bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Contested Religion in Puerto Rico
Authors: Caraballo-Resto Juan F.
Published: March 2024

This chapter covers the religious colonial legacies in the contemporary history of Puerto Rico. It presents the transformation concerning hegemonic Christianity and queer socioreligious activism. Religious institutions were at the heart of this colonizing process that systematically installed oppression and exclusion among the population. The chapter then looks into the key concepts surrounding critical unity posed by ecumenical organizations, pioneering sororities sparked by interfaith dialogue and practice, crucial mutual aid offered after Hurricane María, and the key intervention of queer socioreligious activism. It explains that the island’s religious practice invested in the livelihoods of a population determined to struggle with the recalibration of unequal power relations in a colonial society in full crisis.
Black Souls Rising in the Rastafari Communities
Authors: Desmangles Leslie G.
Published: March 2024

This chapter discusses the Rastafari movement. It defines it as a twentieth-century religiopolitical phenomenon that addresses the economic injustices in Jamaican society and the world. The Rastafari resist the social order by expressing their discontent in theological terms nuanced with a millenarian orientation. Moreover, the development of the Rastafari movement saw the emergence of three sects that taught the divinity of Haile Selassie and the dignity of blacks while relying on the Bible, the Holy Piby, and some of Haile Selassie’s speeches. The chapter cites how the Rastafari movement is probably the most culturally and internationally diffused of all the Caribbean religions due to its universal message that befits the current conditions of the contemporary world.
English-language literature of the Philippines
Authors: Tope Lily Rose
Published: March 2024

Philippine literature in English began with the American colonization of the Philippines, which brought with it public education and the English language. Filipino writers adapted to the English language readily and produced works in English within two decades. A period of imitation followed as American literary models were adopted through public schools. The 1950s was a golden age of literary production as writers became more confident in the use of English. During the 1960s and 1970s, English was regarded as a tool of colonialism and imperialism. The Martial Law years, which suppressed writing, did not deter writing in English. By the turn of the millennium, writing in English responded to global trends and writers became more experimental, crossing over to non-literary genres as well as exploring local literary traditions.
English-language literature of Singapore
Authors: Ang Ann , Mui-Cheng Poon Angelia
Published: March 2024

This chapter surveys the English language literature of Singapore from 1965 to 2020, and presents a broad narrative about the growth and development of poetry, prose, and drama in relation to distinctive periods and concerns. Beginning with the poetry of the immediate post-independence years, written to establish a national literary tradition, the chapter then moves on to discuss how later writing engaged with the social and cultural concerns of moderniz ation and economic development. With Singapore’s positioning as a global city, new literary work was frequently produced within the context of cross-border travel or from a diasporic perspective, as the Singapore writing community grew to include migrant authors. From 2010, grass-roots efforts led to the accelerated publication of new work, an energiz ed infrastructure for the literary arts, and a renewed decolonial perspective on the nation’s beginnings.
Panel Effects on Courts Around the World
Authors: Ostberg C. L. , Wetstein Matthew E.
Published: March 2024

Studies of panel effects examine the impact judges have on each other and how they are influenced by other courts in the judicial hierarchy. Theoretical pluralism has been a common theme in studies of panel effects, with the literature dominated by studies of the three-member US Courts of Appeals. Specifically, attitudinal/background studies have found varying levels of panel effects that are driven by political ideologies, gender, race, and combinations of these factors. Research has documented the influence of strategic behaviour within and between courts by examining economic and psychological factors that shape consensus and collegiality within small panels. Increasingly, panel effects are being studied in high courts around the world, although the studies yield different findings because of varying institutional norms, rules, legal settings, and the cases chosen for analysis. In some jurisdictions, chief justices have exerted influence over case outcomes by structuring panels in a political way that results in preferred outcomes (for example, see South Africa). In other courts, the use of rotating panels has muted the influence of ideology in favour of deference to pro-government outcomes (for example, see Norway). In still other courts, the norm of collective decision making and writing of opinions makes it extremely difficult to assess the impact of panel effects (see many constitutional and high courts in Europe). As scholars continue their inquiry of panel effects in global courts, this chapter argues for further methodological pluralism as a guiding force and the development of new theoretical paradigms for studying civil law jurisdictions.
Codification and Other Strategies of Consensus-Building in Jewish Law
Authors: Davis Joseph M.
Published: March 2024

This chapter surveys the strategies Jews have used to achieve consensus on matters of Jewish law and practice in the past and in the present. By the same token, strategies to achieve consensus are also strategies of group differentiation. In the Middle Ages and the early modern era, consensus concerning Jewish practice was achieved mainly at a local and regional level, both through formal processes of Jewish self-government and through the informal development of local customs. There was sufficient travel and communication to achieve a significant degree of transregional consensus as well, through the circulation of legal texts such as the Talmud, responsa, and legal codes. The rise of printing increased circulation, and the Shulchan Arukh, published in 1565, won wide acceptance as a legal code. The Shulchan Arukh also promoted the ethnic differentiation of Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews. In contemporary Judaism, local and regional consensus have largely disappeared. Consensus on matters of Jewish law and practice is now achieved within transregional religious movements, such as Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism, and the many Orthodox groups and subgroups. In this new system, strategies of laxism, centrism, and strictism are crucial ways of uniting and differentiating Jewish groups.
Issur Arkaot and Dina DeMalkhuta Dina
Authors: Resnicoff Steven H.
Published: March 2024

Jewish law comprehensively applies to all aspects of private and public life. Its unique legal literature not only addresses practical rulings but contains profound spiritual and ethical teachings. Judaism’s greatest legal authorities have always been its foremost rabbinic leaders. Consequently, compliance with Judaism’s laws, personal immersion in its texts, and respect for its legal institutions are quintessential religious responsibilities. For most of the past two millennia, however, Jews have lived under the power of Gentile regimes with significantly different legal systems. Tensions between these competing approaches inevitably developed. As Gentile rulers began to consider granting Jews citizenship rights, pressures on Jews to abandon their distinctive legal tradition intensified. Ironically, the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 similarly threatened to displace Jewish religious law with secular Israeli law. Two Jewish law doctrines, Issur Arkaot (a prohibition against submitting adjudicative matters to non-rabbinic courts) and Dina DeMalkhuta Dina (a rule rendering violations of some types of secular law as Jewish law transgressions), have helped preserve the observance of Jewish law, the vigorous study of its texts, and the respect of its authorities. This chapter explores these doctrines, explains the roles they have played, and foreshadows the prospects for their continued vitality.
Modernity, Secularism, and the Transformation of Jewish Law
Authors: Batnitzky Leora
Published: March 2024

Modernity converted Jewish law, both practically and conceptually, into a solely religious enterprise. Historically, Jewish law was religious, but in pre-modern contexts, Jewish law also had a political dimension that has been greatly diminished, if not eradicated, by modernity. Understanding modern debates about Jewish law in this way allows us to appreciate two significant points: (1) modern conceptions of Jewish law signal not continuity but a break with the past; (2) despite their profound differences, views of Jewish law advanced by divergent Jewish communities, both within and outside denominational streams of Judaism, have more in common than their self-presentations might suggest. Thus, this chapter considers the modern development of “law” and “religion” as distinct categories, the privatization of Jewish law in western and eastern European contexts, respectively, overlaps between modern Jewish conceptions of law and modern legal theory and the role of democracy and egalitarianism as they play out in feminist approaches to Jewish law.
The Role of Scientific Findings in Contemporary Jewish Law
Authors: Reifman Daniel , Belfer Israel , Pear Rachel
Published: March 2024

This chapter explores the role of techoscientific developments in halakhic decision-making. The chapter illustrates the difficulty of sketching a coherent description of how science has been brought to bear on halakhah by decisors. Halakhic reasoning is rarely completely consistent with science (or coupled to a specific scientific worldview), or entirely independent. Thus, we reject deductive/harmony models, which posit that halakhic rulings are formed exclusively by applying halakhic norms to scientific findings or in complete consonance with them. We similarly reject positivist/independence models, which posit the complete separation and discontinuity between the two spheres of science and halakhah. Instead, we gravitate toward a “dialogue model,” which highlights those features that make each discourse distinct and meaningful and enable it to contribute to a fruitful and multidimensional interaction with the other. We additionally focus on the dynamics of halakhic practice and the need for cognitive coherence among halakhic adherents that have shaped the way halakhah has absorbed scientific discoveries and technological developments.
Body Modifications among San Hunter-Gatherers
Authors: Viestad Vibeke M.
Published: March 2024

Body modifications are a well-known aspect of various cultural practice among the San hunter-gatherers of Southern Africa. Recently, such practices have been analyzed within an interpretative framework that suggests that they were mostly performed to ensure harmonious relationships—between humans and other-than-human sentient beings and identities. This chapter provides an overview of relevant published literature and primary source material on the body modifications of the San communities of the recent past, in order to systematize the existing documentation and to synthesize what appear to have been the most important contexts for the performance of cuts, tattoos, and scarification. This will demonstrate that body modifications in San hunter-gatherer contexts were a relational practice, suggesting a close cultural discourse between the alteration of the body and other material cultural practices—such as incised, burnt, and painted patterns in skin- and woodwork, as well as rock engravings.
Colonialism and Cultural Objects
Authors: Folorunso Caleb A. , Folorunso Oluronke F.
Published: March 2024

The repatriation and restitution of cultural objects, legally and illegally exported and held in foreign public and private museums, have for long been a subject of international concern. In West Africa, colonialization and the activities of the agencies of colonialism accounted for the largest proportion of cultural objects that were forcefully removed or voluntarily released by the locals through deceits and then exported from the region. The modern West African states had since independence joined in the longstanding international quest for the repatriation and restitution of looted cultural objects. Nigeria in particular had been in the vanguard of the agitation for repatriation and restitution of objects, because the looted Benin cultural objects constitute the single largest number of objects forcefully removed from Africa during the colonial period. The call for the repatriation and restitution of the Benin cultural objects has prompted debates and reactions in Nigeria and around the world.
Signifier, Signified, and Sign
Authors: Kumar Kanungo Alok , Sumi Alino
Published: March 2024

This chapter delves into the intricate relationship between cultural artifacts, indigenous heritage, and museum representation, focusing on Naga ancestral remains at the Pitt Rivers Museum. The framework centers on the “signifier,” “signified,” and “sign” triad, wherein physical objects (signifiers) convey cognitive concepts (signified) within a cultural context. Naga ancestral remains, a colonial-era acquisition, are integral to the museum’s collection. The authors contend that the static display of these artifacts, particularly skulls and trophy heads for centuries, perpetuated a stereotypical and one-dimensional representation of the Nagas as “headhunters.” They argue for a more nuanced approach that considers the broader socio-cultural attributes and meanings of these artifacts within the Naga knowledge system. The authors emphasize the need for contextualized representations that go beyond colonial interpretations, inviting a reimagining of museum displays and narratives. Ethical concerns over possession and display prompt a call for co-curation with Naga involvement, highlighting repatriation and community engagement. They stress contextualized representation beyond colonial lenses, proposing mobile exhibits, scholarly collaboration, and databases for community empowerment. Ultimately, the paper calls for restorative justice and a holistic understanding of the Naga cultural landscape, where the “signified” and “sign” of their heritage are reclaimed and redefined through collaboration, repatriation, and community engagement.
State, Land, and Citizenship
Authors: Ofstehage Andrew , Wolford Wendy
Published: March 2024

This chapter provides a history and analysis of the co-constitution of land, states, and citizenship in the modern era. It argues that, at the most basic level, state-making is grounded in the land. Land is fundamental to the formation of the nation-state: state institutions establish and codify the rules for land use, ownership, and access. These rules are rooted in cultures of production and market exchange that define the landscape of state territory and the rights of citizenship. As individuals, organizations, and societies negotiate these rules, they give citizenship meaning and transform the state itself. Ideologies and practices of territoriality, settlement, mobility, and livelihood create and contest both legal and cultural notions of land. We demonstrate the co-constitution of the state, land, and citizenship in this chapter with a focus on four themes. First, we argue that citizenship is intimately tied to norms and rules overseeing the creation and distribution of landed property. Second, we show how these connections are solidified or grounded through the establishment of scientific institutions that evaluate the soils and facilitate settlement. Our third section outlines the long histories of mobilization and resistance as land claims are fought over and the fourth section of the chapter analyzes the importance of frontiers as spaces made distant by political and economic power and space for the flourishing of alternatives.
The Jewish Community in Modern and Contemporary Turkey
Authors: Kaymak Ozgur
Published: March 2024

Since the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, Turkish Jews have negotiated a political and public space shaped by the largely unfulfilled promise of equal citizenship and the everyday experience of being members of an unwelcome minority. Today, the Jewish community in Turkey numbers around 14,0001, with over ninety-five percent living in Istanbul. Throughout the history of the Republic, discriminatory pressures in state and society have been prevalent, even as the Jewish community has been shrinking dramatically. This chapter provides an overview of the Jewish community in modern and contemporary Turkey. It starts with the history of the origins and life of the Jewish population in Anatolia during the Ottoman period before detailing the significant sociopolitical changes that shaped the fate of the Jewish minority and the state’s treatment of the community during the Turkish Republican period. Despite the dwindling and aging population, the Jewish community found a growing prominence in cultural heritage projects aimed at preserving minority cultures. Academic research on the Turkish Jewish community and ongoing cultural heritage projects highlights the transfer of Turkey’s local Jewish cultural memory to future generations. Studies on Turkish Jews help increase awareness about their multicultural heritage, mutual empathy, cultural diversity, and cultural identity while promoting values of democracy, respect, tolerance, and antidiscrimination.
Illiberal Revolts
Authors: Pasieka Agnieszka , Petruccelli David C.
Published: March 2024

This chapter explores illiberalism at the grassroots level using both historical and anthropological lenses. Comparing contemporary illiberal youth movements in Poland and Italy with their interwar counterparts—particularly Corneliu Zelea Codreanu’s Romanian Holy Legion—the chapter identifies anti-individualism as a common thread uniting illiberal actors, past and present. The chapter also moves beyond comparison to trace out the complex and intertwined genealogies of contemporary liberalism and illiberalism, showing how liberal and illiberals have reworked their ideologies in reference to each other and in accordance with their readings of the past. The interwar crisis of liberalism plays a central reference point in much contemporary discussion. The mobilization of rightwing movements against liberal individualism in the 1920s and 1930s continues to inspire grassroots illiberal activists, while contemporary liberals evoke the interwar fascist threat as a warning about the dangers of abandoning liberal values. Neither side acknowledges the extent to which both liberalism and illiberalism were fundamentally restructured through this interwar conflict. Through this investigation into the role of historical memory among activist networks, the chapter begins to fill gaps in research focused specifically on grassroots illiberalism, and also contributes to efforts to further refine our understanding of illiberalism.
International Disaster Law
Authors: Machado Sebastián
Published: March 2024

This chapter explores how different conventional rules related to disaster management are operationalized in the Americas. It commences by delving into the manner in which social reality, whether in the developing countries of the South or the economically developed countries of the North, serves as a crucial determinant in international disaster relief efforts. This disparity elucidates why developed nations predominantly rely on their domestic institutions to tackle disasters, whereas developing nations depend on a broader network of international collaboration. Therefore, it is possible to generalize some characteristics of disaster management in the region, such as poor or unstable political leadership and institutions; the level of urgency in the event of disasters; and competition between domestic and international actors in their relief efforts. While these variables are not unique to international disaster law, it is a distinct field where poverty drives and aggravates its own object of study.
Escraches
Authors: Kaiser Susana
Published: March 2024

This chapter is about escraches, a communication strategy to challenge impunity and demand justice developed by H.I.J.O.S. (Daughters and Sons for Identity and Justice against Forgetting and Silence), an organization formed by daughters and sons of disappeared people, political activists, and people forced into exile during the last Argentine dictatorship (1976–1983). The escraches emerged within an environment of generalized impunity and aimed to uncover the identities of hundreds of major human rights abusers benefitting from amnesties. Escraches, based on peaceful assembly and a powerful presence in public spaces, contested the legitimization of impunity, compelled society to face the failure to administer justice, and constituted a new struggle over memory. It revisits research conducted in the 1990s, analysing escraches’ goals, relevance, perceived impact, and achievements. It proposes new layers to analyse escraches and reflects on the legacy of H.I.J.O.S., from their ongoing role in shaping the accountability process to their effectiveness as an exercise of the right to peaceful assembly to achieve their goals.
Virtue in the Republican Tradition
Authors: Gallagher Megan
Published: March 2024

The aim of this chapter is to survey civic virtue’s historical trajectory within republican political thought, as well as its comparatively reduced but still important role in contemporary republicanism. It begins by asking three broad questions: what characterizes civic virtue? what is the purpose of civic virtue? and how is civic virtue cultivated? From there, the chapter examines the central concerns of civic virtue in the historical tradition, considering the nature and function of civic virtue for three key thinkers: Aristotle, Cicero, and Machiavelli. It then turns to consider the role of virtue in contemporary republicanism, focusing on the work of historian Quentin Skinner and philosopher Philip Pettit. Section 4 outlines the criticisms that have been levelled at civic virtue.
Republican Constitutionalism
Authors: Galuppo Marcelo Campos
Published: March 2024

Reading the preamble to any constitution can provide us with the understanding of the core common values of the democratic and republican tradition of the West, although these concepts tend to be interpreted as antithetical ones. In order to understand how can they be seem as compatible, we should first understand what the world ‘Republic’ means. We only can do so if we take into account its origin in Ancient Rome, as the expression at the same time of the common good and the people’s will. In modern time, pluralism has made this very difficult to understand, since west societies seem to split themselves into individual realms, without any common value. Nevertheless, we can better evaluate the connection between democracy and republic if we consider toleration as the binding concept both of society and of the link among those ideas: only a tolerating society could be at the same time democratic and republican.
Proportionality
Authors: Mathews Jud , Stone Sweet Alec
Published: March 2024

At the core of the principle of proportionality are two simple ideas: (1) public authorities should choose means that are well adapted to the ends they pursue, and (2) means are not well adapted if they unduly burden the important interests protected by rights. Proportionality analysis (PA) formalizes these ideas into a doctrinal framework, the purpose of which is to determine whether given measures burden constitutional rights more than is permissible. Today, proportionality is a cornerstone of rights protection across the globe, in both national legal systems and treaty-based international regimes. This chapter considers how proportionality is used in rights adjudication in four legal systems: South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. It emphasizes how proportionality is connected to and contributes to two different political developments: the emergence of effective rights protection and the growth of pluralist democracy. It can be challenging for any court to enforce rights claims and safeguard democratic processes, and especially challenging in systems where courts have not previously done so. Under favorable conditions, PA can help courts to construct a new discursive interface between themselves and ruling officials, making it easier to manage these politically sensitive environments.
Sovereignty and European Exceptionalism
Authors: Kalmo Hent
Published: March 2024

This chapter describes how Europe’s relationship to international law has been construed in terms of the idea of sovereignty. Whilst Europe has consistently been represented as a pioneer in developing international law, a curious inversion has occurred in how its leadership role is perceived. In the 19th century, it was full, unlimited sovereignty that was regarded as a cultural achievement, its qualified versions in the extra-European world being depicted as premodernity. After World War II, by contrast, as its experiment with regional integration progressed, Europe was hailed for devising unprecedented limitations to sovereignty. Given that the European approach to international law has become associated with a rejection of sovereignty, the concept’s continued prominence is a blow to the notion that Europe acts as a vanguard. Yet this is only likely to give a new lease of life to the idea that Europe possesses its own unique set of values.
Helping young people early
Authors: McCutcheon Louise K. , O’Connell Jessica , Chanen Andrew M.
Published: March 2024

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a reliable, valid, common, and treatable mental health problem, with harmful personal, social, and economic consequences. Minimizing or avoiding such outcomes, through early diagnosis and treatment (early intervention) is an evidence-based public health priority and has significant international support. Cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) has particular advantages for early intervention for people with a diagnosis of BPD. As an integrative and ‘transdiagnostic’ approach, it encompasses within the overall treatment model the myriad co-occurring problems that accompany this diagnosis. A CAT approach is guided by collaboratively developed relational formulation (reformulation) allowing the young person to be an active partner in their own treatment. This calls for a shared language to be developed between clinician, the young person, family and supporters that is non-judgmental and free of jargon. This chapter demonstrates how the CAT model informs every aspect of the work in the Helping Young People Early (HYPE) service, providing hope for young people and families and tackling the stigma and discrimination that they might endure.
Authoritarian Diffusion
Authors: Tolstrup Jakob
Published: March 2024

Authoritarian diffusion concerns the process by which nondemocratic institutions, organizations, policies, strategies, practices, and norms travel between polities. It thus covers a broad range of phenomena of relevance for understanding authoritarian politics. First, based on a differentiation between three forms of diffusion (passive diffusion, cooperative/promotive diffusion, and coerced diffusion) and four mechanisms (admiration, adaptation, learning, and compulsion), this chapter presents an overview of the topics that authoritarian diffusion scholars have studied. Next, the main factors that facilitate authoritarian diffusion through the different mechanisms are specified and their importance for authoritarian diffusion is assessed. This chapter shows that authoritarian diffusion today is mainly driven by learning and adaptation, while compulsion is least pronounced. Finally, fruitful avenues for future research are discussed, emphasizing the importance of studying negative cases, devoting more attention to diffusion through admiration, and analysing diffusion dynamics across elite groups within regime coalitions.
Experimental Melting of Phlogopite Websterite in the Upper Mantle between 1.5 and 4.5 GPa
Authors: Shu Chutian , Foley Stephen F , Ezad Isra S , Daczko Nathan R , Shcheka Svyatoslav S
Published: March 2024

Reaction experiments have confirmed that phlogopite websterite can be formed by the interaction of peridotite with hydrous alkaline- or silica-rich melts. Phlogopite websterites commonly occur as xenoliths in orogenic and intraplate volcanism but do not receive much attention. We have experimentally investigated the melting behaviour of a phlogopite websterite at 1.5 GPa (1050–1300 °C), 3.0 GPa (1100–1500 °C), and 4.5 GPa (1200–1500 °C) to contribute to understanding the sources of ultrapotassic rocks that occur in different settings. The solidus temperature of the investigated phlogopite websterite rises with increasing pressure, bracketed between 1050 and 1100 °C at 1.5 GPa, 1100 and 1150 °C at 3.0 GPa, and between 1200 and 1250 °C at 4.5 GPa. At 1.5 GPa, phlogopite websterite melts incongruently to form olivine and melt, whereas orthopyroxene, garnet, and melt are formed at 3.0 and 4.5 GPa. The transition of orthopyroxene from reactant to product with increasing pressure results in changes in the SiO2 content of melts. The experimental melts reach a maximum K2O content when phlogopite is consumed completely at temperatures ~150 °C above the solidus. The melting reactions are similar to those of phlogopite lherzolite, but the low Al2O3 starting materials result in lower Al2O3 in the melt than in melts of phlogopite lherzolite. Comparison with natural ultrapotassic rock compositions reveals that the sources of ultrapotassic rocks in convergent settings may be dominated by phlogopite websterite, phlogopite lherzolite, and phlogopite harzburgite. Sources of ultrapotassic rocks in intraplate settings are more likely to include phlogopite clinopyroxenite ± CO2 and K-richterite. In all melting experiments on phlogopite-bearing rocks, K2O from phlogopite passes into the melt, and hence the highest K2O contents in ultrapotassic rocks must be an indication of the minimum stoichiometric coefficient of phlogopite in the melting reaction. In cases where phlogopite websterite or phlogopite lherzolite is identified as the source, the minimum modal percentage of phlogopite in the source can be inferred from the highest K2O content. When applied to the Milk River minettes and New South Wales leucitites, the estimated modal proportion of phlogopite in the sources is greater than 20 wt %. Phlogopite can survive the subduction process and melt later in the post-collisional environment, whereas thermal perturbations are necessary to trigger the melting of phlogopite-bearing assemblages at the base of the lithosphere in intraplate settings.
KINASE-INDUCIBLE DOMAIN INTERACTING 8 regulates helical pod morphology in Medicago truncatula
Authors: Yu Qianxia , Du Huan , Huang Yuanyuan , Lei Xiao , Wu Xueting , Jiang Jiayu , Huang Wei , Ge Liangfa
Published: March 2024

Leguminosae exhibits a wide diversity of legume forms with varying degrees of spiral morphologies, serving as an ideal clade for studying the growth and development of spiral organs. While soybean (Glycine max) develops straight pods, the pod of the model legume Medicago truncatula is a helix structure. Despite the fascinating structures and intensive description of the pods in legumes, little is known regarding the genetic mechanism underlying the highly varied spirality of the legume pods. In this study, we found that KINASE-INDUCIBLE DOMAIN INTERACTING 8 (MtKIX8) plays a key role in regulating the pod structure and spirality in M. truncatula. Unlike the coiled and barrel-shaped helix pods of the wild type, the pods of the mtkix8 mutant are loose and deformed and lose the topologic structure as observed in the wild-type pods. In the pods of the mtkix8 mutant, the cells proliferate more actively and overly expand, particularly in the ventral suture, resulting in uncoordinated growth along the dorsal and ventral sutures of pods. The core cell cycle genes CYCLIN D3s are upregulated in the mtkix8 pods, leading to the prolonged growth of the ventral suture region of the pods. Our study revealed the key role of MtKIX8 in regulating seed pod development in M. truncatula and demonstrates a genetic regulatory model underlying the establishment of the helical pod in legumes.
A prenyltransferase participates in the biosynthesis of anthraquinones in Rubia cordifolia
Authors: Liu Changzheng , Wang Ruishan , Wang Sheng , Chen Tong , Lyu Chaogeng , Kang Chuanzhi , Wan Xiufu , Guo Juan , Li Qi , Huang Luqi , Guo Lanping
Published: March 2024

Anthraquinones (AQs) constitute the largest group of natural quinones, which are used as safe natural dyes and have many pharmaceutical applications. In plants, AQs are biosynthesized through two main routes: the polyketide pathway and the shikimate pathway. The latter primarily forms alizarin-type AQs, and the prenylation of 1,4-dihydroxy-2-naphthoic acid (DHNA) is the first pathway-specific step. However, the prenyltransferase (PT) responsible for this key step remains uncharacterized. In this study, the cell suspension culture of Madder (Rubia cordifolia), a plant rich in alizarin-type AQs, was discovered to be capable of prenylating DHNA to form 2-carboxyl-3-prenyl-1,4-naphthoquinone and 3-prenyl-1,4-naphthoquinone. Then, a candidate gene belonging to the UbiA superfamily, R. cordifoliadimethylallyltransferase 1 (RcDT1), was shown to account for the prenylation activity. Substrate specificity studies revealed that the recombinant RcDT1 recognized naphthoic acids primarily, followed by 4-hydroxyl benzoic acids. The prenylation activity was strongly inhibited by 1,2- and 1,4-dihydroxynaphthalene. RcDT1 RNA interference significantly reduced the AQs content in R. cordifolia callus cultures, demonstrating that RcDT1 is required for alizarin-type AQs biosynthesis. The plastid localization and root-specific expression further confirmed the participation of RcDT1 in anthraquinone biosynthesis. The phylogenetic analyses of RcDT1 and functional validation of its rubiaceous homologs indicated that DHNA-prenylation activity evolved convergently in Rubiaceae via recruitment from the ubiquinone biosynthetic pathway. Our results demonstrate that RcDT1 catalyzes the first pathway-specific step of alizarin-type AQs biosynthesis in R. cordifolia. These findings will have profound implications for understanding the biosynthetic process of the anthraquinone ring derived from the shikimate pathway.
Land Security and Mobility Frictions
Authors: Adamopoulos Tasso , Brandt Loren , Chen Chaoran , Restuccia Diego , Wei Xiaoyun
Published: March 2024

Frictions that impede the mobility of workers across occupations and space are a prominent feature of developing countries. We disentangle the role of insecure property rights from other labor-mobility frictions for the reallocation of labor from agriculture to nonagriculture and from rural to urban areas. We combine rich household and individual-level panel data from China and an equilibrium quantitative framework featuring sorting of workers across locations and occupations. We explicitly model the farming household and the endogenous decisions of who operates the family farm and who potentially migrates, capturing an additional channel of selection in the household. We find that land insecurity has substantial negative effects on agricultural productivity and structural change, raising the share of rural households operating farms by over 40 percentage points and depressing agricultural productivity by more than 20%. Comparatively, these quantitative effects are as large as those from all residual labor-mobility frictions. We measure a sharp reduction in overall labor-mobility barriers over 2004–2018 in the Chinese economy, all accounted for by improved land security, consistent with reforms covering rural land in China during the period. JEL Codes: O11, O14, O4, E02, Q1.
Law and Policy Framework Governing Wastewater (Reuse) Management in India
Authors: Saravanan A
Published: March 2024

Freshwater resources are becoming scarce and severely affected due to urbanization and industrial pollution. The per capita water supply to every Indian household is getting lesser than the recommended level. In this scenario, wastewater is considered as a new source of water supply for agriculture, industrial use, etc. Apart from the water laws, the government also adopted various policies and schemes to promote the reuse of treated wastewater for non-potable uses. However, the ineffective implementation of water laws and wastewater policies brought a new set of challenges. It is in this connection this paper analyses the comprehensive overview of constitutional provisions, key provisions of relevant laws, policies, rules, regulations, judicial intervention on wastewater management, and reuse in India. It also identifies implementation challenges in the enforcement of wastewater laws and byelaws in India.
Clear as mud: Proprietary Estoppel after Guest v Guest
Authors: Smyth Claire-Michelle , Dunbar Rupert
Published: March 2024

The dust should now have settled since the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Guest v Guest (2022). However, in exploring recent case law, this article exposes that the rules applied to decide proprietary estoppel cases remain as uncertain as ever. Some commonality can be identified, but only in the persistent favouring of promisors over promisees. This article criticises the practical and theoretical underpinnings of proprietary estoppel and proposes further reform. In particular, the article draws new links from the doctrine of secret trusts to suggest a more just and certain basis for proprietary estoppel’s future application
Fumigation Using 1,3-Dichloropropene Manages Meloidogyne enterolobii in Sweetpotato More Effectively than Fluorinated Nematicides
Authors: Grabau Zane J. , Sandoval-Ruiz Rebeca , Liu Chang
Published: March 2024

Meloidogyne enterolobii is an emerging global threat and is damaging to sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas) production in the southeast United States. Nematicide application is one of the few management strategies currently available against this nematode, and field testing is urgently needed. The objective of this study was to assess common nematicides for management of M. enterolobii and nontarget effects on free-living nematodes in sweetpotato field production. Treatments were (i) untreated control, (ii) fumigation using 1,3-dichloropropene, or at-transplant drench of fluorinated nematicides (iii) fluazaindolizine, (iv) fluopyram, or (v, vi) fluensulfone at 2 or 4 kg a.i./ha. In 2022, a field trial was conducted under severe M. enterolobii pressure and was repeated in 2023 in the same location without treatment rerandomization. Fumigation using 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D) was the only consistently effective nematicide at improving marketable yield relative to control and also consistently reduced most storage root galling measurements and midseason Meloidogyne soil abundances. Fluensulfone at 4 kg a.i./ha consistently improved total yield but not marketable yield, whereas fluensulfone at 2 kg a.i./ha, fluazaindolizine, and fluopyram did not improve yield. Each fluorinated nematicide treatment reduced at least one nematode symptom or nematode soil abundances relative to control, but none provided consistent benefits across years. Even with 1,3-D fumigation, yield was poor, and none of the nematicide treatments provided a significant return on investment relative to forgoing nematicide application. There were minimal effects on free-living nematodes. In summary, 1,3-D is an effective nematicide for M. enterolobii management, but additional management will be needed under severe M. enterolobii pressure.
Mechanisms of vascular invasion after cartilage injury and potential engineering cartilage treatment strategies
Authors: Zhao Zitong , Sun Xiaoxian , Tu Pengcheng , Ma Yong , Guo Yang , Zhang Yafeng , Liu Mengmin , Wang Lining , Chen Xinyu , Si Lin , Li Guangguang , Pan Yalan
Published: March 2024

Articular cartilage injury is one of the most common diseases in orthopedic clinics. Following an articular cartilage injury, an inability to resist vascular invasion can result in cartilage calcification by newly formed blood vessels. This process ultimately leads to the loss of joint function, significantly impacting the patient's quality of life. As a result, developing anti‐angiogenic methods to repair damaged cartilage has become a popular research topic. Despite this, tissue engineering, as an anti‐angiogenic strategy in cartilage injury repair, has not yet been adequately investigated. This exhaustive literature review mainly focused on the process and mechanism of vascular invasion in articular cartilage injury repair and summarized the major regulatory factors and signaling pathways affecting angiogenesis in the process of cartilage injury. We aimed to discuss several potential methods for engineering cartilage repair with anti‐angiogenic strategies. Three anti‐angiogenic tissue engineering methods were identified, including administering angiogenesis inhibitors, applying scaffolds to manage angiogenesis, and utilizing in vitro bioreactors to enhance the therapeutic properties of cultured chondrocytes. The advantages and disadvantages of each strategy were also analyzed. By exploring these anti‐angiogenic tissue engineering methods, we hope to provide guidance for researchers in related fields for future research and development in cartilage repair.
Current Management of Acute and Posttraumatic Critical Bone Defects
Authors: Bernstein Mitchell , Little Milton T.M. , Marecek Geoffrey
Published: March 2024

Limb reconstruction in patients with critical-sized bone defects remains a challenge due to the availability of various technically demanding treatment options and a lack of standardized decision algorithms. Although no consensus exists, it is apparent from the literature that the combination of patient, surgeon, and institutional collaborations is effective in providing the most efficient care pathway for these patients. Success relies on choosing a particular surgical approach that manages infection, soft tissue defects, stability, and alignment. Recent systematic reviews demonstrate high success rates with the following management options: Ilizarov bone transport, Masquelet (induced membrane) technique, cancellous bone grafting, and vascularized bone grafts.
USP3 promotes cisplatin resistance in non-small cell lung cancer cells by suppressing ACOT7-regulated ferroptosis
Authors: Tao Rancen , Liu Zuo , Zhang Zhenning , Zhang Zhenfa
Published: March 2024

This study aims to investigate the role and mechanism of ubiquitin-specific protease 3 (USP3) in cisplatin (DDP) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). USP3 expression in NSCLC cells was detected using reverse transcription quantitative PCR and Western blot. DDP-resistant cells were constructed and cell counting kit-8 assay determined the IC50 of cells to DDP. USP3 expression was silenced in DDP-resistant cells, followed by detection of cell proliferation by clone formation assay, iron ion contents, ROS, MDA, and GSH levels by kits, GPX4 and ACSL4 protein expressions by Western blot. The binding between USP3 and ACOT7 was analyzed using Co-IP, and the ubiquitination level of ACOT7 was measured. USP3 and ACOT7 were highly expressed in NSCLC cells and further increased in drug-resistant cells. USP3 silencing reduced the IC50 of cells to DDP and diminished the number of cell clones. Moreover, USP3 silencing suppressed GSH and GPX4 levels, upregulated iron ion contents, ROS, MDA, and ACSL4 levels, and facilitated ferroptosis. Mechanistically, USP3 upregulated ACOT7 protein expression through deubiquitination. ACOT7 overexpression alleviated the promoting effect of USP7 silencing on ferroptosis in NSCLC cells and enhanced DDP resistance. To conclude, USP3 upregulated ACOT7 protein expression through deubiquitination, thereby repressing ferroptosis in NSCLC cells and enhancing DDP resistance.
Azacitidine combined with venetoclax alleviates AML-MR with TP53 mutation in SDS: a case report and literature review
Authors: Ma Cuiping , Lang Haiyan , Chen Yuhan , Yang Lu , Wang Chong , Han Lizhen , Chen Xinyi , Ma Wei
Published: March 2024

Shwachman-Diamond syndrome (SDS) is an autosomal recessive genetic disease, which is prone to transform into myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). TP53 mutation is a driving factor involved in the transformation of SDS into MDS/AML, and in the evolution of MDS to AML. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (Allo-HSCT) is the only curable approach, however, challenge remains regarding the balance between efficacy and the high risk from treatment-related toxicity and mortality to achieve temporary disease control before transplantation to gain time and opportunities for transplantation. At present, pre-transplant bridging therapy has emerged as one of the important options with improved efficacy, reduced tumor burden, and less treatment-related toxicity. Here we reported azacitidine combined with venetoclax was used as pre-transplant bridging regimen in a TP53-mutant AML-MR case developed from SDS. He achieved complete remission with incomplete recovery and proceeded to Allo-HSCT. We hope to provide some evidence and insight for in-depth research and clinical treatment by presenting this case.
Using a Machine Learning Approach to Predict the Need for Elective Revision and Unplanned Surgery after Implant-based Breast Reconstruction
Authors: Chen Yunchan , Zhang Ashley , Lu Wang Marcos , Black Grant G. , Zhou George , Otterburn David M.
Published: March 2024

Two-stage implant-based reconstruction after mastectomy may require secondary revision procedures to treat complications, correct defects, and improve aesthetic outcomes. Patients should be counseled on the possibility of additional procedures during the initial visit, but the likelihood of requiring another procedure is dependent on many patient- and surgeon-specific factors. This study aims to identify patient-specific factors and surgical techniques associated with higher rates of secondary procedures and offer a machine learning model to compute individualized assessments for preoperative counseling. A training set of 209 patients (406 breasts) who underwent two-stage alloplastic reconstruction was created, with 45.57% of breasts (185 of 406) requiring revisional or unplanned surgery. On multivariate analysis, hypertension, no tobacco use, and textured expander use corresponded to lower odds of additional surgery. In contrast, higher initial tissue expander volume, vertical radial incision, and larger nipple-inframammary fold distance conferred higher odds of additional surgery. The neural network model trained on clinically significant variables achieved the highest collective performance metrics, with ROC AUC of 0.74, sensitivity of 84.2, specificity of 63.6, and accuracy of 62.1. The proposed machine learning model trained on a single surgeon’s data offers a precise and reliable tool to assess an individual patient’s risk of secondary procedures. Machine learning models enable physicians to tailor surgical planning and empower patients to make informed decisions aligned with their lifestyle and preferences. The utilization of this technology is especially applicable to plastic surgery, where outcomes are subject to a variety of patient-specific factors and surgeon practices, including threshold to perform secondary procedures.