bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Automated segmentation and recognition of C. elegans whole-body cells
Authors: Li Yuanyuan , Lai Chuxiao , Wang Meng , Wu Jun , Li Yongbin , Peng Hanchuan , Qu Lei
Published: May 2024

Motivation

Accurate segmentation and recognition of C.elegans cells are critical for various biological studies, including gene expression, cell lineages, and cell fates analysis at single-cell level. However, the highly dense distribution, similar shapes, and inhomogeneous intensity profiles of whole-body cells in 3D fluorescence microscopy images make automatic cell segmentation and recognition a challenging task. Existing methods either rely on additional fiducial markers or only handle a subset of cells. Given the difficulty or expense associated with generating fiducial features in many experimental settings, a marker-free approach capable of reliably segmenting and recognizing C.elegans whole-body cells is highly desirable.

Results

We report a new pipeline, called automated segmentation and recognition (ASR) of cells, and applied it to 3D fluorescent microscopy images of L1-stage C.elegans with 558 whole-body cells. A novel displacement vector field based deep learning model is proposed to address the problem of reliable segmentation of highly crowded cells with blurred boundary. We then realize the cell recognition by encoding and exploiting statistical priors on cell positions and structural similarities of neighboring cells. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first method successfully applied to the segmentation and recognition of C.elegans whole-body cells. The ASR-segmentation module achieves an F1-score of 0.8956 on a dataset of 116 C.elegans image stacks with 64 728 cells (accuracy 0.9880, AJI 0.7813). Based on the segmentation results, the ASR recognition module achieved an average accuracy of 0.8879. We also show ASR’s applicability to other cell types, e.g. platynereis and rat kidney cells.

Availability and implementation

The code is available at https://github.com/reaneyli/ASR.
SAFPred: synteny-aware gene function prediction for bacteria using protein embeddings
Authors: Urhan Aysun , Cosma Bianca-Maria , Earl Ashlee M , Manson Abigail L , Abeel Thomas
Published: May 2024

Motivation

Today, we know the function of only a small fraction of the protein sequences predicted from genomic data. This problem is even more salient for bacteria, which represent some of the most phylogenetically and metabolically diverse taxa on Earth. This low rate of bacterial gene annotation is compounded by the fact that most function prediction algorithms have focused on eukaryotes, and conventional annotation approaches rely on the presence of similar sequences in existing databases. However, often there are no such sequences for novel bacterial proteins. Thus, we need improved gene function prediction methods tailored for bacteria. Recently, transformer-based language models—adopted from the natural language processing field—have been used to obtain new representations of proteins, to replace amino acid sequences. These representations, referred to as protein embeddings, have shown promise for improving annotation of eukaryotes, but there have been only limited applications on bacterial genomes.

Results

To predict gene functions in bacteria, we developed SAFPred, a novel synteny-aware gene function prediction tool based on protein embeddings from state-of-the-art protein language models. SAFpred also leverages the unique operon structure of bacteria through conserved synteny. SAFPred outperformed both conventional sequence-based annotation methods and state-of-the-art methods on multiple bacterial species, including for distant homolog detection, where the sequence similarity to the proteins in the training set was as low as 40%. Using SAFPred to identify gene functions across diverse enterococci, of which some species are major clinical threats, we identified 11 previously unrecognized putative novel toxins, with potential significance to human and animal health.

Availability and implementation

https://github.com/AbeelLab/safpred.
133 PANCREATIC AND DUODENAL NEUROENDOCRINE TUMORS PRODUCING SOMATOSTATIN
Authors: Milanetto A C , Veronese E , Fassan M , Pasquali C
Published: May 2024

Background

Somatostatin-producing NETs (SOM-NETs) of the duodenum (d) and pancreas (p) are rare. In pathological series, SOM-positive dNETs may be 26% and pNETs 4%; some of them associated to inherited genetic syndromes.

Methods

We retrieved the clinical and pathological records of 432 cases of d- and p-NETs operated on in our Centre from 1988 to 2022. Eleven patients (5 F/6 M) had predominant or exclusive staining of somatostatin and were defined SOM-NETs. Last follow up was in November 2023.

Results

There were 8/45 d-NETs (18%) and 3/393 p-NETs (0.8%). Two cases of d-NET occurred in NF-1 patients and one p-NET had a MEN-1. Regarding dNETs: mean size was 1.8 cm (range 0.75-4.5), six were located at the papilla, grade was available in 7 cases (five G1, two G2), 4 had lymph-node metastases and one liver metastases. Two patients had a surgical ampullectomy, 5 pancreatoduodenectomy (PD), one gastric/biliary bypass (liver metastases). Regarding pNETs: tumor size from 3.0 to 4.5 cm, two located in the head (enucleation, and PD), one in the body-tail (distal pancreatectomy), one had lymph-node metastasis, one had a pancreatic recurrence (MEN-1) after 10 years. Three late unrelated deaths occurred in patients 79 to 120 months after PD. The other patients are alive from one to 16 years after surgery.

Conclusions

SOM-NETs (2.5% in our series) are rare in the duodenum and even more in the pancreas. Nodal metastases are frequent, but liver secondaries occasionally occur. Long term-survival without recurrence after resection is the common behavior.
84 ASSESSMENT OF THE SCANDINAVIAN GUIDELINES ON PAPILLARY THYROID CANCER USING THE AGREE II INSTRUMENT
Authors: O´Neill M Sonesson , Areklätt T , Rygård S L , Londero S , Shakir B , Brauckhoff K , Tjellaug E V , Almquist M
Published: May 2024

Background

Clinical practice guidelines aim to help with decision making. However, their quality differs. Guidelines of low quality are a waste of resources and can cause patient harm. We compared the quality of the Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish guidelines on papillary thyroid cancer with those of the American Thyroid Association (ATA).

Methods

Three pairs of appraisers independently rated the guidelines using the AGREE II-instrument, a validated tool for assessing guideline quality. Further, recommendations on extent of surgery in low-risk PTC; prophylactic lymph node dissection; thyroxin suppression; radioiodine treatment; watchful waiting and length of follow-up after treatment, and the evidence cited to support the recommendations, were compared across the four guidelines.

Results

Overall, the ATA had the highest quality, with a score of over 70 % in four domains, and the highest score in five of six domains. The Danish and Swedish guidelines reached a score of over 70 % in only one domain each, and the Norwegian in no domain. The overall score was 83 % for the ATA, 50 % for the Danish, 44 % for the Swedish and 28 % for the Norwegian guidelines. Recommendations varied widely. The ATA had the highest number of references supporting the recommendations.

Conclusions

The quality of clinical practice guidelines and recommendations on treatment for PTC differed between the Scandinavian countries and the ATA, with the ATA having the highest quality. International co-operation in producing guidelines seems warranted.
230 CAN EARLY POST-OPERATIVE ULTRASOUND REPLACE ROUTINARY FLEXIBLE LARYNGOSCOPY AFTER NEUROMONITORING-ASSISTED THYROID SURGERY?
Authors: Attard A , Sessa L , Cupido F , Marchisotta S , Maniglia A , Pennestrì F , De Crea C , Raffaelli M
Published: May 2024

Background

Ultrasound (US) has been proposed to assess vocal cord motility after thyroid surgery, since early post-operative flexible laryngoscopy (FL) is not readily available in all centers. We aimed to verify if FL can be avoided in intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM)-assisted thyroid surgery followed by early US vocal cord motility evaluation.

Methods

Two hundred and thirty-four patients who underwent IONM-assisted thyroidectomy were included. When total thyroidectomy (TT) was planned, the surgical procedure was stopped after the dissection of the first lobe in case of loss of signal (LOS) or significant signal reduction (SSR). US vocal cord motility evaluation and FL were performed in all patients on post-operative day one.

Results

Among 377 nerves at risk (91 thyroid lobectomies and 143 TT), post-operative FL showed 9 unilateral vocal cord palsies and 4 unilateral hypomotilities. IONM results showed 15 LOS and 10 SSR. US vocal cord motility evaluation confirmed unilateral vocal cord palsy in 8 cases and correctly identify normal post-operative vocal cord motility in 13 patients with altered IONM results. FL was able to diagnose 4 unilateral vocal cord hypomotilities in patients with normal IONM results and US evaluation. Overall accuracy was 91.4% for IONM and 96.5% for US, respectively.

Conclusions

Early postoperative US evaluation after IONM-assisted thyroid surgery improves the overall accuracy of IONM alone in the assessment of laryngeal function after thyroid surgery. Nonetheless IONM results and post-operative US do not replace FL, which remains the gold standard for early detection of laryngeal motility changes also in asymptomatic patients.
328 SINGLE PORT ROBOTIC AREOLAR APPROACH THYROIDECTOMY (SPRA): INITIAL EXPERIENCE OF 100-CASES
Authors: Lee S
Published: May 2024

Background

The single port robotic areolar approach thyroidectomy (SPRA) is a surgical method that removes a thyroid tumor through an incision in the patient’s areola on one side using the da Vinci SP robot system. It is a minimally invasive surgery that reduces the area of detachment under the skin by more than 50% compared to the currently popular bilateral axillo-breast approach (BABA) robotic thyroidectomy.

Methods

This study included 100 patients who underwent SPRA at our institution between December 2022 and November 2023 by single surgeon.

Results

The mean patient age was 42.9±11.6(range, 20-67) years and the mean body-mass index was 23.7±3.4kg/m2(range, 16.4-35.2). The operation types were as follows: total thyroidectomy with or without neck dissection (n=13), lobectomy (n=Rt:52, Lt:32), isthmusectomy (n=2), and completion thyroidectomy (n=1). The mean operation time was 109.6±27.4(range, 75-195). There were no cases of conversion to open surgery. There were no intraoperative complications and two cases of postoperative complications, including bleeding with reoperation in 1 case, and wound complication in one case.

Conclusions

SPRA robotic thyroidectomy is safe and efficient to be performed in patient with thyroid tumor. Most of the complications were minor and transient, and the mean operation time was similar to previously reported robotic thyroidectomy. SPRA can be considered as a surgical option for the da Vinci SP robotic system using the areola.
188 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POSTOPERATIVE PARATHORMONE SUPPRESSION AND SURGICAL CURE IN PRIMARY HYPERPARATHYROIDISM
Authors: Unlu M T , Kostek M , Caliskan O , Aygun N , Uludag M
Published: May 2024

Background

In primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT), suppression over other glands due to autonomy of pathological gland is frequently observed. In this study, we aimed to evaluate contribution of suppression of remaining parathyroid glands in pHPT for predicting surgical cure.

Methods

202 pHPT patients who underwent focused surgery or unilateral exploration were included. Patients were divided into 2 groups: patients with suppression at 6th hour(group1)(PTH<15ng/L) and without suppression(group2). Hypercalcemia continuing till 6 months was defined as persistent disease(pPHPT); achieving normocalcemia at 6 months was defined as cure. Group1 and 2 were compared regarding preoperative and early postoperative biochemical findings, imaging features, and pPHPT development. Significant features obtained from univariate analysis were evaluated using multivariate analysis for pPHPT.

Results

The rate of pPHPT was detected significantly higher in group2 compared to group1 (18 of 78 (23.1%) vs. 7 of 124 (5.6%); p<0.001; OR 5.014(95%CI:1.985-12.669)). Only PTH suppression was determined as a significant independent risk factor in predicting cure(OR:0.191(95%CI:0.072-0.507); p=0.001)). PTH value below 17.8 ng/L at postoperative 6th hour could predict cure with 72.9% sensitivity and 72% specificity.

Conclusions

Early postoperative PTH suppression is highly associated with cure. The rate of pPHPT is significantly higher in non-suppressed group. Although hypercalcemia can cause PTH suppression over both sleeping pathological glands and normal glands, its suppression over the remnant sleeping parathyroid glands is less significant. Thus, in follow-up strategies, it should be considered that the possibility of potential pathological sleeping parathyroid tumor leading to pPHPT is high in patients without early PTH suppression.
Gene therapy with phosphodiesterases 2A and 4B ameliorates heart failure and arrhythmias by improving subcellular cAMP compartmentation
Authors: Pavlaki Nikoleta , Froese Alexander , Li Wener , De Jong Kirstie A , Geertz Birgit , Subramanian Hariharan , Mohagaonkar Sanika , Luo Xiaojing , Schubert Mario , Wiegmann Robert , Margaria Jean Piero , Ghigo Alessandra , Kämmerer Susanne , Hirsch Emilio , El-Armouche Ali , Guan Kaomei , Nikolaev Viacheslav O
Published: May 2024

Aims

Gene therapy with cardiac phosphodiesterases (PDEs), such as phosphodiesterase 4B (PDE4B), has recently been described to effectively prevent heart failure (HF) in mice. However, exact molecular mechanisms of its beneficial effects, apart from general lowering of cardiomyocyte cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels, have not been elucidated. Here, we studied whether gene therapy with two types of PDEs, namely PDE2A and PDE4B, can prevent pressure-overload-induced HF in mice by acting on and restoring altered cAMP compartmentation in distinct subcellular microdomains.

Methods and results

HF was induced by transverse aortic constriction followed by tail-vein injection of adeno-associated-virus type 9 vectors to overexpress PDE2A3, PDE4B3, or luciferase for 8 weeks. Heart morphology and function was assessed by echocardiography and histology which showed that PDE2A and especially PDE4B gene therapy could attenuate cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, and decline of contractile function. Live cell imaging using targeted cAMP biosensors showed that PDE overexpression restored altered cAMP compartmentation in microdomains associated with ryanodine receptor type 2 (RyR2) and caveolin-rich plasma membrane. This was accompanied by ameliorated caveolin-3 decline after PDE2A3 overexpression, reduced RyR2 phosphorylation in PDE4B3 overexpressing hearts, and antiarrhythmic effects of both PDEs measured under isoproterenol stimulation in single cells. Strong association of overexpressed PDE4B but not PDE2A with RyR2 microdomain could prevent calcium leak and arrhythmias in human-induced pluripotent stem-derived cardiomyocytes with the A2254V mutation in RyR2 causing catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia.

Conclusion

Our data indicate that gene therapy with phosphodiesterases can prevent HF including associated cardiac remodelling and arrhythmias by restoring altered cAMP compartmentation in functionally relevant subcellular microdomains.
Implementing automated Medicaid eligibility renewals was not associated with higher levels of program participation
Authors: Nelson Daniel B , Singer Phillip M , Fung Vicki
Published: May 2024

Increasing participation in Medicaid among eligible individuals is critical for improving access to care among low-income populations. The administrative burdens of enrolling and renewing eligibility are a major barrier to participation. To reduce these burdens, the Affordable Care Act required states to adopt automated renewal processes that use available databases to verify ongoing eligibility. By 2019, nearly all states adopted automated renewals, but little is known about how this policy affected Medicaid participation rates. Using the 2015–2019 American Community Survey, we found that participation rates among nondisabled, nonelderly adults and children varied widely by state, with an average of 70.8% and 90.7%, respectively. Among Medicaid-eligible adults, participation was lower among younger adults, males, unmarried individuals, childless households, and those living in non-expansion states compared with their counterparts. State adoption of automated renewals varied over time, but participation rates were not associated with adoption. This finding could reflect limitations to current automated renewal processes or barriers to participation outside of the eligibility renewal process, which will be important to address as additional states expand Medicaid and pandemic-era protections on enrollment expire.
PSMC5 insufficiency and P320R mutation impair proteasome function
Authors: Yu Zhong-Qiu , Carmichael Jenny , Collins Galen A , D'Agostino Maria Daniela , Lessard Mathieu , Firth Helen V , Harijan Pooja , Fry Andrew E , Dean John , Zhang Jiuchun , Kini Usha , Goldberg Alfred L , Rubinsztein David C
Published: May 2024

The ubiquitin-proteasome system mediates the degradation of a wide variety of proteins. Proteasome dysfunction is associated with neurodegenerative diseases and neurodevelopmental disorders in humans. Here we identified mutations in PSMC5, an AAA ATPase subunit of the proteasome 19S regulatory particle, in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders, which were initially considered as variants of unknown significance. We have now found heterozygotes with the following mutations: P320R (6 individuals), R325W, Q160A, and one nonsense mutation at Q69. We focused on understanding the functional consequence of PSMC5 insufficiency and the P320R mutation in cells and found that both impair proteasome function and activate apoptosis. Interestingly, the P320R mutation impairs proteasome function by weakening the association between the 19S regulatory particle and the 20S core particle. Our study supports that proteasome dysfunction is the pathogenic cause of neurodevelopmental disorders in individuals carrying PSMC5 variants.
A clinical nomogram for predicting occult lymph node metastasis in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer ≤2 cm
Authors: Ai Jiangshan , Gao Huijiang , Shi Guodong , Lan Yaliang , Hu Shiyu , Wang Zhaofeng , Liu Lin , Wei Yucheng
Published: May 2024

OBJECTIVES

Sublobar resection has been shown to be feasible for non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC) <2 cm in size based on several prospective studies. However, the prognosis of clinical N0 patients who experience an N-stage upgrade after surgery [known as occult lymph node metastasis (OLM)] may be worse. The ability of predict OLM in patients eligible for sublobar resection remains a controversial issue.

METHODS

Patients with NSCLC ≤2 cm in diameter and containing a solid component who underwent surgical treatment at the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University were retrospectively enrolled, and 1:1 case matching was performed. The risk factors were identified through logistic regression analyses and theoretical criteria, followed by the development of a nomogram that was evaluated using 200 iterations of 10-fold cross-validation.

RESULTS

After case matching, 130 pairs of patients were selected for modelling. According to the multivariable logistic regression analysis, the carcinoembryonic antigen level, consolidation tumour ratio, mean computed tomography number and tumour margin were included in the nomogram. The cross-validated average area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was found to be 0.86. Furthermore, calibration curve and decision curve analyses demonstrated the excellent predictive accuracy and clinical utility of the nomogram respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

By utilizing accessible characteristics, we developed a nomogram that predicts the probability of OLM in patients with NSCLC ≤2 cm with a solid component. Risk stratification with this nomogram could aid in surgical method decision-making.

Clinical registration number

Not applicable.
Azithromycin resistance in Escherichia coli and Salmonella from food-producing animals and meat in Europe
Authors: Ivanova Mirena , Ovsepian Armen , Leekitcharoenphon Pimlapas , Seyfarth Anne Mette , Mordhorst Hanne , Otani Saria , Koeberl-Jelovcan Sandra , Milanov Mihail , Kompes Gordan , Liapi Maria , Černý Tomáš , Vester Camilla Thougaard , Perrin-Guyomard Agnès , Hammerl Jens A , Grobbel Mirjam , Valkanou Eleni , Jánosi Szilárd , Slowey Rosemarie , Alba Patricia , Carfora Virginia , Avsejenko Jelena , Pereckiene Asta , Claude Dominique , Zerafa Renato , Veldman Kees T , Boland Cécile , Garcia-Graells Cristina , Wattiau Pierre , Butaye Patrick , Zając Magdalena , Amaro Ana , Clemente Lurdes , Vaduva Angela M , Romascu Luminita-Maria , Milita Nicoleta-Manuela , Mojžišová Andrea , Zdovc Irena , Escribano Maria Jesús Zamora , De Frutos Escobar Cristina , Overesch Gudrun , Teale Christopher , Loneragan Guy H , Guerra Beatriz , Beloeil Pierre Alexandre , Brown Amanda M V , Hendriksen Rene S , Bortolaia Valeria , Kjeldgaard Jette Sejer
Published: May 2024

Objectives

To characterize the genetic basis of azithromycin resistance in Escherichia coli and Salmonella collected within the EU harmonized antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance programme in 2014–18 and the Danish AMR surveillance programme in 2016–19.

Methods

WGS data of 1007 E. coli [165 azithromycin resistant (MIC > 16 mg/L)] and 269 Salmonella [29 azithromycin resistant (MIC > 16 mg/L)] were screened for acquired macrolide resistance genes and mutations in rplDV, 23S rRNA and acrB genes using ResFinder v4.0, AMRFinder Plus and custom scripts. Genotype–phenotype concordance was determined for all isolates. Transferability of mef(C)-mph(G)-carrying plasmids was assessed by conjugation experiments.

Results

mph(A), mph(B), mef(B), erm(B) and mef(C)-mph(G) were detected in E. coli and Salmonella, whereas erm(C), erm(42), ere(A) and mph(E)-msr(E) were detected in E. coli only. The presence of macrolide resistance genes, alone or in combination, was concordant with the azithromycin-resistant phenotype in 69% of isolates. Distinct mph(A) operon structures were observed in azithromycin-susceptible (n = 50) and -resistant (n = 136) isolates. mef(C)-mph(G) were detected in porcine and bovine E. coli and in porcine Salmonella enterica serovar Derby and Salmonella enterica 1,4, [5],12:i:-, flanked downstream by ISCR2 or TnAs1 and associated with IncIγ and IncFII plasmids.

Conclusions

Diverse azithromycin resistance genes were detected in E. coli and Salmonella from food-producing animals and meat in Europe. Azithromycin resistance genes mef(C)-mph(G) and erm(42) appear to be emerging primarily in porcine E. coli isolates. The identification of distinct mph(A) operon structures in susceptible and resistant isolates increases the predictive power of WGS-based methods for in silico detection of azithromycin resistance in Enterobacterales.
Comparison of an Unlabeled Probe High-Resolution Melting Analysis Assay (HRMA) for Factor V Leiden 1691 G/A Mutation to a Fluorogenic 5′ Nuclease PCR Hydrolysis Assay
Authors: Han Heping , Lewis Sally
Published: May 2024

Background

The clinically significant Factor V Leiden (FVL) point mutation (1691 G/A) causes replacement of Arg with Gln (glutamine), preventing activated protein C from inactivating Factor V leading to a lengthened clotting process. Individuals with the Factor V Leiden mutations have an increased risk for venous thrombosis. The aim of this study is to compare an unlabeled probe high-resolution melting analysis (HRMA) assay for Factor V Leiden mutation to a TaqMan hydrolysis assay (fluorogenic 5’ nuclease PCR hydrolysis assay). HRMA is a post-PCR, homogenous, closed-tube system for the detection of sequence variants. Post-PCR, the amplicons are heated gradually until the melting temperature is reached and the fluorescent dye unbinds from the amplicon and exhibits low fluorescence. A melt-curve analysis is generated that is characteristic of a particular sequence variant. Therefore, HRMA allows for comparison of one base changes in genetic sequences based on their differences in melting rate.

Methods

Blood samples were collected in EDTA tubes and DNA extracted using the Roche MagNaPure. Reactions of both HRMA and TaqMan were carried out on 3 controls (1691 G/G, 1691 G/A, and 1691 G/G and G/A) and 20 samples.

Results

The genotypes for 3 reference controls purchased from Coriell (F5 1691 G/G, FVL 1691 G/A, and Heterozygote 1691 G/G and G/A) were confirmed by both the HRMA and TaqMan FVL assays. All 20 samples were confirmed to be F5 1691 G/G by both HRMA and TaqMan assays.

Conclusions

Comparing the results of the unlabeled probe HRMA FVL assay with a real-time TaqMan probe end point genotyping assay resulted in 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity for both assays.
The Language of the Greek Epic
Authors: Le Feuvre Claire
Published: May 2024

Greek epic is a genre that extended over centuries, from Homer down to the end of Antiquity. Its metrical form is the dactylic hexameter and its language is heterogeneous, using forms from different times and places, and tailored to the metrical constraints. The epic language was elaborated over centuries by singers composing orally, and relying on sets of type-scenes and formulaic lines and phrases that allowed the singer to compose the tale in performance. The epics were written down fairly late, between the 8th and 6th centuries bce—scholars disagree about the date and place. This dialectally and chronologically heterogeneous language was in constant evolution, which made it both familiar and unfamiliar to speakers of all Greek dialects. It is full of archaic forms and constructions, coexisting with linguistically new ones and with archaizing creations. It is an artificial language that was never spoken. But the cultural importance of Homer resulted in this language being imitated by later poets. Lyric poetry borrowed many forms and words from it, and so did tragedy. The Hellenistic learned poets used the epic language in their poems, no longer composing orally but reproducing the structures and phraseology of the archaic epic.
Pain and Suffering in the Hebrew Bible
Authors: Liebermann Rosanne
Published: May 2024

Pain and suffering are challenging terms to define and delimit, both individually and in connection to one another. They are affected by biological, emotional, psychological, and social factors; they resist simple expression via language; and they are anchored in the cultural context in which they are experienced and perceived. All of this makes examining pain and suffering in the Hebrew Bible, as a composite text from thousands of years ago, a difficult task. Nevertheless, biblical texts are so full of descriptions of various types of pain and suffering that these topics have naturally attracted a considerable amount of scholarship. Some researchers have addressed the issue of how to identify pain in the Hebrew Bible, with philological, literary, and psychological approaches—as well as insights from medical anthropology—thus far having provided valuable insights. For example, biblical scholars are united in their assessment that the Hebrew Bible portrays pain as a complex physical, psychological, emotional, social, and (because it is a text about religion) religious experience. Meanwhile, other scholars have focused on the specific types of pain and suffering most frequently addressed in the Hebrew Bible, such as illness, disability, childbirth, infertility, trauma, and exile/involuntary migration. Some of these experiences are associated with individual characters, while others are associated with entire communities—though occasionally by means of a single, representative literary figure (such as the “suffering servant” of Isaiah 53). The Hebrew Bible tends to present all experiences of pain and suffering in relation to its understanding of God, asking whether it is God who causes them and, more importantly, why. Scholarly treatments that evaluate the theological aspects of pain and suffering in the Hebrew Bible as a whole often attempt to trace diachronic developments in the corpus’s presentations of pain, usually with a view toward developments evident in the New Testament. Still other scholars prefer to limit their focus to the analysis of pain and suffering in individual texts or groups of texts within the Hebrew Bible. Most such works address the Garden of Eden story in Genesis 2-3; the books of Job or Lamentations; select Psalms of lament; or the major prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel (or parts thereof). Since pain and suffering are integral aspects of these biblical books as well as many others, treatments of these topics can naturally be found in many scholarly works that do not cite pain and suffering as their focus. Since a review of all such literature would be impossible, this article attempts to highlight publications that most explicitly and representatively address the topics of pain and suffering as they are presented in the Hebrew Bible.
Victim Impact Statements
Authors: Viglione Jill , Lockwood Ashley
Published: May 2024

Victim impact statements are accounts provided by the victim of a crime, by one of the victim’s friends or family members, or other relevant parties who can describe the effect the event had on the victim (e.g., first responders). While the purpose of these statements is nuanced, a main objective is to provide victims an opportunity to share their experiences and have a voice throughout justice system processes. These statements typically provide information regarding harm or injury done to the victim and commonly include suggestions for how the legal system might respond to the offense (e.g., sentence recommendation). Although use of victim impact statements may be beneficial to victims, some debate exists surrounding the impact and value of victim impact statements.
Missions and the British and Irish Churches: 1701–c. 1900
Authors: Strong Rowan
Published: May 2024

Christian mission, understood principally as a deliberate institutional program to achieve the conversion of non-Christian peoples overseas, became a prominent aspect of most British churches in the nineteenth century. The beginnings of British Christian missions are to be found in the foundation of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts in 1701 as a mission society of the Church of England to colonists, Indians, and Black slaves in Britain’s North American colonies. However, the mission impetus in British Christianity gained a fresh activism with the Evangelical Revival of the mid-eighteenth century, which stimulated a concern in transatlantic Protestantism for the personal conversion of people in Britain and North America. The revivalist factor in domestic missions was sustained throughout the nineteenth century. It also resulted in the foundation of the first evangelical foreign mission society, the Baptist Missionary Society, in 1792. Other evangelical (Anglican and Nonconformist) denominational mission societies followed in the early nineteenth century. Later, interdenominational Protestant missions developed, usually known as Faith Missions, which were not underwritten by a particular denomination. This British missionary impetus was certainly connected to the growth of the British Empire in the nineteenth century, but also involved missions beyond the empire. A further aspect of this Victorian mission development was the commencement of what became known as Colonial Missions to support and foster the Christianity of British emigrants in settler colonies of the empire. Older Roman Catholic missions were revived in the nineteenth century, having begun much earlier than Protestant ones (in the sixteenth century); but given its previous centuries of illegal existence in Britain, the Catholic Church in Britain in the nineteenth century was principally caught up in domestic missions to established and immigrant Catholic populations from Ireland and Europe. While mission societies were also founded in several British colonies by British churches there, this overview is concerned with missions from Britain rather than the various global missions themselves.
Photography
Authors: Cook Susan E.
Published: May 2024

Photography was one of the most significant media innovations of the nineteenth century, and its impact across Victorian culture was profound. While photographic antecedents date back to ancient Greek and Chinese cultures and were further developed throughout the Renaissance in Europe via the camera obscura, permanent photographic images were a product of the nineteenth century. In 1839 and thus just two years after the start of Queen Victoria’s reign, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre’s French daguerreotype and William Henry Fox Talbot’s English talbotype—or calotype—were both announced to the public, heralding a shift in visual culture. At once regarded as a science and an art—and sometimes both or neither—photography is best thought of as multiple: a range of photographic technologies put to diverse uses. A study of Victorian photography should consider developments in these technologies throughout the period, understanding each in its contexts and applications. General overviews tend to focus on the history of photography as a technology and a practice, while theoretical approaches can be generally subdivided into more foundational post-structuralist readings and more recent material histories interpreting the relationship between photographic developments and culture and subjectivity. The interdisciplinary study of photography and literature has been a dominant scholarly trend in Victorian studies since the mid-1970s, and realism has largely dominated this area. More recently, scholarship has grown beyond realism to consider other forms of fiction, poetry, and print/media culture. Other works read photography in light of art history and the histories of gender, science, and spiritualism. Context is ever important in the study of Victorian photography, and other analyses focus on international, transnational, and colonial subjects. The history of photography is a global one, and a complete accounting of its diversity is outside the scope of this bibliography. In this article the emphasis is on the British Empire, although American and other national and transnational studies are also robust sites of scholarship on 19th-century photography. For more information on Victorian visual culture, see the separate Oxford Bibliographies article “Visual Culture.”
Ambrose Bierce
Authors: Corstorphine Kevin
Published: May 2024

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was born on 24 June 1842 in a log cabin in Meigs County, Ohio. He was the tenth of thirteen children, all of whom were given names beginning with the letter “A.” His parents, both from Puritan settler families, had moved to Ohio from Cornwall, Connecticut. The family moved to northern Indiana and the young Bierce spent time as a printer’s devil before enrolling at the Kentucky Military Institute and training to become a topographical engineer. He left the institute and returned to Indiana, but with the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 he enlisted in the Union Army. He suffered a head wound from a bullet at Kennesaw Mountain, with the subsequent dizziness and blackouts leading to his leaving the army in 1865. The next significant phase of his career was becoming a newspaper writer in San Francisco, eventually writing for the San Francisco Examiner, where his work as a critic and his satirical definitions (which would later be published as The Devil’s Dictionary) made him well known. During his lifetime he gained a reputation for his acerbic reviews and cynical nature, and was known as “Bitter” Bierce. He married Mary Ellen “Mollie” Day in 1871, but later divorced in 1904 after a long separation. The couple had two sons, Day and Leigh (who both died young), and a daughter, Helen. As well as journalism, Bierce wrote fiction, which he is best remembered for today, although he has historically been overshadowed by other authors such as Mark Twain. An accomplished author in the short story form, he is celebrated for his fiction about the Civil War as well as his writing in the gothic horror mode and several satirical “tall tales.” In 1913 Bierce embarked from his home in Washington, DC, on a tour of Civil War battlefields, and then disappeared after crossing into Mexico. Despite his stated intention to travel to South America, and his own suggestion that he may be shot in the turmoil of the Mexican Revolution, the mystery of his fate has never been solved.
Yiddish Women's Fiction
Authors: Sharff Julie
Published: May 2024

The category “Yiddish women’s fiction” is indicative of the gender trouble inherent to Yiddish literature and literary studies. It is an imperfect category to describe women who wrote fiction and not literature intended for an audience of women. Women’s authorship and readership are separate yet overlapping categories in Yiddish literature. These categories signal differences in power and experiences that shape the content of stories and poems. In the essay “Yidish literatur un di lezerin” (cited under General Overviews), Shmuel Charney infamously extrapolates on the address contained in many early works of Yiddish literature (by men) to the readership that lumps together women and men uneducated in Torah as the intended audience. As Naomi Seidman explains in A Marriage Made in Heaven (under General Overviews), this address hints at but does not state the sexual politics of Yiddish, a language perceived as feminine compared to its “masculine” counterpart Hebrew, loshn koydesh. Nevertheless, we know that the readership of Yiddish literary works was not exclusively women or men who could not read Hebrew. It was anyone who picked up a Yiddish newspaper, journal, or book anywhere across the globe. Additionally, parsing apart the symbolic weight of the word “woman” in Yiddish-speaking spaces reveals a category contingent on factors such as age, marital status, and communal politics. In this bibliography, “woman” refers to those assigned female at birth and who continue to live their lives as women. For the future of Yiddish literature, this definition will need amending. Beyond the imperfections of the term “Yiddish women’s fiction,” the efforts to translate women’s fiction into English reveal new possibilities for understanding the short-lived rise and fall of Yiddish literature broadly. This bibliography focuses on English and Yiddish resources, including anthologies and the conference proceedings from Di Froyen Women and Yiddish: Tribute to the Past Directions for the Future (under General Overviews), and the fiction itself. Due to the political nature of reading women’s literature, some resources exist for the purpose of historical recovery, such as the Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women (under Bibliographies), making available information about these authors that may otherwise be challenging to collect. Multiple anthologies from the 1990s, literary and scholastic, pulled together women’s voices as an explicitly feminist action amid the rising prominence of identity politics in North America. Research today on Yiddish women’s literature is undoubtedly connected to this uptick in the translation of Yiddish women’s literature and provides an optimistic future for the field. Queer Expectations: A Genealogy of Jewish Women’s Poetry (under Literary Studies) demonstrates that the interrogation of a Yiddish women’s literary tradition rests upon a queer chronology that seeks a future from this fragmented and precarious past.
W. E. B. Du Bois’s Theorization of Racialized Subjectivity
Authors: Brown Karida L.
Published: May 2024

This chapter explores the pioneering work of W. E. B. Du Bois on the theory of racialized subjectivity, elucidating how his conceptualizations still inform current sociological thought. Du Bois’s emphasis on the phenomenological and psychological dimensions of race provided a groundbreaking framework for understanding racialized subjectivity. His unique focus on the interiority of the Self and lived experience as tools for analyzing race within the socio political structures of racial colonial capitalism established him as a leading figure in this realm. This chapter also draws attention to Du Bois’s nonessentialist perspective on race, highlighting the way societal structures and public opinion shape racialized groups via shared experiences by examining Du Bois’s critical dissection of Whiteness as both a social construct and psychological instrument. Through a close examination of Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction in America, this article emphasizes the continued vitality of Du Boisian perspectives for understanding the interplay between self, society, and race.
Du Bois’s Archives and Multiple Sites of Resources
Authors: Battle-Baptiste Whitney
Published: May 2024

The story of the W. E. B. Du Bois archive is the story of a collective effort to return the legacy of William Edward Burghardt Du Bois back to his home in Western Massachusetts. In the early 1970s, changes were happening at UMass Amherst. The numbers of Black students were rising a new department dedicated to Black Studies was established, and there were Black faculty dedicated to Black radical scholarship. For a brief time, the widow of W. E. B. Du Bois, Shirley Graham Du Bois, was a part of the department, and the timing was perfect. The Du Bois papers were in the possession of Graham Du Bois and Randolph Bromery, UMass’s first Black Chancellor. Chancellor Bromery seized the opportunity to bring the legacy of Du Bois to the Amherst campus. This marked the beginning of what would become an archive dedicated to social justice, equity, and inclusion.
Du Bois on the Devastating Consequences of White Supremacy for White Folk
Authors: McLeod Lisa J.
Published: May 2024

W. E. B. Du Bois’s lifelong project of serving racial justice is rightly remembered as highlighting and celebrating Black humanity and excellence as well as promoting strategies for overcoming White supremacy. To this end, Du Bois offered a compelling analysis of the structure of White racial identities, showing how the performance of whiteness harms people of color. In providing incisive portraits of White people, both fictional and real, Du Bois demonstrated that White supremacy also has devastating consequences for White people that can be sorted roughly into five categories: (1) complicity with injustice and moral failure; (2) inauthentic relationships, especially with people of color; (3) the inability to accurately perceive themselves, others, or relevant circumstances; (4) material costs, especially as regards class solidarity; and (5) existential fear prompted by the suspicion that White supremacy is fraudulent. These insights are key to Whites and people of color who work to end White supremacy.
South Slavic Women’s Ballads
Authors: Vidan Aida
Published: May 2024

This chapter defines the South Slavic ballad in light of recent research. It discusses its oral formulaic nature, multiformity, mythological layers, and performative aspects as well as its correlation with both the oral epic and printed literature. It further probes the question of ethnic claims over older songs in the course of the last century and proposes diffusion patterns which do not coincide with ethnic distribution but confirm reliance on the building blocks contributed by a multitude of antecedent singers belonging to adjacent language continuums. While analyzing the editions by Vuk Karadžić and Matica hrvatska, as well as the corpus collected by Milman Parry and Albert Lord, the chapter examines not only ballads’ thematic range but also various ethnographic components which elucidate an understanding of the songs and the singers’ art. Finally, it considers the repertoire of several prominent female singers and narrative patterns widely disseminated across genres and time.
How the “Music-Preneur” Is Reshaping Live Music
Authors: Tam Simon
Published: May 2024

The music industry is volatile and constantly shifting due to trends and technology that are giving rise to musician-entrepreneurs (“music-preneurs”) who are becoming more independent. This chapter examines the business and law issues of artists who are taking on the responsibilities traditionally fulfilled by managers, booking agents, and promoters. Such music-preneurs are finding new opportunities for income and exposure, leading to new legal issues. Lawyers, the law, and regulatory systems have not caught up with these new realities for music-preneurs. Accordingly, this chapter outlines key areas in need of attention while guiding musicians entering the DIY (do-it-yourself) space on how to avoid common pitfalls and navigate legal and business issues while the legal system catches up.
Psychedelics and Supernatural Agents
Authors: McNamara Patrick , Grafman Jordan
Published: May 2024

The authors review the evidence for overlap in neurophysiologic, cognitive, and phenomenological features of REM sleep dreams and the psychedelic state. REM sleep and dreams contribute in complex ways to the phenomenology of both religious experiences and psychedelic experiences via intrusion of components of REM neurophysiology into waking consciousness or the psychedelic state. The cognitive and neurophysiologic factors that predict the appearance of supernatural agents (SAs) in dreams and in the psychedelic state appear to involve in both cases down-regulation of default mode network (DMN) and the associated impairment in the cognitive self-model in dreams or ego dissolution in the psychedelic state. The authors hypothesize that SAs emerge both in the dream and the psychedelic state in order to explain away or resolve uncertainties around impairment in the self-model.
Introduction
Authors: Anderson Luvell , Lepore Ernie
Published: May 2024

What is applied philosophy of language? Your answer to this question will likely depend on how you conceive the difference between applied philosophy and “philosophy proper.” Over the past decade, philosophers of language have increasingly focused on topics that are categorized under the heading “social philosophy of language,” which includes propaganda and ideology, language and gender, and slurs. However, part of our motivation for compiling this handbook is to consider work that draws on more than social and political thought.
The Truth about Slurs
Authors: Jeshion Robin
Published: May 2024

Linguistic theories of slurs confront a problem about truth. Identity theories are theories on which slurs and neutral counterparts are co-designating, and sentences containing them are truth-conditionally equivalent to sentences where the slur is replaced by its neutral counterpart. Identity theories immediately lead to disturbing consequences about truth. If slur S designates what its neutral counterpart NC designates, then since ‘there are NCs’ is true, so too is ‘there are Ss’. Pre-theoretically, this consequence appears unacceptable. To many, it appears to manifest bigotry and as such must get the facts wrong. Such consequences are one impetus for non-identity theories: Null extension non-identity theories, like those of Hom and May, on which slurs have an empty extension, and an alternative non-identity theory due to Richard, on which utterances with slurs lack truth value. This chapter offers novel arguments that non-identity theories are not superior accounts of slurs. It advances four conditions on a theory of slurs and argues that null extension non-identity theories are, in principle, unable to satisfy one of them, the Compositionality Condition. It shows why Richard’s rationale for denying truth to slur-containing utterances is unconvincing. Finally, it defends identity theories, especially expressivist versions, from the charge that they cannot accommodate data about Frege’s puzzle, conceivability, and a version of the Frege-Geach puzzle.