bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dexamethasone as additive of local infiltration analgesia reduces opioids consumption after simultaneous bilateral total hip or knee arthroplasty: a randomized controlled double-blind trial
Authors: Wang Dasai , Chen Wang , Zhang Leshu , Wang Zhigang , Qian Yu , Li Tao , Sun Jianning
Published: September 2023

Purpose

A randomized controlled double-blind trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of adding dexamethasone to the local infiltration analgesia (LIA) mixture on frequency of patient controlled analgesia (PCA) and opioids consumption after simultaneous bilateral total hip or knee arthroplasty (THA or TKA).

Methods

108 patients who received simultaneous bilateral THA or TKA were randomly divided into dexamethasone group and normal saline (NS) group. The main difference between two groups was whether or not dexamethasone was added to the LIA mixture. The main outcome was the cumulative consumption of opioids within 24 h. The secondary outcome were the total cumulative consumption of opioids during postoperative hospitalization, consumption of opioids drug for rescue analgesia, frequency of PCA, postoperative Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), and complications.

Results

Cumulative consumption of opioids in the 24 h was similar between two groups (P = 0.17). Total cumulative consumption of opioids in the dexamethasone group during postoperative hospitalization was significantly lower (P = 0.03). No significant difference in the consumption of opioids drug for rescue analgesia between two groups within 24 h, while the frequency of PCA was significantly different (P = 0.04). VAS of dexamethasone group and NS group were similar during postoperative hospitalization, while the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) in dexamethasone group was lower than that in NS group.

Conclusions

Adding dexamethasone to LIA in the simultaneous bilateral THA or TKA can effectively reduce the total cumulative consumption of opioids and the frequency of PCA, as well as reduce the incidence of PONV.

Trial Registration The trial has been registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (Registration Number: ChiCTR2100042551, Date: 23/01/2021).
Depletion of LONP2 unmasks differential requirements for peroxisomal function between cell types and in cholesterol metabolism
Authors: Yamashita Akihiro , Ignatenko Olesia , Nguyen Mai , Lambert Raphaëlle , Watt Kathleen , Daneault Caroline , Robillard-Frayne Isabelle , Topisirovic Ivan , Rosiers Christine Des , McBride Heidi M.
Published: September 2023

Peroxisomes play a central role in tuning metabolic and signaling programs in a tissue- and cell-type-specific manner. However, the mechanisms by which the status of peroxisomes is communicated and integrated into cellular signaling pathways are not yet understood. Herein, we report the cellular responses to peroxisomal proteotoxic stress upon silencing the peroxisomal protease/chaperone LONP2. Depletion of LONP2 triggered the accumulation of its substrate TYSND1 protease, while the overall expression of peroxisomal proteins, as well as TYSND1-dependent ACOX1 processing appeared normal, reflecting early stages of peroxisomal proteotoxic stress. Consequently, the alteration of peroxisome size and numbers, and luminal protein import failure was coupled with induction of cell-specific cellular stress responses. Specific to COS-7 cells was a strong activation of the integrated stress response (ISR) and upregulation of ribosomal biogenesis gene expression levels. Common changes between COS-7 and U2OS cell lines included repression of the retinoic acid signaling pathway and upregulation of sphingolipids. Cholesterol accumulated in the endomembrane compartments in both cell lines, consistent with evidence that peroxisomes are required for cholesterol flux out of late endosomes. These unexpected consequences of peroxisomal stress provide an important insight into our understanding of the tissue-specific responses seen in peroxisomal disorders.
Euthymia scale as a protective factor for depressive symptoms: a one-year follow-up longitudinal study
Authors: Sasaki Natsu , Nishi Daisuke
Published: September 2023

Objectives

This study aimed to examine whether a high score on the euthymia scale (ES) predicts a low incidence of depressive symptoms one year later.

Methods

The baseline online survey was conducted in February 2020, and a follow-up survey was done in February 2021. Japanese over 20 years old were enrolled. Respondents who answered both baseline and follow-up, and without depressive symptoms at baseline were included in the analysis. The euthymia scores at baseline was measured by the 10 items of the Japanese version of the ES. Depressive symptoms at follow-up were determined if participants showed either depressive feelings or anhedonia. The odds ratio (OR) was calculated using multivariate logistic regression analysis, adjusting for age, gender, marital status, educational attainment, and clinical visit for depressive episode before the baseline survey.

Results

The total of 624 participants were analyzed. A total of n = 63 (10.1%) presented depressive symptom at follow-up. A high ES score significantly predicted a lower incidence of depressive symptoms, after adjusting for covariates (aOR = 0.81 [95% confidence interval: 0.72–0.89]). Using the cutoff score retrieved from this data, a high ES score (7 or more) showed the same tendency, compared to a low ES score (< 7) (aOR = 0.46 [0.25–0.83]).

Conclusions

This study suggests the predictive usefulness of euthymia for subsequent depressive symptoms. Further investigation is needed by employing rigid diagnostic criteria.
Does patient behaviour drive physicians to practice defensive medicine? Evidence from a video experiment
Authors: Daniels Lotte , Marneffe Wim
Published: September 2023

Objective

By manipulating patients’ critical attitude in a video experiment, we examined whether physicians are more intended to perform defensive acts because of a higher perceived liability risk in Belgium.

Methods

We assigned 85 practicing gynaecologists/obstetricians and orthopaedists randomly to four hypothetical video consultations, in which the patients show either a critical attitude (i.e., getting ahead of the facts, showing distrust) or a non-critical attitude (i.e., displaying more neutral questions and expressions). We asked the physicians about the care they would administer in the presented cases and the expected likelihood that the patient would sue the physician in case of a medical incident.

Results

By manipulating patients’ verbal critical attitude (which indicates patients’ intention to take further steps), while keeping constant physician’s communication, patients’ clinical situation, preferences, and non-verbal behaviour in the videos, we were able to discover differential treatment styles driven by physicians’ perceived liability risk among patients with a different critical attitude. We found that physicians perform 17 percentage points more defensive acts (e.g., surgeries and diagnostic tests that are not medically necessary) when experiencing a high liability risk.

Conclusions

Our results show that patients’ critical attitude drives physicians’ perceived liability risk and consequent defensive behaviour among obstetricians/gynaecologists and orthopaedists.
On Rayleigh–Taylor instability in Navier–Stokes–Korteweg equations
Authors: Zhang Xuyan , Tian Fangfang , Wang Weiwei
Published: September 2023

This paper focuses on the Rayleigh–Taylor instability in the two-dimensional system of equations of nonhomogeneous incompressible viscous fluids with capillarity effects in a horizontal periodic domain with infinite height. First, we use the modified variational method to construct (linear) unstable solutions for the linearized capillary Rayleigh–Taylor problem. Then, motivated by the Grenier’s idea in (Grenier in Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 53(9):1067–1091, 2000), we further construct approximate solutions with higher-order growing modes to the capillary Rayleigh–Taylor problem and derive the error estimates between both the approximate solutions and nonlinear solutions of the capillary Rayleigh–Taylor problem. Finally, we prove the existence of escape points based on the bootstrap instability method of Hwang–Guo in (Hwang and Guo in Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 167(3):235–253, 2003), and thus obtain the nonlinear Rayleigh–Taylor instability result. Our instability result presents that the Rayleigh–Taylor instability can occur in the fluids with capillarity effects for any capillary coefficient $\kappa >0$
κ
>
0
if the critical capillary coefficient is infinite. In particular, it improves the previous Zhang’s result in (Zhang in J. Math. Fluid Mech. 24(3):70–23, 2022) with the assumption of smallness of the capillary coefficient.
Role of telitacicept in the treatment of IgA nephropathy
Authors: Wu Lijun , Du Xinru , Lu Xuehong
Published: September 2023

IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common primary glomerular disease in the world, and up to 40% of patients with IgAN develop end-stage renal disease (ESRD). At present, an increasing amount of evidence indicates that the pathogenesis of IgAN is related to autoimmunity. In recent years, several studies have shown that B cell activating factors (BAFF), also known as B lymphocyte stimulators (BLyS), and proliferation-inducing ligand APRIL are extremely important for the activation of autoimmune signalling pathways, which have become key targets for the treatment of IgAN. As a dual-target biological agent, telitacicept can inhibit both BLyS and APRIL cytokines, improve the function of renal immune complexes, and reduce haematuria and proteinuria, which play important roles in IgAN pathogenesis and long-term prognosis. This article reviews the role of telitacicept in IgA nephropathy and discusses its potential for use in the treatment of IgAN and other autoimmune diseases where pathogenesis is driven by B cells.
Recent advances and future perspectives in the therapeutics of prostate cancer
Authors: Varaprasad Ganji Lakshmi , Gupta Vivek Kumar , Prasad Kiran , Kim Eunsu , Tej Mandava Bhuvan , Mohanty Pratik , Verma Henu Kumar , Raju Ganji Seeta Rama , Bhaskar LVKS , Huh Yun Suk
Published: September 2023

Prostate cancer (PC) is one of the most common cancers in males and the fifth leading reason of death. Age, ethnicity, family history, and genetic defects are major factors that determine the aggressiveness and lethality of PC. The African population is at the highest risk of developing high-grade PC. It can be challenging to distinguish between low-risk and high-risk patients due to the slow progression of PC. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a revolutionary discovery for the identification of PC. However, it has led to an increase in over diagnosis and over treatment of PC in the past few decades. Even if modifications are made to the standard PSA testing, the specificity has not been found to be significant. Our understanding of PC genetics and proteomics has improved due to advances in different fields. New serum, urine, and tissue biomarkers, such as PC antigen 3 (PCA3), have led to various new diagnostic tests, such as the prostate health index, 4K score, and PCA3. These tests significantly reduce the number of unnecessary and repeat biopsies performed. Chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and prostatectomy are standard treatment options. However, newer novel hormone therapy drugs with a better response have been identified. Androgen deprivation and hormonal therapy are evolving as new and better options for managing hormone-sensitive and castration-resistant PC. This review aimed to highlight and discuss epidemiology, various risk factors, and developments in PC diagnosis and treatment regimens.
A scoping review of research literature on eating and body image for transgender and nonbinary youth
Authors: Heiden-Rootes Katie , Linsenmeyer Whitney , Levine Samantha , Oliveras Mark , Joseph Miriam
Published: September 2023

Background

Transgender and nonbinary (TGNB) adolescents and young adults are underrepresented in the literature on eating disorders and body image-related problems, despite increased mental health disparities and emerging research showing high associations between gender dysphoria, body image, and eating disorders among TGNB youth.

Aims

The scoping review was designed to critically examine the research on TGNB adolescents and young adults who experience eating and body image related problems as well as clinical studies on treatment approaches and effectiveness.

Method

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) was used for reporting this scoping review. The electronic databases of MEDLINE and PsychInfo were used for searching subject terms. Inclusion criteria for studies required the quantitative measurement or qualitative exploration of body image or eating for transgender minor children, adolescents, or young adult samples (18 to 25 years old) and address differences in eating/body-related problems by age. The relevant data was extracted and narratively summarized.

Results

49 studies were identified, data extracted, and analyzed. Increased prevalence of eating disorders and body image problems were identified for TGNB youth. Body-gender congruence through gender affirming social and medical interventions (e.g., hormone therapy) were noted as significant for alleviating body image problems and facilitating eating disorder treatment. Family and social factors were not well understood in the literature and a need for increased study of TGNB youth from varied racial/ethnic, neurodiverse, and within specific identities (e.g., nonbinary) and families and cultural contexts is still needed.

Conclusions

Future research should consider the use of developmental and family theories for guiding inclusion of salient social factors influencing eating patterns, body image, and treatment outcomes. In addition, more studies are needed with those from minoritized racial and ethnic groups, neurodiversity, and varied gender identities (e.g., nonbinary and gender queer) for identifying important differences.
The assessment of caregiver self-efficacy in a virtual eating disorder setting
Authors: Jones Nickolas M. , Baker Jessica H. , Urban Bek , Freestone David , Doyle Angela Celio , Bohon Cara , Steinberg Dori M.
Published: September 2023

Background

Caregiver self-efficacy is thought to be a key component for successful family-based treatment (FBT) for individuals with eating disorders. As such, interventions aimed at enhancing caregiver self-efficacy, often measured via the Parents Versus Anorexia scale, have been a focal point of FBT literature. However, studies looking at the relationship between caregiver self-efficacy and treatment outcomes have been mixed. We aimed to better understand the influence of caregiver self-efficacy on eating disorder treatment outcomes during FBT.

Methods

Caregiver self-efficacy was measured using the Parents Versus Eating Disorders (PVED) scale, an adapted version of the Parents Versus Anorexia scale, in a sample of 1051 patients with an eating disorder and 1528 caregivers (patients can have more than one caregiver) receiving virtual FBT. Across two multilevel models, we tested how caregiver self-efficacy changed over time and its association with changes in eating disorder symptoms and weight over the first 16 weeks of treatment.

Results

Over treatment, PVED scores increased (b = 0.79,SE = 0.04, CI [0.72, 0.86]) and starting PVED scores were predictive of improved eating disorder symptoms (b = − 0.73,SE = 0.22, CI [− 1.15, − 0.30]), but not weight (b= − 0.96,SE = 0.59, CI [− 2.10, 0.19]). We also found that PVED change-from-baseline scores were predictive of weight (b = − 0.48,SE = 0.03, CI [− 0.53, − 0.43]) such that patient weight was lower when caregiver reports of PVED were higher. Likewise, the association between caregiver change in PVED scores and weight varied as a function of treatment time (b = 0.27,SE = 0.01, CI [0.24, 0.29]). Results were consistent when isolating patients with anorexia nervosa.

Conclusions

Caregiver self-efficacy during FBT improved over time but was not robustly associated with treatment outcomes. This may, in part, be due to psychometric properties of the PVED scale. We describe these issues and illustrate the need for development of a new measure of self-efficacy for caregivers supporting their loved ones through eating disorder treatment.
Relational attitudes in adolescent girls with and without a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa or atypical anorexia nervosa
Authors: Bachner-Melman Rachel , Rom Roni , Lev-Ari Lilac , Shachar-Lavie Iris , Krispin Orit , Tolmacz Rami
Published: September 2023

Background

People with eating disorders experience interpersonal difficulties, but little research explores relational attitudes in this population. We examined sense of relational entitlement towards parents, pathological concern, and psychological distress in adolescent girls with and without anorexia nervosa (AN) or atypical anorexia nervosa (AAN).

Methods

Questionnaires assessing sense of entitlement towards parents, pathological concern, and symptoms of depression and anxiety were completed by 85 girls with and 100 girls without AN/AAN (mean age 15.06 ± 1.41). The AN/AAN group also completed a measure of ED pathology.

Results

Eating pathology, pathological concern and symptoms of depression and anxiety were positively associated with both restricted and inflated sense of entitlement towards parents. AN/AAN participants scored significantly higher than controls on restricted and inflated sense of entitlement, pathological concern and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Restricted sense of entitlement and pathological concern partially mediation the association between AN/AAN and symptoms of depression and fully mediated the association between AN/AAN and anxiety. Within the AN/AAN group, pathological concern and symptoms of depression explained a large proportion of the variance in ED pathology.

Conclusions

Adolescent AN/AAN takes a heavy toll on emotional and social health, perhaps in part because crucial aspects of relational mutuality fail to develop. Teens with AN/AAN tend to over-focus on their parents’ needs at the expense of their own needs. They also have impaired capacity to realistically appraise expectations from their parents, tending to feel over- and/or under-entitled to need fulfillment. These relational attitudes are associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety and should be addressed in therapy.
Role of resilience and self-coping strategy in determining positive emotions during pandemic among healthcare professionals in Iran
Authors: Lathabhavan Remya , Bharti Teena , Marznaki Zohreh Hosseini
Published: September 2023

Background

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic placed immense stress on healthcare professionals worldwide. This strain often resulted in imbalances in their physical and mental well-being, necessitating effective coping mechanisms. In light of this context, this study investigates the correlations between the fear of COVID-19, self-coping strategies, and positive emotions, with particular reference to the Iranian health care industry.

Methods

Data were collected from 1050 healthcare professionals in Iran and the data were analysed sing structural equation modelling.

Results

The study revealed that pandemic fear negatively impacts self-coping strategies and positive emotions during crisis scenarios. Conversely, self-coping strategies have a positive correlation with positive emotions. The research also underscored the role of resilience in reinforcing the favorable link between self-coping strategies and positive emotions.

Conclusions

This study is one of the first to explore the significance of resilience and self-coping strategies among Iranian healthcare professionals during the pandemic. Its findings offer valuable insights for researchers and practitioners, paving the way for further contributions in this field. Future research endeavors may consider investigating the effects of various psychological interventions, including breathing techniques, self-talk, physical exercises, yoga, optimizing sleep, and dietary measures on the resilience and self-coping practices of healthcare professionals.
Laparoscopic two-port pre-tied peritoneal dialysis catheter insertion in children: a simple modification
Authors: Bustangi Nasir , Khirallah Mohammad Gharieb
Published: September 2023

Background

Different laparoscopic approaches for insertion of a peritoneal dialysis catheter (PDC) have been adopted. Most of these techniques require 2–3 ports. One port laparoscopic technique for PDC placement was introduced by some authors to minimize potential complications. The main drawback of these techniques was the inadequate position of catheter tip and hence affecting its efficacy.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate a simple modified laparoscopic technique during insertion of PDC.

Results

The mean age of these patients was 6 ± 4.1 years. There were 11 females. The mean body weight was 13 ± 3.3 kg. The mean operative time was 35.5 min. No operative complications occurred. Two cases had catheter obstruction. Wound infection developed in three cases. Mean follow-up period was 11 ± 5.3 months

Conclusions

Laparoscopic insertion of PDC in children suffering end-stage renal disease using a pre-tied catheter tip with V-loc/STRATAFIX ® size 3/0 suture and two-port-only technique was associated with shorter operative time and longer life of catheter without migration or catheter malfunction.
Machine Learning Approach for Rapid, Accurate Point-of-Care Prediction of M-Spike Values in Multiple Myeloma
Authors: Malek Ehsan , Wang Gi-Ming , Tatsuoka Curtis , Cullen Jennifer , Madabhushi Anant , Driscoll James J.
Published: September 2023

A machine learning tool to rapidly monitor disease status in patients with multiple myeloma
Pregnancy and Progression of Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: A Propensity Score–Matched Retrospective Cohort Study
Authors: Xiao Wu-Cai , Li Xin , Shan Rui , Mei Fang , Song Shi-Bing , Chen Jing , Sun Bang-Kai , Yuan Chun-Hui , Liu Zheng
Published: September 2023

Context and Objective

Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is very common in women of reproductive age. However, it remains unclear whether pregnancy is associated with DTC progression before surgical treatment.

Methods

This retrospective cohort study, conducted at the Peking University Third Hospital in Beijing, China between January 2012 and December 2022, included 311 eligible women aged 20 to 45 years. To control for potential confounders, we first used propensity score matching (PSM) to match the pregnant group (n = 48) with the nonpregnant group (n = 154) on age, tumor size, tumor type, and Hashimoto's thyroiditis status at baseline, and then used Cox proportional risk models stratified by the matched pairs to estimate the association of pregnancy with DTC progression.

Results

After PSM, the pregnant and nonpregnant groups were well comparable at baseline (standardized difference < 10% and P > .05). Over an average observation period of 2.5 years, we observed no difference between the pregnant group and the matched nonpregnant group in DTC progression-free survival (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.96; 95% CI, 0.56 to 1.65; P = .895), tumor enlargement–free survival (HR = 0.99; 95% CI, 0.56 to 1.76; P = .969) or lymph node metastasis-free survival (LNM) (HR = 0.67; 95% CI, 0.21 to 2.13; P = .498). The postoperative pathological characteristics also showed no significant difference between the pregnant and nonpregnant groups (P > .05).

Conclusion

Pregnancy seemed to be irrelevant to DTC progression-free survival before surgical treatment. Further prospective cohort studies are needed to translate this finding into clinical practice.
Standard Forms: Modernism, Market Research, and “Howl”
Authors: Steel Conrad
Published: September 2023

Before he was a famous poet, Allen Ginsberg was a market researcher. He stopped only when he managed to persuade his employer to automate his job out of existence (using one of the commercial computers that had first become available four years earlier); the resultant unemployment benefits enabled him to write “Howl.” This article reconsiders this iconic text of the nascent US counterculture as a product of the postwar structures of informatics, automation, and precarity that are sometimes now referred to as surveillance capitalism. But it also asks what relation those structures had and have to poetry, and why poetic technique—specifically, a repertoire of techniques inherited from an earlier generation in Europe—became so crucial to how Ginsberg’s generation responded to the emergent surveillance-capitalist terrain. The period of unemployment when Ginsberg wrote “Howl” also marked his first significant encounter with the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire, who would become a key formal and imaginative model, and the coincidence makes visible a strange parallel between modernist poetry and market research. The paranoid aesthetics of information management that “Howl” puts into motion, it is shown, had been contained as a potential within modernist poetics all along.
Hegel afterUlysses? The (Dis)Appearance of Politics in “Cyclops”
Authors: MacPhee Graham
Published: September 2023

This essay challenges the dismissal of nationalist politics in readings of Ulysses by reconnecting the “Cyclops” episode to the aporias of modern political thought. Drawing from Joyce’s neglected notes to the episode, it relocates anticolonial nationalism within the diremption and mutual implication of civil society and state, first articulated by G. W. F. Hegel and developed by Hannah Arendt. The essay rereads Hegel’s state/society diremption through Gillian Rose’s conception of “speculative thinking” and the historical openness of the “broken middle.” It argues that “Cyclops” generates a dynamic interpretative space in which other configurations of the social and political in the nation might be registered. In a contemporary moment when legality and constitutionality are under attack in the name of nationalist populism, this reading suggests an alternative to frameworks that conceive of law only as violence.
Maureen Warner-Lewis’s Work as African Recognition
Authors: Collis-Buthelezi Victoria J.
Published: September 2023

This essay moves between the author’s autobiographical reflections and a close reading of Maureen Warner-Lewis’s Guinea’s Other Suns (1991/2015) in order to unpack the ways Warner-Lewis’s research on Africa in the Caribbean has challenged the split between them around questions of ethnicity and racialization. It further attends to the significance of this work on and in Trinidad, given the refusal of Africanness at the time the book first appeared.
Simarrona: Beyond Etymologies toward a Practice of Unlearning
Authors: Zhang SJ
Published: September 2023

This essay proposes the historical term simarrona (used in colonial Louisiana archives) as a heuristic for unlearning certain reading practices of the term maroon and its persistent “etymology plot.” Simarrona not only troubles the neat linguistic geographies of the term maroon; it foregrounds the instability of colonial grammars and their attendant binaries. The author pairs the poetic resistance with the colonial grammars of Sylvia Wynter, Aimé Césaire, and fahima ife, with the instability of simarrona in the archival record to propose a way of reading archives of marronage that leaves space for that which was withheld.
Maroon, Fiiman, Busikondeesama: A Play on Identity in Three Speech Acts
Authors: Campbell Corinna , Alexander Tolin
Published: September 2023

This essay features discussions with and among Suriname Maroons engaged in cultural work about the names they choose in self-reference. Maroon is just one choice of many; others include Fiiman (free person) and Busikondeesama (hinterland person). Each name differently configures their relationships to various people, places, and ideas across time and space. These reflections question and challenge what communicative work Maroon does in figuring and prioritizing specific components of a broader cultural and historical nexus. The authors deliberately center contemporary Suriname Maroons—not only as cultural stewards but also as individuals actively involved in theorizing Maroon legacies and futures.
Animal History; Animal Future?
Authors: Gosine Andil
Published: September 2023

Through three short meditations that range from border crossing between the United States and Canada to a Beyoncé song, the author considers responses from Kedon Willis, Rajiv Mohabir, and Michelle V. Rowley to his 2021 book Nature’s Wild: Love, Sex, and Law in the Caribbean. The essay revisits and further advances the central thesis of Nature’s Wild, which recalls the work and multiple legacies of racialized animalization during and after European colonization of the Caribbean, and weighs the possibilities of embracing animality.
Structural Effect on the Dielectric Constant of Hydrocarbon Liquids: A Molecular Dynamics Study Using the Drude Polarizable Force Field
Authors: Sasaki Kohei , Yamashita Takefumi
Published: September 2023

We investigated the dielectric properties of three hydrocarbon liquids (benzene, diphenylmethane, and c-hexane) using molecular dynamics simulations with a newly developed polarizable force field [DREIDING-UT(D)]. The calculated dielectric constants agree well with the experimental ones. The difference in dielectric constant between liquid diphenylmethane and benzene was due to the difference in liquid structure, whereas the difference in dielectric constant between liquid c-hexane and benzene was mainly due to the difference in atomic polarizability.
12 Mart Muhtırası’na Giden Yol ve Ara Rejimin İhdası: Pretoryanizm Tipolojisi Çerçevesinde Bir Değerlendirme
Authors: Yavaşça Kerem
Published: September 2023

12 Mart Muhtırası çok partili dönemde Türkiye’de demokrasiyi kesintiye uğratan ikinci askeri müdahaledir. 27 Mayıs’ta yönetime el koyan askerlerin şekillendirdikleri rejimin arzu ettikleri ölçüde işlememesi, on bir yıl sonra askerlerin sivil yönetime tekrar müdahale etmesinin temel nedeni olmuştur. Ancak 12 Mart’ta gerçekleşen müdahale, şekil ve müdahalenin boyutu açısından 27 Mayıs 1960’ta gerçekleşen darbeden farklılıklar göstermektedir. Askerler, 27 Mayıs’ta iktidarı doğrudan ele alırken, 12 Mart 1971’de yerinden alma darbesi (displacement coup) geçekleşmiştir. Yani mevcut hükümet istifaya zorlanarak, yerine askerlerin güdümünde hareket eden yeni bir sivil hükümet kurulmuştur. 12 Mart’ta müdahale biçimimin belirlenmesinde en önemli faktörlerden biri ise politize olmuş üst düzey subayların arasındaki siyasete dair görüş ayrılıklarıdır. Keza askerlerin siyasete bakış açıları ve buna bağlı olarak seçtikleri yöntemler, darbe sonrasında şekillenen siyasal rejim üzerinde de belirleyici olmuştur. Bu noktada bir siyasi aktör haline gelen askerlerin siyaseten davranışlarını anlamak için Eric A. Nordlinger’in ortaya koyduğu Pretoryan tipoloji oldukça kullanışlıdır. Zira Nordlinger’in ılımlı pretoryanizm kavramlaştırması, 12 Mart sürecinde yüksek rütbeli subayların siyasete bakış açılarını ve buna bağlı olarak siyaseten davranışlarını anlamayı kolaylaştırmaktadır. 12 Mart Muhtırası’nı ve ardından 1971-1973 yılları arasında geçerli olan rejimi teorik çerçeveye oturtarak açıklamak ve siyasal süreci bu bağlamda anlamlandırmak askerlerin ülke yönetimini doğrudan -en uzun süre- ele aldıkları 12 Eylül’e giden yola ışık tutacaktır.
Marine soundscape and its temporal acoustic characterisation in the Gulf of Oristano, Sardinia (Western Mediterranean Sea)
Authors: CORRIAS VALENTINA , DE LUCIA GIUSEPPE ANDREA , FILICIOTTO FRANCESCO
Published: September 2023

The soundscape of the marine environment is a combination of geophony, biophony and anthropophony. Here, the soundscape of the Gulf of Oristano, a shallow inlet on the western coast of Sardinia including a special conservation area (Habitat Directive) and a national marine protected area, was investigated. Data collection was performed during July 2019, November 2019 and May 2020 using underwater acoustic equipment. The goal of this study was to characterise the ambient sound levels (Sound Pressure Level dB re 1 μPa) and describe the main soundscape components. The soundscape exhibited significant circadian and seasonal variations: the lowest and highest median SPL values were observed in the Spring (120–140 dB re 1 μPa; post-COVID-19 pandemic lockdown) and the Summer (128–150 dB re 1 μPa) respectively. Biophony was identified and characterised as dolphins’ ‘clicks’ and crustaceans’ ‘snapping’. Shrimp activity was dominant in the summer, while dolphin passages were observed across all sampling periods, accounting for 46.4% of the total recordings. Anthropophony, namely vessel passages, was predominant in the summer during the day-time and represented up to 42% of the acoustic space in the low-frequency band. Geophony increased low-frequency noise, and represented a highly variable component of the local soundscape. The marine soundscape is a valuabletool for defining integrated management plans for marine ecosystems, allowing the assessment of habitat quality, characterisation of sound sources and evaluation of the impact of anthropogenic activities.
Ozolian Locris in Roman Times: A Lost People in a Fragmented Land
Authors: Zachos George
Published: September 2023

Pausanias, arriving at Amphissa shortly after AD 170, met with Aitolian residents -instead of Locrians- who wanted to renounce the Locrian past of the city. These Aitolians, according to him, had refused to move to Patras or Nicopolis, when Augustus divided Aitolia between the two new colonies. Pausanias also visited Myania, Chaleion and Naupactos and mentions that the rest of the Ozolian Locris, except Amphissa, was “under the control” of the Greeks of Patras. The combination of the ancient sources (Pausanias, Strabo, Pliny and the epigraphic record of West Locris) with the archaeological finds from the region provides some information on the status of the Ozolian cities in the Roman period. The new status quo imposed by Rome in Aitolia and in Epictetos Aitolia fragmented the Hesperians and strongly affected the settlement pattern of the region. As far as Amphissa is concerned, an honorary inscription from the sanctuary of Athena Kranaia in Elateia may shed light on the matter of its new Aitolian population.
Correlation of serum interleukin-6 levels and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in the severity of COVID-19
Authors: Esa Tenri , Budu Budu , Mulyono Budi , Soraya Gita Vita , Usman Andi Nilawati , Intansari Umi Solekhah
Published: September 2023

Background: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that is produced at varying levels in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is one of the new inflammatory markers of COVID-19. This study aimed to evaluate the differences in IL-6 level and the NLR in mild and severe COVID-19 and assess their correlation with COVID-19 severity and the correlation of IL-6 and NLR in COVID-19.

Methods: A total of 91 patients with COVID-19 were divided into mild (n = 57) and severe (n = 34) COVID-19 groups. IL-6 levels were measured using the electrochemiluminescence immunoassay method on Roche Cobas e411. The NLR was the ratio of the total neutrophil and lymphocyte counts from complete haematology on the Sysmex XS-800i. Data were analysed using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov, Mann–Whitney, receiver operating characteristic curve, chi-square and Spearman correlation tests. The statistical test was significant at p <0.05.

Results: Serum IL-6 levels and NLR significantly differed in mild and severe COVID-19. The median (min–max) IL-6 levels for mild and severe COVID-19 were 3.59 (1.50–638.30) pg/mL and 28.82 (5.52–926.30) pg/mL, respectively (p <0.001). The median (min–max) NLR in mild and moderate COVID-19 was 2.18 (0.69–15.58) and 8.13 (2.24–30.90), respectively (p <0.001). The obtained cut-off values for IL-6 and NLR were >6.99 pg/mL and >4.18, with odds ratios of 29.29 and 26.19, respectively. A positive correlation was found between IL-6 and NLR and COVID-19 severity (r = 0.612; p <0.001).

Conclusions: The results indicated that serum IL-6 levels and NLR are higher in severe COVID-19 than in mild COVID-19. Patients with IL-6 levels >6.99 pg/mL and NLR >4.18 are 29 and 26 times more likely to suffer from severe COVID-19, respectively. Serum IL-6 levels and NLR are strongly correlated with COVID-19 severity. Serum IL-6 levels correlate with NLR in COVID-19.
Viral interactions with host factors (TIM-1, TAM -receptors, Glut-1) are related to the disruption of glucose and ascorbate transport and homeostasis, causing the haemorrhagic manifestations of viral haemorrhagic fevers.
Authors: Chicano Wust Ivan
Published: September 2023

The haemorrhagic features of viral haemorrhagic fevers may be caused by common patterns of metabolic disturbances of the glucose and ascorbate homeostasis. Haemorrhages and vasculature disfunctions are a clinical feature not only of viral haemorrhagic fevers, but also in scurvy, diabetes and thrombotic microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia. Interestingly, the expression of glucose and ascorbate transporter Glut-1 on the erythrocyte membrane is associated with the inability to synthesize ascorbate and is restricted to that very species that are susceptible to Filoviruses (primates, humans and fruit bats). Glut-1 may play a pivotal role in haemorrhagic fever pathogenesis. TIM-1 and TAM receptors have been recognized to enhance entry of Ebola, Lassa and Dengue viruses and viral interferences with TIM-1 could disturb its function, disturbing the expression of Glut-1.
Differential Effects of Organic Inputs on Soil Fertility and Growth of Tea Plants
Authors: Baul Das Anushree , Gurung Cyaria , Ghosh Chandra
Published: September 2023

The objective of the experiment was to evaluate how newly planted biclonal Tocklai stock tea varieties (TS 462, TS 463, TS 520, and TS 589) respond to compost in a series of treatment including control (without application), cow dung, vermicompost, municipal solid waste compost, and homemade kitchen waste compost applications. A total of 20 tea plants (5 plants of each tea variety) were planted in plastic buckets of equal size (16 litres). 300 gm. of compost was applied to each plant continuously at an interval of 25 to 30 days for the initial six months, and then compost application was discontinued for the next six months. Data were collected before, during, and after compost application. The highest growth in plant height (11cm to 51 cm), number of leaves (33 to 95), and number of branches (8 to 15) were recorded in the tea plants of the TS 463 variety. The pH of soil samples was found in the range of 4.72 to 6.61. The pH level of the acidic soil was slightly increased by the compost application. The average SOM% ranged from 6.88% to 11.94%, and it was found that a good SOM% was supportive of the good growth of the tea crop. N% was found between 0.85% and 0.217%, and P levels were found between 18 ppm and 50 ppm. The suitable N% and P levels affect plant growth most significantly in terms of the number of leaves and the number of stems. SOM% was found to be highest in vermicompost-treated soil, N% and P levels were optimal in home-made kitchen waste compost, and K levels were highest in cow dung-treated soil. Therefore, it can be concluded that an integrated compost application can be recommended for ideal growth and good plant health status for sustainable tea production.
Using photon disinfection technologies for reducing bioburden in hospitals
Authors: Nazeer Mohamed Niroz Mohamed , Aholaakko Teija-Kaisa
Published: September 2023

Background:

Environmental cleaning and disinfection is the basis of the prevention of healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs).

Aim:

This study aimed to describe photon disinfection technologies (PDTs), report their impact on inactivating micro-organisms and preventing HAIs and to create recommendations for their implementation in hospital settings.

Methods:

An integrated literature review was completed to evaluate and report the impact of PDTs in hospital settings. The quality of 23 articles were assessed, their contents analysed and results reported according to the PICOT model.

Findings:

The microbiological impact of the PDT varied by micro-organism, settings and according to the used devices. It was crucial that environmental cleaning was completed before the disinfection.

Conclusion:

The implementation of PDT in the hospital setting requires inquiry from the viewpoints of microbiological, environmental, occupational, technical and human safety. To enhance the safe implementation of PDTs, the construction and use of evidence-based global standards for PDT are crucial.
The climate crisis, sustainable kidney care and us
Authors: Jahan Sadia , Barraclough Katherine , Harber Mark
Published: September 2023

With the climate crisis having increasingly important implications for the world, it is incumbent on kidney care professionals to mitigate the environmental impact of care delivery. Sadia Jahan, Katherine Barraclough and Mark Harber provide their insights on green nephrology
Changes to the patient transport service
Authors: Bevin Amanda
Published: September 2023

Amanda Bevins highlights the importance of an efficient patient transport service and upcoming changes
New treatment option for peritonitis
Authors: Ellis Peter
Published: September 2023

This article outlines a study suggesting that a low dose of ceftazidime and avibactam is enough to treat infections resulting from some gram negative, multi-resultant pathogens
The Makings and Unmakings of Americans
Authors: Stanciu Cristina
Published: September 2023

In this cultural history of Americanization during the Progressive Era, it is argued that new immigrants and Native Americans shaped the intellectual and cultural debates over inclusion and exclusion, challenging ideas of national belonging, citizenship, and literary and cultural production. Deeply grounded in a wide-ranging archive of Indigenous and new immigrant writing and visual culture, the book brings together voices of Native and immigrant America. It shows that, although Native Americans and new immigrants faced different legal and cultural obstacles to citizenship, the challenges they faced and their resistance to assimilation and Americanization often ran along parallel paths. Both struggled against idealized models of American citizenship that dominated public spaces. Both participated in government-sponsored Americanization efforts and worked to gain agency and sovereignty while negotiating naturalization. Rethinking popular understandings of Americanization, the book argues that the new immigrants and Native Americans at the heart of this book expanded the narrow definitions of American identity.
Introduction
Authors: Goodman Kevis
Published: September 2023

This chapter introduces the argument and previews this book’s trajectory; it also discusses its theoretical interventions and methodological commitments. Major points include the eighteenth-century intimacy between the study of medicine and the “science” (scientia, “knowledge”) of aesthetic experience and the converging circumstances that made the mediation of motion a problem for both. It suggests the limits of accepting, as a sufficient account, the period’s defenses of art as therapeutics—restoring or maintaining harmony between the senses and their surroundings—without also considering how aesthetics and medicine jointly confronted the dislocations of modernization that opened wide contradictions between physiology and historicity. These dislocations were the territory of pathology, the study of disease, whose sophisticated semiotics did not succumb to sharp oppositions between inside and outside, surface and depth, natural and cultural influence, or cause and effect; it considered external conditions inherent in internal ones, and remote causes present in immediate effects. The introduction proposes that—and explains why—long-contested and still-persisting problems in literary studies—including questions of determination, materialism, and realism—were once negotiated at the intersection of medicine and aesthetics. Considered through the primary texts that helped to develop them, they might be seen anew.
“An Uncertain Disease”
Authors: Goodman Kevis
Published: September 2023

This chapter analyzes the period’s prolific scientific writings about the disease named “Nostalgia” (nostos [homecoming] + algia [pain]) in 1688 as the nosological term for the homesickness experienced by those compelled to move. Drawing on an international range of medical, environmental, and anthropological authors (Hofer, Scheuchzer, Du Bos, Haller, Falconer, and Zimmermann), including less-known texts of climate theory, the chapter interprets nostalgia as a pathology of motion in two senses: occasioned by the increasing, compulsory movements of populations across space, nostalgia was represented in contemporary writings as disordered or slowed motions within bodies and a fixation on one idea. This chapter suggests that as the disease of the displaced nostalgia exemplified and focused the period’s environmental conception of all illness as a dislocation between the physiologies of persons and their circumstances. The original nostalgia revealed the imperfect accommodations of human existence to an altered history, and its multiplying narratives accumulated to provide a view from within of the changing present. The chapter ends with Zimmermann’s 1764 suggestion of a “Nostalgia, under another name, tho’ at home,” and thereby sets up the next two chapters’ exploration of the persistence, beyond medicine, of the problem that the word “nostalgia” once named.
Reading Motions
Authors: Goodman Kevis
Published: September 2023

This chapter analyzes the decades-long dispute between Wordsworth and Coleridge about poetic meter and the motion of reading. The “reading motions” examined involve both the physical motion and states of volition promoted during reading or recitation by poetry’s formal features (repetition, tautology, metrical deviation, rhythmic irregularity) and the translation of the contemporary history of mobility into readers’ encounters with verse. If movement in space was often neither free nor willed, both poets thought hard about whether the motion of reading should be any different. This chapter shows how they did so in their engagement with two authors at the crossroads of medicine and aesthetics—Erasmus Darwin and John Thelwall—and in their use of common theories of rhetoric and elocution. The discussion argues that the two poets’ well-known preoccupations with the effects of modern mobility (war, colonial exploration, vagrancy, exile) accompanied the deliberate absorption of the characteristics of homesickness and dislocation into the basis of Wordsworth’s poetics and formal preferences and Coleridge’s criticism of them. It suggests that historical forces and relations that are abstracted in time and space, or not yet recognized as context, can nonetheless enter language, and therefore into the territory that poets and readers engage
Asylum between Nations
Authors: Polasky Janet
Published: September 2023

Driven from their homelands, refugees from ancient times to the present have sought asylum in worlds turned upside down. Theirs is an age-old story. So too are the solutions to their plight. In the wake of the American and French revolutions, thousands of men and women took to the roads and waterways on both sides of the Atlantic—refugees in search of their inalienable rights. Although larger nations fortified their borders and circumscribed citizenship, two port cities, German Hamburg and Danish Altona, opened their doors, as did the federated Swiss cantons and the newly independent Belgian monarchy. The refugees thrived and the societies that harbored them prospered. The United States followed, not only welcoming waves of immigrants in the mid-nineteenth century but offering them citizenship as well. This remarkable story of the first modern refugee crisis shows how open doors can be a viable alternative to the building of border walls.