bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Regional homogeneity alterations in patients with functional constipation and their associations with gene expression profiles
Authors: Cai Wangli , Tian Hongliang , Sun Peiwen , Hua Ting , Gong Jian , Zhang Ruiling , Wan Lidi , Gu Guoqing , Zhang Haiying , Tang Guangyu , Chen Qiyi , Zhang Lin
Published: November 2023

Functional constipation, a highly prevalent functional gastrointestinal disorder, often accompanies by mental and psychological disorders. Previous neuroimaging studies have demonstrated brain functional and structural alterations in patients with functional constipation. However, little is known about whether and how regional homogeneity is altered in these patients. Moreover, the potential genetic mechanisms associated with these alterations remain largely unknown. The study included 73 patients with functional constipation and 68 healthy controls, and regional homogeneity comparison was conducted to identify the abnormal spontaneous brain activities in patients with functional constipation. Using Allen Human Brain Atlas, we further investigated gene expression profiles associated with regional homogeneity alterations in functional constipation patients with partial least squares regression analysis applied. Compared with healthy controls, functional constipation patients demonstrated significantly decreased regional homogeneity in both bilateral caudate nucleus, putamen, anterior insula, thalamus and right middle cingulate cortex, supplementary motor area, and increased regional homogeneity in the bilateral orbitofrontal cortex. Genes related to synaptic signaling, central nervous system development, fatty acid metabolism, and immunity were spatially correlated with abnormal regional homogeneity patterns. Our findings showed significant regional homogeneity alterations in functional constipation patients, and the changes may be caused by complex polygenetic and poly-pathway mechanisms, which provides a new perspective on functional constipation’s pathophysiology.
Stress, burnout, and the need for support: a survey of early career pharmacists
Authors: Bradley Fiona , Hammond Michael , Braund Rhiannon
Published: November 2023

Background

Burnout of health professionals is of concern internationally and the pharmacy profession is no exception. The period of transition from University to autonomous practitioner is recognized to be challenging and these Early Career Pharmacists (ECPs), may be at increased risk of stress and burnout.

Objectives

This study aimed to collect data on the current extent of self-identified stress and burnout, of ECPs, and to (i) identify contributing factors and (ii) identify strategies used to manage this stress.

Methods

This study was conducted in Aotearoa New Zealand and was based on a survey used previously in Australia. A national database was used to identify all pharmacists who had been registered for <10 years. The survey was emailed to each pharmacist, and was further advertised through social media platforms.

Results

A total of 1418 ECPs were identified and invited to participate, and responses were received by 416 of these. The majority of respondents were female (73%) and community pharmacy based (79%). A vast majority (89%) indicated that a normal working day was at least moderately stressful with 79% indicating a level of burnout. These reflect a combination of “external” stressors, i.e. negative patient interactions, staff shortages, and “internal” stressors, i.e. fear of making a mistake, adjustment from University to working life.

Conclusions

Stress and burnout appear to be widespread in the ECPs, this study highlights areas of concern and potential support where efforts can be focussed to create a more sustainable working environment.
Antitrust under the popular economy: the birth of the antitrust law in Brazil
Authors: Medeiros José Augusto
Published: November 2023

This article analyses the context of the first Brazilian antitrust law, between 1930 and 1945. Its goal is to clarify how the ‘popular economy’—a constitutional and legal concept of the time—functioned as a protective instrument for the internal market. The study explores the hypothesis that the legislation was directed at foreign economic power, already embedded in national economic structures at the time. The research demonstrates that the antitrust legislation arose not only to control prevailing economic power but also to provide meaning to it within the framework of the Estado Novo and its intent to reformulate the internal market. Furthermore, this article highlights the influence of constitutional and administrative doctrines in this movement, indicating how the antitrust system was modulated on liberal bases, assuming the curious figure of a strong State subsidiary to the private sector. The work demonstrates that, aside from the question of supply, a crisis in the insurance policy market throughout 1938 was crucial to drafting the first antitrust law.
Comparative study of the steady-state subcellular distribution of lysosome-associated membrane glycoprotein-2 (LAMP-2) isoforms with GYXXΦ-type tyrosine-based motifs that interact differently with four adaptor protein (AP) complexes
Authors: Yamaguchi Fumiaki , Sakane Hiroshi , Akasaki Kenji
Published: November 2023

Lysosome-associated membrane protein-1 and -2 (LAMP-1 and LAMP-2, respectively) are type I transmembrane proteins. LAMP-2 comprises three splice isoforms (LAMP-2A, -B and-C) with different cytoplasmic tails (CTs). These three CTs possess different tyrosine-based motifs (GYXXΦ, where Φ is a bulky hydrophobic amino acid) at their C-termini. Interactions between tyrosine-based motifs and μ-subunits of four tetrameric adaptor protein (AP) complexes are necessary for their vesicular transport to lysosomes. Little is known about how the interaction strengths of these tyrosine motifs with μ-subunits affect the localization of isoforms to lysosomes. The interactions were first investigated using a yeast two-hybrid system to address this question. LAMP-2A-CT interacted with all four μ-subunits (μ1, μ2, μ3A and μ4 of AP-1, AP-2, AP-3 and AP-4, respectively). The interaction with μ3A was more robust than that with other μ-subunits. LAMP-2B-CT interacted exclusively and moderately with μ3A. LAMP-2C-CT did not detectably interact with any of the four μ-subunits. Immunofluorescence microscopy showed that all isoforms were localized in late endosomes and lysosomes. LAMP-2C was present in the plasma membrane and early endosomes; however, LAMP-2A and -2B were barely detectable in these organelles. In cell fractionation, LAMP-2A was the most abundant in the dense lysosomes, whereas LAMP-2C was significantly present in the low-density fraction containing the plasma membrane and early endosomes, in addition to the dense lysosomes. LAMP-2B considerably existed in the low-density late endosomal fraction. These data strongly suggest that the LAMP-2 isoforms are distributed differently in endocytic organelles depending on their interaction strengths with AP-3.
Molecular Mechanism of Autophagy, Cytoplasmic Zoning by Lipid Membranes
Authors: Kotani Tetsuya , Yasuda Yuri , Nakatogawa Hitoshi
Published: November 2023

Autophagy is a highly conserved intracellular degradation mechanism. The most distinctive feature of autophagy is the formation of double-membrane structures called autophagosomes, which compartmentalize portions of the cytoplasm. The outer membrane of the autophagosome fuses with the vacuolar/lysosomal membrane, leading to the degradation of the contents of the autophagosome. Approximately 30 years have passed since the identification of autophagy-related (ATG) genes and Atg proteins essential for autophagosome formation, and the primary functions of these Atg proteins have been elucidated. These achievements have significantly advanced our understanding of the mechanism of autophagosome formation. This article summarizes our current knowledge on how the autophagosome precursor is generated, and how the membrane expands and seals to complete the autophagosome.
Clinical Outcomes of Human Rhinovirus Infections in Pediatric Hemopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Patients
Authors: Castejon-Ramirez Sandra , Chaisavaneeyajirn Sujittra , Ferrolino Jose A , Allison Kim J , Peterson Megan , Dallas Ronald H , Suliman Ali , Hayden Randall T , Maron Gabriela , Hijano Diego R
Published: November 2023

Background

Respiratory viral infections (RVIs) are common among pediatric transplant patients, with Human rhinovirus (HRV) being most frequently. In pediatric patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT), HRV infection prior to, or early post-transplant has been associated with progression to lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) and adverse outcomes. The primary objective is to describe the clinical presentation and outcomes of HRV infections in patients undergoing HCT at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Methods

This is a single-center retrospective cohort study. HCT recipients who had a respiratory sample positive for HRV (HRV positive) or negative for any respiratory virus (virus negative) between October 1, 2014, and December 31, 2017, were included. Testing was performed using BioFire® Respiratory Panel. Primary outcomes were progression to LRTI, ICU admission, all-cause mortality rate, and respiratory event-related mortality rate.

Results

A total of 227 patients (166 allogeneic and 61 autologous transplants) were included in the analysis. Of these, 108 (47.5%) were HRV positive and 119 (52.4%) were virus negative. Of the HRV patients, 63.6% were diagnosed pretransplant. All samples were nasopharyngeal, except for 1 tracheal aspirate. There were no significant differences in sex, race, type of transplant, underlying malignancy, and conditioning regimen between patients with and without HRV infection. However, patients who had HRV were significantly younger compared with virus negative (Table 1). Cough and rhinorrhea were more frequently observed in patients with HRV (53.7% vs 19.8%, and 60.2% vs 22.8%, respectively). Almost 1 in 4 patients with HRV had LRTI. No significant association was found between the severity of respiratory disease and the type of conditioning regimen, type of transplant, or absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) within a week of infection. HRV positive patients were more likely to be tested due to symptoms, have URTI, and present with co-infections compared to the virus negative group. There were no differences in the proportion of abnormal radiological findings, and no differences in outcomes between groups (Table 1). Clearance of HRV infection was confirmed with a negative PCR in 45 patients. Of these, 60% remained positive by week 4.

Conclusion

HRV infection is frequently detected in symptomatic patients undergoing transplant. Despite presenting respiratory symptoms more frequently, there was not a significant association with progression to LRTI, need for intensive care unit, mechanical ventilation or mortality.
Hold your Horses! An Uncommon Cause of Bacteremia in HCT Recipients
Authors: Castejon-Ramirez Sandra , Hijano Diego R , Maron Gabriela
Published: November 2023

Background

Diagnosis and management of bloodstream infections due to uncommon microorganisms in immunocompromised hosts (ICH) are challenging. Removing central venous catheters (CVC) and combination antimicrobial therapy may be necessary.

Case

A 2-year-old female with Mucopolysaccharidosis type I on day +125 after matched unrelated donor allogenic transplant presented with 2 days of decreased activity. Two days prior, she had completed 4 weeks of ciprofloxacin and clarithromycin for treatment of Mycobacterium cosmeticum catheter-related bacteremia (CRBSI). The CVC was removed. The patient lived in a rural area but had no direct animal exposure, except for an indoor vaccinated dog. Household contacts were healthy and immunized.

The patient was febrile and tachycardic with no evidence of infection around CVL or G-tube. Laboratory results showed pancytopenia and elevated C-reactive protein Blood cultures grew diphtheroid gram-positive bacilli (GPB) and gram-positive cocci (GPC) in clusters, the later identified as S. epidermidis. The GPB could not be identified from the liquid media and was sent to an outside lab. The report was corrected to GPC after growing on solid medium culture.

The patient was started on meropenem and vancomycin and the CVC was removed. The GPB was identified as Rhodococcus equi. A chest CT showed new ground glass nodules in the left lower lobe. The patient defervesced and was discharged on a 10-day course of oral linezolid for S. epidermidis, clarithromycin and levofloxacin. She completed one month of clarithromycin and levofloxacin. Chest CT at end of treatment confirmed resolution.

Discussion and conclusions

Rhodococcus equi is a pleomorphic gram-positive bacteria that presents as cocci in solid media and as a diphtheroid gram-positive rod in liquid media. Horses are the primary hosts, but most herbivores are fecal carriers. Transmission occurs through inhalation of dust from contaminated soil. R.equi frequently presents as pulmonary infection with cavitated nodules. Over half of ICH develop secondary bacteremia. Extrapulmonary infection secondary to dissemination of pulmonary disease can occur but isolated extrapulmonary disease is rare. R.equi can be easily dismissed as a contaminant requiring a high level of suspicion and communication with lab personnel. When isolated from an extrapulmonary location, chest imagining is essential to guide treatment. Treatment should combine two antibiotics, at least one of them with intracellular activity, with fluoroquinolones and macrolides among the preferred options. For device-related infections, removal is recommended. Treatment duration for uncomplicated infections is 10 to 14 days, but cavitary lesions require longer treatment based on the resolution of lesions
MTDH enhances radiosensitivity of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma by promoting ferroptosis based on a prognostic signature
Authors: Cao Xiang , Ge Yizhi , Yan Zhenyu , Hu Xinyu , Peng Fanyu , Zhang Yujie , He Xia , Zong Dan
Published: November 2023

Ionizing radiation (IR) induces ferroptosis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). But, it remains unclear whether ferroptosis affects the prognosis of HNSCC patients after receiving radiotherapy. This study aims to develop a ferroptosis signature to predict the radiosensitivity and prognosis of HNSCC. Ferroptosis-related genes, clinical data and RNA expression profiles were obtained from the FerrDb database, The Cancer Genome Atlas and GEO database. Prognostic genes were identified by random survival forest, univariate Cox regression, Kaplan–Meier and ROC analyses. Principal component analysis, multivariate Cox regression, nomogram and DCA analyses were conducted to estimate its predictive ability. Functional enrichment and immune-related analyses were performed to explore potential biological mechanisms and tumor immune microenvironment. The effect of the hub gene on ferroptosis and radiosensitivity was verified using flow cytometry, quantitative real-time PCR and clonogenic survival assay. We constructed a ferroptosis-related signature, including IL6, NCF2, metadherin (MTDH) and CBS. We classified patients into high-risk (HRisk) and low-risk groups according to the risk scores. The risk score was confirmed to be an independent predictor for overall survival (OS). Combining the clinical stage with the risk score, we established a predictive nomogram for OS. Furthermore, pathways related to tumorigenesis and tumor immune suppression were mainly enriched in HRisk. MTDH was verified to have a potent effect on IR-induced ferroptosis and consequently promoted radiosensitivity. We constructed a ferroptosis-related signature to predict radiosensitivity and OS in HNSCC patients. MTDH was identified as a promising therapeutic target in radioresistant HNSCC patients.
The accretion history of the Milky Way – II. Internal kinematics of globular clusters and of dwarf galaxies
Authors: Hammer Francois , Wang Jianling , Mamon Gary A , Pawlowski Marcel S , Yang Yanbin , Jiao Yongjun , Li Hefan , Bonifacio Piercarlo , Caffau Elisabetta , Wang Haifeng
Published: November 2023

We study how structural properties of globular clusters and dwarf galaxies are linked to their orbits in the Milky Way halo. From the inner to the outer halo, orbital energy increases and stellar-systems gradually move out of internal equilibrium: in the inner halo, high-surface brightness globular clusters are at pseudo-equilibrium, while further away, low-surface brightness clusters and dwarfs appear more tidally disturbed. Dwarf galaxies are the latest to arrive into the halo as indicated by their large orbital energies and pericentres, and have no time for more than one orbit. Their (gas-rich) progenitors likely lost their gas during their recent arrival in the Galactic halo. If dwarfs are at equilibrium with their dark matter (DM) content, the DM density should anticorrelate with pericentre. However, the transformation of DM dominated dwarfs from gas-rich rotation-supported into gas-poor dispersion-supported systems is unlikely accomplished during a single orbit. We suggest instead that the above anticorrelation is brought by the combination of ram-pressure stripping and of Galactic tidal shocks. Recent gas removal leads to an expansion of their stellar content caused by the associated gravity loss, making them sufficiently fragile to be transformed near pericentre passage. Out of equilibrium dwarfs would explain the observed anticorrelation of kinematics-based DM density with pericentre without invoking DM density itself, questioning its previous estimates. Ram-pressure stripping and tidal shocks may contribute to the dwarf velocity dispersion excess. It predicts the presence of numerous stars in their outskirts and a few young stars in their cores.
A Conserved Ribosomal Protein Has Entirely Dissimilar Structures in Different Organisms
Authors: Schierholz Léon , Brown Charlotte R , Helena-Bueno Karla , Uversky Vladimir N , Hirt Robert P , Barandun Jonas , Melnikov Sergey V
Published: November 2023

Ribosomes from different species can markedly differ in their composition by including dozens of ribosomal proteins that are unique to specific lineages but absent in others. However, it remains unknown how ribosomes acquire new proteins throughout evolution. Here, to help answer this question, we describe the evolution of the ribosomal protein msL1/msL2 that was recently found in ribosomes from the parasitic microorganism clade, microsporidia. We show that this protein has a conserved location in the ribosome but entirely dissimilar structures in different organisms: in each of the analyzed species, msL1/msL2 exhibits an altered secondary structure, an inverted orientation of the N-termini and C-termini on the ribosomal binding surface, and a completely transformed 3D fold. We then show that this fold switching is likely caused by changes in the ribosomal msL1/msL2-binding site, specifically, by variations in rRNA. These observations allow us to infer an evolutionary scenario in which a small, positively charged, de novo-born unfolded protein was first captured by rRNA to become part of the ribosome and subsequently underwent complete fold switching to optimize its binding to its evolving ribosomal binding site. Overall, our work provides a striking example of how a protein can switch its fold in the context of a complex biological assembly, while retaining its specificity for its molecular partner. This finding will help us better understand the origin and evolution of new protein components of complex molecular assemblies—thereby enhancing our ability to engineer biological molecules, identify protein homologs, and peer into the history of life on Earth.
Remote Carbon Monoxide Capture via REDCap: Evaluation of an Integrated Mobile Application
Authors: Dahne Jennifer , Wahlquist Amy E , McClure Erin A , Natale Noelle , Carpenter Matthew J , Tomko Rachel L
Published: November 2023

Introduction

To improve the feasibility of remote biochemical verification of smoking status, our team developed “COast,” a mobile app integrated with REDCap that allows a research participant to complete self-report research assessments and provide a breath sample via the iCOQuit Smokerlyzer for the purposes of carbon monoxide (CO) testing. The aims of the present study were to examine (1) the validity of remote CO data capture using COast as compared to gold-standard approaches (salivary cotinine, stand-alone CO monitor) and (2) the feasibility of remote CO data capture using COast as applied to both daily and weekly CO collection schedules.

Methods

Participants (N = 143, 59% Female), including recently quit (n = 36) and current (n = 107) smokers, completed a baseline video session to capture validity data, and then were randomized to daily or weekly CO monitoring for a period of 1 month.

Results

Balancing both sensitivity and specificity, optimal cut-points for defining abstinence using the COast system were <4 parts per million (ppm) with salivary cotinine as the referent (Sensitivity = 100%, Specificity = 92.8%) and <8 ppm with the stand-alone CO monitor as the referent (Sensitivity = 100%, Specificity = 88.9%). Compliance across groups with CO monitoring was high with average compliance of 74% for the daily group and 84% for the weekly group. Self-reported feasibility and acceptability of using the system were strong.

Conclusions

Pairing the iCOQuit with REDCap via the COast app was both valid and feasible among a sample of adults who smoke cigarettes enrolled remotely. This integration may help to improve the rigor of decentralized smoking cessation trials.

Implications

With increasing prevalence of decentralized trial designs, innovative methods are needed to remotely capture biomarkers. Methods that leverage existing widely available research data capture platforms may be particularly useful for promoting adoption. The COast app, which integrates a Bluetooth-enabled CO monitor with REDCap, is a fitting, valid, and feasible solution to remotely biochemically verify smoking status.
Polish Urban Legends as a Folklore Genre
Authors: Wójcicka Marta
Published: November 2023

Urban legend as a genre in Poland is described by folklorists and anthropologists using interchangeable terms: not only “urban legend” but also “unlikely story,” “sensation story,” “contemporary myth,” “rumor,” “hearsay,” “exciting piece of news,” and “urban tale.” Each of these names reflects specific, prominent characteristics that are constitutive of the genre: an unusual topic, an urban issue or background, or contemporaneity. The aim of this chapter is to present Polish urban legends as a genre of folklore informed by form, diction, the narrator, the audience, communication context (circumstances, time, and place), subject matter, function, purpose, performance, and the ontology of the world that is depicted. Urban legends are meaningful, relevant narratives of an apocryphal nature that address the boundaries between truth and fiction and mirror social, political, and economic conditions in contemporary society. Examples of Polish urban legends serve to illustrate these points.
Banaras
Authors: Desai Madhuri
Published: November 2023

This chapter explores the role of Mughal systems in reshaping urban environments in South Asia beyond imperial centers such as Delhi and Agra. Persianate and Central Asian ideas and technologies of architectural design were selectively incorporated alongside South Asian religious, aesthetic, and spatial concepts. New buildings, nodes, and spaces were connected to preexisting sites, edifices, and institutions. In the Hindu pilgrimage center of Banaras (also known as Kashi), the haveli structure and the survey plan, or tarah, played a key role in the city’s reorganization around a new Mughal Vishvanath temple (ca. 1590), built through the support of the mansabdar Todarmal and the Brahmin scholar and activist Narayan Bhatt. Bhatt’s pilgrimage text, the Tristhalisetu, which included a section on Kashi, highlighted Mughal investment in the city. By incorporating purana traditions selectively, Bhatt reoriented the sacred landscape of Banaras around newly built Mughal temples. Imperial grants to mathas and temples reshaped land-ownership patterns, and monumental architecture along the city’s riverfront created new symbolic associations for religion, as well as the authority of the Mughal state.
Space Theory and the Maqom (Sanctuary) in Deuteronomy
Authors: Geiger Michaela
Published: November 2023

The “place that YHWH your God will choose” is central to the Deuteronomic conception of space. To this maqom, which translates into “place,” all Israel is to come and offer all kinds of sacrifices, receive jurisdiction in difficult cases and, every seven years, hear and learn “this Torah.” The spatial theories of Henri Lefebvre, Edward Soja and especially that of Martina Löw are functional for the narratological and theological interpretation of the maqom. Along these lines, the maqom can be understood as a social construct of space-creating actions linked to the respective spatial concept. Although the maqom is precisely delineated in the so-called centralization formula, Deuteronomy leaves much unspecified. This includes the basic question where the central sanctuary is located. The different versions of the formula in the Masoretic Text and in the Samaritan Pentateuch attest to diverging interpretations and spatial practices. MT speaks of the maqom that YHWH your God “will choose” (impf.) and consequently allows for its identification with Jerusalem. In this vein, DTH combines the centralization formula with Jerusalem, while blurring the spatial concept. Contrary to this, the Samaritan Pentateuch speaks of the maqom that YHWH your God “has chosen” (perf.) and thereby allows for its identification with Mt. Gerizim. On the narrative level of Deuteronomy, however, the mutually exclusive identifications of the maqom are possible. Recent publications suggest that the Samaritan version is the original one. The book constitutes a compromise document, a Thirdspace, Judeans and Samaritans can relate to as part of their common Pentateuch.
Timbral-Harmonic Progression in Claude Vivier’s Lonely Child
Authors: Gainey Christopher
Published: November 2023

This chapter addresses the issue of how to create form in the absence of inharmonicity. A familiar approach to formal logic in spectral music, exemplified by the opening of Grisey’s Partiels uses inharmonicity to create and manage tension and thus create form. Since the timbre-harmonies generated by Claude Vivier’s les couleurs technique do not involve such inharmonicity, they present an intriguing perceptual problem: how might listeners understand these sonorities in a way that points beyond the immediacy of their luxuriantly resonant qualities and toward a perceptible formal logic? This chapter discusses a possible analytical solution by conceiving timbre-harmonies from Vivier’s Lonely Child according to their inherent tension, which can be characterized by an “enrichment value.” Inherent tension is a perceptual dimension that enables the discussion of emergent sensations of timbral-harmonic progression in the work. That emergent timbral-harmonic progression can in turn help create a listener’s perception of form.
The Wine Industry
Authors: Villanueva Emiliano C. , Chauvin Nicolás Depetris , Pinilla Vicente
Published: November 2023

This chapter examines how the dynamics of the global wine industry have been shaped by the interrelations between the different stages of the value chain, the sector’s leading participants, and technological developments and external factors. This historical account highlights the drivers of the global transformation of the wine industry during three distinctive historical periods: from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, the second half of the 20th century, and the 21st century. For each of these periods, the chapter identifies significant innovation processes in areas related to (1) production, technology, and the legal and institutional framework; (2) industry organization, and the associated business strategies; (3) development of consumption; and (4) global market organization and international trade that, in conjunction, contributed to the emergence of a fully integrated global wine industry by the 21st century.
Introduction
Authors: Iltis Ana S. , MacKay Douglas
Published: November 2023

Ethical questions concerning the use of humans in research arise in numerous fields, including biomedical research, behavioral science, political science, public policy, and sociology. Although scholars working in these areas are ultimately addressing the same question—what are the conditions for ethical research with human beings?—there is very limited engagement across disciplines. The Oxford Handbook of Research Ethics aims to foster greater appreciation for the challenging ethical questions that arise in different disciplines and to improve scholarship in research ethics by encouraging cross-disciplinary discussion of critical issues. This introductory chapter provides an overview of the current scholarly landscape in research ethics as well as a brief history of its emergence. This chapter begins with a discussion of bioethicists’ focus on the ethics of biomedical and behavioral research and the historical development of ethical frameworks and regulatory structures that are not well suited to social scientific research. It then discusses the development of research ethics professional codes and scholarship in anthropology, sociology, political science, and development economics. The chapter closes with a comprehensive overview of the content of the volume.
Developing Clinician Insight into Practice Through the Aesthetic Lens
Authors: Younie Louise
Published: November 2023

Doctors emerge into the world of practice knowing much about disease, but little about personhood. In my work as a General Practitioner (GP) for over twenty years I have discovered that there is a technical clinical side to our job—what diagnosis, what medication, what dosage, for how long, and there is also a human and embodied side to our job—connection, compassion, presence, witnessing suffering. We ignore the human dimension at our own and our patients’ peril. Yet to address the human dimension is the journey of a lifetime though it tends to fall beyond the scope of our ever increasingly pressurized and standardized health-care system. The problem this chapter leans into is the challenge of how we enable the human dimension. Despite many years of calling out the importance of the human dimension we are all still very much learning. This chapter draws on the concepts of aesthetic experience and everyday aesthetics in relation to the clinical consultation. I propose that an aesthetic approach supports development of human understanding and knowing, through allowing embodied, sensory, or emotional ways of knowing into clinician engagement with patients and reflection on lived experience. By being more holistically present in encounter with the patient, fresh perspectives and new learning for the clinician become possible. This may nurture patient and clinician alike, deepening our encounters and enhancing our connection and collaboration. I draw on my own clinical experience and practice-based evidence as a GP, as well as my experience of being a medical educator innovating and pioneering ways to engage with the human dimension over the last twenty years.
The History of Team Rainbow
Authors: Baldwin Gray , Forinash Michele , Robinson Beth , Oswanski Leah , Donnenwerth Amy
Published: November 2023

Team Rainbow was created by a group of fearless music therapists in their attempt to find refuge through a shared LGBTQIA2+ professional community. This chapter explores the history of Team Rainbow and our vision to achieve education, visibility, and support for LGBTQIA2+ music therapists. We explore the chronological origins of Team Rainbow, how it was formed and developed, as well as its impact within the profession. We further discuss the research projects that have been conducted and subsequent articles that were published from these results. The structure and expansion of Team Rainbow is defined, as well as the challenges we faced from our professional organization in responses to the Pulse nightclub shooting and the formation of closed LGBTQIA2+ spaces at music therapy conferences. This chapter includes historical accounts, personal reflections, and the impact of our work for the profession at large. The work of Team Rainbow stands as a testament in influencing the future of music therapy as a socially just and equitable profession.
Paul Whiteman and Glorified “Modern American Music,” 1927–1934
Authors: Howland John
Published: November 2023

Through invocations of upward social and economic mobility, the “glorified jazz” esthetics of 1920s and 1930s symphonic jazz foregrounded a quintessentially American entertainment balance that sustained tensions between cultural markers of the brows—high, middle, and low. The era’s top-selling bandleader, Paul Whiteman, described this idiom as simply “modern American music.” By 1927, Whiteman’s concert-style arrangements became the cornerstone of an extensive “Modern American Music” score series published by Robbins Music. This chapter examines the roots of this glorified popular music and its relations to American entertainment practices. The chapter outlines the music, marketing, and reception of the score series, with particular attention to Peter De Rose’s 1934 Deep Purple. It further explores how this idiom appealed to popular aspirations for the glamorous lifestyle of a new cosmopolitan leisure class depicted across contemporary media and advertising.
Glière’s Light Style
Authors: Morrison Simon
Published: November 2023

Until the Romantic era, ballets scores were more often bric-a-brac assemblages than integrated wholes. Whereas Delibes excelled at composing for ballet, serving the dance, Tchaikovsky receives credit for transforming the art to make music and dance a more equal partnership. He also, however, composed music that pulled the audience’s focus away from the stage, and so affronted the middlebrow perspective on ballet music: it had to be good, but not too good, not too distracting. This chapter takes up the cause of a Soviet ballet The Red Poppy, which Reinhold Glière composed in a light style with borrowings from Tchaikovsky, the Mighty Five, a sailors’ dance, template chinoiserie, and ballroom genres. A dutiful student of ballet’s greatest musical hits, he also invested in a play of surfaces and rhapsodic, translucent possibilities. Ideal forms are tucked in ideal forms within the esthetic ideal of broad-based appeal.
Life-Course Dynamics of Social Stratification and Mobility
Authors: Fasang Anette Eva , Mayer Karl Ulrich
Published: November 2023

Age and social status have been seen as distinct building blocks of social structure and thus as separate principles of the social organization of societies. Age-segregated societies tend to be premodern and smaller, while class-based stratification systems stand for modern industrial societies. Traditionally social status was taken to be fairly permanent as a life-long social position, and life-course dynamics were at best marginal to the study of stratification. In contrast, there are good reasons to see the “life course” as central to understanding inequalities: life courses express mechanisms of allocation and selection; social advantages and disadvantages accumulate across life courses; social classes distinguish themselves by typical life-course patterns; the pluralization of life courses could erode or reinforce social stratification; and generational divides recently appear to widen rather than narrow. This chapter discusses analytical aspects of the relationship between stratification and the life course and highlights substantive questions in stratification research that require a life-course approach illustrated by examples of recent comparative research.
Marietta Kies’s Ethical Altruism
Authors: Falkenstern Rachel
Published: November 2023

Marietta Kies’s (1853–1899) altruistic ethics argues that individuals and institutions ought to contribute to social progress. Her 1894 Institutional Ethics posits altruism as the fundamental ethical principle for individuals and for social institutions, along with a complementary principle of justice. Kies’s philosophy is positioned against theories that claim human behavior is fully explainable and morally justified by natural evolution, what today is called social Darwinism. Her ethics is instead grounded in a theory of human beings as thoroughly social and spiritual creatures. Her philosophy includes elements of St. Louis idealism, Christianity, and early Progressive-era social reform. The “true socialism” Kies calls for makes the good of others our primary concern: implemented in social institutions, yet without losing our individuality. Upholding this ethic of love leads to our own individual happiness and to the happiness of others, enriching the lives of all, and is therefore the most rational way to live.
Christine Ladd-Franklin
Authors: Uckelman Sara L.
Published: November 2023

Christine Ladd-Franklin was an American mathematician, logician, psychologist, and philosopher who studied at Vassar and Johns Hopkins and worked in institutions Germany and the United States. Although her scientific career spanned seemingly disparate fields, including mathematics, logic, philosophy, and psychology, the chapter will argue that there is a clear “red thread” that can be traced through all the facets of her research, which is an emphasis on the importance of correct vocabulary and correct notation. Despite facing widespread discrimination based on her gender, her pioneering contributions in the fields of algebras of logic and the psychology of perception are still influential today.
Another Timbre
Authors: Villegas Vélez Daniel
Published: November 2023

Timbre—defined as the characteristic aspect of any sound as heard—has often played a secondary role in music studies. Drawing on both classical and critical phenomenologies, this chapter suggests how renewed attention to timbre can bring its critical potential to the fore. The first part, “Timbre and/in the World,” reorients empiricist approaches to timbre, emphasizing its embeddedness in the world through the phenomenological epochē, so that timbrality emerges as a condition of possibility for listening. The second part, “Timbre in Classical Phenomenology” traces the role of timbre in the phenomenological tradition (from Carl Stumpf to Roman Ingarden), revisiting Pierre Schaeffer’s phenomenological account of the sound object. From here, the chapter argues that temporalized repetition and iterability retroactively constitute a sound’s eidos. The third and final part, “Timbre and Critical Phenomenology” draws on recent critical trends in phenomenology (Lisa Guenther, Axelle Karera) and musicology (Dylan Robinson, Nina Sun Eidsheim) to propose a phenomenological account of timbre that is as attentive to its auditory aspects as it is to its social and historical imbrications with an ear toward their possible transformation.
Music and Education
Authors: Przanowska Małgorzata
Published: November 2023

The chapter aims to present a phenomenological description of music and education, their relationship, and the unity that presents itself through an event of openness as improvisation. The phenomenological method is shown here as a transformatively performative and—in a way—musical experience. Education is, in turn, revealed through the description of musical experience, which is bonded with the openness called “silence” that transforms itself into sounds. Music education, thus, turns out to be more connected with the phenomenon of education in general than considered as a subdiscipline of merely vocational training. The chapter suggests that music education should be treated as the existentially primordial educational experience that touches and thus shapes its participants acouologically (“acouological” from Greek acouo and logos—as based on listening and hearing). Unlike a physical touch, the acouological one influences us in a non-material yet concrete way, setting us in such a motion that can become a fully transformative experience.
Music, Technology, and Politics with Günther Anders
Authors: Ellensohn Reinhard
Published: November 2023

The article analyzes the connecting lines between Günther Anders’ philosophy of music from the 1920s and 1930s and his philosophy of technology from the post-war period. Firstly, Anders’ concept of the “musical situation” as “being-in-music,” his definition of music as an art of time, as an art of motion, and as an art of transformation are presented concisely. Both his philosophy of music and his critique of technology can be read in terms of a “theory of synchronization” or “conformism.” This is shown in particular on the basis of the concept of “co-performance” (Mitvollzug) and the concept of “mediality” (Medialität). Finally, some aspects of his cultural criticism that are based on his early philosophy of music are discussed. This concerns his critique of popular music, of the technological reproducibility of music, and of the political and aesthetic abuse of music.
Cultural Firms’ Performance from a Regional Development Perspective
Authors: Srakar Andrej , Vecco Marilena
Published: November 2023

It is commonly recognized that although motivations by individuals drive the entrepreneurial process, the environment regulates the quality and outcomes of this process. This article focuses on the regional dimension of entrepreneurship in the cultural sector in Europe. The authors selected a large sample of cultural firms from thirteen European countries. Data was collected from the Amadeus database to study the relationship between the performance of cultural firms and regional development using hierarchical modeling. This study provides some relevant results. First, regional entrepreneurial development is related to the performance of cultural firms through the main relationships between level of capital financing and firm debt. Second, there is evidence that higher instability in firm revenues is associated with higher regional entrepreneurial development. Third, characteristics vary depending on the cultural sector under concern and the different dimensions of regional entrepreneurial development. The article concludes with some policy recommendations and reflections.
Genealogies of Transitional Justice
Authors: Priemel Kim Christian
Published: November 2023

The concept of transitional justice has been on an upward trajectory for three decades, attesting to its broad empirical applicability, its analytical potential, and the normative attraction it holds. At the same time, conceptual confusion is widespread as “transitional justice” functions as shorthand for both a specific type of event and the research on these events. The present chapter untangles these overlapping understandings by exploring the multiple genealogies of “transitional justice” as historical event, normative project, and heuristic lens. In the first section of this chapter, a conceptual history addresses the prehistory, emergence, and evolution of “transitional justice” as an analytical category. The second section offers an inevitably incomplete survey of transitional justice as a sequence of historically discrete events. The final section tries to integrate outlying cases which run afoul of common expectations as to what constitutes transitional justice, and reconceptualizes the term as a heuristic instrument rather than an empirical phenomenon or an academic field. Avoiding linear, teleological, and normative assumptions, this chapter proposes to understand transitional justice as a question rather than an answer.
Epigraphic Networks in Cross-Cultural Perspective
Authors: Cline Diane Harris , Munson Jessica
Published: November 2023

Inscriptions are a rich and complementary source of information for archaeologists studying ancient societies that developed a system of writing. This chapter addresses some of the ways that social network analysis (SNA) techniques and concepts can be used to analyze ancient inscriptions in order to address wide-ranging topics of interest to archaeologists and historians. By considering the dual nature of texts as artifacts as well as the content of the inscriptions themselves, we discuss how the multi-layered nature of information on text-bearing objects enables innovative network analyses that produce complementary lines of research. Although there is but a handful of case studies that have employed these analytical techniques using epigraphic data, we highlight a few examples to illustrate this approach and outline some directions for future research that will hopefully inspire additional studies. As scholars trained in the classical and anthropological traditions studying ancient Greek and prehispanic Maya societies respectively, we further advocate for increased interdisciplinary dialogue and comparative approaches centered on the application of these and related techniques for studying the growing corpora of digitized texts from all corners of the ancient world.
The Role of Natural Law in the Rise and Decline of European International Law
Authors: O’Connell Mary Ellen
Published: November 2023

Legal theorists in the 19th century attempted to create European international law in place of universal international law in order to serve imperial ambitions. Their goal required a radical transformation, excising the natural law component of international law to leave only positive law. Positive law can be changed at will and was therefore used to eliminate hurdles to imperialism found in natural law, including precepts and principles of equality, universality, human dignity, and peace. Positive law was used to construct a concept of ‘civilizational hierarchy’, a two-tiered system in which the privileged class makes the law and imposes it on others. This truncated version of international law, however, is inauthentic and has finally given way in the 21st century to renewed interest in natural law as part of a complete explanation of law for a global community.
Germany
Authors: von Arnauld Andreas
Published: November 2023

This chapter analyses the Federal Republic of Germany’s (FRG) stance towards international law. In reaction to a violent recent past, the Basic Law and the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) have shaped the FRG as a State open for international integration (offener Verfassungsstaat), relying on a principle of openness towards international law (Völkerrechtsfreundlichkeit). As constitutional principles, however, both have to yield to the ‘last word’ of the Basic Law. This accounts for ambivalences which will be further scrutinized. Ambivalences will also be more closely analysed with view to the role of international law in German foreign policy. While being in general a promoter of the international rule of law and multilateralism, the FRG will rarely openly criticize States with which it has special relations and in matters of economy is often guided by national interest. These basic coordinates of (Western) German foreign policy are challenged by the ongoing search for a more visible international role after reunification in 1990. Finally, this chapter will have a look at scholarship and ask whether there is a ‘typically German’ approach to international law.