bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Commentary on the Epilogue and Postscript
Authors: Pattison George
Published: February 2024

The postscript revisits Dostoevsky’s politics for a third time in the light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Noting the use made of Dostoevsky by contemporary Russian nationalists, including President Putin, the commentary considers whether the view encountered on the internet that Dostoevsky ‘would have’ supported the invasion is examined. However, this view depends on a problematic identification of the present-day Russian state with the Orthodox tsarist autocracy of Dostoevsky’s own time, which seems highly questionable in view of the titanic disruptions of Russian history in the twentieth century. Although the elements to which nationalists appeal are present in Dostoevsky’s text, their application to present-day circumstances requires handling with care. While Dostoevsky looked to the moral reform of Russian society, his nationalism arguably has a spiritual and religious character that directly political applications fail to consider.
Object, Holder, and Content of Property Rights
Authors: von Bar Christian , Allen Jason Grant
Published: February 2024

This chapter explores the objects in which property rights can arise, who can hold (or acquire) such property rights, and which powers property rights give their holder. This introduces the reflexive relationship between property law and property rights. Legal systems differ considerably across these three interrelated aspects of property law. Property rights arise in a different, broader or narrower set of objects from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, they are not always available to every person, and they do not have the same substantive content—not even when they are called by the same name. Underpinning this analysis is the fundamental distinction between persons (subjects) and things (objects) of the legal system, which we will examine in more detail in the next chapter.
Purely Normative Things
Authors: von Bar Christian , Allen Jason Grant
Published: February 2024

This chapter broaches a category of objects of property rights that occupies the frontier of property law in some legal systems: purely normative objects. This category includes economically important objects such as claims, shares in a business, enterprises, business relationships and goodwill, intellectual creations, discoveries, marks, and other similar objects are often of appreciable economic value—which is growing in response to current trends in digital technology. These objects are protected by property rights in all legal systems, but their legal treatment is not always consistent, and the question whether they are fitting objects for the right of ownership is contentious. This chapter reviews the various normative phenomena that can serve as the point of reference for special property rights and how they do (or do not) function as ‘things’. It concludes that purely normative things do not require the right of ‘ownership’ to guarantee exclusive use by a person and are not fitting objects of the right of ownership.
Objects of Legal Transaction Connected to Things
Authors: von Bar Christian , Allen Jason Grant
Published: February 2024

This chapter explores the legal dynamics of dealing with objects in ways that bear on the object’s nature and legal status. This includes combination and mixture, which are named and dealt with differently in different legal systems but present a universal problem. Combination and mixture are processes that can result in the creation of a new thing. They can also result in the loss of ‘thing’ status by an object, for example where it becomes a mere component of another thing. This chapter also covers the creation of new things by separation, the transformation of things through manufacturing processes, and the status of objects with a ‘double nature’ that are either independent things or things accessory to another. These processes provide another helpful context in which to probe the concept of thing-ness and to apply the approach to things set out in our conceptual scheme.
Historical Truth in Fifteenth-Century Italy
Authors: Mori Giuliano
Published: February 2024

Historical Truth in Fifteenth-Century Italy addresses Renaissance history, philosophy, rhetoric, and jurisprudence to shed light on how humanists conceptualized truth and, more specifically, historical truth. While humanists agreed on identifying the main requirement of the historical genre with truthfulness, they disagreed on their notions of historical truth. Some authors equated historical truth with verisimilitude, thus harmonizing the quest for truth with other ingredients of their histories, such as their political utility and rhetorical aptness. Others, instead, rejected the notion of verisimilitude, identifying historical truth with factuality. Accordingly, they sought to produce bare and exhaustive accounts of all the things that pertained to their historical explorations, often resorting to innovative disciplines, such as archeology, philology, and the history of institutions. The humanist historiographical debate is especially significant because the notion of verisimilitude encompassed crucial elements required for the development of methods of critical assessment. By perceiving verisimilitude and factuality as irreconcilable, Quattrocento humanists reached a critical impasse—those who were interested in factual truth mostly lacked the means to ascertain it, while those that developed embryonic notions of historical criticism were not eminently concerned with the factual account of the past. This critical weakness exposed humanists to considerable risks, including that of accepting non-verisimilar historical forgeries passed off as factual. Such forgeries eventually served as a testing ground for sixteenth- and seventeenth-century scholars, who sought to restore factual truth by means of critical criteria grounded in verisimilitude, thus overcoming the humanist impasse.
Introduction
Authors: Mori Giuliano
Published: February 2024

The Introduction sets the subject and goals of the book against the backdrop of past scholarship. Compared with sixteenth- and seventeenth-century historiography, fifteenth-century theories of historical writing have received less scholarly attention. The study of the fifteenth-century emergence of an autonomous philosophical theory of historical writing has been hampered by a series of longstanding misconceptions about the allegedly untheoretical or unoriginal nature of humanist historiography. The Introduction contests these assumptions, suggesting that the Quattrocento debate on the theory of historical writing was characterized by the opposition between two concurrent views—one that rejected verisimilitude in favor of sheer factual truth and one that instead privileged notions such as those of historical verisimilitude and decorum over the precise exposition of individual facts.
Quattrocento Antiquarianism
Authors: Mori Giuliano
Published: February 2024

Chapter 3 investigates the “antiquarian” historiographical current that rejected verisimilitude in favor of factual truth, discussing its characteristic assumptions and their practical consequences. Analyzing works such as those of Flavio Biondo, Poggio Bracciolini, and Cyriac of Ancona, this chapter demonstrates that these authors shared Lorenzo Valla’s conviction that historians should not abstain from factual digressions on topics other than history proper. This conviction ultimately fostered the development of disciplines such as archeology, philology, and chorography—disciplines that allowed Quattrocento antiquarians to produce historical knowledge not by resorting to abstract conjectures grounded in verisimilitude but by restoring the memory of ancient “facts.” By taking the factual account of events as a standard of historical veracity, sheer quantity, along with objectivity, inevitably became the historian’s target; true history came thus to be seen as the exhaustive account of all kinds of details, irrespective of their possibly non-verisimilar character. These principles caused “radical” antiquarians to suffer from a lack of critical insight resulting from the rejection of assessment criteria grounded in verisimilitude. These critical shortcomings are analyzed through the works of authors including Pomponio Leto, whose quest for historical truth resulted in the production of virtually exhaustive catalogs of allegedly factual data whose intrinsic reliability was not or could not be assessed.
Collective Political Decision-Making in Tragedy
Authors: Hardwick Alexandra
Published: February 2024

Chapter 2 discusses the portrayal of off-stage group decision-making in tragedy, using the assembly scenes in Euripides’ Suppliants, Aeschylus’ Suppliants, and Euripides’ Orestes. These plays explore group decision-making with considerable nuance, demonstrating the complex middle ground between idealized rational decisions and stereotyped demagogic persuasion. Furthermore, they surround the assembly scenes with individual characters’ discourse on how to persuade the dêmos, which means group decision-making is interpreted through multiple characters’ perspectives. I posit that setting plays in Argos enabled democratic assemblies to be probed and problematized more freely than setting them in Athens, comparing the assembly scenes in Aeschylus’ Suppliants and Euripides’ Orestes with Euripides’ Suppliants.
Off-Stage Populations
Authors: Hardwick Alexandra
Published: February 2024

Chapter 4 discusses amorphous groups whose role is not clearly defined in plot terms (‘populations’). It argues that, even when an off-stage population does not make decisions that concretely change the course of events, characters are often acutely aware of the population’s watchful presence, demonstrated especially by a study of Oedipus Tyrannus. On other occasions, the off-stage population’s influence pointedly resists identification and definition. Analysis of Antigone and Oedipus at Colonus demonstrates the various ways in which characters’ claims about the population are undermined: the plays exploit the difficulty of verifying claims made about populations we cannot see. Finally, an off-stage population’s absence may itself contribute to a tragedy’s political landscape: both Persians and Agamemnon create a backdrop of political dysfunction in which elite individuals are not held accountable.
Digital Supplies in a Cross-Border Context
Authors: Traversa Edoardo , Lamensch, Marie , Masseglia Elena
Published: February 2024

This chapter analyses the notion of digital supply in European Union (EU) law and critically discusses recent EU legislative developments imposing new value-added tax (VAT) collection and reporting obligations on digital platforms concerning digital services, distance sale of goods, and imports from outside the EU through digital platforms. It focuses, in particular, on the situation of cross-border supplies involving suppliers or customers from non-EU countries. The chapter argues that the EU legislative framework has undergone major changes in terms of the VAT treatment of e-commerce, greatly improving coordination between Member States as regards collection, but questions remain as regards the effectiveness of the control mechanism and its robustness against fraud.
Good Faith in English Contract Law: Lessons from Comparative Law?
Authors: Cartwright John
Published: February 2024

This chapter considers the place of good faith in English contract law, by contrast with other common law and civil law systems, and discusses the role that comparative law can play in deciding on any potential development of English law. Ewan McKendrick has a natural sensitivity to the significance of differences in legal rules in different legal systems. The chapter emphasizes the need for caution in borrowing rules from another legal system, both generally and in the particular context of good faith in contract law. The form in which an obligation of good faith is accepted must fit the legal system’s model of contract law.
Repeal the Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Act 1943
Authors: Stevens Robert
Published: February 2024

This chapter argues for the repeal of the Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Act 1943. It explains why the common law position reached immediately prior to the Act was correct in principle. It differentiates between two different species of claims for restitution: the full unwinding of the performance rendered by both parties to a contract following its avoidance, and the restitution of a performance that it was agreed was conditional, where that condition has failed. The Act confuses these two. Results that are (obviously) incorrect in principle can only currently be avoided by creative reading of the legislation by the courts. Once the text of the Act is read with care, its flaws are revealed.
The Critical Reception of Cavendish Square Holdings v Makdessi
Authors: Halson Roger
Published: February 2024

This chapter examines the Supreme Court’s restatement of the law of contractual penalties in Cavendish Square Holding BV v Makdessi. This major reformulation of a key area of commercial law has been subject to extensive discussion in appellate courts in other common law jurisdictions. These decisions are discussed and the divergences between different systems of law are summarised and critiqued.
Transnational Commercial Law and Impediments to Its Development
Authors: Goode Roy
Published: February 2024

This chapter focuses on transnational commercial law and its impediments to its development. It defines transnational commercial law as the set of private law principles and rules which governs international commercial transactions and is common to legal systems generally or to a significant number of legal systems. Transnational commercial law is the product of the convergence of rules drawn from a variety of sources, both legally binding and facultative. The chapter details several sources of law for harmonization, such as legally binding rules and facultative rules. It then elaborates on the obstacles to overcome in correlation with the harmonization of commercial law, which includes the issues of process and substance.
Inventing Slavonic
Authors: Ivanova Mirela
Published: February 2024

Few alphabets in the world are actively celebrated, none more so than the Slavonic. This book offers a new reading of the invention of the alphabet and its implications. Its premise is simple: namely that the alphabet was not invented once, but that it continued to be contested and redefined in the first century after its creation. But it goes against the grain of modern scholarship and popular common-sense, where a stable and fossilised story about Cyril, his brother and companion Methodios, and the alphabet can be found. The book posits that this well-known story is in fact a Frankenstein’s monster, bolted together from texts which originally attributed quite different, often conflicting meanings to the elements which make up this supposedly unified narrative. In this narrative’s place, the book offers a series of new readings of our earliest sources for the alphabet’s appearance. Through this, it offers a new social history of the fragility of the early script, and the ways in which its existence was conditioned by changes in sociopolitical life between Rome and Constantinople.
Learned Saints between Rome and Constantinople
Authors: Ivanova Mirela
Published: February 2024

Having understood what the text is arguing, in Chapter 2, this chapter makes arguments about who the Life of Constantine-Cyril is arguing with. This chapter situates the Life of Constantine-Cyril through a generic comparison with other contemporary Byzantine hagiographic texts. It situates the text within Byzantine hagiography and picks out two subgenres of saints’ lives that our text merges: the roaming ascetic and the educated bishop. The chapter then moves on to contextualising the Life within the wider intellectual context of a ninth-century Constantinopolitan elite preoccupied with the relationship between learning and piety, most recently articulated through the patriarchal schism between Photios and Ignatios. The Life did not perceive itself as a mythical account of a predestined alphabet inventor, but rather as a specific contribution to an immediate intellectual problem.
The Myth of Cyril and Methodios Revisited
Authors: Ivanova Mirela
Published: February 2024

This chapter situates the study of Methodios in wider historiographical currents, and offers a critical assessment of how scholars and politicians have collapsed Cyril and Methodios into one unit when studying or celebrating the alphabet. It does this by unpicking the very different legacies the two brothers have had in the Latin church. It then shows how this unification (although somewhat historically dubious) has resulted in collapsing the texts into one another, and more specifically the reduction of the Life of Methodios into no more than an extension of supplement to the Life of Cyril. The chapter then reviews evidence which suggests studying the texts in contrast rather than in tandem is both more historically valuable and more interesting.
Women, Union, and the Strike Against Sexual Harassment in Colonial Madurai, 1920
Authors: Shobhana Warrier M. V.
Published: February 2024

In most writings on labour history, it is popularly assumed that women’s presence in the workforce has a negative correlation with the militancy of workers’ movements. The visibility of women in union mobilization and membership is an area of obscurity. Most work on the rise of trade unions or on the history of the working class laments the minuscule numerical presence of women in the workforce. It is also commonly held that women workers are docile, and this often gets cited as the reason for their lack of visibility as workers and in trade unions. This chapter draws on the experience of women workers in the cotton textile industry of early twentieth-century colonial South India, from a particularly politically active phase in Madurai in 1920, to dispute this proposition. Women workers were a significant, active, and even militant part of trade union activity in the districts of Madras, Madurai, and Coimbatore. This chapter specifically focuses on the first major strike in the early period of unionization in the Madura Mills, Madurai at a time when even nationalist mobilization and politics were just emerging, as was the trade union movement. It also shows how women workers stood up to sexual predation with spontaneous protests and strikes. The strike of women workers in concert with the union and by the union in association with the women workers together created solidarity both local and beyondthe-local.
Resisting Social Categories
Authors: Bernstein Sara
Published: February 2024

The social categories to which we belong—Latino, disabled, American, woman—causally influence our lives in deep and unavoidable ways. One might be pulled over by police because one is Latino, or one might receive a COVID vaccine sooner because one is American. Membership in these social categories most often falls outside of our control. This paper argues that membership in social categories constitutes a restriction on human agency, creating a situation of non-ideal agency for many human individuals. However, there are ways to resist the causal influence of social categories, and certain socially marginalized groups can be understood as attempting to do just this. I discuss two instances of social category resistance: gender pronouns and the rights of trans individuals. I suggest that the intentional declaration of gender pronouns (“she/her” or “they/them”) can be understood as an attempt to resist the causal powers of social categorization. Similarly, one among many reasons to support the rights of trans individuals is that their self-declaration of gender identity can be viewed as a reclamation of agency in the face of causal constraints imposed by socially defined and imposed gender categories. This lesson can be generalized to people belonging to a broad range of marginalized groups.
Ascriptivism, Norms, and Negligence
Authors: Rubio Sebastián Figueroa
Published: February 2024

The present work deals with the problem that negligence poses for the relationship between agency and responsibility, that is, it is not possible to establish a sharp connection between the agent’s guilty mind and the wrongful situation. A critical examination of the various strategies that attempt to deal with this problem is presented, and an ascriptivist conception of action and responsibility, as well as the distinction between conduct rules and imputation rules, is developed to address the problem. As a result, a complex theory of agency is defended, the distinction between tracing and non-tracing cases is supported, and it is proposed to understand the latter under the social and normative aspects of agency.
Judgement of Life
Authors: Dutt Sandeep , Hayat Faisal , Ritika
Published: February 2024

The chapter unfolds the story of Justice JC Verma, a communist, who had lost everything during the Quit India Movement that happened on the eve of Dussehra in 1942. He is the son of a Class A Officer of Railways Claims Tribunal from Mianwali, he recalls the friendship of his uncle with an army officer that had stood the tests of those dark times when even the shadow would abandon a body. Read about how God sends help in the shape of people who ascend like angels from the heavens to save those in need. This is the Judgement of life, a great story of great strength, resilience, patience, and friendship.
Three Goddesses
Authors: Dutt Sandeep , Hayat Faisal , Ritika
Published: February 2024

The chapter unfolds a very fascinating story of a very interesting Bengali man, Prabal Kumar Syam, who was born in Sylhet, Bangladesh. He talks about how he found three goddesses in his life who brought him love, strength, and empowerment. He remembers his good old carefree childhood days and his mischiefs. Read about his life adventure that includes visiting Jatra (Bengali Theatre), attending Durgo Pujo, confronting a Kapalika (Sorcerer), and joining Civil Defence Army. He also shares details of a heart-warming relationship that he shared with his stepmother. This is the Three Goddesses, the story about tenderness, fondness, and warmth of love that came to this man in three different forms.
Choiceful Vultures
Authors: Dutt Sandeep , Hayat Faisal , Ritika
Published: February 2024

This chapter narrates the story of Muhammad Saddique who had been a witness to the long existing communal rivalries in Firozpur over many issues, including sacrificing of an animal; holy to Hindus, he foresaw the terrors that knocked at the time of the partition. Read about his journey to his new homeland started on oxcarts that were attacked by people carrying swords and barchis, slaughtering everyone falling in their way. He expected better treatment in Chak 51 but was deeply disappointed by seeing the corrupted heart of The Patwari. This is the Choiceful Vultures, the story about the hard-hitting realities of life that broke the hearts in a never mending way.
City of Saints
Authors: Dutt Sandeep , Hayat Faisal , Ritika
Published: February 2024

The chapter unfolds the story of Swaran Nagpal hailing from Multan, revisiting the memory of partition when her family desperately waited for the arrival of her father who was burying all his life while digging the ground to hide the jewellery of his wife in their house in Kapurthala. Read about the cruelty of the people at that time, the smirks and taunts of a Station Master, a hunger strike, the death-threats, and a fainting hope of a child to feel the warmth embrace of her father once again. This story is about the City of Saints that breathed lasts of its tranquility and bliss while being strangled at the hands of communal hate.
The Persistent Princess
Authors: Dutt Sandeep , Hayat Faisal , Ritika
Published: February 2024

This chapter narrates one of the greatest stories of this book, a story of a princess, Kusumlata Sharma, who was born in one of the biggest aristocratic families of Lahore that owned a car at that time and used to travel by air. The harrowing chapter of partition turned her life upside down as the entire family migrated to India, possessing nothing but only the clothes they were wearing. She fought life, really hard, from getting herself educated to raising four children as a widow while working in the foreign post office for 23 years. This story, the Persistent Princess gives an exceptional meaning to life as it teaches a lesson of never giving up.
Muslin Cloth
Authors: Dutt Sandeep , Hayat Faisal , Ritika
Published: February 2024

The chapter portrays the story of Vasudev Gangopadhyay who still fondly recalls the serenity of the Radha Mohan temple in Khali in Bangladesh. He remembers the stunning visuals of the Aarti which he used to relish and his connection with Krishna. This chapter follows rather a quite peaceful story of a man born in a family of all government employees who migrated from his village in Bangladesh to Goalanda via a ship after a year had passed to the partition. He later went on to serve in the Indian Railways. The story, the Muslin Cloth, shows the simplicity of life and its virtues one fails to see today.
Forgotten Bridge
Authors: Dutt Sandeep , Hayat Faisal , Ritika
Published: February 2024

This chapter follows the journey of Chaudhary Sultan Ahmed that takes you to a village in Kathua, Jammu, into the home of a politically sound family, as his father was a member of Kashmir Assembly. The storyteller still remembers the friends of his father who remained a big support during the migration to Muzaffarabad where they got settled lately. The story, the Forgotten Bridge, is about the narrator who grows up to become a successful Civil Engineer yet yearns to make a peace bridge between the two nations so that people like him could cross to relive their childhood memories once again that echoes in the valleys of Kashmir.
Blood Betrayal
Authors: Dutt Sandeep , Hayat Faisal , Ritika
Published: February 2024

The chapter reveals the story of Rafique Ahmed who was abandoned by his family that forced him to live a life of a garbage picker, he hoped if he could just pick up the broken pieces of his life and make it whole again. Airlifted to Lahore from his cherished home near Ajmer Sharif, he fondly remembers the childhood, so much so that if he could rewind time, he would want to go back to be the child who was cherished by his siblings, loved by his parents and to the time where neither the country nor the family was divided. The story, Blood Betrayal, is an elegy to humanity.
Corrupted Hearts
Authors: Dutt Sandeep , Hayat Faisal , Ritika
Published: February 2024

The chapter unfolds the story of 19-year-old Deen Muhammad who was a son of a cleric in the village mosque of Manakpura Khera in Rajpura. His life turned upside down like the millions who suffered at the hands of fate during migration. Their family suffered a huge loss and survived life-threatening situations before they could make it to the other side of the border. He was a Hafiz-e-Quran, uncorrupted from heart but not everybody around was same, he remembers how an unpaid bribe of two thousand rupees bared him from his rights. The story, Corrupted Hearts paints a grim picture of people who took advantage in times of distress.
The Light Preserver
Authors: Dutt Sandeep , Hayat Faisal , Ritika
Published: February 2024

The chapter reveals the story of Prem Singh Bajaj who was the inspiration behind the idea of this book. An inhabitant of Sargodha, this 16-year-old was waiting for his Metric results to be announced by the Punjab University, Lahore when a very different announcement changed the fate of the entire country forever. His journey to Patiala had its own share of sufferings and terror. Later, served as the principal of a prestigious college. The story, the Light Preserver, is about his love for Urdu that led to the foundation of a library that started from 700 books to a remarkable count of 70000 books in his 22 years of selfless service.
War of Blinds
Authors: Dutt Sandeep , Hayat Faisal , Ritika
Published: February 2024

The chapter unfolds the story of Amarjit Singh who belongs to the Khukhrain Clan, and had lost 16 family members during partition, yet this chapter provides food for thought that is rooted in many aspects and not just in violence. From the wilful sacrifices of his grandmother, maternal aunt, a false oath to the siege of Gurudwara, this chapter also mentions Taxila, Mohen Jo Daro, Alexander, Ahmad Shah Abdali, Nadir Shah Abdali, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Mahabharata, and the Maharaja of Patiala. The story, War of Blinds, is forged in bravery, betrayal, and friendship that compels the thoughts between the blurring lines of religion while stressing on to look beyond the same.
An Independent Imam
Authors: Dutt Sandeep , Hayat Faisal , Ritika
Published: February 2024

The chapter taps into the story of a great freedom fighter, a Maulana who fought alongside the people like Mohammed Jinnah, Mahatma Gandhi, and Subhash Chander Bose and decided not to go to Pakistan. The story of Maulana Habib Ur Rehman Sani Ludhianvi’s family’s freedom struggle that dates back to the revolt of 1857, with Bahadur Shah Zafar. He mentions how British sowed the seeds of Divide-and-Rule among people. Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Shah Durrani, Koh-i-Noor, Nawab of Bahawalpur, and 1945 Wavell Conference are some of the other important mentions in the chapter. The story is about an Independent Imam, revolution was in his blood which inked the fate of his generations to come.
Cercospora polygonatum, a New Species Causing Gray Leaf Spot Disease in Polygonatum cyrtonema
Authors: Yin Fuqiang , Ma Wanli , Xu Qin , Song Zhen , Jiang Jiamin , Tang Zixuan , Liu Yuxin , Zhang Shaotian , Bai Yu , Liu Ming
Published: February 2024

This study identified a new species (Cercospora polygonatum) that causes gray leaf spot (GLS) disease in cultivated Polygonatum cyrtonema. This fungal species was isolated from the affected region of GLS on P. cyrtonema leaves. Pathogenicity bioassays were conducted based on Koch’s postulates. Morphology was examined based on the features of conidiomata, conidiogenous loci, conidia/conidiophores, and conidiogenous cells. The rDNA internal transcribed spacer region, calmodulin, translation elongation factor 1-alpha, and histone genes were subjected to phylogenetic analysis using the MrBayes tool in Phylosuite. Bootstrap support analysis for phylogenetic placement confirmed the new species, which was significantly different from the closely related species C. senecionis-walkeri and C. zeae-maydis. The morphological characteristics also supported this finding, with the conidiogenous cells of C. polygonatum being considerably shorter than those of C. senecionis-walkeri or C. zeae-maydis. In addition, C. polygonatum was distinguished by its cultural characteristics. As this fungus was isolated from P. cyrtonema, it was named C. polygonatum F.Q. Yin, M. Liu & W.L. Ma, sp. nov. The type specimen (H8-2) was preserved at the China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center. This is the first report of GLS caused by C. polygonatum on P. cyrtonema leaves in China. The current study enriches the knowledge regarding Cercospora sp., contributes to the identification of a species causing GLS in P. cyrtonema, and provides useful information for the effective management of this disease.
Evaluating the Efficacy of Hymexazol in ControllingGlobisporangium spinosum, the Newly Identified Pathogen Causing Root Rot inHouttuynia cordata
Authors: Zhou Xue , Tu Yupei , Xiong Chunlan , Ma Chaoyun , Wang Yong , Liu Fengquan , Li Kaihuai
Published: February 2024

Houttuynia cordata is a prevalent vegetable in several Asian countries and is commonly used as a traditional Chinese medicinal herb for treating various diseases in China. Unfortunately, its yield and quality are adversely affected by root rot. However, the pathogen responsible for the losses remains unidentified, and effective fungicides for its management have not been thoroughly explored. In this work, we demonstrate the first report of Globisporangium spinosum as the causative agent causing root rot of H. cordata. Moreover, we evaluated the efficacy of hymexazol to manage the disease, which displayed remarkable inhibitory effects against mycelial growth of G. spinosum in vitro, with EC50values as low as 1.336 μg/ml. Furthermore, hymexazol completely inhibited sporangia in G. spinosum at a concentration of 0.3125 μg/ml. Specifically, we observed that hymexazol was highly efficacious in reducing the incidence of H. cordata root rot caused by G. spinosum in a greenhouse setting. These findings offer a potential management tool for utilization of hymexazol in controlling H. cordata root rot in field production.
Objective Changes in Pelvic Floor Muscle Strength and Length in Women With High-Tone Pelvic Floor Dysfunction After Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy (RELAX Trial)
Authors: Volpe Lena J. , Zugelder Morgan , Kotarinos Rhonda , Kotarinos Elizabeth , Kenton Kimberly , Geynisman-Tan Julia
Published: February 2024

(Abstracted from Urogynecology 2023;29:872–879)

High-tone pelvic floor dysfunction (HTPFD) can cause chronic pelvic pain and lower urinary tract symptoms and can significantly impact quality of life. One treatment for HTPFD is pelvic floor physical therapy (PFPT) that focuses on myofascial treatment; recent studies have shown this to be an effective way to reduce symptoms and improve quality of life.
Hospital Discharge Codes and Overestimating Severe Maternal Morbidity During Delivery Hospitalization
Authors: Quist-Nelson Johanna , Meng Marie-Louise , Mallampati Divya , Federspiel Jerome J. , Kucirka Lauren M. , Fuller Matthew , Menard M. Kathryn
Published: February 2024

Our objective was to identify birth hospitalization severe maternal morbidity (SMM) diagnoses that were also coded during prior encounters and, thus, potentially falsely carried forward as de novo SMM events. This retrospective cohort study included pregnant patients with births between 2016 and 2020. We applied the SMM algorithm to the birth hospitalization and encounters occurring prepregnancy, antepartum, and postpartum. The primary outcome was the rate of SMM diagnoses recorded during the birth hospitalization that were also coded on previous encounters. There were 1,380 (1.8%) birthing patients with SMM. Of patients with SMM codes at the birth hospitalization, 19.0% had the same SMM code during a prior encounter. Certain SMM events may be prone to carry-forward errors and may not signify a de novo birth hospitalization event.
Syndactyly Reconstruction Technique Utilizing Skin Substitute
Authors: Wall Lindley B. , Goldfarb Charles A.
Published: February 2024

Syndactyly reconstruction often times leaves areas of skin deficit that require coverage for healing. Numerous techniques have been reported to address the deficits, including graftless technique, which utilizes mobilization of adjacent skin for coverage, full-thickness skin grafting, and skin substitute grafts. The technique described here demonstrates the ease of the use of skin substitutes for coverage in syndactyly reconstruction and reports the expected outcomes.
Neoadjuvant savolitinib targeted therapy for stage IIIB-N3 lung adenocarcinoma harboring mesenchymal–epithelial transition exon 14 skipping mutation: a case report and literature review
Authors: Chen Lei , Chen Jin-Feng , He Jin-Tao , Rong Hao , Zhuang Xiang , Peng Jun
Published: February 2024

Savolitinib is a selective inhibitor that specifically targets the phosphorylation of mesenchymal–epithelial transition (MET) kinase. It has demonstrated significant inhibitory effects on the proliferation of tumor cells with METex14 skipping mutation, making it a promising treatment option. While it is the first approved small-molecule inhibitor specifically targeting MET kinase in China, there is limited information about its efficacy as neoadjuvant therapy for patients with supraclavicular lymph node metastasis (N3). In this case report, we presented the successful outcome of a 48-year-old male patient who was diagnosed with stage IIIB (T2bN3M0) lung adenocarcinoma originating from the left upper lobe. The patient exhibited the METex14 skipping alteration. Following two months of neoadjuvant savolitinib treatment, the patient achieved partial remission, with a significant reduction in the size of the primary tumor and metastatic lymph nodes. Postoperative pathological confirmation revealed a pathological complete response, and subsequent imaging examinations, including computed tomography scan and circulating tumor DNA-based molecular residual disease detection, showed no sign of recurrence at 7 months after surgery. Based on this case, neoadjuvant and adjuvant savolitinib therapy may be considered as a favorable alternative to chemotherapy for marginally resectable nonsmall cell lung cancer patients with METex14 skipping mutation.
Chromosomal, Gestational, and Neonatal Outcomes of Embryos Classified as a Mosaic by Preimplantation Genetic Testing for Aneuploidy
Authors: Viotti Manuel , Greco Ermanno , Grifo James A. , Madjunkov Mitko , Librach Clifford , Cetinkaya Murat , Kahraman Semra , Yakovlev Pavel , Kornilov Nikolay , Corti Laura , Biricik Anil , Cheng En-Hui , Su Ching-Ya , Lee Maw-Sheng , Bonifacio Michael D. , Cooper Amber R. , Griffin Darren K. , Tran Diane Y. , Kaur Purvi , Barnes Frank L. , Zouves Christo G. , Victor Andrea R. , Besser Andria G. , Madjunkova Svetlana , Spinella Francesca
Published: February 2024

(Abstracted from Fertil Steril 2023;120(5):957)

Chromosomal segregation errors during mitosis can result in embryonic mosaicism, a phenomenon where different chromosomal copy numbers exist within a single embryo. Preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) of multicellular biopsies can produce intermediate copy numbers in these cases, where some cells are disomic and some show monosomy or trisomy.
Use of Transesophageal Echocardiography for Liver Transplantation: A Global Comparison of Practice From the ILTS, SATA, and LICAGE
Authors: Bezinover Dmitri , Zerillo Jeron , Chadha Ryan M. , Wagener Gebhard , Blasi Annabel , Johnson Taylor , Pan Terry Ling Te , De Marchi Lorenzo
Published: February 2024

Background.

Anesthesiologists frequently use intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) to aid in the diagnosis and management of hemodynamic problems during liver transplantation (LT). Although the use of TEE in US centers continues to increase, data regarding international use are lacking.

Methods.

This prospective, global, survey-based study evaluates international experience with TEE for LT. Responses from 252 LT (105 US and 147 non-US) centers representing 1789 anesthesiologists were analyzed.

Results.

Routine use of TEE in the United States has increased in the last 5 y (from 37% to 47%), but only 21% of non-US LT anesthesiologists use TEE routinely. Lack of training (44% US versus 70% non-US) and equipment (9% non-US, versus 34% US) were cited as obstacles. Most survey participants preferred not to perform a complete cardiac examination but rather use only 6 of 11 basic views. Although non-US LT anesthesiologists more frequently had additional clinical training than their US counterparts, they had less TEE experience (13% versus 44%) and less frequently, TEE certification (22% versus 35%). Most LT anesthesiologists agreed that TEE certification is essential for proficiency. Of all respondents, 89% agreed or strongly agreed that TEE provides valuable information needed for immediate clinical decision-making, and >86% agreed or strongly agreed that that information could not be derived from other sources.

Conclusions.

The use of TEE for LT surgery in the US LT centers is currently higher compared with non-US LT centers. This may become a standard monitoring modality during LT in the near future.
Global sensitivity analysis for investigation of bacterial physiology in complex media with FBA-PRCC
Authors: Sorokin Anatoly , Goryanin Igor
Published: February 2024

In this paper we propose the use of FBA-PRCC approach, which is based on sampling flux space and global sensitivity analysis (GSA), for analysis of the GEM FBA solution space in the nutrient-rich environment. We identify two new modes of interaction between species and metabolites: attraction and avoidance and propose the way of their use. We have shown that sensitivity coefficients provide additional information about behavior of the bacteria in the nutrient-rich environment in comparison to standard knockouts, FVA and CoPE-FBA analysis.
Molecular methods enhance the detection of pyoderma-related Streptococcus pyogenes and emm-type distribution in children
Authors: Hall Jennifer Natalie , Armitage Edwin P. , Senghore Elina , Darboe Saffiatou , Barry Momodou , Camara Janko , Bah Sulayman , Keeley Alexander J. , McCarthy James S. , Smeesters Pierre , Turner Claire E. , Darton Thomas C. , Marks Michael , Angyal Adrienn , de Silva Thushan I.
Published: February 2024

Background: Streptococcus pyogenes-related skin infections are increasingly implicated in the development of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in lower-resourced settings, where they are often associated with scabies. The true prevalence of S. pyogenes-related pyoderma may be underestimated by bacterial culture. Methods: A multiplex qPCR for S. pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and Sarcoptes scabiei was applied to 250 pyoderma swabs from a cross-sectional study of children <5 years in The Gambia. Direct PCR-based emm-typing was used to supplement previous whole genome sequencing (WGS) of cultured isolates. Results: Pyoderma lesions with S. pyogenes increased from 51% (127/250) using culture to 80% (199/250) with qPCR. Compared to qPCR, the sensitivity of culture was 95.4% for S. pyogenes (95% CI 77.2-99.9) in samples with S. pyogenes alone (22/250, 9%), but 59.9% (95% CI 52.3-67.2) for samples with S. aureus co-infection (177/250, 71%). Direct PCR-based emm-typing was successful in 50% (46/92) of cases, identifying 27 emm-types, including six not identified by WGS (total 52 emm-types). Conclusions: Bacterial culture significantly underestimates the burden of S. pyogenes in pyoderma, particularly when co-infected with S. aureus. Molecular methods should be used to enhance the detection of S. pyogenes in surveillance studies and clinical trials of preventative measures in RHD-endemic settings.
The membrane insertion of the pro-apoptotic protein Bax is a Tom22-dependent multi-step process: a study in nanodiscs
Authors: Rouchidane Eyitayo Akandé , Daury Laetitia , Priault Muriel , Manon Stéphen
Published: February 2024

Membrane insertion of the pro-apoptotic protein Bax was investigated by setting up cell-free synthesis of full-length Bax in the presence of pre-formed nanodiscs. While Bax was not spontaneously inserted in nanodiscs, co-synthesis with the mitochondrial receptor Tom22 promoted Bax membrane insertion. The initial interaction of Bax with the lipid bilayer exposed the hydrophobic GALLL motif in Hα1 leading to Bax precipitation through hydrophobic interactions. The same motif was recognized by Tom22, triggering conformational changes leading to the extrusion and the ensuing membrane insertion of the C-terminal hydrophobic Hα9. Tom22 was also required for Bax-membrane insertion after Bax was activated either by BH3-activators or by its release from Bcl-xL by WEHI-539. The effect of Tom22 was impaired by D154Y substitution in Bax-Hα7 and T174P substitution in Bax-Hα9, that are found in several tumors. Conversely, a R9E substitution promoted the spontaneous insertion of Bax in nanodiscs, in the absence of Tom22. Both Tom22-activated Bax and BaxR9E alone permeabilized liposomes to dextran-10kDa and formed ∼5nm-diameter pores in nanodiscs. The concerted regulation of Bax membrane insertion by Tom22 and BH3-activators is discussed.
Transforming homeownership: an innovative financing model with a future value approach
Authors: Said Rosli , Sulaimi Mardhiati , Ab Majid Rohayu , Mohd Aini Ainoriza , Olanrele Olusegun Olaopin , Akinsomi Omokolade
Published: February 2024

Purpose

This study aims to address the critical need for innovative financing solutions in the global housing sector, focusing specifically on Malaysia’s distinct housing finance system encompassing both conventional and Islamic loans. The primary objective is to develop a transformative housing finance model that addresses affordability challenges and reshapes the Malaysian housing landscape.

Design/methodology/approach

The study presents an alternate housing finance model for Malaysia, integrating lower monthly payments and reduced household debt. Key variables include house price appreciation rates, interest rates, initial guarantee fees and loan-to-value ratios. Inspired by the Help to Buy (HTB) scheme, the model aligns with proven global initiatives for enhanced affordability, balancing payment amounts, loan interest rates and acceptable price thresholds.

Findings

The study’s findings promise to address affordability disparities and reshape Malaysia’s housing finance landscape. The emphasis is on introducing a structured repayment plan that offers a sustainable path to homeownership, particularly for low-income families. Incorporating the future value adaptation concept, inspired by reverse mortgages and Islamic finance, enhances adaptability, ensuring long-term sustainability despite economic shifts.

Practical implications

The proposed model promotes widespread access to homeownership, offering practical solutions for policymakers to improve affordability, prompting adaptable risk management strategies for financial institutions and empowering potential homebuyers with increased flexibility.

Originality/value

The study introduces a transformative housing finance model for Malaysia, merging elements from reverse mortgages, Islamic finance and the HTB scheme, offering potential applicability to similar systems globally.