bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Normal and abnormal QT interval duration and its changes in preadolescents and adolescents practicing sport
Authors: D’Ascenzi Flavio , Anselmi Francesca , Graziano Francesca , Berti Beatrice , Franchini Andrea , Bacci Elodi , Ceccon Chiara , Capitani Massimo , Bonifazi Marco , Mondillo Sergio
Published: June 2019

Aims

Twelve-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) is an established tool in the evaluation of athletes, providing information about life-threatening cardiovascular diseases, such as long QT syndrome. However, the interpretation of ECG is sometimes challenging in children, particularly for the repolarization phase. The aim of this prospective, longitudinal study was to determinate the distribution of QT interval in children practicing sport and to evaluate changes in QT duration overtime.

Methods and results

A population of 1473 preadolescents practising sport (12.0 ± 1.8 years, 7–15 years) was analysed. Each athlete was evaluated at baseline, mid-term, and end of the study (mean follow-up: 3 ± 1 years). QT interval was corrected with Bazett (B) and Fridericia (F) formulae. At baseline QT interval corrected with the Bazett formula (QTcB) was 412 ± 25 ms and QT interval corrected with the Fridericia formula (QTcF) 387 ± 21 ms, with no changes during follow-up. Ten children (0.68%) had an abnormal QTc. In those with QTcB and QTcF ≥480 ms, QTc duration persisted abnormal during the follow-up and they were disqualified. Conversely, children with 460 ms < (QTcB) <480 ms had a normal QTc interval at the end of the study. These children had also a normal QTcF. Mean difference in the calculation of QT between the two formulae was 25 ± 11 ms (P < 0.0001). For resting heart rate (HR) ≥82 b.p.m., QTcF was independent from HR contrary to QTcB.

Conclusion

Normal QTc interval does not change over time in preadolescents. A minority of them has a QTc ≥480 ms; in these subjects, QTc interval remains prolonged. The use of Bazett and Fridericia correction formulae is not interchangeable and the Fridericia correction should be preferred in preadolescents with a resting HR ≥82 b.p.m.
Financial Strain, Employment, and Role Captivity and Overload Over Time Among Dementia Family Caregivers
Authors: Liu Yin , Dokos Malinda , Fauth Elizabeth B , Lee Yoon G , Zarit Steven H
Published: June 2019

Background and Objectives

This study examined how financial strain and changes in employment status affect subjective stressors over 12 months in 184 family caregivers of individuals with dementia.

Research Design and Methods

Subjective stressors of role overload and role captivity, and employment status were measured at baseline, 6-, and 12-months. Self-reports on financial strain were measured at baseline only. Caregivers were categorized into 3 groups based on changes in their employment status during the study over 12 months: (a) who were never employed, (b) who experienced some sort of employment status change, either going from employment to unemployment or vice versa, and (c) who were always employed. Growth curve analyses were conducted to examine within-person changes in role overload and role captivity, and associations with employment and financial strain.

Results

Caregivers with greater financial strain at baseline had higher levels of role overload and increasing role captivity over time. Caregivers who experienced a caregiving transition and had low financial strain at baseline showed greater decrease in role captivity over 12 months. Although caregivers who were consistently unemployed reported lower levels of role overload, they also showed steeper increase over time than those who were consistently employed.

Discussion and Implications

Caregivers’ perceptions of financial strain add to the long-term stress of the caregiving role. Changes in caregivers’ employment status may have complex associations with their feelings of stress over time.
Experience maketh the mind? Top management teams’ experiential background and cognitive search for adaptive solutions
Authors: Sidhu Jatinder S , Heyden Mariano L M , Volberda Henk W , Van Den Bosch Frans A J
Published: June 2019

The adaptive strategies of firms depend on executives’ forward-looking cognitive search. We examine how cognitive search is affected by the formative experiences of the executives making up a firm’s top management team (TMT). Drawing on research on adaptive search, cognition, and the upper echelons, we examine the extent to which educational level, diversity of functional expertise, and the length of industry tenure of TMT members will be associated with whether cognitive search centers more on proximal or on distal solutions. Analysis of 10 years of panel-data from US companies shows that whereas a TMT’s educational level does not seem to affect cognitive search, diversity of functional expertise does so, as predicted, and industry tenure does so in a manner we had not fully anticipated. Additional analysis also shows that whether cognitive search is proximal or distal is associated with whether firms enter into related or unrelated new product-markets. The article discusses the implications of these findings.
Evolutionary and demographic impacts of sex change rules and size-selective exploitation on sequential hermaphrodites
Authors: Matthias Bryan G , St. Mary Colette M , Ahrens Robert N M
Published: June 2019

Relatively few studies have addressed fishery-induced-evolution of sequential hermaphrodites although declines in the mean size-at-maturation and/or sex change have been documented for several species. We sought to explore the evolutionary impacts of size-selective exploitation on maturation and sex change of a protogynous hermaphrodite using an individual-based model accounting for growth, survival, maturation, sex change, and reproduction. Because sex change rules are unknown for many exploited species, critical size-at-sex change (static and genetic control) and social control of sex change were evaluated to determine how life-history-traits (maturation, sex change) and population reference points change due in part to evolution. When simulating critical size-at-sex change, mean length-at-maturation increased, contrary to typical predictions for dioecious species, and mean length-at-sex change decreased (when under genetic control) from exploitation. These changes occurred slowly and resulted in lower male: female sex ratios, sperm limitation, and extirpation at high exploitation rates. Under social control of sex change, both the mean lengths-at-maturation and sex change decreased relatively rapidly from exploitation. These populations maintained high male: female sex ratios, avoided sperm limitation, and withstood higher exploitation rates than critical size-at-sex change populations. Results from these models highlight the need for a better understanding of sex change rules for exploited hermaphrodites.
Fluorescence in situ hybridization for identification and visualization of microorganisms in infected heart valve tissue as addition to standard diagnostic tests improves diagnosis of endocarditis
Authors: Eichinger Simone , Kikhney Judith , Moter Annette , Wießner Alexandra , Eichinger Walter B
Published: June 2019

OBJECTIVES

In infective endocarditis (IE), identification of the causative organism and consecutive treatment are crucial for patient survival. Although the macroscopic aspect resembles infected tissue, standard diagnostic tests often fail to allow one to identify bacteria. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is a molecular, culture-independent technique that allows one to identify and visualize microorganisms within tissue and to recognize their morphology, number and activity. We analysed the diagnostic benefit of FISH/polymerase chain reaction (PCR) by comparing its results to those of standard diagnostic tests.

METHODS

From September 2015 to April 2018, 128 patients underwent first-time or redo valve surgery to treat IE. Patients were designated according to the modified Duke criteria as definite (n = 61), possible (n = 34) or rejected (n = 33) IE. Tissue specimens obtained intraoperatively were analysed using FISH/PCR in addition to undergoing standard diagnostic testing and PCR alone.

RESULTS

We used blood cultures to detect microorganisms in 67/128 patients; valve cultures, in 34/128; PCR, in 67/128; histopathological diagnosis showed IE in 72/128 cases. We were able to detect microorganisms in 103/128 cases using FISH/PCR, with 55/61 in definite IE. Furthermore, we were able to identify 26 cases of bacterial biofilm using FISH/PCR, despite antibiotic treatment of 61 in the definite, 13 in the possible and 1 in the rejected group, including 8/33 patients in the rejected group with active bacteria. In all cases, the patient’s therapy was altered.

CONCLUSIONS

FISH/PCR was used to identify microorganisms in cases in which standard diagnostic tests failed to provide sufficient results for various reasons. Furthermore, FISH/PCR enabled us to identify bacterial biofilms and to differentiate between active versus degraded bacteria, thus indicating the impact of treatment. Therefore, we suggest FISH/PCR as an additional diagnostic tool in IE alongside standard diagnostic tests.
A Bilinear Rubio de Francia Inequality for Arbitrary Rectangles
Authors: Bernicot Frédéric , Vitturi Marco
Published: June 2019

Let $\mathscr{R}$ be a collection of disjoint dyadic rectangles $R$, let $\pi _R$ denote the non-smooth bilinear projection onto $R$

and let $r>2$. We show that the bilinear Rubio de Francia operator associated with $\mathscr{R}$ given by $$\begin{equation*} f,g \mapsto \left(\sum_{R\in\mathscr{R}} |\pi_{R} (f,g)|^r \right)^{1/r} \end{equation*}$$ is $L^p \times L^q \rightarrow L^s$ bounded whenever $1/p + 1/q = 1/s$, $r^{\prime}<p,q<r$. This extends from squares to rectangles a previous result by the same authors in [7], and as a corollary extends in the same way a previous result from [2] for smooth projections, albeit in a reduced range.
Zika Virus Nonstructural Protein 1 Disrupts Glycosaminoglycans and Causes Permeability in Developing Human Placentas
Authors: Puerta-Guardo Henry , Tabata Takako , Petitt Matthew , Dimitrova Milena , Glasner Dustin R , Pereira Lenore , Harris Eva
Published: June 2019

Background

During pregnancy, the Zika flavivirus (ZIKV) infects human placentas, inducing defects in the developing fetus. The flavivirus nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) alters glycosaminoglycans on the endothelium, causing hyperpermeability in vitro and vascular leakage in vivo in a tissue-dependent manner. The contribution of ZIKV NS1 to placental dysfunction during ZIKV infection remains unknown.

Methods

We examined the effect of ZIKV NS1 on expression and release of heparan sulfate (HS), hyaluronic acid (HA), and sialic acid on human trophoblast cell lines and anchoring villous explants from first-trimester placentas infected with ZIKV ex vivo. We measured changes in permeability in trophoblasts and stromal cores using a dextran-based fluorescence assay and changes in HA receptor expression using immunofluorescent microscopy.

Results

ZIKV NS1 in the presence and absence of ZIKV increased the permeability of anchoring villous explants. ZIKV NS1 induced shedding of HA and HS and altered expression of CD44 and lymphatic endothelial cell HA receptor-1, HA receptors on stromal fibroblasts and Hofbauer macrophages in villous cores. Hyaluronidase was also stimulated in NS1-treated trophoblasts.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that ZIKV NS1 contributes to placental dysfunction via modulation of glycosaminoglycans on trophoblasts and chorionic villi, resulting in increased permeability of human placentas.
Dual therapy combining raltegravir with etravirine maintains a high level of viral suppression over 96 weeks in long-term experienced HIV-infected individuals over 45 years on a PI-based regimen: results from the Phase II ANRS 163 ETRAL study
Authors: Katlama Christine , Assoumou Lambert , Valantin Marc-Antoine , Soulié Cathia , Martinez Esteban , Béniguel Lydie , Bouchaud Olivier , Raffi François , Molina Jean-Michel , Fellahi Soraya , Peytavin Gilles , Marcelin Anne-Geneviève , Kolta Sami , Capeau Jacqueline , Gibowski Severine , Cardon Fanny , Reynes Jacques , Costagliola Dominique ,   the members of the ANRS 163 ETRAL study, Bernard Louis , Bottero Julie , Bouchaud Olivier , Chidiac Christian , Duvivier Claudine , Goujard Cécile , delMarGutiérrez Maria , Martinez Esteban , Molina Jean-Michel , Morlat Philippe , Naqvi Alissa , Podzamczer Daniel , Poizot-Martin Isabelle , Raffi François , Reynes Jacques , Salmon-Céron Dominique , Simon Anne , Valantin Marc-Antoine , Weiss Laurence , Yazdanpanah Yazdan
Published: June 2019

Background

Dual therapy combining integrase inhibitors and NNRTIs represents a promising regimen in ageing HIV-infected individuals with long exposure to nucleoside analogues and PIs.

Methods

The ANRS 163 ETRAL trial (NCT02212379) was a 96 week, multicentre, single-arm study evaluating the efficacy and safety of raltegravir (400 mg twice daily)/etravirine (200 mg twice daily) in individuals >45 years, on a PI-containing regimen who were integrase inhibitor and etravirine naive. The primary endpoint was the proportion of participants with virological success, defined by the absence of virological failure up to week 48. Main secondary outcomes included evolution of metabolic parameters, CD4/CD8 count, bone mineral density and inflammatory markers. The study was designed to show an efficacy >90%, assuming a success rate ≥95%, with a power of 80% and a 5% type-1 error.

Results

One hundred and sixty-five participants (median age 52 years, duration of ART 16.9 years, viral suppression 6.9 years and CD4 count 700 cells/mm3) were enrolled. By ITT analysis, viral suppression was maintained in 99.4% of participants (95% CI = 95.6%–99.9%) at week 48 and 98.7% (95% CI = 95.0%–99.7%) at week 96. Two virological failures occurred (week 24 and week 64) without emergence of integrase inhibitor resistance. Eight participants discontinued raltegravir/etravirine for adverse events, leading to a strategy success rate of 95.1% (95% CI = 90.5%–97.5%) at week 48 and 92.7% (95% CI = 87.5%–95.8%) at week 96. Over 96 weeks, lipid fractions improved (P < 0.001), CD4/CD8 ratio increased, IFNγ-induced protein 10 (IP-10) decreased (−8.1%), soluble CD14 decreased (−27%, P < 0.001) bone mineral density improved and BMI increased.

Conclusions

Raltegravir plus etravirine dual therapy demonstrated durable efficacy in virologically suppressed ageing patients.
Maternal Contribution of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus to Asian Citrus Psyllid (Hemiptera: Liviidae) Nymphs Through Oviposition Site Inoculation and Transovarial Transmission
Authors: Kelley Alicia J , Pelz-Stelinski Kirsten S
Published: June 2019

Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Liviidae), transmits Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (Las), the bacterial pathogen putatively responsible for citrus huanglongbing. Multiple studies have shown psyllids acquire Las more frequently, and are more likely to inoculate susceptible plants, when they acquire Las as nymphs. Understanding the transmission of Las to nymphs is critical to the Las lifecycle. The objective of this study was to determine the transmission Las by female D. citri to their offspring. Two transmission pathways were quantified: horizontal transmission (acquisition of Las via feeding at the oviposition site) and vertical transmission (transovarial). Eggs of individual, infected females were transferred to an uninfected seedling to assess vertical transmission. In a second experiment, horizontal transmission was evaluated by replacing eggs laid by infected females with uninfected nymphs. Nymphs exposed to Las via horizontal transmission of the oviposition site were more likely to acquire Las than from vertical transmission. Las deposited in flush by an infected adult female feeding during oviposition was sufficient for infecting nymphs. Combined results of both experiments suggest that vertical transmission allows Las to spread in low amounts even when infected plant hosts are not available and that inoculation of the oviposition site provides a source of Las to developing nymphs via the plant phloem. These data support the hypothesis that transmission through infected plant material via maternal inoculation is a primary pathway of Las transmission between vector and host.
Development and Fitness of the Parasitoid, Encarsia formosa (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae), on the B and Q of the Sweetpotato Whitefly (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae)
Authors: He Yanyan , Liu Yicong , Wang Ke , Zhang Youjun , Wu Qingjun , Wang Shaoli
Published: June 2019

Encarsia formosa Gahan is an important endoparasitoid of the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci Gennadius. In the present study, we compared the fitness and population parameters of E. formosa when parasitizing the two most invasive and destructive whitefly species in China, the B and Q of B. tabaci. We also studied whether natal host influenced on parasitism and host-feeding capacities of E. formosa on B. tabaci B versus Q. Age–stage life table analysis indicated that E. formosa developmental duration was shorter, fecundity was higher, and longevity was greater on B. tabaci B than on Q. The life table parameters, including the intrinsic rate of increase (r), finite rate of increase (λ), net reproduction rate (R0), and the mean generation time (T), indicated that the fitness of E. formosa on B. tabaci B is higher than B. tabaci Q. We also found that the host species used to rear E. formosa affected the parasitoid’s subsequent parasitism and host feeding on B. tabaci B and Q. When E. formosa were reared on B. tabaci B, its subsequent parasitism rate on third-instar nymphs was significantly higher on B. tabaci B than on Q. These results will be useful for managing the biological control of B. tabaci in the field.
Efficacy of aspirin for stage III colorectal cancer: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial (JCOG1503C, EPISODE-III trial)
Authors: Miyamoto Kenichi , Takashima Atsuo , Mizusawa Junki , Sato Yuya , Shimada Yasuhiro , Katayama Hiroshi , Nakamura Kenichi , Shibata Taro , Fukuda Haruhiko , Shida Dai , Kanemitsu Yukihide , Hamaguchi Tetsuya ,   Colorectal Cancer Study Group of the Japan Clinical Oncology Group
Published: June 2019

Adjuvant chemotherapy is the current standard treatment for stage III colorectal cancer after curative resection. However, the prognosis of stage III colorectal cancer is still poor even after curative resection and adjuvant chemotherapy. Several observational studies suggested that the anti-tumor effect of aspirin. Therefore, we planned a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled phase III trial, which commenced in Japan in March 2018, to confirm the superiority of aspirin over placebo added to adjuvant chemotherapy in terms of disease-free survival (DFS) for stage III colorectal cancer patients after curative resection. A total of 880 patients will be accrued from 20 Japanese institutions within 3 years. The primary endpoint is DFS and the secondary endpoints are overall survival, relapse-free survival, relative dose intensity, adverse events, and serious adverse events. This trial has been registered at Japan Registry of Clinical Trials as jRCTs031180009 (https://jrct.niph.go.jp/detail/589).
Evolving R Coronae Borealis stars with mesa
Authors: Lauer Amber , Chatzopoulos Emmanouil , Clayton Geoffrey C , Frank Juhan , Marcello Dominic C
Published: June 2019

The R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars are rare hydrogen-deficient, carbon-rich supergiants. They undergo extreme, irregular declines in brightness of many magnitudes due to the formation of thick clouds of carbon dust. It is thought that RCB stars result from the mergers of CO/He white dwarf (WD) binaries. We constructed post-merger spherically symmetric models computed with the mesa code, and then followed the evolution into the region of the Hertzsprung-Russell (H−R) diagram where the RCB stars are located. We also investigated nucleosynthesis in the dynamically accreting material of CO/He WD mergers which may provide a suitable environment for significant production of 18O and the very low 16O/18O values observed. We have also discovered that the N abundance depends sensitively on the peak temperature in the He-burning shell. Our mesa modelling consists of engineering the star by adding He-WD material to an initial CO-WD model, and then following the post-merger evolution using a nuclear-reaction network to match the observed RCB abundances as it expands and cools to become an RCB star. These new models are more physical because they include rotation, mixing, mass-loss, and nucleosynthesis within mesa. We follow the later evolution beyond the RCB phase to determine the stars’ likely lifetimes. The relative numbers of known RCB and extreme helium stars correspond well to the lifetimes predicted from the mesa models. In addition, most of computed abundances agree very well with the observed range of abundances for the RCB class.
Naturalness and Emergence
Authors: Wallace David
Published: June 2019

I develop an account of naturalness (that is, approximately: lack of extreme fine-tuning) in physics which demonstrates that naturalness assumptions are not restricted to narrow cases in high-energy physics but are a ubiquitous part of how interlevel relations are derived in physics. After exploring how and to what extent we might justify such assumptions on methodological grounds or through appeal to speculative future physics, I consider the apparent failure of naturalness in cosmology and in the Standard Model. I argue that any such naturalness failure threatens to undermine the entire structure of our understanding of intertheoretic reduction, and so risks a much larger crisis in physics than is sometimes suggested; I briefly review some currently-popular strategies that might avoid that crisis.
WITER: a powerful method for estimation of cancer-driver genes using a weighted iterative regression modelling background mutation counts
Authors: Jiang Lin , Zheng Jingjing , Kwan Johnny S H , Dai Sheng , Li Cong , Li Mulin Jun , Yu Bolan , TO Ka F , Sham Pak C , Zhu Yonghong , Li Miaoxin
Published: June 2019

Genomic identification of driver mutations and genes in cancer cells are critical for precision medicine. Due to difficulty in modelling distribution of background mutation counts, existing statistical methods are often underpowered to discriminate cancer-driver genes from passenger genes. Here we propose a novel statistical approach, weighted iterative zero-truncated negative-binomial regression (WITER, http://grass.cgs.hku.hk/limx/witer or KGGSeq,http://grass.cgs.hku.hk/limx/kggseq/), to detect cancer-driver genes showing an excess of somatic mutations. By fitting the distribution of background mutation counts properly, this approach works well even in small or moderate samples. Compared to alternative methods, it detected more significant and cancer-consensus genes in most tested cancers. Applying this approach, we estimated 229 driver genes in 26 different types of cancers. In silico validation confirmed 78% of predicted genes as likely known drivers and many other genes as very likely new drivers for corresponding cancers. The technical advances of WITER enable the detection of driver genes in TCGA datasets as small as 30 subjects and rescue of more genes missed by alternative tools in moderate or small samples.
Ella Fitzgerald
Authors: Hill Melanie R.
Published: June 2019

Sam Waymon, the brother of Nina Simone, once stated, “Music can save you by giving [you] a sense of vision, tolerance, [and] harmony; it can give you . . . a fullness.” Waymon’s words reflect heavily in the life of Ella Fitzgerald. With her life beginning in poverty, music saved Ella. Writers and musicians alike commemorate Ella Fitzgerald in 2019 with books and albums dedicated in her honor. In her recent album devoted wholly to the swinging sounds of the Queen of Jazz, renowned jazz violinist Regina Carter pays musical homage and describes Ella Fitzgerald’s voice as a “voice that was able to bring people together.” Carter continues, “Hearing [Fitzgerald’s] voice was love.” With the pluck of the string, harmonic arpeggios, and instrumental technique that mimic the voice of Ella Fitzgerald, Regina Carter released her timely album Ella: Accentuate the Positive (cited under Accentuating Sound). The year 2017 marks the 100th birthday of famed jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, also noted as Mama Jazz, the Memorex Lady, and the First Lady of Song. While remembering the vocal ingenuity of Fitzgerald, variance, timbre, tone, texture, cadence, improvisation, and symphonic melody are all words that crown the First Lady of Song. Born in 1917 in Newport News, Virginia, Fitzgerald began singing in church when she and her mother moved from Virginia to New York. As an adolescent in 1934, she entered the Apollo Theater’s weekly amateur night competition. Inundated with trepidation at the audience’s reaction to known dancers, the Edwards Sisters, who competed before her, Fitzgerald decided to sing instead of dance. Much to her surprise after singing, Fitzgerald won the competition that night. In 1936, Fitzgerald produced her first recording with Decca Records. Known for her scat singing style and tuning her voice to sound like an instrument, Fitzgerald famously collaborated with jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, and other musicians. During the civil rights movement and years after, Ella’s appearances on The Nat King Cole Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Frank Sinatra Show, and other televised productions conveyed her ability to traverse racial barriers and disseminate her gift of song to all audiences, nationally and internationally. Fitzgerald has won thirteen Grammy Awards and sold forty million albums. This article first examines the theoretical frameworks of history and memory through which scholars examine African American expressive culture. It is through the accentuation of sound in text and in the intersections of music and literature that the gems of black culture and consciousness are found. The citations cover a breadth of material from jazz and literary theory, focusing on what Fitzgerald brings to the community, nation, and the world.
Stesichorus of Himera
Authors: Finglass P. J.
Published: June 2019

Stesichorus was a Greek poet from the first half of the 6th century bce. Born probably in Metaurus in South Italy (today’s Gioia Tauro), he subsequently settled in Himera on the north coast of Sicily. His poetry consists of vivid mythological narratives, thousands of lines long, in lyric verse—that is, they are designed to be sung, in contrast to the recited epic poems of Homer, with which Stesichorus’s poetry creatively interacts. Stesichorus’s works were performed by a singing and dancing chorus—his very name means “he who sets up the chorus”—and were intended not merely for local festivals but for audiences across the Greek world. Stesichorus’s works had a considerable influence on later Greek poetry, especially tragedy; collected into twenty-six books in the Hellenistic period, they survived until roughly the 3rd century ce. For more than a millennium the only remains of Stesichorus’s oeuvre were quotations and paraphrases buried in the text of writers whose works did survive antiquity; but since the 1950s several ancient papyri, many of them extensive texts, have been published which furnish us with a clearer picture of one of the great poets of antiquity.
Papyrus, Parchment, and Paper in Islamic Studies
Authors: Bloom Jonathan
Published: June 2019

Islamic civilization has had an intimate relationship with writing from its very origins. Although Muslim tradition holds that the angel Jibra’il (Gabriel) orally revealed the Qurʾan to Muhammad in the early 7th century, and orality and oral transmission remained central features of Islamic civilization, the first verses revealed to the Prophet are said to have been “Recite, recite in the name of thy Lord, Who . . . taught man by the pen what he knew not” (Q. 96). Within the Prophet’s lifetime, individual verses or groups of verses were transcribed onto whatever media were available—ranging from flat bones to sheets of leather and papyrus—and soon after Muhammad’s death in 632, Muslim tradition records that his successors had all the revelations transcribed onto parchment sheets for preservation—the first manuscripts of the Qurʾan. By the 10th century, Muslim libraries from Iran to Spain contained thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of books, made possible by the ready availability and relative affordability of paper, which Muslims had encountered in Central Asia. The use of paper encouraged the development of new styles of calligraphy as well as new types of bookbindings. Christians in Spain and Italy eventually learned about paper from Muslims, and they began making it themselves in the 12th and 13th centuries, and the availability of paper in 15th-century Germany was undoubtedly one of the factors in the ultimate success of Gutenberg’s print revolution.
Sojourner
Authors: Spencer John R.
Published: June 2019

“Sojourner” is the frequent translation of the Hebrew term gēr (Hebrew gēr [גר]; plural gērīm [גרים]). This Hebrew term and its translation convey the basic idea that a person (or group) is residing, either temporarily or permanently, in a community and place that is not primarily their own and is dependent on the “good-will” of that community for their continued existence. Besides “sojourner” there are several other translations by scholars that have tried to capture the meaning of the Hebrew term, including “resident alien,” “immigrant,” “foreign resident,” “client,” “foreigner,” and “stranger.” Further complication is that the Hebrew term (gēr) is only one of several words with similar or related meanings. These include nokhrī (נכרי) usually translated as “stranger,” sometimes as “foreigner”; zār (זר) usually translated as “foreigner,” sometimes as “enemy”; and ʾazraḥ (אזרח) usually translated as “native.” These latter three terms will not be dealt with directly in this article but are often alluded to in various discussions. Finally, there is the issue of how gēr should be translated into Greek, as προσήλυτος (proselyte) or as πάροικος (one who dwells). The importance of the term gēr (the equivalent of “sojourner” in this article) is its usage to refer to different entities. At times individual biblical figures sojourn: Abraham sojourned in Egypt (Genesis 12:10) and Gerar (Genesis 20:1); Joseph and his brothers sojourned in Egypt (Genesis 47:4); and a Levite sojourned in Judah and Ephraim (Judges 17:7–9; 19:1). On other occasions the whole of Israel is seen as sojourning in Egypt (Isaiah 52:4) or Babylon (Ezra 1:2–4). And frequently individuals are said to sojourn within ancient Israel (Leviticus 22:17–18; Isaiah 16:4). These individuals are to be treated well, especially the “widow, orphan, and sojourner” (Deuteronomy 10:17–18; 27:19), as well as the Levite (Deuteronomy 14:29; 24:19). The reason for treating the gēr well is because Israel was a gēr in Egypt (Leviticus 19:34; Deuteronomy 24:5). That the gēr (sojourner) is to be treated well in the community raises further questions. Are there restrictions on the participation of the gēr in cultic ceremonies? Can the gēr become a full member (proselyte) of the community after circumcision? Can an Israelite become a gēr in his or her own community? Why is a Levite classified as a gēr? What makes answering these questions difficult is that the Hebrew Bible is not always consistent in its understanding of the sojourner (gēr) and her or his role in the community. This variability in understanding is clear from examining the resources in this article. Furthermore, the problems with this inconsistency carry over into later translations of gēr and even into contemporary analyses of the gēr.
Anglo-Saxon Law
Authors: Rabin Andrew
Published: June 2019

A larger body of law survives from Anglo-Saxon England than from any other early medieval community. The standard edition of early English legislation, the Gesetze der Angelsachsen of Felix Liebermann (Liebermann 1903–1916), contains roughly seventy pre-Conquest texts, to which can be added well over a thousand Charters, Writs, and Wills. If one also includes the numerous surviving quasi-legislative texts, legal formularies and rituals, and homilies derived from legal sources, it is possible to gain a sense of both the diversity of Anglo-Saxon legal composition and the centrality of such texts to pre-Conquest culture. Yet the importance of the Anglo-Saxon legal corpus lies in more than just its size. Linguists observe that the legislation of Æthelbert (c. 604) is the earliest substantial text to survive in Old English, while monastic charters of the 11th and early 12th centuries are among the latest. Historians of the English Renaissance point out that the editio princeps of Anglo-Saxon law, William Lambarde’s Archaionomia (1568), was one of the first publications to result from the 16th-century revival of Old English scholarship and that a copy now held by the Folger Shakespeare Library even contains what may be a signature of Shakespeare himself. Americanists note the influence of Old English law on the thought of Thomas Jefferson while scholars of 19th-century literature see its traces in the writings of Henry Adams. Nonetheless, this material has yet to attract the scholarly interest given to either the literature of the period or the legal developments of the later Middle Ages. The centuries before the Norman Conquest rarely feature in courses on legal history and introductory Old English students receive only the most cursory exposure to pre-Conquest laws and charters. Despite its comparatively low profile, however, the study of Anglo-Saxon law offers valuable insight into early English concepts of Royal Authority and political identity. It reveals both the capacities and limits of the king’s regulatory power, and in so doing, provides crucial evidence for the process by which disparate kingdoms gradually merged to become a unified English state. More broadly, pre-Conquest legal texts shed light on the various ways in which cultural norms were established, enforced, and, in many cases, challenged. And perhaps most importantly, they provide unparalleled insight into the experiences of Anglo-Saxon England’s diverse inhabitants, both those who enforced the law and those subject to its sway.
Mediation Analysis
Authors: MacKinnon David P. , Valente Matthew
Published: June 2019

Mediation analysis is a statistical method used to quantify the causal sequence by which an antecedent variable causes a mediating variable that causes a dependent variable. Although mediation analysis is useful for observational studies, it is perhaps most compelling for answering questions of cause and effect in randomized treatment and prevention programs. Information about mediating mechanisms improves programs by providing information about the critical ingredients of successful programs. Sewall Wright’s work in the 1920s first applied the notion of mediated or indirect effects in path models for the inheritance of skin color in guinea pigs. Methodological developments and applications of mediation analysis have dramatically increased since ideas about mediation in the social sciences were first formalized by Herbert Hyman and Paul Lazarsfeld in 1955. Innovations in mediation analyses have been rapid in the last forty years, and recently progress in understanding the causal basis of mediation analysis has been a major breakthrough.
Quantifying the overestimation of planktonic N2 fixation due to contamination of 15N2 gas stocks
Authors: Moreira-Coello Víctor , Mouriño-Carballido Beatriz , Marañón Emilio , Fernández-Carrera Ana , PÉrez-Lorenzo María , Bode Antonio
Published: June 2019

The 15N2-tracer assay [Montoya et al. (1996) A simple, high-precision, high-sensitivity tracer assay for N2 fixation. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 62, 986–993.] is the most used method for measuring biological N2 fixation in terrestrial and aquatic environments. The reliability of this technique depends on the purity of the commercial 15N2 gas stocks used. However, Dabundo et al. [(2014) PLoS One, 9, e110335.] reported the contamination of some of these stocks with labile 15N-labeled compounds (ammonium, nitrate and/or nitrite). The contamination of commercial 15N2 gas stocks with 15N-labeled nitrate and 142 ammonium and consequences for nitrogen fixation measurements. Considering that the tracer assay relies on the conversion of isotopically labeled 15N2 into organic nitrogen, this contamination may have led to overestimated N2 fixation rates. We conducted laboratory and field experiments in order to (i) test the susceptibility of 15N contaminants to assimilation by non-diazotroph organisms and (ii) determine the potential overestimation of the N2 fixation rates estimated in the field. Our findings indicate that the contaminant 15N-compounds are assimilated by non-diazotrophs organisms, leading to an overestimation of N2 fixation rates in the field up to 16-fold under hydrographic conditions of winter mixing.
Proton pump inhibitor use and progression to major adverse renal events: a competing risk analysis
Authors: Grant C H , Gillis K A , Lees J S , Traynor J P , Mark P B , Stevens K I
Published: June 2019

Background

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are associated with acute tubulointerstitial nephritis and there are reports associating their use with the development of chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Aim

To determine if PPI use is associated with major adverse renal events (MARE) in patients with CKD.

Design

Observational cohort study comprising patients with CKD attending secondary care renal clinics from 1 January 2006 until 31 December 2016.

Methods

We collated baseline clinical, socio-demographic and biochemical data at start of PPI (PPI group) or study inception (control group). MARE was considered a composite of doubling of creatinine or end-stage renal disease. Association between PPI exposure and progression to MARE was assessed by cause-specific hazards competing risk survival analysis.

Results

There were 3824 patients with CKD included in the analyses of whom 1195 were prescribed a PPI. The PPI group was younger (64.8 vs. 67.0 years, P < 0.001), with lower estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (30 vs. 35 ml/min, P < 0.001) and more proteinuria (64 vs. 48 mg/mmol, P < 0.001). PPI use was associated with progression to MARE on multivariable adjustment (hazard ratio 1.13 [95% confidence interval 1.02–1.25], P = 0.021). Other factors significantly associated with progression to MARE were higher systolic blood pressure, lower eGFR, greater proteinuria, congestive cardiac failure and diabetes. Hypomagnesaemia was more common in the PPI group (39.5 vs. 18.9%, P < 0.001).

Conclusion

PPI use was associated with progression to MARE, but not death in patients with CKD after adjusting for factors known to predict declining renal function, including lower eGFR, proteinuria and comorbidities. A prospective cohort study is required to validate these findings.
Exploration of pathomechanism using comprehensive analysis of serum cytokines in polymyositis/dermatomyositis-interstitial lung disease
Authors: Matsuda Shogo , Kotani Takuya , Ishida Takaaki , Fukui Keisuke , Fujiki Youhei , Suzuka Takayasu , Nagai Koji , Hata Kenichiro , Shoda Takeshi , Isoda Kentaro , Ito Yuri , Makino Shigeki , Takeuchi Tohru , Arawaka Shigeki
Published: June 2019

Objectives

To elucidate the serum cytokine profile and address the pathomechanism of interstitial lung disease (ILD) complicated with PM/DM.

Methods

Forty patients with PM/DM-ILD were enrolled, and principal components analysis and cluster analysis were performed to classify patients into subgroups. Additionally, we compared cytokine profiles between the survivors and dead patients and between anti-melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5 antibody- and anti-aminoacyl tRNA synthetase antibody-positive ILD patients. We also examined the association of various cytokines with disease activity indicators and prognosis of ILD.

Results

The principal components analysis data allowed classification of the cytokine profile into three groups: group 1, neutrophilic and M1-macrophage-driven cytokines; group 2, type 1 Th cell-driven and M2-macrophage-induced cytokines; and group 3, M2-macrophage-driven cytokines. Cluster analysis showed the presence of PM/DM-ILD patient groups with high or low levels of total cytokines. Ninety percent of patients who died of ILD were included in clusters with high cytokine levels. Serum cytokine levels of all groups were significantly higher in the anti-melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5 antibody-positive patients than in the anti-aminoacyl tRNA synthetase antibody-positive patients. Groups 1 and 2 significantly correlated with known factors for poor prognosis, such as serum ferritin levels and alveolar-arterial oxygen difference. Serum cytokine levels of patients in group 1 were significantly higher initially and at 2 and 4 weeks in those who died.

Conclusion

These findings suggested that the activation of monocytes, macrophages and type 1 Th cells, and neutrophils play roles in the pathomechanism of PM/DM-ILD, and group 1 cytokines could be useful biomarkers for predicting prognosis of PM/DM-ILD.
Fiftieth Anniversary of the California Net Energy System Symposium: What are the energy coefficients for cows?1
Authors: Freetly Harvey C
Published: June 2019

The same model structure used to describe energy metabolism in the growing animal is often used to model energy metabolism in the cow. Energy requirements of the cow are modeled as the summation of energy required for maintenance and recovered energy, where recovered energy is the summation of energy for the conceptus, milk, and tissue energy. Energetic requirements of the cow fluctuate throughout the production cycle depending on whether they are pregnant, lactating, or both. The current model requires energy cost to be associated with either net energy of maintenance or the partial efficiencies of conceptus growth, milk production, and tissue energy change. Mathematically, they are not independent. Incorrectly estimating one will result in an erroneous estimate in the other. Most of the current models in production agriculture allocate energy use into maintenance, and synthesis of tissues making it difficult to assign energy utilization by tissues that provide support functions to pregnancy, lactation, and weight fluctuation. The consequence is the assignment of partial efficiencies that reflect whole animal efficiencies rather than tissue efficiencies. Historically, these models have been predictive of energy metabolism, but caution should be used when inferring the energetic efficiency at the tissue level. Alternative modeling approaches more thoroughly describe tissue energy metabolism and have been used to estimate whole animal metabolism. These models resolve the problems associated with developing coefficients that lack biological meaning but are more complex. There is a critical need for independent data sets to test new components of the model for cows.
How did Lofgreen and Garrett do the math?
Authors: Oltjen James W
Published: June 2019

Lofgreen and Garrett introduced a new system for predicting growing and finishing beef cattle energy requirements and feed values using net energy concepts. Based on data from comparative slaughter experiments they mathematically derived the California Net Energy System. Scaling values to body weight to the ¾ power, they summarized metabolizable energy intake (ME), energy retained (energy balance [EB]), and heat production (HP) data. They regressed the logarithm of HP on ME and extended the line to zero intake, and estimated fasting HP at 0.077 Mcal/kg0.75, similar to previous estimates. They found no significant difference in fasting HP between steers and heifers. Above maintenance, however, a logarithmic fit of EB on ME does not allow for increased EB once ME is greater than 340 kcal/kg0.75, or about three times maintenance intake. So based on their previous work, they used a linear fit so that partial efficiency of gain above maintenance was constant for a given feed. They show that with increasing roughage level efficiency of gain (slope) decreases, consistent with increasing efficiency of gain and maintenance with greater metabolizable energy of the feed. Making the system useful required that gain in body weight be related to EB. They settled on a parabolic equation, with significant differences between steers and heifers. Lofgreen and Garrett also used data from a number of experiments to relate ME and EB to estimate the ME required for maintenance (ME = HP) and then related the amount of feed that provided that amount of ME to the metabolizable energy content of the feed (MEc), resulting in a logarithmic equation. Then they related that amount of feed to the net energy for gain calculated as the slope of the EB line when regressed against feed intake. Combining the two equations, they estimate the net energy for maintenance and gain per unit feed (Mcal/kg dry matter) as a function of MEc: 0.4258 × 1.663MEc and 2.544–5.670 × 0.6012MEc, respectively. Finally, they show how to calculate net energy for maintenance and gain from experiments where two levels of a ration are fed and EB measured, where one level is fed and a metabolism trial is conducted, or when just a metabolism trial is conducted—but results are not consistent between designs.
Academy of Oncologic Physical Therapy EDGE Task Force: A Systematic Review of Measures of Balance in Adult Cancer Survivors
Authors: Huang Min H. , Hile Elizabeth , Croarkin Earllaine , Wampler-Kuhn Meredith , Blackwood Jennifer , Colon Genevieve , Pfalzer Lucinda A.
Published: June 2019

Background and Purpose:

Balance impairments are prevalent in adult cancer survivors, leading to increased fall risk and reduced quality of life. To identify survivors in need of balance and fall interventions and to track change with intervention, health care providers need measures with sound psychometric properties and high clinical utility. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify reliable, valid, and clinically useful measures of balance impairments in adult cancer survivors. Secondary purposes were to obtain minimal detectable change of identified balance measures and to determine use of measures to evaluate fall risk.

Methods:

A systematic review was conducted to assess psychometric properties and clinical utility of balance measures identified from the literature search. Two reviewers in a team independently extracted data from articles and evaluated cumulative evidence for each balance measure using the Cancer EDGE Task Force Outcome Measure Rating Form.

Results:

The search located 187 articles, with 54 articles retained for quality assessment of balance measures. The Fullerton Advanced Balance Scale and gait speed were highly recommended (rated 4). Balance Evaluation Systems Test, Timed Up and Go, and Five Times Sit to Stand were recommended (rated 3).

Limitations:

Selection bias is possible. Samples and settings across reviewed studies were widely heterogeneous.

Conclusions:

We recommend 5 balance measures for use in adult cancer survivors. Future research with existing balance measures should establish norms, responsiveness, and predictive validity for fall risk, while expanding to focus on imbalance in midlife survivors. Patient-reported outcome measures are needed for cancer-related imbalance.