bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Economic Penalties Based on Neighborhood, and Wealth Building
Authors: Gray Rowena , Kim Raymond
Published: March 2023

Building wealth over lifetimes became possible for a broader span of the population in developed countries over the 20th century compared to any time in history. This was driven by more people having the capacity to save because of the expansion of middle-class jobs and education, access to highly developed financial markets, and government support for real estate investment. Housing wealth remains the dominant wealth-building vehicle for those outside the top decile of the income distribution. This, coupled with the high and growing level of residential segregation and local allocation of public goods in countries such as the United States, drives the unequal ability of individuals to build wealth depending on neighborhood of origin and residence. Segregated neighborhoods are drawn along racial and class lines, and while much progress has been made, historical and structural factors such as the legacy of slavery have contributed to the difficulty of fully closing the Black–White wealth gap. More generally, children who grow up in lower-status areas are significantly less likely to rise up the wealth and status ladder, and this is driven by a variety of disadvantages in those neighborhoods. These include higher levels of pollution; worse public services, especially education; and fewer prospects for jobs and training. Some of these can be changed by moving individuals and families to better neighborhoods, while the effects of a polluted environment on the development of 0- to 5-year-olds have long-lasting and often irreversible consequences. These factors have kept the “American Dream” of equality of opportunity and the ability to save and build wealth as individuals and households out of reach for significant portions of society. There is renewed interest in infrastructure investments and place-based policies to address this opportunity gap, which, due to its scale, is beginning to be recognized as having negative implications for the aggregate economy. Economists should maintain their focus on these important questions and continue to improve data sets as the range of assets in which people can build and store wealth grows.
The Early Origins of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States: An Analysis of the Growth of the NAACP
Authors: Aaronson Daniel , Abner Jala , Borgschulte Mark , Mazumder Bhashkar
Published: March 2023

A newly digitized panel of county-level branch activity of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is used to describe the potential factors underlying the expansion of political participation in the American South, with a particular emphasis on the short period from the late 1930s through the 1940s. This period has long been recognized for its significant progress in reducing sizable racial gaps in labor market outcomes. But little work in economics has considered the role of political participation in shaping that progress. As the preeminent civil rights organization prior to the 1950s, the NAACP provides a natural lens in which to explore the expansion in political activism during this crucial period. Associative evidence suggests that a few potential channels could be especially worthy of future study, including the role of demographics, increased human capital, expansion in labor demand driven by wartime efforts, reduction in racial violence, latent political activism, and expansions in political and social networks, all of which have been highlighted in a variety of history and social science literatures. However, careful causal empirical work does not currently exist on these factors. Filling in this hole is important for providing compelling evidence on the origins of the 20th century’s most important U.S. political movement, as well as adding to a growing literature in political economy and development economics which examines the role that grassroots activism has played on economic growth and income inequality around the world.
The Role of Service User Preferences and User-Centered Approaches in Adult Social Care
Authors: Dickinson Helen , Miller Robin
Published: March 2023

In recent years we have seen growing interest in a range of countries around how service user preferences can be accommodated in adult social care and how these services might be oriented to be more user-centered. There is a diverse array of different initiatives that might be classified as creating more user-centered approaches. Those at the strategic (macro) and organizational (meso) levels typically have greater amounts of evidence available than those at the individual (micro) level. However, many of these struggle to significantly disrupt power relations and clearly demonstrate an impact on service users. Those at the micro level more readily demonstrate impact, although the very local nature of these interventions means that they are not always well evaluated, and lessons may not be easy to transfer from one context to another. Overall, there is no system that has managed to reorient its adult social care system in a wholesale way; this is an issue that requires both technical and cultural change. Such changes take time to achieve, but there is much that can be learned from the existing evidence base.
The Study of International Relations in Chile
Authors: Oyarzún-Serrano Lorena , Fuentes-Julio Claudia
Published: March 2023

The fragmentation that characterizes International Relations (IR) at the global and Latin American levels is also present in Chile. When analyzing the development and state of the art of IR in Chile, it is clear that it has theoretical and methodological origins and influences from various other disciplines, generating different ways of understanding and practicing IR. This heterogeneity is one of IR’s main characteristics, and one of the consequences of this tendency toward fragmentation has been a limited dialogue between internationalists working in different study centers and universities as well as a lack of clear criteria for the minimum necessary requirements needed to create a community of Chilean internationalists. However, in the past decade, changes have occurred in Chile that can help to strengthen the discipline, such as the creation of new undergraduate and graduate programs, the incorporation of a new generation of academics who are questioning the role of the discipline and who are expressing openness in incorporating new topics to investigate, and various theoretical orientations and methodologies. Therefore, despite difficulties, it seems a recovery process has begun in strengthening IR as a discipline in Chile.
Glass Beads of 7th to 17th-Century CE Sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Wood Marilee
Published: March 2023

The value of glass beads to archaeologists has increased dramatically in the 21st century thanks to the development and improvements of methods to analyze the chemical composition of the glass used to make them. In addition, the amount of data accumulated from glass analysis has grown to the point that it is often possible to trace the probable origins of various glasses based on elements and trace elements present in the sands or quartz pebbles and sometimes the fluxes used to make the glass. But glassmaking and beadmaking are usually two separate professions, and raw and recycled glass were frequently traded even continents away. Thus, knowledge of bead manufacturing techniques and where they were practiced is needed to help determine where the beads might have been made and how they were traded.

Beads found in archaeological assemblages in sub-Saharan Africa between the 7th and 17th centuries ce were made of several glasses from different regions, including the Near East, the eastern Mediterranean, North Africa, South Asia, Central Asia, and China. Sometimes, beads of the same glass type are found right across the continent (particularly in the early period, 7th–10th centuries); but usually, bead assemblages in West Africa are different from those on the eastern side of the continent, and the East Coast and southern Africa are seldom in sync. Southern Africa usually received beads from only one source in any given period, beginning in the 7th century with glass beads from Mesopotamia, then India, followed by beads made from Central Asian glass but an unknown region of production, and finally a return to India. Beads found on the eastern seaboard, from Kenya to Madagascar, came from diverse sources: beginning in the 7th century with beads from South Asia (probably Sri Lanka) and others from Mesopotamia (like those in the south). These were followed by beads from India along with a few from Egypt or the eastern Mediterranean. In the early 15th century, a scattering of beads from China appeared, possibly brought as gifts by the fleet of the Chinese admiral Zheng He. Then a century later, more Chinese beads are found, but they were probably brought by early European traders. West Africa began, like the other regions, with beads of glass from Mesopotamia, which were followed by similar beads, but they were made of glass produced in the Levant or Egypt. After the 11th century, the region received very small numbers of beads from India and ones made of glass from Central Asia, but the most interesting were beads made of glass that was produced in Ile Ife, Nigeria—the only known primary glass production center in sub-Saharan Africa.
Media Muslims and Telenovelas: El Clon
Authors: Montenegro Silvia
Published: March 2023

The analysis of representations of Islam and Muslims disseminated in the literature, academic papers, and mass media involves a large tradition of studies and discussions that have highlighted categories such as Orientalism, neo-Orientalism and post-Orientalism. The Brazilian telenovela El Clon, released in October 2001 by Rede Globo and recreated in a new version by the Telemundo network in 2010, conquered the audience not only in Latin America but worldwide. In the creation of the original project, leaders of Islamic institutions played a role as advisors, but the way in which the religion was portrayed satisfied only part of the Muslim audience. In the analysis of the fictionalization of Muslim identities presented in El Clon, it is possible to identify: (a) the earlier examples of telenovelas aimed at Latin American audiences portraying the Arab-Islamic culture, (b) the significance of its release in the context immediately following 9/11, (c) the way of presenting the “core” of Muslim culture, (d) the integration of the telenovela in the wider process of commoditization of Arab-Islamic exoticism, (e) the dissimilar impact on the Muslim audience, and (f) the search for visibility by Islamic communities through a depiction that would not juxtapose Islam and terrorism.

Exoticism, magic, and mystery as components of the soft Orientalism present in El Clon attracted the curiosity of a mass Latin American audience, becoming a milestone in the increasing visibility of Islam.
Islamic Bioethics: Nanotechnology
Authors: Guessoum Nidhal
Published: March 2023

What ethical issues that nanotechnology raise – in its present state of development and in future, projected breakthroughs? Are those ethical issues to be addressed from a utilitarian perspective (pros and cons to humans) or from higher principles, perhaps religious ones? Does Islam address those issues from a theological perspective or from juristic (“Fiqhi”, i.e. harmful/prohibited vs. beneficial/permissible) angle? What viewpoints and stands have ethicists and religious scholars (Muslim and other) advanced on nanotechnology?
Islamic Bioethics: Secular Bioethics in Muslim Countries
Authors: Bouzenita Anke Iman
Published: March 2023

Bioethical discourse in Western and Islamic societies needs to be viewed against the background of their different historical perspectives and the role secularism has played in their respective development. While the Islamic experience generally saw science and technology evolving out of the Islamic way of life with medical ethics embedded in, and not hindered by, the injunctions of Islamic law, the Western (European) experience emphasizes the a priori need for secularization so as to initiate scientific development. Secularism therefore seems ingrained in Western approaches to science. Against this background, Western bioethics tends to insist on a secular imprint on bioethics. Bioethicists in Muslim-majority countries and in Muslim-minority communities elsewhere work with different historical and cultural experiences. Islam and its sources are still considered to be an important reference framework in Muslim countries and among Muslim populations. The communication of bioethical standards to various recipients therefore requires Islamic justification for legitimacy and acceptance.
Wilfred Cantwell Smith and the Study of Islam
Authors: Smith Suzanne
Published: March 2023

Wilfred Cantwell Smith’s formative contributions to the study of Islam were made mostly in the mid- to late 20th century, beginning with the 1943 publication of his dissertation Modern Islam in India: A Social Analysis in Lahore. His later achievements were integrated with his pedagogical and administrative innovations to the point that he influenced the study of Islam in North America by shaping his students and the settings in which they were educated as much as by his published works. All these efforts were informed by a larger mission: to foster recognition that the understanding of Islam in the past, present, and future required knowledge and awareness of the role it plays and has played in the hearts, minds, and lives of Muslims; to do justice to Islam by forging a critical and empathetic historical understanding of the Islamic tradition; and to create a new approach to the study of religion grounded in the difference between personal faith and cumulative tradition. Smith’s scholarly ethos was an outgrowth of his Weltaanschauung, the hallmark of which was what he referred to as participation in reality. One participated in reality, he suggested, through the loving exercise of reason and justice in the pursuit of truth. With respect to the study of Islam, truth was not to be mastered solely through the accumulation and interpretation of data but also through personal knowledge of and, ideally, friendship with modern Muslims. Smith was an all but uncategorizable figure, having been early on a materialist, Marxist, existentialist, Presbyterian minister and missionary, and later a rationalist thinker with conspicuous debts to German idealism and classical Greek metaphysics, as well as a visionary administrator and teacher of Islamic and comparative religious history.
Islamic Pilgrimage
Authors: Chekhab-Abudaya Mounia
Published: March 2023

Pilgrimage in Islam encompasses several kinds of practices. The hajj and the ‘umrah, both performed in Mecca and its surroundings, are mentioned in the Qur’an and are considered primary and mandatory pilgrimage practices. However, the pious visitation (ziyarah) to sites considered holy or sacred also holds a relevant place in the regional history of the Islamic world. Large religious processions and gatherings inherent to various forms of devotional rituals have been common practice since pre-Islamic times. Such visits include those to major precincts in Medina, Jerusalem, Najaf, Karbala, and other regional sites linked to venerable figures and the development of Sufism in the Islamic world after the 12th century. The practice of pilgrimage also involves other forms of shared piety and sanctity between the believers of the three Abrahamic traditions, especially across the Mediterranean. All of these numerous and diverse religious acts of worship have influenced the production of specific artifacts associated with the holy sites in Islamic visual culture. Such images and objects not only connect the believer to the pilgrimage practice but also symbolically enact a mental visit to the holy sites by physically interacting with their beholders.
Chinese Verbs and Lexical Distinction
Authors: Liu Meichun
Published: March 2023

Chinese verbs behave very differently from their counterparts in Indo-European languages and pose interesting challenges to the study of syntax-semantic interface for theoretical and applicational linguistics. The lexical semantic distinctions encoded in the Chinese verbal lexicon are introduced with a thorough review of previous works from different approaches with different concerns and answers. The recent development in constructing a digital database of verbal information in Mandarin Chinese, the Mandarin VerbNet, is also introduced, which offers frame-based constructional analyses of the Chinese verbs and verb classes. Finally, a case study on Chinese emotion verbs is presented to illustrate the unique properties of lexicalization patterns in Chinese verbs. In general, due to its typological characteristics in coding a Topic, rather than a Subject, as a prominent element in the sentence, Chinese shows a more flexible range of form-meaning mapping relations in lexical distinctions.
Negation in Germanic
Authors: Brandtler Johan , Breitbarth Anne
Published: March 2023

This article focuses on the formal expression of sentential negation in the Germanic languages and its diachronic development.

Not surprisingly, the Germanic languages share a number of characteristics with regard to negation.

1. With the exception of English, the Germanic languages use symmetric strategies of negating a clause: negative clauses are distinguished from affirmative clauses only by the presence of a negative marker.

2. In the historical development of the Germanic languages, standard negation has undergone a general change from preverbal particle to post-verbal adverb.

3. The standard varieties of the modern Germanic languages lack negative concord (NC), that is, the possibility of having two negative elements jointly expressing sentential negation.

In this article, each of these three aspects is discussed in more detail. It is shown that the historical changes leading up to the present set of standard negators in the extant Germanic languages can be subsumed under the more general principle known as Jespersen’s Cycle: the original expression of negation is first joined and later replaced by a new expression. In the second part of the article, we discuss the diachronic development of different types of negative concord in the Germanic languages.
Intersectionality as a Forward-Thinking Approach in Disaster Research
Authors: Jean Cassandra , Hall Tilly E. , Vickery Jamie
Published: March 2023

Disaster researchers, policymakers, and practitioners are confronted with the pressing need to understand and address how and why certain individuals and groups of individuals experience inequities leading up to, during, and postdisaster. These efforts must consider how to address such inequities through collaborative efforts toward intentional and systemic change. The use of intersectional approaches supports better analyze and critique of discriminatory and oppressive practices that disproportionately impact historically marginalized peoples, especially in the face of hazards and disasters. Intersectionality calls for understanding how different forms of privilege, power, and oppression interact and compound to create unequal socioeconomic outcomes across individuals and groups of individuals based on their identities (e.g., age, race, sexuality, and gender) and conditions (e.g., housing composition, immigration, and marital status). A review of inter- and multidisciplinary terrains of disaster studies shows that there are multifaceted utilities, capabilities, and advantages of adopting an intersectional approach. By considering historical discriminatory practices and the root causes of vulnerability, intersectionality highlights the systemic and institutionalized patterns that create precarious situations for some people while simultaneously protecting others. Intersectionality is also well suited to support insight into individuals’ capacities that affect their ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disastrous events, as well as assist them in avoiding or reducing risks that make them susceptible to disaster in the first place. However, intersectional approaches within disaster studies remain underutilized and, sometimes, superficially applied. Simplistic representations, the unequal attention given to certain intersections, and the domination of Western epistemologies must be attended to in order to challenge, disrupt, and diligently undo the interactions of systematic privilege, power, and oppression that render unequal disaster experiences and outcomes.
Nigeria Natural Hazard Governance: Institutional Perspective
Authors: Babamaaji Rakiya , Shaba Halilu , Nsofor Chiemeka , Mbaiorga Grace , Musa Aisha , Owan Vincent , Okunola Olasunkanmi , Chinyere A Ege , Kadir Godstime
Published: March 2023

Nigeria is affected by several types of natural disasters, such as floods, landslides, drought, pest invasion, gully erosion, coastal erosion, soil erosion, and storms, among others. The National Emergency Relief Agency was established in 1976 by the federal government purely as a relief organization focusing only on post disaster management to coordinate its disaster response activities. It later became the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), delegated with the primary responsibility for coordinating federal emergency preparedness, planning, management, and disaster assistance functions in the country. NEMA also has been delegated with the responsibility for establishing a disaster assistance policy. In this stewardship role, NEMA has the lead in developing and maintaining the National Disaster Response Plan.

There have been significant strides made in the effort to clearly define policies and institutions and promote collaboration with critical national agencies and stakeholders and related international organizations. As such, an institutional perspective of the natural hazard governance structure in Nigeria became critical. The evolution of natural hazard governance in Nigeria also highlights the coordination and types of disasters as policy triggers. There is a legal framework of disaster management that empowered NEMA as the coordinating agency for disaster management in Nigeria, especially in collaborating with offices such as the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, the Surveyor General of the Federation, the National Space Research and Development Agency, and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency in areas of flood vulnerability mapping as well as international organizations such as the World Bank, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and nongovernmental organizations. A review of the challenges in the implementation and management of policy and of the implementation of the natural hazard governance in Nigeria are critically important.
Environmental Humanities and Italy
Authors: Cesaretti Enrico , Biasillo Roberta , Benvegnú Damiano
Published: March 2023

Does something like “Italian environmental humanities” exist? If so, what makes an Italian approach to this multifaceted field of inquiry so different from the more consolidated Anglo-American tradition?

At least until the early 21st century, Italian academic institutions have maintained established disciplinary boundaries and have continued to produce siloed forms of knowledge. New and more flexible forms of scholarly collaboration have also not been traditionally supported at the national level, as political decisions regarding curricular updates and funding opportunities have been unable to foster interdisciplinarity and innovative approaches to knowledge production.

However, an underlying current of environmental awareness and action has a strong and long-standing presence in Italy. After all, Italy is where St. Francis wrote The Canticle of Creatures, with its non-hierarchical vision of the world, which then inspired the papal encyclical Laudato si (2015). Italy is also where Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s fresco The Allegory and the Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country (1337–1339) already “pre-ecologically” reflected on the relationship between nature and culture, on the effect of political decisions on our surroundings, and on the impact of local environments on the well-being (as well as the malaise) of their inhabitants. Additionally, Italy is among the few countries in the world whose constitution lists specific laws aimed at protecting its landscapes, biodiversity, and ecosystems in addition to its cultural heritage, as stated in a recent addendum to articles 9 and 41.

However, Italy also experienced an abrupt, violent process of development, modernization, and industrialization that radically transformed its urban, rural, and coastal territories after World War II. Many of its landscapes, once iconic and picturesque, have become polluted, toxic, or the outcome of contested, violent histories. And the effects of globalization are materially affecting its ecologies, meaning that Italy is also exposed to constant risks (earthquakes, floods, landslides, volcanic eruptions) and presents geo-morphological features that situate it at the very center of planetary climate change (both atmospheric and sociopolitical) and migration patterns. Considering this, thinking about Italy from an environmental humanities (EH) perspective and, in turn, about the EH in the context of Italy, highlights the interconnections between the local and the global and, in the process, enriches the EH debate.
Davis, John Eldon
Authors: Jordan Catheleen
Published: March 2023

John Eldon Davis, MSW, was a National Association of Social Work pioneer. His career spanned four decades and saw a number of “firsts” for social work. His pioneering efforts were in introducing interdisciplinary teams to social work services, training staff and students in various settings, and introducing social work services to in-patient mental health settings, HIV treatment, and international adoptions.
Validation of a 0/1 h Algorithm for Rapid Diagnosis of Myocardial Infarction Using a High-Sensitivity Troponin I Assay
Authors: Lehmacher Jonas , Toprak Betül , Sörensen Nils Arne , Bei der Kellen Ramona , Goßling Alina , Hartikainen Tau Sarra , Haller Paul Michael , Schock Alina , Twerenbold Raphael , Zeller Tanja , Blankenberg Stefan , Westermann Dirk , Neumann Johannes Tobias
Published: March 2023

Background

Current guidelines recommend 0/1 h algorithms using high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) for fast diagnosis of myocardial infarction (MI). Yet, for some assays, existing data is limited. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance and the prognostic value of a rapid 0/1 h algorithm for the Access hs-cTnI assay.

Methods

In consecutive patients presenting with suspected MI, we measured concentrations of Access hs-cTnI at presentation and after 1 hour. Final diagnosis was adjudicated independently by 2 cardiologists. Parameters for diagnostic performance were calculated, applying the recently derived European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 0/1 h algorithm for Access hs-cTnI. Additionally, we assessed the prognostic utility of Access hs-cTnI for the composite end point of all-cause mortality and incident MI at 3 years.

Results

In 1879 patients, 257 non-ST-elevation MIs occurred. Application of the 0/1 h algorithm classified 44.5% as rule-out, 20.3% as rule-in, and triaged 35.1% to the observe group. High rule-out safety was confirmed with a sensitivity of 97.7% (95% CI, 95.0%–99.1%) and a negative predictive value of 99.3% (95% CI, 98.4%–99.7%). Rule-in capacity was moderate with a specificity of 88.0% (95% CI, 86.3%–89.6%) and a positive predictive value of 50.8% (95% CI, 45.7%–55.9%). After exclusion of patients with ST-elevation MI the results showed strong prognostic value, even after adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors and comorbidities, with adjusted hazard ratios of 2.51 (95% CI, 1.56–4.04) in the observe and 3.55 (95% CI, 2.18–5.79) in the rule-in group for the composite end point of all-cause mortality and incident MI at 3 years, compared to ruled-out patients.

Conclusion

The ESC 0/1 h algorithm for Access hs-cTnI allows safe and efficient triage of patients with suspected MI and has strong prognostic utility up to 3 years after the initial evaluation.
METTL3-mediated m6A modification of HMGA2 mRNA promotes subretinal fibrosis and epithelial–mesenchymal transition
Authors: Wang Yuwei , Chen Yuhong , Liang Jian , Jiang Mei , Zhang Ting , Wan Xiaoling , Wu Jiahui , Li Xiaomeng , Chen Jieqiong , Sun Junran , Hu Yifan , Huang Peirong , Feng Jingyang , Liu Te , Sun Xiaodong
Published: March 2023

Subretinal fibrosis is a major cause of the poor visual prognosis for patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). Myofibroblasts originated from retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells through epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) contribute to the fibrosis formation. N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) modification has been implicated in the EMT process and multiple fibrotic diseases. The role of m6A modification in EMT-related subretinal fibrosis has not yet been elucidated. In this study, we found that during subretinal fibrosis in the mouse model of laser-induced choroidal neovascularization, METTL3 was upregulated in RPE cells. Through m6A epitranscriptomic microarray and further verification, high-mobility group AT-hook 2 (HMGA2) was identified as the key downstream target of METTL3, subsequently activating potent EMT-inducing transcription factor SNAIL. Finally, by subretinal injections of adeno-associated virus vectors, we confirmed that METTL3 deficiency in RPE cells could efficiently attenuate subretinal fibrosis in vivo. In conclusion, our present research identified an epigenetic mechanism of METTL3–m6A–HMGA2 in subretinal fibrosis and EMT of RPE cells, providing a novel therapeutic target for subretinal fibrosis secondary to nAMD.
A learning approach towards metre-based classification of similar Hindi poems using proposed two-level data transformation
Authors: Naaz Komal , Singh Niraj Kumar
Published: March 2023

With the advancement in technology and digitalization of resources, computation of humanities problems is no exception to remain untouched. Automatic poetry classification is now a well-defined problem which can be solved using various approaches. Mood-based poetry classification is one of the popular ones. We propose a learning approach towards metre-based classification of Hindi metrical poetry. The state of art model for the metre-based poetry classification uses the rule-based approach whereas the proposed system uses learning models to perform classification. Feature extraction and classification are the two main components of text classification in natural language processing. Text is transformed into machine-readable numbers through the process of feature extraction, which is subsequently submitted to classification models. Poems, in their most natural formulation, are unfit to any learning-based algorithms. However, transforming the data into certain form and selecting a fixed number of features out of it (feature extraction) made the classification possible using machine learning approach which was yet untouched and can act as benchmark for the concerned area of research. The article deals with six popular and similar types of Hindi poems. The dataset is collected and processed to form an early dataset that undergoes two levels of data transformation and feature engineering, resulting in the pre-processed dataset. The pre-processed dataset is then fed as input to selected machine learning models (Bernoulli Naïve Bayes, k-nearest neighbour, random forest, and support vector machine) producing classification result with best accuracy of 99%, that further undergoes a post-processing step based on observed misclassifications.
Fornaldarsögur
Authors: Driscoll Matthew James
Published: March 2023

The fornaldarsögur norðurlanda—literally “Stories of ancient times in the northern lands,” but generally known in English as “Mythical-heroic” or “Legendary” sagas—are a group of Icelandic prose narratives dealing with the early history of mainland Scandinavia, before the unification of Norway under Haraldr hárfagri (fair-hair) and the settlement of Iceland in the late ninth century. Although many of them have demonstrably older roots, there is no manuscript evidence for their existence before around 1300, and in their present state they are presumed to date from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. They remained popular throughout the late medieval and early-modern period, and continued to circulate in manuscripts into the first decades of the twentieth century. Although there has been much debate as to whether they can be said to constitute a genre in their own right, they do share a number of formal characteristics: they are formulaic, making extensive use of stock characters and motifs; they are episodic in structure, and are often found in multiple recensions though the addition of new episodes; they are unrealistic, with a strong element of the fabulous; most are prosimetric, incorporating verses in the narrative; and they are, in comparison with other types of sagas, relatively short, the longest being only about thirty thousand words, the shortest scarcely six to seven thousand. Within the corpus there are identifiable subgroups comprising, on the one hand, heroic legends based in traditional lore that focus on successive generations of heroes and are in the tragic mode, ending with the deaths of the protagonists, and, on the other, Viking romances that follow individual protagonists and are in the comic mode, ending typically with the hero’s marriage and accession to the throne. While the sagas in the former group have received a good deal of scholarly attention, those in the latter group have, until recently, been largely dismissed as tasteless, derivative, and devoid of literary merit. Individual sagas appeared in print in the second half of the seventeenth century, chiefly in Sweden. The first complete edition of the fornaldarsögur, published by the Danish scholar Carl Christian Rafn in 1829–1830, included texts of thirty-one sagas, three of them in two recensions. Subsequent scholarship has identified a number of other sagas not included by Rafn but which certainly could have been, as they also fit his criteria of place (greater Scandinavia) and time (the late Iron Age).
Hatha Yoga
Authors: Ondračka Lubomir
Published: March 2023

Hatha yoga is a system of physical practices that originated in India in the early second millennium. The first Sanskrit text that teaches the distinctive hatha yogic techniques (Amṛtasiddhi) is from the eleventh century and comes from the milieu of tantric Buddhism. The earliest Hindu works are from the twelfth century. The early phase of the historical development of hatha yoga culminates in a text called the Haṭhapradīpikā (early fifteenth century), which is the most important hatha yogic work ever written. From the sixteenth century onward, the nature of the texts changed, the number of techniques increased, and hatha yogic ideas spread beyond the yogic milieu. The majority of the traditions of modern globalized yoga have their roots in this late hatha yoga, but they have different goals. The main aim of medieval hatha yoga was to attain final liberation (mokṣa, mukti) from the chain of rebirth. The exact form of this liberation is rarely specified because the texts contain no elaborated philosophy or theology. The second main goal inherited from the tantric roots of hatha yoga is the acquisition of various extraordinary powers (siddhis). The two goals can merge when the yogi seeks liberation in the immortal physical body. To achieve these goals, hatha yoga uses various bodily techniques. Most characteristic are the practices called mudrās, by means of which the body’s vital energies can be manipulated. The second most important technique is breath control (prāṇāyāma). The complex bodily postures (āsanas) that are emblematic of modern yoga are almost absent from early hatha yoga texts, but since the fifteenth century their importance and number have been increasing. Their absence in the early textual corpus, however, does not necessarily mean that they were not actually practiced. A serious problem that scholars face in studying the history of hatha yoga is the nature of the sources. The main evidence (and for the early period almost exclusive evidence) is the hatha yogic texts. These works are highly prescriptive and say nothing about lived reality. For this reason, corrective descriptive sources (most notably visual material) are highly important, but they begin to appear to a greater extent only from the sixteenth century onward. Hopefully, future research will yield a better understanding of the social realities of the yoga milieu. In fact, systematic academic exploration of hatha yoga began very recently, in 2015 with the Haṭha Yoga Project at SOAS (London). Its results, which are now slowly beginning to emerge, are gradually revealing major new discoveries.
Italian Politics and Government
Authors: Giannetti Daniela
Published: March 2023

As established in the 1948 Constitution, Italy is a parliamentary democracy in which in order to take office governments must be supported by a majority of voting members of parliament (MPs), separately both in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate, through a formal investiture vote. Both branches of Parliament are elected on a popular basis and have exactly the same prerogatives in the lawmaking process (symmetric bicameralism). The head of state is indirectly elected for a seven-year term. Although the constitutional framework established at the end of World War II remains substantially unchanged, common usage distinguishes two phases—called respectively First and Second Republic—to indicate the rupture marked by those changes in the electoral rules and the party system that occurred in the early 1990s. Throughout the phase known as First Republic (1948–1992), an open-list proportional PR system with large electoral constituencies underpinned a party system centered upon the Christian Democratic Party (DC) with “bilateral” opposition parties on the left (the Communist Party/PCI) and on the right (the postfascist Movimento Sociale Italiano/MSI). Such a political landscape was dramatically reshaped in early 1990s after a wave of judicial prosecutions against the political elites. From 1994 to 2013, following the introduction of a majoritarian mixed-member electoral system, the Italian party system was characterized by a bipolar pattern of party competition and alternating coalition governments on the center-right and the center-left of the political spectrum. Electoral rules were changed both in 2005 and in 2017, restoring a predominantly proportional system. The 2013 elections marked a turning point in Italian politics, witnessing the astonishing success of the Five Star Movement (M5S), a newcomer populist party which gained one-fourth of the popular vote. In the 2018 elections the challenger M5S confirmed its success becoming the largest parliamentary party and dictating the process of government formation.
Perspectives on Diagnosis and Management of All-Cause Encephalitis: A National Survey of Adult Infectious Diseases Physicians
Authors: Le Maréchal Marion , Diaz-Arias Luisa A , Beekmann Susan E , Polgreen Philip , Messacar Kevin , Tunkel Allan R , Thakur Kiran T , Venkatesan Arun
Published: March 2023

Background

Encephalitis is widely recognized as a challenging condition to diagnose and manage. The care of patients with encephalitis typically involves multiple disciplines, including neurologists and infectious disease (ID) physicians. Our objective was to describe the perspectives and needs of ID physicians regarding encephalitis, using a cross-sectional questionnaire survey.

Methods

We performed a survey among physician members of the Infectious Diseases Society of America's (IDSA) Emerging Infections Network (EIN).

Results

Response rate was 33% (480 among 1472 active EIN physician members). More than 75% of respondents reported caring for patients with suspected encephalitis. Although one-third were involved in the care of multiple patients with autoimmune encephalitis (AE) annually, comfort in diagnosing and managing encephalitis, and in particular AE, was low. Experience with advanced diagnostic tools was variable, as were approaches toward deployment of such tools. Respondents noted that training could be improved by incorporating a multidisciplinary approach taking advantage of online and virtual platforms. ID physicians report a heavy reliance on the 2008 IDSA guidelines for the management of encephalitis, and indicated strong support for a formal update.

Conclusions

ID physicians play an important role in the diagnosis and management of all-cause encephalitis. Despite exposure to AE, few ID physicians are comfortable in recognizing, diagnosing, and treating AE. Moreover, comfort with and use of advanced diagnostic tools for infectious encephalitis was highly variable. Training in encephalitis should include a focus on use and stewardship of advanced diagnostic tools and on collaborative approaches with neurologists and other practitioners on mechanisms and clinical presentations of AE. There is a need for a formal update of 2008 guidelines on the management of encephalitis.
Early Target Attainment With Continuous Infusion Meropenem and Piperacillin/Tazobactam and Utilization of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring in Critically Ill Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study From 2017 to 2020
Authors: Dräger Sarah , von Rotz Matthias , Labhardt Niklaus D , Siegemund Martin , Rentsch Katharina M , Osthoff Michael , Franzeck Fabian C
Published: March 2023

Background

We analyzed the attainment of early pharmacological targets of continuous infusion meropenem and piperacillin/tazobactam and the use and effect of a real-time therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) program on subsequent dosing and target attainment in patients who are critically ill.

Methods

This was a single-center, retrospective study among patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit in a Swiss tertiary care hospital from 2017 to 2020. The primary outcome was target attainment [100% tT ≥ 4xECOFF (Pseudomonas aeruginosa)] of continuous infusion meropenem and piperacillin/tazobactam within 72 hours after initiation of treatment.

Results

A total of 234 patients were included. Median first meropenem (n = 186 of 234) and piperacillin (n = 48 of 234) concentration was 21 mg/L (interquartile range [IQR], 15.6–28.6) and 100.7 mg/L (IQR, 64.0–160.2), respectively. Pharmacological target was attained in 95.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 91.7–98.1) of patients receiving meropenem and 77.0% (95% CI, 62.7–87.9) treated with piperacillin/tazobactam. In the univariable and multivariable logistic regression, body weight and estimated glomerular filtration rate were negatively associated with target attainment. Subsequently, meropenem dosage was decreased or stopped in 35 of 186 (18.8%) and 89 of 186 (47.9%) patients, respectively, and increased in 2 of 186 (1.1%) patients.

Conclusions

Continuous infusion meropenem and piperacillin/tazobactam yielded excellent and moderate early pharmacological target attainment in critically ill patients, respectively. The TDM was mainly used to decrease meropenem dosage.
Insufficient Representation of Patients With Obesity in Randomized Controlled Trials Evaluating the Efficacy and Safety of Antimicrobials for Treatment of Skin and Skin Structure Infections: A Scoping Review
Authors: Lee Hay S , Wagner Jamie L , Vugrin Margaret , Brandenburg Rebecca T , Lee Jeremy , Miller Lindsey , Rayborn Stephen , Hall Ronald G
Published: March 2023

Persons with obesity (PwO) represent approximately 50% of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSIs) in the United States (US). There are currently insufficient data in PwO for drugs used for ABSSSIs. We conducted a scoping review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published between 2000 and 2022 to describe how frequently body size measures were reported. Weight and/or body mass index (BMI) were recorded in approximately 50% of the 69 RCTs. The average weights or BMIs were lower than US averages for most RCTs reporting data. None evaluated the impact of body size on outcomes in the original publication. Only 30% of newly approved drugs mention PwO representation in the prescribing information. More representative recruitment of PwO into RCTs is needed to help clinicians evaluate efficacy in these patients. We suggest that the Food and Drug Administration require companies to submit plans to ensure adequate PwO inclusion and that authors of RCTs report subgroup results based on body size.
Atezolizumab Plus PEGPH20 Versus Chemotherapy in Advanced Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma and Gastric Cancer: MORPHEUS Phase Ib/II Umbrella Randomized Study Platform
Authors: Ko Andrew H , Kim Kyu-Pyo , Siveke Jens T , Lopez Charles D , Lacy Jill , O’Reilly Eileen M , Macarulla Teresa , Manji Gulam A , Lee Jeeyun , Ajani Jaffer , Alsina Maqueda Maria , Rha Sun-Young , Lau Janet , Al-Sakaff Nedal , Allen Simon , Lu Danny , Shemesh Colby S , Gan Xinxin , Cha Edward , Oh Do-Youn
Published: March 2023

Background

The MORPHEUS platform comprises multiple open-label, randomized, phase Ib/II trials designed to identify early efficacy and safety signals of treatment combinations across cancers. Atezolizumab (anti-programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 [PD-L1]) was evaluated in combination with PEGylated recombinant human hyaluronidase (PEGPH20).

Methods

In 2 randomized MORPHEUS trials, eligible patients with advanced, previously treated pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) or gastric cancer (GC) received atezolizumab plus PEGPH20, or control treatment (mFOLFOX6 or gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel [MORPHEUS-PDAC]; ramucirumab plus paclitaxel [MORPHEUS-GC]). Primary endpoints were objective response rates (ORR) per RECIST 1.1 and safety.

Results

In MORPHEUS-PDAC, ORRs with atezolizumab plus PEGPH20 (n = 66) were 6.1% (95% CI, 1.68%-14.80%) vs. 2.4% (95% CI, 0.06%-12.57%) with chemotherapy (n = 42). In the respective arms, 65.2% and 61.9% had grade 3/4 adverse events (AEs); 4.5% and 2.4% had grade 5 AEs. In MORPHEUS-GC, confirmed ORRs with atezolizumab plus PEGPH20 (n = 13) were 0% (95% CI, 0%-24.7%) vs. 16.7% (95% CI, 2.1%-48.4%) with control (n = 12). Grade 3/4 AEs occurred in 30.8% and 75.0% of patients, respectively; no grade 5 AEs occurred.

Conclusion

Atezolizumab plus PEGPH20 showed limited clinical activity in patients with PDAC and none in patients with GC. The safety of atezolizumab plus PEGPH20 was consistent with each agent’s known safety profile. (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03193190 and NCT03281369).
Characterization of Gut Microbiome Composition in Patients with Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Treated with Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy
Authors: Vernaci Grazia , Savarino Edoardo Vincenzo , Patuzzi Ilaria , Facchin Sonia , Zingone Fabiana , Massa Davide , Faggioni Giovanni , Giarratano Tommaso , Miglietta Federica , Griguolo Gaia , Fassan Matteo , Lo Mele Marcello , Gasparini Elisa , Bisagni Giancarlo , Guarneri Valentina , Dieci Maria Vittoria
Published: March 2023

Introduction

Patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) achieving a pathological complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy have a better event-free survival. The role of gut microbiome in early TNBC is underexplored.

Methods

Microbiome was analyzed by 16SrRNA sequencing.

Results

Twenty-five patients with TNBC treated with neoadjuvant anthracycline/taxane-based chemotherapy were included. Fifty-six percent achieved a pCR. Fecal samples were collected before (t0), at 1 (t1), and 8 weeks (t2) from chemotherapy. Overall, 68/75 samples (90.7%) were suitable for microbiome analysis. At t0, pCR group showed a significantly higher α-diversity as compared with no-pCR, (P = .049). The PERMANOVA test on β-diversity highlighted a significant difference in terms of BMI (P = 0.039). Among patients with available matched samples at t0 and t1, no significant variation in microbiome composition was reported over time.

Conclusions

Fecal microbiome analysis in early TNBC is feasible and deserves further investigation in order to unravel its complex correlation with immunity and cancer.