bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Reigniting the Indigenous Spirit
Authors: Albert Jason , Walker Susannah , Kewistep Gilbert
Published: March 2023

This chapter discusses the importance of Indigenous elders to Indigenous organizations and the role and responsibilities they have within these organizations. It discusses the differences between a mainstream organization and an Indigenous organization and ways in which to make an Indigenous organization reflective of the Indigenous culture and practice. Indigenous elders are the hub of Indigenous society and should be reflected as such, but there may be issues due to the historical nature of Indigenous people, and these could present some concerns within Indigenous organizations. A proposal of eight workshops, divided into two separate groups consisting of four workshops each, which are elder led, addresses the different parameters, concerns, and issues that exist and provides a solution to working within and having a healthy Indigenous organization.
The Chinese Global in the Long Postwar
Authors: Mitter Rana
Published: March 2023

This chapter traces changing Chinese ideas of the “global” as expressed through successive ideas of the place of China in world order: Jiang Tingfu’s vision for postwar China in the Bretton Woods era, Mao Zedong’s idea of the Three Worlds, Deng Xiaoping’s notion of a more restrained Chinese influence, and the new embrace of the global by Xi Jinping in the twenty-first century. Today two major discourses seek to portray China as a foundational member of the global order: the idea of a “civilizational state” drawing on China’s longer historical trajectory, and the concept of China as a “postwar” state whose contribution to World War II sustains its claim to ownership of the post-1945 order. Beyond its variations, the Chinese discourse has constantly displayed a search for a narrative that defines China’s role in the global order not just as a matter of power, but of moral standing in an anarchic world.
Inequality, Development, and Global Distributive Justice
Authors: Adelman Jeremy
Published: March 2023

In the late nineteenth century what is now called the Global South produced a narrative about its place in the wider world economy as backward and underdeveloped. Yet the sense of being on the periphery evolved into a critique of the world economy and claims for redistribution from the world’s wealthy societies to the underdeveloped world as a way to “catch up.” The call for redistribution became a narrative for global justice, simultaneously a critique of capitalism and a source of pressure for new institutions and policies. The idea of redistributive justice was the driving force behind that of development, from its origins in the 1930s to the first decade of the twenty-first century, and a narrative of empowerment. Development was for global distributive justice what welfarism and socialism were to the idea of national distributive justice. As such, the two had a coiled history from the 1880s, reaching a peak in the 1960s, and in simultaneous retreat ever since.
The Anti-Dollar Gold Rush
Authors: McDowell Daniel
Published: March 2023

Chapter 4 presents analyses exploring the link between US financial sanctions and the buildup of physical gold reserves. After documenting how central bank gold purchases have increased since the global financial crisis of 2008, the chapter explains how gold operates as a form of insurance against potential US sanctions. The case of Venezuela’s embattled Maduro regime illustrates this point, revealing why investments in gold can be understood as an anti-dollar policy. The chapter then presents a statistical model demonstrating the link between US sanctions and increases in gold holdings. Gold reserves grew faster among sanctioned states and those facing an elevated risk of sanctions than among non-sanctioned and low-risk states. Additional illustrations show that sanctions are associated with a decline in foreign holdings of US Treasury bonds, which implies that sanctions provoked actual de-dollarization of reserves.
Act II—The Storm Breaks, 1986–1995
Authors: Nathanson Constance A. , Bergeron Henri
Published: March 2023

Most of the decisions later interpreted in France as scandalous—delay in authorizing HIV blood testing and heat treatment of blood products, failure to recall blood products known to be contaminated—were made in the spring of 1985 by those charged with responsibility for the blood supply, meeting behind closed doors. These previously unpublicized and invisible actions became visible to the eye of the French public in early 1991 with profound societal repercussions. This chapter describes how this story emerged from the shadows and its immediate legal and political outcomes. The principal event during this period in the United States was publication in 1995 of the IOM report, HIV and the Blood Supply, and even this report, despite its clear—although extremely low key—evidence of failure at the national level, received minimal public attention.
Hollow Applause (ver.di)
Authors: McAlevey Jane F. , Lawlor Abby
Published: March 2023

This chapter covers the renegotiation of wages for nurses and other healthcare workers at Berlin’s public hospitals during the COVID-19 infections in Germany in 2020. It highlights how Berlin’s two major public hospital systems, Vivantes and Charité, had been chronically understaffed before the pandemic struck. The understaffing issue only got worse following the COVID-19 pandemic response. The TVӧD (Tarifvertrag für den öffentlichen Dienst) is a national sectoral bargaining agreement negotiated by trade union Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft, known as ver.di. The chapter explains the agreements being finally ratified by around 2,300 union members, citing that the campaign’s two demands of staffing and paid days had been largely achieved.
Some Features of Grounding
Authors: deRosset Louis
Published: March 2023

In this chapter, the sources of insight identified in Chapter 1 are deployed to develop a rudimentary theory of grounding which outlines some of its basic features. Each of these features has been, to varying degrees, the subject of controversy in the grounding literature. In some cases, the author wades into the controversy and offers reasons for favoring one side or the other. However, in many cases that have figured centrally in the grounding literature, he shows that the controversy can be sidestepped for the purposes of deploying the theory of grounding for articulating the idea that nature is structured into layers. So, those controversies that can be sidestepped may not have the significance for the applications of the theory of grounding that one might have hoped or feared.
Hollow Truth
Authors: deRosset Louis
Published: March 2023

This chapter applies the theory of grounding to the question of the nature of truth. A raft of new philosophical problems concerning truth have recently been discovered by several theorists, following Kit Fine. Most previous commentators on these problems have taken them to shed light on the theory of ground. This chapter argues that they also shed light on the theory of truth. In particular, the chapter shows that the notion of ground can be deployed to clearly articulate one strand of deflationary thinking about truth, according to which truth is “metaphysically lightweight.” The resulting deflationary view solves the problems. In this way, the theory of truth and the theory of ground interact fruitfully: we can apply the notion of ground to offer a clear explication of the deflationist claim that truth is “metaphysically lightweight” that both captures the motivations for that claim and solves the problems.
Structure, Physical Knowledge, and Ignorance
Authors: Alter Torin
Published: March 2023

Chapter 3 argues that considerations about structure help answer three objections to the claim that Mary learns new truths when she is released: one due to Horgan and others, one due to Stoljar and others, and one due to Kirk, Montero, and others. Each of the three objections aims at refuting one of the three claims underlying the knowledge argument’s first main step, the inference from the Mary case to the epistemic gap: the complete-physical-knowledge claim, on which pre-release Mary learns the complete physical truth from her science lessons; the Mary-would-know claim, on which pre-release Mary can deduce any phenomenal truth that is deducible from the complete physical truth; and the learning claim, on which upon release Mary learns new truths about what it is like to see in color.
Phenomenal Representation
Authors: Alter Torin
Published: March 2023

This chapter defends the knowledge argument from an objection developed by Jackson himself, and a related objection developed by Derk Pereboom. According to Jackson, the argument from the Mary case to the epistemic gap loses its force once we recognize the truth of representationalism, the theory that phenomenal character consists in representational character. In response, the chapter explains how the argument from the Mary case to the epistemic gap can be reformulated in representationalist terms without compromising the argument’s force. Pereboom’s objection concerns the idea that introspective representations are inaccurate. In response, it is argued that there is insufficient evidence for a sort of introspective misrepresentation that would threaten the knowledge argument.
Why France Was Unaffected by the Austrian Codification of Administrative Procedure
Authors: Auby Jean-Bernard
Published: March 2023

The Austrian 1925 General Administrative Procedure Act has had very little resonance in French administrative law scholarship. This was for two reasons. First, French administrative law has traditionally been reluctant to focus on administrative procedure: procedure in administrative courts has always been considered a more important concern. Second, while French law is normally quite hospitable to codifications, it has, until recently (2015), resisted all attempts to codify administrative procedure. This second reason is not totally independent of the first one, since the supreme administrative court—the Conseil d’Etat—has always been the main opponent to any codification of administrative procedure.
WHAT DOES CARBON DIOXIDE DO IN THE ATMOSPHERE?
Authors: Dolman Han
Published: March 2023

We tell the story of how a tiny molecule absorbs radiation and thereby affects the temperature of the whole planet. The astronomer Herschel around 1800 discovered infrared radiation, radiation beyond the visible part of the spectrum containing heat. His successors Maxwell and Planck identified radiation as electromagnetic waves. Infrared radiation emitted by the Earth has a longer wavelength and carries less energy than visible radiation coming from the sun. Joseph Fourier realized that the Earth’s temperature resulted from the balance between these two sources. In 1856 the pioneering American female scientist Eunice Foote discovered that different gases, such as CO2, have an impact on the temperature of the air when put under different forms of radiation. This is the discovery of the Greenhouse Effect, often wrongly attributed to the Irishman John Tyndall. The Swede Svante Arrhenius (1896) was initially interested in trying to explain differences in temperature between an ice age and the periods in between with little or no ice. By performing hundreds of thousands of calculations, he was able to conclude that small changes in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere could cause the changing temperatures. He then went on to show that burning fossil fuels produced a steady increase in atmospheric CO2, which could also increase the Earth’s temperature. Guy Callendar, in 1938, improved Arrhenius’ calculations and made new predictions of how much the temperature would increase if humans continued to burn fossil fuel. Climate Science was born.
THE WORLD COMES SLOWLY INTO ACTION
Authors: Dolman Han
Published: March 2023

Twenty years after the Stockholm conference, the world’s leaders met again, in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They agreed on the establishment of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This convention aimed to establish rules and regulations to combat climate change, based on the premise of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’. The goal was to stabilize climate; at what level and how needed to be negotiated at annual Conferences of the Parties. In 1997 the Kyoto protocol was negotiated in which developed countries agreed to reduce their emissions compared to 1990. The Kyoto protocol ended in 2012 and a new agreement needed to be negotiated. In 2015 the French organizers of COP 21 prepared the meeting well and managed to secure a legally binding agreement, the Paris Agreement. This set out to limit the global temperature rise to no more than 1.5°C and certainly below 2°C. The Paris Agreement came into force in 2016. In Glasgow, the world leaders met again at COP 26 in 2021 to discuss how to implement the Paris agreement and ensure transfer of funds to the developed world to help adaptation to climate change. The important discussion in the end was whether to ‘phase out’ or ‘phase down’ fossil fuel burning. It was phasing down, a disappointment to many of the negotiators and certainly to the general public and activists that had become ever more vocal in their frustration at the slow pace at which the world was dealing with the climate crisis.
Eliza Scidmore
Authors: Parsell Diana P.
Published: March 2023

Born on the American frontier just before the Civil War, Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore (1856–1928) grew from modest beginnings to become one of the most celebrated women of her day as a far-roaming travel writer who brought the world alive for readers back home. She popularized Alaska tourism and educated Americans about Japan and the wider Far East at a time of expanding interest in people and places across the Pacific. In her best-known legacy she carried home a big idea that helped shape the face of modern Washington by pushing—for twenty-five years—the planting of Japanese cherry trees in Potomac Park. Scidmore was a female “Forrest Gump” who rubbed elbows with many famous people and bore witness to important events in the dynamic period from the Gilded Age to World War I. At the early National Geographic, she made a lasting mark as the first woman to serve on its board and to publish photographs in the magazine. She was active in the burgeoning U.S. conservation movement in association with John Muir and others. Her published work includes books on Alaska, Japan, Java, China, and India; hundreds of articles in U.S. newspapers and magazines; and a novel based on the Russo–Japanese War. This deeply researched biography, which draws heavily on Scidmore’s published work and letters, reveals for the first time the story of a historically important but long-overlooked woman whose life offers a fascinating lens through which to view U.S. and Asian history.
Inside Passage to Glacier Bay
Authors: Parsell Diana P.
Published: March 2023

Influenced by the naturalist John Muir’s explorations of Alaska’s glaciers, Eliza Scidmore makes her own journey to the territory in the summer of 1883, on what becomes a historic voyage. She travels aboard the Idaho mail steamer under Captain James Carroll. In a series of dispatches for the St. Louis Globe–Democrat, she chronicles the thousand-mile journey along the Inside Passage, with stops at settlements along the coast of British Columbia and southeastern Alaska. When the ship makes a spontaneous detour, Scidmore and her fellow passengers become the first tourists to visit the newly named Glacier Bay and to see the magnificent glaciers reported by Muir and native Alaskans. The journey and another trip the following summer provide material for Scidmore’s first book, the 1885 travelogue Alaska: Its Southern Coast and the Sitkan Archipelago, now widely considered the first guidebook on Alaska. Today, a mountain and glacier are named for her.
The Potomac Flats
Authors: Parsell Diana P.
Published: March 2023

In the fall of 1883, Eliza Scidmore’s newspaper work takes her to the top of the unfinished Washington Monument to report on a Potomac River shoreline reclamation project that will lead to the creation of Potomac Park, currently the site of D.C.’s famed Japanese cherry trees. The park will rise on formerly marshy ground known as the Potomac flats. Because of flooding and malaria health concerns, Congress ordered the Army Corp of Engineers to fill in the foul-smelling flats and convert the reclaimed land—roughly 700 acres—for public use. Scidmore’s reporting on the project for the St. Louis Globe–Democrat gives her an early overview of an area she will later deem perfect for planting Japanese cherry trees, an idea inspired by her travels to Japan beginning in 1885.
Among the Scientists
Authors: Parsell Diana P.
Published: March 2023

The year 1890 is a seminal one for Eliza Scidmore as she resumes her travel reporting on Alaska after six years, joins the National Geographic Society, and begins the most important professional relationship of her career by pitching a story idea to Richard Watson Gilder, editor of the prestigious magazine The Century. She takes up photography around this time, two years after the revolutionary Kodak box camera was introduced. Arriving in the Pacific Northwest, Scidmore discovers a newly born Alaska cruise industry, fueled in part by her own popular 1885 book on Alaska. In Glacier Bay she meets up with John Muir, doing field work there for the summer. Two recent articles by Muir in The Century help spark public and political interest in wilderness protection, laying the groundwork for the U.S. conservation movement in which Scidmore will play an activist role.
“Miss Scidmore, of Everywhere”
Authors: Parsell Diana P.
Published: March 2023

In the 1890s, a part-time home in Japan with her mother and brother gives Eliza Scidmore a base to report from across the Far East. She and her mother join the Japanese craze for cultivating artistic varieties of morning glories (asagao). She grows so expert on asagao that she publishes a thirty-two-page paper and lectures on the subject in London. When a deadly tsunami occurs off the Sanriku Coast of northeast Japan in the summer of 1896, killing 20,000 people, Scidmore writes about the disaster for National Geographic, introducing its readers to the Japanese term tsunami. After the outbreak of the Spanish–American War, she goes to the Philippines to scope out story ideas. She arrives in Manila only hours before fighting breaks out between U.S. troops and nationalists led by Emilio Aguinaldo, the start of a bloody conflict that will cause more casualties than the war itself.
An Ally in the White House
Authors: Parsell Diana P.
Published: March 2023

A breakthrough in Eliza Scidmore’s long-time efforts to have Japanese cherry trees planted in Potomac Park comes in the spring of 1909, after the election of President William Howard Taft. A month after entering the White House, his wife, Helen, sets out to build a bandstand in Potomac Park for public concerts along the river, an idea inspired by “the Luneta,” a public park she enjoyed in Manila. Events unfold quickly as Scidmore writes a note urging the first lady to include cherry trees in the project. Mrs. Taft quickly gets on board. Through Scidmore’s influence, a wealthy Japanese chemist in New York, Jokichi Tokamine, offers 2,000 cherry trees, a gift Scidmore mediates with Mrs. Taft. Just as arrangements are being negotiated, Helen Taft suffers a stroke that will curtail her activities over the next year.
The Ancient Edifice
Authors: Lok Matthijs
Published: March 2023

The first chapter (‘The Ancient Edifice’) begins with the Manual of the Political System and its Colonies (1809) by the Göttingen historian Arnold Heeren, a telling example of the ‘historical Europeanism’ studied in this book. The overarching focus of the book will be outlined, along with the contribution of the study to the scholarly debates on historical thought, the politics of the (Counter-)Enlightenment and enlightened cosmopolitanism, and finally, (Counter-)Revolution and conservative Europeanism. The study is situated in various (English, German, and French) historiographical traditions. Finally, the selection of the protagonists, and the limitations of this selection, is explained.
Thinking Inside the Box: The Promise and Boundaries of Transparency in Automated Decision-Making
Authors: Koivisto Ida
Published: March 2023

The normative attractivity of transparency is beyond compare. No wonder it is one of the main principles in the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. It also features in most AI ethics codes. Transparency is called for because it is assumed that it will solve the so-called ‘black box problem’ (uncertainty about how inputs translate into outputs in algorithmic systems) and by so doing legitimize automated decision-making (computer-based decision-making without human influence; ADM). In this chapter, the legitimizing effect of transparency in ADM is discussed. It is argued that transparency cannot deliver in its quest to resolve the black box problem. The main claim is that transparency is inherently performative in nature and cannot but be so. This performativity goes against the promise of unmediated visibility, vested in transparency. As demonstrated, when transparency is brought into the context of ADM, its hidden functioning logic becomes visible in a new way.
Afterword
Authors: Vavoula Niovi
Published: March 2023

The afterword broadly discusses the need for EU digital regulation to be ‘future-proofed’. Considering the various areas discussed in each chapter of the volume—data protection in relation to other recent legislative initiatives, algorithmic transparency of the so-called ‘black box’, legal protection by design in automated decision-making, the functioning of EU interoperability and the rules of data sharing, the avenues for accountability in the EU architecture of data-led security—the risk of an instrumental use of technology that is excessive in legal terms is highlighted. The chapter points out how this might be accentuated through the shifting boundaries of EU law. EU digital regulatory initiatives challenge the preservation of EU values and fundamental rights. At the same time, new regulation is part of digital transformation, the legitimacy of which is under fire.
FOX GROUP INTERNATIONAL LTD v TELETA PHARMA LTD
Authors:   INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ENTERPRISE COURT
Published: March 2023

H1 Trade Marks — European trade marks — REVOLAX — Invalidity — Bad faith — Application for registration made by UK exclusive distributor — Term of distributorship agreement that manufacturer owned the trade mark — Parallel imports from within the EU — Genuine goods — Importation — Threats
Myology of the masticatory apparatus of herbivorous mammals and a novel classification for a better understanding of herbivore diversity
Authors: Ercoli Marcos D , Álvarez Alicia , Warburton Natalie M , Janis Christine M , Potapova Elena G , Herring Susan W , Cassini Guillermo H , Tarquini Juliana , Kuznetsov Alexander
Published: March 2023

Masticatory muscle features allow for an understanding of how dietary habits and masticatory functions have evolved across mammalian lineages. Herbivorous mammals were traditionally classified as pertaining to either ‘ungulate-grinding’ or ‘rodent-gnawing’ morphotypes, but those classes might not adequately encompass the diversity of past and present herbivores. We compiled data for 104 herbivorous (nine orders, including new data for 31 species) and ten non-herbivorous (five orders) extant species and for four extinct taxa, in order to construct a more comprehensive scheme of masticatory morphotypes. A myological phylomorphospace revealed 15 morphotypes, which were tested statistically and interpreted morphofunctionally. Extant herbivorous morphotypes diversified along two main pathways that did not reflect the traditional types. Additionally, some extinct herbivores adapted along alternative pathways to those of extant forms. Early mammaliaforms and mammals possessed muscle proportions almost identical to those of living carnivores. Several more plesiomorphic herbivorous morphotypes were recognized, with some of them retaining generalized myological proportions. The rodent disparity was remarkable and could not be encompassed by a single category or pathway. Features of some derived euungulates and diprotodonts resembled rodents, but only a few extinct euungulates and extant wombats converged closely with them. Criteria for selecting models for palaeobiological reconstructions are discussed.
Climate Change Is a Threat to Public Health
Authors: Kirton Carl A.
Published: March 2023

Nurses must be part of the solution.
Managing Older Adults' Chronic Pain: Higher-Risk Interventions
Authors: Arnstein Paul , Shade Marcia , Herr Keela A. , Young Heather M. , Fishman Scott M.
Published: March 2023

This article is part of a series, Supporting Family Caregivers: No Longer Home Alone, published in collaboration with the AARP Public Policy Institute. Results of focus groups, conducted as part of the AARP Public Policy Institute's No Longer Home Alone video project, supported evidence that family caregivers aren't given the information they need to manage the complex care regimens of family members. This series of articles and accompanying videos aims to help nurses provide caregivers with the tools they need to manage their family member's health care at home.

This new group of articles provides practical information nurses can share with family caregivers of persons living with pain. To use this series, nurses should read the articles first, so they understand how best to help family caregivers. Then they can refer caregivers to the informational tear sheet—Information for Family Caregivers—and instructional videos, encouraging them to ask questions. For additional information, see Resources for Nurses.
Identifying Unique Symptom Groups Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Using the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory and PTSD Checklist-5 in Military Personnel: A Bifactor Analysis
Authors: Agtarap Stephanie , Hungerford Lars D. , Ettenhofer Mark L.
Published: March 2023

Objective:

To identify both shared and unique groups of posttraumatic stress and postconcussive symptoms using bifactor analysis.

Setting:

Two large military outpatient traumatic brain injury (TBI) rehabilitation clinics in the Southwestern United States.

Participants:

A sample of 1476 Active Duty Service Members seeking treatment for a mild TBI sustained more than 30 days previously, without history of moderate or severe TBI, who completed measures of postconcussive and posttraumatic stress symptoms assessed at clinic intake.

Design:

Observational, correlational study with data taken from an institutional review board–approved clinical registry study.

Main Measures:

Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI) and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition) (DSM-V) (PCL-5). Concurrent measures were Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Headache Impact Test (HIT-6).

Results:

Results identified a bifactor model demonstrating unique posttraumatic stress, depressive, cognitive, and neurological/somatic symptom groups that were still evident after accounting for a universal factor representing general distress. These symptom groups were differentially related to concurrently measured clinical outcomes.

Conclusion:

Use of a bifactor structure may help derive clinically useful signals from self-reported symptoms among Active Duty Service Members seeking outpatient treatment for mild TBI.
Immune Response in COVID-19-associated Acute Kidney Injury and Maladaptive Kidney Repair
Authors: Fu Ying , Dong Zheng
Published: March 2023

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a major disease with substantial short and long-term morbidity and mortality. It is also a critical consequence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is characterized by a robust immunological response and a cytokine storm. Current COVID-19-AKI prevention and management approaches are largely based on clinical experience, and further research is required to obtain evidence to support current clinical practices and to develop new treatment and care strategies. Several individuals have reported experiencing long-term symptoms indicative of the long COVID syndrome following COVID-19 infection. Evidence of the long-term consequences of COVID-19 on kidneys has also been reported. In this aspect, the kidney has a remarkable capacity for repair after injury. However, when the injury is too severe or persistent, kidney repair is incomplete and maladaptive, potentially leading to chronic kidney disease (CKD). Inflammation, characterized by complex crosstalk between intrinsic renal cells and immune cells, is critical in maladaptive kidney repair. In this review, we summarize the progress of studies on COVID-19-induced AKI and the interactions between immune cells and intrinsic renal cells involved in the process of maladaptive kidney repair. We also discuss inflammation-related pathways as potential therapeutic targets.
Surgical site infections are independently associated with the development of postoperative acute-on-chronic liver failure in liver cirrhosis
Authors: Chang Johannes , Hoffstall Schwiedhard , Gödiker Juliana , Lehmann Jennifer , Schwind Lea , Lingohr Philipp , Manekeller Steffen , Wehner Sven , Strassburg Christian P. , Chang Petrus , Praktiknjo Michael
Published: March 2023

Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is associated with organ failure and high short-term mortality. Bacterial infections and surgery have been reported as major precipitants for ACLF. However, detailed characterization of postoperative infections after elective surgery in patients with liver cirrhosis and their impact on the development of ACLF have not been investigated yet. A total of 235 patients with cirrhosis without ACLF and proven bacterial infections undergoing elective surgery were included. The primary end point was the development of ACLF within 28 days after surgery, and secondary end points were infection development within 28 days and 3-month ACLF-related mortality. Cox regression analysis was used for identification of risk factors associated with ACLF development, infection development, and mortality. A total of 86 patients (37%) developed ACLF within 28 days after surgery. Patients with new postoperative infections had significantly higher rates of associated ACLF episodes within 28 days (51% vs. 24%, p < 0.001) and higher 3-month mortality (p < 0.05) than patients without postoperative infections. New infections after surgery [HR: 2.43 (1.59–3.71), p < 0.001] and organ/space surgical site infections [HR: 2.46 (1.26–4.80), p = 0.01] in particular were independent risk factors associated with ACLF development 28 days after surgery. Extensive procedures were associated with the development of new postoperative infection episodes within 28 days. Infections treated with initial appropriate empirical antibiotic strategies showed significantly improved survival. This study characterizes and identifies bacterial infections in general and organ/space surgical site infection in particular as precipitating events for the development of ACLF after elective surgery in patients with cirrhosis. Postoperative ACLF combined with infections leads to higher postoperative short-term mortality than each condition separately, especially in extensive procedures. Interdisciplinary care, early identification of postoperative ACLF and infections, and adequate, broad, and early treatment strategies are needed to improve postoperative outcome.
Doxycycline Post Exposure Prophylaxis could induce cross-resistance to other classes of antimicrobials in Neisseria gonorrhoeae: an in-silico analysis
Authors: Vanbaelen Thibaut , Manoharan-Basil Sheeba Santhini , Kenyon Chris
Published: March 2023

We found that tetracycline resistance associated mutations and genes in Neisseria gonorrhoeae are linked to mutations causing resistance to other antimicrobials. Therefore, the use of doxycycline PEP may select for resistance to other antimicrobials.
Maribacter litopenaei sp. nov., isolated from the intestinal tract of the Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei
Authors: Kim Soo Yoon , Choi Jy Young , Hong Yeon Woo , Shin Dong Young , Kim Bok Jin , Kang Jin Kyeong , Lee Kyu Tae , Cho Byung Cheol , Hwang Chung Yeon
Published: March 2023

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated HL-LV01T, was isolated from the intestinal tract content of the Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain HL-LV01T showed that the strain was clearly a member of the genus

Maribacter

. According to the phylogenetic analyses, strain HL-LV01T was most closely related to the species

Maribacter flavus

KCTC 42508T with 98.2 % sequence similarity. The average nucleotide identity and digital DNA–DNA hybridization values between strain HL-LV01T and

M. flavus

KCTC 42508T were 80.6 % and 23.0 %, respectively, indicating different genomic species in the genus

Maribacter

. Strain HL-LV01T showed optimal growth at 35 °C, pH 7.0, and 2.5 % (w/v) sea salts. The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0 (32.5 %), iso-C17 : 0 3-OH (22.3 %), and iso-C15 : 1 G (15.5 %). The major respiratory quinone was menaquinone-6. The polar lipids consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, three unidentified aminolipids, and seven unidentified lipids. The genomic DNA G+C content of the strain was 39.8 mol%. The comprehensive phylogenetic, genomic, phenotypic, and chemotaxonomic results indicate that strain HL-LV01T is distinct from validly published species of the genus

Maribacter

. Hence, we propose strain HL-LV01T as a novel species belonging to the genus

Maribacter

, for which the name Maribacter litopenaei sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HL-LV01T (= KCCM 90498T = JCM 35709T).
An updated catalogue of diverse type II polyketide synthase biosynthetic gene clusters captured from large-scale nucleotide databases
Authors: McBride Christina M. , Miller Eric L. , Charkoudian Louise K.
Published: March 2023

Nature serves as a rich source of molecules with immense chemical diversity. Aptly named, these ‘natural products’ boast a wide variety of environmental, medicinal and industrial applications. Type II polyketides, in particular, confer substantial medicinal benefits, including antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer and anti-inflammatory properties. These molecules are produced by enzyme assemblies known as type II polyketide synthases (PKSs), which use domains such as the ketosynthase chain-length factor and acyl carrier protein to produce polyketides with varying lengths, cyclization patterns and oxidation states. In this work, we use a novel bioinformatic workflow to identify biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) that code for the core type II PKS enzymes. This method does not rely on annotation and thus was able to unearth previously ‘hidden’ type II PKS BGCs. This work led us to identify over 6000 putative type II PKS BGCs spanning a diverse set of microbial phyla, nearly double those found in most recent studies. Notably, many of these newly identified BGCs were found in non-actinobacteria, which are relatively underexplored as sources of type II polyketides. Results from this work lay an important foundation for future bioprospecting and engineering efforts that will enable sustainable access to diverse and structurally complex molecules with medicinally relevant properties.
Speed-specific optimal contractile conditions of the human soleus muscle from slow to maximum running speed
Authors: Bohm Sebastian , Mersmann Falk , Schroll Arno , Arampatzis Adamantios
Published: March 2023

The soleus is the main muscle for propulsion during human running but its operating behavior across the spectrum of physiological running speed is currently unknown. This study investigated experimentally the soleus muscle activation patterns and contractile conditions for force generation, power production and efficient work production (i.e. force-length potential, force-velocity potential, power-velocity potential and enthalpy efficiency) at seven running speeds (3.0 m/s to individual maximum). During submaximal running (3.0 to 6.0 m/s), the soleus fascicles shortened close to optimal length and at a velocity close to the efficiency-maximum, two contractile conditions for economical work production. At higher running speeds (7.0 m/s to maximum), the soleus muscle fascicles still operated near optimum length, yet the fascicle shortening velocity increased and shifted towards the optimum for mechanical power production with a simultaneous increase in muscle activation, providing evidence for three cumulative mechanisms to enhance mechanical power production. Using the experimentally-determined force-length-velocity potentials and muscle activation as inputs in a Hill-type muscle model, a reduction in maximum soleus muscle force at speeds ≥7.0 m/s and a continuous increase in maximum mechanical power with speed was predicted. The reduction in soleus maximum force was associated with a reduced force-velocity potential. The increase in maximum power was explained by an enhancement of muscle activation and contractile conditions until 7.0 m/s, yet at the maximal running speed mainly by increased muscle activation.

Summary statement

The study provides experimental evidence that the human soleus muscle favors contractile conditions for economical work production during submaximal running and for enhancing mechanical power production during maximal running speed.
TEMPORAL TRENDS AND TRANSMISSION DYNAMICS OF PRE-TREATMENT HIV-1 DRUG RESISTANCE WITHIN AND BETWEEN RISK GROUPS IN KENYA, 1986-2020
Authors: Nduva George M. , Otieno Frederick , Kimani Joshua , Sein Yiakon , Arimide Dawit A. , McKinnon Lyle R. , Cholette Francois , Lawrence Morris K. , Majiwa Maxwell , Masika Moses , Mutua Gaudensia , Anzala Omu , Graham Susan M. , Gelmon Larry , Price Matt A. , Smith Adrian D. , Bailey Robert C. , Medstrand Patrik , Sanders Eduard J. , Esbjörnsson Joakim , Hassan Amin S.
Published: March 2023

Background

Evidence on the distribution of pre-treatment HIV-1 drug resistance (HIVDR) by risk groups is limited in Africa. We assessed prevalence, trends, and transmission dynamics of pre-treatment HIVDR within-and-between men who have sex with men (MSM), people who inject drugs (PWID), female sex workers (FSW), heterosexuals (HET), and children infected perinatally in Kenya.

Methods

HIV-1 partialpolsequences from antiretroviral-naïve samples collected between 1986-2020 were used. Pre-treatment RTI, PI and INSTI mutations were assessed using the Stanford HIVDR database. Phylogenetics methods were used to determine and date transmission clusters.

Results

Of 3567 sequences analysed, 550 (15.4%, 95% CI: 14.2-16.6) had at least one pre-treatment HIVDR mutation, which was most prevalent amongst children (41.3%), followed by PWID (31.0%), MSM (19.9%), FSW (15.1%) and HET (13.9%). No INSTI resistance mutations were detected. Among HET, pre-treatment HIVDR increased from 6.6% in 1986-2005 to 20.2% in 2011-2015 but dropped to 6.5% in 2016-2020. Overall, 22 clusters with shared pre-treatment HIVDR mutations were identified. The largest was a K103N mutation cluster involving 16 MSM sequences sampled between 2010-2017, with an estimated tMRCA of 2005 (HPD, 2000-2008). This lineage had a growth rate=0.1/year and R0=1.1, indicating propagation over 12 years among ART-naïve MSM in Kenya.

Conclusions

Compared to HET, children and key populations had higher levels of pre-treatment HIVDR. Introduction of INSTIs after 2016 may have reversed the increase in pre-treatment RTI mutations in Kenya. Continued surveillance of HIVDR, with a particular focus on children and key populations, is warranted to inform treatment strategies in Kenya.

Compared to the heterosexual population, key populations had higher levels of pre-treatment HIV-1 drug resistance (HIVDR). Propagation of HIVDR was risk-group exclusive. Introduction of integrase inhibitors abrogated propagation of reverse transcriptase inhibitors mutations among the heterosexual, but not key populations.
The Effect of 1-MCP on grain size and yield-related traits ofEragrostis tef
Authors: Girmay Fano Dargo , Flavel Richard J. , Nonhebel Heather M.
Published: March 2023

Teff is an Ethiopean cereal that has the potential for increased global production. However, as a very small-seeded grain, it experiences high levels of post-harvest loss. As ethylene is reported to have a negative effect on grain size, this study sought to test whether 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), an ethylene action inhibitor, is a suitable molecule to improve grain size of teff as well as to determine the optimum application time and concentration. The 1-MCP treatment was evaluated on well-watered plants as well as plants subjected to moderate water stress, with the stress treatment imposed one week before the expected flowering date. Application of 1 PPM 1-MCP to individual panicles improved grain size and thousand-grain weight (TGW) by 22% and 29% under moderate water stress and 10% and 16% under well-watered conditions, respectively. It also increased yield per panicle. However, when applied to whole plants it was not effective, due to the extended flowering time of teff and differing responses of panicles at different developmental stages. These observations suggest that genetic modification leading to lower production of endogenous ethylene could benefit grain size in teff. However, 1-MCP treatment is unlikely to be effective in the field.
Sleep Quantity and Quality During Inpatient Rehabilitation After Stroke
Authors: Fulk George , Billinger Sandra , Bartsch Bria , Duncan Pamela , Valastro Daniel , Klingman Karen
Published: March 2023

Objective

To identify sleep patterns and their association with recovery after stroke during inpatient rehabilitation, and to determine if clinical outcomes are different between participants demonstrating abnormal sleep patterns as compared to those with normal sleep patterns.

Methods

Cohort study in which participants were undergoing inpatient rehabilitation after a stroke. Sleep quantity and quality was measured using an actigraph that participants wore for up to 7 nights during the first week of inpatient rehabilitation. Medicare Quality Indicators (GG code), Barthel Index, gait speed, and Berg balance scale were collected at admission and discharge. Participants were categorized into groups based on meeting or not meeting recommended sleep quantity and quality guidelines. Association between sleep patterns and outcomes were assessed using Pearson correlation and differences in outcomes and length of stay between participants who met or did not meet sleep quantity and quality guidelines were determined using independent sample t-test.

Results

69 participants were in the study. Sleep quantity and quality was poor for all the participants. None of the participants met all the sleep quantity and quality guidelines. There were moderate to small associations (-0.42 to 0.22) between some sleep quantity and quality parameters and clinical outcomes. Participants who’s sleep efficiency (SE) was <85% had a significantly longer length of stay compared to those who’s SE was >=85% (17.4 vs. 21.5 days, p<0.05).

Conclusions

People with stroke undergoing inpatient rehabilitation have poor sleep quantity and quality. There is a small to moderate association between sleep patterns and clinical outcomes and participants with poor sleep quality had longer length of stay compared to those with good sleep quality. Further research is necessary to better understand the complex relationship between sleep and recovery after stroke.

Impact

Sleep is associated with functional recovery during inpatient rehabilitation after stroke.
COVID-19 Genome Surveillance: A Geographical Landscape and Mutational Mapping of SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Central India over Two Years
Authors: Khairnar Krishna , Tomar Siddharth Singh
Published: March 2023

Reading the viral genome through whole genome sequencing enables the detection of changes in the viral genome. The rapid changes in the SARS-CoV-2 viral genome may cause immune escape leading to an increase in the pathogenicity or infectivity. Monitoring mutations through genomic surveillance helps understand the amino acid changes resulting from the mutation. These amino acid changes, especially in the spike glycoprotein, may have implications on the pathogenicity of the virus by rendering it immune-escape. The region of Vidarbha in Maharashtra represents 31.6% of the total area and 21.3% of the total population of the state. In total, 7457 SARS-CoV-2 positive samples belonging to 16 Indian States were included in the study, out of which 3002 samples passed the sequencing quality control criteria. The metadata of 7457 SARS-CoV-2 positive samples included in the study was sourced from the Integrated Health Information Platform. The metadata of 3002 sequenced samples, including the FASTA sequence, was submitted to the Global initiative on sharing Avian Influenza Data and the Indian biological data centre. This study identified 104 different SARS-CoV-2 pango-lineages classified into 19 clades. We have also analysed the mutation profiles of the variants found in the study, which showed eight mutations of interest, including L18F, K417N, K417T, L452R, S477N, N501Y, P681H, P681R, and mutation of concern E484K in the spike glycoprotein region. The study was from November 2020 to December 2022, making this study the most comprehensive genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 conducted for the region.
Gut microbiome predicts atopic diseases in an infant cohort with reduced bacterial exposure due to social distancing
Authors: Korpela Katri , Hurley Sadhbh , Ford Sinead Ahearn , Franklin Ruth , Byrne Susan , Lunjani Nonhlanhla , Forde Brian , Neogi Ujjwal , Venter Carina , Walter Jens , Hourihane Jonathan , O’Mahony Liam
Published: March 2023

Several hypotheses link altered microbial exposure in affluent societies to increased prevalence of allergies, but none have been experimentally tested in humans. Here we capitalize on the opportunity to study a cohort of infants (CORAL) raised during COVID-19 associated social distancing measures to test the interactions between bacterial exposure and fecal microbiome composition with atopic outcomes. We show that fecalClostridialevels were significantly lower in CORAL infants and correlated with a microbial exposure index. Microbiota composition was the most significant component of regression models predicting risk of atopic dermatitis (AUC 0.86) or food allergen sensitization (AUC 0.98) and mediated the effects of multiple environment factors on disease risk. Although diet had a larger effect on microbiota composition than environmental factors linked to dispersal, most effects were mediated through the microbiota. This study provides critical information to refine existing hypothesis on the importance of the gut microbiota to immune development.