bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Urban Child in Western Literature
Authors: West Kristina
Published: October 2024

From Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s 1762 Emile to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s 1932 onward Little House on the Prairie series, the child in Western literature has frequently been placed by its authors within a rural setting, with such placing naturalized as the child’s only and therefore inevitable location, particularly within 19th-century Romantic literature and during the early days of children’s literature in both the United Kingdom and the United States. However, as both the industrial revolution and the “golden age” of children’s literature advanced, the child more frequently found itself transported by its authors to a city environment, with such a shift—one frequently produced in terms of that very movement from one location to the other, thereby returning the narrative to one of the naturalized rural child—offering opportunities for exploring childhood in new and different ways. However, this shift also prompted constructions of the urban child as in some way deviant: displaced, precocious, inducted prematurely into the adult world, frequently criminalized or abandoned, and headed for a premature death in poverty and loneliness. As the twentieth century progressed from the displacement and challenges of the war years to a more regularized urban childhood in literature and other media both for children and adults, additional issues of race, gender, belonging, and identity arose; issues continuing into contemporary literature for and about children. This study will therefore examine textual constructions of the urban child, primarily in UK and US Anglophone literature due to the marked shift in its depiction with the advent of industrialization, although also in historical and anthropological studies where relevant, to consider how the urban landscape is utilized in productions of childhood in different time periods and for different purposes.
International Legal Protection of Women in Latin America and the Caribbean
Authors: Sheremet Natalia
Published: October 2024

The issue of international protection of women’s rights has gained relevance in recent years. However, the Inter-American mechanisms are underestimated by scholars of international law. This research represents an overview of academic articles, books, documents of international organizations, and court decisions that create an image of the genesis of Inter-American mechanisms of women’s protection and expand on the current situation with women’s rights in the Americas. When we talk about the Inter-American system, we deal with all the member states of the Organization of American States (OAS), including the United States, Canada, and the thirty-three Latin American states. It is important to mention that Nicaragua withdrew from the OAS in November 2023; however, the state did not denounce any regional human rights treaties. While Cuba, whose government was excluded from the OAS in 1962, remains a dejure member of the Organization, since it has never denounced the OAS Charter and is bound by its international human rights obligations. These legal and political features need to be mentioned to accurately understand the real number of the OAS member states (at the current date, thirty-four), which may vary in different normative acts and research papers. However, in this article the author mostly focuses on the latter, considering the proactivity of Latin America and the Caribbean in establishing gender agenda and the accession of these states to the core regional human rights treaties, including the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (the Belém do Pará Convention). The Inter-American system has offered a unique regional set of mechanisms for the protection of women from gender-based violence and discrimination. Thanks to the efforts of the Inter-American Commission of Women and the Follow-up Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (MESECVI), it has become easier to hold the states accountable and monitor their compliance with international obligations. The jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court and its advisory jurisdiction have allowed it to enshrine such notions as “feminicide” in regional legal practice and prompted the states of the region to undertake steps toward the criminalization of domestic, sexual, psychological, and physical violence against women. While the region is on its path to adopting laws that penalize these crimes, Latin America is still known to be one of the most dangerous places for women. Although the OAS and its special bodies have done a lot to improve the life of women in the Americas, Latin American women are still a long way off from calling their home a safe place.
Situational Strength
Authors: Kim JeongJin , Son Mina , Dalal Reeshad S.
Published: October 2024

Situational strength—defined as signals or cues from sources external to a person regarding the desirability versus undesirability of various forms of behavior by that person in a particular situation—has been studied primarily in social psychology, personality psychology, industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology, and management (i.e., organizational behavior and human resources, or OBHR). Traditional situational strength theory posits that situational cues that characterize strong (vs. weak) situations restrict (vs. permit) variability in the behavior of people in those situations. As a result, the effect of personality traits on behavior is weakened in strong situations. For example, a formal office dress code (a strong situation) leads everyone to dress similarly, regardless of personality; conversely, on “casual Fridays,” there is greater variability in dress code and people’s personality will influence what they wear. The research literature documents evidence for this restriction of behavioral variability in the form of moderation of situational strength in trait–behavior relationships. In the following sections, this article introduces historical accounts of situational strength research, foundational works that contributed to situational strength theory, statistical approaches to studying situational strength, relevant empirical findings in and out of the workplace, and what might be regarded as the “opposite” of situational strength, namely, personality strength.
EMDR Therapy with Older Adult Populations
Authors: Nicholas Helen
Published: October 2024

This chapter focuses on the application of EMDR within older adult populations. It outlines the importance of working holistically with this client group in terms of intergenerational trauma and the uniqueness of the assessment and formulation process in the history gathering and preparation phases of EMDR. Particular attention is paid to what therapists need to consider when carrying out EMDR therapy with older adults. The importance of neuroplasticity and how EMDR helps the brain form new neural pathways and promote healing is discussed within the AIP model. The effective use of EMDR with clients who have a neurodegenerative disorder, working with their carers and family members, and the complexities therapists might face is discussed using both research-based and practice-based components.
Partisan Gerrymandering
Authors: Stephanopoulos Nicholas O.
Published: October 2024

This chapter addresses the law and academic literature about partisan gerrymandering: crafting districts with the intent and effect of benefiting the line-drawing party. With respect to the law, the chapter covers the depressing arc of federal anti-gerrymandering legislation as well as the somewhat more encouraging record of state constitutional litigation. The chapter further discusses enacted state and proposed federal redistricting reforms, in particular, requirements that districts be designed by independent commissions. With respect to the academic literature, the chapter surveys four live debates: whether gerrymandering should be conceived in terms of intent or effect; whether the impact of gerrymandering should be assessed using absolute or relative measures; what the main drivers of district plans’ partisan biases are; and how these biases affect broader democratic values. The ongoing contributions to these and other debates show that while gerrymandering may no longer be justiciable in federal court, it remains an active topic of legal and political science scholarship.
Campaign Expenditures
Authors: Smith Bradley A.
Published: October 2024

This chapter discusses expenditures in political campaigns, with an emphasis on the legal structure created by the Supreme Court case of Buckley v. Valeo and its progeny. The chapter emphasizes the crucial role that Buckley’s holding—that limits on campaign expenditures, and in particular independent expenditures, are unconstitutional—played in maintaining an open political system. The chapter discusses the ways in which this holding, and its relationship to the Court’s constitutional ruling on campaign contributions, has shaped, for better and for worse, the contours of American political campaigns. The chapter concludes by reviewing a number of the consequences that have flowed from Buckley, and highlighting our surprising lack of knowledge about the ultimate effects of spending—and in particular independent expenditures—in political campaigns.
Voter Registration
Authors: Ellis Atiba R.
Published: October 2024

Even though modern voter registration practices in the United States have come to be recognized as orderly and inclusive for the majority of Americans, these laws have the potential to frustrate participation in the franchise. Voter registration laws and other laws that seek to maintain the orderly administration of the right of voters to participate in elections have the tendency to exclude (or be perceived as being exclusionary), thus arguably defeating the point that these laws seek to serve. That these laws serve both to facilitate inclusion and to act as a fulcrum for exclusion reflects a paradoxical duality about voter registration practices in the United States. This chapter explores this duality by examining the parameters of voter registration in the United States. It outlines the history and evolution of voter registration laws in the United States and compares these policies to voter registration laws in other countries. The chapter then explores the tension between inclusion and exclusion in voter registration as well as related modern debates about facilitating individual participation in the franchise. It concludes by looking into future perils and possibilities for voter registration policy in the twenty-first century.
Voting in Colonial and Revolutionary America
Authors: Gaughan Anthony J.
Published: October 2024

This chapter examines the history and practice of voting in colonial and Revolutionary America. Colonial legislatures developed a wide range of approaches to voter and candidate qualifications, voting methods, election scheduling, term lengths, and a host of other election laws and procedures. Election rules and voting innovations that took hold in one colony often spread to others. Most important of all, the Americans developed a concept of representation that diverged sharply with that of Britain. The decentralized nature of colonial elections remained a central feature of American election law after the Revolution. This chapter is organized into four sections. The first describes the political framework in which the American colonies conducted elections in the 1600s and 1700s. The second section details the laws that governed suffrage rights in the colonies. The third explores the process of voting in colonial America. The final section examines how the Revolution influenced voting laws and practices in the new American states of the 1770s and 1780s.
Erasing Section 2?
Authors: Katz Ellen D.
Published: October 2024

This chapter traces the evolution of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act since 1982. It shows how Section 2 displaced scores of electoral structures that inhibited minority political participation; how, in so doing, it fostered the proliferation of majority-minority electoral districts nationwide; how judicial distaste for these districts fueled sweeping decisions that dramatically narrowed Section 2’s reach; and how the Court’s recent decision in Allen v. Milligan has, for now, curbed that retrenchment. The chapter also describes recently articulated limits the Supreme Court has placed on Section 2 vote denial—as distinct from dilution—claims; and the way in which Section 2 doctrine in this arena now aligns with constitutional doctrine governing the right to vote under the Anderson-Burdick framework. The chapter argues that the systematic erosion of Section 2 stems from judicial apprehension that the provision, if read broadly, would, first, devolve into a mandate for proportional representation and, second, wholly supplant local control over elections. It closes by showing that these fears are largely unfounded, as the actual record of Section 2 litigation makes clear that the feared scenarios never came close to being realized. A divided Court acknowledged as much in Allen v. Milligan. That acknowledgment informed both its recognition of a particularly strong Section 2 claim and its rebuff of a broad constitutional challenge. Whether Milligan will support recognition of Section 2 claims that are less unequivocal or a more tempered constitutional challenge remains to be seen.
What Is a Political Party?
Authors: Fishkin Joseph
Published: October 2024

Political parties are central to the workings of modern representative democratic government, but there is a surprising degree of confusion about what exactly they are. This chapter builds on modern political science accounts that conceptualize the major political parties in the United States as broad coalitions or ecosystems of affiliated voters, donors, candidates, officeholders, interest groups, and donor-driven shadow party groups, in addition to the official party organizations and their officers. This more capacious understanding of the nature of the political party has substantial descriptive power—especially now, with American politics highly polarized around a system of two parties. With fewer people and interest groups genuinely unaffiliated with either party, more of our politics play out within the parties. This chapter explores the implications of this new understanding of the political party for a variety of controversies in election law. It examines who speaks for parties, when parties may engage in discrimination, how states may regulate which candidates appear on the general election ballot, what counts as party corruption, and whether the corruption of a political party is even possible. Courts have often hewed to narrow, formalistic conceptions of the party, leading to decisions somewhat unmoored from the real political stakes of these controversies. The chapter concludes with a brief exploration of some proposals to reform political parties. These are typically styled as efforts to “strengthen” or “weaken” the parties, but they are better understood as efforts to increase the power of some components of the party coalition over others.
Eulogizing Section 5
Authors: Tolson Franita
Published: October 2024

Contemporary narratives portray the preclearance regime of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as a phoenix, emerging from the ashes of the Fifteenth Amendment, which swooped in and saved minority voters from the totalitarianism of the one-party South. An overlooked, and indeed, forgotten, part of this story was that Sections 4(b) and 5 of the Act were products of lessons learned from the post-Civil War political order. These lessons shaped both the scope and structure of the Voting Rights Act, and importantly, they also provided a roadmap for confronting the inevitable challenges that the Act would face in the wake of its enactment. Reconstruction era legislation and constitutional amendments—like the Voting Rights Act—were targeted toward southern states hostile to the enfranchisement of Black people. These provisions also faced challenges from a U.S. Supreme Court increasingly concerned about intrusions on state sovereignty. Looking to history, Congress crafted the 1965 Act to withstand the assaults that had befallen its earlier efforts to protect the right to vote. As we are once again confronted with circumstances that are eerily resonant of the suppression efforts of days past, Congress must be fully cognizant of the lessons to be learned from this history. The historical record shows that the path forward for the Voting Rights Act cannot simply be about reauthorizing or reworking Sections 4(b) and 5. Honoring the legacy of the Act demands, at a minimum, amending the Constitution to explicitly protect the right to vote.
Understanding Section 2
Authors: Mulroy Steven J.
Published: October 2024

This chapter summarizes the current state of the law on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, including its scope of coverage, its “results test,” and its application to “vote dilution” versus “vote denial” cases. Under vote dilution, this chapter explains the three-prong test of Thornburg v. Gingles (1986) along with the “totality of the circumstances” approach established by that case. In so doing, this chapter explains how courts evaluate illustrative minority districts, racial bloc voting, and the concept of “proportionality.” Under vote denial, this chapter examines the Supreme Court decision of Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee (2021). It explains Brnovich’s five-part test and evaluates its effect on vote denial cases going forward. This chapter also discusses Section 2 remedies for both vote dilution and vote denial claims. Regarding vote dilution, it examines the Supreme Court case of Allen v. Milligan (2023), which rejected strict race neutrality in Section 2 analysis. It also explores recent Section 2 scholarship, including the viability of “minority group aggregation” claims for vote dilution, competing measurements for racial bloc voting, and constitutional objections to the “results test”—a test which the decision in Allen v. Milligan upheld. And it argues for the need to have more scholarly consideration of two vote dilution issues: the use of total population, voting-age population, citizen voting-age population, or turnout in applying Section 2; and the use of non-district remedies, like the single transferable vote.
Public Financing of Election Campaigns
Authors: Briffault Richard
Published: October 2024

Public financing consists of the provision of public dollars to candidates or parties to use to pay for campaign expenses. Public financing has the potential to reduce the influence of wealthy donors and special interests, reduce the burdens of fundraising, and, by leveling the playing field, promote electoral competition and political equality more generally. With the Supreme Court increasingly hostile to campaign finance measures that limit the use of private campaign money, public financing, which puts money into the system, is one reform measure that has consistently passed constitutional muster. In theory, public funding could have many benefits, but it is uncertain whether and to what extent public funding in practice accomplishes these goals. Moreover, some scholars have urged that public financing can contribute to political polarization. This chapter examines the variety of public funding programs currently in place in the United States; the constitutional doctrine that has both sustained and constrained public funding; and the evidence of the extent to which public funding may promote electoral competitiveness, stimulate political participation, affect policy outcomes, and contribute to polarization. These effects are often debated and uncertain, but for now public financing is central to the campaign finance reform agenda.
Disclosure
Authors: Wood Abby K.
Published: October 2024

Political committees must disclose the sources of their contributions and the recipients of their expenditures, and government agencies then make some of that information publicly available. Voters can then use this information to inform their votes. The Supreme Court has usually upheld campaign finance disclosure laws, but it has carved out exceptions for certain groups. The jurisprudence has not evolved since Buckley v. Valeo. The Supreme Court acknowledges that while disclosure might chill speech, its benefits tend to justify disclosure laws. Disclosure’s information benefits are well documented by scholars, and disclosure is politically popular among voters. However, opponents of disclosure claim that disclosure chills their speech because they fear harassment related to their political contributions. For some, particularly marginalized groups that organize for unpopular policies, the risk of harassment may be serious. However, it has proved difficult for scholars to detect consistent and significant chilling effects in the campaign finance data or in survey experiments. In recent years, disclosure’s opponents have come from more powerful groups in society, rather than marginalized groups. At the same time, a lower level of threat—even hypothetical threats—have satisfied the Supreme Court that a First Amendment problem may exist in various disclosure contexts. The current configuration of ideologies on the Court could threaten campaign finance disclosure laws. The Court should proceed thoughtfully. Social science evidence generally supports the continued use of campaign finance disclosure. Moreover, several underexamined evidentiary issues remain in this jurisprudence.
Urban Relations of the Sacred
Authors: Hammond Timur
Published: October 2024

Although scholars of Islam have long been interested in what sacredness is, there has been relatively less scholarly focus on where it is. This chapter addresses that gap by outlining how a relational geographic approach can provide a new understanding of sacredness. It begins by briefly describing a relational geography and highlighting how this approach resonates with existing scholarly traditions. The chapter then discusses how sacred sites function as centers of devotion and debate and introduces one approach for studying the making of sacred places. It closes by surveying a variety of methods and sources for the study of the sacred and looking ahead to several emerging trends in the scholarship on sacredness.
Material Buddhist Culture in Healing
Authors: Wu Emily S.
Published: October 2024

This chapter introduces a few ways that Buddhist organizations, communities, and households in Taiwan engage in healing through material-related practices, particularly after death. These practices take advantage of the liminal phase after death and before the next reincarnation as opportunities to heal the souls of the deceased from physical sufferings and karmic debts, and they simultaneously accumulate karmic merits for those who commission and participate in the living world. Contextualized in a cosmology that is shared and influenced by Confucian, Daoist, and other folk and indigenous ideologies on perspectives on health and healing, the contemporary Taiwanese Buddhist interpretations and understandings of disease and suffering also incorporate ideology and remedies from traditional Chinese medicine, and they are subject to the framing of omnipresent biomedicine and the limitations of biomedical institutional structures.
Foreign Companies in the Americas during the first half of the 20th Century
Authors: Prieto-Ríos Enrique , Rivas-Ramírez Daniel
Published: October 2024

This chapter offers a comprehensive examination of the role multinational corporations played in shaping Latin America and the Caribbean during the first half of the 20th century. Against the backdrop of global economic and political tumult, the region emerged as an attractive destination for foreign investment, leading to the adoption of various economic models to facilitate capital influx. The analysis delves deep into the economic and political dynamics of the Americas during this era, tracing the enduring colonial legacies that influenced Latin American economies and exploring the impact of independence movements on foreign investment patterns. Furthermore, the chapter scrutinizes the emergence of multinational enterprises, classifying them into free-standing companies, holding companies, and joint ventures, and elucidates their profound influence on the region. It also investigates the ramifications of multinational corporations, encompassing financial manipulation, natural resource depletion, and political interference, shedding light on the erosion of regulatory capacity within Latin American nations. Ultimately, the chapter emphasizes the coercive nature of multinational influence, echoing historical colonial patterns of exploitation and setting the stage for ongoing challenges in the economic development of the region.
Consequentialism
Authors: Ryberg Jesper
Published: October 2024

The consequentialist view of punishment such as, in particular, the utilitarian theory, has constituted the dominant approach to punishment for almost two centuries. However, the theory has very few advocates in modern considerations of punishment. In fact, it has become almost conventional to hold that the theory has been ultimately rejected. In this chapter it is argued that this contention is mistaken. First, a few initial comments on the nature and implications of the consequentialist view of punishment are outlined. Second, it is argued that the standard objection that has been repeatedly raised against the consequentialist view—i.e., the punishment of the innocent objection—is non-conclusive. It is suggested that the evaluation of an ethical theory is basically a comparative question and that the interpretation of the objection as a reductio ad absurdum argument is consequently premature. Third, a few comparative advantages of the consequentialist view of punishment are presented.
Byron at Home and Abroad
Authors: Beaton Roderick
Published: October 2024

The chapter gives an account of the places where Byron lived, both in the UK and in mainland Europe, and of the travels he undertook at different points in his life. It also explores the motivation for his many moves, beginning with his early cosmopolitanism and ending with his dedication to the Greek Revolution of the 1820s against the rule of the Ottoman Empire, and the ways in which these are reflected in his poetry and correspondence. The first section deals with the places where Byron can be said to have been ‘at home’ (Aberdeenshire in Scotland, London, and Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire). The second follows the trajectory of his ‘Grand Tour’ to Greek lands and his later self-imposed exile in Switzerland and Italy. The final section follows him to his final destination, Messolonghi in western Greece, where he would die of fever on 19 April 1824.
Byron’s Lyric Poetry
Authors: Shears Jonathon
Published: October 2024

This chapter proposes that Byron’s lyrics are best understood not as part of the tradition of the imaginative, introspective Romantic lyric, but as an exploration of human relations revealed through close attention to subtle shifts in voice, tone, and mood. It argues that however solipsistic Byron’s lyric speakers become, his lyrics usually have a centrifugal momentum addressed outwards to life’s material and social circumstances. It suggests that one of the key traditions in which Byron worked as a lyricist was the amour courtois or amatory mode, and that the powerful effects of his lyrics develop from and eventually outstrip the dramatic social relations found in courtly Renaissance lyricists. Byron’s concerns with power relations and shifting subject positions emerge in many minor lyrics and more extensively in celebrated lyrics such as ‘So We’ll Go No More a Roving’, ‘Epistle to Augusta’, and ‘To the Po’. The chapter identifies the latter as the crowning achievement of Byron’s social lyricism.
Byron’s Poetic EndingsThe Deformed Transformed,The Vision of Judgment,The Island, and ‘On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth Year’
Authors: Ward Matthew
Published: October 2024

Byron’s concern with carving out a place in literary history, and what might (or might not) be his ‘epitaph’, takes on particular significance in his late works. This chapter considers the phenomenal range of Byron’s creative output and situates his last works within his oeuvre, exploring how ‘endings’ are (for him) voyages toward new discoveries that also emerge from an imaginative revisiting of previous works. The Deformed Transformed shapes new forms out of Faustian myth and personal biography. The Island mediates between tragic despair and comic optimism in ways that echo Don Juan, and refashions ideas of heroism and love previously explored in the Turkish Tales and Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. ‘On This Day’ recalls Byron’s previous lyric works, but also shows new framings of the self – a matter that takes on renewed force in The Vision of Judgment, where Byron casts a comic eye over the agency of poetry itself.
Exposure to fungal infection decreases eye size in the zooplankton, Daphnia
Authors: Wilson Patrick J , Cáceres Carla E , Stewart Merrill Tara E
Published: October 2024

Immune responses can be energetically expensive and subject to trade-offs. Prior work on the freshwater zooplankton, Ceriodaphnia cornuta, demonstrated an association between eye size and infection, leading to questions about whether investment in eyes trades off against investment in immunity. We used the crustacean host, Daphnia dentifera, and its fungal parasite, Metschnikowia bicuspidata, to investigate the relationships between eye size, parasite resistance and infection. In the field, we found a negative correlation between size-corrected eye area (SCEA) and Metschnikowia infection, suggesting that either SCEA decreases infection (thereby indicating resistance) or that infection decreases SCEA. Controlled laboratory experiments reinforced the latter result: exposure to the fungal parasite decreased a host’s SCEA, regardless of the parasite dose or host genotype. We also uncovered significant plasticity in this trait—both host age and resource level increased SCEA. Identifying causality in physiological correlations is challenging. Our results suggest that negative associations between parasitism and energetically-expensive traits can arise through plasticity.
Developing a measure to evaluate education research-practice partnerships
Authors: Soland James , Penuel William R , Farrell Caitlin C , Wellberg Sarah
Published: October 2024

Research practice partnerships (RPPs) are an increasingly popular approach for bringing together research and practice in ways that can improve and transform education. To date, however, evaluators have lacked measures to evaluate such partnerships. This paper describes a project to develop validity evidence for a survey to evaluate the effectiveness of RPPs in education. The survey is intended to be used in conjunction with interview, observation, and other evidence to draw inferences about the effectiveness of projects within RPPs and support partnership improvement. The measurement effort followed an evidence-centered design approach to developing and evaluating the validity of the survey measure for its intended uses, collecting and analyzing data from sixty-five different RPPs. Results indicate the scales were reliable overall, but that measurement was not entirely consistent for educators and researchers. Implications for appropriate use of these measures in the context of evaluating RPPs are discussed.
Real Consequences of Shocks to Intermediaries Supplying Corporate Hedging Instruments
Authors: Jung Hyeyoon
Published: October 2024

I show that shocks to financial intermediaries supplying hedging instruments to corporations have real effects. I exploit a quasi-natural experiment in South Korea in 2010, where regulations required banks to hold enough capital for taking foreign exchange derivatives (FXD) positions. Using variation in exposure to this regulation across banks, I find that the regulation caused a reduction in FXD supply, leading to a significant decline in exports for firms contracting derivatives with more exposed banks. Results indicate the crucial role of intermediaries in allocating risks through derivatives provision and establish a causal relationship between financial hedging and real economic outcomes.
The role of polo‐like kinases 2 in the proteasomal and lysosomal degradation of alpha‐synuclein in neurons
Authors: Sung Chun Chau , Lam Wai Yun , Chung Kenny K. K.
Published: October 2024

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the brain stem. PD is mostly sporadic, but familial PD (FPD) cases are recorded in different studies. The first gene mutation that is linked to FPD is α‐synuclein (α‐syn). It was then found that α‐syn is also accumulated in Lewy body (LB), a classical pathological hallmark in PD patients. Different studies have shown that α‐syn accumulation and aggregation can be a crucial factor contributing to the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in PD. α‐syn has been found to be degraded by the ubiquitin proteasomal system (UPS) and autophagy–lysosomal pathway (ALP). In this study, we initially explored how α‐syn phosphorylation by GRK6, PLK2 and CK2α would facilitate its degradation in relation to the UPS or ALP. Unexpectedly, we found that the degradation of α‐syn through PLK2 phosphorylation could be modulated by UPS and ALP in a novel mechanism. Specially, attenuation of UPS could increase the amount of PLK2 and then could facilitate the phosphorylation and degradation of α‐syn through ALP. To test this further in vivo, we attenuate the proteasomal activity in a well‐established A53T α‐syn transgenic PD mouse model. We found that attenuation of proteasomal activity in the A53T α‐syn transgenic mice could reduce the accumulation of α‐syn in the striatum and midbrain. Based on our results, this study provides a new insight into how α‐syn is degraded through the UPS and ALP.
FTO in oral diseases: Functions, mechanisms, and therapeutic potential
Authors: Li Biao , Wang Leilei , Du Mingyuan , He Hong
Published: October 2024

Fat mass and obesity‐associated protein (FTO) is the first identified N6‐methyladenosine (m6A) demethylase widely distributed in various tissues in adults and children. It plays an essential role in diverse mRNA‐associated processes including transcriptional stability, selective splicing, mRNA translocation, and also protein translation. Recently, emerging studies have shown that FTO is involved in the genesis and development of oral diseases. However, the correlation between FTO and oral diseases and its specific regulatory mechanism still needs further study. In this review, we will summarize the discovery, distribution, gene expression, protein structure, biological functions, inhibitors, and quantifying methods of FTO, as well as its regulatory role and mechanism in oral diseases. Notably, FTO genetic variants are strongly associated with periodontal diseases (PDs), temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (TMJOA), and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Besides, the latest studies that describe the relationship between FTO and PDs, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCCs), TMJOA, and OSA will be discussed. We elaborate on the regulatory roles of FTO in PDs, HNSCCs, and TMJOA, which are modulated through cell proliferation, cell migration, apoptosis, bone metabolism, and immune response. The review will enrich our understanding of RNA epigenetic modifications in oral diseases and present a solid theoretical foundation for FTO to serve as a novel diagnosis and prognostic biomarker for oral diseases.
Validation of the 2019 American Society of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology Online Cervical Cancer Screening Program via 9 Large-Cohort Data of Chinese Women
Authors: Dai Wenkui , Guo Chunlei , Yang Qing , Zhang Yi , Wu Di , Wang Chun , Belinson Jerome L. , Li Changzhong , Du Hui , Qu Xinfeng , Wu Ruifang
Published: October 2024

Objective

The aim of the study is to validate the applicability and performance of the 2019 US risk-based guideline for Chinese women.

Materials and Methods

The authors analyzed 10,055 cases with data on human papillomavirus testing, cytology, and pathologically confirmed diagnosis (analysis-set). According to the 2019 US risk-based guideline, the authors recorded the risk value and triage recommendations for each case. Then, they assessed the concordance of the guideline triage recommendations with pathology diagnosis for the relevant case from the real-world projects.

Results

Among the analysis-set, 9,495 cases with an estimated risk value were identified as analysis cohort while the remaining 560 cases were cataloged as “special cases.” Among the analysis cohort, 960 and 526 cases were pathologically confirmed as cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 2+ and CIN3+, respectively. The US risk-based guideline recommended colposcopy or more aggressive interventions (Colp+) for 86.8% (833/960) of the CIN2+ and 95.8% (504/526) of the CIN3+ cases, with 87.1% sensitivity and 82.5% specificity for CIN3+ cases (AUC = 0.926, p < .0001). The US risk-based recommended no-Colp for 98.0% (6,142/6,269) of the pathologically confirmed CIN1 or benign cases. In addition, 97.3% (545/560) of the “special cases” cases were recommended as Colp+.

Conclusions

The 2019 US risk-based guideline works well with satisfied clinical sensitivity for CIN2+ and CIN3+ and seems applicable for cervical cancer screening in China.
Frequency and characteristics of ectopic parathyroid adenomas in a cohort of patients referred for 18F-fluorocholine PET/CT
Authors: van der Zant Friso M. , Wondergem Maurits , Broos Wouter A.M. , Lazarenko Sergiy V. , Knol Remco J.J.
Published: October 2024

Aim

This article aimed to study the frequency and characteristics of ectopic/intrathyroidal parathyroid adenomas in patients referred for 18F-fluorocholine PET/computed tomography (CT).

Patients and methods

From 11 June 2015 to 15 January 2024, 729 patients were studied. Recorded patient variables included hyperparathyroidism type, sex, age, presence of symptoms, renal involvement, bone involvement, parathyroid hormone (PTH), and serum calcium, phosphate, and vitamin D as well as 24-h urine calcium excretion. PET/CT results were also collected. In case of parathyroidectomy, the weight of the adenomas was recorded. Continuous variables were expressed as mean ± SD. Differences were evaluated with Mann–Whitney U-tests or two-sample t-tests, when appropriate. P-values ≤0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results

PET/CT showed no adenoma in 163 (22%), adenoma in 451 (62%), hyperplasia/multiglandular disease in 32 (4%), and equivocal results in 83 (11%) patients. A total of 6/729 (1%) adenomas were located intrathyroidally and 16/729 (2%) had an ectopic location. Patients with ectopic/intrathyroidal adenoma showed significantly higher serum PTH levels than patients with no visualization of adenoma on PET. The mean mass of the adenoma was 1 ± 2.3 g in patients with orthotopic adenomas versus 2.7 ± 3.3 g in patients with ectopic/intrathyroidal adenomas; however, this was not significantly different (P = 0.09).

Conclusion

In the presented cohort, the frequency of ectopic/intrathyroidal parathyroid adenomas was 3%. No significant difference in weight was found between orthotopic and ectopic/intrathyroidal parathyroid adenomas.
Elements Supporting Translation of Evidence Into Practice
Authors: Smith Joshua D. , Eberhardt Gina L. , Atwood Bethany I. , Romito Kenneth J. , Bradley David F. , Schmidt Patricia M.
Published: October 2024

Purpose/Objectives

To present evidence-based elements supporting the synergistic relationship between nurse scientists and clinical nurse specialists to improve the translation of evidence into practice.

Description of the Project/Program

Using best-practice elements to support the improvement of evidence-based translation, we define the roles and synergies between nurse scientists and clinical nurse specialists within clinical environments.

Outcome

Five themes were identified in the literature review:

● Although clinical nurse specialists and nurse scientists differ in focus and competencies, they are in key positions to collaborate to meet healthcare demands.

● Clinical nurse specialists are well-equipped to implement the science developed by nurse scientists.

● To meet the increased demands and complexity of the healthcare system and patient needs, organizational leadership must lend support to clinical nurse specialists and nurse scientist collaboration.

● Clinical nurse specialists are well-positioned to foster interprofessional partnerships and generate opportunities for evidence-based project initiatives across healthcare disciplines.

● Clinical nurse specialists should utilize professional models to inform practice to improve the review, translation, and implementation of research into practice.

Conclusion

Projects conducted using a collaborative structure had a system-level impact and long-term sustainability capabilities. Additionally, projects were more likely to be disseminated by clinical nurse specialists within a formal structure.
Clinical and Financial Validation of the International Study Group for Pancreatic Surgery (ISGPS) Definition of Post-Pancreatectomy Acute Pancreatitis (PPAP)
Authors: Bannone Elisa , Cattelani Alice , Corvino Gaetano , Marchetti Alessio , Andreasi Valentina , Fermi Francesca , Partelli Stefano , Pecorelli Nicolò , Tamburrino Domenico , Esposito Alessandro , Malleo Giuseppe , Bhandare Manish , Gundavda Kaival , Jiang Kuirong , Lu Zipeng , Yin Jie , Lavu Harish , Klotz Rosa , Merz Daniela , Michalski Christoph , Klaiber Ulla , Montorsi Marco , Nappo Gennaro , Ikenaga Naoki , Scornamiglio Pasquale , Andersson Bodil , Jeffery Fraser , Halloran Daniel , Padbury Robert , Siriwardena Ajith K. , Barreto Savio George , Gianotti Luca , Oláh Attila , Halloran Christopher M. , Connor Saxon , Andersson Roland , Izbicki Jakob R. , Nakamura Masafumi , Zerbi Alessandro , Abu Hilal Mohammad , Loos Martin , Yeo Charles J. , Miao Yi , Falconi Massimo , Dervenis Christos , Neoptolemos John P. , Büchler Markus W. , Besselink Marc G. , Ferrone Cristina , Hackert Thilo , Salvia Roberto , Shrikhande Shailesh V. , Strobel Oliver , Werner Jens , Wolfgang Christopher L. , Marchegiani Giovanni ,   for the International Study Group for Pancreatic Surgery (ISGPS)
Published: October 2024

Objective:

To validate the ISGPS definition and grading system of PPAP after pancreatoduodenectomy (PD).

Summary Background Data:

In 2022, the International Study Group for Pancreatic Surgery (ISGPS) defined post-pancreatectomy acute pancreatitis (PPAP) and recommended a prospective validation of its diagnostic criteria and grading system.

Methods:

This was a prospective, international, multicenter study including patients undergoing PD at 17 referral pancreatic centers across Europe, Asia, Oceania, and the United States. PPAP diagnosis required the following three parameters: (1) postoperative serum hyperamylasemia /hyperlipasemia (POH) persisting on postoperative days 1 and 2, (2) radiologic alterations consistent with PPAP, and (3) a clinically relevant deterioration in the patient’s condition. To validate the grading system, clinical and economic parameters were analyzed across all grades.

Results:

Among 2902 patients undergoing PD, 7.5% (n=218) developed PPAP (6.3% grade B and 1.2% grade C). POH occurred in 24.1% of patients. Hospital stay was associated with PPAP grades (No POH/PPAP 10 days (IQR 7-17) days, grade B 22 days (IQR 15-34) days, and grade C 43 days (IQR 27-54) days; P<0.001), as well as intensive care unit admission (No POH/PPAP 5.4%, grade B 12.6%, grade C 82.9%; P<0.010), and hospital readmission rates (No POH/PPAP 7.3%, grade B 16.1%, grade C 18.5%; P<0.05). Costs of grade B and C PPAP were 2 and 11 times greater than uncomplicated clinical course, resp. (P<0.001).

Conclusions:

This first prospective, international validation study of the ISGPS definition and grading system for PPAP highlighted the relevant clinical and financial implications of this condition. These results stress the importance of routine screening for PPAP in patients undergoing PD.
Supporting Financial Neutrality in Donation of Organs, Cells, and Tissues
Authors: Martin Dominique E. , Capron Alexander M. , Fadhil Riadh A. S. , Forsythe John L. R. , Padilla Benita , Pérez-Blanco Alicia , Van Assche Kristof , Bengochea Milka , Cervantes Lilia , Forsberg Anna , Gracious Noble , Herson Marisa R. , Kazancioğlu Rümeyza , Müller Thomas , Noël Luc , Trias Esteve , López-Fraga Marta
Published: October 2024

The avoidance of financial gain in the human body is an international ethical standard that underpins efforts to promote equity in donation and transplantation and to avoid the exploitation of vulnerable populations. The avoidance of financial loss due to donation of organs, tissues, and cells is also now recognized as an ethical imperative that fosters equity in donation and transplantation and supports the well-being of donors and their families. Nevertheless, there has been little progress in achieving financial neutrality in donations in most countries. We present here the findings of an international ethics working group convened in preparation for the 2023 Global Summit on Convergence in Transplantation, held in Santander, Spain, which was tasked with formulating recommendations for action to promote financial neutrality in donation. In particular, we discuss the potential difficulty of distinguishing interventions that address donation-related costs from those that may act as a financial incentive for donation, which may inhibit efforts to cover costs. We also outline some practical strategies to assist governments in designing, implementing, and evaluating policies and programs to support progress toward financial neutrality in donation.
Canonical scattering problem in topological metamaterials: Valley-Hall modes through a bend
Authors: Torres Theo , Bellis Cédric , Cottereau Régis , Coutant Antonin
Published: October 2024

We study the amount of backscattering of Valley-Hall modes in a classical topological insulator. In reciprocal systems, the conservation of the valley index has been argued to be at the root of the high transmission of Valley-Hall modes observed in many experimental realizations. Here, we reconsider this hypothesis by quantitatively analysing the canonical scattering problem of interface Valley-Hall modes impinging on sharp bends that may or may not conserve the valley index. We consider a tight binding model of graphene ribbons with an interface and compute the reflection and transmission coefficients using the transfer matrix formalism. We find that, in all configurations considered, the transmission of Valley-Hall modes is close to being maximal, even in cases where the valley index is not conserved. Hence, there appears to be no correlation between valley conservation and good transmission. Our results serve as a reference case for the design of Valley-Hall type metamaterial.