bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The role of epigenetics and chromatin structure in transcriptional regulation in malaria parasites
Authors: Abel Steven , Le Roch Karine G
Published: March 2019

Due to the unique selective pressures and extreme changes faced by the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum throughout its life cycle, the parasite has evolved distinct features to alter its gene expression patterns. Along with classical gene regulation by transcription factors (TFs), of which only one family, the AP2 TFs, has been described in the parasite genome, a large body of evidence points toward chromatin structure and epigenetic factors mediating the changes in gene expression associated with parasite life cycle stages. These attributes may be critically important for immune evasion, host cell invasion and development of the parasite in its two hosts, the human and the Anopheles vector. Thus, the factors involved in the maintenance and regulation of chromatin and epigenetic features represent potential targets for antimalarial drugs. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms in P. falciparum that regulate chromatin structure, nucleosome landscape, the 3-dimensional structure of the genome and additional distinctive features created by parasite-specific genes and gene families. We review conserved traits of chromatin in eukaryotes in order to highlight what is unique in the parasite.
CliqueMS: a computational tool for annotating in-source metabolite ions from LC-MS untargeted metabolomics data based on a coelution similarity network
Authors: Senan Oriol , Aguilar-Mogas Antoni , Navarro Miriam , Capellades Jordi , Noon Luke , Burks Deborah , Yanes Oscar , Guimerà Roger , Sales-Pardo Marta
Published: March 2019

Motivation

The analysis of biological samples in untargeted metabolomic studies using LC-MS yields tens of thousands of ion signals. Annotating these features is of the utmost importance for answering questions as fundamental as, e.g. how many metabolites are there in a given sample.

Results

Here, we introduce CliqueMS, a new algorithm for annotating in-source LC-MS1 data. CliqueMS is based on the similarity between coelution profiles and therefore, as opposed to most methods, allows for the annotation of a single spectrum. Furthermore, CliqueMS improves upon the state of the art in several dimensions: (i) it uses a more discriminatory feature similarity metric; (ii) it treats the similarities between features in a transparent way by means of a simple generative model; (iii) it uses a well-grounded maximum likelihood inference approach to group features; (iv) it uses empirical adduct frequencies to identify the parental mass and (v) it deals more flexibly with the identification of the parental mass by proposing and ranking alternative annotations. We validate our approach with simple mixtures of standards and with real complex biological samples. CliqueMS reduces the thousands of features typically obtained in complex samples to hundreds of metabolites, and it is able to correctly annotate more metabolites and adducts from a single spectrum than available tools.

Availability and implementation

https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=cliqueMS and https://github.com/osenan/cliqueMS.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
The Cost-effectiveness of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Preexposure Prophylaxis and HIV Testing Strategies in High-risk Groups in India
Authors: Kazemian Pooyan , Costantini Sydney , Kumarasamy Nagalingeswaran , Paltiel A David , Mayer Kenneth H , Chandhiok Nomita , Walensky Rochelle P , Freedberg Kenneth A
Published: March 2019

Background

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic in India is concentrated among 3.1 million men who have sex with men (MSM) and 1.1 million people who inject drugs (PWID), with a mean incidence of 0.9–1.4 per 100 person-years. We examined the cost-effectiveness of both preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and HIV testing strategies for MSM and PWID in India.

Methods

We populated an HIV microsimulation model with India-specific data and projected clinical and economic outcomes of 7 strategies for MSM/PWID, including status quo; a 1-time HIV test; routine HIV testing every 3, 6, or 12 months; and PrEP with HIV testing every 3 or 6 months. We used a willingness-to-pay threshold of US$1950, the 2017 Indian per capita gross domestic product, to define cost-effectiveness.

Results

HIV testing alone increased life expectancy by 0.07–0.30 years in MSM; PrEP added approximately 0.90 life-years to status quo. Results were similar in PWID. PrEP with 6-month testing was cost-effective for both MSM (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio [ICER], $1000/year of life saved [YLS]) and PWID (ICER, $500/YLS). Results were most sensitive to HIV incidence. PrEP with 6-month testing would increase HIV-related expenditures by US$708 million (MSM) and US$218 million (PWID) over 5 years compared to status quo.

Conclusions

While the World Health Organization recommends PrEP with quarterly HIV testing, our analysis identifies PrEP with semiannual testing as the cost-effective HIV prevention strategy for Indian MSM and PWID. Since nationwide scale-up would require a substantial fiscal investment, areas of highest HIV incidence may be the appropriate initial targets for PrEP scale-up.
Willingness to Take Multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) Preventive Therapy Among Adult and Adolescent Household Contacts of MDR-TB Index Cases: An International Multisite Cross-sectional Study
Authors: Suryavanshi Nishi , Murrill Matthew , Gupta Amita , Hughes Michael , Hesseling Anneke , Kim Soyeon , Naini Linda , Jones Lynne , Smith Betsy , Gupte Nikhil , Dawson Rodney , Mave Vidya , Meshram Sushant , Mendoza-Ticona Alberto , Sanchez Jorge , Kumarasamy Nagalingeswaran , Comins Kyla , Conradie Francesca , Shenje Justin , Nerette Fontain Sandy , Garcia-Prats Anthony , Asmelash Aida , Nedsuwan Supalert , Mohapi Lerato , Lalloo Umesh , Cristina Garcia Ferreira Ana , Okeyo Elisha , Swindells Susan , Churchyard Gavin , Shah N Sarita
Published: March 2019

Background

Household contacts (HHCs) of individuals with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) are at high risk of infection and subsequent disease. There is limited evidence on the willingness of MDR-TB HHCs to take MDR-TB preventive therapy (MDR TPT) to decrease their risk of TB disease.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study of HHCs of MDR-TB and rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (RR-TB) index cases from 16 clinical research sites in 8 countries, enrollees were interviewed to assess willingness to take a hypothetical, newly developed MDR TPT if offered. To identify factors associated with willingness to take MDR TPT, a marginal logistic model was fitted using generalized estimating equations to account for household-level clustering.

Results

From 278 MDR-TB/RR-TB index case households, 743 HHCs were enrolled; the median age of HHCs was 33 (interquartile range, 22–49) years, and 62% were women. HHC willingness to take hypothetical MDR TPT was high (79%) and remained high even with the potential for mild side effects (70%). Increased willingness was significantly associated with current employment or schooling (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.83 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.07–3.13]), appropriate TB-related knowledge (aOR, 2.22 [95% CI, 1.23–3.99]), confidence in taking MDR TPT (aOR, 7.16 [95% CI, 3.33–15.42]), and being comfortable telling others about taking MDR TPT (aOR, 2.29 [95% CI, 1.29–4.06]).

Conclusions

The high percentage of HHCs of MDR-TB/RR-TB index cases willing to take hypothetical MDR TPT provides important evidence for the potential uptake of effective MDR TPT when implemented. Identified HHC-level variables associated with willingness may inform education and counseling efforts to increase HHC confidence in and uptake of MDR TPT.
Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encrypted Data Equality Test and Classification
Authors: Cui Yuzhao , Huang Qiong , Huang Jianye , Li Hongbo , Yang Guomin
Published: March 2019

Thanks to the ease of access and low expenses, it is now popular for people to store data in cloud servers. To protect sensitive data from being leaked to the outside, people usually encrypt the data in the cloud. However, management of these encrypted data becomes a challenging problem, e.g. data classification. Besides, how to selectively share data with other users is also an important and interesting problem in cloud storage. In this paper, we focus on ciphertext-policy attribute based encryption with equality test (CP-ABEET). People can use CP-ABEET to implement not only flexible authorization for the access to encrypted data, but also efficient data label classification, i.e. test of whether two encrypted data contain the same message. We construct an efficient CP-ABEET scheme, and prove its security based on a reasonable number-theoretic assumption. Compared with the only existing CP-ABEET scheme, our construction is more efficient in key generation, and has shorter attribute-related secret keys and better security.
Clinicopathological, immunophenotypic and genetic studies of mediastinal paragangliomas†
Authors: Hsu Ying-Han R , Torres-Mora Jorge , Kipp Benjamin R , Sukov William R , Jenkins Sarah M , Voss Jesse S , Barr Fritcher Emily G , Schaff Hartzell V , Cassivi Stephen D , Roden Anja C
Published: March 2019

OBJECTIVES

Paragangliomas have unique features in the mediastinum, in part due to their location. Because of their paucity, they have not been thoroughly investigated. We studied the clinical, pathological, immunohistochemical and molecular features of mediastinal paragangliomas.

METHODS

Immunohistochemistry, next-generation sequencing mutation panel and the Oncoscan assay were performed.

RESULTS

Twenty-four patients with mediastinal paraganglioma (7 men, 29.2%) had a median age of 45.5 years (19.8–72.2). Twenty-one (87.5%) paragangliomas were completely resected. Six (of 24, 25.0%) tumours were considered metastatic. Mitotic activity occurred in 11 (of 24, 45.8%) paragangliomas. Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) (n = 23) was expressed in 6 (26%) patients in 10% (n = 2) and 1% (n = 4) of tumour cells, respectively. SDHB expression was lost in 19 (of 22, 86.4%) cases. ATRX expression was lost in 11 (of 23, 47.8%) cases. Next-generation sequencing revealed a single pathogenic mutation in 10 (of 19) specimens including SDHB (n = 4), SDHD (n = 6), SDHC (n = 1), ATRX (n = 1), and ≥2 mutations in 2 cases [SDHC and TERT (n = 1); SDHB, ATRX and TP53 (n = 1)]. Germline mutation analysis revealed the same succinate dehydrogenase mutation (or lack thereof) as identified in the paraganglioma in 11 (of 12) cases. During a median follow-up (n = 21) of 4.8 years (0.8–14.9), 3 patients developed metastases; 4 patients died, at least 1 of disease.

CONCLUSIONS

Mediastinal paragangliomas can be associated with morbidity and mortality. Many mediastinal paragangliomas have been reported to be associated with syndromes such as multiple endocrine neoplasia, von Hippel-Lindau or succinate dehydrogenase syndrome with mutation profiles dominated by alterations in genes associated with these syndromes.
Impact of the 2017 measles outbreak on the emergency care system of a large tertiary-care teaching hospital in Italy: a retrospective analysis
Authors: Ceccarelli Giancarlo , Spagnolello Ornella , Borrazzo Cristian , Vullo Francesco , Cuomo Maria Rosaria , Milocco Mimosa , Angeletti Silvia , Ciccozzi Massimo , Mastroianni Claudio M , d’Ettorre Gabriella , Bertazzoni Giuliano
Published: March 2019

Background

A large outbreak of measles has spread across Italy over the year 2017. Its impact on emergency department (ED) of a tertiary-care teaching hospital and the related critical issues in public health were evaluated.

Methods

Medical records of adults discharged from January to December 2017 with diagnosis of ‘measles’ or ‘measles suspicion’ were collected and analyzed.

Results

From a total of 58 579 admissions, 218 medical records matched enrollment criteria. Measles infection was confirmed in 55.3% of patients, excluded in 26.2%, and judged as possible or probable in 18.3% of cases. Considered that the vaccination status was unknown in 89.2% of patients, the mean time spent in temporary isolation rooms (TIRs) waiting serological results was 1.7 ± 0.8 days. Measles-free patients spent a mean of 1.9 ± 0.9 days in TIRs, meaning a cumulative unnecessary time of isolation of 106.4 days. Despite most of patients were pauci-simptomatic and with a low burden of comorbidities, only 28.6% of them reported a previous out-of-hospital medical contact. Moreover an assessment of moderately critical conditions was assigned to 89.6% of cases, representing an over-valuation of the severity of the cases. Antibiotic therapy had been prescribed in 69.0% of cases and 57.7% of patients were hospitalized. We found no differences in terms of median time spent in TIRs, rate of hospitalization and antibiotic prescription between measles cases and measles-free patients.

Conclusion

A preventable high-infective disease outbreak can lead to a misapply of ED facilities in terms of unjustified admissions, time spent in TIRs, antibiotic prescription and in hospitalization rate.
Evaluating vaccination policies to accelerate measles elimination in China: a meta-population modelling study
Authors: Hao Lixin , Glasser John W , Su Qiru , Ma Chao , Feng Zhilan , Yin Zundong , Goodson James L , Wen Ning , Fan Chunxiang , Yang Hong , Rodewald Lance E , Feng Zijian , Wang Huaqing
Published: March 2019

Background

Measles is among the most highly infectious human diseases. By virtue of increasingly effective childhood vaccination, together with targeted supplemental immunization activities (SIAs), health authorities in the People’s Republic of China have reduced measles’ reproduction number from about 18 to 2.3. Despite substantial residual susceptibility among young adults, more in some locales than others, sustained routine childhood immunization likely would eliminate measles eventually. To support global eradication efforts, as well as expedite morbidity and mortality reductions in China, we evaluated alternative SIAs via mechanistic mathematical modelling.

Methods

Our model Chinese population is stratified by immune status (susceptible to measles infection; infected, but not yet infectious; infectious; and recovered or immunized), age (0, 1–4, 5–9, …, 65+ years) and location (31 provinces). Contacts between sub-populations are either empirical or a mixture of preferential and proportionate with respect to age and decline exponentially with distance between locations at age-dependent rates. We estimated initial conditions and most parameters from recent cross-sectional serological surveys, disease surveillance and demographic observations. Then we calculated the reproduction numbers and gradient of the effective number with respect to age- and location-specific immunization rates. We corroborated these analytical results by simulating adolescent and young adult SIAs using a version of our model in which the age-specific contact rates vary seasonally.

Results

Whereas the gradient indicates that vaccinating young adults generally is the optimal strategy, simulations indicate that a catch-up campaign among susceptible adolescent schoolchildren would accelerate elimination, with timing dependent on uptake.

Conclusions

These results are largely due to indirect effects (i.e. fewer infections than immunized people might otherwise cause), which meta-population models with realistic mixing are uniquely capable of reproducing accurately.
Loss of GLK1 transcription factor function reveals new insights in chlorophyll biosynthesis and chloroplast development
Authors: Gang Huixin , Li Ranhong , Zhao Yuming , Liu Guifeng , Chen Su , Jiang Jing
Published: March 2019

Birch (Betula platyphylla × B. pendula) is an important tree for landscaping due to its attractive white bark and straight trunk. In this study, we characterized a T-DNA yellow-green leaf mutant, yl. We identified six insertion sites (ISs) in the mutant by genome resequencing and found a 40-kb deletion containing BpGLK1 around IS2 on chromosome 2. Complementation experiments with the yl mutant and repression of BpGLK1 in wild-type plants confirmed that BpGLK1 was responsible for the mutated phenotype. Physiological and ultrastructural analyses showed that the leaves of the yl mutant and BpGLK1-repression lines had decreased chlorophyll content and defective chloroplast development compared to the wild-type. Furthermore, the loss function of BpGLK1 also affected photosynthesis in leaves. Transcriptomics, proteomics, and ChIP-PCR analysis revealed that BpGLK1 directly interacted with the promoter of genes related to antenna proteins, chlorophyll biosynthesis, and photosystem subunit synthesis, and regulated their expression. Overall, our research not only provides new insights into the mechanism of chloroplast development and chlorophyll biosynthesis regulated by BpGLK1, but also provides new transgenic birch varieties with various levels of yellowing leaves by repressing BpGLK1 expression.
Nitric oxide and plant mineral nutrition: current knowledge
Authors: Buet Agustina , Galatro Andrea , Ramos-Artuso Facundo , Simontacchi Marcela
Published: March 2019

Plants under conditions of essential mineral deficiency trigger signaling mechanisms that involve common components. Among these components, nitric oxide (NO) has been identified as a key participant in responses to changes in nutrient availability. Usually, nutrient imbalances affect the levels of NO in specific plant tissues, via modification of its rate of synthesis or degradation. Changes in the level of NO affect plant morphology and/or trigger responses associated with nutrient homeostasis, mediated by its interaction with reactive oxygen species, phytohormones, and through post-translational modification of proteins. NO-related events constitute an exciting field of research to understand how plants adapt and respond to conditions of nutrient shortage. This review summarizes the current knowledge on NO as a component of the multiple processes related to plant performance under conditions of deficiency in mineral nutrients, focusing on macronutrients such as nitrogen, phosphate, potassium, and magnesium, as well as micronutrients such as iron and zinc.
Similar hydraulic efficiency and safety across vesselless angiosperms and vessel-bearing species with scalariform perforation plates
Authors: Trueba Santiago , Delzon Sylvain , Isnard Sandrine , Lens Frederic
Published: March 2019

The evolution of xylem vessels from tracheids is put forward as a key innovation that boosted hydraulic conductivity and photosynthetic capacities in angiosperms. Yet, the role of xylem anatomy and interconduit pits in hydraulic performance across vesselless and vessel-bearing angiosperms is incompletely known, and there is a lack of functional comparisons of ultrastructural pits between species with different conduit types. We assessed xylem hydraulic conductivity and vulnerability to drought-induced embolism in 12 rain forest species from New Caledonia, including five vesselless species, and seven vessel-bearing species with scalariform perforation plates. We measured xylem conduit traits, along with ultrastructural features of the interconduit pits, to assess the relationships between conduit traits and hydraulic efficiency and safety. In spite of major differences in conduit diameter, conduit density, and the presence/absence of perforation plates, the species studied showed similar hydraulic conductivity and vulnerability to drought-induced embolism, indicating functional similarity between both types of conduits. Interconduit pit membrane thickness (Tm) was the only measured anatomical feature that showed a relationship to significant vulnerability to embolism. Our results suggest that the incidence of drought in rain forest ecosystems can have similar effects on species bearing water-conducting cells with different morphologies.
Properties of ionized outflows in MaNGA DR2 galaxies
Authors: Rodríguez del Pino Bruno , Arribas Santiago , Piqueras López Javier , Villar-Martín Montserrat , Colina Luis
Published: March 2019

We present the results from a systematic search and characterization of ionized outflows in nearby galaxies using the data from the second Data Release of the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Arecibo Point Observatory (MaNGA) Survey (DR2; >2700 galaxies, z ≤ 0.015). Using the spatially resolved spectral information provided by the MANGA data, we have identified ∼5200 H α-emitting regions across the galaxies and searched for signatures of ionized outflows. We find evidence for ionized outflows in 105 regions from 103 galaxies, roughly 7 per cent of all the H α-emitting galaxies identified in this work. Most of the outflows are nuclear, with only two cases detected in off-nuclear regions. Our analysis allows us to study ionized outflows in individual regions with star formation rates (SFRs) down to ∼0.01 M⊙ yr−1, extending the ranges probed by previous works. The kinematics of the outflowing gas is strongly linked to the type of ionization mechanism: regions characterized by low-ionization emission region emission (LIER) host the outflows with more extreme kinematics (FWHMbroad ∼ 900 km s−1), followed by those originated in active galactic nuclei (550 km s−1), ‘Intermediate’ (450 km s−1), and star-forming (350 km s−1) regions. Moreover, in most of the outflows we find evidence for gas ionized by shocks. We find a trend for higher outflow kinematics towards larger stellar masses of the host galaxies but no significant variation as a function of star formation properties within the SFR regime we probe (∼0.01–10 M⊙ yr−1). Our results also show that the fraction of outflowing gas that can escape from galaxies decreases towards higher dynamical masses, contributing to the preservation of the mass–metallicity relation by regulating the amount of metals in galaxies. Finally, assuming that the extensions of the outflows are significantly larger than the individual star-forming regions, as found in previous works, our results also support the presence of star formation within ionized outflows, as recently reported by Maiolino et al. (2017) and Gallagher et al. (2018).
FIGS: spectral fitting constraints on the star formation history of massive galaxies since the cosmic noon
Authors: Ferreras Ignacio , Pasquali Anna , Pirzkal Nor , Pharo John , Malhotra Sangeeta , Rhoads James , Hathi Nimish , Windhorst Rogier , Cimatti Andrea , Christensen Lise , Finkelstein Steven L , Grogin Norman , Joshi Bhavin , Kim Keunho , Koekemoer Anton , O’Connell Robert , Östlin Göran , Rothberg Barry , Ryan Russell
Published: March 2019

We constrain the stellar population properties of a sample of 52 massive galaxies – with stellar mass log (Ms/M⊙) ≳ 10.5 – over the redshift range 0.5 < z < 2 by use of observer-frame optical and near-infrared slitless spectra from Hubble Space Telescope’s ACS and WFC3 grisms. The deep exposures (∼100 ks) allow us to target individual spectra of massive galaxies to F160W = 22.5 AB. Our spectral fitting approach uses a set of six base models adapted to the redshift and spectral resolution of each observation, and fits the weights of the base models, including potential dust attenuation, via a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. Our sample comprises a mixed distribution of quiescent (19) and star-forming galaxies (33). We quantify the width of the age distribution (Δt) that is found to dominate the variance of the retrieved parameters according to principal component analysis. The population parameters follow the expected trend towards older ages with increasing mass, and Δt appears to weakly anticorrelate with stellar mass, suggesting a more efficient star formation at the massive end. As expected, the redshift dependence of the relative stellar age (measured in units of the age of the Universe at the source) in the quiescent sample rejects the hypothesis of a single burst (aka monolithic collapse). Radial colour gradients within each galaxy are also explored, finding a wider scatter in the star-forming subsample, but no conclusive trend with respect to the population parameters.
H-, He-like recombination spectra – III. n-changing collisions in highly excited Rydberg states and their impact on the radio, IR, and optical recombination lines
Authors: Guzmán F , Chatzikos M , van Hoof P A M , Balser Dana S , Dehghanian M , Badnell N R , Ferland G J
Published: March 2019

At intermediate to high densities, electron (de-)excitation collisions are the dominant process for populating or depopulating high Rydberg states. In particular, the accurate knowledge of the energy changing (n-changing) collisional rates is determinant for predicting the radio recombination spectra of gaseous nebula. The different data sets present in the literature come either from impact parameter calculations or semi-empirical fits and the rate coefficients agree within a factor of 2. We show in this paper that these uncertainties cause errors lower than 5 per cent in the emission of radio recombination lines of most ionized plasmas of typical nebulae. However, in special circumstances where the transitions between Rydberg levels are amplified by maser effects, the errors can increase up to 20 per cent. We present simulations of the optical depth and Hnα line emission of active galactic nuclei broad-line regions and the Orion Nebula Blister to showcase our findings.
In vitro isolation of class-specific oligonucleotide-based small-molecule receptors
Authors: Yang Weijuan , Yu Haixiang , Alkhamis Obtin , Liu Yingzhu , Canoura Juan , Fu Fengfu , Xiao Yi
Published: March 2019

Class-specific bioreceptors are highly desirable for recognizing structurally similar small molecules, but the generation of such affinity elements has proven challenging. We here develop a novel ‘parallel-and-serial’ selection strategy for isolating class-specific oligonucleotide-based receptors (aptamers) in vitro. This strategy first entails parallel selection to selectively enrich cross-reactive binding sequences, followed by serial selection that enriches aptamers binding to a designated target family. As a demonstration, we isolate a class-specific DNA aptamer against a family of designer drugs known as synthetic cathinones. The aptamer binds to 12 diverse synthetic cathinones with nanomolar affinity and does not respond to 11 structurally similar non-target compounds, some of which differ from the cathinone targets by a single atom. This is the first account of an aptamer exhibiting a combination of broad target cross-reactivity, high affinity and remarkable specificity. Leveraging the qualities of this aptamer, instantaneous colorimetric detection of synthetic cathinones at nanomolar concentrations in biological samples is achieved. Our findings significantly expand the binding capabilities of aptamers as class-specific bioreceptors and further demonstrate the power of rationally designed selection strategies for isolating customized aptamers with desired binding profiles. We believe that our aptamer isolation approach can be broadly applied to isolate class-specific aptamers for various small molecule families.
Introduction
Authors: Leung Janny H.C.
Published: March 2019

This chapter introduces the intertwined relationship between language, identity, politics, and law, and provides a road map for the book. It begins with an example of a language conflict that invites the reader to consider complexities involved in the promulgation of an official language law. It then outlines the steps that this book will take to help the reader make sense of multilingual legal orders today. It sets the stage for the project by reviewing existing literature that has tackled related issues in various academic fields, including linguistics (and its subfields such as sociolinguistics, linguistic ecology, and language policy and planning), law, and political science, and evaluating the limitation in scope and reach of such works.
Mapping a Global Phenomenon
Authors: Leung Janny H.C.
Published: March 2019

Having explored how official multilingualism has emerged as a product of historical and sociopolitical development, this chapter moves on to survey the extent of the phenomenon in the contemporary world. The data set offers a panoramic view of jurisdictions around the world that are officially bilingual or multilingual. Although there is not enough room to provide a detailed history of any particular jurisdiction, the chapter annotates the data and makes a number of generalized observations. The global data provide a sense of scale that speaks for itself and allow one to observe patterns and trends that help make sense of the phenomenon. Although linguistic demographics and the ideology of linguistic nationalism have a role to play, they are insufficient to explain the data. Official multilingualism is largely a post-colonial legacy, but there is also an emergent trend that official language policy responds to market forces under late capitalism.
Creating Multilingual Legal Texts
Authors: Leung Janny H.C.
Published: March 2019

This chapter assesses the challenges in producing multilingual legal texts, especially where these texts are supposed to be equally authentic. The first of these challenges is translation. The risk is that a failure to achieve translation equivalence compromises legal certainty. Equivalence aside, there are also deeper political tensions in the process of legal translation: power struggles among speakers of the source and target language may be reflected in translation strategies adopted. Apart from translating the law, the legislature also needs to revise drafting procedures to ensure that different language versions of the law are consistent with one another, and that they respect linguistic equality where it is emphasized by the law. Where the new official language has not developed a legal vocabulary and a formal register, further linguistic engineering may be necessary. Sometimes ideological engineering is also called for.
Moment of Reckoning
Authors: Muehlberger Ellen
Published: March 2019

Late antiquity saw a proliferation of Christian texts dwelling on the emotions and physical sensations of dying—not as a heroic martyr in a public square or a judge’s court but as an individual, at home in a bed or in a private room. In sermons, letters, and ascetic traditions, late ancient Christians imagined the last minutes of life and the events that followed death in elaborate detail. This book traces how, in late ancient Christianity, death came to be thought of as a moment of reckoning: a physical ordeal whose pain is followed by an immediate judgment of one’s actions by angels and demons and, after that, fitting punishment. This emphasis on the experience of death ushered in a new ethical sensibility among Christians, in which one’s death was to be imagined frequently and anticipated in detail. This was initially meant as a tool for individuals: preachers counted on the fact that becoming aware of a judgment arriving at the end of one’s life tends to sharpen one’s scruples. But, as this book argues, the change in Christian sensibility toward death did not just affect individuals. Death imagined as the moment of reckoning created a fund of images and ideas within late ancient Christian culture about just what constituted a human being and how variances in human morality should be treated. This had significant effects on the Christian adoption of power in late antiquity, especially in the case of power’s heaviest baggage: the capacity to authorize violence against others.
Introduction
Authors: Muehlberger Ellen
Published: March 2019

The introduction reviews scholarship about death and deathways in late ancient religions, noting the emphasis of such scholarship on the experiences of those who survive the dead. It clarifies that this book addresses a slightly different topic: the anticipations of the living for how their own deaths will be. Locating this book in the history of scholarship that links cultural attention to the experience of death with the development of a sense of individualism, the author does not claim the origin of the focus on the individual within Christianity, but instead explores the synergy of ideas about the generic individual’s death that became salient in late ancient writing. This choice is contextualized to avoid doctrinal statements about death and to use instead performative sermons, narratives, and visions as sources for how early Christians imagined their last moments. A chapter outline for the book appears at the end of the introduction.
The Constructivist–Critical Theory Synthesis
Authors: Barkin J. Samuel , Sjoberg Laura
Published: March 2019

Is there a constructivist–critical theory synthesis? This chapter makes the case that such a synthesis can indeed be found, both in the practice and the politics of the discipline of International Relations. The chapter locates the synthesis both in broader social science debates about social construction and in disciplinary histories of International Relations that see both critical theory and constructivism on the same side of the so-called third debate. The chapter sees the synthesis being expressed implicitly, as a default category for work that does not fit into the realist/liberal synthesis or is outside the neopositivist mainstream. The chapter also sees the synthesis in explicit claims—of nonfoundationalism, of the rejection of metanarratives, or of the embrace of progressive politics. Finally, the chapter sees traces of a synthesis even when critical theory and constructivism are presented as paradigmatically distinct.
Understanding and Classifying Constructivisms
Authors: Barkin J. Samuel , Sjoberg Laura
Published: March 2019

The chapter discusses various ways that constructivism might be defined, and finds in them a tendency to make constructivisms into at once more than they are (by imbuing them with “naturally” associated politics) and less (by divorcing them from their roots as social theory). The chapter builds an argument that what constructivisms have in common is the ontological assumption of the social construction of international politics as expressed in methodology for doing International Relations research. This assumption should not be understood as taking specific ontologies, let alone methods, methodologies, or politics, as definitional of constructivism. Work can reasonably be described as constructivist if it builds on an ontology of co-constitution and intersubjectivity in the context of a particular set of methodological claims underlying a research exercise about global politics. This brackets what work might be called constructivist but does not associate constructivism either with any specific ontology or with any specific methodology.
Understanding and Classifying Critical Approaches
Authors: Barkin J. Samuel , Sjoberg Laura
Published: March 2019

This chapter argues that what various theoretical approaches to IR that describe themselves or are described as critical share in common is that they are political rather than social theories. There are no other common elements to be found across this group of approaches. Various schemas used to typify different sorts of critical theories (e.g., emancipatory/postmodern; feminist/postcolonial/poststructuralist; Copenhagen School/Aberystwyth School/Paris School) signify different political theories with different political content but share political investment in both disciplinary International Relations and global politics. They are explicitly engaged in International Relations theorizing and International Relations research as a political enterprise with political ends.
Critical Theory Is Ontologically Promiscuous and Methodologically Agnostic
Authors: Barkin J. Samuel , Sjoberg Laura
Published: March 2019

Do critical approaches to International Relations have some ontological commonality? Is there some tenet about what the world is (or should be) that critical approaches share? Does critical International Relations scholarship have methodological, perhaps even constructivist, commonality? This chapter makes the case that critical theories are sets of political commitments, not ontologies or sets of research methods. To read critical theories as ontology or method is to do injustice to their ties to politics; to read critical theories as methodologically bound is unfairly limiting to them. The chapter provides an overview of the range of ontologies and methods that are useful to the spectrum of International Relations critical theories, suggesting that this spectrum is broad, varied, and not necessarily internally consistent. While constructivisms can be methodologically useful to critical theorizing, they are only some among many of the tools that can be employed fruitfully in service of the various ends of International Relations critical theories.
A Case against the Constructivist–Critical Theory Synthesis
Authors: Barkin J. Samuel , Sjoberg Laura
Published: March 2019

This chapter builds on the understandings of constructivist and critical International Relations theories laid out in the book so far to make an argument that constructivisms and critical theories are not the same thing, naturally aligned, or necessarily productive bedfellows. Furthermore, there are both analytical and political downsides to the constructivist/critical theory nexus, which are evident in work in international relations that pairs the two unreflectively. In fact, many of the intersections between constructivisms and critical theories in the current International Relations theory literature are contrived at the expense of some or even most of the core tenets of either theory. This chapter suggests that the “end of International Relations” and the lost, confused nature of International Relations theory (particularly progressive International Relations theory) can find their origins in the underspecification and overreached application of pairings between constructivisms and critical theorizing in International Relations. These implications make it necessary to critically evaluate figurations of constructivist and critical International Relations.
Thinking beyond the Constructivist–Critical Theory Synthesis
Authors: Barkin J. Samuel , Sjoberg Laura
Published: March 2019

This chapter returns to the concept of affordances introduced in chapter 1. It proceeds in the spirit of thinking through theoretical approaches’ affordances to ask how specific critical theories and constructivisms might inform each other in the absence of a broader constructivist–critical theory synthesis. It does so in two parts. The first looks at examples of specific overlaps in which the affordances of a particular constructivism serve the needs of a particular exercise in critical theory, or vice-versa. It demonstrates that, while there are approaches that do not afford overlap, there are also approaches that do afford overlap. The second part argues that a politics and an ontology are not strictly analogous; the scope for constructivist tools in critical research is in fact narrower than the scope for critical reading of constructivist research.
Unequal Europe
Authors: Beckfield Jason
Published: March 2019

The Euro-crisis of 2009–2012 and the UK’s 2016 vote to leave the EU vividly demonstrated that EU policies matter for the distribution of resources within and between European nation-states. Throughout these events, distributive conflicts between the European Union’s winners and losers intensified, and continue today. This book places these events into a broader historical, sociological, and economic perspective by analyzing how European integration has reshaped the distribution of income across the households of Europe. The motivating question is: who wins and who loses from European integration? Using individual- and household-level income survey data, combined with macro-level data on social policies, and case studies of welfare reforms in EU and non-EU states, this book shows how European integration has restratified Europe by simultaneously drawing national economies closer together and increasing inequality among households. With the benefit of hindsight, we can now see that the Single European Act of 1985 had an array of intended and unintended consequences for inequality in Europe. With the Single European Act, EU policymakers revived the integration project by elevating the single market to the top priority of European law and by constitutionalizing the idea that markets solve social and political problems.
Introduction
Authors: Mann-Feder Varda R.
Published: March 2019

This Introduction defines care leaving and discusses how youth who transition out of care experience emerging adulthood in comparison to their normative peers. It orients the reader to the parts of the book and positions this collection overall as advocating for practices and policies that advance the development of youth in substitute care into emerging adulthood, thus enhancing their prospects throughout life. The chapters of Part One explore the various theoretical perspectives brought to bear on emerging adulthood generally and youth in foster care in particular; the chapters of Part Two discuss research contributions to care leaving from around the world; and the chapters of Part Three identify practice issues developed in numerous countries to ease the transition to adulthood for those leaving foster care.
How Can I Be a Real Adult?
Authors: Mann-Feder Varda R.
Published: March 2019

This chapter proposes that developmental theory can provide multiple lenses through which the transition to adulthood for youth from care can be understood and supported. This chapter outlines the benefits of a developmental approach and presents theories, such as Erikson’s identity theory and the theory of emerging adulthood, which stresses the importance of the identity formation process; attachment processes throughout the lifespan; and loss, grief, and mourning as it relates to the experiences of youth removed from home and placed incare. Relevant research with care leavers is reviewed, and implications are outlined for practice, policy, and future research that promotes optimal development for youth leaving care.
Policy as Social Ecological Resilience Scaffolding for Leaving Care
Authors: Pinkerton John , Van Breda Adrian
Published: March 2019

This chapter’s authors argue that social policy on leaving care is a critical resilience process for promoting care leavers’ successful transition toward emerging adulthood. Care leaving literature has given limited attention to the wider policy contexts in which care leavers make this transition. This chapter argues for a better understanding of how these contexts can bolster the social ecology of care leaving by providing a policy scaffolding to the support and services required by care leavers. South Africa is used to illustrate the argument, capitalizing on the heightened political sensibilities of a society still grappling with the legacy of apartheid and committed to developmental social welfare as a strategic policy direction. The chapter concludes that the South African case study not only highlights the need to address the policy context of youth transitioning from out-of-home care, but also demonstrates the benefits of cross-national reflection on policy and practice development and implementation.
The Transition to Adulthood from Care
Authors: Marion Élodie , Paulsen Veronika
Published: March 2019

This chapter reports on a literature review that was conducted spanning the past 2 years to provide an overview of existing research and to identify future research needs in the field. Increased awareness of the changes related to traditional transition markers in emerging adulthood and of the poor outcomes and vulnerability of care leavers has led to a growing interest in this population. After a systematic process, 64 articles were included in the content analysis. This study identified four major topics that characterize recent research in this area: (1) policy, program, and services; (2) transition trajectories and markers; (3) social network and social support; and (4) subpopulations.
Foster Care as a Support System for Early Leavers
Authors: Magnuson Doug , Jansson Mikael , Benoit Cecilia
Published: March 2019

This chapter is based on findings from a research project entitled Risky Business. In the study, 92 street-involved participants in wave 1 (out of 189) had some kind of care experience, either temporary or permanent, and, of the 64 participants in all five waves, 38 had care experience. These youth left care early, prior to the transition to adulthood, in favor of independence, although foster care and related services often reappeared later. In this chapter, the authors describe the role that foster care homes and staff played in the transition out of care and as support systems for youth seeking jobs, education, and refuge from street life. These cases might be instructive for considering how to make the normative, legal transition out of care at older ages more responsive for marginalized youth.
The Longer Term Contributions of Formal and Informal Support
Authors: Ibrahim Rawan W.
Published: March 2019

Drawing on the findings of a qualitative follow-up study of 29 Jordanian care leavers, this chapter demonstrates how a combination of formal and informal support has contributed positively to care leavers’ longer term outcomes. The support that the care leavers were offered by the growing formal entities, as well as their affiliation with adults and families outside care, enabled them to deal successfully with issues such engaging in higher education, achieving security in accommodations, and home ownership. The chapter demonstrates that the young adults were able to use the opportunities given to them to achieve progress despite an economic climate that challenges all young people and an often-unforgiving social context that strongly stigmatizes care leavers. Focusing on factors that promote positive outcomes for care leavers, this chapter offers considerations for practice and for policy and contributes to the growing body of international research on this topic generally, and specifically from developing economies.
Mental Health and Suicide Concerns
Authors: Ranahan Patti
Published: March 2019

This chapter explores practice implications for youth workers attempting to support the mental health and well-being of young people as they leave care and transition to the adult system. Young people in care are more likely to experience suicidality and mental health concerns, with the transition out of care accentuating such concerns. Access to youth mental health services may also reach an expiration date, at which time young people are expected to transition to the adult mental health system at a predetermined chronological age. Specifically, this chapter examines the current research regarding mental health issues and suicidality within the youth-in-care population and the impact of transitioning out of care on the well-being of young people, and it discusses practical strategies for youth workers to enhance young people’s literacies in mental health that can lead to more positive outcomes.
Afterword
Authors: Goyette Martin
Published: March 2019

Although the challenges of effectively supporting youth in care in their transition to adulthood are formidable, this chapter concludes this book, which discusses how the needs of youth, research findings, and supports interventions, have informed reflection on improving youth services. One of the central conclusions of this book is the importance of maintaining support for youth who lack assistance from friends and relatives well after they age out of youth protection services. This support must cover all the spheres of the youths’ life, from finance and psychosocial well-being, to housing, as whell as support for staying in school, and workforce integration and more.