bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
High Cost Cheap Food
Authors: Caraher Martin
Published: November 2019

Cheap food is an illusion. The provision of
cheap
food results in hidden or indirect
high
costs. This is in three areas: first, increases in diet‐related diseases; second, in damage to the environment through intensive production and long food supply chains; finally, the impacts on livelihoods. The drivers of these changes are supermarkets and fast food conglomerates which spearhead the nutrition and ecological transitions. Globalization of the food system results in more food that is high in fat, salt, and sugar, leading to increases in obesity and diet‐related noncommunicable diseases. Impacts on the environment and livelihoods come about through the mechanism of contracts where growers and manufacturers are squeezed to deliverer more for less.
Central Business District
Authors: Meier Lars
Published: November 2019

The central business district (CBD) is the area within a city that functions as the center of business and finance. It is characterized by an above average spatial concentration of tall office buildings with corporate headquarters and financial institutions. CBDs also include important cultural and political institutions in addition to businesses with a more recreational function, such as hotels and restaurants. Most of the employees commute into these high priced areas, which are characterized by an employment structure comprising mobile employees in low paid, precarious jobs in the service sector, like cleaning or wait staff and high paid jobs for professionals. Some CBDs form the historical core of the city. They are represented as the city's powerhouse and are visually present in the skyline. Other cities have more than one CBD and, furthermore, not all CBDs are located in the historical center of their city. They are globally interconnected by flows of communication, finance, goods, or migration.
Gender and Culture
Authors: Moallem Minoo
Published: November 2019

Culture and gender are perhaps some of the most critical constituents of our age of globalization and transnationalism, involving power, knowledge, and the body. Gender, as the social construction of difference based on the attribution of masculinity and femininity to bodies, is an important component of culture in our contemporary societies. Both culture and gender are not ahistorical concepts but are produced historically. Reference to culture as a concept has gone through historical changes since the eighteenth century in English. In particular, since colonial modernity, both culture or cultures in plural and gender have gone through major transformations.
Decision‐Making
Authors: Vitt Lois
Published: November 2019

Decision‐making is the process by which individuals and groups identify, combine, and integrate information in order to choose one of several courses of action. Although some social psychologists and sociologists have taken up decision‐making as a focused research interest, social psychology generally is seen as informing the emerging interdisciplinary areas of the decision sciences. Decision‐making is not guided by a single theoretical framework. Rather a number of theories in which decision‐making is either implicit or explicit can be found within symbolic interactionism, exchange theory, rational choice, cognitive consistency theories, and other research on attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors. Decision‐making has symbolic importance as well. The reality is that individual and group decisions result in outcomes as significant as life and death, war and peace, prosperity and impoverishment, social justice, foreign relations, and the domestic policies of nations. Organizations can succeed or fail as a consequence of the decision‐making skills, mindsets, and practices of managers within businesses. The theories and research of sociologists and social psychologists have contributed to the decision sciences and will undoubtedly continue to fit into and work within this growing network of disciplines.
Demographic Techniques: Decomposition and Standardization
Authors: Brzozowska Zuzanna
Published: November 2019

Standardization
is a technique applied to compare indicators between groups when differences in group characteristics affect the comparison. It uses the fact that the indicator of interest can be computed as a function of characteristic‐specific indicators, and produces the so‐called
standardized
indicators, which are adjusted to differences in group characteristics. For instance, crude death rate is a sum of age‐specific death rates multiplied by their respective age‐group proportions. Age‐standardized death rate is obtained by using a common (standard) age structure for the populations compared while keeping their age‐specific rates as observed.
Decomposition
takes the procedure one step further: It allocates the difference between the crude indicators into composition‐ and indicator‐related components.
Ecology
Authors: Gross Matthias
Published: November 2019

Although the term ecology was picked up in sociology in the late nineteenth century it became a concept recognizing human societies as part of their natural and built environments during the 1920s and 1930s in the Chicago School of sociology. By the 1950s sociological (human) ecology mainly focused on the spatial distribution of human phenomena in urban areas. Only in the 1970s, with the new field of environmental sociology, did a focus on the ecosystem dependence of societies again become a topic in sociology. Today different notions of ecology help sociology to conceptualize relations between material and nonmaterial entities that shape sociological thinking and its relation to other social and natural science disciplines.
Encoding/Decoding
Authors: Yousman Bill
Published: November 2019

Encoding/decoding is an influential theoretical model of media production and consumption, first advanced by the British cultural studies scholar Stuart Hall. The central premise of the model is that the meanings preferred by television producers do not guarantee how viewers will read television programs. While the content of a program offers the raw material for viewer interpretations, audiences may respond to the preferred meaning of the program with dominant‐hegemonic, negotiated, or oppositional readings. The key assumptions behind the model have inspired generations of subsequent theorists and researchers to wrestle with the semiotic power of both media institutions and media audiences.
Family Poverty
Authors: Tickamyer Ann R.
Published: November 2019

This entry summarizes and provides an overview of the state of knowledge about poverty for families, primarily in the United States but also with comparative material. Causes, consequences, sources of data, disciplinary perspectives, and relevant policy issues are discussed.
Gender Oppression
Authors: Meszaros Julia
Published: November 2019

Gender oppression is a concept that is difficult to define, as different societies conceive of gender and oppression differently. In fact, the concept of gender oppression highlights the socially constructed nature of people's social lives and demonstrates the importance of social context.
Imagined Communities
Authors: Blackshaw Tony
Published: November 2019

When the political scientist Benedict Anderson first published his study
Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
he presented sociology with a distinctive understanding that suggested that in modern societies “community” must be understood imaginatively through narrative. This entry explores the implications of this assumption by outlining the central tenets of Anderson's thesis and his application of it to understanding the formation and persistence of the modern nation‐state.
Life Chances and Resources
Authors: Cho Ryan W. , Brand Jennie E.
Published: November 2019

Sociologists have long been interested in how the resources one has access to, which is often determined by one's class standing, affects one's life chances. Max Weber was one of the first to note that life chances were not random, and that, instead, life chances were often similar for those within the same social class. Resources typically refer to family background socioeconomic advantages; life chances indicate one's social standing in society, often measured by socioeconomic outcomes like education, occupation, and income. As resources are scarce, sociologists have attended to how unequally distributed such resources may be within a society and how that distribution of scarce resources impacts the reproduction of inequality. Life chances and resources is thus a central theme within the field of social stratification, inequality, and mobility.
Looking Glass Self
Authors: Downey Brant
Published: November 2019

The looking glass self is sociologist Charles Horton Cooley's term for the social aspect of the self that responds emotionally to the imagined judgments of others. In imagining how others are judging us in their imaginations, we respond through a variety of self‐feelings, such as pride, shame, and envy, depending on the status attributed to the other person, and the context of the interaction. In order to correct common misrepresentations of the looking glass self as a mechanical process, the concept should be understood in terms of Cooley's holistic sociology and his views that relate to human agency.
Museums
Authors: McCarthy Conal
Published: November 2019

The modern public museum developed in Europe in the nineteenth century, though its origins go back further, and by the late twentieth century could be found all around the world in a variety of different forms, sizes, and styles. Their core functions of collections, exhibitions, and programs have recently been diversified to include digital media, popular culture, and intangible heritage. From a traditional focus on education and research, museums have expanded their mission under the influence of the new museology and aim at community engagement about a host of topical social issues. The current academic study of museums owes much to sociology, particularly the work of Pierre Bourdieu, and there is now a growing literature in museum sociology exploring topics such as art, cultural identity, visitor studies, and the politics of representation.
Metrosexual
Authors: Bridges Tristan , Ota Kendall
Published: November 2019

The metrosexual refers to an identity used to describe emergent behaviors among a group of heterosexual‐identifying men in which they began to engage with fashion, behavior, and consumer practices formerly defined as “feminine” or “gay.” This entry traces the origins of the term and summarizes research on metrosexual men. Research shows that while metrosexuals demonstrate that heterosexual men are afforded more flexibility in their fashion, consumption, and behavior, these shifts have not challenged gender and sexual inequalities. In fact, sociological research shows that the metrosexual reproduces gender and sexual inequalities in new ways.
Narrative
Authors: Hyvärinen Matti
Published: November 2019

Narrative is studied as a mode of interaction and world‐making. This entry compares the sociological and literary understandings of narrative, outlines the central ways the concept is used in sociological research, and suggests some new perspectives for narrative sociology.
Play Stage
Authors: McVeigh Ryan , Puddephatt Antony
Published: November 2019

The play stage is one of the three central components of George Herbert Mead's seminal discussion of the social foundation and development of the self. According to Mead, the self has a social genesis which becomes evident if one examines the ways that people develop a sense for their own being as something separate from, but also interdependent with, other people. In essence, the self is situated in the individual's capacity to take account of him or herself. By examining children's styles of play, followed by the games they play, one can see how they develop a capacity to take into account not just the role of a singular other person, but also eventually the roles of many people simultaneously, and then the abstract group or community as a whole. It is only once a person has reached this stage of development that she or he is said to have developed a complete self.
Reflexive Modernization
Authors: Mythen Gabe
Published: November 2019

This entry outlines the derivation and content of the term “reflexive modernization,” noting its creation by Ulrich Beck, Anthony Giddens, and Scott Lash, and situating the theoretical contribution in relation to competing perspectives on the nature and constitution of the modern age. The underlying processes said to propel the process of modernization are detailed, with attention being drawn to the defining power of risk, individualization, and globalization. Tracking the contours of reflexive modernization – as defined in the work of Ulrich Beck and his collaborators – distinct phases of modernization are considered, with distinctions between “industrial modernity” and “reflexive modernity” being discussed.
School Discipline
Authors: Way Sandra
Published: November 2019

School discipline refers to a system of rules, monitoring, sanctions, and rewards implemented by school personnel with the intent of shaping student behavior. Commonly associated with teachers and principals imposing order in classrooms and corridors by exerting control and maintaining student compliance through supervision and punishment, school discipline also plays a role in educational and moral development. There is general agreement that discipline in school is necessary. The extent and nature of that discipline, however, is variable and, at times, controversial.
Sexual Geographies
Authors: Allen Louisa
Published: November 2019

For sociologists, sexuality is understood as socially constructed through social structures such as gender, class, and ethnicity. More recently, space has been recognized as another factor, implicated in the constitution of sexualities. This realization has been heightened by the “spatial turn” in the social sciences which has acknowledged a previous marginalization of space in the production of knowledge. Exploration of sexual geographies has developed out of this “turn” and has been spearheaded by the earlier, and continuing, work of geographers of sexualities. The concept of sexual geographies marks the intersection of sexualities and space and way both are mutually constitutive. That is, space shapes sexualities and sexual identities reconfigure different spaces. Studies of sexual geographies span diverse fields, including geography, sociology, health, and education. The range of these fields continues to expand with the use of digital technologies to manage sexual encounters and the reconceptualization of spatial contours this entails.
Tribalism
Authors: Trencher Susan R.
Published: November 2019

Tribalism was historically defined by scholars to refer to African and North and South American indigenous populations focused on customs and beliefs transmitted and enacted in groups (tribes) that share kinship, a way of life, property held in common, and an absence of recognized political authority beyond the group. Such tribes borrow ideas and practices from each other, as well as adopting members of other groups. British and South African social anthropologists cum sociologists, working in Africa, focused on aspects of everyday life, including ethnicity and stratification, while American anthropologists primarily studied patterns of kinship and social relationships among indigenous populations in the Americas. By the latter half of the 1960s, “tribalism” had been so inconsistently used and misapplied in scholarly work that American anthropologists called for the term to be abandoned. Simultaneously, indigenous populations themselves used tribalism to refer to “the people,” that is, groups with shared kinship, religion, property, and worldview. Tribalism and “retribalization” reemerged in the 1990s to refer to groups with shared ideologies, including religious, political, and social views, seen as incommensurate with those of nongroup members.
Widowhood
Authors: van den Hoonaard Deborah K.
Published: November 2019

This entry summarizes the social meaning of widowhood. It discusses demographic aspects of widowhood and its gendered impact. Widowhood requires building a new identity and negotiation of relationships with children and friends and requires the widowed person to adapt to living alone. Future research will have to consider same‐sex widowhood and loss of lifelong partners who were not married.
World Social Forums
Authors: Brunelle Dorval
Published: November 2019

The first World Social Forum (WSF) was convened in 2001 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, to facilitate convergence on a world scale between civil society organizations coming together to oppose a renewed extension of capitalism and domination of neoliberal politics and ideologies in the post‐Cold War context. Symbolically and strategically, its yearly meeting in January would coincide with those held in Davos, Switzerland, by the World Economic Forum, attended by the economic and political global elite. During its first six years, the WSF and its numerous offshoots achieved a resounding global success. But, starting with its seventh edition in Nairobi and the subsequent financial crisis of 2007–2008, attendance and periodicity have suffered. Causes are numerous and explanations abound, ranging from exhaustion, to competition coming from other quarters, to the discordant roles of nongovernmental organizations and civil society organizations in the global south, and to the relevance of the notion of global civil society itself. Nevertheless, today the WSF is still going strong albeit on a more modest scale.
Liposomes‐in‐Chitosan Hydrogels: Challenges and Opportunities for Biomedical Applications
Authors: Grijalvo Santiago , Eritja Ramon , Díaz David Díaz
Published: November 2019

In this article, we summarize the impact and solutions that chitosan‐based hydrogels containing liposomes have provided in biomedicine, with special emphasis on their advances in several applications such as ocular delivery, cancer, and wound dressing therapies.
Budget Impact of Funding an Intensive Diet and Exercise Program for Overweight and Obese Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis
Authors: Smith Karen C. , Losina Elena , Messier Stephen P. , Hunter David J. , Chen Angela T. , Katz Jeffrey N. , Paltiel A. David
Published: November 2019

Objective

Diet and exercise (D+E) for knee osteoarthritis (OA) is effective and cost‐effective. However, cost‐effectiveness does not imply affordability; the impact of knee OA–specific D+E programs on insurer budgets is unknown.

Methods

We estimated changes in undiscounted medical expenditures (2016 US dollars) with and without a D+E program. We accounted for both additional program outlays and potential savings from reduced use of other knee OA treatments and from reduced incidence of comorbidities. We adopted the perspective of a representative commercial insurance plan covering 200 000 individuals aged 25 to 64 years and a representative Medicare Advantage plan covering 200 000 Medicare‐eligible individuals aged 65 years and older. We used the Osteoarthritis Policy Model, a validated microsimulation model of knee OA, to model D+E efficacy (measured by pain and weight reduction), adherence, and price based on the Intensive Diet and Exercise for Arthritis (IDEA) trial. In sensitivity analyses, we varied time horizon, D+E efficacy, and D+E price.

Results

Over 3 years, the D+E program increased spending by $752 200 ($0.10 per member per month [PMPM]) in the commercial plan and by $6.0 million ($0.84 PMPM) in the Medicare plan. Over 3 years, the D+E program reduced opioid use by 6% and 5% and reduced total knee replacements by 5% and 4% in the commercial and Medicare plans, respectively. Expenses were higher in the Medicare plan because it had more patients with knee OA than the commercial plan.

Conclusion

Although there is no established threshold to define affordability, a D+E program for knee OA would likely produce expenditures comparable with outlays for other health‐promotion interventions.
Structural Color of Colloidal Clusters as a Tool to Investigate Structure and Dynamics
Authors: Wang Junwei , Sultan Umair , Goerlitzer Eric S. A. , Mbah Chrameh Fru , Engel Michael , Vogel Nicolas
Published: November 2019

Colloidal assemblies have applications as photonic crystals and templates for functional porous materials. While there has been significant progress in controlling colloidal assemblies into defined structures, their 3D order remains difficult to characterize. Simple, low‐cost techniques are sought that characterize colloidal structures and assist optimization of process parameters. Here, structural color is presented to image the structure and dynamics of colloidal clusters prepared by a confined self‐assembly process in emulsion droplets. It is shown that characteristic anisotropic structural color motifs such as circles, stripes, triangles, or bowties arise from the defined interior grain geometry of such colloidal clusters. The optical detection of these motifs reliably distinguishes icosahedral, decahedral, and face‐centered cubic colloidal clusters and thus enables a simple yet precise characterization of their internal structure. In addition, the rotational motion and dynamics of such micrometer‐scale clusters suspended in a liquid can be followed in real time via their anisotropic coloration. Finally, monitoring the evolution of structural color provides real‐time information about the crystallization pathway within the confining emulsion droplet. Together, this work demonstrates that structural color is a simple and versatile tool to characterize the structure and dynamic properties of colloidal clusters.
Artificial Perspiration Membrane by Programmed Deformation of Thermoresponsive Hydrogels
Authors: Kim Junsoo , Im Solyee , Kim Jeong Hun , Kim Sang Moon , Lee Seung‐Min , Lee Jaewoo , Im Jong Pil , Woo Jiyong , Moon Seung Eon
Published: November 2019

Thermal management is essential for living organisms and electronic devices to survive and maintain their own functions. However, developing flexible cooling devices for flexible electronics or biological systems is challenging because conventional coolers are bulky and require rigid batteries. In nature, skins help to maintain a constant body temperature by dissipating heat through perspiration. Inspired by nature, an artificial perspiration membrane that automatically regulates evaporation depending on temperature using the programmed deformation of thermoresponsive hydrogels is presented. The thermoresponsive hydrogel is patterned into pinwheel shapes and supported by a polymeric rigid frame with stable adhesion using copolymerization. Both shape of the valve and mechanical constraint of the frame allow six times larger evaporation area in the open state compared to the closed state, and the transition occurs at a fast rate (≈1 s). A stretchable membrane is selectively coated to prevent unintended evaporation through the hydrogel while allowing swelling or shrinking of the hydrogel by securing path of water. Consequently, a 30% reduction in evaporation is observed at lower temperature, resulting in regulation of the skin temperature at the thermal model of human skins. This simple, small, and flexible cooler will be useful for maintaining temperature of flexible devices.
Adsorption‐Catalysis Design in the Lithium‐Sulfur Battery
Authors: Zhang Miao , Chen Wei , Xue Lanxin , Jiao Yu , Lei Tianyu , Chu Junwei , Huang Jianwen , Gong Chuanhui , Yan Chaoyi , Yan Yichao , Hu Yin , Wang Xianfu , Xiong Jie
Published: November 2019

Lithium‐sulfur (Li‐S) batteries are one of the most promising next‐generation energy‐storage systems. Nevertheless, the sluggish sulfur redox and shuttle effect in Li‐S batteries are the major obstacles to their commercial application. Previous investigations on adsorption for LiPSs have made great progress but cannot restrain the shuttle effect. Catalysts can enhance the reaction kinetics, and then alleviate the shuttle effect. The synergistic relationship between adsorption and catalysis has become the hotspot for research into suppressing the shuttle effect and improving battery performance. Herein, the adsorption‐catalysis synergy in Li‐S batteries is reviewed, the adsorption‐catalysis designs are divided into four categories: adsorption‐catalysis for LiPSs aggregation, polythionate or thiosulfate generation, and sulfur radical formation, as well as other adsorption‐catalysis. Then advanced strategies, future perspectives, and challenges are proposed to aim at long‐life and high‐efficiency Li‐S batteries.
Realizing Reversible Conversion‐Alloying of Sb(V) in Polyantimonic Acid for Fast and Durable Lithium‐ and Potassium‐Ion Storage
Authors: Wang Boya , Deng Zhiwen , Xia Yuting , Hu Jiaxuan , Li Hongju , Wu Hao , Zhang Qiaobao , Zhang Yun , Liu Huakun , Dou Shixue
Published: November 2019

Finding suitable electrode materials for alkali‐metal‐ion storage is vital to the next‐generation energy‐storage technologies. Polyantimonic acid (PAA, H2Sb2O6 · nH2O), having pentavalent antimony species and an interconnected tunnel‐like pyrochlore crystal framework, is a promising high‐capacity energy‐storage material. Fabricating electrochemically reversible PAA electrode materials for alkali‐metal‐ion storage is a challenge and has never been reported due to the extremely poor intrinsic electronic conductivity of PAA associated with the highest oxidation state Sb(V). Combining nanostructure engineering with a conductive‐network construction strategy, here is reported a facile one‐pot synthesis protocol for crafting uniform internal‐void‐containing PAA nano‐octahedra in a composite with nitrogen‐doped reduced graphene oxide nanosheets (PAA⊂N‐RGO), and for the first time, realizing the reversible storage of both Li+ and K+ ions in PAA⊂N‐RGO. Such an architecture, as validated by theoretical calculations and ex/in situ experiments, not only fully takes advantage of the large‐sized tunnel transport pathways (0.37 nm2) of PAA for fast solid‐phase ionic diffusion but also leads to exponentially increased electrical conductivity (3.3 S cm−1 in PAA⊂N‐RGO vs 4.8 × 10−10 S cm−1 in bare‐PAA) and yields an inside‐out buffer function for accommodating volume expansion. Compared to electrochemically irreversible bare‐PAA, PAA⊂N‐RGO manifests reversible conversion‐alloying of Sb(V) toward fast and durable Li+‐ and K+‐ion storage.
Toward Structural Competency in Emergency Medical Education
Authors: Salhi Bisan A. , Tsai Jennifer W. , Druck Jeffrey , Ward‐Gaines Jacqueline , White Melissa H. , Lopez Bernard L.
Published: November 2019

As the emergency department (ED) is the “front door” of the hospital and the primary site by which most patients access the health care system, issues of inequity are especially salient for emergency medicine (EM) practice. Improving the health of ED patients, especially those who are stigmatized and disenfranchised, depends on having emergency physicians that are cognizant and attentive to their needs in and out of the medical encounter. EM resident education has traditionally incorporated a “cultural competency” model to equip residents with tools to combat individual bias and stigma. Although this framework has been influential in drawing attention to health inequities, it has also been criticized for its potential to efface differences within groups (such as socioeconomic differences), overstate cultural or racial differences, and unintentionally reinforce stereotypes or blaming of patients for their ill health or difficult circumstances. In contrast, emerging frameworks of structural competency call for physicians to recognize the ways in which health outcomes are influenced by complex, interrelated structural forces (e.g., poverty, racism, gender discrimination, immigration policy) and to attend to these causes of poor health. We present here the framework of structural competency, extending it to the unique ED setting. We provide tangible illustrations of the ways in which this framework is relevant to the ED setting and can be incorporated in EM education.
Coarse grained computational fluid dynamic simulation of sands and biomass fluidization with a hybrid drag
Authors: Lu Liqiang , Gao Xi , Shahnam Mehrdad , Rogers William A.
Published: November 2019

The bubbling fluidized bed reactor is widely used in fast pyrolysis of biomass. Discrete simulation of this reactor is challenging due to many sand particles and lack of accurate drag corrections accounting for the interaction of two different solid particles with different properties. In this research, the computational cost is reduced by using the coarse‐grained computational fluid dynamic‐discrete element method, where many sand particles are lumped into a larger numerical parcel. The Syamlal–O'Brien drag model is used for sand, while Ganser correction coupled with Gidaspow model is used for the nonspherical biomass particles. This hybrid approach shows superior behavior over other drag models using pressure drops as a benchmark. The predicted bed height and pressure fluctuating frequencies compare well with experiment. The mixing of biomass is close to perfect if the superficial velocity is larger than four times the minimum fluidization velocity.
Highly Selective Recovery of Lanthanides by Using a Layered Vanadate with Acid and Radiation Resistance
Authors: Sun Haiyan , Liu Yang , Lin Jian , Yue Zenghui , Li Weian , Jin Jiance , Sun Qian , Ai Yuejie , Feng Meiling , Huang Xiaoying
Published: November 2019

It is of vital importance to capture lanthanides (nuclear fission products) from waste solutions for radionuclide remediation owing to their hazards. The effective separation of lanthanides are achieved by an acid/base‐stable and radiation‐resistant vanadate, namely, [Me2NH2]V3O7 (1). It exhibits high adsorption capacities for lanthanides (qmEu=161.4 mg g−1; qmSm=139.2 mg g−1). And high adsorption capacities are maintained over a pH range of 2.0–6.9 (qmEu=75.1 mg g−1 at low pH of 2.5). It displays high selectivity for Eu3+ (simulant of An3+) against a large excess of interfering ions. It can efficiently separate Eu3+ and Cs+ (or Sr2+) with the highest separation factor SFEu/Cs of 156 (SFEu/Sr of 134) to date. The adsorption mechanism is revealed by calculations and XPS, EXAFS, Raman, and elemental analyses. These merits combined with facile synthesis and convenient elution makes the title vanadate a promising lanthanide scavenger for environmental remediation.
Enantioselective Total Syntheses of Lyconadins A–E through a Palladium‐Catalyzed Heck‐Type Reaction
Authors: Zhang Jiayang , Yan Yangtian , Hu Rong , Li Ting , Bai Wen‐Ju , Yang Yang
Published: November 2019

A novel palladium‐catalyzed Heck‐type reaction of thiocarbamates has been designed to construct bridged seven‐membered‐ring systems that are otherwise challenging to prepare. Taking advantage of this newly developed method, enantioselective syntheses of lyconadins A–E (1–5), lycopecurine (6), and dehydrolycopecurine (7) have been realized in a divergent fashion. Our synthetic strategy also features an intramolecular cyclization of a N‐chloroamine to forge the C6−N bond, a transannular Mannich‐type reaction of a cyclic nitrone to stitch the C4 and C13 together, and a cyclocondensation to deliver the (dihydro‐)pyridone motif.
Regulating the Spin State of FeIII by Atomically Anchoring on Ultrathin Titanium Dioxide for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Electrocatalysis
Authors: Shen Guoqiang , Zhang Rongrong , Pan Lun , Hou Fang , Zhao Yingjie , Shen Zeyu , Mi Wenbo , Shi Chengxiang , Wang Qingfa , Zhang Xiangwen , Zou Ji‐Jun
Published: November 2019

Ferric oxides and (oxy)hydroxides, although plentiful and low‐cost, are rarely considered for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) owing to the too high spin state (eg filling ca. 2.0) suppressing the bonding strength with reaction intermediates. Now, a facile adsorption–oxidation strategy is used to anchor FeIII atomically on an ultrathin TiO2 nanobelt to synergistically lower the spin state (eg filling ca. 1.08) to enhance the adsorption with oxygen‐containing intermediates and improve the electro‐conductibility for lower ohmic loss. The electronic structure of the catalyst is predicted by DFT calculation and perfectly confirmed by experimental results. The catalyst exhibits superior performance for OER with overpotential 270 mV @10 mA cm−2 and 376 mV @100 mA cm−2 in alkaline solution, which is much better than IrO2/C and RuO2/C and is the best iron‐based OER catalyst free of active metals such as Ni, Co, or precious metals.
Stereoselective Base‐Catalyzed 1,1‐Silaboration of Terminal Alkynes
Authors: Gu Yiting , Duan Yaya , Shen Yangyang , Martin Ruben
Published: November 2019

A base‐catalyzed reaction that enables stereoselective 1,1‐silaboration of terminal alkynes is described. This method not only offers a new strategy to functionalize simple and readily accessible alkynes beyond 1,2‐difunctionalization, but also provides an unconventional atom‐ and step‐economical approach to rapidly and reliably access versatile geminal silylboranes in the absence of transition metals and with exquisite stereoselectivity.
A Unified Total Synthesis of the Actinoallolides, a Family of Potent Anti‐Trypanosomal Macrolides
Authors: Anketell Matthew J. , Sharrock Theodore M. , Paterson Ian
Published: November 2019

Trypanosoma protozoan parasites are the causative agents of Chagas disease and sleeping sickness, two neglected tropical diseases where there is an urgent need for improved treatments and the evaluation of promising drug leads like the actinoallolides. Enabled by the highly stereocontrolled aldol reactions of three chiral ketone building blocks, an efficient first total synthesis of the potent anti‐trypanosomal macrolide (+)‐actinoallolide A has been achieved in 17 steps and 8 % overall yield. Our convergent route features an adventurous ring‐closing metathesis to form the requisite trisubstituted (8E)‐alkene in the 12‐membered macrolactone, followed by the controlled installation of the labile transannular hemiacetal. Late‐stage diversification then provides ready access to the congeneric (+)‐actinoallolides B–E.
Development and Elucidation of a Pd‐Based Cyclization–Oxygenation Sequence for Natural Product Synthesis
Authors: Yi Heng , Hu Pengfei , Snyder Scott A.
Published: November 2019

Pd‐catalyzed sequences involving oxidative addition, cyclization, and termination through intermolecular nucleophile capture have tremendous utility. Indeed, they can generate a plethora of different polycyclic structures possessing a diverse range of functionality. However, one area of deficiency for Pd0/PdII variants is the ability to conclude them with oxygen‐based species. Inspired by the recent discovery of one such reaction in the course of a total synthesis program, we delineate herein that it has significant strength, both in terms of substrate scope as well as the terminating oxygen nucleophile. As a result, the reaction proved critical in achieving total syntheses of two oxygenated natural products, one of which was prone to over‐oxidation. Finally, a mechanistic proposal that accounts for its success is provided.
Antifeeding effects of azadirachtin on the fifth instar Spodoptera litura larvae and the analysis of azadirachtin on target sensilla around mouthparts
Authors: Qin Deqiang , Zhang Peiwen , Zhou You , Liu Benju , Xiao Chunxia , Chen Weibin , Zhang Zhixiang
Published: November 2019

To clarify the types, number, and distribution of sensilla on the head of the fifth instar Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) larvae and identify the main sensilla of azadirachtin acting on larvae, scanning electron microscopy was used to study the morphology of the head and sensilla on the mouthparts. The four sensilla—sensillum basiconicum, sensillum chaeticum, sensillum styloconicum, and sensillum trichodeum—on the head of the fifth instar larvae were treated with 0, 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 mg/kg azadirachtin by a microdrop method. The larvae showed an obvious antifeeding effect with azadirachtin. And higher the concentration of azadirachtin, the more obvious the phenomenon of antifeeding activity. The sensillum styloconicum and the sensillum trichodeum were the main sensilla for azadirachtin. When 1 mg/kg azadirachtin was used to treat sensillum styloconicum and sensillum basiconicum, the fifth instar larvae of S. litura showed obvious antifeedant activity and the cumulative feed intake for 24 hr was no more than 30% of the leaf area. Quantitative reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction verified the expression patterns of some Grs, indicating that Grst43a was upregulated by 1.3‐ and 3.9‐fold, Gor24 was upregulated by 2.5‐ and 3.3‐fold, Gr5a was downregulated by 0.6‐fold and upregulated by 2.0‐fold, and Gr28a was downregulated by 0.8‐fold and upregulated by 3.6‐fold upon treatment with 0.5 mg/kg and 1 mg/kg azadirachtin in 24 hr. Gr genes participated in the identification of bitterness and we speculated that Gr genes may indirectly lead to the occurrence of antifeeding behavior.
Registry of Buildings With Transformer Stations as a Basis for Epidemiological Studies on Health Effects of Extremely Low‐Frequency Magnetic Fields
Authors: Khan Muhammad Waseem , Juutilainen Jukka , Roivainen Päivi
Published: November 2019

Buildings with indoor transformer stations may serve as a basis for improved epidemiological studies on the health effects of extremely low‐frequency magnetic fields (ELF MFs). Previous studies have shown that ELF MF exposure can be adequately assessed based on the fact that MF levels are high in apartments directly above transformers. In this paper, we describe the creation of a registry of Finnish residential buildings with built‐in transformer stations and discuss its usability in epidemiological studies. Information obtained from electric utilities and building blueprints were used to identify 677 buildings in which an apartment was located above or adjacent to a transformer station. All apartments in these buildings were classified into exposure categories based on their location in relation to the transformer. Residential histories of these buildings were obtained from the Population Register Centre. Out of the 287,668 individuals who have resided in the buildings, 9,126 of them have resided in an apartment located directly above a transformer station. All information was collected without contacting residents, thus avoiding selection bias. The registry can be linked with data from high‐quality nationwide registries to confirm or challenge the reported associations of ELF MF exposure and diseases such as cancer, miscarriage, and Alzheimer's disease. Bioelectromagnetics. 2020;41:34–40 © 2019 Bioelectromagnetics Society.
Assuring Clonality on the Beacon Digital Cell Line Development Platform
Authors: Le Kim , Tan Christopher , Le Huong , Tat Jasmine , Zasadzinska Ewelina , Diep Jonathan , Zastrow Ryan , Chen Chun , Stevens Jennitte
Published: November 2019

During biomanufacturing cell lines development, the generation and screening for single‐cell derived subclones using methods that enable assurance of clonal derivation can be resource‐ and time‐intensive. High‐throughput miniaturization, automation, and analytic strategies are often employed to reduce such bottlenecks. The Beacon platform from Berkeley Lights offers a strategy to eliminate these limitations through culturing, manipulating, and characterizing cells on custom nanofluidic chips via software‐controlled operations. However, explicit demonstration of this technology to provide high assurance of a single cell progenitor has not been reported. Here, a methodology that utilizes the Beacon instrument to ensure high levels of clonality is described. It is demonstrated that the Beacon platform can efficiently generate production cell lines with a superior clonality data package, detailed tracking, and minimal resources. A stringent in‐process quality control strategy is established to enable rapid verification of clonal origin, and the workflow is validated using representative Chinese hamster ovary‐derived cell lines stably expressing either green or red fluorescence protein. Under these conditions, a >99% assurance of clonal origin is achieved, which is comparable to existing imaging‐coupled fluorescence‐activated cell sorting seeding methods.
Alexithymia and anhedonia in early Richardson's syndrome and progressive supranuclear palsy with predominant parkinsonism
Authors: Assogna Francesca , Pellicano Clelia , Cravello Luca , Savini Cinzia , Macchiusi Lucia , Pierantozzi Mariangela , Stefani Alessandro , Mercuri Bruno , Caltagirone Carlo , Pontieri Francesco E. , Spalletta Gianfranco
Published: November 2019

Introduction

Phenotypic variants of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) are all characterized by the combination of motor symptoms of parkinsonism with a number of neuropsychiatric and cognitive disorders. Despite the strong effort in characterizing these features in PSP, alexithymia and anhedonia have not been investigated at present. Here, we aimed at investigating the qualitative and quantitative differences of alexithymia and anhedonia in the two more frequent variants of PSP, Richardson's syndrome (PSP‐RS) and PSP with predominant parkinsonism (PSP‐P) compared to Parkinson's disease (PD) patients recruited within 24 months after the onset of motor symptoms.

Methods

One hundred fifty‐five PD, 11 PSP‐P, and 14 PSP‐RS patients underwent clinical, neuropsychiatric, and neuropsychological evaluations. Alexithymia was assessed using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale‐20 item (TAS‐20), and hedonic tone was measured by the Snaith–Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS).

Results

In PSP‐P and PSP‐RS patients, the frequency of alexithymia diagnosis was higher than in PD. On the TAS‐20 scores, PSP‐RS performed worse in the total score and in F2 sub‐scale when compared to PD. Among patients with diagnosis of depression, PSP‐RS showed higher scores in TAS‐20 total and TAS‐20 F2 than PD. No significant differences in TAS‐20 scores were found in nondepressed patients. Finally, we did not find significant differences among PD, PSP‐P, and PSP‐RS groups in the SHAPS scores.

Conclusions

Alexithymia is identifiable very early in PSP‐P and PSP‐RS patients. Alexithymic symptoms differentiate PSP‐RS group from PD group but not between the two subtypes of PSP. Further, alexithymia in PSP seems to be predicted by the presence of depression. Altered emotional capability could be related to specific neurophysiological dysfunction occurring precociously in PSP; therefore, its identification could orient the diagnosis toward PSP cases.
2D or 3D? How cell motility measurements are conserved across dimensions in vitro and translate in vivo
Authors: Galarza Sualyneth , Kim Hyuna , Atay Naciye , Peyton Shelly R. , Munson Jennifer M.
Published: November 2019

Cell motility is a critical aspect of several processes, such as wound healing and immunity; however, it is dysregulated in cancer. Current limitations of imaging tools make it difficult to study cell migration in vivo. To overcome this, and to identify drivers from the microenvironment that regulate cell migration, bioengineers have developed 2D (two‐dimensional) and 3D (three‐dimensional) tissue model systems in which to study cell motility in vitro, with the aim of mimicking elements of the environments in which cells move in vivo. However, there has been no systematic study to explicitly relate and compare cell motility measurements between these geometries or systems. Here, we provide such analysis on our own data, as well as across data in existing literature to understand whether, and which, metrics are conserved across systems. To our surprise, only one metric of cell movement on 2D surfaces significantly and positively correlates with cell migration in 3D environments (percent migrating cells), and cell invasion in 3D has a weak, negative correlation with glioblastoma invasion in vivo. Finally, to compare across complex model systems, in vivo data, and data from different labs, we suggest that groups report an effect size, a statistical tool that is most translatable across experiments and labs, when conducting experiments that affect cellular motility.
Ultrasound guided vascular access site management and left ventricular pacing are associated with improved outcomes in contemporary transcatheter aortic valve replacement: Insights from the OxTAVI registry
Authors: Kotronias Rafail A. , Scarsini Roberto , De Maria Giovanni L. , Rajasundaram Skanda , Sayeed Rana , Krasopoulos George , Grebenik Catherine , Keiralla Amar , Newton James D. , Banning Adrian P. , Kharbanda Rajesh K.
Published: November 2019

Objectives

To identify clinical and procedural practice predictors of avoidable complications during transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).

Background

TAVR is evolving as a viable strategy for treatment of aortic stenosis (AS). Vascular complications, major bleeding, or pericardial tamponade may be influenced by procedural practice.

Methods

The Oxford TAVR (OxTAVI) prospective registry was retrospectively analyzed to identify predictors of avoidable procedural complications in a contemporary cohort of transfemoral TAVR between January 2015 and September 2018. The primary endpoint was defined as a hierarchic composite of in‐hospital mortality, pericardial effusion/cardiac tamponade, major bleeding, and vascular access complications. Individual components of the primary endpoint have been analyzed separately.

Results

Five‐hundred‐twenty‐nine patients underwent transfemoral TAVR using contemporary techniques during the study period and were enrolled in the OxTAVI registry.

Female sex and high frailty were associated with a higher risk of death, major bleeding, vascular complication or pericardial tamponade. The use of ultrasound (US) guidance for vascular access management was independently associated with a reduced composite primary endpoint (OR = 0.35, CI:0.14–0.86, p = .02) after adjustment for clinical confounders, largely driven by a threefold reduction in vascular access complication (OR = 0.29, CI:0.15–0.55, p < .001). Performing rapid pacing via the left ventricle guidewire (LV‐GW) was associated with a significant decrease in the risk of cardiac tamponade/pericardial effusion (OR = 0.19, CI:0.05–0.66, p = .009).

Conclusion

US‐guided vascular access management and rapid pacing via the LV‐GW are important determinants of reduced procedural complications during TAVR.
Conductive Gels Based on Modified Agarose Embedded with Gold Nanoparticles and their Application as a Conducting Support for Shewanella Oneidensis MR‐1
Authors: Suravaram Sindhu K. , Smith David K. , Parkin Alison , Chechik Victor
Published: November 2019

Shewanella oneidensis is an electrogenic microbe which could be more widely applied in biosensing and fuel cell applications if better methods existed to promote electrode‐biofilm formation. This paper reports a simple procedure that converts agarose, a cheap and readily available polymer, into a modified “MAgarose” material which will form biocompatible hydrogels that embed gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) along the fibers to yield a composite material with a conductivity ca. 80 times higher than an unmodified agarose‐AuNP gel. Proof‐of‐concept bioelectrochemical experiments using Shewanella oneidensis show that when these MAgarose‐AuNP gels are used to coat carbon veil there is a 10‐fold increase in oxidative microbial current production when tested in a 3‐electrode cell set‐up. Microscopy results show that this can be attributed to the ability of the composite hydrogel to support MR‐1 growth throughout the 3D matrix.