bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Social Image of Autism and the Need for Educational Research
Authors: Wodziński Maciej Cezary , Gołaska-Ciesielska Paulina
Published: December 2021

In this paper, we present the results of an online survey concerning the social perception of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The analysis of the online survey conducted in Poland from March to May 2020, in which 355 Polish speaking respondents took part and which consisted of two parts: closed-ended questions and open-ended statements – shows that there is a cognitively interesting discrepancy between the relatively high level of knowledge declared by respondents and the more negative and stereotypical attitude towards people with ASD visible in the open-ended responses. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that relations between the respondents and neurotypical people are lined with fear, anxiety and insecurity. The survey results seem to unequivocally indicate the necessity for further educational projects that deepen knowledge and raise awareness of people with ASD.
Social and Educational Context of the Poverty of People with Disabilities in Poland
Authors: Janiszewska-Nieścioruk Zdzisława
Published: December 2021

The article points out the high complexity and multidimensionality of the hot social issue of poverty as well as the related unemployment, and the precariousness of people with disabilities in Poland. The author notes that despite the currently promoted pro-inclusion activities and solutions for their benefit in connection with the implementation the assumptions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Poland, with insufficient support, these problems may multiply and aggravate the disability and special needs of these people. People with disabilities still too often live in conditions of poverty that have a negative impact on their development and functioning in all spheres or areas of social life, as well as in the open labour market. In the process of compensating for the shortcomings related to having been brought up in a poor family, education has a significant role to play. Therefore, the author stresses its significant importance for the process of equalizing educational opportunities for children, as well as for the weaknesses noticed in its space, which hinder this process. The author pays equal attention to the threat of these people with unemployment and precariousness, which often destabilize their lives and hinder inclusion in the local and wider community.
Administrative and criminal penalties for a failure to register a vehicle in due time
Authors: Brzezicki Tomasz , Cylc Monika
Published: December 2021

A determination of amounts of administrative monetary penalties and criminal sanctions resulting from a lack of fulfilment of some of registration obligations imposed on an owner of a vehicle is a practical problem related to the activity of the authorities keeping the vehicle register. Particular doubts are raised not by a necessity to impose a penalty, but by its amount, as well as by a possibility of waiving the penalty. Further doubts are raised by a possibility of applying a criminal liability to entities that have not fulfilled with their obligations. In the present study, the authors, using a dogmatic and legal method, analyse circumstances affecting the amount of the penalty, the possibility of abrogating the penalty, as well as the potential possibility of applying criminal liability.
Zbieg sankcji podatkowych i karnych w świetle Konwencji o Ochronie Praw Człowieka i Podstawowych Wolności
Authors: Majka Paweł
Published: December 2021

Kumulacja odpowiedzialności z tytułu sankcji podatkowych oraz karnych skutkuje koniecznością wyeliminowania możliwości stosowania jednocześnie sankcji podatkowych oraz karnych z uwagi na uniwersalną zasadę niedopuszczalności wielokrotnego karania tej samej osoby za ten sam czyn. Jednocześnie granice, w jakich zarówno ustawodawca, jak i organ stosujący prawo może się poruszać, wynikające z art. 4 Protokołu nr 7 do Konwencji o Ochronie Praw Człowieka i Podstawowych Wolności precyzuje orzecznictwo Europejskiego Trybunału Praw Człowieka. W artykule autor przeanalizował orzecznictwo Trybunału, poszukując kryteriów, które są wykorzystywane do zakwalifikowania sankcji podatkowych jako spełniających wymogi Konwencji.
„Stabilność sektora finansów publicznych” w warunkach pandemii COVID-19
Authors: Bożek Wojciech
Published: December 2021

Stan finansów publicznych w Polsce w warunkach pandemii COVID-19 ulega dynamicznym zmianom. Analiza danych statystycznych dotyczących zadłużenia publicznego (jak i jego części składowych), a także związanych ze zobowiązaniami niewymagalnymi pozwala wskazać możliwe obszary zagrożenia stabilności i bezpieczeństwa sektora finansów publicznych. W badaniach wykorzystano przede wszystkim dwie metody badawcze, tzn. metodę dogmatycznoprawną oraz metodę analityczną. Założeniem autora było podkreślenie znaczenia podstaw aksjologicznych prawa finansów publicznych w procesie stanowienia i stosowania tego prawa, ukazanie obowiązujących rozwiązań finansowoprawnych służących kontroli stanu zadłużenia publicznego w Polsce, a także ich istoty dla utrzymania stabilności finansów publicznych. Przeanalizowano w związku z powyższym nie tylko obowiązujący stan prawny, ale także dane dotyczące kwoty państwowego długu publicznego, długu Skarbu Państwa i niewymagalnych zobowiązań Skarbu Państwa i jednostek sektora finansów publicznych z tytułu udzielonych poręczeń i gwarancji w latach 2016–2020. Ze względu na dostrzeżone różnice za potrzebne uznano również omówienie metodologii liczenia długu publicznego w prawie polskim i unijnym. W tym zakresie można bowiem dostrzec istotne zmiany, zwłaszcza w okresie pandemii COVID-19.
On Archibald Alison’s Conception of Aesthetic Experience and Its Selected Sources and Inspirations
Authors: Wawrzonkowski Krzysztof
Published: December 2021

The present article is devoted to aesthetic experience as conceived by Archibald Alison. It reconstructs the associationist sources of his views in the form of selected issues from the aesthetics of D. Hume and A. Gerard. In the case of the former, three types of beauty and the general characteristics of experiencing them are recalled. In the case of the latter, a general view of the nature of aesthetic experience is presented, including the role of internal senses, feelings, their accumulation and associative relations. Alison’s conception of autonomous aesthetic experience is laid out based both on the first edition of his works and on subsequent editions, which include quite substantial revisions. Discussed in detail here are the issues of simple emotion and the aesthetic train of ideas, which together constitute an autonomous aesthetic experience. Also, the article provides an explanation of the difference between emotions of pleasure and emotions of taste. Moreover, it outlines the social resonance of aesthetic taste and its manifestations.
Idealne ciało Berkeleya. Status ciała w filozofii percepcji George’a Berkeleya wyłożonej w Nowej teorii widzenia
Authors: Gańko Anna
Published: December 2021

Filozofia George’a Berkeleya to swoiste połączenie idealizmu i empiryzmu. Berkeley jest znany przede wszystkim ze względu na głoszoną przez siebie tezę o nieistnieniu przedmiotów materialnych. W Nowej teorii widzenia przedstawia natomiast proces poznania ugruntowany w percepcji zmysłowej, tym samym przyznając zmysłom uprzywilejowaną rolę w poznaniu rzeczywistości. Artykuł ma na celu próbę odpowiedzi na pytanie o status ciała i cielesności poznającego człowieka w tak zarysowanym procesie poznania w kontekście doktryny immaterialistycznej.

Proponuję takie odczytanie Próby stworzenia nowej teorii widzenia, które nie skupia się na rozumieniu jej treści w perspektywie późniejszego, uznawanego za najważniejsze dzieła Berkeleya: Traktatu o zasadach poznania ludzkiego. Zamiast tego przyglądam się tym fragmentom, w którym Berkeley posługuje się pojęciami związanymi z ciałem i cielesnością – przede wszystkim ideami dotykowymi – żeby zobaczyć, jak, według Berkeleyowskiej doktryny, należy rozumieć zmysłowe ciało poznającego podmiotu.

W swojej dojrzałej doktrynie Berkeley dopuszcza istnienie jedynie dwóch rodzajów bytów: aktywnych umysłów oraz biernych idei. W związku z tym zmuszony jest zmysłowe ciało poznającego człowieka zaliczyć do jednego z nich. W pracy staram się wykazać, że nie mógł zrobić inaczej, jak utożsamić poznające ciało z aktywnym umysłem.
Francisa Herberta Bradleya obrona metafizyki
Authors: Uchan Alexandre
Published: December 2021

Celem artykułu jest analiza argumentacji jaką sformułował w obronie metafizyki Francis Herbert Bradley we wstępie swego głównego dzieła Appearance and Reality. Oksfordzki filozof, będąc jednym z ostatnich znaczących przedstawicieli systemowej filozofii, świadom był, że epoka w jakiej przyszło mu żyć i tworzyć, była epoką, w której poddawano w wątpliwość zasadność czy wartość metafizyki rozumianej jako teoria pierwszych zasad. W swej obronie metafizyki Bradley poddaje krytyce argumentację antymetafizyczną, którą nie bez podstaw możemy wiązać z myślą Kanta i Hume'a. Wskazuje on również, niejako uprzedzając XX wieczną krytykę systemowej filozofii, że nie jest ona źródłem dogmatyzmu, lecz raczej jako krytyczna refleksja nad naszymi pojęciami, jest w istocie ”azylem dla kogoś, kto bardzo chce myśleć spójnie, a jest zbyt zdolny i autentyczny, by stać się niewolnikiem tępego fanatyzmu lub nieuczciwej sofistyki”.
Moc twórczej Jaźni w filozofii Fryderyka Nietzschego
Authors: Lajus Emmanuel
Published: December 2021

Opierając się na rozwijanych przez Nietzschego pojęciach woli mocy i sensu, starałem się pokazać, pod jakim względem twórcza Jaźń świadczy według niego o największej ludzkiej mocy.

Jedną z najbardziej ogólnych cech mocy jest zdolność istoty do coraz lepszego zawłaszczania sił otaczającego ją świata. Stąd wyłaniają się trzy aspekty mocy: osobisty charakter tej integracji, rozległość zintegrowanego świata i przewyższanie samego siebie, które im towarzyszy. Ale w przeciwieństwie do „archaicznego” człowieka, który usiłuje narzucić swoje bycie światu poprzez władzę,  odciskając swoje piętno na świecie jedynie poprzez wąską, zewnętrzną i niezmienną perspektywę swojej woli władzy, mocny człowiek potrafi zawładnąć siłami świata całą swoją istotą, z całą swoją wrażliwością. Jest zdolny do głębokiego zjednoczenia się ze światem, co pozwala mu na integrację dzięki własnej sile plastycznej znacznie szerszego spektrum sił, ale też zmusza go do przewyższenia samego siebie, ponieważ w tym procesie integracji jego własna tożsamość zmienia się. Nadając nowy sens światu, zmienia sens własnego bytu. Ten stosunek do świata i ta moc charakteryzują twórcze jaźnie.
Tomasz Jarmużek, On the Sea-Battle Tomorrow That May Not Happen. A Logical and Philosophical Analysis of the Master Argument (Berno: Peter Lang, 2019), ss. 262
Authors: Rzeczkowska Anna
Published: December 2021

-
Case—Integrative Case Study: Louisiana Branch Lines
Authors: Gorman Michael F.
Published: December 2021

History: This paper has been accepted for the INFORMS Transactions on Education Special Section on Cases Based on Real-World Projects from the INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics.
Giant Mushroom-like Neglected Basal Cell Carcinoma of the Shoulder with Spontaneous Bleeding: A Successful Surgical Approach
Authors: Oliveira Nikhil , Tchernev Georgi , Kandathil Lorraine Joseph
Published: December 2021

Introduction: Giant basal cell carcinomas (GBCCs) are extremely rare and typically more aggressive than their predecessor subtype. GBCCs with mushroom-like morphology have rarely been reported, with only one other case identified in the literature. Here we present a unique case of a neglected giant mushroom-like BCC that was treated successfully. Case description: An 81-year-old male patient presented with a large ulcerative mass on his back. He had a medical history of chronic heart failure and atrial fibrillation, which were controlled with heart medication. During a routine visit to change the dressing of the lesion, the central pedunculated stalk underwent spontaneous haemorrhaging which led to massive blood loss. The patient was treated for shock and the lesion was completely excised under emergency surgery. The tumour was sent for histopathological assessment after complete surgical removal. Recovery was successful with good postoperative results and no recurrence was reported in the 12 months following discharge. Discussion: The patient was under long-standing anticoagulant therapy that contributed to the untimely rupture of the pedunculated lesion and led to spontaneous heavy haemorrhaging. Treatment for such giant lesions can be complex, especially in patients with co-morbid conditions. Careful assessment and early treatment are paramount for successful results. Conclusion: Complete removal of such lesions is very successful for treating GBCCs.
Popular Religious Traditions, British Military Recruitment and the Social Construction of Masculinity in Colonial Haryana
Authors: Yadav Rekha
Published: December 2021

It is generally assumed that colonial institutions and ideologies shaped the contours of masculinity in British India. This paper explores endogenous factors and attempts to supplement as well as contest such approaches and interpretations which claim that masculinity in India was a colonial construction. The emphasis is on folk traditions, religious customs, qaumi (folk) tales and physical culture akh???s (gymnasia) among the Jats in colonial Haryana,1 which went into the making of dominant masculinity in this region. The paper draws upon vernacular language materials and newspapers to analyse the different ways in which the socially endogenous forces constructed this masculinity. It argues that a complex interaction of popular religious traditions, qaumi narratives, military recruitment, marital caste designation, ownership of land, superior caste behaviour and strong bodily physique came to ideologically link and construct dominant masculinity in colonial Haryana.
“We Refuse to be Silenced”: Writing a Fallist Politics into the Criminalization of Racist Hate Speech in South Africa
Authors: Ndelu Sandile
Published: December 2021

Recently, the South African Department of Justice and Constitutional Development opened the long-awaited Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill up for public commentary. The Bill introduces, amongst other legal novelties, the criminalization of racist hate speech. While South Africa's civil society has been preoccupied with the Bill's potential “chilling” effect on the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression, few have critiqued the Bill for its bypassing of the complex matrix between race, racism, and power in a post-apartheid South Africa that continues to wrestle coloniality, as has been articulated by the Fallist Student Movement. In this paper, I borrow from the Fallist movement's dense archive to offer a problematization of the Bill for failing to provide a useful response to racist hate speech. I argue that the Bill ignores the political, historical, and structural dimensions of racism in post-apartheid South Africa. In doing so, I hope to offer a challenge to the drafters of the Bill to desert its apolitical ahistorical and acontextual response to racist hate and to be bold enough to construct a version that is more in sync with contemporary calls for decolonization.
Xenophobia as Racism: The Colonial Underside of Nationalism in South Africa
Authors: Mpofu William
Published: December 2021

The present article fleshes out the observation that in actuality what is circulated in journalistic and scholarly literature as xenophobia in South Africa is systemic and structural racism that is rooted in colonial and apartheid history. As such the term xenophobia, as it denotes the fear and also hatred of foreign others by native nationals of South Africa, tends to conceal rather than reveal that systemic and structural constructs of racism at a world and local scale produce and locate black Africans of other countries in South Africa as alien and foreign others that are in the receiving end of nationalist and ultimately racist passions of hatred and violence. In a country that has not fully recovered from the homeland racist nationalism that placed black natives of South Africa according to geographic and ethnic lines, the black Africans from other countries take the place of racialized and excluded outsiders who become candidates for hatred, discrimination, and violation. In this way what is termed xenophobia is actually racism and the coloniality of being and belonging that accompanies it. This article, therefore, provides a decolonial understanding and interpretation of xenophobia as racism in South Africa.
Editorial
Authors: Revelles Benavente Beatriz
Published: December 2021

This issue shows how matter is mathematical, artistic, propositional, an ethical apparatus, affective pedagogy and, above all, everyday experiences. The combination of these elements can help to create innovative methodologies based upon affirmative practices able to undo the global state of pandemic in which human, and more-than-human beings, suffer from their own precarity.
Synaesthesia
Authors: Palmer Helen
Published: December 2021

The following entry includes firstly a list of synaesthetic portals, and secondly an initial table of scaled sensory modalities following Felicity Colman’s ‘Fragment of a Modalities Map’ (Colman, 2019, p. 985-987).  James Joyce famously begins his ‘Proteus’ chapter of Ulysses with Stephen Dedalus describing the ‘ineluctable modality of the visible’ (Joyce, 1922, p. 37). Synaesthesia presents a phenomenon whereby the modality is not merely ineluctible but is also a portal that can potentially link one sensory realm to another, suggesting an infrastructural connectivity that links ostensibly individuated or hermetically differentiated perceptual fields. To describe this process as merely the condition of synaptic short-circuitry affecting a small percentage of human animals does not account for the ways in which synaesthesia is always already at play in all the regular sensory categories, in its experience as and between what analytic philosophers call ‘qualia’, neither does it account for also the ways it can be played as if it were an instrument itself. Perception in general can be perceived as an organ within itself: a desiring organ, as Vicki Kirby says in Quantum Anthropologies (2011, p. 120).
The Glove as Tool To Touch: An Intra-view from Within New Dawn Felipe Duque in Conversation with Swantje Martach
Authors: Martach Swantje , Duque Felipe
Published: December 2021

New Dawn is a global arts/theories queering project, which was initiated in Berlin in 2020, and which speculates future aesthetics of the glove as “tool-to-touch.“ The present intra-view is a real ‘view-from-within,’ as it unfolds a conversation (a turning, moving, becoming [versare] together [con]) in-between the two members of this project’s theoretical section: Felipe Duque and Swantje Martach.

This intra-view sets out to explore the role the glove plays within the touch. A gloved touch differs from a non-gloved touch, as the glove heightens the touch. The glove functions as a first other that is encountered in the touch, hence it is touched and touching us back. And it is a medium for and mediator of touching other others, as it is through the glove that the ordinarily touched (the world) is touched. By means of this double position in the touch, the glove emancipates from human control. It enables us humans to realize many touches that we alone would not be capable of, and in this way, it emancipates us from our limitations as humans. The glove is a very material invitation to become, that increases with every new gloves invented, a switch to which is just another un/dressing away.

By focusing on the glove/hand entanglement, New Dawn can be read as promoting the haptic sense as a hitherto neglected contributor of the aesthetic. Being self-critical however, we argue that depicting the future of touch by means of the glove eventually is a rather restrictive speculation, as it limits all touch to the one we exert by and experience from hands; whereas reality disposes a multiplicity of touches (e.g. a touch between shoulders, eyes, lips). To expand future touches could thus be an interesting continuation for New Dawn.
Review of the book: New Directions in Philosophy and Literature (Rudrum, Askin, & Beckman, 2019)
Authors: Sureda Perelló Mar
Published: December 2021

*
Review of the book: Derrida after the End of Writing. Political Theology and New Materialism, Perspectives in Continental Philosophy (Crockett, Clayton, 2018)
Authors: Monti Rocco
Published: December 2021

*
Educación inclusiva en el Prácticum de la formación inicial
docente en Chile: lo avanzado y los desafíos por alcanzar
Authors: Soto-Montes Viviana
Published: December 2021

La educación inclusiva, desde hace algunos años, se ha
constituido como un derecho y no solo como un principio orientador.
Esta demanda ha exigido a los sistemas educativos cambios de diversa
índole, siendo uno de los ejes centrales de cambio la formación
inicial de los docentes que deben dar vida a este derecho. En el
contexto de la formación inicial docente en Chile, los avances en
materia de normativa y de estructura curricular de los planes de
formación profesores son importantes, especialmente en el caso de la
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Esta universidad logra los
mejores resultados en evaluaciones de sus egresados a escala
nacional gracias a un modelo formativo que realza la experiencia de
los cursos del Prácticum desde los primeros años de formación y que
se funda en el desarrollo de Prácticas Generativas, representación
desagregada de la compleja labor docente en el aula. Este artículo
describe en detalle los “pasos adelante” que se dan en Chile en este
sentido y en particular en el Prácticum de la Pontificia Universidad
Católica de Chile; así como los “desafíos pendientes de
alcanzar”.
Aprender ciencias con visitas escolares: Características y
dificultades desde el profesorado
Authors: Contreras-Baeza Felipe
Published: December 2021

Los desafíos de la educación científica actual requieren de
una alfabetización científica que invite a las personas a
posicionarse ante el mundo con una mirada crítica, informada y
curiosa lo cual les permita participar e involucrase en las diversas
temáticas que competen e impactan a la sociedad. Para lograr este
fin la escuela ha tenido que abrir sus puertas y reconocer el valor
de otros contextos educativos que abordan temáticas científicas
generando puentes entre ambos escenarios. De esta manera, las
visitas escolares se sitúan como recursos y experiencias idóneas
para favorecer una adecuada alfabetización científica pues permiten
generar aprendizajes diversos e integrales. No obstante, el
desconocimiento y débil formación del profesorado sobre esta
temática obstaculizan y dificultan la construcción de experiencias
de aprendizajes entre escuela y museos y centros de ciencia que
promuevan esta alfabetización.
La tipificación del contrato de suministro de contenidos y servicios digitales: entre la propiedad intelectual y el derecho de consumo
Authors: Aparicio Vaquero Juan Pablo
Published: December 2021

La calificación de los contratos de suministro de contenidos y servicios digitales es conflictiva, y no se ha llegado a una solución uniforme. De hecho, podríamos decir que no hay ninguna solución al respecto en el Derecho de consumo (que regula sin más la situación del consumidor con independencia del tipo contractual), y que aun dentro del propio ámbito de la propiedad intelectual, hay importantes incongruencias, cuando no auténticas contradicciones. El TJUE ha desarrollado una jurisprudencia que consagra una duplicidad de regímenes entre los programas de ordenador y el resto de obras digitales. En el presente estudio se realiza un análisis de la situación actual, con ciertas propuestas de lege ferenda que pasan por una necesaria modificación de algunas normas del Derecho de propiedad intelectual.
Economía de los datos y propiedad sobre los datos
Authors: Plana Arnaldos Mª Carmen
Published: December 2021

La denominada revolución digital y la economía de los datos han traído consigo un debate social y doctrinal acerca de cómo se debe articular el marco legal aplicable para adaptarlo a las características y necesidades que plantea la digitalización. En este contexto, la cuestión de a quien pertenecen los datos, la propiedad sobre los datos, adquiere una especial importancia, ya que de facto circulan en el mercado generando grandes beneficios. En este trabajo se analizan las diferentes posturas doctrinales acerca de la propiedad sobre los datos, los obstáculos que se plantean para el reconocimiento de tal categoría, así como algunas posibles alternativas de regulación.
Implicaciones para la formación jurídica en complejidad derivadas de la pandemia por coronavirus (COVID-19). Reflexiones y estudio de percepciones en torno al caso mexicano
Authors: Báez Corona José Francisco
Published: December 2021

Para el presente artículo se planteó como objetivo: explorar si el impacto de fenómenos de la complejidad en la formación jurídica se ha visto acelerado por la pandemia de COVID-19. Para ello, a través de una metodología analítica, se seleccionaron tres fenómenos asociados a la complejidad: Discontinuidad, multidisciplinariedad y sociedad de la información, en torno a cada uno de ellos se plasmaron algunas reflexiones teóricas, que permitieron describirlos y desarrollar una escala de percepción, la cual se aplicó en dos grupo de estudiantes de doctorado a través de un muestreo intencional, los resultados permitieron concluir que cada uno de los fenómenos mencionados es considerado más necesario para la formación de licenciados en derecho de lo que era antes de la pandemia, lo cual remarca el reto de incorporarlos en la formación jurídica.
El derecho a la educación como fundamento de la democracia y premisa para el libre desarrollo de la personalidad.
Authors: Milione Ciro
Published: December 2021

El presente artículo se centra en el análisis de la noción de educación desde un punto de vista jurídico y filosófico. La intención del autor es demostrar que el hecho educativo representa uno de los factores más decisivos para lograr, en nuestros sistemas constitucionales, unos objetivos complejos e insoslayables que se desarrollan sobre dos planos distintos e interconectados: uno de carácter individual (el desarrollo integral de la persona), otro de carácter colectivo (la construcción de una ciudadanía crítica y, por ende, de un sistema democrático efectivo). Tras reflexionar sobre algunas de las aportaciones doctrinales (Jaeger, Freire, Galimberti etc.) e institucionales (ONU, UNESCO, jurisprudencia del Tribunal Constitucional español, etc.) más relevantes sobre el tema en cuestión, el autor analiza el derecho a la educación desde la perspectiva de su configuración jurídica como derecho social fundamental y como componente irrenunciable del derecho a un mínimo vital. Eso le brinda la oportunidad de recordar que, en materia de derechos humanos, la tradicional contraposición y jerarquización entre derechos civiles y políticos y derechos sociales, culturales y económicos no tiene razón de existir.
Polarization memory rate as a metric to differentiate benign and malignant tissues
Authors: Louie Daniel C. , Tchvialeva Lioudmila , Kalia Sunil , Lui Harvey , Lee Tim K.
Published: December 2021

Non-invasive optical methods for cancer diagnostics, such as microscopy, spectroscopy, and polarimetry, are rapidly advancing. In this respect, finding new and powerful optical metrics is an indispensable task. Here we introduce polarization memory rate (PMR) as a sensitive metric for optical cancer diagnostics. PMR characterizes the preservation of circularly polarized light relative to linearly polarized light as light propagates in a medium. We hypothesize that because of well-known indicators associated with the morphological changes of cancer cells, like an enlarged nucleus size and higher chromatin density, PMR should be greater for cancerous than for the non-cancerous tissues. A thorough literature review reveals how this difference arises from the anomalous depolarization behaviour of many biological tissues. In physical terms, though most biological tissue primarily exhibits Mie scattering, it typically exhibits Rayleigh depolarization. However, in cancerous tissue the Mie depolarization regime becomes more prominent than Rayleigh. Experimental evidence of this metric is found in a preliminary clinical study using a novel Stokes polarimetry probe. We conducted in vivo measurements of 20 benign, 28 malignant and 59 normal skin sites with a 660 nm laser diode. The median PMR values for cancer vs non-cancer are significantly higher for cancer which supports our hypothesis. The reported fundamental differences in depolarization may persist for other types of cancer and create a conceptual basis for further developments in polarimetry applications for cancer detection.
Accessing HIV care may lead to earlier ascertainment of comorbidities in health care clients in Khayelitsha, Cape Town
Authors: Osei-Yeboah Richard , Tamuhla Tsaone , Ngwenya Olina , Tiffin Nicki
Published: December 2021

Successful antiretroviral rollout in South Africa has greatly increased the health of the HIV-positive population, and morbidity and mortality in PLHIV can increasingly be attributed to comorbidities rather than HIV/AIDS directly. Understanding this disease burden can inform health care planning for a growing population of ageing PLHIV. Anonymized routine administrative health data were analysed for all adults who accessed public health care in 2016–2017 in Khayelitsha subdistrict (Cape Town, South Africa). Selected comorbidities and age of ascertainment for comorbidities were described for all HIV-positive and HIV-negative healthcare clients, as well as for a subset of women who accessed maternal care. There were 172 937 adult individuals with a median age of 37 (IQR:30–48) years in the virtual cohort, of whom 48% (83 162) were HIV-positive. Median age of ascertainment for each comorbidity was lower in HIV-positive compared to HIV-negative healthcare clients, except in the case of tuberculosis. A subset of women who previously accessed maternal care, however, showed much smaller differences in the median age of comorbidity ascertainment between the group of HIV-positive and HIV-negative health care clients, except in the case of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Both HIV-positive individuals and women who link to maternal care undergo routine point-of-care screening for common diseases at younger ages, and this analysis suggests that this may lead to earlier diagnosis of common comorbidities in these groups. Exceptions include CKD, in which age of ascertainment appears lower in PLHIV than HIV-negative groups in all analyses suggesting that age of disease onset may indeed be earlier; and tuberculosis for which age of incidence has previously been shown to vary according to HIV status.
Soil-transmitted helminth infections and nutritional indices among Filipino schoolchildren
Authors: Mationg Mary Lorraine S. , Williams Gail M. , Tallo Veronica L. , Olveda Remigio M. , Aung Eindra , Alday Portia , Reñosa Mark Donald , Daga Chona Mae , Landicho Jhoys , Demonteverde Maria Paz , Santos Eunice Diane , Bravo Thea Andrea , Bieri Franziska Angly , Li Yuesheng , Clements Archie C. A. , Steinmann Peter , Halton Kate , Stewart Donald E. , McManus Donald P. , Gray Darren J.
Published: December 2021

Background

Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections are still prevalent among schoolchildren in the Philippines. We evaluated the risk factors associated with STH and the relationship between STH and nutritional indices among schoolchildren aged 9–10 years in Laguna province, the Philippines.

Methods

We used the baseline data from 40 schools enrolled in a randomised controlled trial of the Magic Glasses Philippines health education package. Data on demographic and socio-economic variables, and STH related knowledge, attitudes and practices, were obtained through a questionnaire. Stool samples were collected and assessed for STH egg presence using the Kato-Katz technique. Haemoglobin levels and height and weight of study participants were also determined. The generalized estimating equations approach was used to construct logistic regression models to assess STH-associated risk factors, and the association between any STH infection and anaemia, child stunting, wasting and being underweight. The trial is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12616000508471).

Findings

Among 1,689 schoolchildren, the prevalence of any STH was 23%. The prevalence of anaemia, stunting, being underweight and wasting was 13%, 20.2%, 19% and 9.5%, respectively. Age, socio-economic status, rural/urban classification of schools and knowledge of STH were significant risk factors for acquiring a STH infection. Moreover, infections with any STH were significantly associated with stunting (P= <0.001) and being underweight (P =<0.003), but not wasting (P =0.375) or anaemia (P= 0.462) after controlling for confounding covariates.

Conclusion

The study findings emphasise the need for sustainable deworming in tandem with other measures such as the provision of health education, improvements in sanitation and hygiene, and nutritional programs in order to control STH infections and improve morbidity outcomes in schoolchildren.

Trial registration

Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12616000508471).
A novel RSW&TST framework of MCPs detection for abnormal pattern recognition on large-scale time series and pathological signals in epilepsy
Authors: Qi Jinpeng , Zhu Ying , Pu Fang , Zhang Ping
Published: December 2021

To quickly and efficiently recognize abnormal patterns from large-scale time series and pathological signals in epilepsy, this paper presents here a preliminary RSW&TST framework for Multiple Change-Points (MCPs) detection based on the Random Slide Window (RSW) and Trigeminal Search Tree (TST) methods. To avoid the remaining local optima, the proposed framework applies a random strategy for selecting the size of each slide window from a predefined collection, in terms of data feature and experimental knowledge. For each data segment to be diagnosed in a current slide window, an optimal path towards a potential change point is detected by TST methods from the top root to leaf nodes with O(log3(N)). Then, the resulting MCPs vector is assembled by means of TST-based single CP detection on data segments within each of the slide windows. In our experiments, the RSW&TST framework was tested by using large-scale synthetic time series, and then its performance was evaluated by comparing it with existing binary search tree (BST), Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS)-statistics, and T-test under the fixed slide window (FSW) approach, as well as the integrated method of wild binary segmentation and CUSUM test (WBS&CUSUM). The simulation results indicate that our RSW&TST is both more efficient and effective, with a higher hit rate, shorter computing time, and lower missed, error and redundancy rates. When the proposed RSW&TST framework is executed for MCPs detection on pathological ECG (electrocardiogram)/EEG (electroencephalogram) recordings of people in epileptic states, the abnormal patterns are roughly recognized in terms of the number and position of the resultant MCPs. Furthermore, the severity of epilepsy is roughly analyzed based on the strength and period of signal fluctuations among multiple change points in the stage of a sudden epileptic attack. The purpose of our RSW&TST framework is to provide an encouraging platform for abnormal pattern recognition through MCPs detection on large-scale time series quickly and efficiently.
Extracellular domains of E-cadherin determine key mechanical phenotypes of an epithelium through cell- and non-cell-autonomous outside-in signaling
Authors: Aladin Darwesh Mohideen Kaderbatcha , Chu Yeh Shiu , Shen Shuo , Robinson Robert Charles , Dufour Sylvie , Viasnoff Virgile , Borghi Nicolas , Thiery Jean Paul
Published: December 2021

Cadherins control intercellular adhesion in most metazoans. In vertebrates, intercellular adhesion differs considerably between cadherins of type-I and type-II, predominantly due to their different extracellular regions. Yet, intercellular adhesion critically depends on actomyosin contractility, in which the role of the cadherin extracellular region is unclear. Here, we dissect the roles of the Extracellular Cadherin (EC) Ig-like domains by expressing chimeric E-cadherin with E-cadherin and cadherin-7 Ig-like domains in cells naturally devoid of cadherins. Using cell-cell separation, cortical tension measurement, tissue stretching and migration assays, we show that distinct EC repeats in the extracellular region of cadherins differentially modulate epithelial sheet integrity, cell-cell separation forces, and cell cortical tension with the Cdc42 pathway, which further differentially regulate epithelial tensile strength, ductility, and ultimately collective migration. Interestingly, dissipative processes rather than static adhesion energy mostly dominate cell-cell separation forces. We provide a framework for the emergence of epithelial phenotypes from cell mechanical properties dependent on EC outside-in signaling.
COVID-19 Myth Busters: Comparing knowledge and perceptions amongst the dental workforce at an institution in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia
Authors: Sadaf Shazia , AlEraky Doaa , Farooqi Faraz , Syed Faiyaz , Alhareky Muhanad , AlHumaid Jehan
Published: December 2021

Background

Currently, world is suffering from a respiratory disease names as COVID-19. This is a novel coronavirus (n-CoV), a new strain which has not been previously identified in humans and it has spread in more than 100 locations internationally due to which it is termed as “public health emergency of international concern” (PHEIC) by the World Health Organization So far, no study done as yet to assess whether the dental workforce is aware about the facts and myths related to Covid-19 awareness.

Objective

This study aims to analyze and compare the level of awareness about the facts and myths related to COVID-19 amongst faculty, dental students and prep year students of the College of Dentistry (COD) as part of an awareness campaign.

Methods

An awareness test about COVID-19 was designed using information from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Myth Busters Awareness webpage. The questionnaire was administrated online to faculty and students, of the College of Dentistry and preparatory year students who had applied for the admission to the dental college using a secure enterprise online assessment platform (Blackboard). The tests were administered over a period of three months from March to June 2020. A written informed consent was obtained.

Results

The online COVID-19 awareness test was administered to 810 participants, out of which 325 (40%) were prep year students, 429(53%%) were dental students, and 56 (7%) were faculty members. Analysis of the results showed that 86% of the Faculty were able to correctly identify the facts and the myths related to COVID-19 followed by 81% of the prep year students and 74% of the dental students. Preparatory year student’s knowledge related to COVID-19 was found to be high when compared to dental students (26.47±4.27, 23.67±6.2). Student to faculty knowledge score did not differ significantly (p = 0.808).

Conclusion

This study reports about a successful pilot test conducted to assess the perceived knowledge about facts and myths related to corona virus amongst the dental workforce.
Bilateral internal thoracic artery use in two-vessel disease does not increase the perioperative risk—A propensity score matched analysis
Authors: Konstanty-Kalandyk Janusz , Kędziora Anna , Mazur Piotr , Litwinowicz Radosław , Kapelak Bogusław , Piątek Jacek
Published: December 2021

Background

Bilateral internal thoracic arteries (BITA) are uncommonly used in the every-day practice due to safety concerns and technical challenges with Y-grafts. We hypothesized that in-situ BITA use during coronary artery by-pass grafting (CABG) for two vessel disease is equally safe to standard strategy with left internal thoracic artery-left anterior descending artery revascularization and venous graft to other target vessels.

Methods

A propensity score matched analysis was used to compare elective on-pump CABG patients who received in-situ BITA (BITA-group), versus left internal thoracic artery graft to the left anterior descending artery plus vein (SITA-group). Primary end points were 30-days all-cause-mortality, major adverse cardiac events and incidents and deep sternal wound infections.

Results

A total of 50 matched pairs (c-statistics 0.769) were selected from patients operated on between January 2015 and April 2020 using BITA (n = 50) and SITA (n = 2170). There were no inter-group differences in demographics and basic clinical characteristics. The total operation time was longer in the BITA-group (4.0 vs 3.6 hours; p = 0.004). The rate of complete revascularization was similar, as was median aortic cross-clamp time, median extracorporeal circulation time, rate of re-explorations for bleeding, deep sternal wound infections or length of stay. One patient died in BITA group, 3 days after surgery, from a non-cardiac cause. After 36 months, the survival rate was 98% for BITA-group and 96% for controls (log-rank, p = 0.577).

Conclusions

In-situ use of BITA during coronary revascularization for two-vessel disease is as safe and effective, as use of single ITA and vein graft. In-situ strategy abolishes allows to avoid the technically demanding composite graft configuration.
An analysis of trade cooperation: Central region in China and ASEAN
Authors: Bhowmik Roni , Zhu Yuhua , Gao Kuo
Published: December 2021

China-ASEAN are the two huge markets in trade world, they can bring out greater dynamism from within their economies and contribute to regional economic development. This study explores the present situation on the trade between the Central region of China and ASEAN through empirical assessment and try to find the potential effects and trade flows between them. Firstly, we analysis the trade integration index, HM index, explicit comparative advantage index, and trade complementarity index. Finally, we use the gravity model of international trade and data on 2006–2018. The bilateral trade relations between the central region and ASEAN are getting closer, but the central region has not yet become the major trade area of ASEAN countries in the Chinese market. The bilateral economic development level plays a positive role in promoting the export trade between the Central region and ASEAN, while the bilateral distance plays a negative role in difficulty. The empirical results show that trade potential between the Central region and Indonesia and the Philippines is huge, and there is still opportunity for the development of the trade potential with Thailand. The trade prospective with Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam is limited, and new approaches need to be developed to achieve further trade cooperation.
Improved bladder contractility after transplantation of human mesenchymal stem cells overexpressing hepatocyte growth factor into underactive bladder from bladder outlet obstruction models of rats
Authors: Kim Jae Heon , Yang Hee Jo , Choi Sung Sik , Kim Seung U. , Lee Hong J. , Song Yun Seob
Published: December 2021

Introduction

An underactive bladder can lead to difficulty in voiding that causes incomplete emptying of the bladder, suggesting the need for a new strategy to increase bladder contractility in such patients. This study was performed to investigate whether human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) were capable of restoring bladder contractility in rats with underactive bladder due to bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) and enhancing their effects by overexpressing hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) in hMSCs.

Materials and methods

The hMSCs were transplanted into the bladder wall of rats. Fifty female Sprague-Dawley rats at six weeks of age were divided into five groups: group 1: control; group 2: sham intervention; group 3: eight-week BOO; group 4: BOO rats transplanted with hMSCs; and group 5: BOO rats transplanted with hMSCs overexpressing HGF. Two weeks after the onset of BOO in groups 4 and 5, hMSCs were injected into the bladder wall. Cystometry evaluation was followed by Masson’s trichrome staining of bladder tissues. Realtime PCR and immunohistochemical staining were performed to determine for hypoxia, apoptosis, and angiogenesis.

Results

Collagen deposition of bladder increased in BOO but decreased after transplantation of hMSCs. The increased inter-contraction interval and residual urine volume after BOO was reversed after hMSCs transplantation. The decreased maximal voiding pressure after BOO was restored by hMSCs treatment. The mRNA expression of bladder collagen1 and TGF-β1 increased in BOO but decreased after hMSCs transplantation. The decrease in vWF-positive cells in the bladder following BOO was increased after hMSCs transplantation. Caspase 3 and TUNEL-positive apoptosis of bladder cells increased in BOO but decreased after transplantation of hMSCs. These effects were enhanced by overexpressing HGF in hMSCs.

Conclusion

Transplantation of hMSCs into bladder wall increased the number of micro-vessels, decreased collagen deposition and apoptosis of detrusor muscle, and improved bladder underactivity. The effects were enhanced by overexpressing HGF in hMSCs. Our findings suggest that the restoration of underactive bladder using hMSCs may be used to rectify micturition disorders in patients following resolution of BOO. Further studies are needed before hMSCs can be used in clinical applications.
Determinants of blood glucose control among people with Type 2 diabetes in a regional hospital in Ghana
Authors: Djonor Sampson Kafui , Ako-Nnubeng Ignatius Terence , Owusu Ewurama Ampadu , Akuffo Kwadwo Owusu , Nortey Pricillia , Agyei-Manu Eldad , Danso-Appiah Anthony
Published: December 2021

Aims

To assess the determinants of glycaemic control among patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) presenting at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Ghana.

Methods

The study employed semi-structured questionnaires and review of clinical records of patients 16 years and above with Type 2 Diabetes.

Results

The mean age of participants was 56.6 ± 13.8 years, with majority (71.6%) being females. A total of 161 (59.4%) of patients had poor glycaemic control (HbA1c ≥8.1%; 95% CI: 53.6 to 65.3%). Poor glycaemic control was significantly associated with high body mass index of the patient (AOR 13.22; 95% CI: 1.95 to 89.80), having only elementary education (AOR 5.22, 95% CI 2.12–12.86, p<0.0001) and being on insulin therapy (AOR 2.88; 95% CI: 1.05 to 7.88). On the other hand, seldom coffee intake (AOR: 0.27; 95% CI: 0.11 to 0.64), high physical activity (AOR 1.57, 95% CI 1.06–2.35, p = 0.025) and having a cardiovascular disease (AOR: 0.15; 95% CI: 0.05 to 0.46) appeared to positively influence glycaemic control. Self-monitoring of blood glucose and diet interventions did not appear to influence glycaemic control.

Conclusions

The study results showing that a high proportion of patients attending the Diabetes Clinic with uncontrolled diabetes has serious implications for the management of T2DM diabetes as it suggests that current hospital-based treatment measures are less effective. Comprehensive management of T2DM targeting all the key factors identified in this study and incorporating a multispectral collaborative effort based on holistic approach, combined with non-pharmacological components are strongly warranted.