bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Information on, and access to, healthcare services among refugees from Ukraine arriving in Norway
Authors: Helland Y , Hansen T M , Skogheim T S , Labberton A S
Published: October 2023

Background

The full-scale invasion in Ukraine has led to a sharp increase in the number of refugees coming to Norway, and a rapid upscaling of the asylum system, including temporary solutions, which may have led to poorer information and access to services. This study assesses received information about, and access to, health services in a sample of adult Ukrainian refugees in Norway.

Methods

Data were collected via a digital questionnaire (UKR-R survey, n = 731) in a cross-sectional study design between 28.10.22-31.01.23, via multiple physical contact points, including asylum reception centres, municipalities, non-profit organisations, as well as Facebook groups for refugees in Norway. Results for outcome measures were weighted by age and sex against all Ukrainian refugees registered with collective protection in Norway.

Results

Respondents (n = 731) were 83% female, most aged 30-39 years (36%) and 40-49 years (29%), 69% with higher education. Among those with long-term illnesses, health problems or disabilities, 48% reported usually needing health services 2-4 times per year, and 22% answered ‘5 or more'. Thirty-nine percent of all respondents had received information about the health services in Norway in a way that they could understand, while 49% answered ‘To some extent'. Most knew how to contact a doctor or other health professional if they needed help, either fully (49%) or to some extent (43%). Eighty-six percent had needed health care in Norway. Of these, 32% reported having received the health care they felt they needed, and 42% answered ‘To some extent'. More recent arrivals were less likely to report having received adequate information, to know how to contact health services, and that they had received the health care they felt they had needed.

Conclusions

There are indications of unmet or only partially met healthcare and information needs, especially among more recently arrived persons, representing potential for improvement.

Key messages

• Received information about, and access to health services, are acceptable, but with room for improvement, especially among those newly arrived.

• A large majority of the refugees reported need for health care in Norway. One out of four have not received the health care they felt they needed.
Risk of low birthweight and late antenatal care initiation in an ethnically diverse maternal cohort
Authors: Puthussery S , Tseng P , Li L
Published: October 2023

Background

Babies born with low birthweight (LBW,< 2500 g) are vulnerable to infant mortality, restricted growth, poorer development, and long-term health complications. Antenatal care (ANC) can improve maternal and infant outcomes; women are recommended to have first antenatal visit by 10 weeks’ gestation. Ethnic minority women are significantly more likely to initiate ANC later than recommended gestational week compared to white women. This study examined associations between late ANC initiation (first appointment >10 weeks gestation) and LBW in an ethnically diverse maternal cohort in the UK.

Methods

A retrospective cross sectional study using routinely collected anonymous data of singleton births during April 2015 - October 2022 from a large UK National Health Service maternity unit in an ethnically diverse area. Logistic regression models were used to examine associations between late ANC initiation and prevalence of low (<2500 g); very low (VLBW, <1500 g) and extremely low (ELBW, <1000g) birth weight.

Results

Of 39,785 singleton births recorded, more than one third (34.6%) were to mothers from Black African, Black Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi backgrounds. Birthweight was reported for 39,698 (99.78%) neonates; among them 8.9% had LBW, including 1.0% VLBW and 1.1% ELBW. More than one third (34.8%) of mothers had first appointment at > 10 weeks, including 26% during 11-19 weeks and 8.8% at > 20 weeks. Late ANC initiation was associated with increased risk of LBW for neonates: OR = 1.15 [95% CI: 1.07, 1.23] and 1.60 [1.44, 1.78] for ANC initiation at > 10 weeks and ≥20 weeks respectively (vs ≤ 10 weeks). Mothers who started care at ≥ 20 weeks were 5.37 times (95% CI: 4.31, 6.70) more likely to have a baby born with ELBW (vs ≤ 10 weeks).

Conclusions

Neonates born to mothers who started antenatal care late in ethnically diverse neighborhoods are more likely to have low birthweight, highlighting the need for targeted primary and secondary interventions.

Key messages

• Neonates born to mothers who started antenatal care late in ethnically diverse neighborhoods are more likely to have low birthweight.

• Targeted programmes and services are needed to support mothers in ethnically diverse neighborhoods to start antenatal care on time.
Emetic and Diarrheal Toxins Detection and Typing of Bacillus cereus in Food and Human Milk in Italy
Authors: Magagna G , Abdul M E , Tilola M , Rossi F , Pezzotti E , Baratta M , Risso F M , Finazzi G , Filipello V , Losio M N
Published: October 2023

Background

Bacillus cereus, responsible for 1.4%-12% of all food poisoning outbreaks worldwide, produces several virulence factors, including toxins which are mainly found in raw and processed food, as starch-based and dairy products. It can cause two types of gastrointestinal diseases: emetic form, with nausea and vomiting which appears as soon as after food consumption, and diarrheal form, with abdominal cramps, which occurs after 8-16 h. Moreover, B. cereus is the most common pathogen in pasteurized human milk, a precious aid in neonatal care. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of B. cereus toxins kinds using WGS and to detect in silico sequence types (ST) in isolates from food and human milk.

Methods

During B. cereus routine surveillance in Lombardy (Italy), a total of 41 isolates were collected from food (n = 16) and donor breast milk (n = 25) between 2022-2023, and then analysed with WGS. Libraries were prepared using the Illumina DNA Prep Kit and WGS was performed on the Illumina MiSeq. Using the BTyper tool, for each sample emetic and diarrheal toxins were identified and ST was assigned.

Results

All 41 isolates had at least one diarrheal toxin, specifically the nonhemolytic enterotoxin was found in all the isolates, the cytotoxin K was detected in 37% of isolates, and the hemolysin BL in 32%. Instead, the emetic toxin was found in only 3 samples isolated from food. Using in silico MLST, different STs were found with a higher prevalence of ST26 and ST144.

Conclusions

Diarrheal toxins were detected in all samples underling that B. cereus food infections play an important role in the public health and in the food industry. These aspects are even more significant when the pathogen is isolated from human breast milk, as it can induce severe infections in newborns.

Key messages

• The presence of B. cereus toxins in food and human milk underlines the importance of its ongoing monitoring and analysis.

• Human breast milk has a high risk of B. cereus contamination which is the most frequent cause for its discarding.
Open access as an intervention to improve outpatient waiting list
Authors: Zotti N , Di Serafino F , Civitelli S , Geminale G , Briani S , Luchini G , Tulipani A , Guercini J , Baggiani A
Published: October 2023

Background

Waiting list management is a critical aspect of health care facilities, representing the excess of demand that could be guaranteed in a specific time. The effective implementation of policies to govern waiting lists requires the adoption of adequate organizational booking structures to contain the risk of underuse of care services and maximize their ability to ensure compliance with the maximum waiting time for each priority class.

Methods

The study analyzes the Open Access model adopted by the Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Pisana (AOUP). The model involves booking within 3 days and daily sliding of services monitored by a Regional masterplan, with supply evenly distributed throughout the week. Since Open Access model was implemented in June 2020, the study analyzes the effect of this between June 1, 2019 and May 31, 2021, regarding specialist visits and diagnostic tests.

Results

In the study time, the percentage of all guaranteed services within the national timeframe raised significantly from 84.02% to 93.56%. For example, rheumatology visit that went from 68% to 99%. Speaking of waiting time, allergology visit went from 96 days to 8 days and the pneumology visit from 82 days to 4 days. Visits that were already starting from times in line with priority also benefited from the methodology, such as the vascular surgery visit that went from 2 to 0 days.

Conclusions

Therefore, proper governance of waiting lists is crucial in the healthcare system since timely access to healthcare services is an essential right for citizens and has a significant impact on the management of healthcare services. However, there are no one-size-fits-all solutions for managing waiting lists, but complex actions need to be implemented. The importance of digital tools for waiting list management is emphasized and adequate control structures are needed to detect any ‘anomalies’ and verify the proper functioning of the system of access to care.

Key messages

• Efficient waitlist management safeguards citizens’ rights to access to care and proper governance.

• Control structures are crucial for effective management as a universal solution is unattainable.
Illuminating policy for health: insights from a decade of researching urban and regional planning
Authors: Harris P
Published: October 2023

Background

Public health focussed policy analysis focusses on policy making practice and the conditions under which policies are made. The field has great promise for interrogating and creating ‘healthy’ public policy. Engaging with the complex realities of policy with a critical lens using established knowledge from other disciplines, especially political science, is crucial.

Objectives

This presentation presents a comprehensive framework for public health focussed policy analysis, informed by deep engagement with political science especially new institutionalism. The presentation of the framework is supported by insights from its application to urban and infrastructure policy-making over the past decade.

Methods

A priori application of theory from political science was mixed with deductive and inductive data collection and critical policy analysis of case studies of urban planning practices and systems in Australia from 2011 to 2020, including 250 policy documents and 92 semi-structured interviews.

Results

The final framework from the research is presented as a ‘cube’ made up of Institutions (actors, structures, ideas), Action and Evaluation (processes, decisions and choices, and outcomes and events), Governance (constitutive, directive and operational), Power and Time. Essentially the research demonstrated the power of institutional silos and historical ways of working (path dependencies) that are challenging to shift and are underpinned by often unexplored normative values promoting market and economic growth and excluding risks to health and health equity such as climate change and social protections. Change however comes about by creating and ensuring health focussed representation and voices in the governance regimes that define, create and sustain policy-making.

Conclusions

This comprehensive decade long research demonstrates how to investigate and interrogate healthy public policy that accepts and illuminates complexity to critically unpack policymaking.

Key messages

• Research that interrogates policy-making as its main object is important in an era of increasing health inequities and the climate emergency.

• This presentation demonstrates how to do such research with practical examples and insights from investigating urban and infrastructure policy systems.
European value-based healthcare benchmarking: moving from theory to practice
Authors: García-Lorenzo Borja , Gorostiza Ania , Alayo Itxaso , Castelo Zas Susana , Cobos Baena Patricia , Gallego Camiña Inés , Izaguirre Narbaiza Begoña , Mallabiabarrena Gaizka , Ustarroz-Aguirre Iker , Rigabert Alina , Balzi William , Maltoni Roberta , Massa Ilaria , Álvarez López Isabel , Arévalo Lobera Sara , Esteban Mónica , Fernández Calleja Marta , Gómez Mediavilla Jenifer , Fernández Manuela , del Oro Hitar Manuel , Ortega Torres María del Carmen , Sanz Ferrandez María Consuelo , Manso Sánchez Luís , Serrano Balazote Pablo , Varela Rodríguez Carolina , Campone Mario , Le Lann Sophie , Vercauter Piet , Tournoy Kurt , Borges Marina , Oliveira Ana Sofía , Soares Marta , Fullaondo Ane ,   the VOICE Study Group, González Nerea , Lerma Iratxe Vázquez , Irazabal Izaskun Artola , Santamaría Aitor Fernandez de Larrinoa , Capanaga Andere Frias , Cacicedo Jon , Elorduy Eduardo Vicario , Acaiturri-Ayesta Teresa , Gómez-Inhiesto Elisa , Danesi Valentina , Gentili Nicola , Roncadori Andrea , Alarz Fátima Hermoso , Iraola Karmele Imaz , Adam Valerie , De Rijck Helene , Everaert Ellen , Barreira Esmeralda , Medeiros Pedro , Barros Emanuel
Published: October 2023

Background

Value-based healthcare (VBHC) is a conceptual framework to improve the value of healthcare by health, care-process and economic outcomes. Benchmarking should provide useful information to identify best practices and therefore a good instrument to improve quality across healthcare organizations. This paper aims to provide a proof-of-concept of the feasibility of an international VBHC benchmarking in breast cancer, with the ultimate aim of being used to share best practices with a data-driven approach among healthcare organizations from different health systems.

Methods

In the VOICE community—a European healthcare centre cluster intending to address VBHC from theory to practice—information on patient-reported, clinical-related, care-process-related and economic-related outcomes were collected. Patient archetypes were identified using clustering techniques and an indicator set following a modified Delphi was defined. Benchmarking was performed using regression models controlling for patient archetypes and socio-demographic characteristics.

Results

Six hundred and ninety patients from six healthcare centres were included. A set of 50 health, care-process and economic indicators was distilled for benchmarking. Statistically significant differences across sites have been found in most health outcomes, half of the care-process indicators, and all economic indicators, allowing for identifying the best and worst performers.

Conclusions

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first international experience providing evidence to be used with VBHC benchmarking intention. Differences in indicators across healthcare centres should be used to identify best practices and improve healthcare quality following further research. Applied methods might help to move forward with VBHC benchmarking in other medical conditions.
Inducement of positive nutritional practices through health promotion campaigns among parents/caregivers in Albania
Authors: Vasil Suela , Mone Iris , Alia Albano , Muça Kliton , Tresa Eni , Burazeri Genc
Published: October 2023

Opting for homemade meals is the healthiest choice. We assessed the change in nutritional practices among parents/caregivers exposed to health promotion campaigns. Pre- and post-intervention surveys inquiring about nutritional practices were conducted respectively in March and June 2022 in a community-based sample of 583 parents/caregivers in Albania (62% females; age: 39.7 ± 7.1 years; response: 83%). The multi-component intervention consisted of community-based ‘onsite’ events (awareness raising campaigns) and ‘online’ interventions (knowledge portal and digital applications). After the intervention, the prevalence of home cooking and/or provision of home-made foods to children for eating at school increased by 11% (both P < 0.01). Engagement in healthy nutritional practices ‘only after the intervention’ increased especially among Roma/Egyptian parents/caregivers.
Broken to the trade: French lacemakers’ tools as sources of pride and pain
Authors: Hopkin David
Published: October 2023

Lacemaking in nineteenth-century France continued to be organized on a ‘putting-out’ basis, involving tens of thousands of women working from home. Their tools—pillow, bobbins, pins—were cheap or easy to make, and also highly portable, enabling lacemakers to gather in groups while working. These same tools held strong emotional and symbolic connotations, both for lacemakers themselves and for the art lovers and social crusaders who were determined to protect the trade from mechanization. Pillows, bobbins and other tools could be decorated with sentimental, religious or other messages. Lace tools were anthropomorphized in local dialects, made into ‘servants’. They were exchanged as gifts between couples, lent by neighbours and passed down from previous generations. They invoked and embodied lacemakers’ relationships, as well as their own craft identity. On their feast days lacemakers paraded replicas of their tools as a public statement of craft pride. Yet in lacemakers’ work culture, the tools were sometimes depicted as instruments of torture or as weapons used against those who forced them to work so long for so little. Lacemakers were ‘broken to the trade’ (rompu au métier) by their tools and the bodily attitudes they were forced to adopt. As the market for homemade lace declined and lacemaking became ever more closely associated with poverty, some lacemakers destroyed their tools as a protest at the grinding discipline of the trade.
Drought-related mortality modifies mixing effects on light absorption and growth in mono-specific and mixed stands of Fagus sylvatica, Alnus glutinosa, and Betula pendula
Authors: Plaga Benjamin N E , Bauhus Jürgen , Smith Andrew R , Pereira Mário G , Forrester David I
Published: October 2023

Little is known about how drought-related mortality influences light absorption of surviving trees and consequent changes in tree species interactions. Here, we used the detailed tree-level light model (Maestra) in combination with measurements of tree dimensions, crown architectures, and stand structures to examine experimental mixing effects of Fagus sylvatica, Alnus glutinosa, and Betula pendula on light dynamics following a drought in Bangor, Wales. The experimental stands, planted in 2004, were composed of clusters with one to three species in different combinations. Droughts occurred in 2011 and 2014 during the growing seasons, and trees were measured in 2014 and 2015. Species mixing resulted, on average, in higher tree growth, absorption of photosynthetically active radiation (APAR), and light-use efficiency (LUE) compared with the mean of the monocultures. An exception was the monoculture of B. pendula, which was the most productive species and had higher growth, APAR, or LUE than some mixtures. Drought-related mortality reduced the stand basal area across all plots by an average of 8.3% and tree density by 11%. This moderate change in the structure did not result in significant increases in individual tree APAR, LUE, or growth. From a management perspective, mortality might need to reduce stand density more strongly than it did in this study before light absorption or LUE is altered.
Black Appalachia’s Oldest Old: Untold Stories of Experienced Racism and Coping With Religious Practices/Beliefs
Authors: Hamilton Jill B , Abiri Autherine , Nicolas Charlyne A , Grant Ernest J , Best Nakia C
Published: October 2023

Background and Objectives

Racism and religion are recognized as prevailing Social Determinants of Health (SDoH). To explore ways in which racism and religion looms in the daily lives of African Americans, we analyzed the experiences of African Americans born during the Jim Crow years and living in the Southern Appalachian Region of the United States.

Research Design and Methods

Twenty-seven African Americans participated in this qualitative descriptive study that utilized criterion sampling, open-ended semistructured interviews, and content analysis to identify a typology of categories related to experienced racism and ways in which religion was used in response to those experiences.

Results

Participants were an average age of 82.22 years (SD = 5.07); primarily women (n = 19, 70.4%); married (n = 11, 40.7%); junior high school (n = 6, 22.2%), high school or general educational diploma (n = 7, 25.9%), completed college or professional school (n = 6, 22.2%); were retired (n = 27, 100.0%); and affiliated with Baptist churches (n = 18, 66.7%). Experiences with racism included inequities in healthcare and education, and racially motivated physical violence. Religious practices/beliefs included forgiveness, humility, and humanity.

Discussion and Implications

Racism experienced by African American participants was likely countered by religious practices/beliefs inspired through intergenerational teachings with affiliations to the Black Church. These experiences of the oldest old ) African Americans living in communities of the Southern Appalachia, United States, illustrate the pervasive nature of racism. The religious beliefs that are frequently transmitted intergenerationally through the Black Church are relevant to understand present-day encounters with racism among African Americans and possibly other communities of color.
Adjoint-state differential arrival time tomography
Authors: Tong Ping , Li Tianjue , Chen Jing , Nagaso Masaru
Published: October 2023

The recently developed adjoint-state traveltime tomography (ATT) method offers an alternative approach to conduct traveltime tomography without the need for ray tracing or waveform modelling. Instead, it utilizes the eikonal equation to depict the minimal traveltime field from an earthquake location to any position in the computational domain. The process of tomographic inversion is formulated as an optimization problem with the goal of minimizing the difference between observed and theoretical first arrival times, which is subsequently solved using the efficient adjoint method. One advantage of differential arrival time data is that it cancels or reduces the influence of common factors, making it more sensitive to a specific subset of model parameters compared to first arrival times. To take advantage of this property, two variants of the ATT method are derived to determine velocity structure and earthquake locations in this study. The first variant, adjoint-state common-source differential arrival time tomography (ATT-CS), uses common-source differential arrival times; while the second variant, adjoint-state common-receiver differential arrival time tomography (ATT-CR), inverts common-receiver differential arrival times. Numerical examples demonstrate that the ATT-CS method is a valuable tool for imaging receiver-side fine-scale velocity structures. Conversely, the ATT-CR method is well suited for resolving source-side velocity structures. Differential arrival times also place constraints on earthquake locations. Compared to common-source differential arrival times, common-receiver differential arrival times are less sensitive to velocity errors and suitable for earthquake location determination. Both common-source and common-receiver differential arrival times are considered first-order differential arrival times. To demonstrate the ease with which the ATT method can be extended to higher-order differential arrival times, we also derive the adjoint-state second-order differential arrival time tomography method. Finally, we discuss how the adjoint-state tomography methods address multipathing.
Ushering in an age of scientific principles for communication research
Authors: Demetriades Stefanie Z , Walter Nathan , Holbert R Lance
Published: October 2023

Communication seeks internal coherence and external distinction as its research profile grows and diversifies. The present essay calls for the establishment of scientific principles to guide future communication research and solidify the field’s unique scholarly identity within the marketplace of ideas. An argument is made that the field has achieved the necessary foundations to establish scientific principles but has yet to embrace this undertaking as a collective goal. This offering is intended as an initial foray into the process of identifying and evaluating scientific principles of communication by considering the value of these fundamental pillars for the field’s maturation. It proposes evaluation criteria which are then applied in a rendering of two candidate principles. These observations aim to initiate a broader conversation and spark a collective effort toward elucidating scientific principles of communication that can help to guide and anchor the field in its next stage of knowledge generation.
The misinformation recognition and response model: an emerging theoretical framework for investigating antecedents to and consequences of misinformation recognition
Authors: Amazeen Michelle A
Published: October 2023

Although research on misinformation and corrections has recently proliferated, no systematic structure has guided the examination of conditions under which misinformation is most likely to be recognized and the potential ensuing effects of recognition. The Misinformation Recognition and Response Model (MRRM) provides a framework for investigating the antecedents to and consequences of misinformation recognition. The model theorizes that how people cope with exposure to misinformation and/or intervention messages is conditioned by both dispositional and situational individual characteristics and is part of a process mediated by informational problem identification, issue motivation, and—crucially—recognition of misinformation. Whether or not recognition is activated then triggers differential cognitive coping strategies which ultimately affect consequent cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes. Working to explore the notion of misinformation will be more fruitful if researchers take into consideration how various perspectives fit together and form a larger picture. The MRRM offers guidance on a multi-disciplinary understanding of recognizing and responding to misinformation.
Does the Practice of the European Convention on Human Rights Fit the Practical Conception of Human Rights?
Authors: Çalı Başak
Published: October 2023

This article investigates how the practice of European human rights, organised around the European Convention on Human Rights, can be brought into conversation with the practice conception of human rights advanced by Charles Beitz in the Idea of Human Rights. The article argues that this is a challenging task. Following Beitz’s construction of the human rights practice composed of (a) a global practice, (b) political discursive practice, (c) triggering a range of international action for corrective concern, (d) when states fail to protect urgent individual interests, the article identifies two main challenges: (1) the regional and legal-political character of the European human rights practice and (2) the lack of fit between the heuristic of urgency of individual interests and the European human rights practice. Having identified these challenges, however, I conclude that putting European human rights practice and the practice conception into a conversation reveals new knowledge at the intersection of moral and legal accounts of human rights. A closer engagement with the practice conception enables a better understanding of the key abstract features of European human rights practice. A closer engagement with this practice accentuates the normative case for making sense of predominantly legal and regional practices of human rights.
Daptomycin production enhancement by ARTP mutagenesis and fermentation optimization in Streptomyces roseosporus
Authors: Zhu Chen-Yang , Zhao Xin-Yi , Lyu Zhong-Yuan , Gao Wen-Li , Zhao Qing-Wei , Chen Xin-Ai , Li Yong-Quan
Published: October 2023

Aims

We evaluated whether the randomness of mutation breeding can be regulated through a double-reporter system. We hope that by establishing a new precursor feeding strategy, the production capacity of industrial microorganisms after pilot scale-up can be further improved.

Methods and results

In this study, the industrial strain Streptomyces roseosporus L2796 was used as the starter strain for daptomycin production, and a double-reporter system with the kanamycin resistance gene Neo and the chromogenic gene gusA was constructed to screen for high-yield strain L2201 through atmospheric and room temperature plasma (ARTP). Furthermore, the composition of the culture medium and the parameters of precursor replenishment were optimized, resulting in a significant enhancement of the daptomycin yield of the mutant strain L2201(752.67 mg/l).

Conclusions

This study successfully screened a high-yield strain of daptomycin through a double-reporter system combined with ARTP mutation. The expression level of two reporter genes can evaluate the strength of dptEp promoter, which can stimulate the expression level of dptE in the biosynthesis of daptomycin, thus producing more daptomycin. The developed multi-stage feeding rate strategy provides a novel way to increase daptomycin in industrial fermentation.
Austerity urbanism, local government debt-drive, and post COVID predicaments in Britain
Authors: Dagdeviren Hulya
Published: October 2023

Conditions of local governance in the aftermath of the global financial crisis are often discussed as reflections of ‘austerity urbanism’. What forms of mutations have taken place in austerity urbanism after the initial years of spending cuts at the local level? This article investigates this question by focusing on the uneven geographies of post-austerity debt-drive in Britain. It is shown that austerity urbanism in Britain was somewhat peculiarly combined with debt-driven ‘entrepreneurialism’ several years after the introduction of extensive budgetary cuts. The local debt-drive was instigated by austerity-urbanism as a way of resolving the challenge of financing local services and development. The relatively low level of initial debt stock among local governments, very attractive borrowing terms and various regulatory changes facilitated the expansion of borrowing. Using debt stock data for over 300 local governments, it is demonstrated how debt build-up evolved to create financial difficulties for around 40 per cent of local governments. The Covid-19 pandemic, with its severe impacts on local revenues, exposed the debt-driven local development projects, leading to rescue operations and efforts to curb borrowing through new rules and regulations. For deeper international insights into the dynamics of debt-financing and urban development in times of crises, further research is needed to complement existing research in Britain and the USA, where relatively greater evidence exists.
A Listening Device: Colombia’s Truth Commission and the Politics of the Audible
Authors: Castillejo-Cuéllar Alejandro
Published: October 2023

In this brief text I want to offer a personal reflection on my work as a former Commissioner in Colombia’s Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-repetition. What is of interest to me is the idea that truth-seeking commission models are complex “listening devices” that render certain forms of violence intelligible while other more systemic types, remain elusive. In contexts of deeply rooted historical and endemic racial and economic inequalities, this is not a minor issue as these material inequalities are at the heart of conflict itself. In fact, what I call the “transitional promise of transformation” often falls short of changing the structures of quotidian experience of people and communities scarred by such historical injuries. Rather, those “transformations” are deferred to a future “liberal peace building” or development-oriented agenda. I examine this way of listening through a particular theoretical lens and aspire not only to contribute with an empathic and a reflexive distance from our work as a Commission but also to posit wider questions.
Displacement in Place and the Financial Crisis in Lebanon
Authors: Ali Ali
Published: October 2023

Displacement is underway in Lebanon after financial collapse, but not as events of migration, rather, as processual disruption to people’s lives that begins in place, preceding the potential outcome of forced migration. Financial collapse has shifted the population into extremes of constraint, dispossessing them of assets needed to live in valued ways. Widely circulated claims of an exodus are premature. Historic mass emigration from Lebanon occurred in times of capital availability whilst today’s financial collapse denies most people of the capital needed to emigrate. Migration remains limited to the few with social and cultural capital unaffected by the crisis. This article was prompted by the author’s observations of financial collapse whilst living in Lebanon in 2020 and long-standing engagement with the country. Regardless of whether mass emigration occurs, perhaps after the economy’s recapitalization, the displacement process already underway warrants attention from refugee and forced migration studies.
Time variation of fine-structure constant constrained by [O iii] emission-lines at 1.1 < z < 3.7
Authors: Li Ge , Sun Luming , Chen Xiangjun , Zhou Hongyan
Published: October 2023

[O iii] λλ4960,5008 doublet are often the strongest narrow emission lines in starburst galaxies and quasi-stellar objects (QSOs), and thus are a promising probe to possible variation of the fine-structure constant α over cosmic time. Previous such studies using QSOs optical spectra were limited to z < 1. In this work, we constructed a sample of 40 spectra of Ly α emitting galaxies (LAEs) and a sample of 46 spectra of QSOs at 1.09 < z < 3.73 using the VLT/X-Shooter near-infrared spectra publicly available. We measured the wavelength ratios of the two components of the spin-orbit doublet and accordingly calculated α(z) using two methods. Analysis on all of the 86 spectra yielded Δα/α = (− 3 ± 6) × 10−5 with respect to the laboratory α measurements, consistent with no variation over the explored time interval. If assuming a uniform variation rate, we obtained α−1dα/dt = (− 3 ± 6) × 10−15 yr−1 within the last 12 Gyr. Extensive tests indicate that α variation could be better constrained using starburst galaxies’ spectra than using QSO spectra in future studies.
Formation of hydroxide anions in amorphous astrophysical ices and recombination with protons: a quantum chemical study
Authors: Woon David E
Published: October 2023

Quantum chemical cluster calculations employing density functional theory and correlation consistent basis sets reveal the following pathways by which hydroxide anions (OH–) may form in amorphous astrophysical ices: (1) hydroxyl radicals (OH), which may arise in ice via ultraviolet photolysis, can capture electrons; (2) adsorbed hydrogen atoms can capture electrons to form H–, which reacts with water to yield H2 and OH–; (3) NaOH deposited on ice dissociates into Na+ and OH–; (4) NaH deposited on ice dissociates into Na+ and H–; H– then reacts with water to yield H2 and OH– as above. The IR spectrum of ice-bound OH– is presented, based on nine clusters containing up to 31H2O and 1–2 OH– anions. The interaction of OH– in ice with cations is also explored. Prior work shows that when HCO+ is deposited on pure amorphous water clusters, it reacts with H2O to form formic acid (HCOOH) and the hydronium (H3O+). When HCO+ is deposited on a cluster containing OH–, the reaction proceeds in almost the same manner, but the H3O+ and OH– charge centres migrate through the water network toward each other and tend to neutralize one another by forming H2O. This occurred in all but one of seven cases considered; migration occurred even when the oxygen atom attacked by HCO+ is over 10 Å from the oxygen atom in OH–. Cations and anions can interact in ice via pathways not present in the gas phase or incorporated in current models.
Presence, Subtypes, and Prognostic Significance of Tertiary Lymphoid Structures in Urothelial Carcinoma of the Bladder
Authors: Ma Guofeng , Jia Huiqing , Zhang Guofang , Liang Ye , Dong Xianning , Fu Guangming , Wang Xinsheng , Niu Haitao
Published: October 2023

Objective

To evaluate the presence and subtypes of tertiary lymphatic structures (TLSs) in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) and to analyze their associated clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic significance.

Methods

The study enrolled 580 patients with surgically treated UCB, including 313 non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) and 267 muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). The presence and subtypes of TLSs were identified by immunohistochemistry (CD20, CD3, Bcl-6, and CD21). TLSs were classified into non-GC (nGC) TLS and GC TLS subtypes based on germinal center (GC) formation. Disease-free survival (DFS) was used as an endpoint outcome to evaluate the prognostic significance of TLS and its subtypes in UCB.

Results

TLSs were more common in MIBC than in NMIBC (67.8% vs 48.2%, P < .001), and the tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) mean density was significantly higher in MIBC than in NMIBC (24.0% vs 17.5%, P < .001). Moreover, a positive correlation was found between TLS presence and GC structure formation and TIL infiltration in UCB. Endpoint events occurred in 191 patients. Compared to patients with endpoint events, patients without disease progression exhibited higher TIL density and more TLSs (P < .05). Kaplan–Meier curves showed that TLS was associated with better DFS in NMIBC (P = .041) and MIBC (P = .049). However, the Cox multivariate analysis did not demonstrate the prognostic significance of TLS.

Conclusions

TLS is heterogeneous in UCB, and that TLS and GC structures are related to TIL density and prognostic events. However, TLS as a prognostic indicator remains unclear, warranting further investigation.
Incidence Trends, Clinicopathologic Characteristics, and Overall Survival Prediction in Retinoblastoma Children: SEER Prognostic Nomogram Analysis
Authors: Guo Xiaohong , Wang Li , Beeraka Narasimha M , Liu Chunying , Zhao Xiang , Zhou Runze , Yu Huiming , Fan Ruitai , Liu Junqi
Published: October 2023

Background

Retinoblastoma is the most common intraocular malignant tumor occurring among children, with an incidence rate of 1/15 000. This study built a joinpoint regression model to assess the incidence trend of retinoblastoma from 2004 to 2015 and constructed a nomogram to predict the overall survival (OS) in children.

Materials and Methods

Patients less than 19 years diagnosed with retinoblastoma from 2004 to 2015 were selected from the SEER database. Joinpoint regression analysis (version 4.9.0.0) was performed to evaluate the trends in retinoblastoma incidence rates from 2004 to 2015. Cox Regression Analysis was applied to investigate prognostic risk factors that influence OS.

Results

Joinpoint regression revealed that retinoblastoma incidence exhibited no significant increase or decrease from 2004 to 2015. As per the multiple Cox regression, tumor size, laterality, and residence (rural-urban continuum code) were correlated with OS and were used to construct a nomogram. The nomogram exhibited a good C-index of 0.71 (95% CI, 0.63 to 0.79), and the calibration curve for survival probability demonstrated that the predictions corresponded well with actual observations.

Conclusions and Relevance

A prognostic nomogram integrating the risk factors for retinoblastoma was constructed to provide comparatively accurate individual survival predictions. If validated, this type of assessment could be used to guide therapy in patients with retinoblastoma.
Coda: Recalibrating
Authors: Reynolds Paige
Published: October 2023

Centered on Irish women’s fiction, The Stubborn Mode mischievously concludes by offering a short representative reading of a text by a writer of the opposite sex to suggest the analytical possibilities made available by its larger arguments. Voiced by a male protagonist, Mike McCormack’s Solar Bones (2016) is a first-person stream-of-consciousness narrative powerfully influenced by modernism, one that addresses many of the same quotidian concerns explored by the novels written by women studied here. Such congruencies in content, as well as in form, speak to the abiding influence of modernist representations of female interiority and suggest that McCormack is in dialogue not only with the experiments of Joyce and other male modernists, but also with a tradition of Irish women’s writing and performance.
Writing for All and Writing for None
Authors: Strong Tracy B.
Published: October 2023

The range of interpretations of Nietzsche is very extensive. This is in part due to a refusal to take seriously the consciously rhetorical quality of his writing. This chapter puts forth the argument that nothing in what he published should be seen as prima facie “excessive.” Indeed, he is explicit about this. The chapter explores this claim in a detailed analysis of several passages and translations. Far from exhorting his readers as to what they should do or be, Nietzsche intended his writing to produce self-criticality in his readers—and that raises the question of how it might do so and if it does so.
Different Faces of Exile
Authors: Lee Christopher J.
Published: October 2023

This chapter focuses on the experience of exile as a lens for understanding the international dimensions of South African history and historiography after 1948. Histories of exile, which involve a range of individuals, families, political parties, and other liberation organizations, demonstrate how the effects of apartheid were not exclusively internal to the country but were frequently transnational in orientation, even at the personal level. Individual agency was not limited to the options of political dissent or consent within South Africa but was frequently expressed through emigrating and participating in political communities abroad. This chapter consequently discusses the varied dimensions and layered characteristics of exile. Overall, it positions the argument that the experience of exile challenges the national territorial boundaries of South African history, thus underscoring the intrinsic transnationalism embedded in the country’s past, present, and future.
The Role of CLE Peptides in the Suppression of Mycorrhizal Colonization of Tomato
Authors: Wulf Kate , Sun Jiacan , Wang Chenglei , Ho-Plagaro Tania , Kwon Choon-Tak , Velandia Karen , Correa-Lozano Alejandro , Tamayo-Navarrete María Isabel , Reid James B , García Garrido Jose Manuel , Foo Eloise
Published: October 2023

Symbioses with beneficial microbes are widespread in plants, but these relationships must balance the energy invested by the plants with the nutrients acquired. Symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi occurs throughout land plants, but our understanding of the genes and signals that regulate colonization levels is limited, especially in non-legumes. Here, we demonstrate that in tomato, two CLV3/EMBRYO-SURROUNDING REGION (CLE) peptides, SlCLE10 and SlCLE11, act to suppress AM colonization of roots. Mutant studies and overexpression via hairy transformation indicate that SlCLE11 acts locally in the root to limit AM colonization. Indeed, SlCLE11 expression is strongly induced in AM-colonized roots, but SlCLE11 is not required for phosphate suppression of AM colonization. SlCLE11 requires the FIN gene that encodes an enzyme required for CLE peptide arabinosylation to suppress mycorrhizal colonization. However, SlCLE11 suppression of AM does not require two CLE receptors with roles in regulating AM colonization, SlFAB (CLAVATA1 ortholog) or SlCLV2. Indeed, multiple parallel pathways appear to suppress mycorrhizal colonization in tomato, as double mutant studies indicate that SlCLV2 and FIN have an additive influence on mycorrhizal colonization. SlCLE10 appears to play a more minor or redundant role, as cle10 mutants did not influence intraradical AM colonization. However, the fact that cle10 mutants had an elevated number of hyphopodia and that ectopic overexpression of SlCLE10 did suppress mycorrhizal colonization suggests that SlCLE10 may also play a role in suppressing AM colonization. Our findings show that CLE peptides regulate AM colonization in tomato and at least SlCLE11 likely requires arabinosylation for activity.
The Carbon Flow Shifts from Primary to Secondary Metabolism during Xylem Vessel Cell Differentiation in Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Uy Abigail Loren Tung , Yamamoto Atsushi , Matsuda Mami , Arae Toshihiro , Hasunuma Tomohisa , Demura Taku , Ohtani Misato
Published: October 2023

Xylem vessel cell differentiation is characterized by the deposition of a secondary cell wall (SCW) containing cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. VASCULAR-RELATED NAC-DOMAIN7 (VND7), a plant-specific NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, and CUC2) transcription factor, is a master regulator of xylem vessel cell differentiation in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Previous metabolome analysis using the VND7-inducible system in tobacco BY-2 cells successfully revealed significant quantitative changes in primary metabolites during xylem vessel cell differentiation. However, the flow of primary metabolites is not yet well understood. Here, we performed a metabolomic analysis of VND7-inducible Arabidopsis T87 suspension cells. Capillary electrophoresis–time-of-flight mass spectrometry quantified 57 metabolites, and subsequent data analysis highlighted active changes in the levels of UDP-glucose and phenylalanine, which are building blocks of cellulose and lignin, respectively. In a metabolic flow analysis using stable carbon 13 (13C) isotope, the 13C-labeling ratio specifically increased in 3-phosphoglycerate after 12 h of VND7 induction, followed by an increase in shikimate after 24 h of induction, while the inflow of 13C into lactate from pyruvate was significantly inhibited, indicating an active shift of carbon flow from glycolysis to the shikimate pathway during xylem vessel cell differentiation. In support of this notion, most glycolytic genes involved in the downstream of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate were downregulated following the induction of xylem vessel cell differentiation, whereas genes for the shikimate pathway and phenylalanine biosynthesis were upregulated. These findings provide evidence for the active shift of carbon flow from primary metabolic pathways to the SCW polymer biosynthetic pathway at specific points during xylem vessel cell differentiation.
Extended-release Buprenorphine Administered at Discharge in Hospitalized Persons With Opioid Use Disorder: A Case Series
Authors: Hansen Elizabeth Rose , South Anna Maria , Lofwall Michelle R. , Fanucchi Laura C.
Published: October 2023

Introduction

Monthly subcutaneous injectable buprenorphine (XR-Bup) is an option for treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) that addresses some sublingual buprenorphine adherence barriers and is infrequently offered to hospitalized patients with OUD.

Methods

A retrospective case series was performed for patients receiving XR-Bup upon discharge from 1 academic medical center. Demographic information, diagnoses, follow-up, and documented factors informing the selection of XR-Bup were extracted from the electronic health record.

Results

In 1 year, 37 hospitalized patients with OUD received XR-Bup at discharge. The average age was 37.6 years, and patients were primarily Medicaid insured with an injection-related infection. The most common documented factors informing the selection of XR-Bup were as follows: previous sublingual buprenorphine adherence barriers, concurrent stimulant use disorder, and patient preference. Sixty-four percent of patients scheduled for follow-up attended appointments, and 55% received a second dose of XR-Bup.

Conclusions

Subcutaneous injectable buprenorphine is an option for OUD treatment among hospitalized patients providing 30 or more days of buprenorphine coverage in the postdischarge period.