bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Flow-controlled ventilation decreases mechanical power in postoperative ICU patients
Authors: Van Oosten Julien P. , Francovich Juliette E. , Somhorst Peter , van der Zee Philip , Endeman Henrik , Gommers Diederik A. M. P. J. , Jonkman Annemijn H.
Published: March 2024

Background

Mechanical power (MP) is the energy delivered by the ventilator to the respiratory system and combines factors related to the development of ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI). Flow-controlled ventilation (FCV) is a new ventilation mode using a constant low flow during both inspiration and expiration, which is hypothesized to lower the MP and to improve ventilation homogeneity. Data demonstrating these effects are scarce, since previous studies comparing FCV with conventional controlled ventilation modes in ICU patients suffer from important methodological concerns.

Objectives

This study aims to assess the difference in MP between FCV and pressure-controlled ventilation (PCV). Secondary aims were to explore the effect of FCV in terms of minute volume, ventilation distribution and homogeneity, and gas exchange.

Methods

This is a physiological study in post-cardiothoracic surgery patients requiring mechanical ventilation in the ICU. During PCV at baseline and 90 min of FCV, intratracheal pressure, airway flow and electrical impedance tomography (EIT) were measured continuously, and hemodynamics and venous and arterial blood gases were obtained repeatedly. Pressure–volume loops were constructed for the calculation of the MP.

Results

In 10 patients, optimized FCV versus PCV resulted in a lower MP (7.7 vs. 11.0 J/min; p = 0.004). Although FCV did not increase overall ventilation homogeneity, it did lead to an improved ventilation of the dependent lung regions. A stable gas exchange at lower minute volumes was obtained.

Conclusions

FCV resulted in a lower MP and improved ventilation of the dependent lung regions in post-cardiothoracic surgery patients on the ICU.

Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT05644418. Registered 1 December 2022, retrospectively registered.
Unintended consequences: data practice in the backstage of social media
Authors: Zheng Ken
Published: March 2024

Through an ethnographic study of Chinese IT professionals who integrate a form of data culture into the digital platforms they design, maintain, and operate daily within one of China’s tech giants, this paper reveals numerous overlaps and interrelations between the data practices of Chinese IT professionals and the broader social implications that arise from them. The aim is to foster a more productive dialogue between the social studies of quantification and platform studies. This original research proposes the backstage as a potent methodology for inquiring into the role of Chinese IT professionals and domestic tech giants in advancing measuring systems and audit culture. This paper concludes by suggesting that such an approach can also be applied to wider studies of the paradox in quantification between its general claims and specific effects.
An evaluation of a public partnership project between academic institutions and young people with Black African, Asian and Caribbean heritage
Authors: Moult Alice , Knight Natalie , Medina Nathan , Babatunde Opeyemi , Kingstone Tom , Duffy Helen , Fryer Kate , Canvin Krysia , Swaithes Laura , Brading Lucy , Bray Lucy , Russell Wanda , Dziedzic Krysia
Published: March 2024

Background

This project (named Reinvent) aimed to promote Public Involvement (PI) in health research. Academics worked with a community group, the Eloquent Praise & Empowerment Dance Company, to develop a community partnership with young people from Black African, Asian and Caribbean heritage communities. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the Reinvent project for key learnings on how to engage and build partnerships with young people from Black African, Asian and Caribbean heritage communities.

Methods

Reinvent developed a steering group which consisted of five young people, one academic, a Race Equality Ambassador and the Director of Eloquent. The steering group co-produced an agenda for two workshops and the evaluation tools used. The content of the workshops included drama exercises, discussions on physical and mental health, nutrition and school-life, short introductions to the concepts of research and PI, and group work to critique and improve a video currently used to promote PI in health research to young people. The evaluation tools included using the ‘Cube’ evaluation framework, video-blogging and collecting anonymous feedback.

Findings

The responses to the ‘Cube’ evaluation framework were positive across all four domains (agenda, voice, contribute change) in both workshops. A few of the young people described having a better understanding of the meaning and practice of PI in a video-blog. The anonymous feedback suggested that the workshops had increased young people’s confidence in sharing their thoughts and opinions about health and PI.

Conclusion

Reinvent has shown that academic institutions and young people from an under-served community can partner to co-design workshops and apply evaluation tools. Working with young people in an environment in which they were comfortable, and by researchers joining in with the activities that the young people enjoyed (such as dance), enabled more informal and open conversations to develop. More work is needed to build upon this project so that young people can feel confident and supported to get involved in PI activities relating to research.
The effect of fingerprint expertise on visual short-term memory
Authors: Corbett Brooklyn J. , Tangen Jason M. , Searston Rachel A. , Thompson Matthew B.
Published: March 2024

Expert fingerprint examiners demonstrate impressive feats of memory that may support their accuracy when making high-stakes identification decisions. Understanding the interplay between expertise and memory is therefore critical. Across two experiments, we tested fingerprint examiners and novices on their visual short-term memory for fingerprints. In Experiment 1, experts showed substantially higher memory performance compared to novices for fingerprints from their domain of expertise. In Experiment 2, we manipulated print distinctiveness and found that while both groups benefited from distinctive prints, experts still outperformed novices. This indicates that beyond stimulus qualities, expertise itself enhances short-term memory, likely through more effective organisational processing and sensitivity to meaningful patterns. Taken together, these findings shed light on the cognitive mechanisms that may explain fingerprint examiners’ superior memory performance within their domain of expertise. They further suggest that training to improve memory for diverse fingerprints could practically boost examiner performance. Given the high-stakes nature of forensic identification, characterising psychological processes like memory that potentially contribute to examiner accuracy has important theoretical and practical implications.
Dietary L-Methionine modulates the gut microbiota and improves the expression of tight junctions in an in vitro model of the chicken gastrointestinal tract
Authors: Kwak Min-Jin , Kang Anna , Eor JuYoung , Ryu Sangdon , Choi Youbin , Heo Jung Min , Song Minho , Kim Jong Nam , Kim Hyeon-Jin , Kim Younghoon
Published: March 2024

Background

The poultry industry encounters a number of factors that affect growth performance and productivity; nutrition is essential for sustaining physiological status and protecting against stressors such as heat, density, and disease. The addition of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids to the diet can help restore productivity and support the body’s defense mechanisms against stress. Methionine (Met) is indispensable for poultry’s energy metabolism, physiology, performance, and feed utilization capacity. Through this study, we aimed to examine the physiological effects of methionine supplementation on poultry as well as alterations of intestinal microbiome.

Methods

We utilized the DL- and L- form of methionine on Caenorhabditis elegans and the FIMM (Fermentor for intestine microbiota model) in-vitro digesting system. A genomic-analysis of the transcriptome confirmed that methionine supplementation can modulate growth-related physiological metabolic pathways and immune responses in the host poultry. The C. elegans model was used to assess the general health benefits of a methionine supplement for the host.

Results

Regardless of the type or concentration of methionine, supplementation with methionine significantly increased the lifespan of C. elegans. Feed grade L-Methionine 95%, exhibited the highest lifespan performance in C. elegans. Methionine supplementation increased the expression of tight junction genes in the primary intestinal cells of both broiler and laying hens, which is directly related to immunity. Feed grade L-Methionine 95% performed similarly or even better than DL-Methionine or L-Methionine treatments with upper doses in terms of enhancing intestinal integrity. In vitro microbial cultures of healthy broilers and laying hens fed methionine revealed changes in intestinal microflora, including increased Clostridium, Bacteroides, and Oscillospira compositions. When laying hens were given feed grade L-Methionine 95% and 100%, pathogenic Campylobacter at the genus level was decreased, while commensal bacteria were increased.

Conclusions

Supplementation of feed grade L-Methionine, particularly L-Methionine 95%, was more beneficial to the host poultry than supplementing other source of methionine for maintaining intestinal integrity and healthy microbiome.
GNSS gyroscopes: determination of angular velocity and acceleration with very high-rate GNSS
Authors: Shi Yun , Xu Peiliang , Shu Yuanming , Meng Xiaolin
Published: March 2024

Although global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) have been routinely applied to determine attitudes, there exists no literature on determining angular velocity and/or angular acceleration from GNSS. Motivated by the invention of computerized accelerometers of the correspondence author and following the success of accurately recovering translational velocity and acceleration waveforms from very high-rate GNSS precise positioning by Xu and his collaborators in 2021, we propose the concept of GNSS gyroscopes and reconstruct angular velocity and acceleration from very high-rate GNSS attitudes by applying regularization under the criterion of minimum mean squared errors. The major results from the experiments can be summarized in the following: (i) angular velocity and acceleration waveforms computed by applying the difference methods to high-rate GNSS attitudes are too noisy and can be physically not meaningful and numerically incorrect. The same can be said about inertial measurement unit (IMU) attitudes, if IMU gyros are not of very high accuracy; (ii) regularization is successfully applied to reconstruct the high-rate angular velocity and acceleration waveforms from 50 Hz GNSS attitudes and significantly outperforms the difference methods, validating the proposed concept of GNSS gyroscopes. By comparing the angular velocity and acceleration results by using the difference methods and regularization, we find that the peak values of angular velocity and acceleration by regularization are much smaller by a maximum factor of 1.57 in the angular velocity to a maximum factor of 8662.53 times in the angular acceleration in the case of high-rate GNSS, and by a maximum factor of 1.26 in the angular velocity to a maximum factor of 2819.85 times in the angular acceleration in the case of IMU, respectively; and (iii) the IMU attitudes apparently lead to better regularized angular velocity and acceleration waveforms than the high-rate GNSS attitudes, which can well be explained by the fact that the former is of better accuracy than the latter. As a result, to suppress the significant amplification of noise in GNSS attitudes, larger regularization parameters have to be chosen for the high-rate GNSS attitudes, resulting in smaller peak angular accelerations by a maximum factor of 37.55 percent in the angular velocity to a maximum factor of 6.20 times in the angular acceleration in comparison of the corresponding IMU results. Nevertheless, the regularized angular acceleration waveforms for both GNSS and IMU look more or less similar in pattern or waveform shape.
TrichomeLess Regulator 3 is required for trichome initial and cuticle biosynthesis in Artemisia annua
Authors: Dong Boran , Xu Zihan , Wang Xingxing , Li JinXing , Xiao Ying , Huang Doudou , Lv Zongyou , Chen Wansheng
Published: March 2024

Artemisinin is primarily synthesized and stored in the subepidermal space of the glandular trichomes of Artemisia annua. The augmentation of trichome density has been demonstrated to enhance artemisinin yield. However, existing literature lacks insights into the correlation between the stratum corneum and trichomes. This study aims to unravel the involvement of TrichomeLess Regulator 3 (TLR3), which encodes the transcription factor, in artemisinin biosynthesis and its potential association with the stratum corneum. TLR3 was identified as a candidate gene through transcriptome analysis. The role of TLR3 in trichome development and morphology was investigated using yeast two-hybrid, pull-down analysis, and RNA electrophoresis mobility assay. Our research revealed that TLR3 negatively regulates trichome development. It modulates the morphology of Arabidopsis thaliana trichomes by inhibiting branching and inducing the formation of abnormal trichomes in Artemisia annua. Overexpression of the TLR3 gene disrupts the arrangement of the stratum corneum and reduces artemisinin content. Simultaneously, TLR3 possesses the capacity to regulate stratum corneum development and trichome follicle morphology by interacting with TRICHOME AND ARTEMISININ REGULATOR 1, and CycTL. Consequently, our findings underscore the pivotal role of TLR3 in the development of glandular trichomes and stratum corneum biosynthesis, thereby influencing the morphology of Artemisia annua trichomes.
All My Friends Are Trans (or Will Be Soon)
Authors: Bey Marquis
Published: March 2024

This essay makes the case that the author's friends, all of them, are or are becoming trans. Not in a way that indexes a medico-juridical demographic, but in the sense that trans as a mode of living is the grounds on which the author forges relationality. Thus it is no surprise that time and again, friends the author has long had keep consistently shifting their identifications, moving more radically in unrelation to gender, becoming, in a word, trans.
White Supremacist Submission
Authors: Foster Travis M.
Published: March 2024

Scholars tend to envision the sexual politics of settler colonialism and slavery through masculinist conceptions in which penetration designates mastery and receptiveness subjugation. This article asks instead how white desires for sexual submission to nonwhite men operate within white supremacy. It augments white trans and queer studies' conceptualizations of bottoming with theories of white submission found in Black thought, particularly Frantz Fanon and James Baldwin. And it argues that both sets of ideas find themselves anticipated in the mid-nineteenth-century writings of the white, gender-variant author Theodore Winthrop—particularly their most popular novel, Cecil Dreeme (1861). For Winthrop, bottoming desires occasion two modes of self-expression. First, they facilitate transfeminine embodiment, staging an experience of womanliness predicated on the racist contrast between their own white body and that of nonwhite men they see as exceptionally virile. Second, they allow Winthrop to imagine ways of being other than the self-possession and corporeal autonomy of white subjectivity. In both instances, Winthrop's fantasies rely on the plasticity of the white body under the influence of nonwhite men, even as they underscore the biopolitical unidirectionality of plasticity, tracing patterns in which Black, brown, and Indigenous men exert influence on whites while remaining fundamentally incapable of transformation. This history of racialized access to malleability provides a cautionary tale about the incorporative nature of whiteness and how contemporary politics of self-determination might unwittingly replicate white supremacist logics.
Girl Talk and Hold Music
Authors: Sansonetti Annie
Published: March 2024

In this article, the author visits filmmaker Wu Tsang's 2015 short film Girl Talk at the New Museum in New York. The film's documentation of a dance, the author's fieldwork in the museum, and Tsang's cinematography evidence how feminine boyhood and trans girlhood are better supported in the music, conversation, and dance of what the author calls “girlfriend performance.” Against the violence of adult-authored accounts of trans feminine childhood, this article argues that children's friends should tell the story of trans feminine childhood instead. The author examines Tsang's film for its depiction of friendship in queer and trans feminine childhood and develops a transfeminist educational theatre exercise inspired by its repertoire of conviviality—of “girl talk and hold music”—for applied theatre artists, drama educators, and art therapists working with queer and trans youth, specifically feminine boys and transgender girls, and their friends.
Urdu Receptive Language Scale (URLS): Modification & development of protocol for administration in Urdu
Authors: Butt Ghazal Awais , Mumtaz Nazia , Saqulain Ghulam
Published: March 2024

Objective: To conduct pretesting of Urdu Receptive Language Scale (URLS) for scale modification and development of protocol for administration on children.

Methods: This exploratory research was conducted from December 2021 to June 2022 in Lahore, Pakistan. Objective was achieved by pretesting in three steps including literature review, expert review and pilot testing on infants, toddlers and children aged 0-6 years utilizing purposive sampling technique. For expert review five experts’ speech language pathologists with minimum five years of experience and for pilot study 48 normal developing children age range birth to six years were recruited. The analysis was done using content validity ratio, content validity index and Cronbach alpha. Protocol for administration of test items and stimulus with minimum three correct responses among four children’s responses were finalized.

Results: Of the 59 items, 57 with CVR = 0.99 were retained. Item number 3 (age 6-11 months) and item 5 (age 3.6-3.11 years) were eliminated as CVR was <0.99. CVI was one for retained items indicating acceptable validity. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.95 indicating high level of internal consistency for the scale. Task groups of protocol of administration directions included: Selection of scale items, testing environment, seating arrangements, rapport building and involving the caregiver, handling the scale material and scoring the task responses.

Conclusion: The modified 57 items has high validity and internal consistency with suitable protocol of administration. It is linguistically appropriate for the application on larger scale with children of different cultural backgrounds in Pakistan.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40.5.7471

How to cite this: Butt GA, Mumtaz N, Saqulain G. Urdu Receptive Language Scale (URLS): Modification & development of protocol for administration in Urdu. Pak J Med Sci. 2024;40(5):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40.5.7471

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
ANCA-associated systemic vasculitis initially mimicking peripheral neuropathy in an elderly woman
Authors: He Xiaojie , Wang Yaqing , Li Xiaodong
Published: March 2024

Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA)-associated systemic vasculitis (AASV) is a rare systemic immunological condition that predominantly impacts small arteries, veins, and capillaries, often leading to kidney damage and pulmonary injury. It is important to note that individuals primarily presenting with peripheral neuropathy (PN) are uncommon in AASV, which can result in significant misdiagnosis or undiagnosed cases. The severity and location of PN can vary among patients. In this article, we present a case of an AASV patient initially showing signs of PN. This case highlights the significance of considering AASV as a potential cause of unexplained neurological symptoms. Timely identification and proper treatment are essential for improving the survival rate and functional prognosis of AASV patients.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40.5.9070

How to cite this: He X, Wang Y, Li X. ANCA-associated systemic vasculitis initially mimicking peripheral neuropathy in an elderly woman. Pak J Med Sci. 2024;40(5):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40.5.9070

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The influence and interpretation of the work of Karl Marx in the Japanese economic thought of the early 20th century
Authors: Γκουνγκόρ Φίλις-Μαρία
Published: March 2024

Η παρούσα μελέτη εστιάζει στην επιρροή του Μαρξισμού στην ιαπωνική οικονομική σκέψη, στις αρχές του 20ου αιώνα. Ο Μαρξισμός υπήρξε ιδιαίτερα επιδραστικός στην ανάπτυξη της ιαπωνικής οικονομικής σκέψης κατά την περίοδο που μελετάται και πολλοί ήταν οι στοχαστές που αναζήτησαν σε αυτόν λύσεις στα προβλήματα που ανέκυπταν στη χώρα. Η Ιαπωνία, έχοντας ανοίξει τα σύνορά της μόλις το 1856, βρέθηκε κατά την εποχή Μέιτζι (1868-1912) να γνωρίζει ραγδαίες κοινωνικές, πολιτικές και οικονομικές αλλαγές, αλλά και προκλήσεις, οι οποίες έγιναν ιδιαίτερα εμφανείς κατά τι; περιόδους Τάισο (1912-1926) και Σόουα (1926-1989). Στο πλαίσιο αυτό, οι στοχαστές καταπιάστηκαν με ένα μεγάλο εύρος θεμάτων, παράγοντας αναλύσεις υψηλού θεωρητικού επιπέδου. Η έρευνα εξετάζει κάποια από τα επιχειρήματα που αναπτύχθηκαν στο πλαίσιο τριών ευρύτερων θεματικών. Η πρώτη αφορά τα επιχειρήματα που αναπτύχθηκαν στο πλαίσιο της λεγόμενης «Διαμάχης για τον ιαπωνικό καπιταλισμό», η οποία έλαβε χώρα στα τέλη της δεκαετίας του 1920 και συνεχίστηκε τα χρόνια της δεκαετίας του 1930. Η Διαμάχη θεωρείται το αποκορύφωμά της προπολεμικής μαρξιστικής ιαπωνικής οικονομικής σκέψης. Η δεύτερη θεματική αναφέρεται στην προσπάθεια κάποιων στοχαστών να συνδέσουν την ηθική με τον Μαρξισμό. Βασική φιγούρα εδώ είναι ο Καουακάμι Χάτζιμε, ο οποίος θεωρώντας τον εαυτό του ως έναν «ιδιαίτερο μαρξιστή», προσπάθησε να αναλύσει τη μαρξιστική θεωρία, αποδεχόμενος ταυτοχρόνως την ύπαρξη αυτού που ονόμαζε «θρησκευτική αλήθεια». Τέλος, η τρίτη θεματική αφορά το «Εθνικό Πρόβλημα» (The National Question), το οποίο αναλύεται κυρίως από τα παραδείγματα των Τακαχάσι Καμέκίτσι και Τακάμπατάκε Μοτογιούκι. Οι δύο αυτοί στοχαστές ανέπτυξαν τις θεωρίες τους, οι οποίες παρουσιάζουν εθνικιστικά στοιχεία, βασιζόμενοι σε πτυχές της μαρξιστικής θεωρίας. Πέρα από αυτά τα ζητήματα, η έρευνα παρουσιάζει μια σύντομη συγκριτική μελέτη των παραδειγμάτων της Ιαπωνία και της Πολωνίας. Η διάδοση του μαρξισμού στις δύο χώρες, και η «ομοιότητα» των προκλήσεων (οικονομικών, εθνικών, κοινωνικών και πολιτικών) που οι δύο χώρες καλούνταν να αντιμετωπίσουν κατά την περίοδο μελέτης, κάνει μια τέτοια ανάλυση δυνατή.
Το θρησκευτικό προσκύνημα ως τουριστική εμπειρία
Authors: Τσόρβας Παρασκευάς-Ισίδωρος
Published: March 2024

H παρούσα διδακτορική διατριβήμε τίτλο «Το θρησκευτικό προσκύνημα ως τουριστική εμπειρία» έχει ως αντικειμενικό σκοπότη θεωρητική διερεύνηση και την εμπειρική εκτίμηση του θρησκευτικού προσκυνήματος ως εμπειρίας,προκειμένου να εκτιμηθεί ο βαθμός συμβολής του στην τουριστική ανάπτυξη της Ελλάδας. Με βάση τον κύριο στόχο της έρευνας, σε θεωρητικό επίπεδο εξετάστηκαν, η προβληματική του θρησκευτικού προσκυνήματος στην τουριστική βιβλιογραφία, η εμπειριοκρατική θεώρηση της ανάπτυξης του θρησκευτικού τουρισμού στην Ελλάδα και διεθνώς, η οριοθέτηση της θρησκευτικής εμπειρία ως κίνητρο, καθώς οι προσδιοριστικοί παράγοντες και η δομή της θρησκευτικής και προσκυνηματικής εμπειρίας. Σε εμπειρικό επίπεδο, διεξήχθη έρευναμε τη χρήση κατάλληλα δομημένου ερωτηματολογίου που απευθύνθηκε σε φορείς της εκκλησιαστικής κοινότητας για να διερευνηθεί η συμβολήτης προσκυνηματικής εμπειρίας στην ανάπτυξη του θρησκευτικού της Ελλάδας. Από την εκτίμηση των αποτελεσμάτων της έρευνας, προέκυψε ότι η προσκυνηματική εμπειρία ως κίνητρο είναι ένας βασικός παράγοντας που μπορεί να συμβάλει στην ανάπτυξη του θρησκευτικού τουρισμού στην Ελλάδα και να προσφέρει οικονομικά, κοινωνικά, πολιτιστικά και περιβαλλοντικά οφέλη. Η συνεργασία μεταξύ των φορέων (εκκλησία, τουριστική βιομηχανία, ΟΤΑ) είναι ο καμβάς που μπορεί να στηριχτεί η ανάπτυξη του θρησκευτικού τουρισμού για δημιουργία προστιθέμενης αξίας σε τοπικό και περιφερειακό επίπεδο. Τα αποτελέσματα του εμπειρικού πλαισίου,σε συνδυασμό με τα συμπεράσματα του θεωρητικού υπόβαθρου, αναδεικνύουν τον σημαντικό ρόλο της προσκυνηματικής εμπειρίας στην αναπτυξιακή διαδικασία, η οποία οδηγεί στη διαμόρφωση πλαισίου προτάσεων τουριστικής πολιτικής για την ανάπτυξη του θρησκευτικού τουρισμού στην Ελλάδα. Η συνεισφορά της παρούσας διατριβής στην ερευνητική κοινότητα εντοπίζεται στη χρήση μιας συνδυαστικής προσέγγισης που σχετίζεται με τη διερεύνηση του ρόλου της προσκυνηματικής εμπειρίας ως τουριστικό κίνητρο που μπορεί να συμβάλλει στην περαιτέρω τουριστική ανάπτυξη της Ελλάδας.
Effect of dairy based food ingredients on the gut microbiota of older consumers
Authors: Ντεμίρη Αλεξάνδρα
Published: March 2024

Το ποσοστό του παγκόσμιου πληθυσμού που είναι άνω των 60 ετών αυξάνεται συνεχώς. Στον γηραιό πληθυσμό οι μη-μεταδοτικές ασθένειες και η φθίνουσα ποιότητα των γνωστικών ικανοτήτων είναι συχνά φαινόμενα, καθώς και η κακή ποιότητα διατροφής και διατροφικών συνηθειών. Αυτά έχουν σημαντικές αρνητικές επιπτώσεις στην ποιότητα ζωής του γηραιού πληθυσμού και ασκούν πίεση στα εθνικά συστήματα υγείας. Στα γηραιά άτομα παρατηρείται συχνά έλλειψη σε συγκεκριμένα διατροφικά στοιχεία όπως βιταμίνες και πρωτεΐνες και αυτό συνδέεται με άνοια, μειωμένη μυϊκή και οστική μάζα, σαρκοπενία (sarcopenia) καθώς και το σύνδρομο αδυναμίας (frailty syndrome). Πολλές έρευνες δείχνουν τη σημασία της διατροφής στη διαχείριση της κακής ποιότητας υγείας που συνδέεται με το γήρας. Την τελευταία δεκαετία έχει αυξηθεί σημαντικά η επιστημονική γνώση γύρω από τον εντερικό μικροβιόκοσμο (gut microbiota) και τη σημασία του στην υγεία. Οι μεταβολές στη σύνθεση και τη βιοποικιλότητα των μικροοργανισμών στον εντερικό μικροβιόκοσμο που παρατηρούνται σε γηραιούς ανθρώπους και σε σύγκριση με νέους και υγιείς, έχουν συνδεθεί με μειωμένη υγεία και με το σύνδρομο αδυναμίας. Ο εντερικός μικροβιόκοσμος αποτελεί στόχο για θεραπευτικές παρεμβάσεις ώστε να βελτιστοποιηθεί η ποιότητα υγείας σε γηραιά άτομα. Οι θεραπευτικές παρεμβάσεις μέσω εντερικού μικροβιόκοσμου περιλαμβάνουν τη χρήση πρεβιοτικών (prebiotics), προβιοτικών (probiotics) και βακτηριοθεραπειών με ζωντανά βακτήρια (live bacteriotherapeutics). Η διατροφή έχει καθοριστική επίδραση στον εντερικό μικροβιόκοσμο και μπορεί να οδηγήσει σε θετικές μεταβολές στην υγεία. Στο ερευνητικό πρόγραμμα ElderFood ερευνήσαμε την πρεβιοτική ικανότητα του γάλακτος και στοιχείων απομονωμένων από το γάλα και την ικανότητά τους να οδηγούν σε θετικές αλλαγές στον εντερικό μικροβιόκοσμο γηραιών ατόμων, υγειών ή με σαρκοπενία. Με τη χρήση μοντέλων ζύμωσης του παχέος εντέρου (in vitro and in vivo colon models), ερευνήθηκε σε βάθος η επίδραση στον εντερικό μικροβιόκοσμο γηραιών ατόμων του γλυκομακροπεπτιδίου (GMP), ενός πεπτιδίου του γάλακτος που περιέχει γλυκάνες (mucin-type glycans) και του γάλακτος με ή χωρίς λακτόζη. Επιπλέον, ερευνήθηκε η επίδραση διατροφικών καταλοίπων πλούσιων σε φυτικές ίνες και πολυφαινόλες στον εντερικό μικροβιόκοσμο και σε τεχνητές βακτηριακές κοινότητες. Η χρήση τεχνητών βακτηριακών κοινοτήτων από απομονωμένα βακτήρια του εντέρου αποτελεί σύγχρονο εργαλείο μελέτης του εντερικού μικροβιόκοσμου που επιτρέπει τη διερεύνηση της δυναμικής μεταξύ των βακτηρίων του εντέρου.
Study protocol for supplementation of single high dose Vitamin D in deficient critically ill children and assessment of their short-term outcome: An open label randomized control trial
Authors: Vagha Keta , Lohiya Sham , Vagha Jayant , Vagha Sunita , Taksande Amar , Chaudhary Richa
Published: March 2024

Vitamin D, traditionally linked to bone metabolism, plays pleotropic roles in cellular regulation. In critically ill children, Vitamin D deficiency is associated with adverse outcomes, motivating our open-label Randomized Control Trial. Our aim is to assess short-term outcomes in Vitamin D-deficient critically ill children following a single high oral dose. Conducted at a central Indian tertiary care hospital with a sample size of 100, participants aged 1 month to 18 years will be randomized. Group A receives standard treatment with customary cholecalciferol dosing, while Group B receives standard treatment with a single high oral/nasogastric tube dose (10,000 IU/kg to 400,000 IU) of Vitamin D. Outcomes include PICU stay duration, mechanical ventilation period, occurrences of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia and Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infection, instances of Acute Kidney Injury, presence of Multiorgan dysfunction, maximum Vasoactive-Inotrope Score, and mortality rates. Results and interpretation will be guided by study observations. Trial registration: CTRI/2022/10/046556.
The effect of manual therapy on diaphragm function in adults with asthma: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Tsimouris Dimitrios , Grammatopoulou Eirini , Papandreou Maria , Gioftsos George , Koumantakis George
Published: March 2024

Background Diaphragm dysfunction is prevalent among individuals with asthma due to lung hyperinflation and hyperventilation in asthma paroxysm. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of the manual diaphragm release technique (MDRT) on diaphragm function in individuals with asthma. Methods Adults with diagnosed stable asthma (n = 24), will be recruited from the General Hospital of Kifissia “Agioi Anargyroi” in Athens, Greece. The volunteers who meet the inclusion criteria will be randomly allocated to two groups: (a) the experimental group (n = 12) that will receive 12 sessions of MDRT in conjunction with breathing retraining exercises (BRE), and (b) the control group (n = 12) that will receive 12 sessions of BRE. Measurements will occur at three time points: before the initiation of treatment sessions (week 0), followed by 12 treatment sessions (week 6), and three months from the beginning of the trial (week 12). The main outcomes will be the diaphragm excursion (ultrasonography) and chest expansion (inch tape), with secondary outcomes the maximal respiratory pressures (digital pressure manometer), dysfunctional breathing (Nijmegen questionnaire), asthma control (ACT), dyspnea (Borg scale) and quality of life (SF-12v2). Discussion The proposed protocol is the first to examine the effectiveness of MRDT on diaphragm’s function in individuals with asthma. Manual Therapy (MT) is a low-cost alternative and supplementary therapy to standard treatment procedures that might improve the biomechanics of respiration in pulmonary rehabilitation. Trial Registration Registered on Clinical Trials.gov (ID: NCT05709054) Protocol version 29/09/2023
The genome sequence of the John Dory, Zeus faber Linnaeus, 1758
Authors: Adkins Patrick , Harley Joanna , Brittain Rachel , Scott-Somme Kesella , Azzopardi Freja ,   Marine Biological Association Genome Acquisition Lab,   Darwin Tree of Life Barcoding collective,   Wellcome Sanger Institute Tree of Life Management, Samples and Laboratory team,   Wellcome Sanger Institute Scientific Operations: Sequencing Operations,   Wellcome Sanger Institute Tree of Life Core Informatics team,   Tree of Life Core Informatics collective,   Darwin Tree of Life Consortium
Published: March 2024

We present a genome assembly from an individual Zeus faber (the John Dory; Chordata; Actinopteri; Zeiformes; Zeidae). The genome sequence is 804.7 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 22 chromosomal pseudomolecules. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 16.72 kilobases in length.
New records of host plants of Bactrocera carambolae Drew & Hancock, 1994 (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Authors: Costa José Victor Torres Alves , Paes Jefferson Luiz de Aguiar , Souza Luiz Augusto Copati , Peters Patricia , McWatt Paul Michael , Van Sauers-Muller Alies , Sousa Maria do Socorro Miranda de , Adaime Ricardo
Published: March 2024

Specimens of Bactrocera carambolae Drew & Hancock, 1994 (Diptera: Tephritidae) were obtained from fruits of Averrhoa bilimbi L., Averrhoa carambola L. (Oxalidaceae), Malpighia emarginata DC. (Malpighiaceae), and Psidium guajava L. (Myrtaceae), from a survey carried out in Lethem, Republic of Guyana. This is the first record of B. carambolae in A. bilimbi, M. emarginata and P. guajava in the country.
Do Sellers Benefit from Sponsored Product Listings? Evidence from an Online Marketplace
Authors: Joo Mingyu , Shi Jiaqi , Abhishek Vibhanshu
Published: March 2024

This paper shows that consumers prefer organic listings in the top-ranked positions to sponsored listings of the same product/position in an online marketplace.
Designing Sparse Graphs for Stochastic Matching with an Application to Middle-Mile Transportation Management
Authors: Feng Yifan , Caldentey René , Xin Linwei , Zhong Yuan , Wang Bing , Hu Haoyuan
Published: March 2024

Given an input graph [Formula: see text], we consider the problem of designing a sparse subgraph [Formula: see text] with [Formula: see text] that supports a large matching after some nodes in V are randomly deleted. We study four families of sparse graph designs (namely, clusters, rings, chains, and Erdős–Rényi graphs) and show both theoretically and numerically that their performance is close to the optimal one achieved by a complete graph. Our interest in the stochastic sparse graph design problem is primarily motivated by a collaboration with a leading e-commerce retailer in the context of its middle-mile delivery operations. We test our theoretical results using real data from our industry partner and conclude that adding a little flexibility to the routing network can significantly reduce transportation costs.

This paper was accepted by David Simchi-Levi, optimization.

Funding: This work was supported by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, an Alibaba Cainiao Research Grant, and the Singapore Ministry of Education [NUS Startup Grant WBS A-0003856-00-00].

Supplemental Material: Data and the online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.01588 .
Lifting winter spirits: how to get through the dark months
Authors: Newson Pauline
Published: March 2024

Winter is a time of seasonal celebrations but can be a time of lowered energy for some. Pauline Newson looks at ways that people can help care home residents to find meaning and enhance their lives and environments.
UMA PROPOSTA DE SEQUÊNCIA DIDÁTICA SOBRE SEMICONDUTORES BASEADA NOS MOMENTOS PEDAGÓGICOS DE ANGOTTI E DELIZOICOV
Authors: Rodrigues de Souza Diego , Silva de Souza Regina Célia , Castanheira da Silva Marcelo
Published: March 2024

Com o intuito de inserir discussões sobre tópicos de Física Moderna e Contemporânea no terceiro ano do ensino médio, o trabalho que se descortinará à frente é uma sequência didática de dois encontros sobre semicondutores alicerçada na metodologia dos Três Momentos Pedagógicos de Delizoicov e Angotti (1990): problematização inicial, organização do conhecimento e aplicação do conhecimento. O momento de problematização inicial está ancorado no cenário da troca de lâmpadas convencionais por lâmpadas de diodo emissor de luz (LED) em espaços públicos de uma cidade brasileira, tendo em conta o impacto da diminuição do consumo de energia elétrica, algo que proporciona questões norteadoras que tocam as características, o modelo da física que ajuda a explicar o comportamento, os tipos possíveis e outras aplicações tecnológicas dos materiais semicondutores. No momento de organização do conhecimento, abordamos os seguintes conteúdos para tratar a situação-problema e responder a questionamentos propostos inicialmente: a classificação dos materiais sólidos quanto à condutividade, a história e as características básicas dos materiais semicondutores, o modelo de estrutura de bandas de energia, os semicondutores intrínsecos, extrínsecos dos tipos  e  e a junção PN, o comportamento fotoemissivo dos semicondutores e aplicações tecnológicas dos materiais semicondutores. No derradeiro momento da aula, o de aplicação do conhecimento, propomos uma discussão embasada cientificamente, em forma de revisão do conteúdo, dos questionamentos tomados como problematização inicial e a resolução de uma lista de exercícios de fixação.
Japanese Peacekeeping Operations: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Authors: Song Young-sun
Published: March 2024

Abstract: The end of the cold war opened up new opportunities for the United Nations, through international peacekeeping, to exercise greater responsibility for the maintenance of international security. Thus, the UN has been increasing its demands on member-states to provide economic and humanitarian resources as well as dispatch troops for peacekeeping operations (PKO). Japan’s interest in PKO actually dates from its UN membership in 1956. This interest has evolved into an aspiration to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council. The Gulf War provided Japan with an impetus and momentum to break out of its psychological cocoon and constitutional restraints, and dispatch its troops overseas for the first time since the Second World War. This decision was the result of a painful and time-consuming process because of the complications posed by policy divergencies, the constitutional barrier, and issues of public support. However, for Japan, the decision has now become the foundation of efforts to realize a cherished dream—to ascend to permanent membership on the Security Council. This article begins by sketching the history of Japan’s involvement in UN PKO. The constitutionality of the International Peace Cooperation Law (or “PKO Law”) is analyzed. Domestic and external factors affecting Japan’s participation in PKO are examined next. Finally, the article explores Japan’s contributions to PKO in order to consider the nature and direction of its future involvement in international peacekeeping.
Biological Weapons, International Sanctions and Proliferation
Authors: Leitenberg Milton
Published: March 2024

Abstract: This paper discusses three interrelated issues that would manifest the international community’s interest and willingness to reverse biological-weapons proliferation. It urges serious international sanctions against: (1) any instance of the use of biological weapons, (2) violation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, and (3) false allegations of biological-weapon use. At the end of 1997, not only is biological-weapons proliferation a growing problem; the credibility of the United Nations Security Council to maintain and enforce its own sanctions in the face of clear and unquestioned violations is in doubt. Even in the case of the Security Council’s sanctions against Iraq, for several years now three of the five permanent members have been unwilling to enforce the sanctions, and have even favored their being discontinued. At this point it is not clear if the greater of the two problems is maintaining the integrity and the credibility of the UN Security Council, or seeing to it that Iraq does not reestablish all of its programs of weapons of mass destruction, in contravention of the UN’s 1991 resolutions.
Labor Reform of State Enterprises in Post-Mao China (1978–1995)
Authors: Lee Jung-Hee
Published: March 2024

Abstract: The paper will, first, describe post-Mao labor legislation and its outcomes. Second, it will seek to offer a causal interpretation of these outcomes through a state-centered perspective. The main hypothesis is that despite labor reforms of 1978 to 1995, due to the limited autonomy and capacity of the central government, the labor reforms themselves have not brought about a radical change to the employment system in state enterprises, in comparison to rural reforms. The autonomy of the central government is high as evidenced in the turn-around of policies. However; there exist some limits to the government autonomy. One important limit is the fear of negative reactions by workers. The limits to the capacity of the central government consist in the difficulty of creating an alternative system of social provision, independent of state enterprises, and the difficulty of limiting the potential new system to privileged workers without provoking negative reactions.
Building Research Networks in the Asia-Pacific Region as a Basis for Academic Cooperation
Authors: McGee T. G.
Published: March 2024

Abstract: The article argues that the new era of globalization provides a new setting in which electronic networks of research units in the countries of the Asia-Pacific provide the most logical research framework for investigating regional issues. Five major research areas that reflect globalization are outlined: the logic of the new regionalism; the interactive aspects of the new Asia-Pacific, such as communications; the tension between nation-states and the new forces of globalism; the new “network landscape” focused upon the main “gateway nodes” of the region; and the nexus of food, population, environment, and energy.
Environmental Problems and the Energy Sector in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
Authors: Von Hippel David F. , Hayes Peter
Published: March 2024

Abstract: The quality of human life depends intimately on the quality of the ecological system and environment in which we live. In many ways, the local and regional environment in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is currently at risk. These risks arise from human activities, often compounded by the effects of natural disasters such as the floods of 1995 and 1996. Although the environmental problems faced by the DPRK are hardly unique, the combination of the DPRK’s political and economic isolation, the current weakness of its economy, its longstanding juche philosophy, and its dependence on coal as an energy source make the potential impacts of environmental problems on the quality of life for North Koreans quite serious. Environmental problems in the DPRK can be divided into global and regional problems. This paper provides estimates of selected environmental impacts of energy sector activities based on conditions in 1990 and 1996, as well as estimates for the years 2000 and 2005, under two scenarios of energy and economic development in the DPRK. A discussion of potential environmental management strategies is also provided. There are many opportunities for regional cooperation to assist the DPRK in addressing its environmental problems and South Korea has a special role and interest in assisting the DPRK in these matters.
The Politics of China’s Population Growth
Authors: Ma Jisen
Published: March 2024

Abstract: This article reviews the significant changes taking place in the Chinese population, and the politics behind high and low population growth rates. Before 1949, both the birth rate and the mortality rate were high; the annual increase rate was 2.6 per thousand between 1840–1949. The situation changed after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) came to power. War diminished and the living conditions of the people improved somewhat, which resulted in a transformation of the model of the population to one of high birth rate, low mortality rate, and high growth rate. The total population on the mainland increased from 540 million to 892 million from 1949 to 1973. This drastic increase resulted from a policy pursued by the Mao Zedong regime that relied on a large number of workers to achieve its political goals. Ma Yinchu, an economist who advised on family planning policy, was persecuted. In 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward, trying to push production upward by highlighting political and class struggle. The campaign led to widespread famine with abnormal deaths in the tens of millions, followed by a sharp increase of births. Not until the 1970s did China begin earnestly to implement a national policy of family planning. After carrying out the policy for more than 20 years, China has checked the drastic growth of the population and realized a population reproduction model of low birth rate, low mortality rate, and low growth rate. The policy has played an important role in the improvement of the living conditions of the Chinese people, ensuring much larger production per capita. Based on scientific investigations, China plans to keep its population within 1.6 billion by 2050 or even earlier. The population issue has been included in China’s socioeconomic development project. The people are encouraged to “have fewer births for more rapid improvement of welfare.” Now the Chinese government is striving for a sustainable development of both the population and the economy.
Sino-Russian Confidence-Building Measures: A Preliminary Analysis
Authors: Yuan Jing-dong
Published: March 2024

Abstract: The recently concluded Sino-Russian agreements on resolving border disputes and on force reductions provide an interesting case study of how confidence-building measures (CBMs), both as a process and as outcomes of bilateral negotiations between former adversaries, can contribute to regional security and stability. Sino-Russian CBMs, while incorporating many of the features of the European model, are nevertheless unique in their development. Their integration into the security framework has been facilitated by an overall improving bilateral politico-economic relationship and the political commitments from the two countries’ top leadership. The evolution of these CBMs has been marked by incrementalism, informality, and unilateral asymmetric disarmament on the part of the Soviet Union/Russia. The longer-term test of their tenacity will probably depend on future developments in the Sino-Russian political relationship—a relationship that, for the time being, remains one of convenience and is based on short-term interests.
Max Weber and the Two Universities
Authors: Turner Stephen
Published: March 2024

Abstract: A set of events, long term trends, and internal conflicts has come to a head in the recent controversy over the Harvard President, the university's political role, and academic freedom. These raise questions about the traditional model of the vocation of scholarship and the role of the professor, and specifically about the continued relevance of the picture Weber himself famously presented. A recent book by Wendy Brown makes the case for a new model of 'responsibility' which reflects the idea that the role of the professor should be to kindle the 'desire' for a just and sustainable future through critique. The method of genealogy is presented as the means for both identifying harms resulting from usual practices and showing their historical contingency and thus the promise of their radical reform. This would represent the new 'responsibility' that notions of academic freedom conflict with and which the traditional scholar fails to fulfill. But the idea of radical contingency also conflicts with the Weberian idea that historical processes are intelligible and that the proper role of the professor is to clarify value-choices and identify their this-worldly implications without imposing them. Is this outdated? And is there a role for the traditional scholar in the purpose-oriented university?