bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Queer of Color Critique and Queer Asian North American Women’s Literature
Authors: Ponce Martin Joseph
Published: February 2019

The materialist methodology known as queer of color critique investigates the ways that racialized subjects are positioned outside the gender and sexual norms of the US nation through the contradictory demands and desires of capitalism, labor, migration, and the state. According to Roderick Ferguson’s influential account in Aberrations in Black: Toward a Queer of Color Critique (2004), capital recruits and exploits racialized labor whose surplus urban and agricultural social formations are in turn constituted by state institutions and academic disciplines as aberrant and deviant to ensure national-cultural purity and white dominance. Construing “queer” in this broad sense has proven useful for examining how Asian North American racialization is predicated on ascriptions of gender and sexual nonnormativity—from the Chinese prostitute of the late 19th century, to the hypersexual Filipino menace of the 1920s, to the Asian butterfly/dragon lady dichotomy across the 20th century and into the 21st. When this interdisciplinary approach converges with literary studies, however, it leaves unaddressed the relationships between racialized heterosexual deviancies as inscribed on the one hand, in legal, sociological, and popular culture discourses, and on the other, in literary representations that thematize same-sex desires and gender-nonconforming embodiments produced by Asian North American writers themselves.

Queer of color critique’s biopolitical approach to sexuality as organized along lines of valuation and devaluation—the enhancement of life, and the targeting for death—provides a capacious analytic for apprehending these two meanings of “queer” (state-imposed racial otherness and reclaimed cultural representation) within the same frame. To render those comparisons visible for critical analysis requires recovering Asian North American lesbian contributions to women of color feminism of the 1970s and 80s, which scholars have posited as queer of color critique’s theoretical and political precursor, and reading subsequent queer texts in light of those interventions. Poet-activists Kitty Tsui and Merle Woo reconfigure the category of “lesbian” to accommodate Asian American subject positions and kinship relations, construct cross-racial solidarities, and express racialized eroticisms. Shani Mootoo’s novel Cereus Blooms at Night (1996) provides a complex instance in which same-sex female eroticism and trans subjectivities are portrayed but also eclipsed by or made subservient to nonnormative heterosexualities. Kai Cheng Thom’s poetry collection a place called No Homeland (2017) and Elaine Castillo’s novel America Is Not the Heart (2018) center trans and queer women’s experiences, respectively. For queer of color critique to fulfill its cross-racial comparative potential, queer and trans Asian North American women’s literature must be incorporated as a vital part of the conversation.
The Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II, and Asian American Antifascism
Authors: Vials Christopher
Published: February 2019

For most of the Asian and Asian American writers published in the United States from 1937–1946, “fascism” was the most salient, global state of emergency, not the Japanese American incarceration. H. T. Tsiang, Ayako Ishigaki, and Carlos Bulosan had deep ties to the political left, and they used antifascism—a dominant rubric of the political left at the time—to connect the authoritarian nature of Imperial Japan to the violent nature of the racism they encountered in the United States. By simultaneously accessing the Second Sino-Japanese War, their lived experiences in the United States, and the contradictions of US global power, they labored to overcome the split across Asian American communities produced by US foreign policy and Japanese militarism. By placing the work of Asian and Asian American writers within wider discourses of fascism and empire in the period, one sees the valence of antifascism as a vehicle of solidarity within their transnational politics, as well as the stakes of resituating that rubric into Asian American critique.
Migration, Immigration, and Refugees
Authors: Solimano Andrés
Published: February 2019

The international mobility of people and migration flows are critically influenced by differences in per capita incomes, real wages, job opportunities, institutional capacities and living standards across nations and cities. Its dynamics are shaped by social networks and regulated by the migration policies of receiving countries. International migration represents around 3.3% of world’s population; up from 2.7% in 1995. It is composed mainly of working-age people, with men and women migrants being in roughly equal numbers. Historically, the globalization process of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was also accompanied by large migration flows, mostly, from the “Old World” (Europe) to the “New World” (United States, Canada, Argentina, Australia, and other countries in the Global South). Starting in the 1980s migration has increased relative to a rise in total population, although the share of international migration to total population was, on average, higher in the first wave of globalization of the 1870–1914 period.

Main substantive topics and new themes in the field of international migration include: (a) the motivations and determinants of the international mobility of the wealthy (High-Net Worth Individuals, HNWIs), a largely unexplored topic in the literature of international migration; (b) the international migration of talent (high-skills, educated, and gifted people), (c) the linkages between the mobility of talent and the mobility of capital and their evolution over time affected by macro regimes and international conditions, (d) The relation between macroeconomic and financial crises (e.g., the 2008–2009 crisis), stagnation traps and immigration flows, (e) the influence of international migration on inequality within and between countries, and (f) forced migration, displaced population and humanitarian crises, following war, violence, persecution, and human rights violations.
E-Participation
Authors: Cantijoch Marta , Gibson Rachel
Published: February 2019

The study of e-participation is a young and growing discipline in which controversies are vibrant. One of these is the lack of a widely accepted definition of “e-participation.” Online political activities that involve little effort from the participant, such as liking or sharing political content on social media, are particularly divisive. Some scholars are reluctant to label expressive forms of online behavior as political participation. Others argue in favor of an adaptation of previous definitions to accommodate recent technological changes.

Levels of engagement in different types of e-participation are increasing steadily over time. While differences between democracies are often stark, the upward trend has been consistent, especially since the emergence and expansion of social media. Whether this means that previously unengaged individuals are now taking part is one of the central questions of the literature on e-participation. To date, research has shown positive but modest results in support for a mobilizing effect. Particularly promising are findings suggesting that online tools are attracting younger participants to the political arena.

Online forms of political engagement are often placed in a more general process leading to online and offline political participation. “Lean-forward” models that provide a contextualized understanding of the drivers and effects of e-participation are particularly insightful. In order to provide robustness to some of the questions that remain unresolved, scholars exploring e-participation should consider expanding their methodological repertoires. The trend is toward mixed designs that combine surveys and other forms of data (big data collected from social media or qualitative data).
Secularism and Politics
Authors: Castle Jeremiah J. , Schoettmer Patrick L.
Published: February 2019

An increasingly important area within the subfield of religion and politics is the study of secularism, an ideology that seeks to limit the influence of religion in public and private life. Secularism can refer to conditions at the societal level (public secularism) or at the individual level (private secularism). In addition, it can take the form of simply an absence of religion (passive secularism), or it can include an affirmative acceptance of secular ideals (active secularism).

Comparative studies highlight the complex ways in which secularism both influences and is influenced by politics. In Western Europe, the long-standing practice of established and/or preferred religions has led to a lack of vitality in the religious marketplace, resulting in high levels of private secularism. In Russia and other Eastern European nations, the end of communism and political motivations are leading to both decreasing public and private secularism. In the Middle East, secularization throughout the 20th century seems to have led to a fundamentalist backlash. Similarly, in the United States, the increasing association between religion and political conservatism seems to be driving increasing levels of private secularism. Together, these lessons suggest that both political factors and local context are key to understanding the relationship between secularism and politics.
Public Opinion and Religion: Environmental Attitudes in the United States
Authors: Pudlo Jason M.
Published: February 2019

The study of the relationship between religion and attitudes on the environment is a growing area of academic inquiry and combines research from political scientists, sociologists, and religious historians. Researchers in this area seek to better understand how religion influences attitudes on the environment or environmental policy and if religion motivates environmental action or behaviors. Key to this area of study is defining what religion is and deciding how to measure environmental attitudes. Is religion identified through religious affiliation, religious beliefs, religious networks and communication, or other criteria? Relatedly, are environmental attitudes understood as support for particular environmental policies, willingness to sacrifice to protect nature, or personal environmental behaviors such as recycling? Social scientists have attempted to answer these questions through an overview of key works in the study of religion and the environment in the United States. For additional perspective, these works are placed into their religious and international context to show where, if at all, religiously motivated environmental attitudes in the United States differ from those around the world.
Catholic Church Advocacy in Latin America
Authors: Hale Christopher W.
Published: February 2019

Historically, the Catholic Church in Latin America has supported conservative interests. It legitimized Spanish colonial rule and sided with traditionalist elites following Latin American independence. However, beginning in the mid-20th century, some within the Church engaged with social causes, and a new progressive theology inspired many priests and bishops to advocate politically on behalf of the poor. The resultant movement helped topple dictatorships, facilitated transitions to democracy, and developed as a result of three factors. First, liberation theology emboldened clergy to support the political causes of the poor and created an ideological frame encouraging Catholic laity to organize for social change. Furthermore, competition from new Protestant religions provided Catholic leadership with an incentive to support secular political movements and created an opportunity for political engagement through the Catholic Church. Finally, decentralization within the Church encouraged Catholic adherents to engage and develop organizational capacities at the grass-roots. Taken together, scholarly explanations emphasizing framing, opportunity, and resource mobilization create a compelling account of the development of progressive Catholic activism.

Less sustained theoretical attention has been given to assessing the dynamics of conservative Latin American Catholic advocacy. The Church consistently opposes abortion, divorce, the use of contraceptives, and gay marriage. Moreover, although the Catholic Church has enabled many women’s political movements, it suppresses efforts at liberalizing reproductive rights. Future research on Catholic advocacy in Latin America should identify additional pathways through which framing, opportunity, and resource mobilization influence conservative Catholic advocacy in the region. Additionally, the Church’s relationship with environmental issues is understudied. Finally, Latin America offers untapped potential to examine the complicated relationship between ethnicity, religion, and collective action.
Catholic Church Advocacy and the Affordable Care Act
Authors: Kraybill Jeanine
Published: February 2019

The American Catholic Church has a long history in health care. At the turn of 19th century, Catholic nuns began developing the United States’ first hospital and health care systems, amassing a high level of professionalization and expertise in the field. The bishops also have a well-established record advocating for healthcare, stemming back to 1919 with the Bishops’ Program for Social Reconstruction, which called for affordable and comprehensive care, particularly for the poor and vulnerable. Moving into the latter part of the 20th century, the bishops continued to push for health care reform. However, in the aftermath of Roe v. Wade (1973), the American bishops insisted that any reform or form of universal health care be consistent with the Church’s teaching against abortion, contraception, and euthanasia. The bishops were also adamant that health care policy respect religious liberty and freedom of conscience. In 1993, these concerns caused the bishops to pull their support for the Clinton Administration’s Health Security Act, since the bill covered abortion as a medical and pregnancy-related service. The debate over health care in the 1990s served as a precursor for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) opposition to the Obama Administration’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) contraception mandate. The ACA also highlighted a divide within the Church on health care among religious leaders. For example, progressive female religious leadership organizations, such as the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and their affiliate NETWORK (a Catholic social justice lobby), took a different position than the bishops and supported the ACA, believing it had enough protections against federally funded abortion. Though some argue this divide lead to institutional scrutiny of the sisters affiliated with the LCWR and NETWORK, both the bishops and the nuns have held common ground on lobbying the government for affordable, comprehensive, and universal health care.
Multicultural Sport Psychology’s Consulting Role in the United States Activist–Athlete Movement
Authors: David Jessica L. , Steinfeldt Jesse A. , Miller I. S. Keino , Hyman Jacqueline E.
Published: February 2019

Multiculturalism is a broad term that encapsulates a number of idealistic constructs related to inclusion, understanding the diverse experiences of others, and creating equitable access to resources and opportunity in our society. Social justice activism is a core tenet of multiculturalism. In order to be optimally effective, multiculturalism needs to be an “action word” rather than a passive construct, one that is inextricably linked to the ability to commit to and engage in an agenda of social justice wherein the inclusive ideals of multiculturalism are actively sought out and fought for.

One such domain where the constructs of multiculturalism and social action are playing out in real time is within U.S. sport. U.S. athletes across all ranks (i.e., Olympic, professional, college, and youth sports) are actively engaging in social justice activism by using their platforms to advocate for equality and human rights. A recent display of activism that has garnered worldwide attention was the silent protest of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. During the National Football League (NFL) preseason games of the 2016 season, Kaepernick began kneeling during the playing of the U.S. national anthem as a means to protest racial injustice, police brutality, and the killing of African Americans. Since the start of his protest, athletes around the nation and the world have joined the activist–athlete movement, thereby raising awareness of the mistreatment of African Americans within U.S. society. The activist–athlete movement has amassed support and generated momentum, but consulting sport psychology professionals can adopt a more active role to better support athletes, thereby advancing the movement. Consulting sport psychologists can strive to better understand the nature of athlete-activism and aspire to help their athlete clients explore and express their opinions so they can work to effect meaningful societal change, using sport as the vehicle for their message.
Methodology for Twin Studies of Aging
Authors: Lyons Michael J. , Reynolds Chandra A. , Kremen William S. , Franz Carol E.
Published: February 2019

The rapidly increasing number of people age 65 and older around the world has important implications for public health and social policy, making it imperative to understand the factors that influence the aging process. Twin studies can provide information that addresses critical questions about aging. Twin studies capitalize on a naturally occurring experiment in which there are some pairs of individuals who are born together and share 100% of their segregating genes (monozygotic twins) and some pairs that share approximately 50% (dizygotic twins). Twins can shed light on the relative influence of genes and environmental factors on various characteristics at various times during the life course and whether the same or different genetic influences are operating at different times. Twin studies can investigate whether characteristics that co-occur reflect overlapping genetic or environmental determinants. Discordant twin pairs provide an opportunity for a unique and powerful case-control study. There are numerous methodological issues to consider in twin studies of aging, such as the representativeness of twins and the assumption that the environment does not promote greater similarity within monozygotic pairs than dizygotic pairs. Studies of aging using twins may include many different types of measures, such as cognitive, psychosocial, biomarkers, and neuroimaging. Sophisticated statistical techniques have been developed to analyze data from twin studies. Structural equation modeling has proven to be especially useful. Several issues, such as assessing change and dealing with missing data, are particularly salient in studies of aging and there are a number of approaches that have been implemented in twin studies. Twins lend themselves very well to investigating whether genes influence one’s sensitivity to environmental exposures (gene-environment interaction) and whether genes influence the likelihood that an individual will experience certain environmental exposures (gene-environment correlation). Prior to the advent of modern molecular genetics, twin studies were the most important source of information about genetic influences. Dramatic advances in molecular genetic technology hold the promise of providing great insight into genetic influences, but these approaches complement rather than supplant twin studies. Moreover, there is a growing trend toward integrating molecular genetic methods into twin studies.
Individual, Educational, and Other Social Influences on Greed: Implications for the Study of White-Collar Crime
Authors: Wang Long , Wang Ziwei , Weng David H.
Published: February 2019

Greed is a central part of human nature. In history, feudal barons and kings, as war profiteers, continued to engage in war to acquire more after they had accumulated excessive wealth; in the modern era, greed is still rampant as the wealthy and powerful keep accumulating inordinate amounts of wealth and power. Greed does not exist in a social vacuum: it often involves a complementary reduction in other people’s outcomes, even as the greedy actor achieves substantive gains. In addition, people’s resource accumulation often stimulates rather than sates, creating a vicious cycle of extravagant spending and insatiable desire. Historical and philosophical approaches typically connect greed with immoral and deplorable behavior. Religious admonitions even make it more obnoxious and despicable.

Greed is often believed to be an obvious, perhaps too obvious, cause of white-collar crime. There is no shortage of notorious cases of corporate greed, where white-collar offenders engage in amazing frauds and/or extravagant spending sprees. Yet empirical research on the relationships between greed and white-collar crime is rather limited. Greed can be both personal and environmental. On the one hand, our natural needs and wants suggest that people cannot always easily escape the temptations of greed. Thus, for at least some people, greed may be intrinsic, dynamic, and grow across spans of their life cycle. This may make restraining greed a challenging task as it represents a dissonance of human nature. On the other hand, greed is not always portrayed as disgraceful or unacceptable because of its connection to self-interest maximization and market competition, foundational elements of business and economics education and management practices. In particular, when the push for profits is pervasive, traditional, and taken-for-granted in modern organizational life, greed may inadvertently become less derogatory.
Global Entanglements of Recycling Policy and Practice
Authors: Alexander Catherine , Reno Joshua
Published: February 2019

In line with rising public and policy concern about wastes, there has been a distinct rise in scholarly analyses of these and other developments associated with economies of recycling, focusing especially on people’s material and moral encounters with reuse. These range from nuanced investigations into how lives and materials can both be re-crafted by recovering value from discards; following an object through its many social lives; or focusing on a material such as plastic or e-waste and tracking how waste is co-produced at each stage of creation and (re)use. Examining contested property rights in wastes, together with the infrastructures and ethics of engagements with wastes and their recovery or otherwise, reveal how global economies intersect with a rapidly shifting policy environment and systems of waste management. The global entanglement of policies and practices not only shapes what becomes of waste but also how it is variously imagined as pollutant or resource.
Japanese Immigrant Gambling in Early 20th-Century California
Authors: Lau Chrissy Yee
Published: February 2019

Gambling was a central facet of life for Japanese male laborers in early 20th-century California. From the late 19th to the early 20th century, labor contractors and Chinese gambling dens offered gambling to Japanese laborers to maintain a consistent cheap labor force and large consumer pool. Many laborers approached gambling as a form of leisure, an opportunity for getting rich quickly and building a sense of community. After the Gentlemen’s Agreement was passed in 1907–1908, Japanese elites led anti-gambling campaigns aimed at Chinese gambling dens in their larger project to build the empire abroad and acquire domestic civil rights. By the 1920s, Japanese-run gambling dens became more established, but the hardships of Japanese immigrant wives prompted collaboration with the Japanese Associations of America to address gambling among married men. The larger community memory around gambling is often told from the wife or children’s perspective, recounted with pain and suffering over how gambling tore families asunder.
Women and Patriarchy in Early America, 1600–1800
Authors: Ryan Kelly A.
Published: February 2019

Patriarchy profoundly affected social relations and the daily lives of individuals in early America by supporting the elaboration of both racial differences and sexual hierarchies. Patriarchal ideals held that men should supervise women and that economic, sexual, legal, and political power rested with men. Laws and religious practices demanded women’s subordination to men, and governmental and extralegal controls on women’s sexual and familial lives buttressed patriarchal ideals and practices by enforcing their dependence on white men.

Women played a variety of roles within households, which differed according to region, race, generation, and condition of servitude. Marriage was central to the delineation of white women’s roles, and slavery was critical to developing ideas and laws affecting African American women’s place in society. Interactions with Europeans brought patriarchal influences into native women’s lives. Indian servitude and slavery, European missionary efforts, and cross-cultural diplomacy resulted in the transmission of patriarchal practices that undermined Indian women’s access to political, sexual, economic, and religious power

Women gained esteem for fulfilling their duties within the household and community, while others resisted patriarchal customs and forged their own paths. Some women served as agents of patriarchy and used their status or positions to oppress other women. White women often held power over others in their households, including servants and slaves, and in the early republic some of the public sphere activities of middle-class white women targeted the homes of Native Americans, African Americans, and poor women for uplift. Other women resisted subordination and found autonomy by pursuing their own goals. Sexuality was a critical arena in which women could breech dictates on behavior and advance their own agenda, though not always without consequences. Women in urban communities found greater economic opportunities, and some religious communities, like the Society of Friends, allowed women a larger role in decision making and religious speech. Though patriarchal structures would change over time, the idea of men as the leaders of the household and society was remarkably resilient through the 19th century.
Arabs in America
Authors: Khater Akram Fouad
Published: February 2019

Between 1880 and 1940, more than 130,000 Arabs immigrated to the United States as part of the Great Migration of the long 19th century. They lived and worked across the breadth of the United States, fought its many wars, and were engaged in the transformative debates about labor, race, gender, and citizenship that raged throughout this time period. As they struggled to carve out a place in “Amirka” they encountered and fought efforts to racialize them as the uncivilized and undesirable “Other.” Their struggles not only contributed to shaping the United States and its immigration policies, but also confronted them with the conundrum of how to belong: to accept and seek admission into the existing system delineated by race, gender, and class, or to challenge the premises of that system. While there was not a singular response from this diverse community, the majority opted to fight for a place in “white” America even if in return this rendered them a liminal ethnicity.
Resilient Cities
Authors: Panda Abhilash , Amaratunga Dilanthi
Published: February 2019

In 1990, 43% (2.3 billion) of the world’s population lived in urban areas, and by 2014 this percentage was at 54%. The urban population exceeded the rural population for the first time in 2008, and by 2050 it is predicted that urbanization will rise to 70% (see Albrito, “Making cities resilient: Increasing resilience to disasters at the local level,” Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, 2012). However, this increase in urban population has not been evenly spread throughout the world. As the urban population increases, the land area occupied by cities has increased at an even higher rate. It has been projected that by 2030, the urban population of developing countries will double, while the area covered by cities will triple (see United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision”). This emphasizes the need for resilience in the urban environment to anticipate and respond to disasters. Realizing this need, many local and international organizations have developed tools and frameworks to assist governments to plan and implement disaster risk reduction strategies efficiently. Sendai Framework’s Priorities for Action, Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready, and UNISDR’s Disaster Resilience Scorecard for Cities are major documents that provide essential guidelines for urban resilience. Given that, the disaster governance also needs to be efficient with ground-level participation for the implementation of these frameworks. This can be reinforced by adequate financing and resources depending on the exposure and risk of disasters. In essence, the resilience of a city is the resistance, coping capacity, recovery, adaptive capacity, and responsibility of everyone.
Immigrant Perceptions of the Police: The Role of Country of Origin and Length of Settlement
Authors: Jung Maria , Sprott Jane B , Greene Carolyn
Published: February 2019

Relationships between police and minority groups have been shown to be strained with members of these groups often viewing police in a more negative light. Distinguishing between minority group and immigrant populations, more recent work has shown that foreign-born individuals are more likely to view the police in a more favourable light than native-born populations. Adding to this literature, we examine group-specific factors that shape foreign-born individuals’ views of the police. We find that country of origin and length of settlement are important factors in better understanding immigrants’ perceptions of the police. The study concludes with a discussion of trust in police and recommendations for future research.
Disrupted AMPA Receptor Function upon Genetic- or Antibody-Mediated Loss of Autism-Associated CASPR2
Authors: Fernandes Dominique , Santos Sandra D , Coutinho Ester , Whitt Jessica L , Beltrão Nuno , Rondão Tiago , Leite M Isabel , Buckley Camilla , Lee Hey-Kyoung , Carvalho Ana Luísa
Published: February 2019

Neuropsychiatric disorders share susceptibility genes, suggesting a common origin. One such gene is CNTNAP2 encoding contactin-associated protein 2 (CASPR2), which harbours mutations associated to autism, schizophrenia, and intellectual disability. Antibodies targeting CASPR2 have also been recently described in patients with several neurological disorders, such as neuromyotonia, Morvan’s syndrome, and limbic encephalitis. Despite the clear implication of CNTNAP2 and CASPR2 in neuropsychiatric disorders, the pathogenic mechanisms associated with alterations in CASPR2 function are unknown. Here, we show that Caspr2 is expressed in excitatory synapses in the cortex, and that silencing its expression in vitro or in vivo decreases the synaptic expression of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA) receptors and the amplitude of AMPA receptor-mediated currents. Furthermore, Caspr2 loss of function blocks synaptic scaling in vitro and experience-dependent homoeostatic synaptic plasticity in the visual cortex. Patient CASPR2 antibodies decrease the dendritic levels of Caspr2 and synaptic AMPA receptor trafficking, and perturb excitatory transmission in the visual cortex. These results suggest that mutations in CNTNAP2 may contribute to alterations in AMPA receptor function and homoeostatic plasticity, and indicate that antibodies from anti-CASPR2 encephalitis patients affect cortical excitatory transmission.
Reduced Hippocampal Dendrite Branching, Spine Density and Neurocognitive Function in Premature Rabbits, and Reversal with Estrogen or TrkB Agonist Treatment
Authors: Klebe Damon , Tibrewal Mahima , Sharma Deep R , Vanaparthy Rachna , Krishna Sunil , Varghese Merina , Cheng Bokun , Mouton Peter R , Velíšková Jana , Dobrenis Kostantin , Hof Patrick R , Ballabh Praveen
Published: February 2019

Preterm-born children suffer from neurological and behavioral disorders. Herein, we hypothesized that premature birth and non-maternal care of preterm newborns might disrupt neurobehavioral function, hippocampal dendritic arborization, and dendritic spine density. Additionally, we assessed whether 17β-estradiol (E2) replacement or the TrkB receptor agonist, 7,8-dihydroxyflavone (DHF), would reverse compromised dendritic development and cognitive function in preterm newborns. These hypotheses were tested by comparing preterm (E28.5) rabbit kits cared and gavage-fed by laboratory personnel and term-kits reared and breast-fed by their mother doe at an equivalent postconceptional age. Neurobehavioral tests showed that both premature-birth and formula-feeding with non-maternal care led to increased anxiety behavior, poor social interaction, and lack of novelty preference compared with term-kits. Dendritic branching and number of total or mushroom dendritic spines were reduced in the CA1 field of preterm-kits compared with term controls. While CDC42 and Rac1/2/3 expression levels were lower, RhoA-activity was higher in preterm-kits compared with term controls. Both E2 and DHF treatment reversed prematurity-induced reduction in spine density, reduced total RhoA-GTPase levels, and enhanced cognitive function. Hence, prematurity and non-maternal care result in cognitive deficits, and reduced dendritic arbors and spines in CA1. E2 replacement or DHF treatment might reverse changes in dendritic spines and improve neurodevelopment in premature infants.
Evaluation of new approaches to the access of official monitoring results for live bivalves molluscs
Authors: da Costa Manuel Beja , Jurczuk Magdalena , Marques Bernardo , Silva João Nuno
Published: February 2019

Background

Live bivalve molluscs, echinoderms, tunicates and marine gastropod are referred in EU food laws, and require member states to implement official controls in classified production areas, with the monitoring and classification of those areas. If, due to contaminant tests results, a production area is closed, any product from there is prohibited to be commercialized. Mobile applications optical character recognition (OCR) functionalities could ease the access to contaminant levels and production area classifications. This study verifies what information is available in live bivalves’ labels, describes an OCR algorithm for those labels and evaluates it.

Methods

86 labels were selected from four sale points in Lisbon, and photographed using smartphones. Each label was evaluated by a human to determine what data was available (either required or not). An OCR algorithm was developed and applied on the collected labels and validated against the data extracted by the human analysis.

Results

The analysis shows that all the labels included the required information, and 63% of the labels included the identifier for the production zone. The label-reading algorithm performs with an accuracy of 79.85% for the individual values.

Conclusion

High accuracy of the developed label-reading algorithm shows potential for providing instant automatic access to the date and production area, but is affected by the variability on the label structure. Although not required by food laws, the majority of the sampled labels included complementary information (classified production area) that will allow access to more precise information about the existing biotoxin tests and analysis results.
Antifungal activity of analogues of antimicrobial peptides isolated from bee venoms against vulvovaginal Candida spp
Authors: Kočendová Jitka , Vaňková Eva , Volejníková Andrea , Nešuta Ondřej , Buděšínský Miloš , Socha Ondřej , Hájek Miroslav , Hadravová Romana , Čeřovský Václav
Published: February 2019

Candida albicans is the main causative agent of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), a common mycosis in women, relapses of which are difficult to manage due to biofilm formation. This study aimed at developing novel non-toxic compounds active against Candida spp. biofilms. We synthesised analogues of natural antifungal peptides LL-III (LL-III/43) and HAL-2 (peptide VIII) originally isolated from bee venoms and elucidated their structures by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The haemolytic, cytotoxic, antifungal and anti-biofilm activities of LL-III/43 and peptide VIII were then tested. LL-III/43 and VIII showed moderate cytotoxicity to HUVEC-2 cells and had comparable inhibitory activity against C. albicans and non-albicans spp. The lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC90) of LL-III/43 was observed towards Candida tropicalis (0.8 µM). That was 8-fold lower than that of antimycotic amphotericin B. Both peptides can be used to inhibit Candida spp. bio film f ormation. Biofilm inhibitory concentrations (BIC50) ranged from 0.9 to 58.6 µM and biofilm eradication concentrations (BEC50) for almost all tested Candida spp. strains ranged from 12.8 to 200 µM. Als o pro ven were the peptides’ abilities to reduce the area colonised by biofilms , inhibit hyphae formation and permeabilise cell membranes in biofil ms . LL-III/43 and VIII are promising candidates for further development as therapeutics against VVC.
Immunogenicity of Golimumab and its Clinical Relevance in Patients With Ulcerative Colitis
Authors: Adedokun Omoniyi J , Gunn George R , Leu Jocelyn H , Gargano Cynthia , Xu Zhenhua , Sandborn William J , Rutgeerts Paul , Shankar Gopi
Published: February 2019

Background

Antidrug antibody (ADA) detection with standard bridging enzyme immunoassays (EIA) can yield false-negative results or underestimate titers through drug interference. A more sensitive assay was needed to determine clinical impact of antigolimumab antibodies.

Methods

A high-sensitivity, drug-tolerant EIA (DT-EIA) was developed and cross-validated against the original EIA, and samples from induction/maintenance studies in golimumab-treated patients with ulcerative colitis were analyzed for ADAs using both methods. Immunogenicity results were compared, and pharmacokinetic, efficacy, and safety associations were evaluated.

Results

An 8-fold increase in ADA-positive patients (21.8% DT-EIA vs 2.8% EIA) reflected DT-EIA improved sensitivity and drug tolerance. Most newly detected ADA-positive patients (using DT-EIA) had low antibody titers, whereas most with high antibody titers were ADA-positive with original EIA. With DT-EIA, week 44 median trough serum golimumab concentrations among ADA-positive patients were approximately half vs ADA-negative (0.51 vs 0.85 µg/mL [50 mg q4w]; 0.85 vs 1.60 µg/mL [100 mg q4w]). Antidrug antibody impact on golimumab concentrations was more notable at titers ≥1:100. During induction, ADAs had no notable impact on efficacy. During maintenance, proportions of patients maintaining clinical response through week 54 were lower using DT-EIA: 38.1% ADA-positive and 52.8% ADA-negative. Antidrug antibody status had no impact on injection-site reaction incidence.

Conclusions

A more sensitive DT-EIA identified higher proportions of ADA-positive patients. A trend of decreasing drug concentrations with increasing ADA titers was observed. Pharmacokinetic impact was better elucidated with DT-EIA. Although development of ADA did not preclude efficacy, a trend toward decreased efficacy in ADA-positive vs ADA-negative patients was observed during maintenance treatment. Antidrug antibody status did not impact safety.
Adalimumab Effectiveness Up to Six Years in Adalimumab-naïve Patients with Crohn’s Disease: Results of the PYRAMID Registry
Authors: Loftus Edward V , Reinisch Walter , Panaccione Remo , Berg Sofie , Alperovich Gabriela , Bereswill Mareike , Kalabic Jasmina , Petersson Joel , Thakkar Roopal , Robinson Anne M , D’Haens Geert
Published: February 2019

Background

PYRAMID was an international multicenter, noninterventional, postmarketing registry assessing long-term safety and effectiveness of adalimumab (Humira), as used in routine clinical practice.

Methods

Adult patients with moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease with or without prior adalimumab experience were enrolled in the registry and followed for up to 6 years. Effectiveness measurements included the Physician’s Global Assessment (PGA, a composite of Harvey Bradshaw Index [HBI] and rectal bleeding score), clinical remission (HBI < 5), Short Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (SIBDQ), and Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI) questionnaire. Data were reported for adalimumab-naïve patients and analyzed by baseline immunomodulator use and disease duration.

Results

This study evaluated 2057 adalimumab-naïve patients. Mean PGA improved from 7.5 (baseline) to 3.9 (year 1) and 3.3 (year 6). The proportion of patients in HBI remission increased from 29% (573 of 1969; baseline) to 68% (900 of 1331; year 1) and 75% (625 of 831; year 6). Patients stratified by baseline immunomodulator use had similar HBI remission rates; patients with disease duration <2 years achieved numerically higher HBI remission rates than patients with longer disease duration. Patient-reported SIBDQ and WPAI scores improved at year 1; all WPAI subscore improvements were clinically meaningful (≥7% point change) at year 1 and maintained through year 6. Serious infections were reported in 11.1% of patients; incidence rates of malignancies, lymphoma, and demyelinating disorders were low.

Conclusion

Adalimumab therapy, as used in routine clinical practice, improved physician-reported and patient-reported disease outcomes and remission rates for up to 6 years. No new safety signals were observed.
Colonic Epithelial Surfactant Protein D Expression Correlates with Inflammation in Clinical Colonic Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Authors: Nexoe Anders B , Pilecki Bartosz , Von Huth Sebastian , Husby Steffen , Pedersen Andreas A , Detlefsen Sönke , Marcussen Niels , Moeller Jesper B , Holmskov Uffe , Sorensen Grith L
Published: February 2019

Background

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. Surfactant protein D (SP-D) is expressed in the intestinal epithelium and is essential for innate host defense and regulation of inflammatory responses. Genetic variations of SP-D are associated with IBD, but the effects of SP-D in clinical disease development have not been clarified. We hypothesized that colonic epithelial SP-D expression is increased in parallel with intestinal inflammation with the capacity to dampen deleterious effects.

Methods

Surgical specimens from IBD patients including Crohn’s disease (n = 9) and ulcerative colitis (n = 18) were scored for expression of SP-D and inflammatory activity. Cohoused Sftpd+/+ and Sftpd-/- mouse littermates were subjected to dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) for 7 days to induce colitis. Colonic tissue was scored for histologic damage and analyzed for inflammatory markers and expression of SP-D.

Results

Surgical specimens from IBD patients showed a strong positive correlation between immunoscore for SP-D and inflammatory activity (R2 = 0.78, P < 0.0001). In mice, colonic epithelial SP-D expression was very low, and DSS-induced colitis was unaffected by SP-D deficiency, although DSS induced transcription of colonic SP-D to a mild degree.

Conclusions

A strong positive correlation between inflammatory activity and epithelial expression of SP-D was observed in surgical specimens from IBD patients supporting a role for SP-D in clinical disease. The in vivo study was inconclusive due to very low intestinal SP-D expression in the mouse. Further studies are warranted to support that increased SP-D expression in the human colonic epithelium is protective against intestinal inflammation.
Advocating for Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: How to Navigate the Prior Authorization Process
Authors: Bhat Shubha , Zahorian Toni , Robert Regine , Farraye Francis A
Published: February 2019

In an effort to manage health care costs and avoid improper medication use, prior authorizations (PAs) have become a standard stipulation required by payers in the determination of medication coverage. For gastroenterologists managing patients, especially those with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the PA process is time-consuming and further complicated by 2 additional factors: step therapy requirements and failure of payers to recognize updated IBD treatment pathways. These factors often lead to PA denials and cause treatment delays, which in turn can lead to disease progression, ongoing patient suffering, and ultimately an increase in both direct and indirect total costs. In this manuscript, the PA process, PA models, tips and available resources to navigate the PA process, and future advocacy efforts are discussed with the intent to help gastroenterology practices optimize PA outcomes and improve the care provided to patients with IBD and other gastrointestinal disorders.
Elucidating the role of maternal environmental exposures on offspring health and disease using two-sample Mendelian randomization
Authors: Evans David M , Moen Gunn-Helen , Hwang Liang-Dar , Lawlor Debbie A , Warrington Nicole M
Published: February 2019

Background

There is considerable interest in estimating the causal effect of a range of maternal environmental exposures on offspring health-related outcomes. Previous attempts to do this using Mendelian randomization methodologies have been hampered by the paucity of epidemiological cohorts with large numbers of genotyped mother–offspring pairs.

Methods

We describe a new statistical model that we have created which can be used to estimate the effect of maternal genotypes on offspring outcomes conditional on offspring genotype, using both individual-level and summary-results data, even when the extent of sample overlap is unknown.

Results

We describe how the estimates obtained from our method can subsequently be used in large-scale two-sample Mendelian randomization studies to investigate the causal effect of maternal environmental exposures on offspring outcomes. This includes studies that aim to assess the causal effect of in utero exposures related to fetal growth restriction on future risk of disease in offspring. We illustrate our framework using examples related to offspring birthweight and cardiometabolic disease, although the general principles we espouse are relevant for many other offspring phenotypes.

Conclusions

We advocate for the establishment of large-scale international genetics consortia that are focused on the identification of maternal genetic effects and committed to the public sharing of genome-wide summary-results data from such efforts. This information will facilitate the application of powerful two-sample Mendelian randomization studies of maternal exposures and offspring outcomes.
How Norman Angell Reveals the Significance of Marxism and Socialism in Early IR and a Debate before the “First Great Debate”1
Authors: Villanueva Ricardo
Published: February 2019

A widespread belief in the field of international relations (IR) is that the first years of the discipline were characterized by a liberal “idealist” theoretical dominance followed by the so-called “first great debate,” in which the “idealist” school was intellectually surpassed by a realist tradition. The purpose of this article is to join previous revisionist studies and challenge this conventional narrative. Building primarily on the international thought and work of Norman Angell on imperialism, this article reveals that there was an important intellectual contest preceding the denominated “first great debate.” It also shows that even though Angell was not a Marxist, his figure discloses Marxism as an important theoretical force in the genesis of the discipline.