bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Institutional Issues
Authors: Gruenewald David A.
Published: August 2021

Increasingly, older adults wishing to avoid prolonged dying with dementia are completing advance directives to limit oral nutrition and hydration (ONH) in advanced dementia, but resistance to implementing these directives has arisen within the professional long-term care (LTC) community. Some “dementia directives” call for withholding or withdrawing assisted hand-feeding when specific thresholds are met during dementia’s progression. “Comfort feeding only” (CFO) has been suggested as a best practice in advanced dementia, but CFO may not be sufficient for those wishing to hasten death when advanced dementia develops. Of concern, some LTC facility residents desiring comfort-focused care may be harassed or coaxed to eat and drink by staff as part of “basic care.” It may be possible to identify areas of shared understanding between older people who fear living in advanced dementia and staff who find meaning in caring for demented people who appear to accept or even enjoy ONH.
Prenatal Counseling for Maternal–Fetal Surgery
Authors: Brown Stephen D.
Published: August 2021

This chapter analyzes potential biases and competing interests in prenatal counseling when conditions are diagnosed for which intrauterine surgery may be possible. Such counseling often occurs at the multidimensional interface of obstetrics and pediatrics. After considering clinical, social, and historical contexts of such counseling, the chapter presents a case that illustrates how physician demographics, interspecialty differences, divergent clinical experiences, and larger organizational factors may compound practice variation. It considers how biased counseling may influence patients’ decisions and questions whether value-neutral counseling is attainable when such fetal conditions are diagnosed. It concludes that declared commitments to value neutrality cannot insulate pregnant patients from biases and competing interests. In its recommendations, it discusses organizational responses analogous to conflict-of-interest policies. It further suggests that conversations between clinicians and patients that are mutually open about values may enhance rather than undermine patients’ ability to formulate decisions that most closely embody their true preferences.
FRCS Trauma and Orthopaedics Viva
Authors: Davies Nev , Jackson Will , Price Andrew , Rees Jonathan , Lavy Chris
Published: August 2021

FRCS Trauma and Orthopaedics Viva includes over 95 viva topics. Completely updated to include current clinical management guidelines and exam hot topics, the book is brought to you again from the team behind the highly successful Oxford revision course. Based on the principle that viva candidates improve their technique by observing and learning from others, the editor team have created a best-practice formula for dealing with the individual scenarios. The book is set out in a simple format and every viva topic is introduced by an initial clinical photograph, radiograph, or diagram. Sets of questions follow underneath with the suggested answers. This allows the reader to work in pairs, groups, or on their own.
History and epidemiology
Authors: Fraser Lorna , Connor Stephen , Marston Joan
Published: August 2021

There has been a marked reduction in child mortality in the last few decades but there were still 6.6 million deaths in children aged 0–14 years worldwide in 2016. The vast majority of those deaths (5.6 million) occurred in children aged under 5 years and 98% of these deaths occurred in the low- and middle-income (LMCI) countries. After a brief history of the development of children’s palliative care (CPC) and key definitions, this chapter summarizes the epidemiological data on mortality and prevalence of life-limiting (LLC) and life-threatening conditions (LTC). This chapter also highlights the gaps in these data and concludes with advice on how to use local, regional, and national data to plan services.
Decision-making with children, young people, and parents
Authors: Bluebond-Langner Myra , Langner Richard
Published: August 2021

Support in decision-making is a key part of paediatric palliative care (PPC). In this chapter, we explore some of the salient features of decision-making for seriously ill children and young people (CYP) with life-limiting or life-threatening illnesses and reflect on their implications for clinical practice. We begin with a discussion of two fundamental aspects of decision-making: defining the problem that the decision maker faces and eliciting preferences, goals, and values. We consider what each of the stakeholders—clinician, parent, patient—bring to the decision-making process and their roles in the process. We also address some of the problems and conflicts that can arise and practical approaches to resolving them.
Children’s views of death
Authors: Bluebond-Langner Myra , Clemente Ignasi
Published: August 2021

Death is very much a part of the everyday thoughts of children. It is part of the games they play, the stories they hear, and the videos they watch. Sadly, for some children it is also part of their everyday lives—their lived experience in the face of a life-threatening illness, war, violence, or natural disaster. In this chapter we explore well and ill children’s views of death demonstrating how children’s views of death, like those of adults, are multi-dimensional and encompass not only the physical, but also the metaphysical, social, and emotional aspects. Attention is given to how children express their awareness and understanding of death and the implications for engaging children in discussions of death and dying.
The psychological impact of life-limiting conditions on the child
Authors: Aldridge Jan , Sourkes Barbara M.
Published: August 2021

The children and families who speak in this chapter articulate concerns that are shared by many who are living with potentially life-shortening illnesses or conditions. They have all had to negotiate the changing, and often narrowing, of their world that the progressive losses that illness can bring and find ways to live with these changes and the ongoing uncertainty. The chapter explores how the availability of sensitive emotional support and psychological expertise throughout the course of the child’s and family`s journey can bring much comfort, ease suffering and distress, and even aspire to enable growth in the face of enormous challenge.
Overview of symptoms and their assessment in life-limiting illness
Authors: Rajapakse Dilini , Comac Maggie
Published: August 2021

The aims of this chapter are to discuss the prevalence of symptoms in paediatric palliative care, the importance of accurate symptom assessment, as well as the principles of and challenges to assessing symptoms comprehensively. We examine the areas where knowledge and expertise are lacking and the reasons for this. Finally, we discuss novel approaches to assessing symptoms and discuss areas for future study. In 2018 the World Health Organization published a guidance document for healthcare workers delivering paediatric palliative care in which it describes ‘the medical and moral necessity of making palliative care accessible to all children in need and their families’.
Introduction to pain
Authors: Bioy Antoine , Wood Chantal
Published: August 2021

When caring for a child who is in pain in a palliative care setting, the extent and intensity of the physical components of pain represent only one of many important aspects that need to be considered. How does the child understand their pain? Are they afraid of the actual pain or the future pain? How do they interpret their disease? Can they control or cope with the pain? It is of fundamental importance not only to help the child to cope with their condition, but also to help them through the disease by building a trustworthy and interactive relationship between the patient, their family, and their peers. One must try to carefully monitor the child’s level of distress, their defense strategies, their coping strategies, and the attitudes and opportunities that they encounter in their environment (e.g. encouragement, active participation in activities). All of this takes place within a biopsychosocial and holistic model of care that ‘reflects modern society’s attempt to face up to the reality of death by introducing dying and bereavement into the midstream of life.’ It personalizes care by adopting a relationship-centered approach and, with the collaboration of all caregivers, it humanizes care. In this chapter we first explore the history of pain in medicine and then develop our actual knowledge about pain. Finally, we shall establish some guidelines for understanding and analyzing the complaint of the child in palliative care.
Feeding, cachexia, and malnutrition in children’s palliative care
Authors: Mahant Sanjay , Meiring Michelle , Rapoport Adam
Published: August 2021

Feeding a child is considered basic care. As such, when a medical condition impacts a child’s desire or ability to feed and grow, the concerns and negative feelings experienced by the family can be profound. This chapter reviews strategies to promote safe feeding in children, especially those with underlying neurological impairment, in an effort to optimize growth and overall quality of life. The indications and challenges with enterostomy tubes and total parental nutrition (TPN) are also discussed. The concept of ‘feeding for comfort’ at the end of life in children who no longer desire to feed or when feeding causes suffering are explored, as well as the medical and psychosocial interventions to address anorexia and cachexia. Lastly, while the authors wholeheartedly support steps to rectify global malnutrition, a palliative care approach is provided to this problem which continues to result in chronic morbidity and mortality in millions of children annually.
Depression, anxiety, and delirium
Authors: Mosher Pamela J. , Muriel Anna C.
Published: August 2021

The assessment and treatment of psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, and delirium can prove challenging in paediatric palliative care (PPC). Clinicians face the difficulties of distinguishing among symptoms of disease progression, medical side effects, and ‘normal’ psychological distress; the roles of cognitive and emotional development; and the lack of standardized assessment measures. Because research in this area is limited, recommendations often are extrapolated from adult palliative care (PC), or paediatric psychiatric or psychological literature in populations without life-threatening conditions. Patient- and family-centred care require that we address these symptoms, which may not meet clear diagnostic criteria, but significantly impair quality of life (QOL). Careful history taking, active listening, and close observation are essential in unearthing psychological symptoms. Collaboration with mental health professionals is recommended whenever possible, to provide specialist assessment and inform non-pharmacological and psychopharmacological treatment. Clinicians must incorporate limited data with clinical judgement and consultation to guide interventions that best reduce suffering and improve quality of life.
Haematological symptoms
Authors: Chan Mei-Yoke , Weingarten Kevin
Published: August 2021

The management of symptomatic anaemia, minor bleeding, and other rarer haematological symptoms in the palliative phase illustrates very well the challenging decisions that face professionals who are working with dying children. On the one hand, modern medical interventions have the capacity to relieve some of the symptoms that haematological abnormalities can cause. On the other hand, the interventions themselves carry morbidity and can cause not only symptoms related to physical reactions, but also often emotional and psychological issues related to otherwise avoidable hospital attendance. The ethical issues involved in subjecting a child—whose voice is often unheard—to treatments just because they are available should also be carefully considered. The best clinical decision can only be made by considering the needs of the individual child and their family, giving appropriate weight to the risks and potential benefits of giving an intervention, both physical and otherwise, and the risks and potential benefits of withholding it. In this respect, management of haematological symptoms is typical of thoughtful and skilled childhood palliative care in general.
Intensive care units
Authors: Carter Brian S.
Published: August 2021

The goals of intensive care and palliative care teams may at first seem to be polar opposites. The one focuses on advanced technologies directed towards saving or prolonging life, while the other focuses on providing comfort and support, accepting death as a likely outcome. In caring for patients in the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU), however, those two teams are brought into a close working relationship. PCIU provides a natural interface for these teams with different goals. Here children and families face potential or inevitable death, and alongside attempts to save or prolong life, they need access to the kind of care that is at the heart of palliation. Where PICU and palliative care meet, children can receive the most advanced technology alongside skilled, holistic, supportive care, and both teams can work together with families to facilitate appropriate support as goals change. Palliative care is not a separate or different approach, but a continuation of the philosophy that medicine must only intervene in ways that will do more good than harm. Palliative care continues to be integrated into the care of patients and families in both the neonatal and PICU settings. With focused research aimed at healthcare service delivery, effective symptom management, and the role of palliative care consultants in the PICU, the potential to broaden and improve palliative care in the PICU will be further advanced for all children and their families. The surprise is not that these two services should be integrated, but rather that it has taken us so long to realize the importance of such integration.
Care in the final hours and days
Authors: Davies Dawn , Baker Justin
Published: August 2021

Caring for a child and his or her family during the last hours and days of the child’s life is emotionally charged, with inherent pressure to ‘get things right.’ Anticipation and treatment of the patient’s changing symptoms are essential to stave off emergency situations or, at least, to be optimally prepared to deal with them. Parents must be actively supported during this time, regardless of the setting, and the availability of professional assistance must be continuous, even if this can be only by telephone in some circumstances. Access to emergency medications must be anticipated in this context. Communication must be seamless, and care providers must be prepared for sudden changes in the desired setting of care. It is much easier to plan for every contingency, knowing that some plans will go unused, than to have to cobble together suboptimal arrangements at the last minute.
Philosophy of Psychedelics
Authors: Letheby Chris
Published: August 2021

Philosophy of Psychedelics is the first scholarly monograph in English devoted to the philosophical analysis of psychedelic drugs. Its central focus is the apparent conflict between the growing use of psychedelics in psychiatry and the philosophical worldview of naturalism, which holds that the natural world is all that exists. The book reviews scientific evidence that psychedelics such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin can be given safely in controlled conditions, and can cause lasting psychological benefits with one or two administrations. Supervised psychedelic sessions can reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and addiction, and improve well-being in healthy volunteers for months or even years. But these benefits seem to be mediated by ‘mystical’ experiences of cosmic consciousness, which prompts a philosophical concern: Do psychedelics cause psychological benefits by inducing false or implausible beliefs about the metaphysical nature of reality? The author integrates empirical evidence and philosophical considerations in the service of a simple conclusion: This ‘Comforting Delusion Objection’ to psychedelic therapy fails. Exotic metaphysical ideas do sometimes come up, but they are not the central driver of change in psychedelic therapy. Psychedelics cause lasting psychological benefits by altering the sense of self and changing how people relate to their minds—not by changing their beliefs about the ultimate nature of reality. The upshot is that a traditional conception of psychedelics as agents of insight and spirituality can be reconciled with naturalism. Controlled psychedelic administration can lead to genuine knowledge gain and spiritual growth, even if no cosmic consciousness or divine Reality exists.
Introduction
Authors: Letheby Chris
Published: August 2021

This Introduction outlines the central focus of Philosophy of Psychedelics: the therapeutic use of psychedelics in psychiatry and its apparent conflict with philosophical naturalism. The chapter briefly describes recent findings that controlled psychedelic administration can have lasting psychological benefits for healthy subjects and for psychiatric patients. It then cites evidence that these psychological benefits are mediated by ‘mystical-type’ experiences. For those sympathetic to naturalism, the philosophical view that only the natural world exists, this prompts a concern: do psychedelics cause therapeutic benefits by inducing non-naturalistic beliefs in a cosmic consciousness or divine Reality? This Introduction outlines a plan to answer this ‘Comforting Delusion Objection’ in subsequent chapters. The basic strategy is to argue that, even if naturalism is true, psychedelic therapy is still acceptable because (i) its epistemic risks are smaller than they might appear, and (ii) it also has epistemic benefits that are consistent with naturalism.
Conflicts and complexities: Medical science, exceptional experiences, and the perils of simplistic history
Authors: Sommer Andreas
Published: August 2021

Despite ongoing polemical debates over the supposedly inherent opposition between science and religion, the current consensus in professional historical scholarship is that sweeping conflict narratives do not stand up to scrutiny. Where previous generations of historians of science and medicine often assumed intrinsic conflict, more recent investigations have instead demonstrated vast complexities. This chapter illustrates responses to exceptional or spiritual experiences from the Enlightenment to the professionalization of modern psychology. Noting recent clinical attention to spontaneous and psychedelically induced spiritual and mystical experiences, it concludes by considering the ongoing repercussions of outdated historical frameworks on scientific and medical practice and research.
Can spirituality be a scientific topic and how?: A rigorous but open-minded scientific approach of studies on religion, spirituality, and mental health
Authors: Walach Harald
Published: August 2021

Science and spirituality are at odds, due to the history of enlightenment. This led to freeing human inquiry from dogmatic and clerical bondage by religion. And because religion has been left behind by the new scientific narrative of a self-evolving world, driven by random accidents and mutations and natural laws, there seems to be no place for spirituality either. This contribution disentangles those conceptual problems. It first points out the history of this separation and its consequences. It is important to realize that spirituality and religion are two different things. While religion is a conceptual, ethical, ritual, and at times also a political framework, spirituality is the experiential core of all religions. As a human experience, it is universal and independent of religious belief systems. Spirituality, as a form of inner experiential access to reality, is also at the bottom of the scientific process—for instance, in important theoretical insights. 150 words
Evidence for the influence of religiosity and spirituality on mental health
Authors: Lucchetti Giancarlo , Damiano Rodolfo Furlan , Lucchetti Alessandra Lamas Granero , Prieto Peres Mario Fernando
Published: August 2021

Over the past few decades, research about the impact of religion and spirituality (R/S) on health has grown considerably. Mental health was a major area of focus in this field, producing solid evidence for the impact of R/S on quality of life, wellness, depression, anxiety, substance use disorder, and other mental health issues. To date, a large number of studies have been conducted showing that R/S beliefs and practices have an impact on mental health, albeit positive or negative. New studies have sought to elucidate how these findings can have an impact on clinical practice and R/S interventions have been proposed. It is also noteworthy that studies are currently deepening our understanding of the mechanisms underlying R/S effects, and attempting to adapt R/S values, virtues, and practices to a secular world. This chapter aims to discuss these studies further, highlighting the scientific evidence, proposed mechanisms, and possible interventions supporting the relationship between R/S and mental health.
Principles and practices of Buddhism in relationship to mental health
Authors: Huxter Malcolm , Pizutti Leandro
Published: August 2021

This chapter explores how the Buddhist framework can assist clinicians in treating mental health suffering. It highlights the Buddha’s ‘four noble truths’ and the ‘eight-fold path’ as frameworks for clinical applications. It describes the distinguishing features of the calm and insight aspects of meditation, their indications, and how they can be used in clinical presentations. It also describes mindfulness from a Buddhist perspective and compares this ancient traditional perspective with contemporary approaches to mindfulness. It also underscores the importance of cultivating four relationship qualities, known as the ‘four divine abodes’ (loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity). These qualities help to balance mindfulness, harmonize intra- and inter-personal relationships, and support the therapeutic endeavour. Finally, it provides some reflections on the possible benefits of using a Buddhist framework and Buddhist practices in the delivery of mental health services.
Spiritually integrated psychotherapy
Authors: Costa Marianna de Abreu , Rosmarin David H.
Published: August 2021

There is growing recognition that it is important to understand how spirituality is related to mental health and distress, and how it can be integrated into psychotherapy. Spiritually integrated psychotherapy (SIP) involves the adaptation of secular psychotherapies in order to be more culturally sensitive and client-centred to spiritually and religiously inclined clients. Literature shows that SIPs are at least as effective as conventional psychotherapy for treating different mental disorders, and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is the most widely investigated clinical modality that has been adapted to include spiritual content. The objective of this chapter is to describe the adaptation of traditional CBT techniques by integrating spirituality to enhance cognitive restructuring, behavioural activation, coping, psychoeducation, and to facilitate greater motivation for treatment. Several practical examples are given, including the use of meditation and prayer in the treatment process.
Religious and spiritual struggles and mental health: Implications for clinical practice
Authors: Pargament Kenneth I. , Exline Julie J.
Published: August 2021

This chapter reviews the growing literature on religious and spiritual (R/S) struggles and their implications for clinical practice, with a focus on people with psychiatric problems. The empirical literature indicates that R/S struggles: (a) take a variety of forms that reflect tensions and conflicts around the sacred; (b) are not uncommon among people with psychological problems; (c) are robust predictors of poorer mental health; (d) may be a cause and/or effect of psychological problems; and offer the potential for positive psychological growth and transformation, depending on how they are understood and handled. Practical recommendations are then offered to help psychiatrists draw on basic clinical skills to assess and address R/S struggles in treatment. Specifically, this chapter considers how practitioners can help patients name and normalize their struggles, accept and reflect on these conflicts, and access R/S resources that offer potential resolutions to their struggles.
Textuality in a Jazz Aesthetic: Textual Rituals for Transformation in Sharon Bridgforth’slove conjure/blues
Authors: Smith Laura T
Published: August 2021

Termed a “performance novel” in the introduction to the Redbone Press edition and a “text installation” in its performance iteration, Sharon Bridgforth’s love conjure/blues (2004) is performance literature that also offers a heightened textual experience within the jazz aesthetic’s performance tradition. Through its intricate lineation, syntax, typography, orthography, punctuation, and onomatopoeia, as well as through the representation of text in ritual settings, Bridgforth’s textuality does its own performance work on the page, twining literature, orature, bodily, and spiritual experience tightly together as it affirms multiple literacies, building on queer, trans, African American, Yoruba, jazz, and southern histories. In Bridgforth’s counterintuitive interest in and commitment to textuality within a performance genre, we see the values of the theatrical jazz aesthetic itself: here, invention and multiplicity are borne out by its groundedness in text and performance at once, in textual and embodied language together. In this way Bridgforth’s textuality serves the text’s rituality and the jazz aesthetic’s own goals. By focalizing textuality’s materiality, love conjure/blues claims ritual textuality as a tool with distinctive affordances within the jazz aesthetic tradition. This highly physicalized, ritual textuality acts as an instrument of conjure and contributes to the text’s representational and spiritual goals while expanding our concept of what innovative poetic texts might look like and accomplish.
Bilby-MCMC: an MCMC sampler for gravitational-wave inference
Authors: Ashton G , Talbot C
Published: August 2021

We introduce Bilby-MCMC, a Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling algorithm tuned for the analysis of gravitational waves from merging compact objects. Bilby-MCMC provides a parallel-tempered ensemble Metropolis-Hastings sampler with access to a block-updating proposal library including problem-specific and machine learning proposals. We demonstrate that learning proposals can produce over a 10-fold improvement in efficiency by reducing the autocorrelation time. Using a variety of standard and problem-specific tests, we validate the ability of the Bilby-MCMC sampler to produce independent posterior samples and estimate the Bayesian evidence. Compared to the widely used Dynesty nested sampling algorithm, Bilby-MCMC is less efficient in producing independent posterior samples and less accurate in its estimation of the evidence. However, we find that posterior samples drawn from the Bilby-MCMC sampler are more robust: never failing to pass our validation tests. Meanwhile, the Dynesty sampler fails the difficult-to-sample Rosenbrock likelihood test, over constraining the posterior. For CBC problems, this highlights the importance of cross-sampler comparisons to ensure results are robust to sampling error. Finally, Bilby-MCMC can be embarrassingly and asynchronously parallelized making it highly suitable for reducing the analysis wall-time using a High Throughput Computing environment. Bilby-MCMC may be a useful tool for the rapid and robust analysis of gravitational-wave signals during the advanced detector era and we expect it to have utility throughout astrophysics.
OzDES Reverberation Mapping Programme: the first Mg ii lags from 5 yr of monitoring
Authors: Yu Zhefu , Martini Paul , Penton A , Davis T M , Malik U , Lidman C , Tucker B E , Sharp R , Kochanek C S , Peterson B M , Aguena M , Allam S , Andrade-Oliveira F , Annis J , Asorey J , Bertin E , Brooks D , Burke D L , Calcino J , Carnero Rosell A , Carollo D , Carrasco Kind M , Costanzi M , da Costa L N , da Silva Pereira M E S , Diehl H T , Everett S , Ferrero I , Flaugher B , Frieman J , García-Bellido J , Gaztanaga E , Gerdes D W , Gruen D , Gruendl R A , Gschwend J , Gutierrez G , Hinton S R , Hollowood D L , James D J , Kim A G , Kron R , Kuehn K , Kuropatkin N , Lewis G F , Maia M A G , March M , Marshall J L , Menanteau F , Miquel R , Morgan R , Möller A , Palmese A , Paz-Chinchón F , Plazas A A , Sanchez E , Scarpine V , Serrano S , Sevilla-Noarbe I , Smith M , Soares-Santos M , Suchyta E , Tarle G , Thomas D , To C , Tucker D L
Published: August 2021

Reverberation mapping is a robust method to measure the masses of supermassive black holes outside of the local Universe. Measurements of the radius–luminosity (R−L) relation using the Mg ii emission line are critical for determining these masses near the peak of quasar activity at z ≈ 1−2, and for calibrating secondary mass estimators based on Mg ii that can be applied to large samples with only single-epoch spectroscopy. We present the first nine Mg ii lags from our 5-yr Australian Dark Energy Survey reverberation mapping programme, which substantially improves the number and quality of Mg ii lag measurements. As the Mg ii feature is somewhat blended with iron emission, we model and subtract both the continuum and iron contamination from the multiepoch spectra before analysing the Mg ii line. We also develop a new method of quantifying correlated spectroscopic calibration errors based on our numerous, contemporaneous observations of F-stars. The lag measurements for seven of our nine sources are consistent with both the H β and Mg ii R−L relations reported by previous studies. Our simulations verify the lag reliability of our nine measurements, and we estimate that the median false positive rate of the lag measurements is $4{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$.
Constraining cosmology with weak lensing voids
Authors: Davies Christopher T , Cautun Marius , Giblin Benjamin , Li Baojiu , Harnois-Déraps Joachim , Cai Yan-Chuan
Published: August 2021

Upcoming surveys such as lsst and euclid will significantly improve the power of weak lensing as a cosmological probe. To maximise the information that can be extracted from these surveys, it is important to explore novel statistics that complement standard weak lensing statistics such as the shear-shear correlation function and peak counts. In this work, we use a recently proposed weak lensing observable — weak lensing voids — to make parameter constraint forecasts for an $\rm \small {LSST}$-like survey. We use the cosmo-SLICS wCDM simulation suite to measure void statistics as a function of cosmological parameters. The simulation data is used to train a Gaussian process regression emulator that we use to generate likelihood contours and provide parameter constraints from mock observations. We find that the void abundance is more constraining than the tangential shear profiles, though the combination of the two gives additional constraining power. We forecast that without tomographic decomposition, these void statistics can constrain the matter fluctuation amplitude, S8 within 0.3 per cent (68 per cent confidence interval), while offering 1.5, 1.5 and 2.7 per cent precision on the matter density parameter, Ωm, the reduced Hubble constant, h, and the dark energy equation of state parameter, w0, respectively. These results are tighter than the constraints from the shear-shear correlation function with the same observational specifications for Ωm, S8 and w0. The constraints from the WL voids also have complementary parameter degeneracy directions to the shear 2PCF for all combinations of parameters that include h, making weak lensing void statistics a promising cosmological probe.
Orthology Clusters from Gene Trees withPossvm
Authors: Grau-Bové Xavier , Sebé-Pedrós Arnau
Published: August 2021

Possvm (Phylogenetic Ortholog Sorting with Species oVerlap and MCL [Markov clustering algorithm]) is a tool that automates the process of identifying clusters of orthologous genes from precomputed phylogenetic trees and classifying gene families. It identifies orthology relationships between genes using the species overlap algorithm to infer taxonomic information from the gene tree topology, and then uses the MCL to identify orthology clusters and provide annotated gene families. Our benchmarking shows that this approach, when provided with accurate phylogenies, is able to identify manually curated orthogroups with very high precision and recall. Overall, Possvm automates the routine process of gene tree inspection and annotation in a highly interpretable manner, and provides reusable outputs and phylogeny-aware gene annotations that can be used to inform comparative genomics and gene family evolution analyses.
RdRp or RT, That is the Question
Authors: Peyambari Mahtab , Guan Shengxi , Roossinck Marilyn J
Published: August 2021

The RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of all known double-stranded RNA viruses is located within the viral particle and is responsible for the transcription and replication of the viral genome. Through an RT-PCR assay, we determined that purified virions, in vitro translated RdRp proteins, and purified recombinant RdRp proteins of partitiviruses also have reverse transcriptase (RT) function. We show that partitivirus RdRps 1) synthesized DNA from homologous and heterologous dsRNA templates; 2) are active using both ssRNA and dsRNA templates; and 3) are active at lower temperatures compared to an optimal reaction temperature of commercial RT enzymes. This finding poses an intriguing question: why do partitiviruses, with dsRNA genomes, have a polymerase with RT functions? In comparison, 3Dpol, the RdRp of poliovirus, did not show any RT activity. Our findings lead us to propose a new evolutionary model for RNA viruses where the RdRp of dsRNA viruses could be the ancestor of RdRps.
Surfactants
Authors: Aveyard Bob
Published: August 2021

Characteristically, surfactants in aqueous solution adsorb at interfaces and form aggregates (micelles of various shapes and sizes, microemulsion droplets, and lyotropic liquid crystalline phases). This book is about the behaviour of surfactants in solution, at interfaces, and in colloidal dispersions. Adsorption at liquid/fluid and solid/liquid interfaces, and ways of characterizing the adsorbed surfactant films, are explained. Surfactant aggregation in systems containing only an aqueous phase and in systems with comparable volumes of water and nonpolar oil are each considered. In the latter case, the surfactant distribution between oil and water and the behaviour of the resulting Winsor systems are central to surfactant science and to an understanding of the formation of emulsions and microemulsions. Surfactant layers on particle or droplet surfaces can confer stability on dispersions including emulsions, foams, and particulate dispersions. The stability is dependent on the surface forces between droplet or particle surfaces and the way in which they change with particle separation. Surface forces are also implicated in wetting processes and thin liquid film formation and stability. The rheology of adsorbed films on liquids and of bulk colloidal dispersions is covered in two chapters. Like surfactant molecules, small solid particles can adsorb at liquid/fluid interfaces and the final two chapters focus on particle adsorption, the behaviour of adsorbed particle films and the stabilization of Pickering emulsions.
Capitalism recoupled
Authors: Kelly Colm , Snower Dennis J
Published: August 2021

This paper examines major forces that have decoupled economic and business prosperity from social prosperity and explores how recoupling can be promoted. Economists have specified well-known conditions under which free market enterprise with shareholder value maximization is efficient. These conditions are systematically violated by three forces—globalization, technological advance, and financialization (GTF)—that have weakened the connections between economies and societies over the past four decades. Consequently, the recoupling process requires abandoning the default premise of economic decision-making that social progress follows financial performance. For business, it calls for a move from shareholder to stakeholder value. For government, it calls for setting legal obligations, targets, and incentives to ensure that stakeholder value is compatible with a rigorously defined concept of ‘societal and planetary value’.
The Immediate Adverse Events of Lumbar Interventional Pain Procedures in 4,209 Patients: An Observational Clinical Study
Authors: Sencan Savas , Sacaklidir Rekib , Gunduz Osman Hakan
Published: August 2021

Objective

Lumbar interventional pain procedures (LIPPs) are frequently used in low back pain and have shown an increasing trend in recent years. LIPPs are highly effective when performed by properly trained physicians. However, some adverse events are seen during interventional procedures. Our aim in this study is to determine the immediate adverse event rates of LIPPs and to inform our colleagues about possible adverse events.

Study Design

Retrospective, observational study.

Setting

A university hospital pain management center.

Methods

After approval by the institutional ethics committee, a retrospective evaluation of patients who received fluoroscopy-guided LIPPs between January 2015 and December 2020 was performed. This observational study was conducted with 4,209 patients who underwent LIPPs, including epidural steroid injection, sacroiliac and facet joint injection, medial branch block or radiofrequency ablation, application of pulsed radiofrequency to the dorsal root ganglion, epidural catheter placement, or spinal cord stimulator application.

Results

No major adverse events were detected during the procedures. Minor adverse events were detected in 60 patients, and the adverse events rate was found to be 1.4% (95% confidence interval: 1.0–1.8%). Minor adverse events rates varied between 0.7% and 2.3% according to the procedure type. The most common adverse events were determined to be vasovagal reactions (26/60). Facial numbness, cramps, and seizures were detected as rare adverse events.

Conclusion

No major adverse events were seen in 4,209 patients. The rate of minor adverse events was 1.4%, with no sequelae in any of the events. When evidence-based guidelines are followed, interventional pain procedures can be performed safely.
A comparative study of police organizational changes during the COVID-19 pandemic: responding to public health crisis or something else?
Authors: Maskály Jon , Ivković Sanja Kutnjak , Neyroud Peter
Published: August 2021

Police organizations—like many other social institutions—were forced to make changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This exploratory study uses data from 28 countries to examine how the strength of the pandemic (e.g. infection rates and death rates) and governmental restrictions are related to these changes. The analyses of the data suggest the way in which police organizations responded to the pandemic was complicated. Infection rates are generally not as strongly related to changes as are death rates. Governmental restrictiveness is strongly related to some changes. Additional research is needed to tease out additional factors that potentially explain these changes as well as multivariate effects of these factors.
Enhancing student scientific literacy through participation in citizen science focused on companion animal behavior
Authors: Oberbauer Anita M , Lai Ellen , Kinsey Nathan A , Famula Thomas R
Published: August 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic served as the impetus to implement activities designed to engage students in the remote instructional environment while simultaneously developing scientific literacy skills. In a high enrollment general education animal science course, numerous activities were designed to improve scientific literacy. These included specifically developed videos covering strategies for reading published science literature, the utilization of topically relevant scientific articles that captured student interest, and engaging students in a citizen science exercise on whether dogs align themselves to the Earth's magnetic field during excretion behavior. Employing pre- and post-self-perception surveys coupled with tasking students to apply their scientific literacy skills in an assessment scenario demonstrated that students' self-perception of their scientific literacy improved 30% (P < 0.05) with approximately 80% of students accurately applying their literacy skills. The citizen science study on excretory behavior was modeled on previously published findings thereby providing an opportunity to validate the published work which had indicated that dogs align their bodies in a North–South axis during excretion. The present study did not demonstrate preferential alignment to any geomagnetic orientation which emphasized to the students the need for scientific replication. Inclusion of simple activities that were relevant to students' daily lives, and providing interpretive context for those activities, resulted in improved self-perceived scientific literacy.
Ameliorative effects of hesperidin andN-acetylcysteine against formaldehyde-induced-hemato- and genotoxicity
Authors: Mohammed Nourhan , Ahmed Sahar A , Hegazy Nagah I , Kashishy Kamal
Published: August 2021

This study investigated the hemato- and genotoxic effects of formaldehyde (FA) and the possible mitigating role of hesperidin (HP) and N-acetylcysteine (NAC), each alone and in combination. Sixty-four adult male albino rats were divided into eight equal groups; the study was conducted for 8 weeks; Group I (negative control: received no medication), Group II (positive control: received distilled water), Group III (received HP 50 mg/kg/day), Group IV (received NAC 50 mg/kg/day), Group V (received FA 10 mg/kg/day), Group VI (FA + HP), Group VII (FA + NAC), and Group VIII (FA + HP + NAC). Groups VI, VII, VIII received the same previously mentioned doses and for the same duration. All treatments were given by intraperitoneal administration. At the end of the study, complete blood count, oxidative stress, histopathological changes, immunohistochemical staining of inducible nitric oxide synthase, and proliferating cell nuclear antigen and genotoxicity by comet assay in the bone marrow of treated rats were assessed. FA administration caused significant hematotoxicity represented by elevated white blood cell numbers and serum malondialdehyde levels and reduced red blood cell numbers, platelets, and serum superoxide dismutase values. Histologically, it induced an increase in fat cell numbers in bone marrow tissue with a widening of marrow spaces and decreased cellularity of hematopoietic cells, megakaryocytes, and granulocytes. FA exposure significantly decreased immunoreactivity for proliferating cell nuclear antigen, whereas the immunoreactivity for inducible nitric oxide synthase was increased. Genotoxicity, as measured by comet assay, revealed a significant increase in comet% and tail length in FA-treated group when compared with other groups. The cotreatment with HP and NAC revealed their ability to protect against hematological changes, oxidative damage, histopathological, and immunohistochemical changes, and genotoxicity induced by FA.
Quantitative Inheritance of Sclerotinia Stem Rot Resistance in Brassica napus and Relationship to Cotyledon and Leaf Resistances
Authors: Khan Muhammad Azam , Cowling Wallace , Banga Surinder Singh , You Ming Pei , Tyagi Vikrant , Bharti Baudh , Barbetti Martin J.
Published: August 2021

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a necrotrophic fungus causing devastating stem rot and associated yield losses of canola/rapeseed (Brassica napus) worldwide, including in Australia. Developing host resistance against Sclerotinia stem rot is critical if this disease in canola/rapeseed is to be successfully managed, as cultural or chemical control options provide only partial or sporadic control. Three B. napus breeding populations, C2, C5 and C6, including the parents, F1, F2, BC1P1, and BC2P2, were used in a field study with an objective of exploring the inheritance pattern of disease resistance (based on stem lesion length [SLL]) and the genetic relationships of disease with stem diameter (SD) or days to first flowering (DTF), and to compare these new adult plant stem resistances against S. sclerotiorum with those of seedling (cotyledon and leaf) resistances in earlier studies. Heritability (broad sense) of SLL was 0.57 and 0.73 for population C2 at 3 and 5 weeks postinoculation and 0.21 for population C5 at 5 weeks postinoculation. Additive genetic variance was evident within all 3 populations for DTF but not for SD. Narrow-sense heritability for DTF was 0.48 (C2), 0.42 (C5), and 0.32 (C6). SD, DTF, and SLL were all inherited independently, with no significant genetic covariance between traits in bivariate analysis. Genetic variance for SLL in populations C2 and C5 was entirely nonadditive, and there was significant nonadditive genetic covariance of SLL at 3 and 5 weeks postinoculation. Generation means analysis in population C2 supported the conclusion that complex epistatic interactions controlled SLL. Several C2 and C5 progeny showed high adult plant stem resistance, which may be critical in developing enhanced stem resistance in canola/rapeseed. Although population C6 showed no genetic variation for SLL resistance in this study, it showed significant nonadditive genetic variance at the cotyledon and leaf stages in earlier studies. We conclude that host resistance varies across different plant growth stages, and breeding must be targeted for resistance at each growth stage. In populations C2, C5, and C6, resistance to S. sclerotiorum in stem, leaf, and cotyledon was always controlled by nonadditive effects such as complex epistasis or dominance. Overall, our findings in relation to the quantitative inheritance of Sclerotinia stem rot resistance, together with the new high-level resistances identified, will enable breeders to select/develop genotypes with enhanced resistances to S. sclerotiorum.
Secondary anaerobic infection in a case of multidrug resistant tubercular paraspinal abscess: A rare presentation
Authors: Sreenivasan Priya , Sharma Bhawna , Singh Apinderpreet , Kataria Mandeep Singh , Ray Pallab , Angrup Archana
Published: August 2021

Introduction. Paraspinal abscesses are most commonly caused by

Staphylococcus aureus

and some Gram-negative bacteria. In developing countries,

Mycobacterium tuberculosis

(MTB) contributes to almost 50 % of cases. Even in proven cases of tubercular paraspinal abscesses, secondary infection of aerobic or anaerobic bacteria is possible and should be carefully evaluated for proper management.

Case report. A type I diabetes mellitus patient presented with chronic backache and lower limb weakness and radiological investigations showed paraspinal collections suggestive of tuberculosis. The patient was then started on anti-tubercular drugs, she initially responded and then showed gradual deterioration in the form of increased pain, fever and pus discharge. Aerobic cultures of pus were sterile and anaerobic culture grew

Peptoniphilus asaccharolyticus

sensitive to metronidazole. Appropriate treatment had resulted in clinical improvement.

Conclusion. Suspicion about co-infection with aerobic or anaerobic bacteria should be high even in proven cases of tubercular paraspinal abscess not improving despite proper anti-tubercular therapy.