bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Anastomotic Leak is Increased With Clostridium difficile Infection After Colectomy: Machine Learning-Augmented Propensity Score Modified Analysis of 46 735 Patients
Authors: Baker Sarah E. , Monlezun Dominique J. , Ambroze Wayne L. , Margolin David A.
Published: December 2020

Background

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is now the most common cause of healthcare-associated infections, with increasing prevalence, severity, and mortality of nosocomial and community-acquired CDI which makes up approximately one third of all CDI. There are also increased rates of asymptomatic colonization particularly in high-risk patients. C difficile is a known collagenase-producing bacteria which may contribute to anastomotic leak (AL).

Methods

Machine learning-augmented multivariable regression and propensity score (PS)–modified analysis was performed in this nationally representative case-control study of CDI and anastomotic leak, mortality, and length of stay for colectomy patients using the ACS-NSQIP database.

Results

Among 46 735 colectomy patients meeting study criteria, mean age was 61.7 years (SD 14.38), 52.2% were woman, 72.5% were Caucasian, 1.5% developed CDI, 3.1% developed anastomotic leak, and 1.6% died. In machine learning (backward propagation neural network)-augmented multivariable regression, CDI significantly increases anastomotic leak (OR 2.39, 95% CI 1.70-3.36; P < .001), which is similar to the neural network results. Having CDI increased the independent likelihood of anastomotic leak by 3.8% to 6.8% overall, and in dose-dependent fashion with increasing ASA class to 4.3%, 5.7%, 7.6%, and 10.0%, respectively, for ASA class I to IV. In doubly robust augmented inverse probability weighted PS analysis, CDI significantly increases the likelihood of AL by 4.58% (95% CI 2.10-7.06; P < .001).

Conclusions

This is the first known nationally representative study on CDI and AL, mortality, and length of stay among colectomy patients. Using advanced machine learning and PS analysis, we provide evidence that suggests CDI increases AL in a dose-dependent manner with increasing ASA Class.
Hospital Presentations of Acute Diverticulitis During COVID-19 Pandemic may be More Likely to Require Surgery due to Increased Severity: A Single-Centre Experience
Authors: Hossain Naveed , Naidu Vishnu , Hosny Shady , Khalifa Mohamed , Mathur Pawan , Al Whouhayb Maitham
Published: December 2020

Background

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in fewer emergency presentations of many acute medical and surgical conditions. The purpose of this study was to assess the severity of disease at presentation and quantify the change in number of presentations during this period.

Methods

This retrospective study includes all patients diagnosed with acute diverticulitis on abdominopelvic computerised tomography (CT) between March 1, 2020 and June 30, 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. Follow up scans on the index admission were excluded. Hinchey grade was assessed for all CT scans. Inflammatory markers were analysed, along with outcome measures including length of stay and mortality.

Results

Acute diverticulitis was diagnosed in 52 CT scans in the acute pandemic period – a decrease of 51.4%. Average age at presentation was unchanged (63.3 ± 14.3 vs. 62.8 ± 13.8, P = .848). The number of Hinchey II, III and IV presentations were significantly higher in the acute pandemic period (28.8% vs. 11.2%, P = .005) and significantly more emergency operations were carried out (7.69% vs. .93%, P = .04). Mortality was not significantly increased, nor were serum levels of C-reactive protein, white cell count and lactate.

Discussion

During the COVID-19 pandemic, fewer patients presented and were diagnosed with acute diverticulitis. A significantly greater proportion presented at a more advanced stage and required emergency surgery, suggesting late presentation. Our findings support the need for maintaining acute surgical services and the provision of early radiological and surgical input in patients presenting with signs and symptoms of acute diverticulitis in future pandemics.
Impact of Chemoprophylaxis on Thromboembolism Following Operative Fixation of Pelvic Fractures
Authors: Berning Bennett J. , Magnotti Louis J. , Lewis Richard H. , Corley Catherine E. , Lim Garrett H. , Doty John B. , Fabian Timothy C. , Croce Martin A. , Sharpe John P.
Published: December 2020

Background

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common cause of serious morbidity and mortality. While chemoprophylaxis decreases VTE, there is the theoretical risk of increased hemorrhagic complications. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of preoperative anticoagulation on VTE and bleeding complications in patients with blunt pelvic fractures requiring operative fixation.

Methods

Patients with blunt pelvic fractures requiring operative fixation over 10.5 years were identified. Patients were stratified by age, severity of shock, operative management, and timing and duration of anticoagulation. Outcomes were evaluated to determine risk factors for bleeding complications and VTE.

Results

310 patients were identified: 212 patients received at least one dose of preoperative anticoagulation and 98 received no preoperative anticoagulation. 68% were male with a mean injury severity score and Glasgow Coma Scale of 26 and 13, respectively. Bleeding complications occurred in 24 patients and 21 patients suffered VTE. Patients with VTE had a greater initial severity of shock (resuscitation transfusions, 4 vs. 2 units, P = .02). Despite longer time to mobilization (4 vs. 3 days, P = .001), patients who received their scheduled preoperative doses within 48 hours of arrival had no significant differences in the number of deep vein thrombosis events (5.2% vs. 5.7%, P = .99), but fewer episodes of pulmonary embolism (PE) (1.5% vs. 6.8%, P = .03) with no difference in bleeding complications (7.5% vs. 8%, P = .87) compared to either patients who had their doses held until after 48 hours of arrival or received no preoperative anticoagulation.

Discussion

Preoperative anticoagulation prior to pelvic fixation reduced the risk of PE without increasing bleeding complications. Preoperative anticoagulation is safe and beneficial in this group of patients.
From Digital Distraction to Digital Direction: Implementing Interactive Agendas in the 1:1 Classroom Environment
Authors: Bryans-Bongey Sarah E.
Published: December 2020

This study was conducted in the context of a college course involving students enrolled in the university’s teacher-preparation program. In an effort to facilitate in-class activities and promote student satisfaction, the instructor developed web-based agendas for students to access via their laptop computers. The research spans two semesters in which the interactive agendas were provided for all class sessions. The agendas were posted in the learning management system and were actively used by 60 students during class. They formed a gateway to various cloud-based materials including databases, Google documents, forms, and slides. Students used the daily agendas to engage in target content and collaborate with one another during class. Based on positive responses from participants and the observed productivity among students, findings suggest interactive agendas may be a viable alternative to hardware/devices, software, and policy-based attempts to control or limit student technology use in the 1:1 classroom.
Constructing Discourses on (Un)truthfulness: Attributions of Reality, Misinformation, and Disinformation by Politicians in a Comparative Social Media Setting
Authors: Hameleers Michael , Minihold Sophie
Published: December 2020

In the setting of increasingly more fragmented digital communication settings, the accuracy and honesty of (political) information has become subject of fierce debates and partisan attacks. Hence, the challenge of mis- and disinformation not only pertains to the truthfulness of information itself, but also to the discursive construction of supporting information as truthful and dissonant information as untrue or deliberately false. This paper inductively analyzes discourses of (un)truthfulness (Study 1, N = 1,777) and uses an Automated Content Analysis (Study 2, N = 56,666) to assess how reality, mis-, and disinformation are constructed by politicians in Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands. The findings point to an affinity between populism and disinformation: Right-wing populist politicians take issue ownership in discrediting established knowledge and attempt to create momentum for alternative realities that resonate with populist worldviews. Such discourses of (un)truthfulness may have an important impact on defining reality for voters.
Xerostomia and Taste Alterations in COVID-19
Authors: Belchior Fontenele Maria Natally , Pedrosa Marlus da Silva
Published: December 2020

A recent letter published in the Ear, Nose & Throat Journal called attention to the hypothesis that the xerostomia reported in patients with the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurs due to the neuroinvasive and neurotropism potential of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In fact, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2), the main site of entry of SARS-CoV-2 into the cell, was found to be present in the ductal elements of salivary gland and several other tissues. However, some points are worth to be addressed.
Supporting Peer Interactions in the Inclusive Preschool Classroom Using Visual Scene Displays
Authors: Laubscher Emily , Raulston Tracy J , Ousley Ciara
Published: December 2020

Inclusive preschool classrooms have become increasingly common in recent decades, affording opportunities for children with and without disabilities opportunities to interact and develop positive relationships. Children with disabilities may be unintentionally excluded from these interactions due to communication differences. This paper discusses one assistive technology tool, called visual scene displays (VSDs), for supporting communication and interaction between children. Specifically, the paper aims to: (a) describe VSDs; (b) discuss why VSDs are particularly well-suited for supporting social communication between young children; (c) describe how VSDs are created and introduced to children; and (d) provide examples of how VSDs may be implemented during two common preschool activities: object play and shared storybook reading. Finally, resources for creating VSDs are offered.
Commemorating from a distance: the digital transformation of Holocaust memory in times of COVID-19
Authors: Ebbrecht-Hartmann Tobias
Published: December 2020

The severe restrictions on public life in many countries following the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic specifically affected Holocaust memorials and museums in all parts of the world, especially in Europe and in Israel. These measures posed a significant challenge, because contemporary forms of Holocaust commemoration are particularly based on the personal experience of presence at museums and historical sites. In contrast to the experience of distancing in face of the COVID-19 pandemic, establishing the presence of the past is thus a crucial element of contemporary Holocaust commemoration. This article explores the relationship between presence and absence, proximity and distance, guided commemoration and online engagement by critically analyzing digital activities of Holocaust memorials and museums in response to the pandemic. It argues that in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Holocaust memorials began experimenting with the potential of social media for Holocaust memory. These experiments finally accepted the ongoing generational change and reacted to significant previous shifts in media consumption that were already affecting Holocaust commemoration.
Intervention dose frequency: Phonological generalization is similar regardless of schedule
Authors: Cummings Alycia , Giesbrecht Kristen , Hallgrimson Janet
Published: December 2020

This study examined how intervention dose frequency affects phonological acquisition and generalization in preschool children with speech sound disorders (SSD). Using a multiple-baseline, single-participants experimental design, eight English-speaking children with SSD (4;0 to 5;6) were split into two dose frequency conditions (4 children/condition) targeting word-initial complex singleton phonemes: /ɹ l ʧ/. All children received twenty 50-minute sessions that were either provided twice a week (2×/week) for ten weeks or four times a week (4×/week) for five weeks. Tau- U effect sizes for two generalization measures, treated phoneme and percent consonants correct (PCC), were calculated for each participant. Group d-scores were calculated to measure generalization of the treated phoneme in untreated words for each condition. All eight children demonstrated gains in their phonological measures. Two children in 2×/week condition demonstrated significant changes in generalization of treated phonemes in untreated words. One child in each condition demonstrated significant changes in PCC scores. Group d-scores were similar suggesting children in both conditions generalized their treated phoneme in untreated words to a similar level. Regardless of whether speech intervention occurred 2×/week or 4×/week, children demonstrated similar phonological gains. This suggests that both dose frequencies are viable intervention schedules for preschoolers with SSD. Children in the 4×/week condition made their phonological gains in approximately half the time of children in the 2×/week condition. Thus, more frequent weekly speech intervention sessions could be more efficient in teaching phonological information than less frequent sessions.
Primary adrenal insufficiency due to adrenal tuberculosis: a case report
Authors: Yu Jie , Lu Yingli , Han Bing
Published: December 2020

We report a case of primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) due to adrenal tuberculosis with no findings of active tuberculosis in the lung of a 51-year-old female patient. The patient was admitted with a 10-year history of skin hyperpigmentation and was diagnosed with PAI. The primary cause was adrenal tuberculosis. An adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulation test, T-Spot test and adrenal computed tomography scan were used to confirm the diagnosis. The patient’s status improved, and the hyperpigmentation subsided after 15 months of treatment with anti-tuberculosis drugs and cortisol replacement therapy.
Attribute accessibility, normative influence, and the effect of classical and country music on willingness to pay for social identity and utilitarian products
Authors: Flynn Emma , Whyte Lisa , Krause Amanda E , North Adrian C , Areni Charles , Sheridan Lorraine
Published: December 2020

Previous studies indicate that background classical music is associated with customers in retail and leisure premises being prepared to pay more for various products and services. This online experiment tests whether these effects are due to music increasing the salience of valued product attributes (attribute accessibility hypothesis) or to a demand characteristic wherein music implies a norm to purchase expensive items (normative behavior hypothesis). A 3 (type of music—classical, country, no music, between subjects) × 2 (type of product—social identity or utilitarian, within subjects) × 2 (high vs. low incentive for accuracy, between subjects) mixed design was used in which participants stated the specific amount they would be prepared to pay for 30 products using free-choice format. Results showed a Music × Type of Product interaction, such that preparedness to spend was higher in the classical music condition but only in the case of social identity products. This is more consistent with the attribute accessibility hypothesis than the normative behavior hypothesis, and various commercial and practical consequences of these findings are discussed.
Non-random acts of kindness: Joint music making increases preschoolers’ helping and sharing with an adult
Authors: Beck Sara L , Rieser John
Published: December 2020

Research has shown that musical engagement promotes prosocial behavior in preschool-aged children under some conditions but not others. The current study tested whether an active musical interaction between a preschooler ( Mage: 56 months), an experimenter, and a research assistant would result in more sharing and helping behavior than a matched, non-musical interaction, while examining the extent to which a naturalistic musical interaction actually produced interpersonal movement synchrony. Verbal content was also manipulated (didactic/neutral). The results showed that musical play was associated with more spontaneous helping and overall sharing than non-musical play. Analysis of synchrony and joint movement within the experimental interaction showed that musical play resulted in significantly more joint movement and interpersonal synchrony than non-musical play, but that even in musical conditions, joint movement was only synchronized for a fraction of the length of the interaction. There was no evidence of an effect of verbal content on children’s behavior, despite uniformly high retention for the content of the song or poem across conditions. These findings provide further evidence that music making can facilitate prosocial behavior in preschoolers, regardless of lyrical content, and that joint movement may play a more significant role than precise movement synchrony in preschoolers’ musical engagement.
Understanding science-in-the-making by letting scientific instruments speak: From semiotics to postphenomenology
Authors: de Boer Bas , te Molder Hedwig , Verbeek Peter-Paul
Published: December 2020

Latour encourages us to use science-in-the-making as an entry point to understanding science, because it allows us to see how scientific knowledge is constituted and through which processes the ‘absolute certainties’ of ready-made science appear. He approaches science-in-the-making from the perspective of semiotics because it enables him (1) to attribute equal importance to humans and nonhumans, and (2) to let the actors in scientific practices speak for themselves. We argue that Latour’s semiotic approach to science-in-the-making and his understanding of scientific instruments as inscription devices do not fulfill these desiderata. This, in turn, prevents him from understanding the crucial role that scientific instruments play in science-in-the-making. As an alternative to Latour’s semiotic approach, we present a postphenomenological approach to studying science-in-the-making. Using the notion of technological mediation, we argue that scientific instruments actively mediate how reality becomes present to – and is treated by – scientists. Focusing on how intentional relations between scientists and the world are mediated by scientific instruments makes it possible to turn them into genuine actors that speak for themselves, thereby recognizing their constitutive role in the development of the interpretational frameworks of scientists. We then show how a postphenomenological approach can be understood as an ethnomethodology of human-technology relations that meets both of Latour’s requirements when studying science-in-the-making.
Neanderthal and the fossilization of the Third World
Authors: Higgitt Ryan
Published: December 2020

Neanderthal is the quintessential scientific Other. In the late nineteenth century gentlemen-scientists, including business magnates, investment bankers and lawmakers with interest in questions of human and human societal development, framed Europe’s Neanderthal and South Asia’s indigenous Negritos as close evolutionary kin. Simultaneously, they explained Neanderthal’s extinction as the consequence of an inherent backwardness in the face of fair-skinned, steadily-progressing newcomers to ancient Europe who behaved in ways associated with capitalism. This racialization and economization of Neanderthal helped bring meaning and actual legal reality to Negritos via the British Raj’s official ‘schedules of backward castes and tribes’. It also helped justify the Raj’s initiation of market-oriented reforms in order to break a developmental equilibrium deemed created when fair-skinned newcomers to ancient South Asia enslaved Negritos in an enduring caste system. Neanderthal was integral to the scientism behind the British construction of caste, and contributed to India’s becoming a principal ‘Third World’ target of Western structural adjustment policies as continuation of South Asia’s ‘evolution assistance’.
Housing adaptations and housing accessibility problems among older adults with long-standing spinal cord injury
Authors: Norin Lizette , Slaug Björn , Haak Maria , Iwarsson Susanne
Published: December 2020

Introduction

Adults with spinal cord injuries are living longer than previously, and a majority are living in ordinary housing in the community. Housing accessibility is important for maintaining independent occupational performance for this population, but knowledge in this area is insufficient. We investigated housing adaptations and current accessibility problems among older adults with long-standing (>10 years) spinal cord injuries.

Method

Data from home visits among 122 older adults with spinal cord injuries in Sweden were used. Housing adaptations and environmental barriers were descriptively analysed.

Findings

Kitchens, entrances, and hygiene areas were common locations for housing adaptations and environmental barriers that generated accessibility problems. The most common adaptations were ramps, wheelchair-accessible stovetops, and ceiling-lifts. Wall-mounted cupboards and high shelves (kitchen), inaccessible storage areas (outside the dwelling), and a lack of grab bars (hygiene area) generated the most accessibility problems.

Conclusion

Despite housing adaptations, there are considerable accessibility problems in the dwellings of older adults with long-standing spinal cord injuries in Sweden, indicating that long-term follow-up of the housing situation of this population is necessary. Focusing on accessible housing as a prerequisite for occupational performance is at the core of occupational therapy, deserving attention on the individual as well as the societal level.
Approaches to Defining Healthy Diets: A Background Paper for the International Expert Consultation on Sustainable Healthy Diets
Authors: Kumanyika Shiriki , Afshin Ashkan , Arimond Mary , Lawrence Mark , McNaughton Sarah A. , Nishida Chizuru
Published: December 2020

Background:

Healthy diets promote optimal growth and development and prevent malnutrition in all its forms, including undernutrition, obesity, and diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

Objective:

This background paper for the International Expert Consultation on Sustainable Healthy Diets characterizes healthy diets and their implications for food system sustainability.

Methods:

Three complementary approaches to defining healthy diets are compared: World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines or recommendations developed between 1996 and 2019; 2017 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) risk factor study estimates of diet-related risk–outcome associations; and analyses associating indices of whole dietary patterns with health outcomes in population studies and clinical trials.

Results:

World Health Organization dietary recommendations are global reference points for preventing undernutrition and reducing NCD risks; they emphasize increasing intakes of fruits, vegetables (excepting starchy root vegetables), legumes, nuts, and whole grains; limiting energy intake from free sugars and total fats; consuming unsaturated rather than saturated or trans fats; and limiting salt intake. Global Burden of Disease findings align well with WHO recommendations but include some additional risk factors such as high consumption of processed meat; this approach quantifies contributions of diet-related risks to the NCD burden. Evidence on whole dietary patterns supports WHO and GBD findings and raises concerns about potential adverse health effects of foods with high levels of industrial processing.

Conclusions:

Implied shifts toward plant foods and away from animal foods (excepting fish and seafood), and for changes in food production systems have direct relevance to the sustainability agenda.
Who Pays for the Welfare State? Austerity Politics and the Origin of Pay-to-Stay Fees as Revenue Generation
Authors: Kirk Gabriela , Fernandes April , Friedman Brittany
Published: December 2020

Using a comparative historical analysis of legislative transcripts and primary and secondary historical documents in Illinois and Michigan, we trace the adoption of a largely understudied form of monetary sanction: pay-to-stay fees. Pay-to-stay fees are financial commitments imposed by the state on incarcerated individuals for the day-to-day cost of their incarceration. Our study identified two mutually constitutive bureaucratic motivations for the adoption of these fees—austerity as the primary rationale and deservingness as a secondary rationale. This analysis highlights an earlier conceptualization of monetary sanctions as a means of revenue generation than has previously been explored. Our findings suggest that pay-to-stay fees originated in these states from broader debates about who is ultimately fiscally responsible for the welfare state and the soaring costs of maintaining the rehabilitative ideal. During periods of fiscal crisis, state legislators have consistently looked toward this type of monetary sanction as a means to fund the correctional system.
“Let Me Be Bill-free”: Consumer Debt in the Shadow of Incarceration
Authors: Harper Annie , Bardelli Tommaso , Barrenger Stacey
Published: December 2020

Low-income U.S. households are increasingly burdened by unaffordable debt, with profound long-term economic and health consequences. Households of color are disproportionately negatively affected. This article examines the nexus of this rising indebtedness and mass incarceration through the experiences of a particularly marginalized group, people with mental illness. Drawing on qualitative research with 31 individuals with mental illness and recent incarceration in the city of New Haven, Connecticut, we show how carceral institutions and predatory financial practices intersect to create complex entanglements for poor and vulnerable people. While a growing body of scholarship focuses on criminal justice fines and fees, we highlight other types of debt that add to the overall burden, describing how incarceration deepens people’s existing debts of poverty and adds new debts from in-prison costs and identity theft. After release, those debts complicate the search for housing, employment, and financial stability, leading to further debt, stressing social relationships and reproducing social and economic inequality. The experiences of people with mental illness illuminates structures of marginalization and disadvantage that affect many others involved with the criminal justice system.
“The Plurality of Perspectives on Monetary Sanctions”: An Introductory Essay
Authors: Martin Karin D.
Published: December 2020

The importance of monetary sanctions as a topic of sociological inquiry derives from both their ubiquity in American criminal justice and the socioeconomic realities of many people, especially those ensnared in the criminal legal system. This essay reviews the literature on monetary sanctions across various fields, including applied research, economics, criminology, political science, public policy, and sociology. Early approaches tended to be more system evaluations, whereas later work emphasizes the structural determinants of monetary sanctions and their impacts. Insights from research across time and discipline foreshadow the contemporary debate about monetary sanctions and are important precursors to the work in this volume.
User Funded? Using Budgets to Examine the Scope and Revenue Impact of Fines and Fees in the Criminal Justice System
Authors: Mai Chris , Rafael Maria Katarina E.
Published: December 2020

Criminal justice system fines and fees are a source of revenue for courts, district attorneys, probation departments, and other actors both inside and outside of the justice system. Because these departments rely on fine and fee revenue to partially fund their budgets, they may be incentivized to oppose reforms that would reduce fine and fee collections. Using budget documents from counties and a sample of municipalities in Florida and New York, the authors find that budget reports provide more detailed data on fines and fees than are available from other data sources, including information on which types of fines and fees are collected and how much revenue criminal justice fines and fees provide, both on a per-capita basis and as a share of the total jurisdiction budget. This paper presents a replicable methodology for future research in how to use local government budget documents to evaluate fine and fee collections. A larger, forthcoming study will use this methodology to examine fine and fee collections in five states.
Three Tensions in the Theory of Racial Capitalism
Authors: Go Julian
Published: December 2020

In this essay the author assesses the relevance of scholarship on racial capitalism for sociological theory. The author highlights three tensions within the existing literature: (1) whether “race” as opposed to other forms of difference is the primary mode of differentiation in capitalism, (2) whether deficiencies in existing theory warrant the new concept “racial capitalism,” and (3) whether the connection between race and capitalism is a contingent or logical necessity. Existing discussions of racial capitalism implicitly or explicitly raise these tensions, but they do not adequately resolve them. Nonetheless, they remain important for generating further theory and research.
A Mediated Tolerance of Violence: An Analysis of Online Newspaper Articles and “Below-the-line” Comments in the Latvian Media
Authors: Mileiko Ilze , Hamilton Gareth E.
Published: December 2020

A mediated tolerance of violence: an analysis of online newspaper articles and “below-the-line” comments in the Latvian media This article analyses the framing of tolerance of violence in Latvian newspaper articles published online and the reader response “below-the-line” comments to these and how these frames may negatively present and impact those who suffer violence. It makes visible the language used and concepts employed in such cases where someone supports, justifies, or positively perceives violence. The text is based on qualitative media content analysis of 3,166 documents in the Latvian, Russian and English languages from Latvian news sources online published between 2010 and 2018, as well as the comments provided by readers on these. Frame analysis is employed in order to show the different ways in which violence can be practiced and tolerated, closely related to human beliefs. We show how aspects of these may be related to the particular post-Soviet cultural context of Latvia but give a broader view of tolerance itself. The study shows a linguistic tolerance of violence expressed in terms of human nature and its resulting inevitability, in terms of love and thus integral to romantic and kin relations, is imbued with victim blaming and also that punishment for violence should itself be violent. Violence can even be a source of humor, particularly when committed against males. Further, reporting of violence can be regarded as improper and interferes with domestic privacy. These, taken as a whole, justify the existing social order and societal and cultural beliefs and practices on/of gender relations, child-rearing practices, religious beliefs, and notions of love and care. Our analysis shows that violence is not only tolerated in itself, but also the expression of tolerance is itself tolerated in these mediated expressions which are published with impunity and remain unmoderated.
Entrepreneurial teachers do make a difference – Or do they?
Authors: Joensuu-Salo Sanna , Peltonen K. , Hämäläinen M. , Oikkonen E. , Raappana A.
Published: December 2020

This study contributes to the research field of entrepreneurship education by providing a new perspective that combines concepts of the entrepreneurial teacher, entrepreneurial teaching methods and the development of entrepreneurial competences in students. As being entrepreneurial in the teaching context can be explored from various angles, the paper focuses on two important elements of this construct: the innovativeness and risk-taking ability of the teacher. The authors present empirical evidence from 1,011 higher education teachers from 21 different higher education institutions in Finland. The results show that a teacher’s innovativeness and risk-taking ability have a positive relationship with the use of entrepreneurial teaching methods, and influences how the teacher encourages the development of students’ entrepreneurial competences. An innovative and risk-taking teacher varies the teaching methods used in entrepreneurship education. The study suggests that teachers with a lower level of innovativeness and lower risk-taking ability do not use as many entrepreneurial teaching methods as more innovative and risk-taking teachers. In addition, the results confirm the importance of the teacher’s own innovativeness and risk-taking when fostering students’ entrepreneurial competences.
Surface quality and pullout strength of ultrasonically-assisted drilling cortical bone
Authors: Hu Yahui , Fan Zhenhao , Zhang Huaiyu , Zhang Chunqiu , Fu Weihua
Published: December 2020

Bone surgery is a complex process involving sustainable and healthy human recuperation, but poor surface quality and loose implant fixtures can affect the recovery time of orthopedic patients. However, it has been demonstrated that the application of ultrasonic vibration during drilling procedures can improve the success of bone remediation procedures. The focus of the present paper was on the investigation of surface quality and pullout strength of drilled holes. After analyzing the special kinematic characteristics of the ultrasonically-assisted drilling (UAD), UAD testing using fresh cortical bone was carried out and compared with the results obtained after conventional drilling (CD) procedures. Surface roughness measurements and microscope examination were used to evaluate surface quality, and an electro-mechanical tensile machine was used to measure pullout resistance. The test findings indicated that surface roughness was reduced by 17–68.7% when using UAD; the axial pullout strength of screws inserted into UAD holes was significantly increased by 4.28–30.1% compared to that of CD. It was found also that low spindle speeds and high feed rates reduced surface quality and the stability of the inserted cortical screws. The findings demonstrated that UAD produced better surface quality and higher pullout strengths, which could provide greater stability for implants and improved post-operative recovery.
Multiple Discrimination: From Perceptions and Experiences to Proposals for Anti-Discrimination Policies
Authors: Cea D’Ancona Mª Ángeles , Valles Martínez Miguel S
Published: December 2020

As the many forms of intolerance are all interrelated, this paper extends previous research on multiple discrimination, its conceptualisation, perceptions, experiences and proposals for anti-discrimination policies. It provides the key results of a project aimed at developing a conceptual framework of multiple discrimination, plus some proposals for anti-discrimination policies. Several different research strategies were applied, combining the analysis of available data and materials produced by the research team itself. The first approach included the analysis of eurobarometers on discrimination in the European Union, along with nationwide surveys conducted in Spain. The primary data corresponded to both qualitative materials (gathered through focus groups and interviews with members of Spanish NGOs, policy makers and social experts), and quantitative data from a CAWI survey on teaching staff at Spanish universities. The diagnosis concluded with the proposal of several anti-discrimination policies to tackle multiple discrimination in societies where different experiences of discrimination converge.
Investigation of mechanical and tribological properties of different grain size iron scale reinforced polymer composite
Authors: Kursuncu Bilal , Erdogan Azmi , Gok M Sabri , Demirel Bilal
Published: December 2020

In this study, the change of mechanical properties by adding iron scales of different sizes into polypropylene (PP) was investigated. The iron scale was obtained from a steel production plant and adjusted to 30, 50, 90, 120, and 150 µm grain sizes. These iron scales were then added to the polymer material at a rate of 5% by weight. Wear and tensile strength tests were applied to the samples, which were formed in two different types. According to the results obtained, the wear and tensile strength of polymer material in all grain sizes were improved with an added iron scale. It was observed that the wear resistance of the composite material formed with the addition of fine-grained reinforcing element was the highest. Although grain size increased with increasing tensile strength, wear resistance did not increase. Besides, the friction coefficient was measured to be lower at increasing load. While the effective wear mechanism in pure polymer material is plastic deformation, this wear mechanism has not been found in composite materials with different grain sizes. In this study, it has been shown that iron scales have a positive effect on the mechanical properties of polymer composites.
The Emerging Phenomenon of Anti-Chinese Populism in Africa: Evidence from Zambia, Zimbabwe and Ghana
Authors: Sibiri Hagan
Published: December 2020

This article explores the salient of anti-Chinese sentiments in Africa and how it has been utilised or materialised as a populist strategy in election campaigns. The contention herein is that anti-Chinese populism has emerged from the rising anti-Chinese sentiments and is utilised primarily as a rhetorical strategy to gain electoral support. In particular, political actors mostly seeking power are inclined to identify and declamatorily rehashed the salient issues driving the anti-Chinese sentiments in political platforms to attract attention and to gain the support of the electorate’s concern about same issues. This dimension of populism hinges not on ideational leanings, but nothing more than an opportunist strategy of exploiting wedge issues for electoral gains. The implications of such an emerging phenomenon cannot be underestimated. Not only is it a hindrance to the budding Africa–China relations but also decadent for China’s global status and its ambitious foreign policy.
Randomly primed, strand-switching, MinION-based sequencing for the detection and characterization of cultured RNA viruses
Authors: Young Kelsey T. , Lahmers Kevin K. , Sellers Holly S. , Stallknecht David E. , Poulson Rebecca L. , Saliki Jerry T. , Tompkins Stephen Mark , Padykula Ian , Siepker Chris , Howerth Elizabeth W. , Todd Michelle , Stanton James B.
Published: December 2020

RNA viruses rapidly mutate, which can result in increased virulence, increased escape from vaccine protection, and false-negative detection results. Targeted detection methods have a limited ability to detect unknown viruses and often provide insufficient data to detect coinfections or identify antigenic variants. Random, deep sequencing is a method that can more fully detect and characterize RNA viruses and is often coupled with molecular techniques or culture methods for viral enrichment. We tested viral culture coupled with third-generation sequencing for the ability to detect and characterize RNA viruses. Cultures of bovine viral diarrhea virus, canine distemper virus (CDV), epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus, infectious bronchitis virus, 2 influenza A viruses, and porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome virus were sequenced on the MinION platform using a random, reverse primer in a strand-switching reaction, coupled with PCR-based barcoding. Reads were taxonomically classified and used for reference-based sequence building using a stock personal computer. This method accurately detected and identified complete coding sequence genomes with a minimum of 20× coverage depth for all 7 viruses, including a sample containing 2 viruses. Each lineage-typing region had at least 26× coverage depth for all viruses. Furthermore, analyzing the CDV sample through a pipeline devoid of CDV reference sequences modeled the ability of this protocol to detect unknown viruses. Our results show the ability of this technique to detect and characterize dsRNA, negative- and positive-sense ssRNA, and nonsegmented and segmented RNA viruses.
Changing the Care Paradigm for Patients: Advanced Illness Beds Care Model
Authors: Rimar Alexander , Friedman M. Isabel , Quinteros Maria G. , Gooch Rebecca A. , Masick Kevin D. , DaCosta Nicholas , Spooner Rachael L.
Published: December 2020

Background:

Over 90 million Americans suffer from advanced illness (AI) and spend their last days of life in critical care units receiving costly, unwanted, aggressive medical care.

Objective:

Evaluate the impact of a specialized care model in medical/surgical units for hospitalized geriatric patients and patients with complex care requirements where designated AI beds align care with patient’s wishes/goals, minimize aggressive interventions, and influence efficient resource utilization.

Design:

US based multi-facility retrospective, longitudinal descriptive study of screened positive AI patients in AI Beds (N = 1,237) from 3 facilities from 2015 to 2017.

Results:

Patient outcomes included 60% referrals to AI beds from ICU, a decrease of 39-49% in average ICU LOS, a 23% reduction of AI bed patient expirations, 9.0% referrals to hospice, and projected cost savings of $4,361.66/patient, US dollars.

Conclusion:

Allocating AI beds to deliver care to AI patients resulted in a decreased cost of care by reducing overall hospital LOS, mortality, and efficient use of both critical care and hospital resources.
Experiences of Transgender Couples Navigating One Partner’s Transition: Love Is Gender Blind
Authors: Motter Barry L. , Softas-Nall Lia
Published: December 2020

This study investigated the experiences of romantic couples who maintained their relationship when one partner transitioned gender. For this phenomenological study, 13 couples were interviewed as a dyad and individually. Relationship changes included improved communication skills and language changes, affirming sexual relationships, and redistribution of power within the couple dyad. Benefits of the gender transition included improved relationships overall, emergence of support from communities and loved ones, passing privilege, and improved awareness to social issues. Challenges included losing close relationships, difficulty with remaining patient in transition, and adjusting to new identities such as feeling queer invisibility or a loss of heterosexual privilege. Finally, couples shared that political issues in the current sociopolitical climate had a personal impact on their felt safety and daily lives. Clinical and empirical implications are discussed.
Compensatory Cognitive Strategy Use by Young Adults: A Psychometric Evaluation of Self-Report Measures
Authors: Karr Justin E.
Published: December 2020

This study examined the reliability and validity of scores from questionnaires assessing compensatory cognitive strategy use by young adults. Participants ( N = 783; 79.6% women; 77.4% White; Age: M = 18.7 ± 0.9 years) completed the Compensatory Cognitive Strategies Scale (CCSS), Multifactorial Memory Questionnaire–Strategies (MMQ-S), Neuro-Quality of Life (Neuro-QoL) v2.0 Short Form–Cognitive Function, and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Reliability estimates were acceptable for the CCSS (α = .85) and MMQ-S (α = .86) in the full sample and comparable in subsamples stratified by gender and self-reported mental health conditions. The CCSS and MMQ-S scores showed evidence for convergent validity ( r range: .60 to .70) and discriminant validity in the full sample and subsamples ( r with DERS range: .13 to .33). Greater compensatory strategy use had small-to-medium associations with greater subjective cognitive concerns on the Neuro-QOL for the full sample and subsamples ( r range: −.19 to −.49). The CCSS and MMQ-S scores showed acceptable properties for use with young adults.
Targeting BRAF-Mutant Biliary Tract Cancer: Recent Advances and Future Challenges
Authors: Rizzo Alessandro , Federico Alessandro Di , Ricci Angela Dalia , Frega Giorgio , Palloni Andrea , Pagani Rachele , Tavolari Simona , Marco Mariacristina Di , Brandi Giovanni
Published: December 2020

Background:

Biliary tract cancers (BTCs) represent a heterogeneous group of aggressive solid tumors with limited therapeutic options, and include gallbladder cancer (GBC), ampulla of Vater cancer (AVC), intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) and extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (eCCA).

Methods & Results:

In the current review, we will discuss recent results of clinical trials testing targeted therapies in BRAF-mutant BTCs, with a particular focus on the recently published Phase II ROAR trial and ongoing active and recruiting clinical trials.

Conclusions:

Although the extended use of molecular profiling has paved the way toward a new era in BTC management, targeted therapies are limited to iCCA so far, and the prognosis of patients with metastatic disease has substantially not changed in the last decade. In this discouraging scenario, BRAF inhibition is currently emerging as a novel treatment option in patients harboring BRAF mutations.
Evaluation of 2 Commercially Systems for Detection of Serum Squamous Cell Carcinoma Antigen in Pan Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Authors: Chen Hao , Tian Liru , Chen Jiahong , Sun Peng , Han Runkun , Wu Xingping , Dai Shuqin
Published: December 2020

Background:

This study compared the analytical performance of the Elecsys 602 (Roche Diagnostics) system with the I2000 (Abbott laboratories) system for the quantitative measurement of squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) to assess its role as an indicator in pan squamous cell carcinoma.

Methods:

435 serum samples included pan squamous cell cancer group (n = 318) and healthy subjects (n = 52) and non-squamous cell group (n = 41) and benign diseases group (n = 24) were measured by 2 systems and compared.

Results:

The within-run precision coefficient of variation (CV) for Abbott and Roche systems were 3.34-4.88% and 0.95 -1.96%, and the total precision CV were 2.89-9.48% and 3.97-5.38%, respectively. Good correlation was showed in Abbott and Roche systems (slopes = 0.749, r = 0.9658). Serum SCCA in the groups of nasopharyngeal carcinomas, lung squamous cell carcinoma, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, bladder cancer and cervical squamous cell carcinoma under the curve area (AUC) was more than 0.5, while the AUC in the non- nasopharyngeal carcinomas head and neck squamous cell carcinoma was less than 0.5. The AUC of 2 systems was statistically different in lung squamous cell carcinoma and nasopharyngeal carcinomas (P < 0.05). The levels of SCCA of 2 systems were similarities in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(stage IV vs. stage 0a-II)and bladder cancer(stage I vs. stage Oa)and cervical squamous cell carcinoma(stage IIB-III vs. stage I-IIA), which advanced stage had higher level of SCCA than early stage. But the SCCA levels of 2 systems were inconsistent in bladder cancer (stage II-IV vs. stage Oa in Abbott), head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (stage IV vs. stage Oa-I in the Roche) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (stage III vs. stage I-II in the Roche). (P < 0.05)

Conclusions:

2 systems correlated well in SCCA detection of squamous cell carcinoma, but there were individual differences. Serum SCCA may also contribute to the diagnosis of bladder cancer.