve. These ideas are addressed through the examination not only of spatial arrangements or ornamental programs of Jewish sacred space, but also of the ways in which it created, claimed, or negotiated sacred loci within the built environment. In this way, this chapter presents a complex and historically grounded picture of Jewish life and religious practice from the onset of the European Middle Ages, when Jews lost the opportunity for citizenship, to the beginning of their emancipation from these restrictions in the early nineteenth century.
Religious Place/Space in Premodern China
Authors: Lin Wei-Cheng
Published: June 2022

In premodern China, what made a place, as well as its space, religious was not inherent to that place. Rather, it required a particular construction, in both discourse and space, to turn an otherwise physical place into a spiritual one. Accordingly, this chapter argues that the religious place/space was not a prerequisite of religion, but a “production” of it. In this production, one sees how different methods were conceived and implemented to engage, manipulate, control, enact, or represent the religious place/space in premodern China as part of the religious practice. This chapter thus aims to analyze ways in which the religious place/space was constructed and produced so that it became fully interwoven into the fabric of the religion. To this end, it proposes considering religious place/space in premodern China in four different modalities of spatial construction: diagrammatic space, the sacred site, ritual space, and literary space.
Presence and Performance
Authors: Papalexandrou Amy
Published: June 2022

This chapter explores some of the ways in which sacredness was a human investment and substantive feature of the experience of the liturgy. Human society in the Eastern Roman Empire was seen as sacred and holy, and the Divinity was believed to be present and accessible through ritual in every church. In performative gestures the senses, especially sound, scent, and sight, each had a performative role to play. Icons were critical for personal worship, and monasteries were routinely visited by worshipers for devotion and prayer. Oratories donated by wealthy ktetors became a popular means of gaining access into heaven, and women “wrapped” village churches with rope during difficult times, especially when there was a plague. Local customs, experiential settings, and worship dominated life for those living in the Eastern Roman Empire.
Beyond the Rainbow
Authors: Ahessy Bill
Published: June 2022

While LGBTQIA+ older adults report that they are generally ageing well, past and present adversity, health disparities, and difficulties accessing affirmative care negatively impacts many. There has been increased attention to LGBTQIA+ perspectives in music therapy; nevertheless, LGBTQIA+ older adults have remained largely invisible. Music therapists report feeling unprepared and undereducated in working with LGBTQIA+ older adults, yet are likely to encounter them in aged-related settings, in which up to one-third of practitioners work. This chapter examines the historical contexts that older LGBTQIA+ adults experienced and highlights health disparities and barriers to affirmative care. It explores the role of music and music therapy, considers implications, and suggests methods and techniques for affirmative music therapy practice.
The Experimental Novel in Latin America
Authors: Kurz Andreas
Published: June 2022

This chapter deals with the unique practice of the Latin American experimental novel within the rise of postmodernist writing in Europe and in North America. A discussion of the particularities of experiment in literature is followed by a concise analysis of some postmodernist features postulated by Jean-François Lyotard, Brian McHale, and other theorists. Finally, three novels by Julio Cortázar, including Hopscotch, and some narrative texts by the Mexican experimental author Salvador Elizondo serve as illustrations and proof of the transcultural development in Latin American narrative that follows principles established by Fernando Ortiz and Ángel Rama. The most important outcome of the research is the necessity of accepting an independent postmodern way in Latin American writing that combines political and social focuses with formal and epistemological experiments.
The Nineteenth-Century Brazilian Novel and the Transcendence of Machado de Assis
Authors: Dixon Paul
Published: June 2022

As a former colony, Brazil imported literary values from Portugal and other European countries. In the nineteenth century, several Brazilian novelists successfully adapted the movements of romanticism, realism, and naturalism not only to their tropical flora and fauna, but also to the unique human confluence of the indigenous, European, and African races. Machado de Assis, more than any Brazilian novelist, showed an ability to transcend those prior forms and to create an esthetic of his own, with both national and universal currency. In his mature novels, Machado adopted a digressive, associative style that finds its inspiration in authors prior to realism or naturalism. He engaged in metafictional discourse, describing the dynamics of his own texts and of literary expression in general. And he created problematic narrators who challenge their audiences, inciting them to more independent ways of reading.
Social Realism, Indigenismo, and the Vindication of the Other
Authors: Pulido Herráez María Begoña
Published: June 2022

Social realism spread in Latin American literature between the 1920s and 1950s in response to the great social transformations of that period. The characteristics of social realism are defined not only in terms of content (a novel that describes the experiences of displaced, exploited, discriminated, and marginalized sectors, and aims to denounce and protest) but also in relation to the way in which the novel, as a genre, is appropriated, adapted, and transformed in relation to the processes it seeks to represent. Some of the key characteristics of social realist novels are the presence of collective characters, and a story told in a non-sequential chronology. Within the social realism of this period, indigenista novels stand out. The characteristics of the indigenista novel are studied by means of the concept of heterogeneity proposed by Antonio Cornejo Polar. Among the works analyzed are César Vallejo’s social realist novel El tungsteno and the indigenista novels El indio, by Gregorio López y Fuentes, and Huasipungo, by Jorge Icaza.
Jane Addams, Expansive Masculinity, and the Fragility of the War Virtues
Authors: Ruetenik Tadd
Published: June 2022

An exemplar of moral resilience during a crucial time in US and world history, the life and words of Jane Addams are at least as relevant today as during her lifetime. This moral resilience was best seen in Addams’s opposition to war, an opposition that included subtle yet often bold critiques of the war virtues that people hold in especially high esteem. Addams’s critiques of the war virtues involve criticizing what this chapter calls expansive masculinity. Mechanized warfare became prevalent in World War I, and Addams was among the first to consider the effects of these changes on all those involved in the creation and continuation of the war virtues. Traditionally masculine, these virtues are those which help perpetuate beliefs that war is a necessary and noble pursuit. Through her resistance to US involvement in World War I, Addams shows that self-reliant moral resilience is more valuable than the fragile valor of the warrior in popular imagination. Addams teaches us that there is no virtue in confusing technological sophistication with true human strength, and what is more, that there is a definite vice in confusing a distorted idea of human strength with moral superiority. The problem is not just that military minds operate on a notion that might makes right, but that they are also operating on a fragile notion of might.
Schoenberg’s Liner Notes
Authors: Jenkins J. Daniel
Published: June 2022

Arnold Schoenberg was a composer who cared deeply about cultivating and fostering amateur interest in music. This chapter reviews Schoenberg’s ideas about the communication between composer and listener, and discusses how Schoenberg embraced the phonograph as an effective medium for this communication—a way of developing his “public” as it were. The chapter details the role that he believed record jacket liner notes could play in this process (including thematic tables in some of them), and shows that liner notes, even after Schoenberg’s death, proved an important medium for the dissemination and transmission of his ideas about his own music. Ultimately, the chapter argues that Schoenberg, often viewed as one of the twentieth century’s most important music theorists of Western Classical music because of texts such as Theory of Harmony and Fundamentals of Musical Composition, was also one of its most important public music theorists.
CAT in social context
Authors: Brown Rhona
Published: June 2022

Cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) has many strengths as a therapy which offers an individualized and bespoke response to distress, and explicitly situates the individual in a socio-cultural context. Its narrative and ideographic focus allows for reformulation of difficulties in this context, and its roots and development over the years has been influenced by Anthony Ryle’s egalitarian values. Bakhtin’s dialogism helps to situate the rich multiplicity and positionality of individuals in their social worlds. However, while collaboration is at CAT’s heart, inevitably, like other western psychotherapies, structural social inequalities are likely to be reproduced in its practice and its practitioners. This chapter examines some aspects of CAT practice in response to these issues, with a focus on adaptations to CAT tools and concepts, practitioners’ personal and professional development needs in addressing social power and bias, psychopolitical literacy in therapy, threats to the therapeutic relationship, and rupture related to inequalities.
Instructional Practices that Support Adaptive Motivation, Engagement, and Learning
Authors: Patall Erika A. , Linnenbrink-Garcia Lisa , Liu Pei Pei , Zambrano Jeanette , Yates Nicole
Published: June 2022

Supporting students’ motivation constitutes a critical challenge in most classrooms. However, research suggests that motivation and engagement are activated, enhanced, and sustained when the classroom context is designed to foster and support them. This chapter provides an overview of classroom practices that can be integrated into instruction in order to support students’ adaptive motivation, emotion, and engagement, and, in turn, their learning and achievement. We focus on five major forms of adaptive motivation and the corresponding evidence-based strategies that support each. Specifically, we discuss support for (a) perceived competence; (b) autonomy and autonomous (vs. controlled) motivation; (c) interest and value; (d) growth (vs. fixed) mindsets, adaptive causal attributions, and mastery (vs. performance) goals; and (e) feelings of relatedness and belonging. As part of our discussion, we briefly introduce relevant theories for understanding the function of these critical forms of motivation and highlight factors (e.g., student characteristics, context, variations in the practice) and areas of caution to consider in order to maximize effectiveness. We end this chapter by noting several themes and issues for education researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers to consider.
Achievement Goal Theory at Its Critical Juncture
Authors: Lee Minhye , Bong Mimi
Published: June 2022

During the past several decades, achievement goal theory has inspired much research into the direction, strength, and quality of individuals’ achievement strivings and of associated cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement. Through relentless debate and conceptual evolution, the theory has embraced many alternative perspectives and novel methodologies and remains as one of the most relevant theories of achievement motivation in the classroom. In this chapter, we first survey major developments in the definitions, models, and conceptualizations of achievement goals and unresolved issues that require continued attention. We then introduce several prominent trends in contemporary achievement goal research, followed by emerging questions for future achievement goal research. Despite its long-lasting contributions to the field of educational psychology, we believe achievement goal theory has now reached its critical juncture. The courses of development in the next few years may determine the theory’s longevity as a viable account of human motivation, especially for children and adolescents in achievement settings. We believe the theory can take yet another step forward to maximizing its educational implications by carefully streamlining the findings across different frameworks and taking stock of various recent debates.
Trauma system in New Zealand
Authors: Balasubramaniam Sunder , Civil Ian
Published: June 2022

New Zealand (NZ) is a country that is renowned for its beautiful scenery and numerous activities for leisure. It also has a modern health system that is sometimes called upon to assist neighboring Pacific countries with advanced medical care. In this article, we discuss the different components of the NZ trauma system ranging from prehospital to governance. This may be of interest to practitioners involved in developing or upgrading their country's trauma systems.
Israeli trauma system: on constant alert
Authors: Bala Miklosh , Gottesman Joshua Z.
Published: June 2022

A trauma system is a chain of activities to provide quality response to the injured from the site of injury to the appropriate hospital and rehabilitation. Israel has a unique trauma system developed from the experience gained in peace and in war. It is characterized by a central national organization responsible for management, coordination, and ongoing quality control. Because of the unique situation, the Israeli Defense Forces has a significant role in the system. In order to develop an effective trauma system, it is important to devote sufficient resources in education, training, motivation, team-work, and creation of public volunteers for capacity building. An effective trauma system manages mass casualty incidence (MCI) better. System quickly reorganized in order to accommodate the sudden needs of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), while being able to maintain the routine surgical and medical requirements of the community. The aim of this article is to present the main components of the Israeli trauma model.