bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Education and Schooling
Authors: Whitehead Maurice , Raftery Deirdre , McDermid Jane
Published: September 2023

The chapter, divided into three sections, explores Catholic education as developed within the context of the distinctive national education legislation and cultural circumstances of England and Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. Striking similarities existed: the poverty of the Catholic Church and of Catholics themselves, the tension between government funding of ‘secular’ education, the religious ethos which infused every aspect of Catholic education, and the influence of religious institutes in providing education. Distinctive national patterns too are evident. The hierarchy in England and Wales prioritized education over church-building, hoping for the inculcation of the faith alongside a material improvement of Catholic families. In Scotland, Catholic poverty was so dire that a Catholic-funded education was less readily available and, by necessity, Catholic involvement on school boards reflected a growing involvement in the wider public arena. The National System in Ireland was ‘de jure non-denominational and de facto denominational’.
Caritas
Authors: McCabe Ciarán
Published: September 2023

The performance of Catholic caritas and philanthropy throughout Britain and Ireland not only reflected the growing institutional confidence of the Church but the space it was able to carve for itself within civic society, including receipt of public funding. This chapter examines the transformation of the Church’s corporate provision of formal welfare through the establishment of a wide array of institutions which became dominant in Ireland and, in Britain, represented a concerted effort to create a Catholic parallel infrastructure. In assessing the extent to which Catholic teaching on caritas and poverty was distinctive in this period, it sets out the centrality of female religious in providing temporal and spiritual support; explores the role of lay charitable societies in attending to the needs of the poor and marginalized; and indicates the impact of the social teaching encyclical Rerum Novarum (1891).
Devotional and Sacramental Cultures
Authors: Ryan Salvador
Published: September 2023

This chapter examines devotional and sacramental cultures in Britain and Ireland from c.1830 to c.1914. It begins with a survey of the historiography surrounding Emmet Larkin’s devotional revolution thesis of 1972, highlighting how recent scholarship has opened up hitherto overlooked avenues of enquiry. While today few would argue for a sudden devotional watershed moment in Ireland from 1850, this chapter demonstrates how developments in devotional practice in England, Scotland, and Wales show a mixture of continuity and change, in what has more recently been termed a process of ‘devotional blending’. Employing a wealth of sources—devotional literature, travellers’ accounts, diary entries, and folklore—the second part of the chapter explores the devotional worlds of Britain and Ireland from a ‘lived religion’ perspective. In doing so, it emphasizes how often devotional impetus comes ‘from below’ and problematizes the neat categories into which we sometimes place these developments over time.
The Blessed Virgin Mary
Authors: O’Brien Susan
Published: September 2023

Over the course of the nineteenth century Marian devotions practised by Catholics in Britain and Ireland were renewed, expanded, and intensified as an integral dimension of the Catholic revival. The devotional arc of ‘the Marian century’ (1850–1950) may have had its peak in the 1950s but, as this chapter demonstrates, its characteristics and practices were fully established in the two islands before the start of the First World War. The chapter reflects on the significance of transnational Marian influences across the two islands, including papal teaching and the Lourdes apparition, while making the case for the Blessed Virgin’s role in Catholic identity formation in the specific ecclesial and historical contexts of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The chapter explores its subject through four closely related themes: doctrine and history; communal Marian life in parish and school; pilgrimage and processions, including Knock and Walsingham; material culture and subjective meaning-making.
Music as Theology
Authors: Zon Bennett
Published: September 2023

When the early Church Fathers weaponized chant in their battle against the spiritual perils of pagan music, they used a theology describing Christ as the New Song, and the New Song as God Himself. As this chapter argues, by the nineteenth century that theology had barely changed—the British and Irish experience, a prime example. Drawing upon papal legislation, catechisms, musical apologetics, and a range of music, this chapter resembles the liturgical structure shaping the Church’s music—the two parts and five sections of the Tridentine Mass Ordinary. The first part (the Mass of the Catechumens) explores its three main musical genres—chant, polyphony, hymnody—in sections corresponding to the Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo. The second part (the Mass of the Faithful) investigates two performative genres—composing, and playing and singing—in the Sanctus and Agnus Dei, and the conclusion, the Ite Missa Est, offers brief speculations on the nineteenth-century legacy in the Church today.
Anti-Catholicism
Authors: Wolffe John
Published: September 2023

This chapter moves beyond simplistic dismissal of anti-Catholicism as mere prejudice to explore its diverse dynamics. Following a review of the historiography, the subject is considered under three headings. First, religious factors, including the travails of the (Anglican) Church of Ireland, competition between priests and Protestants, and the prevalence of an eschatology that equated the papacy with the Babylon of the Apocalypse. Second, political anti-Catholicism was fuelled by the perceived unconstitutional extra-territorial associations of Catholics, especially at the time of the restoration of the hierarchy for England and Wales in 1850, in the aftermath of the 1870 Vatican Council, and in successive crises over Irish Home Rule. Finally, popular antagonisms were fuelled by Guy Fawkes Day traditions, the Orange Order, gendered and sexual concerns, and localized community rivalries. Catholic responses were correspondingly diverse. By the early twentieth century anti-Catholicism was becoming less intense and widespread but remained a significant presence.
Catholic Fiction
Authors: Murphy James H.
Published: September 2023

This chapter surveys popular fiction written about and by Catholics in England and Ireland when the consumption and production of fiction rose dramatically. It selects a range of novels to explore authorial preoccupations in relation to Catholicism. Setting fiction at the time of the early Church or of the Reformation and Elizabethan Settlement enabled English authors to explore the nature of English identity, Church doctrine, and the question of Catholic loyalty to Crown and State. Notably, preoccupations did not include the Irish Catholic migrants. Irish Catholic fiction of the same era sought to counter the ways that Catholics were perceived in Britain and to assert Catholic respectability. Novelists who wrote for the Irish diaspora, however, advocated a more vigorous Catholicism and by the early twentieth century this trend had influenced fiction in Ireland too. By this time Catholic novelists became more focused on Catholicism’s response to the modern world.
Experimentalist Governance
Authors: Rangoni Bernardo
Published: September 2023

What does non-hierarchical governance mean? Under what conditions are actors likely to engage in it? Which trajectory best captures its long-term evolution? Through which mechanisms does it overcome gridlock? To respond to these questions at the heart of regulatory governance, the book develops an analytical framework that draws on contemporary debates but seeks to overcome their limitations. Notably, it offers a definition of non-hierarchical (experimentalist) governance that goes beyond institutional structures, focusing attention on actors’ choices and strategies. It shows that, contrary to expectations, functional, and political pressures were more influential than distributions of legal power, and bolstered one another. Strong functional demands and political opposition influence actors’ capacity of using powers which, de jure, might be concentrated in their own hands. Indeed, actors can use non-hierarchical governance to aid learning and mould political support. Conversely, they may override legal constraints and impose their views on others, insofar as they are equipped with confidence and powerful coalitions beforehand. The book also challenges conservative views that non-hierarchical governance is doomed to wither away, showing that, on the contrary, it is often resilient. Finally, the book shows that, far from being alternatives, positive (shadow-of-hierarchy) and negative (penalty-default) mechanisms to avoid gridlock frequently are complementary. The book examines when, how, and why non-hierarchical institutions affect policy processes and outcomes by analysing five crucial domains (electricity, gas, communications, finance, and pharmaceuticals) in the European Union. It combines temporal, cross-sectoral, and within-case comparisons with process-tracing to show the conditions, trajectories, and mechanisms of non-hierarchical governance.
‘Fortune, Success, Well-being, Victory!’
Authors: Narayanan Vasudha
Published: September 2023

This chapter looks at the theories proposed to explain the contested claims of how and why Indian culture became significant in South East Asia, especially Cambodia. Although Indian presence is dominant in several areas, including language and writing, deities, temple building, and names of places and kings, the Khmer people used their agency and power in picking and choosing those elements of Indian culture most relevant to them. Did the agency exercised by kings, their selective choice, and adaptation of philosophies and material culture also involve Hindus moving from India and settling in South East Asia? This chapter offers some perspectives on whether there was a ‘Hindu diaspora’ or sustained interaction and perhaps intermarriages between people coming from South East and South Asia. We also discuss origin stories, Angkor Wat, and other Viṣṇu monuments, to see if they offer clues about who was responsible for the creation of a Hindu ethos in the courts and in the temples.
Hindu Diaspora in Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific)
Authors: Booth Alison , Bhalchandra Bapat Jayant , Hughes Philip , Bilimoria Purushottama , Prasad Rajendra
Published: September 2023

Oceania comprises Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and Tonga, and habited by distinct ethnic peoples, to which ‘Hindoos’ were brought by colonial powers. With the arrival of indentured labourers (girmityas) in Fiji 150 years ago, Fiji-Hindus have worked tirelessly towards preserving their way of life. Over the generations, Hindu sects have created their unique identity through their culture and adapted practices. Recently, New Zealand’s resident Indian populations have also increased significantly. Generations of Hindus from Gujarat, joined by Indo-Fijians, South Indians, and Hindus from elsewhere, have established temples and associations representing a diversity in languages and religious cultures. South Asians began arriving as seamen onboard ships from India to the colonies of terra australis, circa 1790s. Even during ‘White Australia’ years, significant numbers of Hindoos were recruited as farmworkers, labourers, and mineral-diggers, some becoming hawkers and merchants. With surges in professional and student migration, in more recent decades, Hindus with their temples, community centres, comparatively high profile and education, are contributing to the region’s multiculturalism, while passing on their heritage to the next generations.
Prestige Temples, Performing Arts, and Power
Authors: Narayanan Vasudha
Published: September 2023

This chapter deals with the history of Hindus who migrated to the United States in the early twentieth century as well as the importance of temple-building and the performing arts in the transmission of Hindu culture after the 1960s. Early immigrants included the Watumulls in Hawaii. From the time of Dr S. and Lalitha Chandrasekhar in the 1930s, we see the growing importance of performing arts. Bollywood dancing and bharatanāṭyam are significant in preservation of identity. After the 1960s, there is an accelerated building of large, prestige temples, especially to Veṅkaṭeśvara by South Indians, and more recently sectarian temples by the Swaminarayan community.
Oxford Guides to Chaucer: Troilus and Criseyde
Authors: Windeatt Barry
Published: September 2023

This is a comprehensive critical guide to all aspects of reading Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, his most ambitious single achievement and his masterpiece. It includes the fullest and most convenient account of Chaucer’s imaginative deployment of his sources, and the only extended survey of this narrative poem’s innovative combination of a range of generic identities. There are also chapters on the architectonics of how Chaucer builds thematic significance into his poem’s symmetrical structure, and on the poem’s distinctive variety in style and language. A further chapter provides a full commentary on the poem as an extended debate about the nature and value of love, with sub- sections on how love was conceptualized and experienced as a form of service in quest of compassionate reward, a quasi-religious devotion, and a potentially fatal illness always in hope of cure. Also reviewed are the poem’s concerns with love in the contexts of time and mutability and of human free will. The subjectivities of the chief protagonists are fully analysed, as is the poem’s problematic ending, in its bravura attempt to still the plenitude of questions that all the aspirations of the lovers’ story have raised. There is also an account of what the extant manuscripts of Troilus and Criseyde may reveal about the poem’s early genesis, and a unique survey of responses to Troilus from its own times to the present day.
Text
Authors: Windeatt Barry
Published: September 2023

This chapter analyses the implications for reading Troilus and Criseyde today of what can be deduced from the surviving manuscripts about how the poem was composed and developed through its early transcriptions, and how it was first received. The chapter begins by exploring how deductions about the reception of Troilus have been shaped by interpretations of the frontispiece picture in the Corpus manuscript as depicting a performance of the poem, not least in twentieth-century criticism’s construction of a narrator persona. The chapter’s second section provides an account of the extant Troilus manuscripts in their approximate chronological order. The next section presents an overview of puzzling and problematic features in the manuscripts. The final section reviews possible evidence in the manuscripts for the poem in a process of composition, preserving signs of Chaucer’s early work in drafting a poem that may be seen as a palimpsest, never altogether finalized.
Substantive Abuse of Constitutional Identity
Authors: Scholtes Julian
Published: September 2023

This chapter deals with the second dimension of the abuse of constitutional identity: the substantive dimension. Underlying constitutional identity claims in the EU is a normative concept of constitutionalism that enables and facilitates their expression. The conceptual normative expectations that come with this are further complemented by the contextual expectations of European constitutionalism, guaranteeing the ability of Member States to jointly exercise authority and yield authority to one another. On that basis, this chapter proceeds to analyse claims to a new, distinct form of ‘illiberal democracy’ as constitutional identity for Hungary, Poland, and Central Europe more broadly. It will then discuss in more detail the constitutional identity claims made by the Orbán government and the Hungarian Constitutional Court against Hungary’s participation in the EU’s refugee relocation programme, as well as constitutional identity claims made by the Polish government and Constitutional Tribunal in the light of the government’s judicial reforms.
Christ Church, Oxford, Anglican Moral Theology, and the Reception of John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding, c.1689–1725
Authors: Chatterjee Jacob Donald
Published: September 2023

This chapter details how Christ Church men promoted John Locke’s 1689 Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Francis Gastrell, a young clergyman, reproduced the central doctrines of Locke’s Essay on the empirical basis for knowledge, the impossibility of acquiring certain knowledge of substances, personal identity, the nature of happiness, and the obligation of natural law. Several other members of Christ Church also displayed an intellectual sympathy for Locke’s thought, even though they often propounded high church political and ecclesiological ideas that differed greatly from his own views. These high church Lockeans indicated their approval of his philosophy by securing copies of his writings for personal and college libraries, corresponding with him, teaching the Essay to students, and, most importantly, publishing several reworkings of his thought. The ways in which these Christ Church men reinterpreted the Essay influenced how Locke’s moral theology was read later in the eighteenth century within French Huguenot circles, Cambridge, and the Dissenting academies. Ultimately, the chapter not only reveals new intellectual and institutional contexts for the Essay’s reception but also demonstrates that particular places of education reshaped the published debates around Locke’s thought.
David Gregory’s and John Keill’s Newtonian Pedagogy
Authors: Ashman Lewis
Published: September 2023

This chapter presents a new perspective on the role of universities in the rise of Newtonianism in Britain through a reassessment of David Gregory’s and John Keill’s engagement with Isaac Newton’s natural philosophy at Oxford. Gregory and Keill are typically understood as two of Newton’s earliest ‘disciples’ or ‘followers’ and their efforts portrayed as attempts to popularise, defend, and exposit a Newtonian scientific creed. By focusing on how Newton’s example functioned in influential textbooks derived from their teaching, it is argued here that Gregory’s and Keill’s Newtonian pedagogy at Oxford was intended to promote a critical approach to philosophy. Newton’s philosophy appealed to them not as a doctrine to imbibe but as a superior approach to the discipline in being directed toward a particular kind of explanation and away from a flawed approach to causation in physics. This article highlights the importance of Oxford in Newton’s Scottish reception and emphasises the importance of determining what ends Newton’s ideas served for his admirers.
1709
Authors: Choi Jin-Woo
Published: September 2023

This chapter focuses on how the Great Frost of 1708/9 offered an opportunity for meteorological observers to conduct naturalistic inquiries. The year 1709 also happened to be the first great winter to coincide with the emergence of scientific societies, the proliferation of thermometers and other meteorological instruments, of sustained efforts at regular observation, and the explosion of print media and literacy across Europe — in short, the cultural and material conditions conducive to the rise of a burgeoning republic of meteorological letters. It was within this particular institutional framework that perceptions and ideas of the Great Winter as a case of natural extremity were forged and passed onto posterity. The chapter then looks at a Latin dissertation entitled A Physico-mathematical Consideration of the most recent Winter, which was defended at the University of Halle on June 13, 1709, and published shortly thereafter in the city. Ultimately, the later eighteenth century saw a continued expansion of meteorological observations and their epistolary communication.
Introduction
Authors: Jahanbani Sheyda F.A.
Published: September 2023

The Introduction provides an overview of the major problem addressed by The Poverty of the World, the post-1945 “rediscovery” of poverty by American liberals. This volume explores the strategies and tactics of the global war on poverty that America fought between the 1930s and 1960s. The Introduction brings together three narratives held distinct by existing scholarship: (1) the significant transformation of the United States’ place in the world after World War II; (2) the advent of “underdevelopment” as a new conceptual apparatus for thinking about poverty; and (3) the shape of postwar American empire. It lays out the argument, methods, and historiographical contributions of the book and provides concise summaries of each chapter.
“The Only War We Seek”
Authors: Jahanbani Sheyda F.A.
Published: September 2023

Chapter 3 traces the domestic and international political conditions that galvanized novel thinking about American affluence and world poverty in the years of the early Cold War. Following the career of John Kenneth Galbraith, a foremost Keynesian economist and a leading voice of postwar liberalism, this chapter charts the emergence of the empire of affluence as a political idea by exploring the ways in which Galbraith and others articulated the United States’ new global responsibility to solve world poverty. Introducing readers to figures including Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and Reinhold Niebuhr, this chapter charts the emergence of a community of poverty-fighting liberals who sought to influence the policies of the Democratic Party in the early years of the Cold War.
Securities law precedents, legal liability, and financial reporting quality
Authors: Franke Benedikt , Huang Allen H , Li Reeyarn Z , Wang Hui
Published: September 2023

In common-law systems, firms’ litigation risk depends both on written laws and how courts interpret these laws. Using 321 US circuit court rulings, we introduce a novel measure capturing courts’ attitudes toward defendants in securities lawsuits. Our results confirm that financial misreporting firms in more defendant-friendly circuits face fewer lawsuits. Consistent with lower expected litigation costs, firms in these circuits face less negative market reactions when misreporting is revealed, invest less in preventing misreporting, and are more likely to engage in aggressive misreporting. We conclude that defendant-friendly precedents reduce firms’ legal liability and worsen their financial reporting quality.
Structural, developmental and functional analyses of leaf salt glands of mangrove recretohalophyte Aegiceras corniculatum
Authors: Chi Bing-Jie , Guo Ze-Jun , Wei Ming-Yue , Song Shi-Wei , Zhong You-Hui , Liu Jing-Wen , Zhang Yu-Chen , Li Jing , Xu Chao-Qun , Zhu Xue-Yi , Zheng Hai-Lei
Published: September 2023

Salt secretion is an important strategy used by the mangrove plant Aegiceras corniculatum to adapt to the coastal intertidal environment. However, the structural, developmental and functional analyses on the leaf salt glands, particularly the salt secretion mechanism, are not well documented. In this study, we investigated the structural, developmental and degenerative characteristics and the salt secretion mechanisms of salt glands to further elucidate the mechanisms of salt tolerance of A. corniculatum. The results showed that the salt gland cells have a large number of mitochondria and vesicles, and plenty of plasmodesmata as well, while chloroplasts were found in the collecting cells. The salt glands developed early and began to differentiate at the leaf primordium stage. We observed and defined three stages of salt gland degradation for the first time in A. corniculatum, where the secretory cells gradually twisted and wrinkled inward and collapsed downward as the salt gland degeneration increased and the intensity of salt gland autofluorescence gradually diminished. In addition, we found that the salt secretion rate of the salt glands increased when the treated concentration of NaCl increased, reaching the maximum at 400 mM NaCl. The salt-secreting capacity of the salt glands of the adaxial epidermis is significantly greater than that of the abaxial epidermis. The real-time quantitative PCR results indicate that SAD2, TTG1, GL2 and RBR1 may be involved in regulating the development of the salt glands of A. corniculatum. Moreover, Na+/H+ antiporter, H+-ATPase, K+ channel and Cl− channel may play important roles in the salt secretion of salt glands. In sum mary, this study strengthens the understanding of the structural, developmental and degenerative patterns of salt glands and salt secretion mechanisms in mangrove recretohalophyte A. corniculatum, providing an important reference for further studies at the molecular level.
Re-evaluation of the systematic position of the order Prostomatida (Protista: Ciliophora), with the establishment of two new genera and two new species
Authors: Jiang Limin , Wang Congcong , Liao Lijian , Al-Farraj Saleh A , Warren Alan , Hu Xiaozhong
Published: September 2023

Prostomatean ciliates inhabit a wide range of aquatic environments and serve as a trophic link in food webs. However, the biodiversity and molecular phylogeny of the Prostomatea, especially the order Prostomatida, is poorly known owing to undersampling and the paucity of molecular data. Here, three prostomatid ciliates, Platina marina gen. nov., sp. nov., Parametacystis pulchra gen. nov., sp. nov. and Apsiktrata gracilis, were studied based on morphological data and small subunit ribosomal ribonucleic acid (SSU rRNA) gene sequences. The two new genera show a close relationship with the class Plagiopylea but a distant relationship with Metacystis, which bears a strong morphological similarity to the two new genera. The simplified oral ciliature can be regarded as a synapomorphy of the two new genera. The SSU rRNA gene of a representative of the family Apsiktratidae was sequenced for the first time. Morphological and phylogenetic analyses suggest that Apsiktratidae might be more closely related to Prorodontida than to Prostomatida, and the oral basket might be more phylogenetically informative than the brosse in distinguishing Prorodontida and Prostomatida. Supplementation with rare taxa reveals a close association between the Prostomatida and Trimyemidae. The putative secondary structure of the SSU rRNA V9 region suggests a sister relationship between the order Prostomatida and the class Plagiopylea.
Fungal Communities Associated with Corn in a Diverse Long-Term Crop Rotation in Ohio
Authors: Frey Timothy S. , Huo Daowen , Lopez Melanie Medina , Ritter Branden , Lindsey Laura E. , Ponce M. Soledad Benitez
Published: September 2023

Crop rotation is a cultural practice in disease management used to break the disease cycle, resulting in a reduction of inoculum. In Ohio, crop rotations have been reduced in diversity, with many farmers shifting to corn-soy rotations from more diverse rotations featuring wheat. We investigated the impact of this shift on soil fungal communities under corn by conducting synthetic long-read amplicon sequencing. DNA was extracted from soil sampled during the corn-growing season at two locations in Ohio with replicated long-term rotation plots in a corn–soybean (CS) and corn–soybean–winter wheat (CSW) rotation in 2018, 2019, and 2020. 18s-ITS amplicons were sequenced using Illumina paired with Loopgenomics technology. PERMANOVA analysis revealed that fungal communities were significantly impacted by location, rotation, and time. Shannon and Simpson diversity indices implied fungal species diversity was significantly higher in the CS rotation. Indicator species analysis revealed 20 species indicative of the CSW rotation, including Mortierella, Hymenoschyphus, Ascobolus, and Saitozyma species, and 36 species indicative of the CS rotation, including Fusarium, Neoaschocyta, Zalerion, and Trichoderma species, among others. Indicator species amplicon sequencing variant reads for the CSW rotation were not correlated with the decline in corn yield or soil nitrogen, carbon, or active carbon. However, they were positively correlated with soil organic matter.

[Formula: see text] Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY 4.0 International license .
Infant Outcomes Categorized by Birth Weight Percentile for Deliveries Between 28 and 41 Weeks of Gestation
Authors: Onishi Kazuma , Kawakita Tetsuya
Published: September 2023

OBJECTIVE:

To examine the association between birth weight percentile and severe infant outcomes according to gestational age category.

METHODS:

We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study using publicly available U.S. birth certificate data linked to infant death data from 2017 to 2019. Maternal–neonate pairs of singleton live births between 28 0/7 and 41 6/7 weeks of gestation (vaginal or cesarean delivery) were evaluated. We excluded infants with major fetal anomalies, chromosomal disorders, missing data, and birth weight outliers. The primary outcome was infant mortality within 1 year of life. Neonates were divided into eight sex-specific birth weight percentile categories: less than the 3rd, 3rd–less than the 10th, 10th–less than the 25th, 25th–to less than the 49th, 50th–less than the 75th, 75th–to less than the 90th, 90th–less than the 97th, and 97th or higher.

RESULTS:

There were 10,459,388 births between 28 and 41 weeks of gestation: 69,793 (0.7%) at 28–31 weeks, 88,673 (0.8%) at 32–33 weeks, 635,904 (6.1%) at 34–36 weeks, 2,763,110 (26.4%) at 37–38 weeks, 6,269,894 (59.9%) at 39–40 weeks, and 632,014 (6.0%) at 41 weeks. Infant mortality during the first year of life significantly increased at higher and lower birth weight percentiles at 28–36 weeks of gestation, with the lowest risk observed at the 50th–less than the 75th percentile. The highest mortality rates were 13.6% at less than the 3rd percentile and 8.4% at the 97th percentile or higher at 28–31 weeks of gestation; the second-highest mortality rates were 7.7% at less than the 3rd percentile and 3.1% at the 97th percentile or higher at 32–33 weeks of gestation. At 34–36 weeks of gestation, the highest and second-highest mortality rates were 3.4% at less than the 3rd percentile and 1.4% at the 3rd–10th percentile. At 37–41 weeks of gestation, infant mortality was associated with lower birth weight percentile, but higher birth weight percentiles were not significantly associated with increased mortality.

CONCLUSION:

We found different patterns in the association between birth weight percentile and infant mortality depending on gestational age category.
Racial Inequities in Drug Tests Ordered by Clinicians for Pregnant People Who Disclose Prenatal Substance Use
Authors: Olaniyan Abisola , Hawk Mary , Mendez Dara D. , Albert Steven M. , Jarlenski Marian , Chang Judy C.
Published: September 2023

OBJECTIVE:

To measure racial inequities in drug testing among pregnant people during the first prenatal visit based on their drug use disclosure pattern.

METHODS:

We used data from a cohort study of patient–clinician communication patterns regarding substance use in first prenatal visits from February 2011 to August 2014. We assessed racial differences (Black–White) in the receipt of urine toxicology testing, stratifying on patients' drug use disclosure to the clinician.

RESULTS:

Among 341 study participants (205 Black [60.1%] and 136 White [39.9%] participants), 70 participants (33 Black [47.1%] and 37 White [52.9%] participants) disclosed drug use, and 271 participants (172 Black [63.5%] and 99 White [36.5%] participants) did not disclose drug use during their first obstetric visit. Of 70 participants who disclosed drug use, 50 (28 Black [56.0%] and 22 White [44.0%] White) had urine drug testing conducted. Black pregnant patients who disclosed drug use were more likely to be tested for drugs than their White counterparts in the adjusted regression analysis (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 8.9, 95% CI 1.3–58.6). Among the 271 participants who did not disclose drug use, 38 (18 Black [47.4%] and 20 White [52.6%] participants) had urine drug testing conducted. For those who did not disclose drug use, the adjusted model showed no statistically significant differences in urine drug testing by patients’ race (aOR 0.7, 95% CI 0.3–1.6).

CONCLUSION:

When pregnant people disclosed drug use, clinicians were more likely to order urine drug testing for Black pregnant people compared with their White counterparts, suggesting clinician racial bias. Current practice patterns and protocols such as urine drug testing in pregnancy care deserve review to identify and mitigate areas of potential clinician discrimination.
Occipital Nerve Block Compared With Acetaminophen and Caffeine for Headache Treatment in Pregnancy
Authors: Bushman Elisa T. , Blanchard Christina T. , Cozzi Gabriella D. , Davis Allison M. , Harper Lorie , Robbins Lindsay S. , Jones Benjamin , Szychowski Jeff M. , Digre Kathleen B. , Casey Brian M. , Tita Alan T. , Sinkey Rachel G.
Published: September 2023

OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate the efficacy of occipital nerve block compared with standard care, defined as acetaminophen with caffeine, for treatment of acute headache in pregnancy.

METHODS:

We conducted a single-center, unblinded, parallel, randomized controlled trial of pregnant patients with headache and pain score higher than 3 on the visual rating scale. Patients with secondary headache, preeclampsia, or allergy or contraindication to study medications were excluded. Participants were randomized to occipital nerve block or standard care (oral 650 mg acetaminophen and 200 mg caffeine). Crossover treatment was given at 2 hours and second-line treatment at 4 hours to those with worsening visual rating scale score or visual rating scale score higher than 3. The primary outcome was headache improvement to a visual rating scale score of 3 or lower within 2 hours of initial therapy. Secondary outcomes included serial visual rating scale scores, receipt of crossover or second-line therapy, patient satisfaction, and perinatal outcomes. Outcomes were assessed in an intention-to-treat analysis. We estimated that a sample of 62 would provide 80% power to detect a difference from 85% to 50% between groups.

RESULTS:

From February 2020 to May 2022, 62 participants were randomized to occipital nerve block (n=31) or standard care (n=31). Groups were similar except payer status. The primary outcome, headache improvement to visual rating scale score of 3 or lower, was not significantly different between groups (64.5% vs 51.6%, P=.30). The occipital nerve block group experienced lower median [interquartile range] visual rating scale scores at 1 hour (2 [0–5] vs 6 [2–7], P=.014), and more patients in the occipital nerve block group had visual rating scale scores of 3 or lower at 1 hour. Among patients receiving crossover treatment at 2 hours, the standard care group had a significantly lower visual rating scale score 1 hour after crossover to occipital nerve block than the occipital nerve block group receiving crossover to standard care (P=.028). There were no significant differences in second-line treatment, refractory headache, satisfaction, or complications. Patients receiving occipital nerve block delivered earlier (36.6 weeks vs 37.8 weeks), but preterm birth did not differ between groups.

CONCLUSION:

Occipital nerve block is an effective and quick-acting treatment option for acute headache in pregnancy.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION:

ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03951649.
Perinatal Outcomes Associated With Management of Stage 1 Hypertension
Authors: Bailey Erin J. , Tita Alan T. N. , Leach Justin , Boggess Kim , Dugoff Lorraine , Sibai Baha , Lawrence Kirsten , Hughes Brenna L. , Bell Joseph , Aagaard Kjersti , Edwards Rodney K. , Gibson Kelly , Haas David M. , Plante Lauren , Metz Torri D. , Casey Brian M. , Esplin Sean , Longo Sherri , Hoffman Matthew , Saade George R. , Foroutan Janelle , Tuuli Methodius G. , Owens Michelle Y. , Simhan Hyagriv N. , Frey Heather A. , Rosen Todd , Palatnik Anna , Baker Susan , August Phyllis , Reddy Uma M. , Kinzler Wendy , Su Emily J. , Krishna Iris , Nguyen Nicki , Norton Mary E. , Skupski Daniel , El-Sayed Yasser Y. , Ogunyemi Dotun , Galis Zorina S. , Harper Lorie , Ambalavanan Namasivayam , Oparil Suzanne , Kuo Hui-Chien , Szychowski Jeff M. , Hoppe Kara
Published: September 2023

OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate the association between maternal blood pressure (BP) below 130/80 mm Hg compared with 130–139/80–89 mm Hg and pregnancy outcomes.

METHODS:

We conducted a planned secondary analysis of CHAP (Chronic Hypertension and Pregnancy), an open label, multicenter, randomized controlled trial. Participants with mean BP below 140/90 mm Hg were grouped as below 130/80 mm Hg compared with 130–139/80–89 mm Hg by averaging postrandomization clinic BP throughout pregnancy. The primary composite outcome was preeclampsia with severe features, indicated preterm birth before 35 weeks of gestation, placental abruption, or fetal or neonatal death. The secondary outcome was small for gestational age (SGA).

RESULTS:

Of 2,408 patients in CHAP, 2,096 met study criteria; 1,328 had mean BP 130–139/80–89 mm Hg and 768 had mean BP below 130/80 mm Hg. Participants with mean BP below 130/80 mm Hg were more likely to be older, on antihypertensive medication, in the active treatment arm, and to have lower BP at enrollment. Mean clinic BP below 130/80 mm Hg was associated with lower frequency of the primary outcome (16.0% vs 35.8%, adjusted relative risk 0.45; 95% CI 0.38–0.54) as well as lower risk of severe preeclampsia and indicated birth before 35 weeks of gestation. There was no association with SGA.

CONCLUSION:

In pregnant patients with mild chronic hypertension, mean BP below 130/80 mm Hg was associated with improved pregnancy outcomes without increased risk of SGA.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION:

ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02299414.
Educational Effectiveness of Telementoring as a Continuing Professional Development Intervention for Surgeons in Practice: A Systematic Review
Authors: Fernandes Rosephine Del , Ghasroddashti Arashk , Sorefan-Mangou Fatimah , Williams Erin , Choi Ken , Fasola Laurie , Szasz Peter , Zevin Boris
Published: September 2023

Objective:

We performed a systematic review to determine the educational effectiveness of telementoring as a continuing professional development (CPD) intervention for surgeons in practice.

Background:

Surgeons can mentor their peers in remote locations using videoconferencing communication, referred to as telementoring.

Methods:

We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE and included studies assessing the educational effectiveness of telementoring interventions used by surgeons in practice. We excluded studies involving only trainees and those not evaluating educational effectiveness. Two reviewers independently screened, extracted data, and assessed study quality using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI; maximum score 18). Educational outcomes were categorized using Moore’s Outcomes Framework.

Results:

We retrieved a total of 1351 records, and 252 studies were selected for full-text review. Twenty-eight studies were included with 1 randomized controlled trial, 19 cohort studies, 5 qualitative studies, and 3 case studies, totaling 178 surgeons and 499 cases. The average MERSQI score was 10.21 ± 2.2 out of 18. Educational outcomes included surgeons’ satisfaction with telementoring interventions (Moore’s Level 2) in 12 studies, improvement in surgeons’ procedural knowledge (Level 3b) in 3 studies, improvements in surgeons’ procedural competence in an educational setting (Level 4) in 4 studies, performance in a workplace-based setting (Level 5) in 23 studies, and patient outcomes (Level 6) in 3 studies. No studies reported community health outcomes (Level 7).

Conclusions:

Moderate-level evidence demonstrates the use of telementoring as effective in changing surgeons’ knowledge and competence in both educational and workplace-based settings. Its use is also associated with changes in patient outcomes.
Current Trends in Mortality Attributable to Racial or Ethnic Disparities in Post-Surgical Population in The United States: A Population-Based Study
Authors: Mpody Christian , Best Ana F. , Lee Clara N. , Stahl David L. , Raman Vidya T. , Urman Richard D. , Tobias Joseph D. , Nafiu Olubukola O.
Published: September 2023

Background:

No study has contextualized the excess mortality attributable to racial and ethnic disparities in surgical outcomes. Further, not much effort has been made to quantify the effort needed to eliminate these disparities.

Objective:

We examined the current trends in mortality attributable to racial or ethnic disparities in the US postsurgical population. We then identified the target for mortality reduction that would be necessary to eliminate these disparities by 2030.

Methods:

We performed a population-based study of 1,512,974 high-risk surgical procedures among adults (18–64 years) performed across US hospitals between 2000 and 2020.

Results:

Between 2000 and 2020, the risk-adjusted mortality rates declined for all groups. Nonetheless, Black patients were more likely to die following surgery (adjusted relative risk 1.42; 95% CI, 1.39–1.46) driven by higher Black mortality in the northeast (1.60; 95% CI, 1.52–1.68), as well as the West (1.53; 95% CI, 1.43–1.62). Similarly, mortality risk remained consistently higher for Hispanics compared with White patients (1.21; 95% CI, 1.19–1.24), driven by higher mortality in the West (1.26; 95% CI, 1.21–1.31). Overall, 8364 fewer deaths are required for Black patients to experience mortality on the same scale as White patients. Similar figures for Hispanic patients are 4388. To eliminate the disparity between Black and White patients by 2030, we need a 2.7% annualized reduction in the projected mortality among Black patients. For Hispanics, the annualized reduction needed is 0.8%.

Conclusions:

Our data provides a framework for incorporating population and health systems measures for eliminating disparity in surgical mortality within the next decade.
Radiocarpal Joint Reconstruction with a Double Free Metatarsophalangeal Joint Transfer
Authors: Cavadas Pedro C. , Padial Beatriz
Published: September 2023

Background:

Destruction of the radiocarpal and midcarpal joints causes loss of wrist motion, pain, and reduced grip strength. A novel technique for radiocarpal reconstruction is presented.

Methods:

Two patients who had radiocarpal and midcarpal destruction and osteoarthritis underwent reconstruction using simultaneous bilateral microvascular second metatarsophalangeal joint transfer. The insetting was performed, inverting the distal-proximal orientation of both metatarsophalangeal joints and fixing them with two 2.0 screws in proximal and Kirschner wires in distal.

Results:

Radiocarpal extension and flexion without pain were preserved after a minimum of 4 years follow-up. Both patients could return to recreational activities. No secondary procedures were needed.

Conclusions:

This technique could be an alternative for radiocarpal reconstruction, although longer follow-up and more cases are needed.
What is needed to ensure long-term sustainability for the field of vascularized composite allotransplantation?
Authors: Toyoda Yoshiko , Levin L. Scott
Published: September 2023

The field of vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA) has demonstrated remarkable advances since its inception with some excellent long-term results in a variety of graft types. However, unlike solid organ transplantation, it has yet to become mainstream. We therefore discuss strategies on ensuring long-term sustainability by addressing continued clinical developments of VCA to improve the risk-to-benefit balance, importance of public support, improved policy and financial support, and need for a bridge to the future of transplant surgery. There has been headway on all fronts and collaboration among the VCA centers for centralization of data and incorporation of patient voices will be essential for continued progress.
Standardizing Nurse Transition to Practice
Authors: Ecoff Laurie , Failla Kim Reina , Pelletier Luc R.
Published: September 2023

Nurse residency programs (NRPs) require effective structures and processes to ensure achievement of desired outcomes, including program accreditation, newly licensed nurse retention, and a healthy nursing workforce for the future. A healthcare system created strategic positions of director of nursing workforce transitions and nursing workforce professional development specialists to standardize an NRP across six hospitals and to achieve Practice Transition Accreditation Program accreditation. The positions provide a strong infrastructure to optimize nurse transition to practice.
Quantifying and Qualifying Nursing Professional Development Practitioner Workload
Authors: Bauer Jenny M. , Pfeilsticker Alicia J. , Pearson Jocelyn A. , Loesche Amy Hans , Grimsley Amy , Peterson Katherine S. , Hamiel Michelle R. , Duprey Casey L.
Published: September 2023

Nursing professional development practitioners are integral leaders who continue to seek tangible ways to show their value. A tool was designed to capture workload based upon the scope and standards of nursing professional development practice and successfully captured the workload of over 200 practitioners. The measures used in this project can serve as a guide for others to describe nursing professional development practitioner workload.
Effect of the Nurse Work Environment on Older Hispanic Surgical Patient Readmissions
Authors: Daus Marguerite , McHugh Matthew D. , Kutney-Lee Ann , Brooks Carthon Margo J.
Published: September 2023

Background

Readmissions following hospitalization for common surgical procedures are prevalent among older adults and are disproportionally experienced by Hispanic patients. One potential explanation for these disparities is that Hispanic patients may receive care in hospitals with lower-quality nursing care.

Objectives

The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the hospital-level work environment of nurses and hospital readmissions among older Hispanic patients.

Methods

Using linked data sources from 2014 to 2016, we conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 522 hospitals and 732,035 general, orthopedic, and vascular surgical patients (80,978 Hispanic patients and 651,057 non-Hispanic White patients) in four states. Multivariable logistic regression models were employed to determine the relationship between the work environment and older Hispanic patient readmissions at multiple time periods (7, 30, and 90 days).

Results

In final adjusted models that included an interaction between work environment and ethnicity, an increase in the quality of the work environment resulted in a decrease in the odds of readmission that was greater for older Hispanic surgical patients at all time periods. Specifically, an increase in three of the five work environment subscales (Nurse Participation in Hospital Affairs, Nursing Foundations for Quality of Care, and Staffing and Resource Adequacy) was associated with a reduction in the odds of readmission that was greater for Hispanic patients than their non-Hispanic White counterparts.

Discussion

System-level investments in the work environment may reduce Hispanic patient readmission disparities. This study’s findings may be used to inform the development of targeted interventions to prevent hospital readmissions for Hispanic patients.