bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Risk factors and outcomes of conversion in minimally invasive distal pancreatectomy: a systematic review
Authors:   on behalf of the International Evidence-based Guidelines of Minimally Invasive Pancreas Resection Group, Balduzzi A. , van der Heijde N. , Alseidi A. , Dokmak S. , Kendrick M. L. , Polanco P. M. , Sandford D. E. , Shrikhande S. V. , Vollmer C. M. , Wang S. E. , Zeh H. J. , Hilal M. Abu , Asbun H. J. , Besselink M. G.
Published: December 2020

Purpose

The reported conversion rates for minimally invasive distal pancreatectomy (MIDP) range widely from 2 to 38%. The identification of risk factors for conversion may help surgeons during preoperative planning and patient counseling. Moreover, the impact of conversion on outcomes of MIDP is unknown.

Methods

A systematic review was conducted as part of the 2019 Miami International Evidence-Based Guidelines on Minimally Invasive Pancreas Resection (IG-MIPR). The PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase databases were searched for studies concerning conversion to open surgery in MIDP.

Results

Of the 828 studies screened, eight met the eligibility criteria, resulting in a combined dataset including 2592 patients after MIDP. The overall conversion rate was 17.1% (range 13.0–32.7%) with heterogeneity between studies associated with the definition of conversion adopted. Only one study divided conversion into elective and emergency conversion. The main indications for conversion were vascular involvement (23.7%), concern for oncological radicality (21.9%), and bleeding (18.9%). The reported risk factors for conversion included a malignancy as an indication for surgery, the proximity of the tumor to vascular structures in preoperative imaging, higher BMI or visceral fat, and multi-organ resection or extended resection. Contrasting results were seen in terms of blood loss and length of stay in comparing converted MIDP and completed MIDP patients.

Conclusion

The identified risk factors for conversion from this study can be used for patient selection and counseling. Surgeon experience should be considered when contemplating MIDP for a complex patient. Future studies should divide conversion into elective and emergency conversion.
GATA binding protein 6 (GATA6) is co-amplified with PIK3CA in patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma and is linked to neoadjuvant therapy
Authors: Plum Patrick Sven , Löser Heike , Zander Thomas , Essakly Ahlem , Bruns Christiane J. , Hillmer Axel M. , Alakus Hakan , Schröder Wolfgang , Büttner Reinhard , Gebauer Florian , Quaas Alexander
Published: December 2020

Purpose

Driver mutations are typically absent in esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). Mostly, oncogenes are amplified as driving molecular events (including GATA6-amplification in 14% of cases). However, only little is known about its biological function and clinical relevance.

Methods

We examined a large number of EAC (n = 496) for their GATA6 amplification by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyzing both primary resected (n = 219) and neoadjuvant treated EAC (n = 277). Results were correlated to clinicopathological data and known mutations/amplifications in our EAC-cohort.

Results

GATA6 amplification was detectable in 49 (9.9%) EACs of our cohort. We observed an enrichment of GATA6-positive tumors among patients after neoadjuvant treatment (12,3% amplified tumors versus 6,8% in the primary resected group; p = 0.044). Additionally, there was a simultaneous amplification of PIK3CA and GATA6 (p < 0.001) not detectable when analyzing other genes such as EGFR, ERBB2, KRAS or MDM2. Although we did not identify a survival difference depending on GATA6 in the entire cohort (p = 0.212), GATA6 amplification was associated with prolonged overall survival among patients with primary surgery (median overall-survival 121.1 vs. 41.4 months, p = 0.032). Multivariate cox-regression analysis did not confirm GATA6 as an independent prognostic marker, neither in the entire cohort (p = 0.210), nor in the subgroup with (p = 0.655) or without pretreatment (p = 0.961).

Conclusions

Our study investigates the relevance of GATA6 amplification on a large tumor collective, which includes primary resected tumors and the clinically relevant group of neoadjuvant treated EACs. Especially in the pretreated group, we found an accumulation of GATA6-amplified tumors (12.3%) and a frequent co-amplification of PIK3CA. Our data suggest an increased resistance to radio-chemotherapy in GATA6-amplified tumors.
Anisotropic hyperelastic constitutive models for finite deformations combining material theory and data-driven approaches with application to cubic lattice metamaterials
Authors: Fernández Mauricio , Jamshidian Mostafa , Böhlke Thomas , Kersting Kristian , Weeger Oliver
Published: December 2020

This work investigates the capabilities of anisotropic theory-based, purely data-driven and hybrid approaches to model the homogenized constitutive behavior of cubic lattice metamaterials exhibiting large deformations and buckling phenomena. The effective material behavior is assumed as hyperelastic, anisotropic and finite deformations are considered. A highly flexible analytical approach proposed by Itskov (Int J Numer Methods Eng 50(8): 1777–1799, 2001) is taken into account, which ensures material objectivity and fulfillment of the material symmetry group conditions. Then, two non-intrusive data-driven approaches are proposed, which are built upon artificial neural networks and formulated such that they also fulfill the objectivity and material symmetry conditions. Finally, a hybrid approach combing the approach of Itskov (Int J Numer Methods Eng 50(8): 1777–1799, 2001) with artificial neural networks is formulated. Here, all four models are calibrated with simulation data of the homogenization of two cubic lattice metamaterials at finite deformations. The data-driven models are able to reproduce the calibration data very well and reproduce the manifestation of lattice instabilities. Furthermore, they achieve superior accuracy over the analytical model also in additional test scenarios. The introduced hyperelastic models are formulated as general as possible, such that they can not only be used for lattice structures, but for any anisotropic hyperelastic material. Further, access to the complete simulation data is provided through the public repository https://github.com/CPShub/sim-data.
Hypopyon sign as an unusual complication of varicella infection in a girl with atopic dermatitis
Authors: Gorris Amélie , Weiss Doris , Kogler Hubert , Szépfalusi Zsolt , Karlhofer Franz , Handisurya Alessandra , Weninger Wolfgang , Kinaciyan Tamar
Published: December 2020

Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection, also known as chickenpox, is a common childhood affliction. Generalized small itchy single-standing vesicles on erythematous skin are typical. Both cutaneous and systemic complications of the VZV infection may commonly occur. A three-year-old girl with a previous history of mild atopic dermatitis presented in our Pediatric Dermatology Clinic in poor general condition, with a skin rash predominantly consisting of generalized large blisters with hypopyon sign and erosions. On a closer look, scattered erythematous papules and vesicles were also visible. A positive Tzanck smear from an intact pinhead-sized vesicle and VZV PCR confirmed the clinical diagnosis of chickenpox. Cultures from hypopyon material revealed Staphylococcus aureus superinfection. We report an exceptional, not-yet described complication of chickenpox with hypopyon-forming superinfection in an atopic child. In addition, our case nicely underscores the necessity of early VZV vaccination, which has been available and recommended now for more than 10 years in pediatric vaccination programs to avoid severe complications.
Deciding Where to Sleep: Spatial Levels of Nesting Selection in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Living in Savanna at Issa, Tanzania
Authors: Hernandez-Aguilar R. Adriana , Reitan Trond
Published: December 2020

To understand how animals select resources we need to analyze selection at different spatial levels or scales in the habitat. We investigated which physical characteristics of trees (dimensions and structure, e.g., height, trunk diameter, number of branches) determined nesting selection by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) on two different spatial scales: individual nesting trees and nesting sites. We also examined whether individual tree selection explained the landscape pattern of nesting site selection. We compared the physical characteristics of actual (N= 132) and potential (N= 242) nesting trees in nesting sites (in 15 plots of 25 m × 25 m) and of all trees in actual and potential nesting sites (N= 763 in 30 plots of 25 m × 25 m). We collected data in May and June 2003 in Issa, a dry and open savanna habitat in Tanzania. Chimpanzees selected both the site they used for nesting in the landscape and the trees they used to build nests within a nesting site, demonstrating two levels of spatial selection in nesting. Site selection was stronger than individual tree selection. Tree height was the most important variable for both nesting site and tree selection in our study, suggesting that chimpanzees selected both safe sites and secure trees for sleeping.
On the incorporation of nickel into hexagonal barium titanate: magnetic properties and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR)
Authors: Böttcher R. , Langhammer H. T. , Walther T. , Kücker S. , Ebbinghaus S. G.
Published: December 2020

Systematic measurements of the magnetic moment of hexagonal 6H-BaTiO3 + 0.04 BaO + x NiO (0.005 ≤ x ≤ 0.02) ceramics were performed to study the influence of Ni ions on the magnetic properties. By temperature-dependent measurements of the paramagnetic susceptibility at 90 kOe, the Ni2+ ion was identified as the majority defect in air-sintered Ni-doped hexagonal barium titanate. Q-band EPR investigations of a 2.0 mol% Ni-doped single crystal revealed three different Ni centers located at Ti sites: first, Ni3+ ions at Ti sites in intact oxygen octahedra, second, Ni3+ associated with an oxygen vacancy and third, the presence of Ni2+ centers leading to a forbidden transition. The Ni3+—VO associate characterized by a vacancy in the face-sharing oxygen plane of the oxygen octahedra can be ruled out. The crystal field parameters of the Ni2+ defect were estimated by a combined fitting of the paramagnetic susceptibility and the EPR fine structure parameter D to $$B_{0}^{4}$$

B

0

4

≈ −17,300 cm−1, $$\left| {B_{0}^{2} } \right|$$

B

0

2

≈ 2500 cm−1 and $$B_{3}^{4}$$

B

3

4

≈ 19,000 cm−1.
Hyperspectral imaging and chemometrics reveal wood acetylation on different spatial scales
Authors: Mäkelä Mikko , Altgen Michael , Belt Tiina , Rautkari Lauri
Published: December 2020

Acetylation is a chemical treatment method commonly used to improve the hygroscopic properties of wood. Although acetylation has been industrially used for decades, its effects on the different hierarchical structures of wood are still poorly understood. In the laboratory, acetylation is generally measured gravimetrically. Weighing a sample before and after the modification procedure provides an indirect measure of the degree of acetylation within the entire sample but does not provide detailed information on the different structural regions of wood. Here, we determined acetylation of wood surfaces using hyperspectral near-infrared image regression. Our results show significant differences in the acetylation of earlywood and latewood, which suggests different durations for complete acetylation of earlywood and latewood cells. We have also illustrated our findings on the wood cell level based on the chemical differences in earlywood and latewood cell walls using cluster analysis of Raman images. These findings are an important step in understanding how chemical treatment affects the different hierarchical structures of wood on different spatial scales.

Graphical Abstract
Eine kritische Untersuchung arbeitsschutzbezogener Lehrinhalte in Lehrbüchern metalltechnischer Ausbildungsberufe
Authors: Kahl Anke , Frank Carolin , Erlebach Ralf
Published: December 2020

Hintergrund

Ein Prädiktor für die Sicherheits-Compliance Beschäftigter ist das arbeitsschutzbezogene Wissen. Junge Beschäftigte sind überproportional von Arbeitsunfällen betroffen. Im Rahmen der beruflichen Ausbildung ist die Vermittlung von arbeitsschutzbezogenem Wissen und entsprechenden Kompetenzen ein wichtiges Ziel.

Ziel

Ziel der Studie ist zu untersuchen, für welche arbeitsschutzbezogenen Kompetenzen geeignete Inhalte in den Lehrbüchern für die gemeinsame Kernqualifikation metalltechnischer Ausbildungsberufe identifiziert werden können. Es wird somit der Frage nachgegangen, inwieweit der curriculare Auftrag, die berufsrelevanten Aspekte des Arbeitsschutzes im Rahmen der Ausbildung zu vermitteln, in der Praxis auf Basis der zur Verfügung stehenden Lehrwerke umgesetzt werden kann.

Material und Methoden

Es wurden die in der beruflichen Grundausbildung der industriellen Metallberufe eingesetzten Lehrbücher (N = 6) auf Basis eines theoriebasiert entwickelten Kategoriensystems quantitativ und qualitativ analysiert.

Ergebnisse und Diskussion

Die Lehrbuchanalyse zeigt, dass in den ausgewählten Lehrbüchern die arbeitsschutzbezogenen Themenfelder stark eingeschränkt sind, da fast ausschließlich Inhalte im Bereich „Auswahl von Schutzmaßnahmen“ thematisiert werden. Zudem werden in fast allen Lehrbüchern lediglich Tätigkeiten mit Gefahrstoffen sowie mit elektrischen Betriebsmitteln umfassender betrachtet. Die in den Lehrbüchern enthaltenen Schutzmaßnahmen stehen selten im Bezug zu den anderen arbeitsschutzbezogenen Kompetenzbereichen und weisen zudem häufig ein niedriges Komplexitätsniveau auf. Es besteht auf Grundlage der Lehrbuchinhalte kaum Potenzial, das für das Arbeitsschutzverständnis erforderliche „Denken in Zusammenhängen“ auszuprägen.
A hindcast study of the Piedmont 1994 flood: the CIMA Research Foundation hydro-meteorological forecasting chain
Authors: Parodi Antonio , Lagasio Martina , Meroni Agostino N. , Pignone Flavio , Silvestro Francesco , Ferraris Luca
Published: December 2020

Between the 4th and the 6th of November 1994, Piedmont and the western part of Liguria (two regions in north-western Italy) were hit by heavy rainfalls that caused the flooding of the Po, the Tanaro rivers and several of their tributaries, causing 70 victims and the displacement of over 2000 people. At the time of the event, no early warning system was in place and the concept of hydro-meteorological forecasting chain was in its infancy, since it was still limited to a reduced number of research applications, strongly constrained by coarse-resolution modelling capabilities both on the meteorological and the hydrological sides. In this study, the skills of the high-resolution CIMA Research Foundation operational hydro-meteorological forecasting chain are tested in the Piedmont 1994 event. The chain includes a cloud-resolving numerical weather prediction (NWP) model, a stochastic rainfall downscaling model, and a continuous distributed hydrological model. This hydro-meteorological chain is tested in a set of operational configurations, meaning that forecast products are used to initialise and force the atmospheric model at the boundaries. The set consists of four experiments with different options of the microphysical scheme, which is known to be a critical parameterisation in this kind of phenomena. Results show that all the configurations produce an adequate and timely forecast (about 2 days ahead) with realistic rainfall fields and, consequently, very good peak flow discharge curves. The added value of the high resolution of the NWP model emerges, in particular, when looking at the location of the convective part of the event, which hit the Liguria region.
Forecast of precipitation for the 1994 flood in Piedmont: performance of an ensemble system at convection-permitting resolution
Authors: Cerenzia I. M. L. , Pincini G. , Paccagnella T. , Minguzzi E. , Gastaldo T. , Poli V. , Tesini M. S. , Patruno P. , Cesari D.
Published: December 2020

The major flood that affected the Piedmont region in Italy in November 1994 is re-forecast after 25 years in ensemble mode at the convection-permitting resolution of 2.2 km using the regional model COSMO. The performance of the probabilistic forecast of precipitation is assessed against rain-gauge observations, also in comparison with the driver system, i.e., the probabilistic re-forecast produced by ECMWF based on the operational IFS (Cycle 46r1) at grid spacings of 18 km. The convection-allowing system dynamically downscales the ECMWF ensemble and includes an explicit treatment of deep convection. Results indicate that both systems can predict up to 4 days in advance the timing and the spatial patterns of the precipitation, although with higher confidence for the convection-resolving system. The benefit of high resolution is shown mainly in the prediction of intense precipitation and in terms of correct amounts and locations, and confidence of occurrence (at day 3, the estimated probability of exceedance of 200 mm was higher than 90% over areas actually hit by such rainfall amounts). Additionally, convection-permitting resolution improves the representation of orographic precipitation, reducing the upwind precipitation displacement typical of coarser models and including the possible development of strong convection episodes embedded in the large-scale-forced orographic rise. For the high-resolution ensemble, the spread indicates large uncertainty at the local scale, mainly in defining the flow tendency to flank or flow over each mountain.
Gas in Joints After Diving: Computed Tomography May Be Useful for Diagnosing Decompression Sickness
Authors: Jitsuiki Kei , Kushida Yoshihiro , Nishio Ryota , Yanagawa Youichi
Published: December 2020

A 26-y-old experienced scotoma scintillans after 59 min of scuba diving at a maximum depth of 26 m. After the patient smoked a cigarette, the scotoma scintillans ceased. However, he then developed a headache, general fatigue, and shoulder and elbow pain. He therefore called an ambulance. Based on the rules of the medical cooperative system for decompression sickness in Izu Peninsula, the fire department called a physician-staffed helicopter. After a physician checked the patient, his complaints remained aside from a low-grade fever. A portable ultrasound revealed bubbles in his inferior vena cava. Because of the risk of his being infected with COVID-19, he was transported to our hospital not by air evacuation but via ground ambulance staff while receiving a drip infusion of fluid and oxygen. After arriving at the hospital, his symptoms had almost subsided. Whole-body computed tomography revealed gas around the bladder, left hip, right knee, bilateral shoulder, joints, and right intramedullary humerus. The patient received high-concentration oxygen, infusion therapy, and observational admission. On the second day of admission, his symptoms had completely disappeared, and he was discharged. To our knowledge, this is the first report that computed tomography might be useful for detecting gas in multiple joints, suggesting the onset of decompression sickness after diving. This might be the first report of gas in an intramedullary space after diving as a potential cause of dysbaric osteonecrosis.
Doing Qualitative Research
Authors: Beuving Joost , de Vries Geert
Published: December 2020

Naturalistic inquiry is about studying people in everyday circumstances by ordinary means. It strives to blend in, to respect people in their daily lives, to take their actions and experiences seriously, and to build on these carefully. Doing Qualitative Research: The Craft of Naturalistic Inquiry offers guidance, combining thoughtful reflection with practical tips. It is written for undergraduate and graduate students in social science; for practitioners in social work, healthcare, policy advice, and organizational consultancy; and for all who have a genuine interest in society and its members.
The Iberian Peninsula between 300 and 850
Authors: García Carlos Tejerizo , Sastre de Diego Isaac , Martínez Jiménez Javier
Published: December 2020

The vast transformation of the Roman world at the end of antiquity has been a subject of broad scholarly interest for decades, but until now no book has focused specifically on the Iberian Peninsula in the period as seen through an archaeological lens. Given the sparse documentary evidence available, archaeology holds the key to a richer understanding of the developments of the period, and this book addresses a number of issues that arise from analysis of the available material culture, including questions of the process of Christianisation and Islamisation, continuity and abandonment of Roman urban patterns and forms, the end of villas and the growth of villages, and the adaptation of the population and the elites to the changing political circumstances.
Understanding Culture
Authors: Hellemans Babette
Published: December 2020

This pioneering textbook explores the theoretical background of cultural variety, both in past and present. How is it possible to study 'culture' when the topic covers the arts, literature, movies, history, sociology, anthropology and gender studies? Understanding Culture examines the evolution of a concept with varying meanings depending on changing norms. Offering a long-duration analysis of the relationship between culture and nature, this book looks at the origins of studying culture from an international perspective. Using examples from the several scholarly traditions in the practice of studying culture, Understanding Culture is a key introduction to the area. It identifies the history of interpreting culture as a meeting point between the long-standing historical investigation of 'humanism' and 'postmodernism' and is a comprehensive resource for those who wish to further their engagement with culture as both a historical and contemporary phenomenon.
The Pursuit of Justice
Authors: Wise Nathan
Published: December 2020

The Pursuit of Justice is the first book to examine three separate instances of soldiers risking their lives during wartime to protest injustices being perpetrated by military authorities: within the United States Army during the American Civil War, the Australian Imperial Force during World War I, and the British Army during World War II. Nathan Wise explores the three events in detail and reveals how-despite the vast differences in military forces, wars, regions of the world, and eras-the soldiers involved all shared a common sense of justice and responded in remarkably similar ways.
A Tournament Approach to Price Discovery in the U.S. Cattle Market
Authors: Wright Jeffrey , Kim Man-Keun , Tejeda Hernan A. , Kim Hwa-Neyon
Published: December 2020

The dominant market where information is discovered plays the role of price leader providing substantial market information to other markets. This study investigates the dynamic relationships of 30 cattle markets across regions, cattle types, and cash/futures markets. The comparison of many markets, using an error correction model, is accomplished with the introduction of a tournament with a hierarchical cluster analysis, which allows us to conclude that the leading price for the U.S. cattle markets is discovered in the futures markets for both feeder and fed cattle.
Archaeology, Heritage, and Public Participation
Authors: Nassaney Michael S.
Published: December 2020

Various descendant and community groups have long been involved in aspects of the discovery, investigation, preservation, and interpretation of archaeological remains and associated heritage. No longer content with merely being bystanders and even consultants, many have insisted on fully collaborating, co-creating, and controlling the archaeological and heritage management process. Despite the potential shared interests among archaeologists, local residents, and descendant communities, differences in ontologies, epistemologies, and deep-seated ethical values often pose challenges for an authentic collaborative archaeology that serves the needs and interests of multiple groups. In this article, I examine public participation in archaeology and heritage management, identify some of the gaps between prescription and practice, and suggest that we must adopt transformative values if we are to fulfill the promise of authentic collaboration.
Life-Change and ‘Conversion’ in Antiquity: An Analysis of the Testimonies of Dion of Prousa and Aelius Aristeides
Authors: Moignard Katherine
Published: December 2020

Our image of ‘conversion’ takes its form from well-known episodes in the lives of St Paul and St Augustine. Paul's life is turned around by a blinding vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus (Act. Ap.9.1–22); Augustine is directed by an oracle to a scriptural passage that ends his hesitations and sets him on the course that he has long known he should take (August.Conf.8.12). Very much in parallel, although in a non-Christian context, are crisis-provoked life-changes reported by the Second Sophistic orators Dion of Prousa and Aelius Aristeides. Aristeides finds his life transformed by the intervention of the god Asklepios; Dion receives – he claims, from a god – advice that, put into effect, makes him the philosopher he has aspired to be. Were Dion and Aristeides ‘converts’? Adopting a conservative definition of ‘conversion’, I will argue that their accounts – though not autobiographies in the strict sense of that term – can legitimately be called ‘conversion narratives’. I will then test each for its goodness-of-fit to two influential life-change models, the first developed by Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner in the context of initiation rituals, and the second, Lewis Rambo's process model of conversion.
A Dung Beetle's Victory: The Moral of theLife of Aesop(Vita G)
Authors: Pertsinidis Sonia
Published: December 2020

TheLife of Aesopis an entertaining yet profound account of Aesop's life dating from the first to second centuriesad. Although it is widely agreed that theLife of Aesopmay be read as a ‘metafable’, there has been, in my view, a widespread and perversely negative interpretation of the supposed moral of this life story: that ‘pride comes before a fall’. This supposed moral is not borne out by the ending, in which Aesop's prophecies of doom prove to be correct, the Delphians are thrice punished for executing Aesop, and Aesop himself achieves everlasting fame as a storyteller. In this paper, I will argue that a more fitting moral for theLife of Aesopis that ‘even the weakest may find a means to avenge a wrong’. This is the moral that accompanies the quintessentially Aesopic fable of the dung beetle, the hare, and the eagle in which a tiny dung beetle triumphs over a powerful adversary. This fable is pointedly narrated by Aesop to the Delphians just before he is put to death. By reading theLife of Aesopas an exposition of this fable, I will demonstrate that Aesop, just like the dung beetle, is not the loser but the ultimate victor.
A Brutal Hack: Tyranny, Rape, and the Barbarism of Bad Poetry in Ovid's Pyreneus Episode
Authors: Cowan Robert
Published: December 2020

Poet-figures in Ovid'sMetamorphoseshave been the object of much study, especially those silenced by the powerful, but little attention has been given to Pyreneus. Immediately before the famous contest of the Muses and Pierides, the former briefly narrate their attempted rape by the usurping Thracian tyrant Pyreneus and his precipitous death while trying to fly after them. The few critics who have touched on this episode have tended to focus exclusively on one aspect, be it the poetic, sexual, political, or religious. None has provided a holistic interpretation which does justice to the complex interplay of these four dimensions or to Ovid's witty and characteristic reification of figurative language.

Pyreneus is simultaneously an invading usurper, an attempted rapist, an impious theomach, and, on the poetic plane, a talentless plagiarist or derivative imitator, who tries to appropriate others’ work but bathetically and disastrously fails. The interrelation of these four roles, each troping the others, throws light on all, and Pyreneus needs to be contextualized among theMet.'s other tyrants, rapists, and theomachs, as well as its poet-figures. The episode itself, derivative and overstuffed with Ovidian motifs, is mimetic of the sort of narrative bad (would-be) poets like Pyreneus produce.
Punnett squares and hybrid crosses: how Mendelians learned their trade by the book
Authors: Müller-Wille Staffan , Parolini Giuditta
Published: December 2020

The rapid reception of Gregor Mendel's paper ‘Experiments on plant hybrids’ (1866) in the early decades of the twentieth century remains poorly understood. We will suggest that this reception should not exclusively be investigated as the spread of a theory, but also as the spread of an experimental and computational protocol. Early geneticists used Mendel's paper, as well as reviews of Mendelian experiments in a variety of other publications, to acquire a unique combination of experimental and mathematical skills. We will analyse annotations in copies of Mendel's paper itself, in early editions and translations of this paper, and in early textbooks, such as Reginald Punnett'sMendelism(1905) or Wilhelm Johannsen'sElemente der exakten Erblichkeitslehre(1909). We will examine how readers used copies of such works to reproduce the logic behind Mendelian experiments, either by recalculating results, or by retracing the underlying combinatorial reasoning. We will place particular emphasis on the emergent role of diagrams in teaching and learning the practice of Mendelian genetics.
Ernst Neufert's ‘Lebensgestaltungslehre’: formatting life beyond the built
Authors: Meister Anna-Maria
Published: December 2020

In 1936, the Bauhaus-trained architect Ernst Neufert published the first edition of his seminal book Bau-Entwurfslehre. One of the most successful architecture books to date, the encyclopedic volume offered dimensioned floor plans for architectural tasks ranging from bunkers to dog kennels to Zeppelins. Two years later, Neufert started working as ‘norm expert’ for Reichsminister Albert Speer, with whom he published another manual in 1943, Bauordnungslehre. Meant to provide a total system of measures for architecture at large, the volume subjected building blocks, bricks and human bodies to Neufert's all-encompassing octametric system. This article contrasts these two books against Neufert's unpublished treatise – ‘Lebensgestaltungslehre’. Never a bound volume, the latter was sketched out in diary entries between 1936 and 1942 on folded DIN A4 sheets (themselves normed) and organized in a card index. Reading them across their medial states, this article investigates the material, methodological and ideological character of Neufert's Lehren. This is not the story of a handbook; rather, this is a story of constructing Lehre one sheet at a time. Neufert's attempt to format German society in the 1930s and 1940s through inherently architectural means such as floor plans, norms and a system of measures ultimately shaped the designing subject – starting with himself.
Reading instructions of the past, classifying them, and reclassifying them: commentaries on the canonThe Nine Chapters on Mathematical Proceduresfrom the third to the thirteenth centuries
Authors: Chemla Karine
Published: December 2020

This essay approaches the knowledge required to write up and use instructions with a specific method. It relies on specific procedures taken from the Chinese canonThe Nine Chapters on Mathematical Procedures(九章算術), which, in the author's view, was completed in the first century CE. These procedures enabled readers to do things. To analyse the type of knowledge required to produce these texts of procedures and to use them, the essay puts into play two layers of commentary. The ancient layer was written between the third and the seventh centuries, whereas the later layer was composed between the eleventh and the thirteenth centuries. The author shows that these two layers of commentary read the same text of procedure differently, using different approaches and understanding it differently. The author also shows how the two layers of commentary use mathematical problems to approach a procedure, even though problems are used differently in the two contexts. This illustrates how, in different contexts, actors interpreted the same instructional text differently, both with respect to what the text meant and with respect to how one could make sense of it.
The ‘book’ as fieldwork: ‘textual institutions’ and nature knowledge in early modern Japan
Authors: Marcon Federico
Published: December 2020

The analysis of a painting attributed to therangakuscholar Shiba Kōkan is the occasion to recover the genesis of a stereotypical narrative of Japanese scientific modernization and to survey the role of books in the intellectual life of Tokugawa naturalists. For the practitioners of materia medica (honzōgaku), the knowledge of nature began and ended with, and in between continuously referred to, books – Chinese, Japanese and later ‘Dutch’. Canonical texts gave scholars terminology, taxonomy, philosophical justification and legitimation, but not all books had equal value in affecting scholars’ practices. A precise hierarchy, in fact, organized texts, from canonical encyclopedias to private fieldnotes, into ‘textual institutions’ that encouraged further research at the same time that they regulated and framed scholars’ cognitive claims.
Does transcranial direct current stimulation affect selective visual attention in children with left-sided infantile hemiplegia? A randomized, controlled pilot study
Authors: Alharbi Raed A. , Aloyuni Saleh A. , Kashoo Faizan , Waly Mohamed I. , Singh Harpreet , Ahmad Mehrunnisha
Published: December 2020

Objective:

Infantile hemiplegia due to brain injury is associated with poor attention span, which critically affects the learning and acquisition of new skills, especially among children with left-sided infantile hemiplegia (LSIH). This study aimed to improve the selective visual attention (SVA) of children with LSIH through transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).

Methods:

A total of 15 children participated in this randomized, double-blinded, pilot study; of them, 10 experienced LSIH, and the remaining 5 were healthy age-matched controls. All the children performed the Computerized Stroop Color-Word Test (CSCWT) at baseline, during the 5th and 10th treatment sessions, and at follow-up. The experimental (n= 5) and control groups (n= 5) received tDCS, while the sham group (n= 5) received placebo tDCS. All three groups received cognitive training on alternate days, for 3 weeks, with the aim to improve SVA.

Results:

Two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed a statistically significant change in the mean scores of CSCWT between time points (baseline, 5th and 10th sessions, and follow-up) within-subject factor, group (experimental, sham) between-subject factor and interaction (time points X group) (p< 0.005). Furthermore, a one-way repeated measures ANOVA showed significant differences between time point (p< 0.005) for the experimental and control group but not the sham group.

Conclusion:

These pilot results suggest that future research should be conducted with adequate samples to enable conclusions to be drawn.
One-sided reflected Brownian motions and the KPZ fixed point
Authors: Nica Mihai , Quastel Jeremy , Remenik Daniel
Published: December 2020

We consider the system of one-sided reflected Brownian motions that is in variational duality with Brownian last passage percolation. We show that it has integrable transition probabilities, expressed in terms of Hermite polynomials and hitting times of exponential random walks, and that it converges in the 1:2:3 scaling limit to the KPZ fixed point, the scaling-invariant Markov process defined in [MQR17] and believed to govern the long-time, large-scale fluctuations for all models in the KPZ universality class. Brownian last-passage percolation was shown recently in [DOV18] to converge to the Airy sheet (or directed landscape), defined there as a strong limit of a functional of the Airy line ensemble. This establishes the variational formula for the KPZ fixed point in terms of the Airy sheet.
Permian millipedes from the Fort Sill fissures of southwestern Oklahoma, with comments on allied taxa and millipedes preserved in karstic environments
Authors: Hannibal Joseph T. , May William J.
Published: December 2020

Permian millipedes are rare, especially so considering the relative abundance of millipedes in Carboniferous rocks. We report an early Permian millipede fauna containing three new genera and species of millipedes (Oklahomasoma richardsspurensenew genus new species,Karstiulus fortsillensisnew genus new species, andDolesea subtilanew genus new species) found in fossil-producing pockets of the Fort Sill fissures exposed in the Dolese Quarry near Richards Spur, southwest Oklahoma, USA. These are the first new genera of invertebrates to be described from this site, one of the most prolific fossil-vertebrate sites in the world. We also comment on taxa with morphological similarities and note previously described occurrences of Permian millipedes as well as occurrences of fossil myriapods (millipedes and centipedes) in karst deposits (caves and fissure fills) in Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, and the Caribbean. In contrast with the forms found at Richards Spur, most of these previous accounts of millipedes found in caves and fissure fills are of Pleistocene forms that are closely allied to modern taxa. The taxa from Richards Spur bear some similarities to Pennsylvanian forms. Karst (cave and fissure) faunas should be ranked with concretion faunas, cannel coals, and amber faunas as a major source of fossil myriapods.

UUID:http://zoobank.org/5d58e1fb-4e5b-4597-9cd9-5cc9e2096b4d
A Contest for Priority: Nineteenth-Century Place-Name Etymologies of Transylvania at Large
Authors: Berecz Ágoston
Published: December 2020

The article identifies place-name etymologies as a powerful tool in constructing national spaces. Since place names derive from one language or another, often visibly so, competing nationalisms have used them to support territorial claims. This strategy may appear trivial, but it dates back no further than the Romantic period. The article traces the story of how, by the end of the nineteenth century, suggested place-name origins had become building blocks of two opposed visions of Romanian ethnogenesis. In a context of competing nation-building, these scholarly reconstructions were thinly disguised statements about whose ancestors had lived first in Transylvania—defined here in a broad sense as the eastern, Romanian- and Hungarian-speaking parts of the contemporary Kingdom of Hungary—and therefore who was entitled to political sovereignty. Place-name derivations had been little more than rhetorical ornaments until nationalist scholars seized on them following the 1848 revolutions. It was later still, in response to the questioning of Romance-speaking continuity in Dacia, that a positivist generation adjusted them to the principles of comparative linguistics and onomastics, the latter devised by German scholars for the study of national antiquities. With some refinements, the two views are still held today as the legitimate versions.
A hundred new eclipsing binary system candidates studied in a near-infrared window in the VVV survey
Authors: Gramajo L. V. , Palma T. , Minniti D. , Saito R. K. , Clariá J. J. , Kammers R. , Surot F.
Published: December 2020

We present the first results obtained from an extensive study of eclipsing binary (EB) system candidates recently detected in the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) near-infrared (NIR) Survey. We analyse the VVV tile d040 in the southern part of the Galactic disc wherein the interstellar reddening is comparatively low, which makes it possible to detect hundreds of new EB candidates. We present here the light curves and the determination of the geometric and physical parameters of the best candidates found in this ‘NIR window’, including 37 contact, 50 detached, and 13 semi-detached EB systems. We infer that the studied systems have an average of the$K_s$amplitudes of$0.8$mag and a median period of 1.22 days where, in general, contact binaries have shorter periods. Using the ‘Physics Of Eclipsing Binaries’ (PHOEBE) interactive interface, which is based on the Wilson and Devinney code, we find that the studied systems have low eccentricities. The studied EBs present mean values of about 5 700 and 4 900 K for the$T_1$and$T_2$components, respectively. The mean mass ratio (q) for the contact EB stars is$\sim$0.44. This new galactic disk sample is a first look at the massive study of NIR EB systems.
Platonic Theocracy, Liberalism, and Authoritarianism in Leo Strauss’sPhilosophy and Law
Authors: McCORMICK JOHN P.
Published: December 2020

Leo Strauss, inPhilosophy and Law(1935), offers Platonic theocracy as a more just and stable political alternative to both liberalism and authoritarianism. Rather than merely a scholastic investigation of medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy, I read the book as a programmatic endorsement of a morally perfectionist political order: a divinely legitimated and rationally justified “true” or “beautiful” state. Since human beings require political community to suppress their evil inclinations and promote their disposition toward the good, Strauss criticizes liberalism for contending that government should remain neutral regarding good and evil and modern authoritarianism for effectively committing idolatry by politically instrumentalizing theology. I demonstrate that Strauss’s long-neglected book is particularly relevant for our own “postsecular age,” an age when adherents of religious orthodoxy increasingly demand concessions from liberal democracies and resurgent state authoritarianism frequently cloaks itself in religious trappings.
Differential associations betweena prioridiet quality scores and markers of cardiovascular health in women: cross-sectional analyses from TwinsUK
Authors: Mompeo Olatz , Berry Sarah E. , Spector Tim D. , Menni Cristina , Mangino Massimo , Gibson Rachel
Published: December 2020

CVD is the leading cause of death worldwide and, after dementia, is the second biggest cause of death for women. In England, it accounts for one in four of all deaths. Lifestyle modifications represent the primary route both to reduce CVD risk factors and prevent CVD outcomes. Diet constitutes one of the key modifiable risk factors in the aetiology of CVD. We investigated the relationship between nine main dietary indices and a comprehensive range of CVD risk factors in 2590 women from TwinsUK. After adjustment for multiple testing, we found that the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet was inversely correlated with some of the most common CVD risk factors (BMI, visceral fat (VF), TAG, insulin, homoeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA2-IR) and atherosclerotic CVD (ASCVD) risk) withPFDRranging from 6·28 × 10−7to 5·63 × 10−4. Similar association patterns were detected across most of the dietary indices analysed. In ourpost hocinvestigation, to determine if any specific food groups were driving associations between the DASH score and markers of cardiometabolic risk, we found that increased BMI, VF, HOMA2-IR, ASCVD risk, insulin and TAG levels were directly correlated with red meat consumption (PFDRranging from 4·65 × 10−9to 7·98 × 10−3) and inversely correlated with whole-grain cereal consumption (PFDRranging from 1·26 × 10−6to 8·28 × 10−3). Our findings revealed that the DASH diet is associated with a more favourable CVD risk profile, suggesting that this diet may be a candidate dietary pattern to supplement current UK dietary recommendations for CVD prevention.
Nature of the evidence base and frameworks underpinning dietary recommendations for prevention of non-communicable diseases: a position paper from the Academy of Nutrition Sciences
Authors: Williams Christine M. , Ashwell Margaret , Prentice Ann , Hickson Mary , Stanner Sara
Published: December 2020

This Position Paper from the Academy of Nutrition Sciences is the first in a series which describe the nature of the scientific evidence and frameworks that underpin nutrition recommendations for health. This first paper focuses on evidence which underpins dietary recommendations for prevention of non-communicable diseases. It considers methodological advances made in nutritional epidemiology and frameworks used by expert groups to support objective, rigorous and transparent translation of the evidence into dietary recommendations. The flexibility of these processes allows updating of recommendations as new evidence becomes available. For CVD and some cancers, the paper has highlighted the long-term consistency of a number of recommendations. The innate challenges in this complex area of science include those relating to dietary assessment, misreporting and the confounding of dietary associations due to changes in exposures over time. A large body of experimental data is available that has the potential to support epidemiological findings, but many of the studies have not been designed to allow their extrapolation to dietary recommendations for humans. Systematic criteria that would allow objective selection of these data based on rigour and relevance to human nutrition would significantly add to the translational value of this area of nutrition science. The Academy makes three recommendations: (i) the development of methodologies and criteria for selection of relevant experimental data, (ii) further development of innovative approaches for measuring human dietary intake and reducing confounding in long-term cohort studies and (iii) retention of national nutrition surveillance programmes needed for extrapolating global research findings to UK populations.
NICANDER'S JAUNDICE
Authors: Bone Phillip
Published: December 2020

At Alexipharmaca 472–5, Nicander compares the sea hare to the cuttlefish and describes the latter's defensive mechanism of ink emission before turning to a symptom of sea hare poisoning, a change of skin colour:οἷά τε σηπιάδος φυξήλιδος ἥ τε μελαίνειοἶδμα χολῇ δολόεντα μαθοῦσ’ ἀγρώστορος ὁρμήν.τῶν ἤτοι ζοφόεις μὲν ἐπὶ χλόος ἔδραμε γυίοιςἰκτερόεις […]

[the sea hare also resembles] the cowardly cuttlefish, which blackens the swell with its bile upon learning of the fisherman's crafty attack. A dark green, indeed, runs over the limbs of [those who ingest sea hare], similar to that of jaundice.