bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Framework for the Study of Electoral Persuasion
Authors: Suhay Elizabeth , Grofman Bernard , Trechsel Alexander H.
Published: April 2020

Electoral persuasion rests at the center of the democratic process. Politicians, parties, interest groups, members of the media, and citizens themselves are constantly communicating with one another about electorally relevant topics. These communications will ultimately influence—although not always in predictable ways—voters’ choices and, therefore, election outcomes and the direction of government. Scholarship on this important topic has exploded in recent decades. Yet, there have been relatively few efforts to synthesize the accumulated knowledge. In this volume, we bring together accomplished scholars who study one or more aspects of electoral persuasion—who communicates with whom about democratic politics, what they communicate about and why, how and where they communicate, and with what effect. The result is a vibrant collection of US-based and international perspectives on the relevant actors, their motivations and methods of persuasion, and their varied influences on electoral choice.
Mobile Messaging Apps and Relationship Management
Authors: Cui Di , Li Xueqing
Published: April 2020

This chapter examines the use of mobile messaging apps in relationship management. To contextualize the discussion, the authors focus on WeChat, a dominant mobile messaging service in China that has over 1 billion monthly active users, as a case to examine the mutual shaping between technological affordances and social contexts. This chapter first introduces the case of WeChat and discusses its main affordances related to mobile messaging. The chapter then presents a discussion of the use of WeChat messaging in relationship management and users’ sociocultural construction of technology. This chapter aims to present a mutual shaping process between the affordances of mobile messaging apps and users’ relational practices.
Learning With Mobiles or “Mobile Learning”
Authors: Traxler John
Published: April 2020

The ideas of learning with mobiles in their current forms date back to roughly the turn of the century. Since then, there has been considerable change, not only in the technologies being developed and deployed and the education being delivered and supported but more importantly in the societies in which the technologies and education are embedded. The chapter describes learning with mobiles and mobile learning as two paradigms in the understanding of mobiles and learning. The notion of paradigms allows the authors to draw in not only the underlying axioms but also the chronological development, the geographical distribution, the evolving research agenda, the external environment, the practical and practitioner impact, and the emerging fractures and discrepancies at the periphery of each paradigm. One paradigm, the established one, was essentially a project situated among academics, universities, and countries in a handful of mobile learning “hotspots” in parts of the world’s developed regions, a project intended to enhance and extend institutional e-learning, to deliver on the promise of learning “anywhere, anytime,” and perhaps to develop and deliver learning “just-in-time, just-for-me.” This dates back to the turn of the century and is the established “mobile learning” paradigm. The other paradigm, the emergent one, more recent and less coherent, is driven by the ways in which increasingly pervasive, ubiquitous personal mobile technologies are transforming the ways in which people and communities everywhere generate, discuss, transform, discard, and store ideas, opinions, identities, images, and information and, in effect, become each other’s teachers.
Understanding Mobile Apps as Platform-Based Services in Multisided Markets
Authors: Pedersen Per Egil , Nysveen Herbjørn
Published: April 2020

This chapter discusses recent research on mobile app markets with particular focus on their multisidedness. It briefly introduces three perspectives in the platform literature and presents results from a review of 114 articles on mobile app markets. The authors find that multisidedness is given limited attention in user- and developer-oriented research and more attention in platform-oriented research and that the streams of research are disparate and heterogeneous. They present a four-dimensional framework where mobile app markets are considered ecosystems with numerous actor categories. New practices are enabled through the underlying services provided by the ecosystem of the app. The functionality of the apps’ services evolves over time as actors innovate their behaviors. Finally, what is adopted and diffused is not predefined by app providers but co-created by the ecosystem of the app. Implications for future mobile app markets research are suggested along with implications for general innovation research.
Privacy on Smartphones
Authors: Evjemo Bente , Grønnevet Gorm , Ling Rich , Nag Wenche , Røhr Helene Lie , Wasenden Ole Christian
Published: April 2020

This chapter explores how smartphone users understand and navigate digital privacy toward commercial players in a mobile Internet context. The purpose is to gain insight on the interplay between privacy attitudes, knowledge, and actions when connections between individuals and companies are mediated, persistent, and extensive. Such connections have proliferated due to the rapid spread of smartphones among consumers. The authors develop a framework, the privacy awareness grid, to map the relationship between privacy concern and privacy literacy. Then, they present survey results from 2017, based on a total of 3,200 young smartphone users from Norway, Serbia, Malaysia, and Pakistan. They find that the share of privacy-concerned users is high and surprisingly similar across the four surveyed countries, while the share of privacy-literate users varies from 51% in Norway to 1% in Pakistan. Being privacy-literate correlates with privacy concerns, and in particular, few respondents are both privacy-literate and unconcerned. The more privacy-concerned and privacy-literate respondents also take more privacy-protection actions.
Polymedia and Mobile Communication
Authors: Madianou Mirca
Published: April 2020

This chapter identifies how the theory of polymedia is integrally linked to developments in mobile communication. The term polymedia aims to capture media as composite environments—instead of discrete technologies—which users navigate in order to manage their relationships. The popularization of internet-enabled portable devices, such as smartphones and tablets, and the parallel wide availability of wireless services have given rise to a culture of ubiquitous connectivity. Smartphones enable the accessing of a mini-ecosystem of platforms and applications while on the move. The related affordances of ubiquitous connectivity, portability, and fluidity between platforms are vital for the emergence of polymedia practices. Mobile communication developments have also contributed to improved internet access, which is one of the preconditions for polymedia practices to emerge. The theory of polymedia in turn offers a distinctive approach for understanding smartphones as mini-ecosystems in their own right and, ultimately, for understanding the micro-workings of mobile communication.
Humanism and Film
Authors: Nayar Sheila J.
Published: April 2020

This chapter explores the multifaceted relationship of humanism to film, without ever losing sight of the irony inherent in that context: humanism’s compulsory inter-animation with technology. The first half briefly traces the dramatization of humanists on celluloid, before exploring specific movies and movements that notably espoused a humanist philosophy, as well as advances in filmmaking that sometimes facilitated a humanist ethics. The chapter’s second half more innovatively addresses why conventional assessments regarding what constitutes a “humanist film” might not apply uniformly across today’s spectrum of spectators. In doing so, it intentionally forces a rethinking of where and how humanism can—and, in some instances perhaps, ought—cinematically to go. Such an analytical move seems especially pertinent given the incumbent rise of computer graphic imagery and digital media (including as animation) and consequent fading of film as a material medium.
Humanism in Europe
Authors: Schröder Stefan
Published: April 2020

This chapter addresses secular humanism in Europe and the way it is “lived” by and within its major institutions and organizations. It examines how national and international secular humanist bodies founded after World War II took up, cultivated, and transformed free-religious, free-thought, ethical, atheist, and rationalist roots from nineteenth century Europe and adjusted them to changing social, cultural, and political environments. Giving examples from some selected national contexts, the development of a nonreligious Humanism in Europe exemplifies what Wohlrab-Sahr and Burchardt call “Multiple Secularities”: different local or national trajectories produced a variety of cultures of secularity and, thus, different understandings of secular humanism. Apart from this cultural historization, the chapter reconstructs two transnational, ideal types of secular humanism, the social practice type, and the secularist pressure group type. These types share similar worldviews and values, but have to be distinguished in terms of organizational forms, practices, and especially policy.
Aiding the Poor in Present and Future Generations
Authors: Hassoun Nicole
Published: April 2020

This chapter discusses and brings together two lines of research on global justice—the first on aiding the poor and the second on obligations to those in future generations. This is important as almost any way we try to aid the poor will have a significant impact on poor people in future as well as on present generations. In surveying the literature, the chapter defends a few principles for aiding the poor in present and future generations. It also presents a highly abstract model for testing and thinking through the consequences of such principles that might help arbitrate between principles.
Equality of Opportunity and Global Justice
Authors: Brock Gillian
Published: April 2020

The ideal of fair equality of opportunity is widely endorsed as a central commitment within liberal democracies. Given its domestic importance, the attempt to extend the ideal to the global sphere may seem to be required for those committed to our equal moral standing. The extension to the global sphere faces many important challenges, not least because there can be very different conceptions of valuable opportunities and favored social positions in different parts of the world. This chapter explores whether there are robust ways around this issue and argues that there are. More importantly, this chapter shows that underlying our convictions about global equality of opportunity lies a tangle of related intuitions that often get confused. When these are identified, they can be rewoven into a coherent account which entails important reforms in a number of domains.
Thinking Normatively about Global Justice without Systematic Reflection on Global Capitalism
Authors: Ci Jiwei
Published: April 2020

Given the huge impact of capitalism on global justice, it is a significant weakness of liberal political philosophy devoted to global justice that it has paid relatively little attention to this impact. Symptomatic of this weakness are the political ineffectiveness and explanatory reticence of liberal theories of global justice in the face of the large and arguably growing gap between theory and practice. This chapter discusses Rawls’s Law of Peoples as an paradigmatic case, taking particular issue with his vision of a realistic utopia and his idea of democratic peace. It aims to show how the mainstream liberal approach is vitiated in its grasp of relevant facts and in its normative plausibility by the separation of the political and the economic, of the normative and the causal, and by the resulting ideological reconciliation with the status quo.
On the Core of Distributive Egalitarianism
Authors: Kis János
Published: April 2020

Distributive egalitarianism rests on the idea of equal moral status of persons. Does it follow from that idea directly, without reference to institution-based relations between persons? The answer of non-institutional theories is yes. The answer of institutional theories is no. This chapter argues that both theories are defective. Institutional l theories cannot deliver the principle of equal shares which is at the core of distributive egalitarianism. Non-institutional theories cannot determine what persons have a claim to equal shares of, nor can they identify the standard of equality. A two-level account will be proposed, non-institutional at the basic level, but with recourse to institution-regarding considerations at the next level. Since the scope of the principle of equal shares is fixed at the basic level, two-level theories have the same position on the issue of scope as non-institutional theories. They have, thus, a strong built-in bias in favor of cosmopolitanism.
Motivating Solidarity with Distant Others
Authors: Gould Carol C.
Published: April 2020

It is widely acknowledged that although people show considerable concern about the well-being of family, friends, and others close to them, perhaps extending to their own national group, they most often show much less concern for the needs and rights of distant others, for example, those working in sweatshop conditions, or suffering from extreme poverty, or experiencing severe impacts from climate change. This chapter considers the motivation people might have (or might come to have) for taking the needs and rights of these distant others seriously and for standing in solidarity with them. Does this motivation arise from rational reflection on their rights and their equal moral status, as traditionally conceived, or does it require beyond this a disposition to empathy or to care? Drawing on recent philosophical analyses of empathy and on the feminist ethics of care, as well as on the author’s own previous account of transnational solidarities, the chapter analyzes some of the epistemic and motivational aspects of empathy, while also taking note of its potential dangers. It goes on to argue that rational respect can usefully be supplemented with an understanding of the perspective of the other and “feeling with” them and explores some specific ways in which empathizing can transform critical reasoning in global contexts. The chapter’s conclusion suggests some implications of this account for the current issue of how to conceive of the responsibility for fulfilling the requirements of global justice.
Erotic and Nuptial Imagery
Authors: Nelstrop Louise
Published: April 2020

This chapter explores the place of erotic and nuptial image within Christian mystical texts. It outlines a shift in later mystical texts in which human corporeality, especially in terms of sensation and emotion, is embraced as part of what it means to love God. It is noted that this development is accompanied by an increasingly Christological focus. It is argued that there is much that contemporary theology could learn for mystical accounts of love, not least the idea that the female body can be both pure and sexually responsive at the same time.
Metaphysics, Theology, and the Mystical
Authors: Tracy David
Published: April 2020

Using the pluriform concept of the infinite to investigate the evolving relationships between theology, metaphysics, and mysticism, the chapter creates a heuristic conversation between crucial representative thinkers, among them: Plato, Plotinus, Gregory of Nyssa, Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Descartes, Pascal, Fénelon, and Jeanne Guyon. In doing so, the chapter asserts that the Christian God is both infinite-incomprehensible and radically hidden and argues that one should allow each naming of God—incomprehensible or hidden—its Christological emphasis (incarnation for incomprehensibility; cross for hiddenness). Each serves as a genuine Christian option—open to different cultures, situations, and temperaments. Exploring the implicit mystical dimension of the Infinite allows us to see that Western religious thought, including theology, would be greatly impoverished if either ethics or aesthetics, prophecy or mysticism, were eliminated from the ever-changing canon of Western religious thought, including mystical theology.
The Liturgical Mystery
Authors: Louth Andrew
Published: April 2020

This chapter argues that the heart of the ‘mystical’ in the Christian faith is inalienably liturgical. Despite the fact that modern use of the ‘mystical’, and especially ‘mysticism’, is concerned wholly with the experience of the individual, whether in the context of the sacramental life or outside it, the root meaning of the mystical in Christian understanding is bound up with the sacraments, and pre-eminently the eucharist, the divine liturgy. It is argued further that the eucharist is to be seen less as a text than an action, or movement, and an action performed by Christ: on the cross, eternally in heaven, and now in the eucharist. He is coming to draw the whole cosmos into unity with him and his offering himself to the Father. This is an act of reconciliation and love, with entailments, ascetical, ontological, metaphysical, and cosmic.
The Ascetic Life
Authors: Dysinger Luke
Published: April 2020

In classical antiquity the term asceticism described the training necessary to acquire a skill. In Christianity asceticism comprises the practices or exercises that Christians undertake as part of the quest for moral virtue and spiritual freedom. This, in turn, prepares the soul for both the contemplation of God in creation and the ineffable contemplation of God beyond words and images. Asceticism, thus understood, comprises a wide range of spiritual practices that must be constantly assessed and employed as needed in the maintenance of spiritual balance. Ascetical practices discussed in this chapter include: fasting, almsgiving, prayer, martyrdom, celibacy, simplification of life, biblical exegesis, watchfulness over thoughts, discernment, liturgical asceticism, penitential practices, pilgrimage, dispossession, labour, and the service of others.
Youth and masculinity
Authors: Stapele Naomi van
Published: April 2020

This chapter explores the meanings of “youth” and associated politics of masculinity in Kenya from the perspectives of young and poor men in urban settlements. Specifically, the chapter investigates how the idea of “junior manhood” is connected with efforts to become “men” by providing for loved ones in a context of gross inequality, limited opportunities, and high expectations. Using the example of Mathare in Nairobi, the chapter reveals how young and poor men—who try to live up to a social ideal of men as providers through non-criminal and non-violent means—often fail to gain respect and attain a higher social status, and sometimes adopt more violent socio-economic strategies. The analysis provides important insights into generational, class, and gender relations and how these connect to political mobilization, security, and violence.
Devolution and county government
Authors: D'Arcy Michelle
Published: April 2020

The 2010 Constitution made provision for the devolution of significant power and resources to 47 county governments, who were elected for the first time in March 2013. This chapter reviews the origins, design, implementation, and impact of these important changes in the structure of the state. It considers the historical roots and proximate causes, the reasons behind the semi-federal design, and the factors that have led to full implementation. It assesses the impact of devolution to date on separation of powers, ethnic politics, and development. It argues that, first, devolution has achieved a degree of separation of powers, but struggles between levels of government persist; second, it has enshrined the principle of ethnic sovereignty and tied access to patronage resources to territorial ethnic identity; third, it has rerouted patronage networks rather than overturning them.
Colonial rule and the rise of African politics (1930–1963)
Authors: Peterson Derek R.
Published: April 2020

This chapter explores how colonial Kenya’s African politicians cultivated intimacy—a feeling of common purpose and shared destiny—among disparate and divided people. Early African activists exerted a custodial authority over their people’s language, culture, and morality. They sought to amend decorum and conduct even as they represented their people’s interests in the public sphere. The second part of the chapter describes how, in the context of Kenya’s imminent independence, minority groups sought to reincorporate communities that had been separated by political borders. Convinced that majority rule was a mortal threat to their unique ways of life, minorities worked to convince British authorities to alter the shape of Kenya. That is why, as Kenya moved into a new epoch, there was a florescence of irredentisms, a revival of forgotten traditions, and a plumbing of ancient history.
Post-colonial state–military relations
Authors: Katumanga Musambayi
Published: April 2020

This chapter looks at how the Kenya Defence Force (KDF) has been shaped by successive governments. The analysis underscores a reality of continuity amidst change; namely of a dual logic of the prioritization of loyalty to the regime in power, and an emphasis on the need to ensure regime stability and order. This engenders a mirror image of military culture that constraints the institution’s ability to address nation–state crises and other challenges in its operational environment. Assured of regime security, the ruling elite seek to consolidate control over the political economy instead of a broad strategic culture necessary for developing a viable inclusive state. The implication is that while the military can potentially help to foster security, democracy, and accountable governance, its potential for state-building remains unexploited. This is explored through the KDF’s domestic policing initiatives as well as through their involvement in the war with Somalia.
The local politics of resource distribution
Authors: Hassan Mai
Published: April 2020

How have successive Kenyan governments distributed development resources since Independence? Resource distribution institutions during Kenya’s first five decades after Independence followed either a center-led or local-led track. Each president designed his own center-led resource distribution strategies, and distributed state resources disproportionately to his co-ethnic base in light of the group’s geographic location and representation in the bureaucracy. Presidents have designed local-led tracks to check the power of and (since the return of multi-party elections) to bargain with legislative elites. This chapter finds that the resulting distribution patterns across space have been driven by ethnic politics. The ethnic (sub-)groups that most strongly support the patron in charge of distributing either center- or local-led resources have been those that have benefited the most.
The limits of multi-partyism (1992–2005)
Authors: Muhula Raymond
Published: April 2020

This chapter examines the events that shaped Kenya’s democratization, from the reintroduction of multi-partyism in 1992 to the popular rejection of a new Constitution in 2005. The chapter shows how, in the face of strong benefits of incumbency and a government set on staying in power, a divided opposition lost to President Moi and the ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU) in both the 1992 and 1997 elections. In 2002, the opposition finally united in the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) and ousted KANU and Moi’s chosen successor, but optimism soon faded as former allies in NARC turned against each other and set the country on a perilous path ahead of the 2007 elections. The chapter also draws attention to a longer—and more successful—struggle for constitutional reform that was fought throughout the same period and which laid the groundwork for post-2007 reforms, including a more transformative Constitution in 2010.
Civil conflict, power-sharing, truth and reconciliation (2005–2013)
Authors: Long James D.
Published: April 2020

This chapter reviews the events emanating from Mwai Kibaki’s first presidential term and the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) government’s dissolution after failed constitutional revision in 2005. This period includes the rise of a new political opposition, which, organized around Raila Odinga and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), contested against Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU) in the 2007 election. The dynamics and aftermath of that election are examined, including allegations by ODM of PNU rigging and the resulting post-election violence. This crisis led to a stalemate between ODM and PNU, which was only resolved after international mediation and the formation of a Government of National Unity. The unity government achieved progress on a variety of reforms, including a new constitution in 2010. However, this period was also marked by stalled progress on other fronts, and by political dynamics that Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto would leverage in their race for executive office in 2013.
The Politics of the Constitution
Authors: Robertson David Brian
Published: April 2020

As a national crisis of governing deepened, delegates from a dozen states met in Philadelphia to propose improvements in the existing Congress under the Articles of Confederation. These delegates agreed on the necessity of a more stable republican government with additional powers. But political conflict dominated the Constitutional Convention because some delegates sought to add many broad powers to the national government while others sought to add a few limited national powers while protecting most of the states’ responsibilities. Southerners, determined to protect slavery, won provisions that ensured them additional House seats, maintenance of the slave trade, and the return of fugitive slaves. During the ratification process, opponents of the Constitution, termed “Anti-Federalists,” extensively criticized the document. Key states narrowly ratified the Constitution by mid-1788, and three years later, the states ratified the Bill of Rights, ten amendments that aimed to protect citizens from abuses by the federal government.
Third Parties
Authors: McMath Robert C.
Published: April 2020

Since the 1830s the American two-party system has included other minor parties. This essay describes eleven of them, beginning with the Anti-Masonic Party and ending with Ross Perot’s Reform Party. The most noteworthy of the group include the American (Know-Nothing), Free Soil, People’s (Populist), Progressive, American Independent, and Reform parties. Third parties in America have always suffered from structural arrangements that included single-member legislative districts and “winner take all” election rules, and yet they have persisted. Between the 1830s and 1890s most parties grew out of populistic movements that espoused an egalitarian ethos and railed against entrenched elites. Around 1900, movement-based parties began to give way to “interest group” organizations, but in the twentieth century three third parties led by strong individuals (Theodore Roosevelt [1912], George C. Wallace [1968], and H. Ross Perot [1992]) received 27, 13, and 19 percent of the popular vote for president, respectively.
Politics in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
Authors: Baker Paula
Published: April 2020

This essay follows political and policy change in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by tracking the impact of Reconstruction and rapid industrialization on electoral politics and political development. The early-twentieth-century state developed gradually and unevenly, building on innovations of the 1880s and 1890s and debates that began during Reconstruction. Progressive reform moved in two directions: toward good government and efficiency, a line traceable to liberal Republicanism; and toward the amelioration of class tensions aimed more at curbing the arrogance of the rich than improving the lot of the poor. Policy reflected most of all southern and agricultural preferences, even as the great drama of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries had to do with industrial power and vicious labor conflict. This essay explores anomalies concerning the press, race, Progressivism and the South, and liberalism and conservatism.
Knowledge and opinions of asymptomatic adolescents and their caregivers on celiac disease screening
Authors: Blais-Carrière Jasmine , Tétu Amélie , Moreau Brigitte
Published: April 2020

Objectives

Celiac disease (CD) is an immune enteropathy caused by sensitivity to gluten affecting one per cent of the general population. Most people with CD are asymptomatic and some may be affected from childhood. Despite the latest recommendations of paediatric gastroenterology societies, targeted screening is still uncommon in clinical paediatric settings. A poor understanding of the asymptomatic population’s opinions creates obstacles for broader implementation of CD screening. This study aims to fill this gap by reporting on the knowledge and opinions of adolescents and caregivers of children on CD screening.

Methods

Adolescents with absence of classical symptoms of CD and caregivers of presumably asymptomatic children were asked about their knowledge and opinions of CD through a self-administered questionnaire.

Results

There were 227 respondents including 76 adolescents and 151 caregivers. A minority of respondents (8% of caregivers and 23% of adolescents) were identified as having a CD-associated condition (such as hypothyroidism, type 1 diabetes, Down syndrome, etc.). A majority of caregivers (84%) and half of adolescents (49%) already knew about CD. Half of the respondents (46%) were in favour of screening asymptomatic paediatric populations and this agreement increased to 81.7% when they were confronted with hypothetical risks of 10%.

Conclusion

This study reveals an increased willingness to screen when participants were faced with increasing hypothetical risks. This suggests that screening recommendations targeting high-risk populations, such as those of paediatric and non-paediatric gastroenterology societies, may be more widely accepted.
Patient adherence with a smartphone app for patient-reported outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis
Authors: Colls Josh , Lee Yvonne C , Xu Chang , Corrigan Cassandra , Lu Fengxin , Marquez-Grap Georgia , Murray Meredith , Suh Dong H , Solomon Daniel H
Published: April 2020

Objectives

Electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) transmitted digitally allow patients to communicate with their clinicians and track the activity of chronic diseases, such as RA. Several ePRO smartphone apps have been developed in rheumatology, yet few data have been reported regarding patient adherence. We developed a PRO app for RA and assessed adherence over 6 months.

Methods

We developed an app to deliver daily assessments to participants (RA App v.1.0). The app was tested as part of a randomized controlled trial examining potential clinical benefits. The current analyses focus on the adherence to the ePRO app for patients randomized to receive the app. We recruited RA patients from an academic rheumatology practice in the USA. Patients randomized to receive the app received daily notifications regarding ePROs. We examined adherence to the PRO questionnaires over the 6-month study and examined factors related to adherence.

Results

Seventy-eight patients received the app and have data included in these analyses: 63 (80.7%) were female, mean age was 55.2 years, 71% had attended college or beyond, and the mean Clinical Disease Activity Index at baseline was 9.7 (low disease activity). Median adherence to the daily questions was 79% (interquartile range 48–90%). Significant predictors of increased adherence were age ≥65 (P = 0.03) and low baseline Clinical Disease Activity Index (P = 0.02).

Conclusion

We developed and tested an ePRO app for RA over a 6-month study. Adherence to the app was strong. There was correlation between older age and better disease control and increased adherence.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov, https://clinicaltrials.gov/, NCT02822521.
Effect and Safety of Saccharomyces boulardii for Neonatal Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Pre-term Infants: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Gao Xia , Wang Yan , Shi Lingna , Feng Weidong , Yi Kang
Published: April 2020

Background and Objective

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is one of the most common and urgent neonatal emergencies in the neonatal intensive care unit. This disease leads to considerable morbidity and mortality; it also imposes a huge financial burden on patient family and society. Thus, Treatment and prevention of NEC are crucial. This meta-analysis aims to investigate the effect and safety of Saccharomyces boulardii for NEC in pre-term infants.

Methods

A comprehensive search was retrieved in six major databases. The search included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reporting the incidence of NEC (stage ≥ II), sepsis, mortality, feeding intolerance, full feeding days, time to regain birth weight, days of hospitalization and adverse effects. The random model was used to calculate risk ratio (RR), the standard mean difference (SMD) and its 95% confidence interval (95% CI) between the S. boulardii group and control group. Statistical analyses were conducted using Cochrane systematic review software, Rev Man (version 5.3).

Results

In total, 10 RCTs involving 1264 participants met the inclusion criteria. There were significant reductions in the incidence of NEC [RR = 0.56, 95% CI (0.36–0.89)], feeding intolerance [RR = 0.52, 95% CI (0.39–0.68)], full feeding days [SMD = −1.25, 95% CI (−2.06 to −0.45)] and hospitalization days [SMD = −1.33, 95% CI (−2.64 to −0.02)] in the study group compared with the control group. However, there were no significant differences in sepsis [RR = 0.84, 95% CI (0.61–1.17)], death [RR = 1.12, 95% CI (0.46–2.70)] and the time to regain birth weight [SMD = −0.93, 95% CI (−1.88 to 0.03)] between the two groups. The adverse effect of S. boulardii was not reported. The overall methodological quality was evaluated as moderate by the Cochrane Bias Risk Assessment Tool.

Conclusion

According to this evidence we recommend S. boulardii to prevent NEC, reduce the feeding intolerance, shorten the full feeding days and hospitalization days. However, S. boulardii might be invalid on the incidence of sepsis, mortality and the time to regain birth weight.

Registration

This review has been registered to the PROSPERO (International prospective register of systematic reviews) on 5 December 2019 (ID: CRD42019147896).
Genome Resource of Two Potato Strains of Ralstonia solanacearum Biovar 2 (Phylotype IIB Sequevar 1) and Biovar 2T (Phylotype IIB Sequevar 25) Isolated from Lowlands in Iran
Authors: Sedighian Nasim , Krijger Marjon , Taparia Tanvi , Taghavi S. Mohsen , Wicker Emmanuel , van der Wolf Jan M. , Osdaghi Ebrahim
Published: April 2020

Ralstonia solanacearum, the causal agent of bacterial wilt and brown rot disease, is one of the major pathogens of solanaceous crops, including potato, around the globe. Biovar 2T (phylotype II/sequevar 25) of R. solanacearum is adapted to tropical lowlands and is only reported in South America and Iran. Thus far, no genome resource of the biovar 2T of the pathogen has been available. Here, we present the near-complete genome sequences of the biovar 2T strain CFBP 8697 as well as strain CFBP 8695 belonging to biovar 2 race 3, both isolated from potato in Iran. The genomic data of biovar 2T will extend our understanding of the virulence features of R. solanacearum and pave the way for research on biovar 2T functional and interaction genetics.
The Genome of Peronospora belbahrii Reveals High Heterozygosity, a Low Number of Canonical Effectors, and TC-Rich Promoters
Authors: Thines Marco , Sharma Rahul , Rodenburg Sander Y. A. , Gogleva Anna , Judelson Howard S. , Xia Xiaojuan , van den Hoogen Johan , Kitner Miloslav , Klein Joël , Neilen Manon , de Ridder Dick , Seidl Michael F. , van den Ackerveken Guido , Govers Francine , Schornack Sebastian , Studholme David J.
Published: April 2020

Along with Plasmopara destructor, Peronosopora belbahrii has arguably been the economically most important newly emerging downy mildew pathogen of the past two decades. Originating from Africa, it has started devastating basil production throughout the world, most likely due to the distribution of infested seed material. Here, we present the genome of this pathogen and results from comparisons of its genomic features to other oomycetes. The assembly of the nuclear genome was around 35.4 Mbp in length, with an N50 scaffold length of around 248 kbp and an L50 scaffold count of 46. The circular mitochondrial genome consisted of around 40.1 kbp. From the repeat-masked genome, 9,049 protein-coding genes were predicted, out of which 335 were predicted to have extracellular functions, representing the smallest secretome so far found in peronosporalean oomycetes. About 16% of the genome consists of repetitive sequences, and, based on simple sequence repeat regions, we provide a set of microsatellites that could be used for population genetic studies of P. belbahrii. P. belbahrii has undergone a high degree of convergent evolution with other obligate parasitic pathogen groups, reflecting its obligate biotrophic lifestyle. Features of its secretome, signaling networks, and promoters are presented, and some patterns are hypothesized to reflect the high degree of host specificity in Peronospora species. In addition, we suggest the presence of additional virulence factors apart from classical effector classes that are promising candidates for future functional studies.
High-Quality Genome Assembly of Peronospora destructor, the Causal Agent of Onion Downy Mildew
Authors: Natesan Karthi , Park Ji Yeon , Kim Cheol-Woo , Park Dong Suk , Kwon Young-Seok , Back Chang-Gi , Cho Heejung
Published: April 2020

Peronospora destructor is an obligate biotrophic oomycete that causes downy mildew on onion (Allium cepa). Onion is an important crop worldwide, but its production is affected by this pathogen. We sequenced the genome of P. destructor using the PacBio sequencing platform, and de novo assembly resulted in 74 contigs with a total contig size of 29.3 Mb and 48.48% GC content. Here, we report the first high-quality genome sequence of P. destructor and its comparison with the genome assemblies of other oomycetes. The genome is a very useful resource to serve as a reference for analysis of P. destructor isolates and for comparative genomic studies of the biotrophic oomycetes.
Functional Characterization of RsRsgA for Ribosome Biosynthesis and Expression of the Type III Secretion System in Ralstonia solanacearum
Authors: Li Jiaman , Han Liangliang , Chen Nan , Zhu Chao , Gao Yuwei , Shi Xiaojun , Xu Changzheng , Hikichi Yasufumi , Zhang Yong , Ohnishi Kouhei
Published: April 2020

RsgA plays an important role in maturation of 30S subunit in many bacteria that assists in the release of RbfA from the 30S subunit during a late stage of ribosome biosynthesis. Here, we genetically characterized functional roles of RsgA in Ralstonia solanacearum, hereafter designated RsRsgA. Deletion of R. solanacearum rsgA or rbfA resulted in distinct deficiency of 16S ribosomal RNA, significantly slowed growth in broth medium, and diminished growth in nutrient-limited medium, which are similar as phenotypes of rsgA mutants and rbfA mutants of Escherichia coli and other bacteria. Our gene-expression studies revealed that RsRsgA is important for expression of genes encoding the type III secretion system (T3SS) (a pathogenicity determinant of R. solanacearum) both in vitro and in planta. Compared with the wild-type R. solanacearum strain, proliferation of the rsgA and rbfA mutants in tobacco leaves was significantly impaired, while they failed to migrate into tobacco xylem vessels from infiltrated leaves, and hence, these two mutants failed to cause any bacterial wilt disease in tobacco plants. It was further revealed that rsgA expression was highly enhanced under nutrient-limited conditions compared with that in broth medium and RsRsgA affects T3SS expression through the PrhN-PrhG-HrpB pathway. Moreover, expression of a subset of type III effectors was substantially impaired in the rsgA mutant, some of which are responsible for R. solanacearum GMI1000 elicitation of a hypersensitive response (HR) in tobacco leaves, while RsRsgA is not required for HR elicitation of GMI1000 in tobacco leaves. All these results provide novel insights into understanding various biological functions of RsgA proteins and complex regulation on the T3SS in R. solanacearum.
Development of a Portable LAMP Assay for Detection of Neofabraea perennans in Commercial Apple Fruit
Authors: Enicks David A. , Bomberger Rachel A. , Amiri Achour
Published: April 2020

Bull’s eye rot (BER) is a major economic postharvest disease of apple and pear that can be caused by four Neofabraea species: N. perennans, N. alba, N. malicorticis, and N. kienholzii. In Central Washington, BER is predominantly caused by N. perennans. The fungus infects fruit preharvest, and because of the dry growing season in the region, infections remain latent with symptoms expressed only after 3 to 4 months of storage, when BER incidences as high as 20% can been seen, especially in rainy seasons and on susceptible cultivars. To ensure early and efficient infection detections before BER symptoms become visible at point-of-care locations, a portable diagnostic tool based on loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) was developed using the β-tubulin gene. The LAMP assay was optimized and tested for specificity and sensitivity using DNA extracted from pure cultures of N. perennans and seven other fungal species. The results showed that the selected LAMP primer set was specific to N. perennans and highly sensitive as it detected DNA concentrations as low as 0.001 ng/µl after only 10 min. The assay was validated for N. perennans detection on artificially inoculated apples using a portable thermocycler, Genie II, without the need for DNA extraction. The LAMP assay detected N. perennans on apples inoculated with spore suspensions 3 weeks prior to harvest at concentrations of 103 spores/ml or higher. The assay was further validated using commercial Piñata apples from organic and conventional orchards, demonstrating the ability of this technique to amplify N. perennans from asymptomatic fruit in a commercial setting 3 months before commercial maturity. The LAMP assay developed for N. perennans detection can be easily expanded to detect the other BER causal species. LAMP has potential to be used in orchards and at point-of-care facilities to better inform on BER management at different fruit growth stages, and it has potential to be utilized to better understand the epidemiology of Neofabraea spp.
Goals of Parents Whose Infant Is in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Authors: Fucile Sandra , Samson Jessica , Rockley Jeremy , Dow Kimberly
Published: April 2020

Background:

The aim of many neonatal intensive care units (NICU) today is to promote a family-centered practice that addresses parental concerns and needs. However, the specific goals of parents are often unaddressed by the healthcare team. The aim of this study was to understand the goals of parents whose infant was in the NICU to enhance collaboration and communication between parents and health professionals.

Methods:

A written questionnaire was disseminated to parents whose infant was in the NICU at the Kingston Health Sciences Centre. A thematic analysis of the goals was completed to identify key emergent themes and their implications.

Results:

A total of 23 questionnaires were disseminated to parents and 13 (57%) were returned. Returned questionnaires were most often completed by the mother (n = 9, 70%), and a total of 40 goals were recorded. Three key emergent themes were identified, which included feeding and weight gain, eliminating medical equipment, and successful hospital discharge.

Implications for Practice:

Understanding the goals of parents whose infant was in the NICU can enhance communication between parents and their healthcare team, thus aiding the implementation of a family-centered practice.

Implications for Research:

Future larger sample sizes studies across several NICUs would increase the generalizability of results and garner a larger volume of data to establish significant trends between specific infant and parent demographic data and the associated goals.
Early Mobilization in the ICU: A Collaborative, Integrated Approach
Authors: Linke Christopher A. , Chapman Leah B. , Berger Lindsey J. , Kelly Tara L. , Korpela Craig A. , Petty Michael G.
Published: April 2020

Objectives:

To develop and implement a protocol to increase patient mobility in three adult ICUs using an interdisciplinary approach and existing resources.

Design:

The Iowa Model of Evidence-Based Practice was used for synthesis of literature and intervention planning. A retrospective pre- and post-intervention data collection design was used to compare outcomes of interest.

Setting:

Three adult ICUs (64 total beds) in an urban, academic hospital. Physician, nursing, respiratory therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy representatives participated in planning and development. All adult ICU patients were included.

Interventions:

Development and implementation of an inclusive early mobility protocol in three adult ICUs. Focus on interdisciplinary collaboration to restructure workflow, focusing on optimization and coordination of standard tasks. Multimodal education occurred in an interdisciplinary setting and on-site champions facilitated implementation.

Measurements and Main Results:

Time from admission to ambulation, overall frequency of ambulation, and frequency of ambulation by age group were assessed across three time periods: no awareness (Time 1), awareness without protocol (Time 2), and protocolization (Time 3). Decrease in hours from admission to ambulation were seen in the cardiovascular ICU (62.3 vs 56.1; p = 0.10) and surgical ICU (64.9 vs 58.6; p = 0.022). Significant increase demonstrated in the proportion of patients who ambulated while in the ICU (24.6% vs 33.0%; p < 0.001). All age groups had increase in frequency of ambulation. The largest gains in patients over 65 years old (T1 = 19.7%, T2 = 26.6%, T3 = 30.9%; p < 0.001). No change found in ICU length of stay, hospital length of stay, or ventilator days.

Conclusions:

This single-center evidenced-based practice project demonstrated increased mobility for ICU patients without addition of staff resources following implementation of an early mobility protocol using an interdisciplinary approach. Successful implementation led to creation of mobility protocol toolkit for use across all ICUs in the broader health system.