bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
In vivo activity of WCK 4282 (high-dose cefepime/tazobactam) against serine β-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the neutropenic murine thigh infection model
Authors: Gill Christian M , Abdelraouf Kamilia , Nicolau David P
Published: December 2020

Objectives

WCK 4282, high-dose cefepime/tazobactam, possesses potent in vitro activity against Gram-negative organisms including ESBL- and cephalosporinase-harbouring strains. The purpose of this evaluation was to investigate the in vivo activity of human-simulated exposures of WCK 4282 against serine-β-lactamase-harbouring Enterobacterales and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Methods

Nineteen clinical isolates were evaluated (ESBL/cephalosporinase producers, n = 8 Escherichia coli, n = 4 P. aeruginosa; KPC producers, n = 3 Klebsiella pneumoniae, n = 1 Klebsiella aerogenes; OXA-48/181 producers, n = 2 K. pneumoniae, n = 1 E. coli). WCK 4282 MICs ranged from 4 to 32 mg/L compared with 16 to >128 mg/L for cefepime. Thigh-infected neutropenic mice received cefepime, WCK 4282 or sham control over 24 h prior to harvest. Cefepime and tazobactam dosing regimens produced plasma profiles of fAUC, fT>MIC and fCmax similar to human exposure after WCK 4282 2/2 g every 8 h (1.5 h infusion).

Results

Bacterial burdens (log10 cfu/thigh) were 5.81 ± 0.36 at 0 h and 9.29 ± 0.88 at 24 h in untreated controls. WCK 4282 produced potent activity against ESBL/cephalosporinase-producing strains with WCK 4282 MIC ≤16 mg/L; mean changes in log10 cfu/thigh from 0 h were −1.70 ± 0.77 and +1.86 ± 2.03 log10 cfu/thigh for WCK 4282 and cefepime human-simulated regimens, respectively. WCK 4282 produced variable activity against serine-carbapenemase-harbouring isolates. For the KPC-harbouring strains, WCK 4282 produced bacteriostasis with a mean −0.1 ± 0.61 log10 cfu/thigh. Against OXA-48/181-harbouring isolates, WCK 4282 produced a range of change in bacterial burden of −1.23 ± 0.33 to +1.04 ± 0.7 log10 cfu/thigh.

Conclusions

Human-simulated exposures of WCK 4282 produced in vivo efficacy against ESBL/cephalosporinase-producing, piperacillin/tazobactam- and ceftolozane/tazobactam-non-susceptible Enterobacterales and P. aeruginosa. These findings support further development of this combination as a carbapenem-sparing agent.
Secular Dreams and Myths of Irreligion: On the Political Control of Religion in Public Bioethics
Authors: Goss Boaz W , Bishop Jeffrey P
Published: December 2020

Full-Blooded religion is not acceptable in mainstream bioethics. This article excavates the cultural history that led to the suppression of religion in bioethics. Bioethicists typically fall into one of the following camps. 1) The irreligious, who advocate for suppressing religion, as do Timothy F. Murphy, Sam Harris, and Richard Dawkins. This irreligious camp assumes American Fundamentalist Protestantism is the real substance of all religions. 2) Religious bioethicists, who defend religion by emphasizing its functions and diminishing its metaphysical commitments. Religious defenders empty religion of its theology to present its feel-good functions in a way that is acceptable to the irreligious. However, religion reduced to its functions dissolves into a counter-culture that may counteract materialism but lacks the power to motivate much more. This article criticizes both camps, as both presume Enlightenment myths and consequently neuter religion. Both irreligious and religious bioethicists commonly presume Enlightenment myths about secularity and religion. Secularity is presumed neutral and rational. Religion is presumed divisive and irrational. This myth provides built-in value-judgements; we have already judged secularity as good and religion as bad. Much of the debate over religion in bioethics is arguing over false stereotypes of religion. Consequently, mainstream bioethics neuters religion, while the irreligious are gifted political power to define the field.
Using Prediction Models to Reduce Persistent Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Draft 2020 USPSTF Lung Cancer Screening Guidelines
Authors: Landy Rebecca , Young Corey D , Skarzynski Martin , Cheung Li C , Berg Christine D , Rivera M Patricia , Robbins Hilary A , Chaturvedi Anil K , Katki Hormuzd A
Published: December 2020

We examined whether draft 2020 United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) lung cancer screening recommendations “partially ameliorate racial disparities in screening eligibility” compared with the 2013 guidelines, as claimed. Using data from the 2015 National Health Interview Survey, USPSTF-2020 increased eligibility by similar proportions for minorities (97.1%) and Whites (78.3%). Contrary to the intent of USPSTF-2020, the relative disparity (differences in percentages of model-estimated gainable life-years from National Lung Screening Trial–like screening by eligible Whites vs minorities) actually increased from USPSTF-2013 to USPSTF-2020 (African Americans: 48.3%–33.4% = 15.0% to 64.5%–48.5% = 16.0%; Asian Americans: 48.3%–35.6% = 12.7% to 64.5%–45.2% = 19.3%; Hispanic Americans: 48.3%–24.8% = 23.5% to 64.5%–37.0% = 27.5%). However, augmenting USPSTF-2020 with high-benefit individuals selected by the Life-Years From Screening with Computed Tomography (LYFS-CT) model nearly eliminated disparities for African Americans (76.8%–75.5% = 1.2%) and improved screening efficiency for Asian and Hispanic Americans, although disparities were reduced only slightly (Hispanic Americans) or unchanged (Asian Americans). The draft USPSTF-2020 guidelines increased the number of eligible minorities vs USPSTF-2013 but may inadvertently increase racial and ethnic disparities. LYFS-CT could reduce disparities in screening eligibility by identifying ineligible people with high predicted benefit regardless of race and ethnicity.
Common carotid to vertebral artery bypass to facilitate endovascular treatment of a basilar artery aneurysm
Authors: Senanayake Tharindu , Kader Imran , Miteff Ferdinand , Deshpande Arvind
Published: December 2020

Large posterior circulation intracranial aneurysms have a high risk of significant morbidity or mortality if left unmanaged. Endovascular techniques are well established as primary treatment for such aneurysms. This includes placement of endovascular flow diversion stents that result in progressive thrombosis and resolution of aneurysms. Successful stent placement is reliant on suitable cervical vascular access. We report a case of a 60-year-old male without direct vertebral artery access to a fusiform basilar artery aneurysm. Successful endovascular treatment required a novel hybrid technique utilizing a right common carotid to V3 segment vertebral arterial bypass to gain endovascular access to the aneurysm.
Educating the China-Born: Colonial Cosmopolitanism in Shanghai’s Schools for Settler Children, 1870–1943
Authors: Ladds Catherine
Published: December 2020

By the 1920s, the schools of the Shanghai Municipal Council aimed to teach “China-born” children, whose upbringing in the International Settlement’s littoral milieu meant they were in danger of becoming deracinated and déclassé, how to be both productive Shanghailanders and imperial Britons. Whereas the history of colonial education is often considered in national, imperial, or exclusionary terms, Shanghai’s schools for foreign children instead shaped and responded to understandings of education that were multinational, local, and reluctantly inclusionary. Through an exploration of the council’s education policies, the ideologies of childhood that governed admissions decisions, and the ways in which graduates of these schools employed their education professionally and politically, this article contends that the political and demographic features of the colonial periphery shaped alternative visions of imperial Britishness that went beyond nation and empire. As this case study makes clear, discussion of these British spaces overseas should be anchored in specific social, spatial, and political conditions rather than analysis of “sentiment” alone. Colonial ideologies of childhood and the ways in which it was produced by the educational experience were central to these articulations of a cosmopolitan Britishness that could be sustained beyond the boundaries of British territory by social and cultural institutions such as schools. In Shanghai, young settlers, and especially mixed-race “Eurasian” children, who together embodied both elite fears about racial and cultural degeneration and also their hopes of cultivating a firmly rooted settler society, were at the center of debates about community identity, status, and cohesion.
Conserving native trees increases native bird diversity and community composition on commercial office developments
Authors: Dyson Karen
Published: December 2020

In cities, woody vegetation provides critical shelter, nesting and foraging habitat for bird species of interest. Human actions—including development and landscaping choices—determine vegetation community composition and structure, making these choices critically important to urban bird conservation. A better understanding of how bird communities are impacted by parcel-scale actions can help guide policy and management best practices to improve matrix habitat quality and quantity. Here, I examined how bird habitat use varies along a vegetation gradient created by different development and landscaping choices. I surveyed 20 commercial office developments near Seattle in the Puget Trough region of Washington, USA selected using stratified random sampling, where I quantified bird communities and observed feeding behavior. I used GLMM and PERMANOVA models with data likelihood metrics to identify the best supported variables for bird site use, along with TITAN models to identify changes in community composition along environmental gradients. I found that measures of bird effective species richness and bird community are positively influenced by the presence of more native conifers, including the presence of a stand predating development and the height and density of native conifers. Measures of the native bird community are negatively influenced by higher non-native tree density. In contrast to prior research, top-down landscape-scale variables did not explain variation in measures of the bird community on office developments. Importantly, I found that birds are associated with the same habitat on office developments as observed elsewhere. Together, my findings suggest an important role for developers, land owners, landscape architects, and tree protection policy in bird conservation.
The hypoxia–reoxygenation stress in plants
Authors: León José , Castillo Mari Cruz , Gayubas Beatriz
Published: December 2020

Plants are very plastic in adapting growth and development to changing adverse environmental conditions. This feature will be essential for plants to survive climate changes characterized by extreme temperatures and rainfall. Although plants require molecular oxygen (O2) to live, they can overcome transient low-O2 conditions (hypoxia) until return to standard 21% O2 atmospheric conditions (normoxia). After heavy rainfall, submerged plants in flooded lands undergo transient hypoxia until water recedes and normoxia is recovered. The accumulated information on the physiological and molecular events occurring during the hypoxia phase contrasts with the limited knowledge on the reoxygenation process after hypoxia, which has often been overlooked in many studies in plants. Phenotypic alterations during recovery are due to potentiated oxidative stress generated by simultaneous reoxygenation and reillumination leading to cell damage. Besides processes such as N-degron proteolytic pathway-mediated O2 sensing, or mitochondria-driven metabolic alterations, other molecular events controlling gene expression have been recently proposed as key regulators of hypoxia and reoxygenation. RNA regulatory functions, chromatin remodeling, protein synthesis, and post-translational modifications must all be studied in depth in the coming years to improve our knowledge on hypoxia–reoxygenation transition in plants, a topic with relevance in agricultural biotechnology in the context of global climate change.
The APETALA2 transcription factor LsAP2 regulates seed shape in lettuce
Authors: Luo Chen , Wang Shenglin , Ning Kang , Chen Zijing , Wang Yixin , Yang Jingjing , Qi Meixia , Wang Qian
Published: December 2020

Seeds are major vehicles of propagation and dispersal in plants. A number of transcription factors, including APETALA2 (AP2), play crucial roles during the seed development process in various plant species. However, genes essential for seed development and the regulatory networks that operate during seed development remain unclear in lettuce. Here, we identified a lettuce AP2 (LsAP2) gene that was highly expressed during the early stages of seed development. LsAP2 knockout plants obtained by the CRISPR/Cas9 system were used to explore the biological function of LsAP2. Compared with the wild type, the seeds of Lsap2 mutant plants were longer and narrower, and developed an extended tip at the seed top. After further investigating the structural characteristics of the seeds of Lsap2 mutant plants, we proposed a new function of LsAP2 in seed dispersal. Moreover, we identified several interactors of LsAP2. Our results showed that LsAP2 directly interacted with the lettuce homolog of BREVIPEDICELLUS (LsBP) and promoted the expression of LsBP. Transcriptome analysis revealed that LsAP2 might also be involved in brassinosteroid biosynthesis and signaling pathways. Taken together, our data indicate that LsAP2 has a significant function in regulating seed shape in lettuce.
The VMC Survey – XL. Three-dimensional structure of the Small Magellanic Cloud as derived from red clump stars
Authors: Tatton B L , van Loon J Th , Cioni M-R L , Bekki K , Bell C P M , Choudhury S , de Grijs R , Groenewegen M A T , Ivanov V D , Marconi M , Oliveira J M , Ripepi V , Rubele S , Subramanian S , Sun N-C
Published: December 2020

Galaxy interactions distort the distribution of baryonic matter and can affect star formation. The nearby Magellanic Clouds are a prime example of an ongoing galaxy interaction process. Here, we use the intermediate-age (∼1–10 Gyr) red clump (RC) stars to map the 3D structure of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and interpret it within the context of its history of interaction with the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and the Milky Way. RC stars are selected from near-infrared colour–magnitude diagrams based on data from the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy survey of the Magellanic Clouds. Interstellar reddening is measured and removed, and the corrected brightness is converted to a distance, on a star-by-star basis. A flat plane fitted to the spatial distribution of RC stars has an inclination i = 35°–48° and position angle, PA=170°–186°. However, significant deviations from this plane are seen, especially in the periphery and on the eastern side of the SMC. In the latter part, two distinct populations are present, separated in distance by as much as 10 kpc. Distant RC stars are seen in the north of the SMC, and possibly also in the far west; these might be associated with the predicted ‘Counter-Bridge’. We also present a dust reddening map, which shows that dust generally traces stellar mass. The structure of the intermediate-age stellar component of the SMC bears the imprints of strong interaction with the LMC a few Gyr ago, which cannot be purely tidal but must have involved ram pressure stripping.
Joint Suzaku and Chandra observations of the MKW4 galaxy group out to the virial radius
Authors: Sarkar Arnab , Su Yuanyuan , Randall Scott , Gastaldello Fabio , Trierweiler Isabella , White Raymond , Kraft Ralph , Miller Eric
Published: December 2020

We present joint Suzaku and Chandra observations of MKW4. With a global temperature of 1.6 keV, MKW4 is one of the smallest galaxy groups that have been mapped in X-rays out to the virial radius. We measure its gas properties from its centre to the virial radius in the north, east, and north-east directions. Its entropy profile follows a power law of ∝r1.1 between R500 and R200 in all directions, as expected from the purely gravitational structure formation model. The well-behaved entropy profiles at the outskirts of MKW4 disfavour the presence of gas clumping or thermal non-equilibrium between ions and electrons in this system. We measure an enclosed baryon fraction of 11 per cent at R200, remarkably smaller than the cosmic baryon fraction of 15 per cent. We note that the enclosed gas fractions at R200 are systematically smaller for groups than for clusters from existing studies in the literature. The low baryon fraction of galaxy groups, such as MKW4, suggests that their shallower gravitational potential well may make them more vulnerable to baryon losses due to active galactic nucleus feedback or galactic winds. We find that the azimuthal scatter of various gas properties at the outskirts of MKW4 is significantly lower than in other systems, suggesting that MKW4 is a spherically symmetric and highly relaxed system.
Hints for possible low redshift oscillation around the best fit ΛCDM model in the expansion history of the universe
Authors: Kazantzidis L , Koo H , Nesseris S , Perivolaropoulos L , Shafieloo A
Published: December 2020

We search for possible deviations from the expectations of the concordance ΛCDM model in the expansion history of the Universe by analysing the Pantheon Type Ia Supernovae (SnIa) compilation along with its Monte Carlo simulations using redshift binning. We demonstrate that the redshift binned best fit ΛCDM matter density parameter Ω0m and the best fit effective absolute magnitude $\cal M$ oscillate about their full dataset best fit values with considerably large amplitudes. Using the full covariance matrix of the data taking into account systematic and statistical errors, we show that at the redshifts below z ≈ 0.5 such oscillations can only occur in 4 to 5% of the Monte Carlo simulations. While statistical fluctuations can be responsible for this apparent oscillation, we might have observed a hint for some behaviour beyond the expectations of the concordance model or a possible additional systematic in the data. If this apparent oscillation is not due to statistical or systematic effects, it could be due to either the presence of coherent inhomogeneities at low z or due to oscillations of a quintessence scalar field.
A faster Fourier transform? Computing small-scale power spectra and bispectra for cosmological simulations in 𝒪(N2) time
Authors: Philcox Oliver H E
Published: December 2020

We present $\mathcal {O}(N^2)$ estimators for the small-scale power spectrum and bispectrum in cosmological simulations. In combination with traditional methods, these allow spectra to be efficiently computed across a vast range of scales, requiring orders of magnitude less computation time than Fast Fourier Transform based approaches alone. These methods are applicable to any tracer; simulation particles, haloes or galaxies, and take advantage of the simple geometry of the box and periodicity to remove almost all dependence on large random particle catalogues. By working in configuration-space, both power spectra and bispectra can be computed via a weighted sum of particle pairs up to some radius, which can be reduced at larger k, leading to algorithms with decreasing complexity on small scales. These do not suffer from aliasing or shot-noise, allowing spectra to be computed to arbitrarily large wavenumbers. The estimators are rigorously derived and tested against simulations, and their covariances discussed. The accompanying code, hipster, has been publicly released, incorporating these algorithms. Such estimators will be of great use in the analysis of large sets of high-resolution simulations.
Rubidium in Barium stars
Authors: Roriz M P , Lugaro M , Pereira C B , Drake N A , Junqueira S , Sneden C
Published: December 2020

Barium (Ba) stars are chemically peculiar stars that display in their atmospheres signatures of the slow neutron-capture (s-process) mechanism that operates within asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, an important contributor to the cosmic abundance. The observed chemical peculiarity in these objects is not due to self-enrichment, but to mass transfer between the components of a binary system. The atmospheres of Ba stars are therefore excellent astrophysical laboratories, providing strong constraints for the nucleosynthesis of the s-process in AGB stars. In particular, rubidium (Rb) is a key element for the s-process diagnostic because it is sensitive to the neutron density and hence its abundance points to the main neutron source of the s-process in AGB stars. We present Rb abundances for a large sample of 180 Ba stars from high-resolution spectra (R = 48 000), and we compare the observed [Rb/Zr] ratios with theoretical predictions from s-process models in AGB stars. The target Ba stars in this study display [Rb/Zr] < 0, showing that Rb was not efficiently produced by the activation of the branching points at 85Kr and 86Rb. Model predictions from the Monash and FRUITY datasets of low-mass (≲4 M⊙) AGB stars are able to cover the Rb abundances observed in the program Ba stars. These observations indicate that the 13C(α,n)16O reaction is the main neutron source of the s-process in the low-mass AGB companions of the observed Ba stars. We have not found in the present study candidate companions for former IR/OH massive AGB stars.
The time-scales probed by star formation rate indicators for realistic, bursty star formation histories from the FIRE simulations
Authors: Flores Velázquez José A , Gurvich Alexander B , Faucher-Giguère Claude-André , Bullock James S , Starkenburg Tjitske K , Moreno Jorge , Lazar Alexandres , Mercado Francisco J , Stern Jonathan , Sparre Martin , Hayward Christopher C , Wetzel Andrew , El-Badry Kareem
Published: December 2020

Understanding the rate at which stars form is central to studies of galaxy formation. Observationally, the star formation rates (SFRs) of galaxies are measured using the luminosity in different frequency bands, often under the assumption of a time-steady SFR in the recent past. We use star formation histories (SFHs) extracted from cosmological simulations of star-forming galaxies from the FIRE project to analyse the time-scales to which the H α and far-ultraviolet (FUV) continuum SFR indicators are sensitive. In these simulations, the SFRs are highly time variable for all galaxies at high redshift, and continue to be bursty to z = 0 in dwarf galaxies. When FIRE SFHs are partitioned into their bursty and time-steady phases, the best-fitting FUV time-scale fluctuates from its ∼10 Myr value when the SFR is time-steady to ≳100 Myr immediately following particularly extreme bursts of star formation during the bursty phase. On the other hand, the best-fitting averaging time-scale for H α is generally insensitive to the SFR variability in the FIRE simulations and remains ∼5 Myr at all times. These time-scales are shorter than the 100 and 10 Myr time-scales sometimes assumed in the literature for FUV and H α, respectively, because while the FUV emission persists for stellar populations older than 100 Myr, the time-dependent luminosities are strongly dominated by younger stars. Our results confirm that the ratio of SFRs inferred using H α versus FUV can be used to probe the burstiness of star formation in galaxies.
Dynamics and competition of CRISPR–Cas9 ribonucleoproteins and AAV donor-mediated NHEJ, MMEJ and HDR editing
Authors: Fu Ya-Wen , Dai Xin-Yue , Wang Wen-Tian , Yang Zhi-Xue , Zhao Juan-Juan , Zhang Jian-Ping , Wen Wei , Zhang Feng , Oberg Kerby C , Zhang Lei , Cheng Tao , Zhang Xiao-Bing
Published: December 2020

Investigations of CRISPR gene knockout editing profiles have contributed to enhanced precision of editing outcomes. However, for homology-directed repair (HDR) in particular, the editing dynamics and patterns in clinically relevant cells, such as human iPSCs and primary T cells, are poorly understood. Here, we explore the editing dynamics and DNA repair profiles after the delivery of Cas9-guide RNA ribonucleoprotein (RNP) with or without the adeno-associated virus serotype 6 (AAV6) as HDR donors in four cell types. We show that editing profiles have distinct differences among cell lines. We also reveal the kinetics of HDR mediated by the AAV6 donor template. Quantification of T50 (time to reach half of the maximum editing frequency) indicates that short indels (especially +A/T) occur faster than longer (>2 bp) deletions, while the kinetics of HDR falls between NHEJ (non-homologous end-joining) and MMEJ (microhomology-mediated end-joining). As such, AAV6-mediated HDR effectively outcompetes the longer MMEJ-mediated deletions but not NHEJ-mediated indels. Notably, a combination of small molecular compounds M3814 and Trichostatin A (TSA), which potently inhibits predominant NHEJ repairs, leads to a 3-fold increase in HDR efficiency.
Atomic resolution of short-range sliding dynamics of thymine DNA glycosylase along DNA minor-groove for lesion recognition
Authors: Tian Jiaqi , Wang Lingyan , Da Lin-Tai
Published: December 2020

Thymine DNA glycosylase (TDG), as a repair enzyme, plays essential roles in maintaining the genome integrity by correcting several mismatched/damaged nucleobases. TDG acquires an efficient strategy to search for the lesions among a vast number of cognate base pairs. Currently, atomic-level details of how TDG translocates along DNA as it approaches the lesion site and the molecular mechanisms of the interplay between TDG and DNA are still elusive. Here, by constructing the Markov state model based on hundreds of molecular dynamics simulations with an integrated simulation time of ∼25 μs, we reveal the rotation-coupled sliding dynamics of TDG along a 9 bp DNA segment containing one G·T mispair. We find that TDG translocates along DNA at a relatively faster rate when distant from the lesion site, but slows down as it approaches the target, accompanied by deeply penetrating into the minor-groove, opening up the mismatched base pair and significantly sculpturing the DNA shape. Moreover, the electrostatic interactions between TDG and DNA are found to be critical for mediating the TDG translocation. Notably, several uncharacterized TDG residues are identified to take part in regulating the conformational switches of TDG occurred in the site-transfer process, which warrants further experimental validations.
Babesiosis Occurrence Among United States Medicare Beneficiaries, Ages 65 and Older, During 2006–2017: Overall and by State and County of Residence
Authors: Menis Mikhail , Whitaker Barbee I , Wernecke Michael , Jiao Yixin , Eder Anne , Kumar Sanjai , Xu Wenjie , Liao Jiemin , Wei Yuqin , MaCurdy Thomas E , Kelman Jeffrey A , Anderson Steven A , Forshee Richard A
Published: December 2020

Background

Human babesiosis is a mild-to-severe parasitic infection that poses health concerns especially in older and other at-risk populations. The study objective was to assess babesiosis occurrence among US Medicare beneficiaries, ages 65 and older, during 2006–2017.

Methods

Our retrospective claims-based study used Medicare databases. Babesiosis cases were identified using recorded diagnosis codes. The study estimated rates (per 100 000 beneficiary-years) overall, by year, diagnosis month, demographics, and state and county of residence.

Results

Nationwide, 19 469 beneficiaries had babesiosis recorded, at a rate of 6 per 100 000 person-years, ranging from 4 in 2006 to 9 in 2017 (P < .05). The highest babesiosis rates by state were in the following: Massachusetts (62), Rhode Island (61), Connecticut (51), New York (30), and New Jersey (19). The highest rates by county were in the following: Nantucket, Massachusetts (1089); Dukes, Massachusetts (236); Barnstable, Massachusetts (213); and Dutchess, New York (205). Increasing rates, from 2006 through 2017 (P < .05), were identified in multiple states, including states previously considered nonendemic. New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Delaware saw rates increase by several times.

Conclusions

Our 12-year study shows substantially increasing babesiosis diagnosis trends, with highest rates in well established endemic states. It also suggests expansion of babesiosis infections in other states and highlights the utility of real-world evidence.
Prolonged Posttreatment Virologic Control and Complete Seroreversion After Advanced Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 Infection
Authors: Uruena Analia , Cassetti Isabel , Kashyap Neena , Deleage Claire , Estes Jacob D , Trindade Christopher , Hammoud Dima A , Burbelo Peter D , Natarajan Ven , Dewar Robin , Imamichi Hiromi , Ward Addison J , Poole April , Ober Alexander , Rehm Catherine , Jones Sara , Liang C Jason , Chun Tae-Wook , Nath Avindra , Lane H Clifford , Smith Bryan R , Connors Mark , Migueles Stephen A
Published: December 2020

Background

Possible human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 clearance has rarely been reported. In this study, we describe a unique case of an HIV-positive, combination antiretroviral therapy (cART)-experienced woman with prior acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) who has not experienced viral rebound for over 12 years since discontinuing cART.

Methods

Leukapheresis, colonoscopy, and lymph node excision were performed for detailed examination of virologic (including HIV reservoir) and immunologic features. Comparisons were made with chronically infected patients and healthy controls.

Results

No HIV-specific antibodies were detected in serum. Plasma HIV ribonucleic acid (RNA) levels were <0.2 copies/mL, and, except for low-frequency HIV deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)+ cells in lymph node tissue (1 copy/3 × 106 cells), HIV antigen could not be detected by quantitative virus outgrowth (<0.0025 infectious units/106 CD4+ T cells) or by most measurements of HIV RNA or DNA in blood, lymph node, or gut-associated mononuclear cells. Human immunodeficiency virus-specific T-cell responses were detectable but low. Brain imaging revealed a prior biopsy site and persistent white matter disease since 1996. Human immunodeficiency virus DNA+ cells in the 1996 brain biopsy specimen confirmed her identity and initial HIV diagnosis.

Conclusions

This represents the first report of complete seroreversion, prolonged posttreatment virus suppression, a profoundly small HIV reservoir, and persistent HIV-specific T cells in an adult with prior AIDS.
The Politics of Education
Authors: Mirshak Nadim N.
Published: December 2020

This chapter starts by providing an overview of education in the Middle East and North Africa. Taking Egypt as its main case study, it argues that despite the increasing investments and growth in educational access and attainment, the region still faces endemic problems. These include poor-quality education, the mismatch of skills and labor market requirements, poor teaching conditions, persistent social and economic inequalities, authoritarian and violent education, and challenges specific to the ongoing conflicts and refugee crisis. The chapter then critically analyzes two of the most cited reform recommendations, namely developing education systems conducive to the requirements of the global market and the private sector, and the expansion of educational technology. The chapter concludes by arguing for adopting a political sociological outlook that considers power, politics, and education to be inherently intertwined. Only then could one properly envision alternatives to transform education in the region.
What Satellite Television Has Done to the Public Sphere and to the Public in the Maghreb
Authors: Hadj-Moussa Ratiba
Published: December 2020

This chapter shows how the advent of satellite television in the Maghreb constitutes a historical turn that recomposes the Maghrebin public spheres. The existing duality between national and satellite televisions has produced a unique configuration where parallel, conflicting ideas and perspectives came into existence. These perspectives, which opposed most of the official discourses’ orientations, are conveyed in daily life practices and interactions, such as the streets and semipublic spaces, and are relayed by social media. Hence, the understanding of the novel and complex realities of Maghrebi political public spheres requires that the ordinary practices be considered as spaces and moments of the political fabrics in the Maghreb.
Theories of Social Networks
Authors: Fuhse Jan
Published: December 2020

Theories of social networks offer abstract perspectives of what social networks are and how they are connected to other features of the social world. This chapter gives an overview of three recent perspectives: (1) Theorists of action (Burt, Coleman, Lin, Hedström) regard social networks as objective structures restricting or enabling individual action. Networks become a resource (social capital) that actors strive to maximize. (2) Authors following pragmatism or symbolic interactionism (Emirbayer, Martin, Crossley) consider social networks as patterns of subjective meaning arising out of the interaction between actors. This approach is linked to field theoretical thinking, considering networks as arising out of the mutual orientation in fields. (3) Relational sociologists (White, Tilly, Mische, Padgett, Fuhse) treat social networks as infused with meaning that is processed in communication/transaction/switchings between actors. Relational sociology has been amended to study networks of symbols and the communicative dynamics of social networks.
The “Stranger, Fatherless, and Widow” in Deuteronomy
Authors: Glanville Mark R.
Published: December 2020

This chapter examines the vulnerable triad of the stranger, fatherless, and widow in Deuteronomy. Although the doublet “fatherless, widow” appears in many texts from the Near East, especially from Mesopotamia, the triad first occurs in Deuteronomy. Although the scholarship typically characterizes the stranger, fatherless, and widow as landless groups, this chapter shows that the triad’s commonality is more fundamentally located in an absence of protective kinship ties and the resulting lack of means for sustaining themselves. This chapter discerns the social location of the stranger, fatherless, and widow, also probing their treatment within the various redactions of Deuteronomy. Beyond mere charity, Deuteronomy is nourishing the inclusion of such people in the community as kindred, via covenant texts, law of judicial procedure, social law, and feasting texts. Vulnerable people are to be enfolded into the household, into the settlement and city, and into “Israel” itself.
Love and Hate in Deuteronomy
Authors: Mirguet Françoise
Published: December 2020

This chapter reviews recent scholarship on the roots אהב and שׂנא, commonly translated by “love” and “hate.” The terms are used in Deuteronomy in both an interpersonal context and the description of the covenant between the Israelites and their deity. Scholarship has mainly focused on the uses of love and hate in covenants and treaties, in the Hebrew Bible and the Near East more broadly; in this literary context, the two terms express the covenantal partners’ duties. More recently, scholars have questioned whether the terms, especially אהב, maintain a primary affective meaning. Drawing upon the cultural and historical study of emotions, this chapter underscores the contrast between contemporary Western concepts of love and hate—which tend to be understood as private and internal feelings—and the biblical uses of אהב and שׂנא—which rather describe visible practices, performed in a social and often public context.
Embodied Imagined Communities: Forging National Identity Through the Viejitos Dance
Authors: Hellier-Tinoco Ruth
Published: December 2020

For almost 100 years, the Viejitos Dance of Lake Pátzcuaro has been performed, spectated, transmitted, and reproduced in multifarious contexts as an embodied icon of mexicanidad, for nationalism and tourism. Yet, Nicolás Bartolo Juárez, the P’urhépecha man from the Island of Jarácuaro who catalyzed its popularity, is never mentioned. Discussion begins with the initial appropriation and transformation of the Viejitos Dance through theatricalized performance in Mexico City in 1924, and then moves to examine the symbolic border-crossing and performance of the Viejitos Dance by P’urhépecha dancers in San Antonio, Texas, in 1938, with an interrelated newsprint account published in Michoacán, Mexico. Using frameworks of collective memory, performance, embodied repertoire, and relations of center–periphery and macro–micro, this analysis demonstrates the potential for live affective transmission through dance for overtly ideological processes of nation-building, concluding with a recent context of reappropriation within movements for P’urhépecha autonomy.
Standardized Education With Free Textbooks
Authors: Roldán Vera Eugenia , Quintanilla Susana
Published: December 2020

The Mexican policy of state provision of standardized textbooks for all was instituted in 1959 and still ongoing. This is an overview of the previous history of state intervention in the production and distribution of school textbooks, an examination of the particular circumstances in which the 1959 policy was figured and implemented, and a description of the characteristics of the different generations of textbooks that have since been published, corresponding with several educational reforms. The arguments for and against standardized textbooks mobilized by different sectors of society throughout sixty years are discussed in their historical context. Far from this being a debate about the authoritarian intervention of the state in education, issues of social equality and teaching quality have been central.
Intergenerational Justice and Institutions for the Long Term
Authors: González-Ricoy Iñigo
Published: December 2020

Institutions to address short-termism in public policymaking and to more suitably discharge our duties toward future generations have elicited much recent normative research, which this chapter surveys. It focuses on two prominent institutions: insulating devices, which seek to mitigate short-termist electoral pressures by transferring authority away to independent bodies, and constraining devices, which seek to bind elected officials to intergenerationally fair rules from which deviation is costly. The chapter first discusses sufficientarian, egalitarian, and prioritarian theories of our duties toward future generations, and how an excessive focus on the short term in policymaking may hinder that such duties be suitably fulfilled. It then surveys constraining and insulating devices, and inspects their effectiveness to address the epistemic, motivational, and institutional drivers of political short-termism as well as their intra- and intergenerational legitimacy.
Closing the Gap
Authors: Mastroianni Anna C. , Henry Leslie Meltzer
Published: December 2020

Drawing on the ethical principles of the Belmont Report, this chapter critically examines the legacy and current policies and practices in the United States related to the inclusion of women in clinical research. Historically, protectionist policies and practices excluded women from research participation, justified by, for example, reliance on the male norm, male bias, and fears of legal liability resulting from tragic cases of fetal harm. Recognition of the ensuing harms to women’s health from exclusion and underrepresentation in research led to significant policy changes in the 1990s encouraging women’s participation in research. Although the knowledge gap in women’s health is narrowing, significant challenges remain, including the need to develop robust approaches to defining sex and gender, identifying and analyzing sex and gender differences, and acknowledging and addressing intersectionality and women’s health needs across their life spans.
What Is Human Subjects Research?
Authors: Borgerson Kirstin
Published: December 2020

This chapter provides an overview of the nature, scope, and practice of human subjects research. It begins by tackling the general question, “What is research?” Attempts to answer this question typically define research by its methods and/or goals, and the chapter surveys the limits of these definitions through discussion of tough boundary cases. Along the way, the chapter describes various methods (quantitative, qualitative) and types of human subjects research (clinical, social scientific, etc.). The second section of the chapter investigates who is referred to by the language of “human subjects”: which humans tend to be selected as research participants, where human subjects are located globally, and how these locations are changing. The chapter also raises questions about which subjects are considered human in this context, for instance, whether definitions include embryos, cadavers, or stem cells. Throughout, the chapter highlights the ethical issues raised by the various types of activities and subjects described.
International Health Research Ethics
Authors: Pratt Bridget
Published: December 2020

Health research funded by organizations from HICs and conducted in low- and middle-income countries has grown significantly since 1990. Power imbalances and inequities frequently (but not always) exist at each stage of the international research process. Unsurprisingly then, a variety of ethical concerns commonly arise in the context of international health research, such as inequities in funding, the semi-colonial nature of international research models, the brain drain of low- and middle-income country researchers, and inequities in partnerships between HIC and low- and middle-income country researchers. In this chapter, these (and other) ethical concerns are introduced and the following ethical concepts to address the concerns are then discussed: responsiveness, standard of care, benefit sharing, community engagement, and social value. Existing guidance and remaining debates about how to specify each of the concepts are summarized. The chapter concludes by highlighting the existence of epistemic injustices within the field of international research ethics.
The EU Administrative Institutions, Their Law, and Legal Scholarship
Authors: Mendes Joana
Published: December 2020

This chapter focuses on the administrative institutions of the European Union (EU). It approaches administrative institutions as catalysts of the development of administrative law of the EU. The chapter first explains their main features, how legal scholarship has portrayed them, and how it has addressed the core aspects of their legal regimes. Next, this chapter shifts the focus to the emergence and current state of EU administrative law and of the role of comparative administrative law therein. It highlights the initial dissonance between the specificities of the EU administrative institutions and the state-matrix of general principles that were developed on the basis of functional comparison; the role of legal scholarship in shaping EU administrative law, in its efforts to give effect to an ‘utopia’ of an integrated administration constitutionally framed by general principles and fundamental rights; as well as the functions that comparative administrative law performed in different stages of EU administrative law, its current limits, and, briefly, the current challenges of EU administrative law.
Automated Decision-Making and Administrative Law
Authors: Finck Michèle
Published: December 2020

This chapter examines the uses of automated decision-making (ADM) systems in administrative settings. First, it introduces the current enthusiasm surrounding computational intelligence before a cursory overview of machine learning and deep learning is provided. The chapter thereafter examines the potential of these forms of data analysis in administrative processes. In addition, this chapter underlines that, depending on how they are used; these tools risk impacting pejoratively on established concepts of administrative law. This is illustrated through the example of the principle of transparency. To conclude, a number of guiding principles designed to ensure the sustainable use of these tools are outlined and topics for further research are suggested.
Public Audit Accountability
Authors: Brenninkmeijer Alex , Lalikova Laura Frederika , Siry Dylan
Published: December 2020

This chapter provides a comparative account of the role played by supreme audit institutions (SAIs) from across the EU, and the European Court of Auditors (ECA) in controlling administrative power. It demonstrates how audit can encourage good administrative practice and good governance by promoting administrative accountability. Rather than carrying little real impact, public audit institutions reinforce a society’s legal, institutional, and financial frameworks, acting as a potential deterrent against administrative overstep. Audit and administrative law are linked both in their substantive rules, and in their role of upholding government legitimacy through accountability. This chapter thus uses the example of SAIs in the EU as a point of entry into broader reflections about the comparative relationship of SAIs to administrative law more generally in light of emergent international standards for such institutions.
Transcendental Meditation in the Treatment of Mental and Physical Conditions
Authors: Orme-Johnson David W.
Published: December 2020

The Transcendental Meditation technique (TM) is a process of transcending from the active mind to the silent mind, creating a feeling of well-being that many people describe as blissful. As the mind settles, the body becomes deeply rested, as indicated by reductions of physiological stress markers. The meditator typically experiences expanded inner awareness, which corresponds to marked slowing of the breath and increased brain wave (EEG) coherence, a measure of brain integration that is associated with higher levels of creativity. This chapter reviews work on the effects of TM in major areas of human functioning such as physical and psychological health, considers its impact on behavior, and examines some of the processes through which TM has its effects. The literature suggests that regular TM practice can help defuse the stresses and strains accrued during the day. Through regular practice, the body begins to function in a more stress-free, efficient, and resilient way outside of meditation. Well-controlled studies indicate that TM results in improvements in physical health (e.g. it reduces hypertension and cardiovascular disease), and psychological health (e.g. it reduces anxiety, depression, and anger), as well as influencing people’s behavior (e.g. reductions in drug, alcohol, and cigarette use, as well as in recidivism).
Meditation and Education
Authors: Brown Candy Gunther
Published: December 2020

This chapter examines school-based meditation programs for children ages 4–17—including Transcendental Meditation, ashtanga yoga, and mindfulness-based stress reduction—popularized between the 1960s and 2010s in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and India. Practices entered mainstream education as promoters distanced meditation from religion, particularly Hinduism and Buddhism, and framed meditative practices as scientifically validated techniques for cultivating virtues essential for academic performance, physical and mental health, and moral character. The chapter assesses meditation research and religious controversies. It recommends an opt-in model of informed consent as most conducive to transparency and voluntarism.