bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Suburb and the Field: Charity Work
Authors: Sofie Schøtt Anne
Published: May 2022

This chapter investigates how Kurdish humanitarian activism unfolds in the ‘suburb’ and the ‘field’, focusing on support events in Denmark within the Kurdish community as well as delivery of relief to Kurds in the homeland. The analysis covers a wide range of humanitarian activities from charity dinners to online fundraising. Examining how the humanitarian activists mobilised in response to specific events in the homeland, the chapter finds that the activists share a strong feeling of the urge to alleviate human suffering. However, the chapter also examines how the humanitarian principles uphold by the activists are challenged by actors who seek to exclusively restrict the aid to Kurdish victims. The analysis also addresses the various practical obstacles the activists meet vis-à-vis authorities and non-state actors both in Denmark and in the field. Finally, the chapter discusses how being involved in humanitarian activism pushes the Kurds in different directions with regard to identifying as a Kurd in a diasporic setting.
Introduction ‘A kind of childlikeness’ – Katherine Mansfield and Children
Authors: Kimber Gerri
Published: May 2022

Understanding Mansfield the child is the key to unlocking Mansfield the adult. No amount of biographical research can compete with Mansfield’s own portrait of herself in the guise of Kezia in the Burnell stories. If you want to understand the essence of her much-loved uncle, Val Waters, his spirit is to be found in Jonathan Trout. All the characters from Mansfield’s childhood – even walk-on parts for outsiders, such as ‘Old Tar’ – are present in her fiction. In particular, the delineation in her fiction of children and young adults reveals a remarkable ability to enter into the mind of her subject, where the smallest details illuminate the bigger picture. In addition, as an adult, Mansfield’s relationship with her husband John Middleton Murry was characterised by their mutual descriptions of themselves as little children fighting against a corrupt world.
Short Story
Authors: Hoover Michael , Humberd Daniel
Published: May 2022

This short story follows the widower Mr. Brill as he works through the stages of grief. Inspired by Katherine Mansfield’s short story Miss Brill, the story attempts to mirror the style and tone of the original while exploring similar themes told from a more modern perspective. It addresses the timeless topics of love, anger, grief, and how his world changes following the acceptance of traumatic loss. Through recollections of his lost love over the course of a game he thought he would never play again, Mr. Brill gains a new understanding of a worldview very different from his own.
Creative Essay
Authors: Macansantos Monica
Published: May 2022

This chapter describes how one can make sense of one’s pandemic-related grief by reading the stories of Katherine Mansfield, who lived through the First World War and the Spanish Flu pandemic and was no stranger to loss. The author describes how she found solace in the stories of Katherine Mansfield during the pandemic, whose strength in confronting her personal losses as well as her own impending death after being diagnosed with tuberculosis helped the author deal with her own grief and despair. The author also explains how Mansfield’s stories allowed some light into her life during the first few months of the pandemic in the Philippines, while also giving her space to grieve. Death is a constant presence in Mansfield’s stories without dampening life’s radiance, and reading her work can teach us how to celebrate life while also acknowledging our grief.
INTRODUCtion: Transatlantic Literary Culture and the Uses of Authority
Authors: Sommer Tim
Published: May 2022

The introduction details the theoretical premises of the book’s argument and highlights its contribution to recent critical conversations about a number of different transatlantic archives beyond the textual. The chapter provides an overview of the authority concept and illustrates how it helps to illuminate nineteenth-century transatlantic culture through making such different archives speak to one another. The chapter illustrates how conflicts over authority manifested themselves in the institutional spheres discussed in greater detail in the book’s main part: first, print culture and the transatlantic literary marketplace (the relationship between cultural authority and market dominance, and the authorisation strategies that writers and publishers devised to ward off transatlantic piracy); second, the nineteenth-century Anglo-American lecture system (public speaking as a cultural practice revolving around performative authority).
Usable Pasts: Anglo-American Literature and the Authority of Tradition
Authors: Sommer Tim
Published: May 2022

This chapter analyses how discussions about race and nationhood surfaced in nineteenth-century British and American literary criticism and literary historiography. It discusses Carlyle’s and Emerson’s writings about the relationship between literature and nationality and argues that, drawing on a handful of near-contemporary German and French authors, they positioned themselves at the crossroads of cultural nationalism and literary cosmopolitanism. The second half of the chapter explains how Carlyle and Emerson conceptualised continuity and change in literary history and highlights the role of Romantic expressivism in their nation-centred poetics. The two developed conflicting accounts of English literary history: where Carlyle’s narrative emphasised the past achievement and future global dominance of metropolitan writing, Emerson tended to invest in the authority of the English canon to locate the future of a specifically Anglo-American tradition in the cultural periphery.
Hazarding All
Authors: Budick Sanford
Published: May 2022

Hazarding All focuses on the second half of Shakespeare’s career, which pivots (even far more significantly than Stephen Greenblatt has noted) on the conceptual and theatrical breakthroughs of Hamlet. The book is structured on a series of pairings of plays: Hamlet and As You Like It; The Merchant of Venice and Othello; and King Lear and The Winter’s Tale. Each pairing discloses Shakespeare’s effort to achieve intersubjectivity by negating the theatricalising impulses of the ego. He achieves this by means, in fact, of a highly demanding species of theatricalisation. In these texts Shakespeare’s language of theatrical representation, as well as the structure of theatrical scenes, repeatedly employs the figure of chiasmus to create an empty mid-space—a “negativity”—that is coordinated with an intricate language of the “nothing.” In partnership with the playwright, the spectator thus experiences this special “nothing” at the centre of these plays. The eclipsing of ego and the sharing of consciousness that result from this experience are at times incipiently experienced by characters within the plays. Yet the more significant achievement of this sharing of consciousness is generated between the consciousnesses of the playwright and the spectator, each in the condition of what Husserl would call onlookers (“God’s spies,” as Lear will phrase it) to the bracketed fictions of the plays themselves.
Chaoid Cinema
Authors: Gardner Colin
Published: May 2022

The book expands on a burgeoning area in contemporary film studies that explores absences and interstices such as black and white screens that interrupt the film narrative in order to explore buried or hidden philosophical and affective layers that, once revealed, will radically change our reading of the film. In this case I explore silences in the soundtrack – not ambient silence or so-called ‘room tone’ but complete sound drop-outs, as if the film projector had broken down, thereby jolting the audience out of their passive relationship to the screen so that they become aware of their surroundings and the material apparatus of film as a mechanical device. The book uses a chronological case study approach so that these dislocations can be analyzed in a wide variety of contexts, ranging from early sound film in Weimar Germany to the post-war French avant-garde, the student and worker uprisings of May ’68, Cinema Nôvo in Brazil and post-revolutionary cinema in Iran. The main conceptual underpinning of the book is Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of Chaoids, which are various organizations of chaos through the different disciplines of science, philosophy and art. In this case I use silence to pursue a variety of vectors that open up the surface plane of art (in this case cinema) to discover different philosophical (and by extension, political) singularities and multiplicities.
‘There is No Film. Let Us Proceed to the Debates!’: Immanence as ‘Syncinema’ in Maurice Lemaître’s Le film est déjà commencé ? (1951) and Guy Debord’s Hurlements en faveur de Sade (1952)
Authors: Gardner Colin
Published: May 2022

This chapter focuses on the Lettrist experiments in ‘discrepant cinema’ that were a major influence on the ciné-club circuit in Paris in the early 1950s. Triggered by Isidore Isou’s seminal Traité de bave et d’éternité (1951), their main objective was to break the stranglehold of film’s so-called ‘amplic’ phase, where everything, including sound, serves the organizing principle of the dominant narrative image, and to replace it with a ‘chiseling’ phase, where sound exists purely for itself, relegating the image to a marginalized background or blank screen. This was taken to further extremes by Maurice Lemaître’s Le film est déjà commencé (1951) which focused on what he called syncinema or ‘séance de cinema,’ where deliberately staged interruptions and scandals were written into the script to disrupt the screening: e.g. firing bullets at the screen, refusing to show the last reel, and hiring actors dressed as gendarmes to arrest the audience at the end. Debord’s Hurlements takes this to its logical Situationist conclusion, whereby the screen goes black for extended periods between speaking parts (which are themselves accompanied by a blank white screen), tearing holes in the surface of spoken and cinematic language to disclose an alternative ontological layer of endless possibilities.
Az angiotenzinreceptor-blokkoló/neprilizininhibitor (ARNI) terápia eredményessége a szívelégtelenség kezelésében : 2021 ARNI, VIDI, VICI...
Authors: Várallyay Zoltán , Kékes Ede
Published: May 2022

Az ARNI (valzartán/szakubitril) terápia egy új típusú hatástani csoport tagjaként számos klinikai evidenciával rendelkezik a szívelégtelenség szinte teljes spektrumában, különösen csökkent bal kamrai ejekciós frakció és társult hypertonia esetén. Bemutatjuk az ARNI-kezeléssel foglalkozó, legfontosabb és megfelelő evidenciával rendelkező alapvető tanulmányokat és a kezelés eredményességét szívelégtelenségben. A vizsgálatok kedvező eredményei alapján a szakmai irányelvekben egyre meghatározóbb ajánlásként jelenik meg az ARNI adásának az indikációja. Alkalmazása a mindennapi klinikai gyakorlatban hatékony, biztonságos terápiás segítséget jelent az ismerten rossz prognózisú szívelégtelenségben szenvedő betegek számára. A szer már hazánkban is elérhetővé vált.
A krónikus stressz szerepe az essentialis hypertonia kialakulásában : A rilmenidin helye a stressz által kiváltott hypertonia kezelésében
Authors: Simonyi Gábor
Published: May 2022

A hypertonia a cardiovascularis betegségek egyik önálló rizikótényezője. Kialakulásában számos tényező játszik szerepet. Ezek közül a krónikus stressz a szimpatikus aktivitás fokozásán keresztül eredményezheti a magasvérnyomás-betegség kialakulását. A szimpatikus idegrendszeri aktivitás emelkedésének jeleit elsősorban a hypertonia kezdeti – perctérfogat-fokozódással járó – szakaszában észlelhetjük. A szimpatikus aktivitás fokozódása a hemodinamikai következményeken (perctérfogat-emelkedés, tachycardia, coronariavasoconstrictio, proarrhythmia) túl számos kedvezőtlen következménnyel járhat. A metabolikus (inzulinrezisztencia, dyslipidaemia), strukturális és trofikus hatásokon túl (endotheldiszfunkció, vascularis hypertrophia, myocardium-hypertrophia), thromboticus és humorális (prokoaguláció, thrombocytaaggregáció-fokozódás, nátriumretenció, renin-angiotenzin-aldoszteron tengely aktivációja) folyamatok indulhatnak el, amelyek több támadásponton károsíthatják a szervezet működését. A fokozott szimpatikus aktivitás kedvező befolyásolására számos antihypertensiv gyógyszercsoport áll rendelkezésünkre. Idetartoznak a perifériásan ható alfa- és béta-blokkolók, továbbá a centrálisan ható vegyületek. Ez utóbbiak első generációját (például clonidin, guanfacin, alfa-metildopa) – jelentős mellékhatásprofiljuk miatt – jelenleg ritkán, egyáltalán nem vagy csak szűk indikációs körben alkalmazzuk. A második generációs, centrálisan ható vegyületek közül a rilmenidin, az imidazolin-I1-receptorok stimulációjának útján fejti ki kedvező hatásait, amelyeket kihasználhatunk a szimpatikus idegrendszer fokozott aktivitásával járó enyhe vagy mérsékelt hypertoniában.
Cacoepy (bad pronunciation or mispronunciation) of scientific terms and their effect on learning of secondary level science students
Authors: Ali Syed Shujaat , Kamal Tayyab , Sharif Muhammad Muazzam , Hussain Mubasher , Rasheed Arsalan
Published: May 2022

This research investigates cacoepy of science terminology encountered by the secondary level school students of Kohat district. The problem of cacoepy of scientific terms needs investigation due to the assumption that mispronunciations if learned in secondary level were still frequently performed by the advanced level students or may be throughout their life. The current research was designed in order to identify the cacoepy of common science terminologies by secondary school students and to study the science teachers’ views on secondary level science textbooks produced by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textbook board. It was found that majority of the students like science subjects and find the terminologies difficult in which most of the terms contain more than 7 alphabets and were considered as complex terms. Due to this complexity, students feel difficulty in learning of scientific terms. Most of science terms were derived from Greek, Latin and other ancient languages, so students cannot understand their meanings. Almost every chapter of secondary school biology, chemistry and physics is overloaded with difficult terms and students felt difficulty in preparation of those subjects in which mostly difficult terms were found in biology. Usually, science teachers prioritize goals for school science that are solely focused on preparing students for the next academic level (for future formal study of science) and completing his course within the sessions while disregarding the students' pronunciation of scientific terms. It is advised that authors use basic phrases and limit terminology with more than seven alphabets. It is critical to expose secondary pupils to workload that is appropriate for their learning requirements rather than annual book revision and insertion of heavy workload. Teachers should insert few terms into science lessons for practicing daily, and it is enough to devote a minute or two to some pronunciation issue so that fluency during lecture is not interrupted a lot. Pointing out a pronunciation problem when it has just arisen in the course is a good way of introducing correct pronunciation into the class. English plays an important part in the development of students because of its present and future as an international language. Real life activities or examples should be associated with important topics. Textbooks should be altered for language of explanation to match the level of students in secondary schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and some outdated themes should be replaced with new themes to meet the needs of the 21st century. It is suggested that the textbook board in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should include the Urdu phonology and meaning of the found terminologies at the start of each chapter.
Ecological
perceptual holism – unity of the individual and the environment in perception
Authors: Slunjski Ivančica
Published: May 2022

In the second half of the 20th century, ecological theory of perception presented a new concept of perception according to which it is not a one-sided process within the perceiver, in the form of representation and interpretation of sensory data obtained from the environment, but a process within direct and continuous interaction between the percipient and the environment. Opposing the almost intuitive acceptance of numerous dualities based on the traditionally accepted separation of subject and object, ecological theory introduces an innovative concept of affordance. At about the same time, the initial ideas of an equally innovative theory of the organism-environment system arise, and in this paper they are connected in the context of the interpretation of perception. The goal of the paper is to present the concept of affordance and point out its affinity with the theory of the unity of organism and environment, as well as the need for further introduction of similar theoretical concepts, and with this intention, the concept of ecological perceptual holism is proposed.
Media and Interactivity as a Factor in the Professional Development of a Pedagogue in the Modern Computer Educational Environment
Authors:   Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Mezentseva Svetlana V. , Tovpich Irina O. ,   “Muzyka” Secondary School No. 8 with Concentration on the Study of Musical Subjects
Published: May 2022

This work is devoted to analysis of the contemporary state of the educational milieu and the new qualities of the pedagogue-musician providing relevance in the pedagogical space for him. We relate media and interactivity to such qualities. These conceptions are highlighted in the article, and accentuation is made of the commonality of systems and methods of receiving informational competence on the part of the pedagogue-musician who received any level of education. The authors of the present research work analyze their own experience in the system of distanced education Moodle and Moodle Music from the point of view of actualizing educational technologies. The new technologies integrate to a greater degree into the system of traditional education. Upscaling the overall culture of the media-informational content and communication of a new type, the swiftest inclusion of pedagogues into this process is viewed as a source of transformation and optimization of a new value oriented content which is necessary to be formed by professional musicians. Mention is made of the impossibility of the entire substitution of the personal pedagogical communication with the pupil, moreover, for musicians, where the emphasis is traditionally made on individual lessons. But, wherever it is possible, it is important not to deny the realities of our time and to become involved in the mastery of contemporary informational and computer-music technologies, to adapt to contemporary realities, to upscale their level of media-informational culture and their auditorium, to diminish the gap between innovations based on broad usage of new informational educational technologies, on the one hand, and traditional music pedagogy, on the other hand.
Integrating Gender Into Data Services: A Flexible, Multidisciplinary and Reflexive Approach
Authors: Kadel Lalu Maya , Chitale Vishwas Sudhir , Gurung Kamala
Published: May 2022

Drawing on the concepts of Theory of Change and Participatory Impact Pathways Analysis, and our own experience of integrating gender and social inclusion in the Community Resilience Forest Management System in Nepal, we develop a five-step framework, which we call flexible, multidisciplinary and reflexive (FMR) approach to mainstreaming gender and social inclusion in the given context of data services. In this study, we demonstrate how this newly devised concept can be effectively implemented at different project stages—planning, monitoring and evaluation—to integrate gender and social inclusion in data services. As reflected in a Climate Resilient Forest Management System in Nepal, we present how the project has successfully harnessed an approach that has transformed a project team, improved understanding of the interface between the two disciplines and helped integrate gender and social inclusion in data services. This study contributes to many ongoing discussions and debates within academic literature about interdisciplinary research projects, and the integration of gender and social inclusion particularly into climate related research and data services.
Body Mass Index Changes and Insulin Resistance at Age 4: A Prospective Cohort Study
Authors: Lee Hye Jin , Lim Youn-Hee , Hong Yun-Chul , Shin Choong Ho , Lee Young Ah
Published: May 2022

Objectives

The objective of this study is to investigate whether body mass index (BMI) changes are associated with fasting glucose and insulin resistance (IR) in early childhood.

Methods

From the Environment and Development of Children (EDC) cohort, 334 children who visited at ages 2 and 4 were included in this study. Height and weight were measured at ages 2 and 4, and fasting glucose and insulin were assessed at age 4. Homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was calculated as insulin (μIU/ml) × glucose (mg/dl)/405. The BMI Z-score [BMI (Z)] quartiles for each age group were defined as Q4, ≥75th percentile; Q2–3, 25th to 75th percentile; and Q1, <25th percentile. Glucose, insulin, and the HOMA-IR were compared between groups according to the change in BMI (Z) from age 2 to 4.

Results

Children who stayed in Q4 at both ages had higher fasting glucose (92.2 vs. 88.0 and 87.1 mg/dl), insulin (3.2 vs. 2.5 and 2.3 μIU/ml), and HOMA-IR (0.68 vs. 0.54 and 0.52) than children who stayed in Q1 or Q2–3 (all P<0.01). Children in Q4 at both ages had higher fasting glucose than children whose BMI (Z) increased from Q1 or Q2–3 to Q4 (92.2 vs. 87.3, P<0.001). The BMI (Z) category at age 2 of children who were in Q2–3 at age 4 did not affect glucose or IR at 4 years.

Conclusion

The group of children within the highest BMI (Z) quartile at both 2 and 4 years of age had higher fasting glucose and IR at age 4 than any other BMI (Z) change group.
Telomere Length and COVID-19 Outcomes: A Two-Sample Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Study
Authors: Jiang Li , Tang Bei-sha , Guo Ji-feng , Li Jin-chen
Published: May 2022

Observational studies have found a relationship between directly measured short leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and severe coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). We investigated the causal association between genetically predicted LTL and COVID-19 susceptibility or severity. A previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 78,592 European-ancestry participants identified single nucleotidepolymorphisms (SNPs) that can be utilized to genetically predict LTL. Summary-level data for COVID-19 outcomes were analyzed from the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative. A two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) study was designed to evaluate these causal relationships. Using an inverse-weighted MR analysis and population-based controls, genetically predicted LTL did not reveal any significant association with COVID-19 susceptibility (odds ratio (OR): 0.94; 95% CI: 0.85–1.04; p = 0.202) or severity (OR: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.70–1.03; p = 0.099). Similar results were found for five other definitions of cases/controls and/or COVID-19 outcomes. Six additional MR methods and sensitivity analyses were conducted after removing variants with potential horizontal pleiotropy and including variants at a liberal significance level, which produced similar results. Using SNPs identified for the prediction of LTL from another GWAS study, we found a non-significant association for COVID-19 susceptibility or severity with narrower CIs toward the null hypothesis. No proof of genetically predicted COVID-19 phenotypes remained causally associated with genetically predicted LTL, and the null association was consistent with a lack of significant genetic correlation. Genetic evidence does not support shorter LTL as a causal risk factor for COVID-19 susceptibility or severity.
Development of a Simple Risk Model to Predict Mortality in Patients With Osteosarcoma of the Extremity
Authors: Chen Yu , Li Chao , Wang Xin , Liu Zhiyong , Ren Zhigang
Published: May 2022

Background

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most prevalent primary malignant bone cancer with poor prognosis. The aim of this study was to explore the prognostic factors that influence survival, and build up and validate a simple risk model to predict mortality in OS patients.

Materials and Methods

This was a single-center retrospective cohort study. A total of 153 patients with newly diagnosed OS were enrolled as the training group. We analyzed the clinical data and outcomes of the OS patients. Prognostic risk factors were identified and evaluated by a logistic regression model with Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation. The risk score was constructed based on the training group and was further validated using each patient.

Results

Among the 153 patients, the mean (standard deviation) age was 21.6 (14.2) years, and 62 (40.5%) patients were females. The rate of in-hospital mortality of patients was 41.2% (95% CI, 31.6–50.7%). The candidate prognostic factors were selected and evaluated in relation to patient age, sex, tumor site (lower/upper extremity), tumor volume, intramedullary length of lesion, serum levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and primary metastasis. However, only tumor size and primary metastasis were identified as independent prognostic indicators for patients with osteosarcoma. The risk model had a C-statistic of 0.7308 with a predictive range of 21.05–68.42%. Based on the distribution of the risk score, 24.8, 49.7 and 25.5% of patients were stratified into the high-, average- and low-risk groups for in-hospital mortality, with corresponding probabilities of 0.684, 0.329, and 0.210, respectively.

Conclusion

A simple risk model was developed and validated to predict the prognosis for patients with osteosarcoma of the extremity at primary diagnosis. The simple risk score system could be used to stratify patients into different risk groups of in-hospital mortality and may help clinicians judge the outcomes of prognosis and establish appropriate surveillance strategies.
Functional Interactions Between the Parafascicular Thalamic Nucleus and Motor Cortex Are Altered in Hemiparkinsonian Rat
Authors: Li Min , Zhang Xiao , He Qin , Chen Dadian , Chen Feiyu , Wang Xiaojun , Sun Shuang , Sun Yue , Li Yuchuan , Zhu Zhiwei , Fang Heyi , Shi Xiaoman , Yao Xiaomeng , Sun Haiji , Wang Min
Published: May 2022

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by aberrant discharge patterns and exaggerated oscillatory activity within basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuits. We have previously observed substantial alterations in spike and local field potential (LFP) activities recorded in the thalamic parafascicular nucleus (PF) and motor cortex (M1), respectively, of hemiparkinsonian rats during rest or catching movements. This study explored whether the mutual effects of the PF and M1 depended on the amplitude and phase relationship in their identified neuron spikes or group rhythmic activities. Microwire electrode arrays were paired and implanted in the PF and M1 of rats with unilateral dopaminergic cell lesions. The results showed that the identified PF neurons exhibited aberrant cell type-selective firing rates and preferential and excessive phase-locked firing to cortical LFP oscillations mainly at 12–35 Hz (beta frequencies), consistent with the observation of identified M1 neurons with ongoing PF LFP oscillations. Experimental evidence also showed a decrease in phase-locking at 0.7–12 Hz and 35–70 Hz in the PF and M1 circuits in the hemiparkinsonian rats. Furthermore, anatomical evidence was provided for the existence of afferent and efferent bidirectional reciprocal connectivity pathways between the PF and M1 using an anterograde and retrograde neuroanatomical tracing virus. Collectively, our results suggested that multiple alterations may be present in regional anatomical and functional modes with which the PF and M1 interact, and that parkinsonism-associated changes in PF integrate M1 activity in a manner that varies with frequency, behavioral state, and integrity of the dopaminergic system.
SLC38A10 Knockout Mice Display a Decreased Body Weight and an Increased Risk-Taking Behavior in the Open Field Test
Authors: Lindberg Frida A. , Nordenankar Karin , Fredriksson Robert
Published: May 2022

The solute carrier 38 family (SLC38) is a family of 11 members. The most common substrate among these are alanine and glutamine, and members are present in a wide range of tissues with important functions for several biological processes, such as liver and brain function. Some of these transporters are better characterized than others and, in this paper, a behavioral characterization of SLC38A10−/− mice was carried out. A battery of tests for general activity, emotionality, motor function, and spatial memory was used. Among these tests, the elevated plus maze, Y-maze, marble burying and challenging beam walk have not been tested on the SLC38A10−/− mice previously, while the open field and the rotarod tests have been performed by the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC). Unlike the results from IMPC, the results from this study showed that SLC38A10−/− mice spend less time in the wall zone in the open field test than WT mice, implying that SLC38A10-deficient mice have an increased explorative behavior, which suggests an important function of SLC38A10 in brain. The present study also confirmed IMPC's data regarding rotarod performance and weight, showing that SLC38A10−/− mice do not have an affected motor coordination impairment and have a lower body weight than both SLC38A10+/− and SLC38A10+/+ mice. These results imply that a complete deficiency of the SLC38A10 protein might affect body weight homeostasis, but the underlying mechanisms needs to be studied further.
Early Developmental PMCA2b Expression Protects From Ketamine-Induced Apoptosis and GABA Impairments in Differentiating Hippocampal Progenitor Cells
Authors: Lisek Malwina , Mackiewicz Joanna , Sobolczyk Marta , Ferenc Bozena , Guo Feng , Zylinska Ludmila , Boczek Tomasz
Published: May 2022

PMCA2 is not expressed until the late embryonic state when the control of subtle Ca2+ fluxes becomes important for neuronal specialization. During this period, immature neurons are especially vulnerable to degenerative insults induced by the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor blocker, ketamine. As H19-7 hippocampal progenitor cells isolated from E17 do not express the PMCA2 isoform, they constitute a valuable model for studying its role in neuronal development. In this study, we demonstrated that heterologous expression of PMCA2b enhanced the differentiation of H19-7 cells and protected from ketamine-induced death. PMCA2b did not affect resting [Ca2+]c in the presence or absence of ketamine and had no effect on the rate of Ca2+ clearance following membrane depolarization in the presence of the drug. The upregulation of endogenous PMCA1 demonstrated in response to PMCA2b expression as well as ketamine-induced PMCA4 depletion were indifferent to the rate of Ca2+ clearance in the presence of ketamine. Yet, co-expression of PMCA4b and PMCA2b was able to partially restore Ca2+ extrusion diminished by ketamine. The profiling of NMDA receptor expression showed upregulation of the NMDAR1 subunit in PMCA2b-expressing cells and increased co-immunoprecipitation of both proteins following ketamine treatment. Further microarray screening demonstrated a significant influence of PMCA2b on GABA signaling in differentiating progenitor cells, manifested by the unique regulation of several genes key to the GABAergic transmission. The overall activity of glutamate decarboxylase remained unchanged, but Ca2+-induced GABA release was inhibited in the presence of ketamine. Interestingly, PMCA2b expression was able to reverse this effect. The mechanism of GABA secretion normalization in the presence of ketamine may involve PMCA2b-mediated inhibition of GABA transaminase, thus shifting GABA utilization from energetic purposes to neurosecretion. In this study, we show for the first time that developmentally controlled PMCA expression may dictate the pattern of differentiation of hippocampal progenitor cells. Moreover, the appearance of PMCA2 early in development has long-standing consequences for GABA metabolism with yet an unpredictable influence on GABAergic neurotransmission during later stages of brain maturation. In contrast, the presence of PMCA2b seems to be protective for differentiating progenitor cells from ketamine-induced apoptotic death.
The Developing Human Connectome Project Neonatal Data Release
Authors: Edwards A. David , Rueckert Daniel , Smith Stephen M. , Abo Seada Samy , Alansary Amir , Almalbis Jennifer , Allsop Joanna , Andersson Jesper , Arichi Tomoki , Arulkumaran Sophie , Bastiani Matteo , Batalle Dafnis , Baxter Luke , Bozek Jelena , Braithwaite Eleanor , Brandon Jacqueline , Carney Olivia , Chew Andrew , Christiaens Daan , Chung Raymond , Colford Kathleen , Cordero-Grande Lucilio , Counsell Serena J. , Cullen Harriet , Cupitt John , Curtis Charles , Davidson Alice , Deprez Maria , Dillon Louise , Dimitrakopoulou Konstantina , Dimitrova Ralica , Duff Eugene , Falconer Shona , Farahibozorg Seyedeh-Rezvan , Fitzgibbon Sean P. , Gao Jianliang , Gaspar Andreia , Harper Nicholas , Harrison Sam J. , Hughes Emer J. , Hutter Jana , Jenkinson Mark , Jbabdi Saad , Jones Emily , Karolis Vyacheslav , Kyriakopoulou Vanessa , Lenz Gregor , Makropoulos Antonios , Malik Shaihan , Mason Luke , Mortari Filippo , Nosarti Chiara , Nunes Rita G. , O’Keeffe Camilla , O’Muircheartaigh Jonathan , Patel Hamel , Passerat-Palmbach Jonathan , Pietsch Maximillian , Price Anthony N. , Robinson Emma C. , Rutherford Mary A. , Schuh Andreas , Sotiropoulos Stamatios , Steinweg Johannes , Teixeira Rui Pedro Azeredo Gomes , Tenev Tencho , Tournier Jacques-Donald , Tusor Nora , Uus Alena , Vecchiato Katy , Williams Logan Z. J. , Wright Robert , Wurie Julia , Hajnal Joseph V.
Published: May 2022

The Developing Human Connectome Project has created a large open science resource which provides researchers with data for investigating typical and atypical brain development across the perinatal period. It has collected 1228 multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain datasets from 1173 fetal and/or neonatal participants, together with collateral demographic, clinical, family, neurocognitive and genomic data from 1173 participants, together with collateral demographic, clinical, family, neurocognitive and genomic data. All subjects were studied in utero and/or soon after birth on a single MRI scanner using specially developed scanning sequences which included novel motion-tolerant imaging methods. Imaging data are complemented by rich demographic, clinical, neurodevelopmental, and genomic information. The project is now releasing a large set of neonatal data; fetal data will be described and released separately. This release includes scans from 783 infants of whom: 583 were healthy infants born at term; as well as preterm infants; and infants at high risk of atypical neurocognitive development. Many infants were imaged more than once to provide longitudinal data, and the total number of datasets being released is 887. We now describe the dHCP image acquisition and processing protocols, summarize the available imaging and collateral data, and provide information on how the data can be accessed.
Animal-to-Human Translation Difficulties and Problems With Proposed Coding-in-Noise Deficits in Noise-Induced Synaptopathy and Hidden Hearing Loss
Authors: Ripley Sara , Xia Li , Zhang Zhen , Aiken Steve J. , Wang Jian
Published: May 2022

Noise induced synaptopathy (NIS) and hidden hearing loss (NIHHL) have been hot topic in hearing research since a massive synaptic loss was identified in CBA mice after a brief noise exposure that did not cause permanent threshold shift (PTS) in 2009. Based upon the amount of synaptic loss and the bias of it to synapses with a group of auditory nerve fibers (ANFs) with low spontaneous rate (LSR), coding-in-noise deficit (CIND) has been speculated as the major difficult of hearing in subjects with NIS and NIHHL. This speculation is based upon the idea that the coding of sound at high level against background noise relies mainly on the LSR ANFs. However, the translation from animal data to humans for NIS remains to be justified due to the difference in noise exposure between laboratory animals and human subjects in real life, the lack of morphological data and reliable functional methods to quantify or estimate the loss of the afferent synapses by noise. Moreover, there is no clear, robust data revealing the CIND even in animals with the synaptic loss but no PTS. In humans, both positive and negative reports are available. The difficulty in verifying CINDs has led a re-examination of the hypothesis that CIND is the major deficit associated with NIS and NIHHL, and the theoretical basis of this idea on the role of LSR ANFs. This review summarized the current status of research in NIS and NIHHL, with focus on the translational difficulty from animal data to human clinicals, the technical difficulties in quantifying NIS in humans, and the problems with the SR theory on signal coding. Temporal fluctuation profile model was discussed as a potential alternative for signal coding at high sound level against background noise, in association with the mechanisms of efferent control on the cochlea gain.
Effects of Synbiotics, Probiotics, and Prebiotics on Liver Enzymes of Patients With Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis
Authors: Kanchanasurakit Sukrit , Kositamongkol Chayanis , Lanoi Kamonnat , Nunta Monnaree , Saetuan Thaksaporn , Chaiyakunapruk Nathorn , Saokaew Surasak , Phisalprapa Pochamana
Published: May 2022

Background

A systematic review and network meta-analysis was primarily conducted to compare the effects of synbiotics, probiotics, and prebiotics on aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT). Moreover, their effects on body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), lipid profile, fasting blood sugar (FBS), and homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) were investigated and analyzed as secondary outcomes.

Methods

The randomized controlled trials (RCTs), limited to the English language, were searched through PubMed, the Web of Science, Embase, CLINAHL Plus, and the Cochrane Library from inception to February 2, 2022. The eligible studies were reviewed and their risk-of-bias and heterogeneity were assessed. Both direct and indirect evidence were assembled using a random-effects model. The effects of the intervention were presented as weighted mean differences (WMD) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI).

Results

Of 3,864 identified records, a total of 1,389 patients with NAFLD from 26 RCTs were included in the analyses. Among these, 241 were diagnosed with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. The quality assessment reported a moderate risk of bias from most studies. Among adult patients with NAFLD, when compared with placebo, synbiotics provided the largest effect on reductions of AST (−12.71 IU/L; 95% CI: −16.95, −8.47), WC (−2.26 cm; 95% CI: −2.98, −1.54), total cholesterol (−22.23 mg/dl; 95% CI: −29.55, −14.90), low-density lipoproteins (−17.72 mg/dl; 95% CI: −25.23, −10.22), and FBS (−6.75 mg/dl; 95% CI: −10.67, −2.84). Probiotics lowered ALT (−14.46 IU/L; 95% CI: −21.33, −7.59) and triglycerides (−20.97 mg/dl; 95% CI: −40.42, −1.53) the most. None had significant impact on BMI, high-density lipoproteins, and HOMA-IR changes.

Conclusion

Synbiotics and probiotics are likely to be the most potential effective treatments for AST and ALT reduction in adult patients with NAFLD, respectively. Although liver enzymes cannot exactly define the severity of NAFLD, unlike the results from biopsy or imaging tests, they are important indicators that can monitor the status of the disease and provide benefits for clinical management.

Systematic Review Registration

[https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_reco rd.php?ID], identifier [CRD42020200301].
Indications and Limitations of Sirolimus in the Treatment of Vascular Anomalies—Insights From a Retrospective Case Series
Authors: Karastaneva Anna , Gasparella Paolo , Tschauner Sebastian , Crazzolara Roman , Kropshofer Gabriele , Modl Manfred , Pfleger Andreas , Burmas Ante , Pocivalnik Mirjam , Ulreich Raphael , Zenz Werner , Schwinger Wolfgang , Beqo Besiana P. , Urban Christian , Haxhija Emir Q. , Lackner Herwig , Benesch Martin
Published: May 2022

Background

Despite recent developments, the role of sirolimus in the heterogeneous spectrum of vascular anomalies is yet to be defined, in terms of indication, dosage, and therapy duration, recognizing both its potential and limitations.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed 16 children with vascular anomalies treated with sirolimus in two pediatric centers between 2014 and 2020 [male: n = 7, the median age at diagnosis: 4.6 months (range, 0–281.4)]. In addition, repetitive volumetric analyses of the vascular anomalies were performed when possible (11 cases).

Results

Ten patients were diagnosed with vascular malformations and 6 with vascular tumors. The mean therapy duration was 27.2 months (range, 3.5–65). The mean sirolimus level was 8.52 ng/ml (range, 5.38–12.88). All patients except one with central conducting lymphatic anomaly responded to sirolimus, with the most noticeable volume reduction in the first 4–6 months. Additional administration of vincristine was needed in five patients with kaposiform hemangioendothelioma and yielded a response, even in cases, refractory to sirolimus monotherapy. As a single agent, sirolimus led to impressive improvement in a patient with another vascular tumor—advanced epithelioid hemangioendothelioma. Complicated vascular malformations required long-term sirolimus therapy. Side effects of sirolimus included mucositis and laboratory abnormalities. No major infectious episodes were recorded. An infant with COVID-19, diagnosed while on sirolimus therapy, presented with a mild course.

Conclusion

In the current series, we reported limitations of sirolimus as monotherapy, addressing the need to redefine its indications, and explore combination regimens and multimodal treatment strategies. Tools for objective evaluation of response trends over time could serve as a basis for the establishment of future therapeutic algorithms.
Cosmological Redshift and Cosmic Time Dilation in the FLRW Metric
Authors: Vavryčuk Václav
Published: May 2022

The paper shows that the commonly used Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) metric describing the expanding Universe must be modified to properly predict the cosmological redshift. It is proved that the change in the frequency of redshifted photons is always connected with time dilation, similarly as for the gravitational redshift. Therefore, the cosmic time runs differently at high redshifts than at present. Consequently, the cosmological time must be identified with the conformal time and the standard FLRW metric must be substituted by its conformal version. The correctness of the proposed conformal metric is convincingly confirmed by Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) observations. The standard FLRW metric produces essential discrepancy with the SNe Ia observations called the ‘supernova dimming’, and dark energy has to be introduced to comply theoretical predictions with data. By contrast, the conformal FLRW metric fits data well with no need to introduce any new free parameter. Hence, the discovery of the supernova dimming actually revealed a failure of the FLRW metric and introducing dark energy was just an unsuccessful attempt to cope with the problem within this false metric. Obviously, adopting the conformal FLRW metric for describing the evolution of the Universe has many fundamental cosmological consequences.
Intention to Use Mobile Easy Payment Services: Focusing on the Risk Perception of COVID-19
Authors: Kim JiWon , Kim Mincheol
Published: May 2022

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the use of mobile easy payment services that minimize human contact has rapidly increased. Several studies have explored the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and the intention to use mobile easy payment services, assuming that the relationship between both variables is simply linear. However, actual complex relationships between variables cannot be fully analyzed in a linear fashion, as most relationships between variables of social phenomena are non-linear. Therefore, this study attempted to analyze the non-linear relationships between factors influencing the intention to use mobile easy payment services, especially since the COVID-19 outbreak, by applying the extended technology acceptance model (TAM2). Online and offline surveys were conducted with users who have used mobile easy payment services since the COVID-19 outbreak; 227 samples were secured for analysis. In addition, an empirical analysis was conducted using PLS-SEM to determine the linearity of relationships between variables. The results showed that subjective norms, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness had significant effects on the intention to use mobile easy payment services. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant moderating effect, also implying non-linear relationships between variables. Based on these results, the study proposes that the pandemic is a factor influencing the intention to use mobile easy payment services, and recommends that providers adopt marketing strategies, such as improving the usefulness of these services.
The Political Exploitation and Human (In) Security of Illegal Street Vendors in the Post-colonial Urban Informal Sector of Harare in Zimbabwe
Authors: Ndawana Enock
Published: May 2022

This article examines the complexities around urban informality, in particular illegal street vending in post-colonial Harare in Zimbabwe from 2000 to 2021. It focuses on the positions of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front party and the Movement for Democratic Change opposition political party regarding illegal street vending. The study acknowledges the role played by the broader macro-economic environment in initiating and sustaining informal trading practices in the City of Harare but establishes the link between illegal street vending and politics and the concomitant effects on human security. Among others, it uses Ananya Roy's ideas about how the state “makes and unmakes” informality and primary and secondary sources of data to mainly argue that the political exploitation of the illegal street vending activities in Harare has detrimental effects on both urban governance and human security. The article concludes that illegal street vending is an integral part of urban societies in Africa and beyond serving different needs in the local economy. Consequently, the politicization and human (in) security of the illegal street vendors in Harare can partly be mitigated when formal employment is generated and political parties stop interfering in the running of the city for the furtherance of their selfish agendas.