bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Responsibilities of Museums in the Representation of the Past and Present: The Need for Communication and Context
Authors: Allen Stephanie
Published: February 2021

This article investigates a range of case studies focusing on the display of Pre‐Columbian artifacts in Texas and Mexico City by visiting six museums housing permanent Pre‐Columbian collections. For each institution, I focused on two modes of communication. The first was the amount of information the museum provided to the public through the set‐up and organization of the galleries. This included the size of the exhibit, the number of cultures portrayed, and the types of visual tools utilized (videos, computers, dioramas, reconstructed buildings, etc). For the second part, I documented the textual information about the collections and the represented cultures. I conducted a content analysis on this text, looking in particular at the vocabulary used to describe each culture. I wanted to know how these institutions dealt with the flow of information between museum and visitor and how they functioned in representing the diversity of Pre‐Columbian groups and their cultural traditions. Here, in the interest of space, I focus on one institution, the San Antonio Museum of Art. Ultimately, I determined that the San Antonio Museum of Art, and museums in general, should incorporate anthropological outlooks in their portrayals of other cultures. They have a responsibility to communicate information that reflects a multiplicity of viewpoints because of their roles as sites of identity construction.
Circulation and Consumption: Transnational Mass Tourism in Cancun, Mexico
Authors: Preble Christine
Published: February 2021

Cancun's packaged image of paradise is a dynamic and constantly flowing contestation of identity and livelihood for those involved in the service sector. Indigeneity is used as spectacle, prop, and entertainment in the tourism industry and is especially popular in mass tourism zones like Cancun. Circulation of not only bodies, but theory surrounding authenticity and indigeneity, are all represented in the hyper‐commodification that defines mass tourism. Cancun uses transnational connections for marketing of space, goods, and people that are in a constant state of circulation. Looking at the rise of the tourism industry in Cancun processually leads us to explore this moment of mistrust between movements between the United States and Mexico. Violence throughout the border between these countries leads to fear that mass media instills in its audiences. How are these emerging attitudes of fear affecting mass tourism in Mexico? What are the effects of mass tourism on its locality? Using a transnational framework helps to decode complex structures of circulation in Cancun's mass tourism industry.
The identities of ethnic communities in São Paulo: An investigation of the Armenian community in Bom Retiro
Authors: Shake Joshua
Published: February 2021

This article explores the geo‐spatial identity of the Armenian community in São Paulo. Beginning with a foundation in prominent theories of ethnic communities, it then presents the political contexts and historical diversity of both Brazil and the city. The article then discusses the history of Armenian immigration to São Paulo which sets the context for the field research. After presenting the research and results, conclusions are given for this and other ethnic districts, including those regarding the use of collective memory and the continued presence of important community organizations in preserving neighborhood identity
Research Articles: Welcome to “Pine Tree Hall”: An Ethnography of Caregiving for the Elderly in Beijing
Authors: Card Shika
Published: February 2021

Drawing upon ethnographic observations from Songtang Guanhuai Hospital, the first institution to offer hospice care in Beijing, China, this paper is an anthropological examination of caregiving for the elderly within a contemporary, urban Chinese context from the perspectives of patients and both professional and familial caregivers. Taking a phenomenological approach to anthropology, this article explores how Chinese individuals approach the illness experience, the aging process, and the end of life of elderly family members and patients, and aims to understand the particular Chinese cultural ideologies of caregiving for the elderly. By focusing on the notion of “sensibility,” or that which allows each individual to experience in her own way the challenges and realities of moral experience, I argue that not only is the practice of caregiving a fundamentally intersubjective process, but moreover that the experience of giving care in a Chinese setting is intersubjective in culturally specific ways. Through ethnography it is possible to examine how subjectivities are shaped and how intersubjectivity is experienced within the Chinese context. This article demonstrates how the active commitment to and the moral presence of caregiving emerges in the lives of Chinese individuals amidst the confusion, messiness, and deep uncertainty of the aging process and the end of life in China.
Inside Occupy Ohio State University (OSU): Values, Media, and the Role of Public Universities in the Occupy Movement
Authors: Schueller Emily
Published: February 2021

During 2011, a group of activists established an Occupy group at The Ohio State University in solidarity with the global movement. Although Occupy Wall Street has been analyzed by many social scientists, its influence on campuses has not been as critically examined. The purpose of this study is to examine how the ideals and tactics of the Occupy movement have impacted student activism. Methods include semi‐structured interviews with members of Occupy OSU and participant‐observation, which involved attending Occupy OSU events. Interlocutors include students, one faculty member, and community activists from Columbus, Ohio. By examining the impact of the Occupy movement on The Ohio State University's campus, this study provides an analysis of the effects of social movements on a university community. Observations during meetings, events, and in casual settings uncover a value system which governs Occupy OSU and illustrates how activists use resources and experiment in direct democracy. In this article, I argue that Occupy Wall Street empowered student activists by providing them with some of the tools, networking opportunities, and motivation for a new student movement.
“Why can't you pay if you can eat?”: Tales of How Women Encounter Unpleasant NGO Practices in Bangladesh
Authors: Ali H M Ashraf
Published: February 2021

In Bangladesh and globally, microcredit has been recognized as a key development tool in the alleviation of poverty. Many international development agencies and donor countries prioritize microcredit to alleviate poverty because of reported success stories of microcredit nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in mobilizing poor women to participate in incomegenerating activities. Microcredit NGOs construct success stories of alleviating poverty and gender equity in relation to the repayment rate, but little is known about how they deploy strategies to collect loan installments from borrowers. Using ethnographic data collected in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh, I examine how microcredit NGOs create unequal power relations between fieldworkers and borrowers to facilitate secure loan recovery. Reflecting on the women's experiences with microcredit programs, I demonstrate how these microcredit NGOs impose the provision of group liabilities, a ‘forced choice,’ upon the borrowers and how they socialize the borrowers into a culture of shaming to enforce repayment obligations. Instead of contributing to the development of norms of cooperation and solidarity that socially and economically empower the entire community, I argue that NGOs instead empower a group of female borrowers, serving their capitalistic interests, which often stimulates social conflict and negatively affects social solidarity.
The Aesthetics of Deformity and the Construction of the “Freak”
Authors: Backe Emma Louise
Published: February 2021

With the inception of the “freak show” in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, deformity, physical abnormality and unusual facial features were sensationalized into entertainment spectacle, covertly managed, constructed and displayed for the macabre amusement of sideshow visitors and audience members. Due to the historical manipulation and fabrication of freaks’ bodies by sideshow and Odditorium managers to heighten or diminish their “freakish” qualities, the freak show can be conceptualized as an aesthetic space. By framing these social events as an aesthetic space, it is possible to analyze and deconstruct these bodies in the same way a work of art is appraised and valued. A freak is made, rather than born, and the physical elements that constitute freakishness are entirely dependent on the cultural norms and values of the time. Thus the cultural category of a freak is both historically and socially contingent. Through this aesthetic lens, I examine the visual culture of freak shows in order to interrogate the methods of representation employed by sideshow managers. These methods neither disrupted nor subverted the culturally coded conceptions of normality or deformity but, rather, reinforced them. Managers utilized exoticism or aggrandizement, falsified life‐story pamphlets and visual chicanery to deliberately separate the audience from the freaks as objects of amusement and maintain social hierarchy. As the nineteenth century wore on, however, freak shows lost their cultural currency, which can be seen as the result of developing anthropological theory and medicine where spectators began to pathologize the deformed body.
“Nobody Came Down”: The Effect of the Financial Crisis on Tourism in Two Roatán Communities
Authors: Brown Racine
Published: February 2021

This article examines the effects of the 2008 financial crisis on the tourism sector in the communities of West End and Punta Gorda on the island of Roatán, Islas de La Bahia (Bay Islands), Honduras. This article is based on ethnographic field research conducted in these two communities from April 2011 to April 2012 for a dissertation project. This project is both biocultural and political ecological in nature and utilizes a mixed methods approach incorporating participant observation, semi‐structured interviews that delve into household livelihoods and foodways, and surveys that assess dietary diversity. Overall, the tourism sector on Roatán suffered a drastic setback from June of 2009 until 2010 and has recovered at different rates depending on the particular type of tourism work practiced by the household. Among other things, occupational group has a significant relationship with dietary diversity. From this research I make recommendations to improve income and dietary diversity for households engaged in sectors that have not recovered. This includes adjustments to cruise ship schedules to enable more souvenir and food sales, courses to improve local residents’ marketability in higher paying tourism jobs such as scuba diving instruction, and community gardens to improve access to food and dietary diversity. The primary goal of this article is to spark discussion of the differential effects of the financial crisis on tourist receiving locations through the detailed presentation of one empirical example of these effects.
Face‐to‐face Legwork and Facebook Ethnography: Finding Informants and Delineating Field Sites in a Zuckerbergian World
Authors: Juliana Friend
Published: February 2021

By both indigenous and anthropological accounts, Facebook has brought into interaction diverse peoples and cultures like few other digital platforms have. This perceived global all‐inclusiveness provides a promising opportunity to anthropologists of ethnicity. However, given media anthropologists’ call for studies to examine the interplay between online and offline sociality ‐‐ and problematize the dichotomy between the two ‐‐ it also poses a methodological challenge. Facebook's geographic reach makes studying its everyday embeddedness difficult. This paper describes my response to this methodological challenge. Through anecdotal tales from the field, I aim to contribute to the nascent dialogue about methodological approaches in the anthropology of Facebook. Inspired by Matei Candea's defense of the bounded field site (Candea 2007), I launched my research about the role of Facebook in ethnic identity formation within the Senegalese diaspora from a highly localized, face‐to‐face entry point. I made Facebook friends through face‐to‐face contacts, rather than the other way around. This strategy presented several benefits. First, it was easier to build a network of participants and gain their trust. Second, immersion in the everyday, material circumstances of participants’ lives proved pivotal to understanding their attraction to Facebook in the first place. Third, I witnessed Facebook friendships turn face‐to‐face, and purportedly limitless networks get “cut” along ethnic lines. For even as informants idealized Facebook as encompassing the world and its diverse peoples, Facebook often reinscribed the parochialism and isolation of immigrants “sans papiers.” Methodological roadblocks to digital friendships thus foreshadowed boundaries in social interactions, just as face‐to‐face fieldwork provided the best window into Facebook worlds.
Fostering Community Among African Migrant Christians in Massachusetts
Authors: Beryl Louise
Published: February 2021

This article examines how social relationships and the feeling of “community” are fostered among African migrant Christians. It draws on data generated from participant observation, direct observation, and semi‐structured interviews as part of a larger ethnographic study of families predominantly from the African Great Lakes Region who attend two born‐again churches located northeast of Boston. Departing from classic assimilation theories of immigrants in the U.S. (e.g., Gordon 1964; Park 1930; Portes and Zhou 1993; Warner and Srole 1945), I contend that psycho‐social well‐being of immigrants is an integral part of integration. Moreover, religion as an institution and as a system of meaning (Alba et al. 2008) serves to promote that well‐being, particularly for the African diaspora, which is a smaller, heterogeneous immigrant group in the U.S. who often have strong religious affiliations. In order to understand this better, I present the characteristics and practices through which intimacy is cultivated (Bielo 2009) to engender the feeling of community and build bonding and bridging social relationships (Dryden‐Peterson 2009) among a more or less heterogeneous group of African migrants. Particularly in the case of bridging social ties, I show how cert,ain distinguishing characteristics that suggest difference are minimized (e.g. country of origin, ethnicity, maternal language, and/or immigrant status), whereas others that suggest similarity (e.g., “African” and “believer”) are maximized. This study demonstrates that religion is crucial in the study of immigration, an intersection that was once an important area of scholarly interest (e.g., Herberg 1955) and has only recently reemerged (Alba et al. 2008).
Self, Lwa and Haitianness: The Adherence Process and Reinvention of the Self by Haitian Vodou in Montreal.
Authors: Munier Hadrien
Published: February 2021

Over recent decades, Haitian immigrants who settled in Montreal have introduced the practice of Vodou to the city, both as a religion and a spiritual healing practice. During nine months of fieldwork in Montreal, I examined the manner in which the therapeutic use of Vodou plays a role in the “indigenization” of this religion; that is, how believers utilize it as they adapt to new circumstances and become involved in transnational networks. An analysis of believers' narratives highlights the key position of the therapeutic use of Vodou in the process of adapting to life in Montreal. As patients search for ways to solve their problems, using Vodou therapeutically to heal, cure, prevent, or remediate becomes a common way to enter the religion. Vodou healing rituals are based on a relationship with spiritual entities, called lwa in Haitian Creole. As such, the therapeutic use of Vodou requires learning about the role and powers of these spirits. The patient's participation in a ritual process of healing positions them to become more and more involved in religious belief and practice. Vodou offers a system of interpretation for illnesses, issues, and personal problems that leads the client to a “reinvention of self,” which has the characteristics of a conversion phenomenon. As the migrant defines himself or herself within this socio‐cultural construction of belonging, two dimensions are important to this process. The first establishes Haiti as a reference point for identity that is constructed and shared in the diasporic community. Secondly, adherents develop a “dividual” self through the practice of Vodou.
Dangerous Waters: Security threats and their role in community formation among itinerant boat‐dwellers on the waterways of southern England
Authors: Bowles Benjamin
Published: February 2021

When living aboard a narrowboat on the waterways of southern England with the itinerant boat‐dwellers who term themselves “Boaters,” one has to be cautious and vigilant in the face of a number of potential threats to the safety and security of one's self and one's vessel. Moorings in certain areas are attacked and burgled frequently and most Boaters have stories of unwarranted violent attacks or, at least, heated confrontations with locals residents. The following paper discusses how Boaters bind together and create a sense of being a vigilant community as a reaction to these threats and challenges. It argues that Boaters make their community against a boundary formed by personal security threats from the outside and that an examination of these threats can shed light upon processes of Boater's identity formation and the emergence of intra‐community tensions.
Exemplary Agriculture: The Origins of Independent Organic Farming in China
Authors: Cody Sacha
Published: February 2021

Drawing on evidence collected in Shanghai and the surrounding countryside, this article argues that exemplary models and norms—used to engineer public and private morality appropriate for the upheavals of modernization—are not the sole creation of the Chinese state or media. Instead, self‐appointed exemplary models, amongst ordinary citizens, are present in China. The self‐appointed exemplary models I investigate practice organic farming, and by providing safe, quality foods, they aim to mitigate some of the risk perceived to be inherent in Chinese modernity. Through 18 months of ethnographic investigation amongst a group of independent organic farmers (university educated with successful urban careers who are new to farming) in and around Shanghai, this article discusses the role of self‐appointed exemplary models in fostering alternative moralities and parallel visions for Chinese modernity. Their missionary zeal to ‘do good’ is analyzed through Børge Bakken's (2000) concept of the exemplary society.
Swaying Mountains: Moving into Stillness in a Hot Yoga Community
Authors: Cossette Julien
Published: February 2021

This article contributes to a growing body of anthropological work on the senses and on yoga as an experiential, embodied practice. It began as an inquiry into the oxymoronic lumping of movement and stillness in yoga teachers’ suggestion to “move into stillness.” Through an autoethnographic description of my sweaty participation in a hot yoga community of the Greater Toronto Area, my aim is to explore this particular relation between movement and stillness. I first discuss my contention that hot yoga is a “kinaesthetic culture” (Samudra 2008:666)—a culture mediated by movement that highly values a sense of motion as a way of knowing—that considers body, mind, and breath as interconnected. I then elaborate on a sensory model specific to its practice, and further argue that yoga cannot be adequately represented by the limits of a Western five‐sense model, based on binary oppositions of movement/stillness and mind/body, which problematically excludes kinaesthesia from its sensorium. Finally, I return to my initial inquiry to discuss how the embodied mutual constitution of movement and stillness actually constitutes, in my view, the epitome of a larger biosocial configuration of a yogic way of moving and sensing.
Authenticity and the Native Cultural Experience at Tillicum Village
Authors: Parrish Sabine
Published: February 2021

Tillicum Village, a Seattle‐area dinner theatre attraction, purports to present an authentic version of Native tradition for visitors. I argue that the cultural elements presented at Tillicum Village represent only a superficial authenticity, one that mixes from several cultures yet claims to be a cohesive whole. Tillicum Village's claims to authenticity are undermined by the commodification of the self experienced by its theater performers, as well as the site's deliberately heterotopic construction. The discrepancies between the promotion and the reality of Tillicum Village reflect the recent conversion to a corporate enterprise, and ultimately undermine the site's educational potential.
‘Stay Calm and Carry On?’ Adventurers in the Neighborhood of Joy and Machetes
Authors: Bachelet Sebastien
Published: February 2021

“Adventurers” is the nickname that “irregular” sub‐Saharan migrants—in Morocco and beyond—have given to themselves. Heroic discourses surrounding migrants’ journeys and their exploits towards Fortress Europe are the antithesis of what Hage (2009) describes as “heroism of stuckedness”; that is a conservative governmentality which delegitimizes impatience and disruption in a permanent time of crisis. “Boatpeople,” “illegal migrants,” who do not “wait out” the crisis, are perceived as hordes of savages assaulting Europe. This photo‐essay aims to depict migrants’ liminality and complex agency in a marginal neighborhood of Morocco, Douar Hajja. A poor and over‐crowded part of Rabat, Douar Hajja is where sub‐Saharan migrants’ im/mobility is grounded as a result of Europe's externalization of border controls. It is a space in constant (re)making where migrants’ establishment is not fully realized as they wait to decide whether to stay in Morocco, go on, or return. Though legally and materially marginalized, migrants in Douar Hajja engage in socio‐political activities: they organize life in collective houses, open businesses, and set up political organizations.
Health Subjectivities in a Diabetes Clinic in Ghana
Authors: Perlman Sabrina M.
Published: February 2021

This article discusses how biopower is exercised in a public health clinic in Ghana. By looking at the clinician‐patient encounter in a diabetes clinic as an instance of a state‐citizen encounter, the expectations for and the development of expert patients as ideal citizens emerges. Clinicians play an important role in forming patients’ health subjectivities, through the subtle shaping of assumptions, bodily practice, and attentiveness (Whyte 2009). In the diabetes clinic, health subjectivities are shaped by clinicians in order to ensure patient compliance with a diabetic routine against the backdrop of a self‐responsibility model of care and shrinking government support. The patients often adopt these expectations for managing their own illness as best as they can, such as changing diets, adhering to strict drug regimens, and increasing exercise, yet the wider contextual causes of and barriers to controlling diabetes are left unaddressed. However, as clinicians shape health subjectivities in the diabetes clinic, they also create the opportunity for patients to adopt health identities, through which they are able to contest or alter these expectations and demand additional social support from the state.
Left Handers in the Right–biased World: An Ethnographie Exploration of Everyday Left–Hander Ineonvenienee
Authors: David Tong Dik Wai
Published: February 2021

This article explores the embodied experiences of handedness‐left and inconvenience in Hong Kong, China. In order to explore left‐hander perceptions of everyday encounters with right‐biased design, young and adult participants were invited to identify the inconveniences that they associate with being left handed. For many respondents, blatant right‐biased design is not remarkably inconvenient; instead, inconvenience is understood to arise from encounters with “neutral handedness.” Whereas situations of perceived right‐bias prompt left‐handers to respond with varying degrees of bodily flexibility, inconvenience is experienced in occasions regarded as “hand‐neutral” This paper argues that inconveniences are embedded within and emerge through the body's daily interactions with the wider world. The study's ethnographic findings also problematize the idea of “inconvenience” as an objective phenomenon that indistinctively affects left‐handers.
Multiphoton imaging of the effect of monosaccharide diffusion and formation of fluorescent advanced end products in porcine aorta
Authors: Lin Chih‐Ju , Lee Sheng‐Lin , Kang Jeon‐Woong , So Peter T.C. , Dong Chen‐Yuan
Published: February 2021

Prolonged exposure of tissues to elevated blood sugar levels lead to the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), thus contributing to diabetic complications. Since the vascular system is in immediate contact with blood, diabetic effects on aorta is a major health concern. However, the relative effect of the diffusion of sugar molecular through the vascular wall and the rate of AGE formation is not known. In this study, we aim to address this issue by incubating excised porcine aorta in D‐glucose, D‐galactose, and D‐fructose solutions for different periods. The tissue specimens were then excised for multiphoton imaging of autofluorescence intensity profiles across the aorta wall. We found that for Days 4 to 48 incubation, autofluorescence is constant along the radial direction of the aorta sections, suggesting that monosaccharide diffusion is rapid in comparison to the rate of formation of fluorescent AGEs (fAGEs). Moreover, we found that in porcine aorta, the rate of fAGE formation of D‐fructose and D‐glucose are factors 2.08 and 1.14 that of D‐galactose. Our results suggest that for prolonged exposure of the cardiovascular system to elevated monosaccharides 4 days or longer, damage to the aorta is uniform throughout the tissues.
Effect of cetyltrimethyl‐ammonium bromide on the properties of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles stabilized Pickering emulsion and its cured poly(L‐lactic acid) materials
Authors: Zhu Zhuo , Wang Ai‐juan , Xue Hua , Liu Rong , Miao Luyang , Liu Dong‐jie , Song Yang
Published: February 2021

Hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanoparticles stabilized Pickering emulsions were prepared by dichloromethane (CH2Cl2) dissolved poly(L‐lactic acid) (PLLA) as the oil phase and the deionized water with different concentrations of cetyltrimethyl‐ammonium bromide (CTAB) as the aqueous phase. Effect of CTAB concentration on emulsions type and stability were studied. The emulsion type underwent a two‐phase inversion, and emulsion stability increased first and then decreased with increasing CTAB concentrations. Besides, effect of CTAB concentration on zeta potential, aggregate size, contact angle of HAp nanoparticles and the oil–water interfacial tension were studied. The results indicated that zeta potential value of HAp nanoparticles changed from negative to positive, and the contact angle increased to over 80° initially and then decreased to below 40° rapidly. The distribution of HAp nanoparticles on the surface of emulsion droplets with different concentrations of CTAB (5 and 20 mM) was characterized using laser‐induced confocal microscope. It revealed the distribution of HAp nanoparticles changed with different CTAB concentrations. The cured PLLA materials were obtained after the solvent being volatilized using as‐received emulsions as templates. Scanning electron microscope images showed both microspheres and porous materials with interconnected pore structure were obtained. In conclusion, the microstructure of microspheres or porous PLLA materials is controllable by adjusting the property of HAp nanoparticles stabilized Pickering emulsions with appropriate amount of CTAB.
Neutrophil count to albumin ratio as a prognostic indicator for HBV‐associated decompensated cirrhosis
Authors: Han Zhong , He Xia , Peng SongQing
Published: February 2021

Background

To explore the value of neutrophil count to albumin ratio (NAR) in predicting the outcomes of patients with HBV‐associated decompensated cirrhosis (HBV‐DeCi).

Methods

One hundred and fifty‐four HBV‐DeCi patients were enrolled. The 30‐day mortality was determined. Multivariate analysis was applied to identify risk factors for poor outcomes. Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses was performed to evaluate prognostic accuracy.

Results

The 30‐day mortality was 10.4%. NAR was significantly higher in non‐survivors than in survivors and was an independent predictor for unfavorable prognosis.

Conclusions

The present results indicate that increased NAR is associated with poor survival in HBV‐DeCi patients and has potential for clinical application.
Repair of articular cartilage defect using adipose‐derived stem cell‐loaded scaffold derived from native cartilage extracellular matrix
Authors: Lu Liang , Shang Xifu , Liu Bin , Chen Weijian , Zhang Yu , Liu Shuyun , Sui Xiang , Wang Aiyuan , Guo Quanyi
Published: February 2021

The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of adipose‐derived stem cells (ADSCs) as the seed cells of cartilage tissue engineering. ADSCs were isolated from adipose tissue that was harvested under sterile conditions from the inguen fold of porcines and cultured in vitro. Acellular cartilage extracellular matrix (ACECM) scaffolds of pigs were then constructed. Moreover, inflammatory cells, as well as cellular and humoral immune responses, were detected using hematoxylin and eosin staining staining, immunohistochemical staining, and western blot analysis. The results showed that the cartilage complex constructed by ADSCs and ACECM through tissue engineering successfully repaired the cartilage defect of the pig knee joint. The in vivo repair experiment showed no significant difference between chondrocytes, ADSCs, and induced ADSCs, indicating that ADSCs do not require in vitro induction and have the potential for chondrogenic differentiation in the environment around the knee joint. In addition, pig‐derived acellular cartilage scaffolds possess no obvious immune inflammatory response when used in xenotransplantation. ADSCs may serve as viable seed cells for cartilage tissue engineering.
Facile preparation of hierarchical heterostructured TiO2/Bi/Bi2MoO6 photocatalyst for phocatalytic degradation of toluene gas
Authors: Sun Zhiguo , Fan Jiaming , Feng Run , Wang Menglu , Zhou Yue , Zhang Li
Published: February 2021

BACKGROUND

In recent years, the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from different sources has caused huge environmental problems. As a ‘green’ terminal treatment technology, photocatalytic technology is a competitive technology that has practical application prospects for the emission reduction of VOCs. The core problem of photocatalysis technology is constructing a photocatalyst with higher activity.

RESULTS

In this work, a new hierarchical heterostructured photocatalyst of TiO2/Bi/Bi2MoO6 was facilely fabricated by solvothermal method with the TiO2 nanoparticles uniformly distributed on the surface of flower‐like Bi2MoO6 nanospheres. Compared with the bare flower‐like Bi2MoO6 nanospheres, the band gap width of TiO2/Bi/Bi2MoO6 is wider, which helps to improve the Fermi level‐derived oxidation–reduction capacity of the catalyst. N2 adsorption–desorption experiments show that the composite material has a larger specific surface area, which is beneficial to improve the mass transfer efficiency in the gas–solid heterogeneous reaction. Photocatalytic data display that, under irradiation by Xenon lamp for 2 h, the degradation rate of toluene gas over TiO2/Bi/Bi2MoO6 reached 26.08%, which is 17.92% higher than that of the bare Bi2MoO6 nanospheres.

CONCLUSION

These results indicate that coupling TiO2 could significantly enhance the photocatalytic degradation effect of toluene over the hierarchical heterostructured TiO2/Bi/Bi2MoO6, and this has practical application prospects for the use of photocatalytic technology to treat VOCs pollution. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry
Discernment of synergy during the co‐pyrolysis of lipid‐extracted microalgae and digested municipal solid waste: a thermogravimetric–mass spectrometric study
Authors: Vuppaladadiyam Arun K , Antunes Elsa , Vuppaladadiyam Varsha SS , Shehzad Farrukh , Somasundaram Murugavelh , Memon Muhammad Z , Song Qingbin , Dong Weiguo , Duan Hubao
Published: February 2021

BACKGROUND

The current study investigated the co‐pyrolysis nature of biomasses, gas yields, kinetics and thermodynamics of Chroococcus sp. (CC), digested municipal solid waste (DMSW) and their mixtures using thermogravimetric analysis and mass spectrometry.

RESULTS

Thermogravimetric/differential thermogravimetric analysis indicated three major weight loss stages: dehydration (50–150 °C), thermal degradation of structural components (150–550 °C) and char decomposition (550–800 °C). The gases released during the process mainly contained CO, CH4, CO2 and H2 as main components. Also, with an increase in the composition of CC, the hydrogen yields were noticed to increase. Model‐free isoconversional methods, the Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose and Friedman methods, were considered to identify the activation energy. The kinetic results showed that an increase in the percentage of CC in the mixture lowered the activation energy. The activation energies recorded for CC, DMSW, CD‐1, ‐2 and ‐3 were 282.11, 202.55, 210.54, 145.46 and 139.98 kJ mol−1, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Thermodynamic and kinetic analysis for CC, DMSW and their mixtures can be effectively used for reactor design and process optimization for similar types of waste materials. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).
Cellulose‐based micro‐fibrous materials imaged with a home‐built smartphone microscope
Authors: Aryal Girja Mani , Aryal Bishwa , Kandel Krishna Prasad , Neupane Bhanu Bhakta
Published: February 2021

Micro‐fibrous materials are one of the highly explored materials and form a major component of composite materials. In resource‐limited settings, an affordable and easy to implement method that can characterize such material would be important. In this study, we report on a smartphone microscopic system capable of imaging a sample in transmission mode. As a proof of concept, we implemented the method to image handmade paper samples–cellulosic micro‐fibrous material of different thickness. With 1 mm diameter ball lens, individual cellulose fibers, fiber web, and micro‐porous regions were resolved in the samples. Imaging performance of the microscopic system was also compared with a commercial bright field microscope. For thin samples, we found the image quality comparable to commercial system. Also, the diameter of cellulose fiber measured from both methods was found to be similar. We also used the system to image surfaces of a three ply surgical facemask. Finally, we explored the application of the system in the study of chemical induced fiber damage. This study suggested that the smartphone microscope system can be an affordable alternative in imaging thin micro‐fibrous material in resource limited setting.
Clinical outcomes and resource utilization analysis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis undergoing endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography
Authors: Ahmed Ahmed , Kahlam Aaron , Pai Suraj , Ahlawat Sushil
Published: February 2021

Background and Aim

The literature is lacking on associations of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) related outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of RA on clinical outcomes and hospital resource utilization in patients undergoing ERCP.

Methods

The National Inpatient Sample database was used to identify hospitalized patients who had underwent an ERCP study from 2012 to 2014 using International Classification of Diseases‐Ninth Edition (ICD‐9) codes. Primary outcomes were mortality, hospital charges, and length of stay. Secondary outcomes were ERCP‐related complications. Chi‐squared tests for categorical data and independentt‐test for continuous data were utilized. Multivariate analysis was performed to assess the primary outcomes.

Results

There was 83 890 ERCP procedures performed, of which 970 patients had RA. In patients with RA, 74.2% were female, and the average age was 65.7 years. RA primary outcomes of mortality rate and hospital cost were lower and statistically significant. There was no statistically significant difference in secondary outcomes except for lower cholecystectomy rates in RA patients.

Conclusion

With a high inflammatory state, it was hypothesized that RA would be associated with worse outcomes after ERCP. Yet, the primary outcomes of mortality and hospital cost were found to be lower than controls, with no difference in secondary outcomes. We posit that immunosuppressants used to treat RA provides a protective effect to overall complications with ERCP.
An efficient construction of CN bond under catalyst‐free and room temperature conditions
Authors: Zhang Jinpeng , Liu Jing , Dai Lei , Ge Yuqian , Xu Linlin , Xia Yingying , Xu Lan , Rong Liangce
Published: February 2021

An efficient and facile process for the construction of CN bond from 1,6‐conjugate addition reaction of 4‐arylidene‐2,6‐di‐tert‐butylcyclohexa‐2,5‐dien‐1‐one (or substituted 3‐[3,5‐di‐tert‐butyl‐4‐oxocyclohexa‐2,5‐dien‐1‐ylidene]indolin‐2‐one) and substituted 1,2,3,4‐tetrahydroisoquinoline (or substituted indoline) at room temperature was reported. The advantages of this reaction were catalyst‐free, mild condition, broad substrate scope, and environmentally benign process.
Neonatal administration of erythropoietin attenuates cognitive deficits in adult rats following placental insufficiency
Authors: Robinson Shenandoah , Winer Jesse L. , Kitase Yuma , Brigman Jonathan L. , Jantzie Lauren L.
Published: February 2021

Preterm birth is a principal cause of neurological disability later in life, including cognitive and behavioral deficits. Notably, cognitive impairment has greater impact on quality of life than physical disability. Survivors of preterm birth commonly have deficits of executive function. Difficulties with tasks and planning complexity correlate positively with increasing disability. To overcome these barriers for children born preterm, preclinical and clinical studies have emphasized the importance of neurorestoration. Erythropoietin (EPO) is a endogenous cytokine with multiple beneficial mechanisms of action following perinatal brain injury. While most preclinical investigations have focused on pathology and molecular mechanisms, translational studies of repair using clinically viable biobehavioral biomarkers are still lacking. Here, using an established model of encephalopathy of prematurity secondary to placental insufficiency, we tested the hypothesis that administration of EPO in the neonatal period would attenuate deficits in recognition memory and cognitive flexibility in adult rats of both sexes. We assessed cognition and executive function in two ways. First, using the classic test of novel object recognition and second, using a touchscreen platform. Touchscreen testing allows for rigorous testing of cognition and executive function in preclinical and clinical scenarios. Data show that adult rats exhibit deficits in recognition memory and cognitive flexibility following in utero placental insufficiency. Notably, neonatal treatment of EPO attenuates these deficits in adulthood and facilitates functional repair. Together, these data validate EPO neurorestoration using a clinically relevant outcome measure and support the concept that postnatal treatment following in utero injury can improve cognition and executive function through adulthood.
Visual cognition associated with knee proprioception, time to stability, and sensory integration neural activity after ACL reconstruction
Authors: Chaput Meredith , Onate James A. , Simon Janet E. , Criss Cody R. , Jamison Steve , McNally Michael , Grooms Dustin R.
Published: February 2021

Visual cognitive ability has previously been associated with anterior cruciate ligament injury and injury risk biomechanics in healthy athletes. Neuroimaging reports have identified increased neural activity in regions corresponding to visual‐spatial processing, sensory integration, and visual cognition in individuals after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR), indicating potential neural compensatory strategies for motor control. However, it remains unclear whether there is a relationship between visual cognition, neural activity, and metrics of neuromuscular ability after ACLR. The purpose of this study was to (1) evaluate the relationship between visual cognitive function and measurements of neuromuscular control (proprioception and time to stability [TTS]), isokinetic strength, and subjective function, and (2) examine the neural correlates of visual cognition between ACLR (n = 16; time since surgery 41.4 ± 33.0 months) and demographically similar controls (n = 15). Visual cognition was assessed by the ImPACT visual motor and visual memory subscales. Outcome variables of proprioception to target knee angle 20°, landing TTS, strength, and subjective function were compared between groups, and visual cognition was correlated within groups to determine the relationship between visual cognition and outcome variables controlled for time from surgery (ACLR group). The control group had better IKDC scores and strength. Visual memory and visual motor ability were negatively associated with proprioception error (r = −0.63) and TTS (r = −0.61), respectively, in the ACLR group but not controls. Visual cognition was associated with increased neural activity in the precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex in the ACLR group but not control participants. These data suggest the neural strategy in which ACLR participants maintain proprioception and stability varies, and may depend on visual cognition and sensory integration neural activity.
Does preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis affect sonication‐based diagnosis in implant‐associated infection?
Authors: Stephan Anna , Thürmer Alexander , Glauche Ingmar , Nowotny Jörg , Zwingenberger Stefan , Stiehler Maik
Published: February 2021

As culture‐negative implant‐associated infection denote a diagnostic challenge, sonicate fluid cultures of the explanted endoprosthesis and osteosynthesis components are frequently used. However, the effect of antibiotic treatment on pathogen detection by sonication fluid cultures in implant‐associated infection has not been investigated. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis (PAP) and antibiotic therapy (AT) on sonicate fluid cultures in patients with implant‐associated infection. In this retrospective study three groups were compared: (i) standard PAP, (ii) AT for at least one day, and (iii) no antibiotics before surgery. For the inclusion criteria, an established diagnostic protocol for implant‐associated infection was used. Sonicate fluid cultures were validated by corresponding microbiological and histopathological samples. In 90 patients with single and multiple infections, 114 pathogens were detected. The detection rate by sonicate fluid cultures in patients receiving PAP (n = 27, 29 pathogens), AT before surgery (n = 33, 48 pathogens) and no antibiotics before surgery (n = 30, 37 pathogens) were 86.2%, 81.3%, and 86.5% (p = .778), respectively. Eleven of 114 infectious agents were detected exclusively by sonicate fluid cultures, while conventional tissue culture failed in these cases. PAP and AT do not affect intraoperative cultures in implant‐associated infection. It is therefore not recommended to omit antibiotic prophylaxis in patients with implant‐associated infection. Algorithms including both sonicate fluid cultures and tissue samples should be used for appropriate microbiological diagnosis of implant‐associated infections.
Periodontal inflammation and distinct inflammatory profiles in saliva and gingival crevicular fluid compared with serum and joints in rheumatoid arthritis patients
Authors: Arvikar Sheila L. , Hasturk Hatice , Strle Klemen , Stephens Danielle , Bolster Marcy B. , Collier Deborah S. , Kantarci Alpdogan , Steere Allen C.
Published: February 2021

Background

The association of periodontitis and Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg) with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is incompletely understood. To gain further insights, we evaluated periodontal status, oral, serum and joint inflammatory profiles, and Pg biomarkers in RA patients.

Methods

In this cross‐sectional study, we evaluated 33 patients with predominantly untreated new‐onset RA, 20 healthy individuals (HIs), and 20 non‐RA chronic periodontitis patients. Thirteen mediators (IFN‐γ, IL‐10, IL‐17A, IL‐6, IL‐8, CXCL10, TNF‐α, CXCL13, IL‐23, MMP‐1, MMP‐3, MMP‐8, MMP‐9) were measured in serum, synovial fluid, saliva and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) by multiplex immunoassay. Serum Pg IgG antibodies and subgingival Pg DNA were determined.

Results

Most RA patients (91%) received routine dental care; only one currently smoked. Ten (30.3%) had periodontal health, 13 (39.4%) had gingivitis, and 10 (30.3%) had periodontitis. Th1 and innate immune responses predominated in serum. Many mediators were concentrated in joints, particularly IL‐6, IL‐8, and CXCL10. However, salivary and GCF profiles were more restricted, emphasizing neutrophilic inflammation (IL‐8, MMP‐8) and MMP‐9. Compared with HI, most RA patients, regardless of periodontal status, had significantly elevated oral fluid levels of these mediators, with suppression of GCF IL‐10, a pattern similar to non‐RA periodontitis patients. Pg antibodies or DNA however were primarily associated with clinical periodontitis.

Conclusions

Despite routine dental care, RA patients often had inflammation in oral fluids, but inflammatory profiles differed from serum and joints. Neutrophilic inflammatory profiles in oral fluids, regardless of periodontal status, suggests that gingival tissues are a common, and often unrecognized, site of extra‐articular inflammation in RA.