bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Using serum placenta growth factor could improve the sensitivity of colorectal cancer screening in fecal occult blood negative population: A multicenter with independent cohort validation study
Authors: Wei Shu‐Chen , Tsao Po‐Nien , Wang Yu‐Ting , Lin Been‐Ren , Wu Deng‐Chyang , Tsai Wen‐Sy , Chen Jinn‐Shiun , Wong Jau‐Min
Published: May 2019

Background

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Screening for CRC using the fecal occult blood test (FOBT) is feasible and useful for decreasing disease‐related mortality; however, its sensitivity and compliance are unsatisfactory.

Methods

This study examined the efficacy of using serum placenta growth factor (PlGF) for a novel CRC screening strategy. To investigate a potential novel screening tool for CRC, we compared the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the FOBT, serum PlGF, and their combination through an examination of two independent cohorts and validation using the second cohort. All the patients and control group received the colonoscopy and FOBT, the colonoscopy was used as the gold standard for the result.

Results

Serum PlGF levels were significantly increased in CRC patients (16.8 ± 11.4 pg/mL) compared with controls (12.0 ± 11.2 pg/mL). The predictive model that used the serum PlGF level alone was as effective as the FOBT (AUC: 0.60 vs 0.68, P = 0.891), and it had significantly higher sensitivity than the FOBT (0.81 vs 0.39). In addition, we found serum PlGF level has a good value for predicting CRC patients in those FOBT negative populations. Finally, combining serum PlGF level and the FOBT improved the predictive power and demonstrated satisfactory sensitivity (0.71) and specificity (0.71). This result was confirmed and validated in the second independent cohort. Furthermore, no matter the stages (early/advanced) and the location (distal/proximal) of CRC, the efficacy of serum PlGF and the combined model remained quite stable.

Conclusion

Serum PlGF level is a potential alternative screening tool for CRC, especially for those who are reluctant to stool‐based screening methods and who were tested as negative FOBT. In addition, combining serum PlGF level and the FOBT could increase the power of CRC screening.
Impact of the repositionable Evolut R CoreValve system on the need for a permanent pacemaker after transcatheter aortic valve implantation in patients with severe aortic stenosis
Authors: Ojeda Soledad , Hidalgo Francisco , Romero Miguel , Mazuelos Francisco , Suárez de Lezo Javier , Martín Ernesto , Lostalo Adrián , Luque Aurora , González Rafael , Fernández Ana , López‐Aguilera José , Segura José , Guerrero Noelia , Pan Manuel
Published: May 2019

Objectives

To compare the incidence of permanent pacemaker implantation (PPI) with the CoreValve and Evolut R prostheses, to evaluate the implantation depth with both types of prostheses, and to study factors predicting the need for PPI.

Background

The Evolut R CoreValve can be recaptured and repositioned during deployment, allowing a more precise implantation.

Methods

A total of 208 patients treated with CoreValve and 137 patients treated with Evolut R were analyzed. The depth of the prosthesis in the LVOT was measured by angiography in the annular perpendicular view projection after deploymen in all patients.

Results

Baseline conduction abnormalities were comparable between the groups (85/208, 40.9% vs. 53/137, 38.7%; p = 0.69). The mean prosthesis depth was 10.3 ± 8.6 mm in the CoreValve group and 5.5 ± 2.7 mm in the Evolut R group; p < 0.0001. Conduction disturbances after valve implantation were more frequent with the CoreValve (new‐onset left bundle branch block: 93, 44.7% vs. 16, 11.7%; p < 0.05, first‐degree atrioventricular block: 23, 11.1% vs. 5, 3.6%; p < 0.05). In addition, the incidence of PPI was significantly lower with Evolut R (45, 21.6% vs. 15, 10.9%; p = 0.01). The predictors of the need for PPI were the mean depth of the prosthesis (OR: 1.13, 95% CI: 1.06–1.21; p < 0.0001) and prior right bundle branch block (OR 10.22, 95% CI: 4.62–22.63; p < 0.0001).

Conclusions

The recapturable capability of the Evolut R system allowed for higher and precise valve implantation. This fact had an impact on the reduction in the need for PPI.
Membranbrennstoffzellen
Authors: Heinzel Angelika , Beckhaus Peter , Karstedt Jörg
Published: May 2019

Mit der Entwicklung der als protonenleitenden Elektrolyten geeigneten Polymermembran hat die Membranbrennstoffzelle ihren Siegeszug angetreten und wird inzwischen in verschiedenen Bereichen eingesetzt. Je nach Anwendung werden die Lebensdauer, die Leistungsdichte oder andere Systemaspekte optimiert. Allen gemeinsam ist die Anforderung an die Reduktion der Kosten, die insbesondere im Pkw die entscheidende Rolle spielt. Die Entwicklung der Membranbrennstoffzelle hat mittlerweile einen hohen technischen Stand erreicht, trotzdem bedarf es zur Markteinführung politischer Flankierung. Dies bezieht sich auf die Wasserstoffinfrastruktur für Brennstoffzellenfahrzeuge ebenso wie auf die Förderung der brennstoffzellenbasierten Kraft‐Wärme‐Kopplung.
Going beyond environmental regulations—The influence of firm size on the effect of green practices on corporate financial performance
Authors: Yusof Nor'Aini , Tabassi Amin Akhavan , Esa Muneera
Published: May 2019

Despite the various environmental regulations to address the negative effect of construction activities on the environment, the construction sector is still slow to implement green practices (GPs). To encourage construction firms to implement GPs, these firms should be convinced that GPs are a financially viable endeavour. This paper aimed to analyse the influence of GPs on corporate financial performance (CFP) and investigate whether firm size influences that effect. A survey was employed to gather information from Malaysian construction firms, and the data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The findings indicate that green supplier management, green subcontractor management, and green project management have significant effects on CFP and that large firms with high levels of green business practices and green project management attained higher CFP than small and medium enterprises. Policymakers and managers should take a flexible approach to boost GPs in the construction industry.
Imaging Flow Cytometry Quantifies Neural Genome Dynamics
Authors: Michel Nadine , Majumdar Usnish B. , Lannigan Joanne , McConnell Michael J.
Published: May 2019

Somatic mosaicism is a common consequence of normal development. DNA repair is simply not perfect, and each cell's genome incurs continuous DNA damage as a consequence of transcription, replication, and other cell biological stressors. Brain somatic mosaicism is particularly noteworthy because the vast majority of an individual's neurons are with that individual for life and neural circuits give rise directly to behavioral phenotypes. Brain somatic mosaicism, now revealed and tractable due to advances in single cell ‘omic approaches, has emerged as an intriguing and unexplored aspect of neuronal diversity. Furthermore, the study of DNA damage during early neurodevelopment, when the rate of mutagenesis is high, is the perfect starting point to understand the origins of brain mosaicism. Flow cytometry is a highly efficient technique to study cell cycle and intracellular proteins of interest, particularly those related to DNA damage, but it lacks the high resolution of microscopy to examine the localization of these proteins. In this study, we outline a novel single‐cell approach to quantify DNA double‐strand break (DNA DSB) dynamics during early human neurodevelopment by applying imaging flow cytometry (IFC) to human‐induced pluripotent stem cell‐derived neural progenitor cells (NPCs) undergoing neurogenesis. We establish an increase of DNA DSBs by quantifying γH2AX foci in mildly stressed NPCs using various single‐cell approaches in addition to IFC including fluorescent microscopy, conventional flow cytometry, and measuring DNA DSBs with the comet assay. We demonstrate the dose‐dependent sensitive detection of γH2AX foci through IFC and reveal the dynamics of DNA DSBs in proliferating and differentiating neural cells in early neurogenesis. © 2019 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry
Water clarity and temperature effects on walleye safe harvest: an empirical test of the safe operating space concept
Authors: Hansen Gretchen J. A. , Winslow Luke A. , Read Jordan S. , Treml Melissa , Schmalz Patrick J. , Carpenter Stephen R.
Published: May 2019

Successful management of natural resources requires local action that adapts to larger‐scale environmental changes in order to maintain populations within the safe operating space (SOS) of acceptable conditions. Here, we identify the boundaries of the SOS for a managed freshwater fishery in the first empirical test of the SOS concept applied to management of harvested resources. Walleye (Sander vitreus) are popular sport fish with declining populations in many North American lakes, and understanding the causes of and responding to these changes is a high priority for fisheries management. We evaluated the role of changing water clarity and temperature in the decline of a high‐profile walleye population in Mille Lacs, Minnesota, USA, and estimated safe harvest under changing conditions from 1987 to 2017. Thermal–optical habitat area (TOHA)—the proportion of lake area in which the optimal thermal and optical conditions for walleye overlap—was estimated using a thermodynamic simulation model of daily water temperatures and light conditions. We then used a SOS model to analyze how walleye carrying capacity and safe harvest relate to walleye thermal–optical habitat. Thermal–optical habitat area varied annually and declined over time due to increased water clarity, and maximum safe harvest estimated by the SOS model varied by nearly an order of magnitude. Maximum safe harvest levels of walleye declined with declining TOHA. Walleye harvest exceeded safe harvest estimated by the SOS model in 16 out of the 30 yr of our dataset, and walleye abundance declined following 14 of those years, suggesting that walleye harvest should be managed to accommodate changing habitat conditions. By quantifying harvest trade‐offs associated with loss of walleye habitat, this study provides a framework for managing walleye in the context of ecosystem change.
Optimal operation of cogeneration system coordinated by aggregator for providing the demand and supply regulation capacity
Authors: Nakamura Yuta , Hara Ryoichi , Kita Hiroyuki , Takeda Kiyotaka
Published: May 2019

Recent growth of renewable energy generations with natural variability, such as photovoltaic generation and wind turbine generation, would make the demand and supply control in a whole power system more difficult, and therefore, alternatives for demand and supply regulation resources would be required. The authors focus on cogeneration system (CGS) as one of regulation resources. In order to procure adequate volume of regulation capability, an aggregator coordinates a number of CGSs efficiently and flexibly considering the wide variety of electricity/thermal demands of CGS owners. This paper proposes a novel optimal operation strategy of CGS coordinated by the aggregator considering the energy balance and operation cost of individual CGS owner. This paper also demonstrates the availability of CGSs for regulation capability by numerical case studies in which the actual consumption profile is employed.
What Works? the Influence of Changing Wastewater Treatment Type, Including Tertiary Granular Activated Charcoal, on Downstream Macroinvertebrate Biodiversity Over Time
Authors: Johnson Andrew C. , Jürgens Monika D. , Edwards François K. , Scarlett Peter M. , Vincent Helen M. , von der Ohe Peter
Published: May 2019

The present study reviewed the impacts of wastewater on macroinvertebrates over 4 decades in a United Kingdom lowland river. This involved examining changes in chemicals, temperature, flow, and macroinvertebrate diversity from the 1970s until 2017 for a wastewater-dominated river downstream of Swindon in the United Kingdom (population ~ 220 000). When the wastewater treatment process changed from trickling filter to activated sludge in 1991, biological oxygen demand was nearly halved (90th percentile from 8.1 to 4.6 mg/L), ammonia peaks dropped more than 7-fold (90th percentile from 3.9 to 0.53 mg/L), whereas dissolved oxygen climbed consistently above 60% saturation (10th percentile from 49 to 64%) at a sampling point 2 km downstream of the wastewater treatment plant. A sustained increase in the number of macroinvertebrate species was evident from that point. River flow did not change, temperature rose slightly, and the major metal concentrations declined steadily over most of the monitoring period. Neither the introduction of phosphate stripping in 1999 nor the use of tertiary granular activated charcoal from 2008 to 2014 had strong positive effects on subsequent macroinvertebrate diversity. That the diversity still had not reached the ideal status by 2016 may be related to the modest habitat quality, agricultural pesticides, and limited recolonization potential in the catchment. The results indicate that urban wastewaters, with their chemical pollutants, are today probably not the biggest threat to the macroinvertebrate diversity of multiply stressed lowland rivers in the United Kingdom. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;38:1820–1832. © 2019 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of SETAC

Abstract

Transformation in the fortunes of a macroinvertebrate population in a wastewater dominated river. ASPT = average score per taxon; LOQ = limit of quantification.
Nonattendance rates of scheduled outpatient appointments in a university general hospital
Authors: Giunta Diego Hernan , Alonso Serena Marina
Published: May 2019

Objective

We aimed to estimate nonattendance to scheduled medical ambulatory appointments rates globally and by subgroups.

Design and participants

We designed a retrospective cohort of all adult outpatients over 18 years old who requested at least one scheduled ambulatory medical appointment from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2016.

Setting

Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires is a university general hospital in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It includes an integrated health care network that is formed by two high complexity hospitals and 22 primary care centers.

Results

The age median was 60.4 years, and 31.33% of the appointments were scheduled by men; 2 526 549 appointments fulfilled selection criteria, belonging to 348 420 patients. The global nonattendance rate was 27.84% (95% CI, 27.79‐27.9). The nonattendance rate to general practitioner appointments was 25.53% (95% CI, 25.42‐25.63); to clinical specialties, 27.78% (95% CI, 27.68‐27.87); and to surgical specialties, 29.31% (95% CI, 29.23‐29.4).

Conclusions

Because of the consistent variability of nonattendance in different settings, it is strongly recommended that local estimates are used in the design of effective interventions to improve adherence with outpatient healthcare scheduled appointments.
Dynamic network slice resources reconfiguration in heterogeneous mobility environments
Authors: Meneses Flávio , Silva Rui , Corujo Daniel , Neto Augusto , Aguiar Rui L.
Published: May 2019

This paper proposes a framework that optimizes network slicing provisioning in over‐the‐top (OTT) scenarios, by reducing occupied resources of slices from where the User Equipment (UE) handovers from. To achieve this, the framework leverages an existing Software Defined Networking (SDN)‐based UE virtualization scheme, which allows to instantiate in the cloud a representation of the physical device and its current connectivity context. This scheme was extended with the ability to anchor the UE's datapath and mask the underlying slices in a single end‐to‐end slice, allowing handover mechanisms between slices to become transparent to involved endpoints. This framework was implemented and evaluated in an experimental testbed where the UE moves between Wi‐Fi and long‐term evolution (LTE) slices, with results showing that upstream and downstream throughput is dynamically adapted to the UE requirements prior to the handover.
Doppler ultrasonographic evaluation of celiac and mesenteric arteries in subjects with sickle cell disease
Authors: Ayoola Oluwagbemiga O. , Bolarinwa Rahman A. , Onakpoya Uvie U. , Onwuka Chidiogo C. , Adedeji Tewogbade A. , Afolabi Babalola I. , Onigbinde Stephen O. , Arogundade Fatiu A.
Published: May 2019

Vasculopathy, as occurring in sickle cell disease (SCD), can affect celiac and mesenteric arteries and result in stenosis, with elevated peak systolic velocity (PSV) on Doppler ultrasonography. In six subjects with confirmed SCD in steady state, routine Doppler ultrasonographic examination discovered features of celiac artery (CA) or superior mesenteric artery (SMA) stenosis with CA PSV >200 cm/s (median = 222.8 cm/s; range = 201.5‐427.1 cm/s) and/or SMA PSV >275 cm/s (median 183.2 cm/s; range = 87.8‐289.3 cm/s). Among the six subjects, five had elevated soluble P‐selectin values (median 72.55 ng/mL), while all six (100%) had elevated cystatin C levels (median 4.15 mg/L). Peripheral oxygen saturation was suboptimal in five subjects. All subjects had low hemoglobin concentration levels (median 8.5 g/dL) while four had elevated white blood cell count. Although vaso‐occlusive crises result from microvessel occlusion, these findings at the macrovascular level suggest that SCD patients may also be vulnerable to mesenteric ischemic injury, especially in the setting of anemic heart failure from hemolysis.
Remotely sensed albedo allows the identification of two ecosystem states along aridity gradients in Africa
Authors: Zhao Yanchuang , Wang Xinyuan , Novillo Carlos J. , Arrogante‐Funes Patricia , Vázquez‐Jiménez René , Berdugo Miguel , Maestre Fernando T.
Published: May 2019

Empirical verification of multiple states in drylands is scarce, impeding the design of indicators to anticipate the onset of desertification. Remote sensing‐derived indicators of ecosystem states are gaining new ground due to the possibilities they bring to be applied inexpensively over large areas. Remotely sensed albedo has been often used to monitor drylands due to its close relationship with ecosystem status and climate. Here, we used a space‐for‐time‐substitution approach to evaluate whether albedo (averaged from 2000 to 2016) can identify multiple ecosystem states in African drylands spanning from the Saharan desert to tropical Africa. By using latent class analysis, we found that albedo showed two states (low and high; the cut‐off level was 0.22 at the shortwave band). Potential analysis revealed that albedo exhibited an abrupt and discontinuous increase with increased aridity (1 − [precipitation/potential evapotranspiration]). The two albedo states co‐occurred along aridity values ranging from 0.72 to 0.78, during which vegetation cover exhibited a rapid, continuous decrease from ~90% to ~50%. At aridity values of 0.75, the low albedo state started to exhibit less attraction than the high albedo state. Low albedo areas beyond this aridity value were considered as vulnerable regions where abrupt shifts in albedo may occur if aridity increases, as forecasted by current climate change models. Our findings indicate that remotely sensed albedo can identify two ecosystem states in African drylands. They support the suitability of albedo indices to inform us about discontinuous responses to aridity experienced by drylands, which can be linked to the onset of land degradation.
Technical Considerations in Liver Transplantation for Biliary Atresia With Situs Inversus
Authors: Takeda Masahiro , Sakamoto Seisuke , Uchida Hajime , Yoshimura Shohei , Shimizu Seiichi , Hirata Yoshihiro , Fukuda Akinari , Schlegel Andrea , Kasahara Mureo
Published: May 2019

In liver transplantation (LT) for biliary atresia (BA) with situs inversus (SI), the surgical procedure is technically challenging due to multiple anatomical variations. We evaluated the surgical procedures and the outcomes in our patients and in the previously reported patients undergoing LT for BA with SI. Between November 2005 and October 2018, 235 children underwent LT with an overall 10‐year graft survival of 94.7%. Of these, 6 (2.6%) patients received LT for BA with SI. Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) was applied in all patients. Vascular anomalies at our center included the absence of the inferior vena cava (IVC; n = 5), a preduodenal portal vein (PV; n = 4), and an aberrant hepatic artery (HA; n = 1). Hepatic vein (HV) outflow obstruction occurred in 1 patient with an absent IVC and necessitated repositioning of the graft immediately after LDLT. PV stenosis occurred in 1 patient with a preduodenal PV at 5 months after LDLT. The overall survival of our patients was 80.0% at 3 years. In the literature, 49 patients with LT for BA with SI were reviewed. The survival rate was 91.8%, and the vascular complications included HV outflow obstruction (2.0%), PV complications (10.2%), and HA thrombosis (4.1%). All PV complications occurred in LDLT patients with a preduodenal PV (5/23; 21.7%). In conclusion, the detailed assessment of the surgical procedures and the systematic literature review demonstrated excellent outcomes after LT for BA with SI. Liver recipients with a preduodenal PV are exposed to a higher risk for vascular complications after a very challenging LT procedure with overall good outcomes.
Reverse‐supercharged, distally based latissimus dorsi flap for lumbar defect: A case report
Authors: Hamada Ryusho , Shinaoka Akira , Watanabe Toshiyuki , Yasui Humiaki , Kimata Yoshihiro
Published: May 2019

Well‐vascularized tissue is required for successful reconstruction of a soft tissue defect in the lumbar region. There are several options for reconstruction; however, controversy exists regarding the optimal technique. Here, we present a case of a lumbar defect following tumor resection in a 75‐year‐old patient that was repaired using a reverse‐supercharged, distally based latissimus dorsi flap. The defect of size 15 × 12 cm2 was localized to the lumbar region. An 11 × 7 cm2‐sized, distally based latissimus dorsi flap was designed cephalad to the latissimus dorsi muscle. After the flap was tunneled to the defect, vascular insufficiency of the skin flap was observed. Supercharging was subsequently performed by anastomosing the serratus anterior branch in a reverse manner to the lumbar perforator. The diameters of the vessels at the end‐to‐end anastomosis site were 1.0 mm (artery) and 1.2 mm (vein), respectively, and there was slight discrepancy in their calibers. After microvascular anastomosis, the vascular supply of the flap improved, and the flap survived uneventfully, without venous congestion. The patient was discharged 17 days after the surgery, and no recurrence of the tumor was observed at the 2‐year follow‐up. We report a case of successful salvage of a distally based latissimus dorsi flap by the reverse‐supercharge technique based on a serratus anterior branch. This flap might be a suitable alternative for use in the lumbar region in the case of limited availability of reconstructive choices.
Real‐World Clinical Effectiveness of Liraglutide 3.0 mg for Weight Management in Canada
Authors: Wharton Sean , Liu Aiden , Pakseresht Arash , Nørtoft Emil , Haase Christiane L. , Mancini Johanna , Power G. Sarah , Vanderlelie Sarah , Christensen Rebecca A. G.
Published: May 2019

Objective

Real‐world clinical effectiveness of liraglutide 3.0 mg, in combination with diet and exercise, was investigated 4 and 6 months post initiation. Changes in absolute and percent body weight were examined from baseline.

Methods

A cohort of liraglutide 3.0 mg initiators in 2015 and 2016 was identified from six Canadian weight‐management clinics. Post initiation values at 4 and 6 months were compared with baseline values using a paired t test.

Results

The full cohort consisted of 311 participants, with 210 in the ≥ 4‐month persistence group and 167 in the ≥ 6‐month persistence group. Average baseline BMI was 40.7 kg/m2, and weight was 114.8 kg. There was a significant change in body weight 6 and 4 months after initiation of treatment in persistent subjects (≥ 6‐month: −8.0 kg, P < 0.001; ≥ 4‐month: −7.0 kg, P < 0.001) and All Subjects, regardless of persistence (−7.3 kg; P < 0.001). Percentage change in body weight from baseline was −7.1% in the ≥ 6‐month group and −6.3% in the ≥ 4‐month group, and All Subjects lost 6.5% body weight. Of participants in the ≥ 6‐month group, 64.10% and 34.5% lost ≥ 5% and > 10% body weight, respectively.

Conclusions

In a real‐world setting, liraglutide 3.0 mg, when combined with diet and exercise, was associated with clinically meaningful weight loss.
Polypyrrole‐decorated, milled carbon fibers‐inserted chitin nanofibers/multiwalled carbon nanotubes flexible free‐standing film for supercapacitors
Authors: Jiang Ping , Chen Chuchu , Li Dagang
Published: May 2019

A flexible free‐standing film was fabricated using interconnected chitin nanofibers (ChNFs) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as a conductive substrate, by inserting in milled carbon fibers (MCFs) to increase the number of holes and decorating it with polypyrrole (PPy) to improve the capacitance. The synthesis process for the ChNFs/MWCNTs/MCFs/PPy (CMMP) film was simple and effective, for which the 3D structure of ChNFs/MWCNTs/MCFs (CMM) film was first fabricated through vacuum‐filtration followed by adding PPy on the surface of CMM film via in situ polymerization. Field emission scanning electron microscopy showed that the CMMP film had a porous structure similar to aerogel, which was caused by the great size difference between ChNFs/MWCNTs and MCFs. Furthermore, the CMMP film had a high specific capacitance of 362 F g−1 at a scan rate of 5 mV s−1 in 1 mol L−1 sulfuric acid, excellent cycling stability with a retention of 86.6% after 5000 cycles at 2 A g−1, and good thermal stability with a 77% mass residue at 600°C at the mass ratio of 1:1:0.5:13.38 (Py: 5 mmol). In general, this environmentally‐friendly, simple‐synthesis, high‐performance CMMP film could be widely used in the flexible all‐solid‐state supercapacitor field.
Developmental and transcriptional responses of maize to drought stress under field conditions
Authors: Danilevskaya Olga N. , Yu GongXin , Meng Xin , Xu John , Stephenson Elizabeth , Estrada Stacey , Chilakamarri Sunita , Zastrow‐Hayes Gina , Thatcher Shawn
Published: May 2019

Drought is a common abiotic stress which significantly limits global crop productivity. Maize is an important staple crop and its yield is determined by successful development of the female inflorescence, the ear. We investigated drought stress responses across several developmental stages of the maize B73 inbred line under field conditions. Drought suppressed plant growth, but had little impact on progression through developmental stages. While ear growth was suppressed by drought, the process of spikelet initiation was not significantly affected. Tassel growth was reduced to a lesser extent compared to the observed reduction in ear growth under stress. Parallel RNA‐seq profiling of leaves, ears, and tassels at several developmental stages revealed tissue‐specific differences in response to drought stress. High temperature fluctuation was an additional environmental factor that also likely influenced gene expression patterns in the field. Drought induced significant transcriptional changes in leaves and ears but only minor changes in the tassel. Additionally, more genes were drought responsive in ears compared to leaves over the course of drought treatment. Genes that control DNA replication, cell cycle, and cell division were significantly down‐regulated in stressed ears, which was consistent with inhibition of ear growth under drought. Inflorescence meristem genes were affected by drought to a lesser degree which was consistent with the minimal impact of drought on spikelet initiation. In contrast, genes that are involved in floret and ovule development were sensitive to stress, which is consistent with the detrimental effect of drought on gynoecium development and kernel set.
Chiral Noble Metal Nanoparticles and Nanostructures
Authors: Karimova Natalia V. , Aikens Christine M.
Published: May 2019

The origins of chirality and chiroptical properties in ligand‐protected gold and silver nanoparticles (NPs) are considered herein. Current conceptual models including the chiral core model, dissymmetric field model, and chiral footprint model are described as mechanisms that contribute to the understanding of chirality in these systems. Then, recent studies on thiolate‐stabilized gold NPs, phosphine‐stabilized gold NPs, multi‐ligand‐stabilized silver NPs, and DNA‐stabilized silver NPs are discussed. Insights into the origin of chiroptical properties including reasons for large Cotton effects in circular dichroism spectra are considered using both experimental and theoretical data available. Theoretical calculations using density functional theory (DFT) and time‐dependent DFT methods are found to be extremely useful for providing insights into the origin of chirality. The origin of chirality in ligand‐protected gold and silver NPs can be considered to be a complex phenomenon, arising from a combination of the three conceptual models.
Five New Coordination Polymers with a Bifunctional Phosphonate‐Sulfonate Linker Molecule
Authors: Wöhlbrandt Stephan , Beyer Ole , Reinsch Helge , Ken Inge A. , Svensson Grape Erik , Lüning Ulrich , Stock Norbert
Published: May 2019

The bifunctional linker molecule [5‐(phosphonomethyl)‐2,4‐bis(sulfonomethyl)phenyl]methanesulfonic acid (HO3S‐CH2)3‐C6H2‐CH2PO3H2 (abbreviated as H5L4) was employed in systematic high‐throughput investigations in order to discover new coordination polymers (CPs). Employing 27 metal salts of 17 different metals in this investigation, five new compounds [Mg2(HL4)(H2O)6] (1), [Pb4(L4)(OH)3] (2), [Ba2(H2L4)(OH)(H2O)] (3), [Ba2(HL4)(H2O)4] (4), and [Cd2,5(L4)(H2O)7] (5) were discovered and their crystal structures were determined. In all compounds, the sulfonate and phosphonate groups could not be resolved since the P and S atoms are statistically occupying the atom site with a ratio of 0.25 to 0.75. This is reflected in the P–O and S–O bond lengths. Four of the structures were determined from single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction data, whereas the structure of 4 was solved ab initio from powder data using real‐space methods and refined using Rietveld methods.
Higgs pair production from bottom quark annihilation to NNLO in QCD
Authors: Ajjath A. H. , Banerjee Pulak , Chakraborty Amlan , Dhani Prasanna K. , Mukherjee Pooja , Rana Narayan , Ravindran V.
Published: May 2019

Abstract

We present the first results on the two-loop massless QCD corrections to the four-point amplitude

$$ b+\overline{b}\to H+H $$

b
+

b
¯

→
H
+
H

in the five flavor scheme, treating bottom quarks as massless. This amplitude is sensitive to the trilinear Higgs boson coupling. Our two-loop result for this amplitude constitutes of purely virtual contributions to the next-to-next-to-leading order QCD predictions for the production of a pair of Higgs bosons at the Large Hadron Collider. Using these two loop amplitudes and exploiting the universality of the soft contributions in perturbative QCD, we obtain the NNLO QCD effects in the soft plus virtual approximation. We find that the inclusion of higher order terms reduce the uncertainties resulting from the unphysical renormalisation and factorisation scales.
Advanced School Progression Relative to Age and Early Family Formation in Mexico
Authors: Caudillo Mónica L.
Published: May 2019

Research has documented a negative association between women’s educational attainment and early sexual intercourse, union formation, and pregnancy. However, the implications that school progression relative to age may have for the timing and order of such transitions are poorly understood. In this article, I argue that educational attainment has different implications depending on a student’s progression through school grades relative to her age. Using month of birth and age-at-school-entry policies to estimate the effect of advanced school progression by age, I show that it accelerates the occurrence of family formation and sexual onset among teenage women in Mexico. Focusing on girls aged 15–17 interviewed by a national survey, I find that those who progress through school ahead of their birth cohort have a higher probability of having had sex, been pregnant, and cohabited by the time of interview. I argue that this pattern of behaviors is explained by experiences that lead them to accelerate their transition to adulthood compared with same-age students with fewer completed school grades, such as exposure to relatively older peers in school and completing academic milestones earlier in life. Among girls who got pregnant, those with an advanced school progression by age are more likely to engage in drug use, alcohol consumption, and smoking before conception; more likely to have pregnancy-related health complications; and less likely to attend prenatal care visits. Thus, an advanced school progression by age has substantial implications for the health and well-being of young women, with potential intergenerational consequences.
Material Legacies: Italian modernism and the postwar history of case del fascio
Authors: Maulsby Lucy M.
Published: May 2019

In recent decades, architectural historians, preservationists, and the general public have shown a growing interest in Fascist-era buildings. Many of the most high-profile examples are those associated with the monumental excesses of the regime. However, new attention has also been focused on more modest buildings that are significant examples of interwar Italian modernism or Rationalism, including former party headquarters (case del fascio). Taking as primary examples works by Giuseppe Terragni, the architect most often associated with Rationalism, as well by Luigi Carlo Danieri and Luigi Vietti, whose interwar contributions to Italian modernism have been less often the focus of scholarly attention, this article traces the postwar histories of case del fascio with the aim of better understanding the ways in which architecture and politics intersect and some of the consequences of this for the contemporary Italian architectural landscape.
Why Propensity Scores Should Not Be Used for Matching
Authors: King Gary , Nielsen Richard
Published: May 2019

We show that propensity score matching (PSM), an enormously popular method of preprocessing data for causal inference, often accomplishes the opposite of its intended goal—thus increasing imbalance, inefficiency, model dependence, and bias. The weakness of PSM comes from its attempts to approximate a completely randomized experiment, rather than, as with other matching methods, a more efficient fully blocked randomized experiment. PSM is thus uniquely blind to the often large portion of imbalance that can be eliminated by approximating full blocking with other matching methods. Moreover, in data balanced enough to approximate complete randomization, either to begin with or after pruning some observations, PSM approximates random matching which, we show, increases imbalance even relative to the original data. Although these results suggest researchers replace PSM with one of the other available matching methods, propensity scores have other productive uses.
The Unforgotten: Memories of Justice
Authors: James Booth W.
Published: May 2019

Justice is, in part, a form of remembrance: Memory occupies a vital place at the heart of justice and its struggle to keep the victims, crimes, and perpetrators among the unforgotten. I argue that this memory-justice at once informs core judicial practices and ranges beyond them in a manner that leaves judicial closure incomplete. It reminds us of a duty to keep crimes and their victims from the oblivion of forgetting, of a duty to restore, preserve, and acknowledge the just order of the world. Yet, in the shadow of remembrance, other human goods can wither, goods located in the temporal registers of present and future. This latter lesson is important, but it is one with which we are familiar. I emphasize another, with which we are perhaps less at home: the intimacy of memory's bond with justice, not as obsessional or as a syndrome, but as a face of justice itself.
The Phantom Defense: America's Pursuit of the Star Wars Illusion. By Craig Eisendrath, Melvin A. Goodman, and Gerald E. Marsh. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001. 216p. $24.95. Ballistic Missile Defense and the Future of American Security: Agendas, Perceptions, Technology, and Policy. By Roger Handberg. Praeger, 2001. 264p. $62.00. Rockets' Red Glare: Missile Defenses and the Future of World Politics. Edited by James J. Wirtz and Jeffrey A. Larsen. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2001. 368p. $28.50.
Authors: Goldfischer David
Published: May 2019

As Michael O'Hanlon concludes in his excellent contribution to Rockets' Red Glare: “We should…get used to the debate over ballistic missile defenses. It has been around a long time, and no final resolution is imminent” (p. 132). In one sense, a review of these three recent books makes clear that many analysts had grown a bit too used to positioning themselves in terms of the 1972 ABM Treaty. Preoccupied with arguments over whether the treaty should be preserved, modified, or rewritten in light of a changing strategic and technological context, no one seemed to have anticipated that President George W. Bush would simply withdraw from it, invoking Article XV's provision that either party could withdraw if “extraordinary events related to the subject matter of this Treaty have jeopardized its supreme interests.” Even many strategic defense supporters who deemed the treaty obsolete (as Robert Joseph persuasively maintains in his contribution to Rockets' Red Glare) generally believed that it should only—and would only—be scrapped if negotiations over U.S.-proposed changes broke down. (“The Bush Administration,” surmises O'Hanlon, “will surely try very hard to amend it before going to such an extreme”) (p. 112). In the event, the president's team disavowed even the word “negotiation,” saying they were willing only to “consult” the Russians regarding the treaty's impending demise.
The Global Covenant: Human Conduct in a World of States. By Robert Jackson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. 464p. $29.25.
Authors: Lynch Cecelia
Published: May 2019

Robert Jackson's recent book The Global Covenant is a work in the tradition of the international society school that extends the perspective of that school to today's world events and theoretical debates. Jackson's argument has several important components: that we live in a society of states that operates according to particular norms having significant ethical implications for the conduct of world politics; that this society of states can be distinguished from both the amoral perspective of the (neo)realists and the universalism of cosmopolitans; that this world must be examined primarily through the words and actions of statespeople, its primary articulators; that this world is distinguished by values of antipaternalism, normative pluralism, and the observance of sovereign rights of nonintervention and self-determination; and that recent crises (e.g., the Persian Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, etc.) demonstrate more the continued durability of this world (which has existed roughly since Westphalia) than its decline or demise.
Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War. By Stuart J. Kaufman. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001. 262p. $45.00 cloth, $19.95 paper.
Authors: Kaufmann Chaim
Published: May 2019

Stuart Kaufman's Modern Hatreds is a serious, original contribution on a highly policy relevant question, which is strengthened by his scrupulous case study design and deep regional expertise. Kaufman asks: when do intercommunal rivalries escalate to large-scale ethnic wars? His answer integrates a number of existing strands of explanation around the central idea that myths, or as he calls them, ethnic symbols, are the root cause of ethnic violence. His core claim is that “people make political choices based on emotion and in response to symbols” (p. 29). Ethnic wars results from the lethal combination of two particularly noxious types of myths: myths justifying the political domination of specific territory, and myths of past atrocities by others that lead to widespread fears of genocide. The realities behind these myths are far less important than that they are pervasive “in each group's mainstream history texts written before the conflict began” (p. 30).
Foreign Policy and the Utopian Imagination. By Susan M. Matarese. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2001. 164p. $28.95.
Authors: Brands H. W.
Published: May 2019

The last decade of the nineteenth century was a traumatic time for many Americans. The federal constitution was a hundred years old, and it no longer fit the nation so neatly as it once had. A new class of economic warlords, commonly called robber barons, made a mockery of some hallowed democratic principles; from behind the walls of their well-defended monopolies they laughed at notions that business should serve the public. “The public be damned!” jeered William Vanderbilt. Meanwhile, millions of immigrants flooded American shores; to many of the native born (or merely earlier arrived), the newcomers appeared an alien horde that would drive down wages, depress the standard of living, and change the character of America even as they were already changing its face. In the West, the frontier was disappearing—in fact, had already disappeared, in the statistical judgment of the director of the 1890 census—depriving the country of the demographic and psychic safety valve that had long bled off the worst of American discontent. As if all this were not enough, the 1890s witnessed the worst depression in American history to that point, closing hundreds of banks and factories and throwing hundreds of thousands of breadwinners out of work and onto the streets and highways.
Tearing the Social Fabric: Neoliberalism, Deindustrialization and the Crisis of Governance in Zimbabwe. By Padraig Carmody. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001. 240p. $67.95. African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis, 1979–1999. By Nicolas Van De Walle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 304p. $59.95 cloth, $19.95, paper.
Authors: Lofchie Michael F.
Published: May 2019

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to underperform the world's developing regions, remaining a region of pronounced economic stagnation at correspondingly frightful human and social costs. Exactly why this is so has been the subject of extensive debate both among academics and within the policy community. Since most sub-Saharan African countries have been implementing neoliberal economic reforms, there has been particularly heated discussion about whether or not these policies have helped to improve the economic environment.
A Fistful of Rubles: The Rise and Fall of the Russian Banking System. By Juliet Johnson. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000. 244p. $29.95.
Authors: Easter Gerald M.
Published: May 2019

For the field of Russian comparative politics, the collapse of Soviet communism abruptly shifted attention from commissars and commanders to businessmen and bankers. Since the mid-1990s, it has become increasingly evident that a small cohort of newly rich financiers was influencing the course of Russia's transition. Yet it was not always clear in what ways and to what extent these upstart tycoons were acting as political players. With this book, the field at last has an authoritative, systematic rendering of the banking sector. Juliet Johnson chronicles the good, the bad, and the ugly of Russia's big bankers during the postcommunist regime's formative decade.
Civil-Military Relations in Latin America: New Analytical Perspectives. Edited by David Pion-Berlin. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001. 352p. $55.00 cloth, $22.50 paper.
Authors: Armony Ariel C.
Published: May 2019

As David Pion-Berlin explains in his Introduction, this collection of essays seeks to link the field of Latin American civil-military studies to major theoretical approaches in mainstream political science. Accordingly, the contributors draw from the rationalist, structuralist, and culturalist approaches in an effort to break what the editor of this book views as a long-standing isolation of Latin Americanists in general, and the region's civil-military specialists in particular, “from the major intellectual traditions, currents, and debates in political science and in the field of comparative politics” (p. 16). Therefore, the stated purpose of this volume is to reexamine civil-military relations in Latin America, taking into account major contextual changes (the wave of democratization in the region, the transition to free market economies, the end of the Cold War) and the potential contribution of mainstream analytical perspectives to new insights into this important theme in Latin American politics.
Establishing the Supremacy of European Law: The Making of an International Rule of Law in Europe. By Karen J. Alter. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. 284p. $60.00.
Authors: Goldstein Leslie Friedman
Published: May 2019

Before 1990, American political and even legal scholarship paid little attention to the mystery and the marvel of the role played by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in constituting the European Community (EC; now European Union, or EU) as something very like a transnational, federated state with its own higher law constitution and supremacy of union-level law, enforceable and enforced against member-state (i.e., member-country) laws or constitutional provisions to the contrary. Legal scholars Eric Stein and Joseph Weiler and political scientist Mary Volcansek (with a comparative judicial politics approach) had produced sustained bodies of scholarship on the subject, and Stuart Scheingold had offered a book on it back in 1971 (which took an international relations approach), but not much else was available for the curious American academic. The decade of the 1990s changed this picture. Now a generation of young scholars and some more recently engaged established scholars have taken up the challenge of attempting to understand this remarkable, and in many ways unprecedented, phenomenon.
The Frontiers of the European Union. By Malcolm Anderson and Eberhard Bort. New York: Palgrave, 2000. 235p. $65.00.
Authors: Jones Erik
Published: May 2019

The “borderless world” is an early twenty-first century cliche, particularly in Europe. Overlapping processes of globalization and regional integration have done much over the past decades to alter the political and economic nature of geographic boundaries. As a result, the tendency is to anticipate a fundamental deterritorialization of politics and economics. However tempting, it would nevertheless be hazardous to rush to judgment. Through a series of overlapping case studies—essays, really—Malcolm Anderson and Eberhard Bort demonstrate that frontiers remain important both within the European Union (EU) and without. Politics and economics continue to be rooted in geography despite the transformations of the late twentieth century. This is true not only in practical terms but also in relation to individual and group identities. As the authors suggest, “there remains in Europe a highly developed sense of territoriality” (p. 11).