bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Catholicism in Scotland to 1603
Authors: Spurlock R. Scott
Published: September 2023

This chapter explores the distinctive nature of Catholicism in Scotland from the Reformation to the Union of the Crowns. After framing the nature of the Catholic establishment at the eve of the Reformation, it seeks to explain the particular social and political features that shaped the patterns of Catholic survival in the face of arguably the most rigorous anti-Catholic legislation in western Europe. In particular, the study highlights the essential roles played by the nobility, women, the domestic sphere, and the political imperative of the Commonweal within the Scottish context. This also serves to contextualize the Jesuit practice of permitting occasional conformity, and highlights the necessity of such an approach in the particular circumstances of early modern Scotland.
Printed Translations and Catholic Reformation
Authors: Goodrich Jaime
Published: September 2023

This chapter provides a historical overview of the printed translations composed by British and Irish Catholics between Elizabeth’s accession in 1558 and the outbreak of the civil wars in 1640. Over the course of these eighty-odd years, British and Irish Catholics published over one hundred translations, which fit roughly into two distinct categories: devotional texts and polemics. Taken together, these works offer vital insight into the ways that Catholic translators from Britain and Ireland adapted the tenets of Catholic reform for a very specific context: nations where Catholicism had been banned by Protestant regimes. While some translators responded to the Protestant Reformation by translating medieval and patristic works that had been appropriated or dismissed by English reformers, others imported Counter-Reformation spirituality by popularizing cutting-edge texts from the Continent. Looking backward to the past glories of the Catholic Church and forward to Continental innovations, these translations responded to the unique needs of British and Irish Catholics, who faced governmental oppression as they sought to find their place within the wider Catholic Church.
Popery and Anti-Popery in Britain and Ireland
Authors: Lake Peter , Questier Michael , Ford Alan
Published: September 2023

Historians often consider anti-popery in England as a prejudice. As such it is taken to have very little to do with the thing that it was designed to caricature and denounce, and everything to do with the condition and characteristics of the people who first devised and then employed it to create ‘popery’ as the organizing other, the thing against which Protestants could define themselves and affirm the legitimacy of their various spiritual, political, personal, and factional projects. Other historians have analysed it in terms of the internal dynamics and contradictions of Protestant thought and experience. This chapter argues that anti-popery in England can only really be understood in relation to the actions, characteristics, and claims of real Catholics, operating at a number of different levels to assert the legitimacy of their position and the primacy of their Church. In Ireland, Protestant attitudes towards Catholicism were of primary importance, since, after the Reformation, power in State and Church was in Protestant hands, while the vast majority of the population remained Catholic. It was not till the reign of Elizabeth that decisive choices had to be made, as the Dublin government increasingly viewed Catholics as potential traitors and responded to repeated risings with extreme violence. The extension of English power to the whole island in the seventeenth century saw efforts by Irish Protestant leaders to institute a forceful campaign of extirpation against Irish Catholicism. Restrained by the reluctance of the authorities in England to sanction harsh measures, religious persecution declined in the 1620s, but official anti-Catholicism remained strong.
Overseas Missions
Authors: Carey Hilary M.
Published: September 2023

In the nineteenth century, the number of overseas missions conducted by British and Irish Catholics was very small but had considerable significance for the rising social and civic status of Catholicism in Britain and Ireland. This chapter examines the context for the emergence of overseas missions, the major religious organizations who contributed to the movement, and its imperial and devotional strands. It notes the impact of overseas missions on indigenous people as well as the contribution to education, social welfare, and internationalization beyond Britain. It suggests some directions for further research on the beginnings of the overseas Catholic missionary movement in Britain and Ireland.
Medicine in an Age of Revolution
Authors: Elmer Peter
Published: September 2023

This work is the first major attempt since the 1970s to challenge the idea that the essential engine of medical (and scientific) change in seventeenth-century Britain emanated from puritanism. It seeks to reaffirm the crucial role of the period of the civil wars and their aftermath in providing the most congenial context for a re-evaluation of traditional attitudes to medicine. In the process, it rejects the idea that such initiatives were the special preserve of a small religious elite (puritans), claiming instead that enthusiasm for change can be found across the religious spectrum. At the same time, the work demonstrates that medical practitioners were increasingly drawn into contemporary religious and political debates in a way that led to a fundamental politicization of the ‘profession’. By the end of the seventeenth century, it was now commonplace to see doctors, apothecaries and surgeons fully engaged in everyday political and civic life. At the same time, religious and political orientation often became an important factor in the career development of medics, especially in towns and cities, where substantial benefits might accrue to those who found themselves in favour with the ruling elites, be they Whig or Tory. The body politic, a Renaissance commonplace, was now peopled by medical practitioners who often claimed a special authority when it came to diagnosing the ills of late seventeenth-century society.
‘Every Corporation a Politick Pest-House’
Authors: Elmer Peter
Published: September 2023

This chapter explores the emergence of a rival medical culture to that described in the previous chapter focused on ‘loyalist’ medics who were committed supporters of the restored government of the Stuarts and the Anglican Church. Such commitment was demonstrated in a variety of ways, most notably in the growing numbers of loyal practitioners—physicians, surgeons and apothecaries—who became actively involved in corporate and urban government after 1660. Thus continued a process of politicization in which political rivalries often masked medical competition between the two factions. At the same time, loyalist medics became increasingly involved in writing and publishing political propaganda in a process which mirrored the support given by their opponents to the dissenting cause. The Exclusion Crisis and emergence of the first political parties in England had a profound effect on the careers of medical practitioners whose livelihoods were often dependent upon the shifting sands of party allegiance and patronage networks.
Conclusions
Authors: Elmer Peter
Published: September 2023

This final chapter suggests some ways in which the creation of two distinct medical cultures—itself the product of a long process of politicization from mid-century onwards—became manifest in specific attitudes to medical issues. In particular, the focus here is upon the distinct attitude adopted by medical practitioners toward issues relating to the role of spirit in healing which in turn shaped distinct and different approaches to medical phenomena such as madness and witchcraft.
The Virtue of Trustworthiness
Authors: Simpson Thomas W.
Published: September 2023

A goal of this book is to divorce evidentialism about trust from egoism about human motivation. Many evidentialist (and cognitive) accounts of trust have arisen from a background conception of human nature, on which it is presumed that people steadily and persistently pursue their self-interest; on such a conception, trust is gullibility, except if it is in someone’s interests to fulfil their trust. This chapter argues that trust is properly reciprocated when someone is trustworthy, such that trustworthiness may be a character trait. It consists in the robust disposition to acknowledge one’s commitments appropriately, and to act in light of them. This character trait is socially useful—and so a virtue—and the chapter explains how it helps trust to spread. Without the virtue of trustworthiness, it is unexplained why widespread patterns of trust would be rational.
Complex Event Nominals and inheritance
Authors: Wood Jim
Published: September 2023

This chapter presents the first half of the details of the analysis defended in the previous chapters. First, it shows how one structure can get multiple readings, accounting for both (partial) inheritance of argument structure and the systematic ambiguity of Derived Nominals. It then focuses primarily on Complex Event Nominals, where argument structure seems to be inherited. The claim is that this reading arises when v gets the normal meaning that it would get within a verb phrase, and n is semantically expletive. It is thus a noun with the meaning of a verb, so when it takes a complement, if forms an nP that is semantically just like a vP. Above the nP level, similarities between verb phrases and noun phrases stem from parallel interpretative principles, not direct inheritance. This chapter develops a novel proposal for the construction of event structure at the syntax-semantics interface.
Conclusion
Authors: Wood Jim
Published: September 2023

This chapter reviews the previous chapters, emphasizes broad take-away points, and sets up questions for future research. It emphasizes that even if some languages do have the Phrasal Layering structure, the fact that Icelandic does not has important architectural implications: it means that we cannot claim that Complex Event Nominals have the properties that they have because they contain verb phrases; these properties can arise independently. It also emphasizes the fundamentally syntactic nature of the theory of word formation adopted. While many of the points could probably be imported into a non-syntactic theory, there are several crucial places that strongly support a syntactic theory. It also provides some empirical and theoretical points for future research and expresses the hope that the architectural perspective defended throughout this work provides a fresh way of asking and answering old questions, and inspiration for new questions as well.
The Hindu Temple in the Diasporas
Authors: Baumann Martin , Wilke Annette
Published: September 2023

Hindu temples in diaspora serve ritual, cultural, social, communal, and representational functions. These temples were founded by the great number of Hindu immigrants from South Asia and by converts to Hindu guru movements. The variety of Hindu temples in the diaspora is as multifarious as it is in South Asia, with temples displaying regional backgrounds, sectarian traditions, and saṃpradāyas of Hindu communities. While the majority of diaspora temples are located in converted factory halls, disused schools, and community centres, since the late twentieth-century purpose-built temples in South Asian architecture with domes, towers, and painted walls have emerged. These enable an emotional and sensory-aesthetic feeling of Hindu religion, and serve as places of pride, self-esteem, and representation of the Hindu minority. Different organizational models are employed in running a temple, some involving transnational networks. To the most incisive diasporic innovations belong the membership status and fees to finance the temple. Ritual changes involve shifting major pūjās and festivals to weekends instead of rigorously following astrologically fixed dates. Important social changes are new roles for priests and the increased empowerment of women in ritual practices and social functions. In general, the temples take on new social functions by providing common meals, Sunday schools, cultural classes, etc. They acquire a multifunctional character and become a place for community building. Congregational rituals were set up in many temples, some of them developing a universal or pan-Hindu orientation, being deliberately multi-ethnic and non-sectarian. Overall, diasporic temple cultures aim and manage to strike a balance between strategies of religious authenticity and of adaptation and innovation.
Atmospheric Thermodynamics
Authors: Bohren Craig , Albrecht Bruce
Published: September 2023

This book presents a comprehensive treatment of thermodynamic processes operating in the atmosphere, and the core of the text focuses on water and its transformations. Four chapters lay the foundations, from energy conservation to the ideal gas law, specific heat capacities, adiabatic processes, and entropy. It presents applications of the first and second laws and describes the measurement of temperature, pressure, and moisture. An all-encompassing chapter treats phase transitions of water, including the effect of dissolved substances and size on water vapor pressure. The chapter on moist air and clouds discusses virtual temperature, isentropic ascent of saturated air, conserved parameters for moist processes, thermodynamic processes, thermodynamic diagrams, stability, and cloud formation. The final chapter covers energy, momentum, and mass transfer processes that are relevant to micrometeorology and biometeorology. Energy exchange between humans and their environments is treated with an emphasis on comfort in hot, humid conditions and cold, windy conditions (wind chill). Assumptions and approximations are carefully laid out, derivations are detailed, and equations are interpreted physically, and applied. More than 400 thought-provoking problems are included, along with about 350 references with annotations and suggestions for further reading.
Specific Heats and Enthalpy
Authors: Bohren Craig F. , Albrecht Bruce A.
Published: September 2023

Thermodynamics is based on impossible processes (adiabatic, reversible, isothermal) and nonexistent entities (perfect insulation, ideal gases) but must pass tests of consistency and agreement with experiment. ∂U/∂T defines a heat capacity C at constant volume or pressure per unit mass, volume, or mole number. C requires an equation of state U(p,V), either from microscopic theory or macroscopic measurements. A reversible adiabatic process (Q = 0) undergone by an ideal gas yields the Poisson relations between any two variables, for example, pressure and volume. pV is constant in isothermal processes, pVγ is constant in adiabatic processes, where γ=cp/cv.  H=U+pV appears so often that it has acquired a name: enthalpy. Once called “heats” (of combustion, vaporization, etc.) are now more often called enthalpies. The stability of a fluid in a gravitational field g is determined by buoyancy. The boundary between atmospheric stability and instability is the dry, adiabatic lapse rate of temperature g/cp; “dry” means no change of phase
Entropy
Authors: Bohren Craig F. , Albrecht Bruce A.
Published: September 2023

Entropy has several definitions and interpretations, about which there is no consensus. Entropy behaves differently from energy. The entropy of a freely expanding isolated ideal gas increases, whereas its energy does not change. The entropy of an ideal gas in a reversible adiabatic compression is constant, whereas its energy increases. The entropy of an isolated incompressible solid depends only on its temperature, and hence, an initially arbitrary temperature distribution evolves to isothermal, which maximizes its entropy. Because the entropy of a gas depends on temperature and pressure, which vary with height in Earth’s atmosphere, the equilibrium temperature profile of an isolated air column is not isothermal. Constant potential temperature maximizes entropy. Real processes are irreversible, and hence, increase the entropy of a system and its surroundings. Notions that the equilibrium temperature profile of an isolated column of air is the same as that in a solid exemplify the solid atmosphere fallacy.
Energy, Momentum, and Mass Transfer
Authors: Bohren Craig F. , Albrecht Bruce A.
Published: September 2023

Conduction, convection, and radiation are not completely independent energy transfer modes. Energy transfer within a stationary medium is the product of its thermal conductivity and a temperature gradient. Except in thin stagnant films near solid boundaries, energy is transferred in fluids by buoyancy-driven convection at all scales. Film thickness depends on convection in a complicated way. All thermal insulation—cork, wool, foams—exploits the low thermal conductivity of air immobilized in pores. The thermal conductivity of moist air is somewhat less than that of dry air. Cooling of humans in water and air at the same temperature is not 24 times faster because the thermal conductivity of liquid water is 24 times greater than that of still air, even absent metabolism. Core temperatures of humans decrease only 2–4 times faster in water than in air. Odorants travel in perceptibly still indoor air much faster than by molecular diffusion.
Thinking of Necessity
Authors: Leech Jessica
Published: September 2023

This book sets out a Kant-inspired theory of modality, driven by a methodology which takes seriously questions about the function of modal judgment as a guide to a metaphysics of modality. It argues that we need logical modal concepts as a condition on our ability to think, and metaphysical modal concepts as a condition on our ability to think objectively. Concordant with this, it argues that logical necessity has its source in the laws of thought and that metaphysical necessity is relative to conditions on objective thought. This this account of metaphysical necessity, which is termed “Modal Transcendentalism”, is then further developed, covering questions concerning necessary and contingent existence, de re necessity, essentialism, and modal epistemology.
Objectivity and Modality
Authors: Leech Jessica
Published: September 2023

This chapter argues that there is a kind of modality that is relative to conditions on objective thought, and that having a conception of that kind of modality is itself a condition on having objective thoughts. The chapter introduces the Problem of Reality, and introduces conditions on objective thought as a solution to that problem. It is then argued that the objective/subjective distinction is not a true dichotomy, and that there is a third option of being neither objective nor subjective (nonjective). In order to grasp this three-way distinction, it is contended that one needs modal concepts and, in particular, concepts of a kind of modality relative to conditions on objective thought. Next, it is argued that we need a conception of objectivity in order to have objective thoughts. From which it follows that we need the selfsame conception of modality in order to have objective thoughts.
Essence, Existence, and Modal Knowledge
Authors: Leech Jessica
Published: September 2023

This chapter considers some typical cases of metaphysical necessity. First, it is argued that nothing exists metaphysically necessarily, and so everything exists contingently. This requires a comment on the Barcan Formulas: it is argued that we should reject the Barcan Formulas for logical, and hence for metaphysical, modality, by rejecting an existence assumption in classical logic. The chapter then considers the extent to which essentialist necessity claims, such as the essentiality of kind, can be accommodated by the account of metaphysical necessity. It is proposed that essentialist claims may be accommodated as claims of generalized identity. The chapter also addresses some epistemological issues. Metaphysical necessity is often associated with the necessary a posteriori. The chapter explains where a posteriori knowledge might figure in knowledge of conditional metaphysical necessities, using the template of deduction models of modal knowledge. It is further suggested that the distinction between thinking and objective thinking can help to shed light on the notion of conceivability as a guide to possibility. We may distinguish between conceivability understood in terms of what is thinkable, and conceivability understood in terms of what is objectively thinkable. Logic helps us to explore the first kind; transcendental philosophy helps us to explore the second.
Concluding Remarks
Authors: Leech Jessica
Published: September 2023

The chapter summarizes the results of the book, and indicates some points that would benefit from further study. For example, it would be interesting to see other, less Kantian, developments of the proposed function-based methodology. Much of the discussion of the function of modal judgment is underpinned by the claim that the distinction between objective and subjective is not exhaustive: this claim, and its consequences, may be worthy of further exploration. The suggestion that conceivability approaches to modal epistemology could be enhanced in relation to an account of transcendental philosophy also has scope for further development.
Conclusion
Authors: de Boer David
Published: September 2023

The craft of employing the printing press to alleviate distant suffering has a long history that takes us deep into Europe’s age of confessional strife. As the press became the predominant medium through which to express concern about distant strangers, early modern humanitarianism rhetorically transcended the strict confessional parameters within which it had emerged. This did not mean that all confessional groups had equal access to the Dutch printing presses. Throughout the period discussed in this book, countless victims of persecution failed to receive support, despite inclusive languages of common humanity, reason, and the rule of law. This inconsistency between word and deed remained a recurring phenomenon in humanitarian practices in the centuries that followed. The conclusion therefore argues that to understand the dynamics of moral outrage, we should not only examine the norms of a given society, but also when, how, and why these norms were or were not activated for specific situations.
Quantum mechanics is born
Authors: Zubairy M. Suhail
Published: September 2023

The events that led to the formulation of the laws of quantum mechanics are presented. Quantum revolution took place in two phases. In the first phase, three important developments took place. Max Planck explained the radiation emitted by heated objects via a quantum postulate, Albert Einstein explained the emission of electrons when light shines on metals by treating light as consisting of photons, and Niels Bohr developed a model for the hydrogen atom by invoking a quantum postulate. In the second phase, Heisenberg and Schrödinger formulated the laws of quantum mechanics that could not only explain all the known phenomena but predict many others.
What is light?
Authors: Zubairy M. Suhail
Published: September 2023

A brief history of how light has been perceived since antiquity is presented. The understanding of light underwent tremendous changes over time. We have therefore come a long way from the earliest studies on light, trying to understand vision as light emanating from our eyes, to the description of light as rays, then as particles, and then waves, and finally exhibiting both particle and wave natures. The picture of light quanta as both waves and particles is an incomprehensible but correct picture. It is an irony that the greatest strides taken in the scientific understanding have come in our time, yet we feel least certain of our understanding of what light is, what a photon is.
Big bang—Birth of the universe
Authors: Zubairy M. Suhail
Published: September 2023

In this chapter, we discuss the big bang model that explains how and when our universe was created. According to the model, the universe came into being about 13.8 billion years ago. It seems unbelievable but, at that moment, all the trillions of galaxies and the clusters of galaxies with each galaxy consisting of billions of stars were concentrated at a single point, a point much smaller than the smallest object we can think of. Space and time were created as a result of an expansion and the universe, as we see around us, came into being. We discuss how Hubble discovered the expansion of the universe that led to the big bang model. Another piece of evidence came from the discovery of the microwave background radiation left over from the moment of creation. What happened in the initial moments after the big bang is explained. The vast expansion called inflation is also discussed.
Critiques of Constitutional Identity
Authors: Scholtes Julian
Published: September 2023

Both the concept of constitutional identity and the wider notion of ‘constitutional pluralism’ have come under mounting criticism in recent years. Especially in the light of the ‘democratic backsliding’ of EU Member States such as Poland and Hungary, it has been argued that allowing Member States to contest the authority of EU law on the basis of constitutional identity is both corrosive to the European legal order and opens up constitutional adjudication to populist and nativist considerations. This chapter will discuss these criticisms in context, putting special focus on calls to abandon the concept of constitutional identity as a vessel for constitutional dialogue. I argue that many of the criticisms calling for ‘abandoning’ constitutional identity, while rightly pinpointing a problem, draw the wrong conclusions. Instead of abandoning either constitutional identity or constitutional pluralism as such, we ought to think more closely about the abuse of constitutional identity.
Beyond the Jesuit College
Authors: Davies Eloise
Published: September 2023

This chapter examines the role of two Cambridge colleges — Emmanuel and Sidney Sussex — in European politics and diplomacy. Emmanuel became the source of diplomatic chaplains appointed in the reign of James VI and I, all of whom made important contributions to European diplomacy and promoted the Church of England as a model for emulation abroad. Meanwhile, other members of both colleges promoted James’s diplomatic agenda from England, by assisting in the composition of defences of the English Royal Supremacy for a European readership. The chapter then looks at these colleges as a crucial institutional underpinning to Jacobean foreign policy and as evangelical institutions with ambitions to promote Reformation both within and beyond the British Isles. The ‘puritan’ colleges of Cambridge bore certain similarities to the early modern Jesuit colleges, but their significance for the divergent histories of Catholic and Protestant missionary endeavour has been almost entirely overlooked.
‘Minimizing’ Marin Mersenne
Authors: Kent Emily
Published: September 2023

This chapter discusses Marin Mersenne’s relationship with the institution that was his physical and spiritual home for nearly half his life: the Couvent de l’Annonciade, more commonly referred to as the Couvent de la Place Royale. It looks at Mersenne’s Traité de l’harmonie universelle (1627), situating some of its characteristics with reference to the Minim Order and the Place Royale convent. Although this text never reached the renown of the Harmonie universelle (1636–7) published a decade later, the Traité is a powerful embodiment of Mersenne’s vision for the scope of musical philosophy. In fact, many of the questions that Mersenne examines in the Traité, especially those which outline his metaphysical conception of harmony and the place of mathematics in the divine mind, are far less pronounced in his later works on music. Ultimately, interpreting Mersenne’s conformity to or deviation from his monastic community requires one to understand the Minim Order and the Place Royale as two related yet distinct categories. While Mersenne may not have been the most typical member of his order, he still embodied the intellectual culture of an exceptional and atypical Minim convent which differed in its resources, personnel, and general activities.
David A. Lines, The Dynamics of Learning in Early Modern Italy. Arts and Medicine at the University of Bologna. I Tatti Studies in Italian Renaissance History. Cambridge, MA, and London: Harvard University Press, 2023
Authors: Marchiori Silvia M.
Published: September 2023

This chapter provides a commentary on David Lines’s The Dynamics of Learning in Early Modern Italy. Arts and Medicine at the University of Bologna (2023). This book on the history of the University of Bologna presents an excellent overview of the activity of the studium from its first formal statutes in the fifteenth century to its developments in the late eighteenth century. Lines examines the centuries-long unfolding of a multifaceted institution, building convincing arguments about the gradual but continuous changes that affected teachings in the arts, medicine, and theology. Questioning Bologna’s political, cultural, and spiritual subjugation to Rome, he moves towards a new understanding of centre-periphery relationships within the Papal States, uncovering oscillating dynamics between the university, the city, and the Papacy. Crossing disciplinary boundaries, Lines’s book offers insights into the social history of universities and urban areas; the history of philosophy, science, and medicine; Renaissance studies; and the history of the book.
H2O2-dependent oxidation of the transcription factor GmNTL1 promotes salt tolerance in soybean
Authors: Zhang Wenxiao , Zhi Wenjiao , Qiao Hong , Huang Jingjing , Li Shuo , Lu Qing , Wang Nan , Li Qiang , Zhou Qian , Sun Jiaqi , Bai Yuting , Zheng Xiaojian , Bai Mingyi , Van Breusegem Frank , Xiang Fengning
Published: September 2023

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play an essential role in plant growth and responses to environmental stresses. Plant cells sense and transduce ROS signaling directly via hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)–mediated posttranslational modifications (PTMs) on protein cysteine residues. Here, we show that the H2O2-mediated cysteine oxidation of NAC WITH TRANS-MEMBRANE MOTIF1-LIKE 1 (GmNTL1) in soybean (Glycine max) during salt stress promotes its release from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane and translocation to the nucleus. We further show that an oxidative posttranslational modification on GmNTL1 residue Cys-247 steers downstream amplification of ROS production by binding to and activating the promoters of RESPIRATORY BURST OXIDASE HOMOLOG B (GmRbohB) genes, thereby creating a feed-forward loop to fine-tune GmNTL1 activity. In addition, oxidation of GmNTL1 Cys-247 directly promotes the expression of CATION H+ EXCHANGER 1 (GmCHX1)/SALT TOLERANCE-ASSOCIATED GENE ON CHROMOSOME 3 (GmSALT3) and Na+/H+ Antiporter 1 (GmNHX1). Accordingly, transgenic overexpression of GmNTL1 in soybean increases the H2O2 levels and K+/Na+ ratio in the cell, promotes salt tolerance, and increases yield under salt stress, while an RNA interference–mediated knockdown of GmNTL1 elicits the opposite effects. Our results reveal that the salt-induced oxidation of GmNTL1 promotes its relocation and transcriptional activity through an H2O2-mediated posttranslational modification on cysteine that improves resilience of soybean against salt stress.
Forest conservation effectiveness of community forests may decline in the future: Evidence from Cambodia
Authors: Ota Miwa , Ota Tetsuji , Shimizu Katsuto , Onda Nariaki , Ma Vuthy , Sokh Heng , Mizoue Nobuya
Published: September 2023

Community forests (CFs) have been widely established in tropical countries as a tool to achieve forest conservation. Many studies have shown that CFs can contribute to the reduction of deforestation, yet studies that evaluate the contribution of CFs to reducing forest degradation and facilitating forest recovery remain scarce. We investigated the ability of CFs to prevent deforestation and forest degradation and to facilitate forest recovery by using a country-scale longitudinal tree canopy cover and forest cover data set in Cambodia. We found that CFs can prevent both forest degradation and deforestation, but we did not observe a forest recovery effect. We also found that recently established CFs are not effective for forest conservation compared with older CFs. We conclude that, to date, CFs are an effective forest conservation tool; however, this does not necessarily mean that new CFs will be as effective as established ones.
Relationship Between Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Postpartum Diastasis Recti Abdominis in Women in the First Year Postdelivery
Authors: Du Jingran , Ye Juntong , Fei Hui , Li Mengxiong , He Juan , Liu Yun , Liu Lixiang , Ye Yangliu , Li Juanhua , Hou Lili , Xu Yang , Zhang Haixia , Zhang Changlin , Li Tian
Published: September 2023

Objective

Postpartum diastasis recti abdominis (DRA) influences women’s appearance and health. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) can affect the structure of the rectus abdominis muscles. However, the relationship between GDM and postpartum DRA is unknown. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between GDM and postpartum DRA.

Methods

This retrospective cohort study included 241 women in the first year postdelivery. Women with GDM were matched with those without GDM using propensity score matching. They underwent an oral glucose tolerance test during pregnancy and a random blood glucose test before delivery. At follow-up, DRA was diagnosed by palpation, and interrectus distance was measured using ultrasound to evaluate the severity of DRA. The strength of the rectus abdominis was evaluated using the manual muscle testing method.

Results

Among the 241 participants, 174 (72.2%) had postpartum DRA, and 46 women with GDM were matched with 46 women without GDM on the basis of propensity scores. Women with GDM had higher odds of experiencing postpartum DRA (adjusted odds ratio = 4.792; 95% CI = 1.672 to 13.736) and larger interrectus distance values at the upper part of the rectus abdominis than those without GDM. There was a weak and positive correlation between the fasting oral glucose tolerance test level and the interrectus distance values (0.267 ≤ r ≤ 0.367).

Conclusion

GDM was associated with postpartum DRA in women in the first year of delivery. Women with GDM had larger interrectus distance values at the upper part of the rectus abdominis than those without GDM. The fasting oral glucose tolerance test level showed a positive and weak correlation with the severity of postpartum DRA.

Impact

Women with GDM have higher odds of experiencing postpartum DRA than those without GDM. The upper part of the rectus abdominis deserves increased focus during and after rehabilitation. Controlling the fasting oral glucose tolerance test level may help reduce the severity of postpartum DRA.
The economic impact of biofuel policy on the agricultural sector in the Great Plains region, 1997–2017
Authors: Barkley Andrew , Aseete Paul , Sampson Gabriel
Published: September 2023

Global biofuel production has increased over tenfold since 2000 and numerous biofuel production plants have been built in the Great Plains region. We estimate the impact of biofuel plants on the agricultural economy with county-level data on the number of farm operators, net farm income (NFI), and agricultural land values during 1997–2017 for 798 counties in twelve Great Plains states. We find that biofuel production facilities have a small negative association with the number of farm operators, but positive associations with NFI and farmland values in the county where the biofuel plant is located and neighboring (adjacent) counties. Sustained positive associations of biofuel production with farm income and land values are likely to depend on the continuation of national and state government programs of ethanol blend mandates and tax credits. Diminished government bioenergy support could lead to declining farm income and land values in areas near plants.
Structural brain changes in emotion recognition across the adult lifespan
Authors: Karl Valerie , Rohe Tim
Published: September 2023

Emotion recognition (ER) declines with increasing age, yet little is known whether this observation is based on structural brain changes conveyed by differential atrophy. To investigate whether age-related ER decline correlates with reduced grey matter (GM) volume in emotion-related brain regions, we conducted a voxel-based morphometry analysis using data of the Human Connectome Project-Aging (N = 238, aged 36–87) in which facial ER was tested. We expected to find brain regions that show an additive or super-additive age-related change in GM volume indicating atrophic processes that reduce ER in older adults. The data did not support our hypotheses after correction for multiple comparisons. Exploratory analyses with a threshold of P < 0.001 (uncorrected), however, suggested that relationships between GM volume and age-related general ER may be widely distributed across the cortex. Yet, small effect sizes imply that only a small fraction of the decline of ER in older adults can be attributed to local GM volume changes in single voxels or their multivariate patterns.
Determination of the water-use patterns for two xerophyte shrubs by hydrogen isotope offset correction
Authors: Chen Zhixue , Wang Guohui , Pan Yanhui , Shen Yuying , Yang Xianlong
Published: September 2023

The stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope technique is typically used to explore plant water uptake; however, the accuracy of the technique has been challenged by hydrogen isotope offsets between plant xylem water and its potential source water. In this study, the soil hydrogen and oxygen isotope waterline was used to correct the hydrogen isotope offsets for Salix psammophila and Caragana korshinskii, two typical shrub species on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Five different types of isotopic data [(i) δ18O, (ii) δ2H, (iii) combination δ18O with δ2H, (iv) corrected δ2H and (v) combination δ18O with corrected δ2H] were separately used to determine the water-use patterns of the two shrubs. The δ2H offset values of S. psammophila and C. korshinskii did not show significant temporal variation among the sampling months (May, July and September) but showed notable differences between the two shrubs (−0.4 ± 0.5‰ in S. psammophila vs −4.3 ± 0.9‰ in C. korshinskii). The obtained water absorption proportion (WAP) of S. psammophila in the different soil layers (0–20, 20–60 and 60–200 cm) did not differ significantly among the five different input data types. However, compared with the input data types (iii) and (v), the data types (i), (ii) and (iv) overestimated the WAP of C. korshinskii in the 0–20 cm soil layer and underestimated that in the 60–200 cm layer. The data type (iii) overestimated the WAP of C. korshinskii in 0–20 cm soil layer (25.9 ± 0.8%) in July in comparison with the WAP calculated based on data type (v) (19.1 ± 1.1%). The combination of δ18O and corrected δ2H, i.e., data type (v), was identified as the best data type to determine the water use patterns of C. korshinskii due to the strong correlation between the calculated WAP and soil water content and soil sand content. In general, S. psammophila mainly used (57.9–62.1%) shallow soil water (0–60 cm), whereas C. korshinskii mainly absorbed (52.7–63.5%) deep soil water (60–200 cm). We confirm that the hydrogen isotope offsets can cause significant errors in determining plant water uptake of C. korshinskii, and provide valuable insights for accurately quantifying plant water uptake in the presence of hydrogen isotope offsets between xylem and source water. This study is significant for facilitating the application of the stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope technique worldwide, and for revealing the response mechanism of shrub key ecohydrological and physiological processes to the drought environment in similar climate regions.
Integrative taxonomy reveals unrecognised species diversity in African Corypha larks (Aves: Alaudidae)
Authors: Alström Per , Mohammadi Zeinolabedin , Donald Paul F , Nymark Marianne , Enbody Erik D , Irestedt Martin , Elisha Emmanuel Barde , Ndithia Henry K , Tieleman B Irene , Engelbrecht Derek , Olsson Urban , Rancilhac Loïs , Stervander Martin
Published: September 2023

The species complex comprising the rufous-naped lark Corypha africana, Sharpe’s lark Corypha sharpii, the red-winged lark Corypha hypermetra, the Somali long-billed lark Corypha somalica and Ash’s lark Corypha ashi encompasses 31 recognised taxa across sub-Saharan Africa, many of which are extremely poorly known and some not observed for decades. Only 17 taxa have been studied molecularly and none comprehensively for morphology, vocalisations or other behaviours. Here, we undertake comprehensive integrative taxonomic analyses based on plumage and morphometrics (for 97% of the taxa), mitochondrial and nuclear loci (77%), ≤ 1.3 million genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (68%), song (many described for the first time; 52%) and additional behavioural data (45%). All polytypic species as presently circumscribed are paraphyletic, with eight primary clades separated by ≤ 6.3–6.8 Myr, broadly supported by plumage, morphometrics, song and other behaviours. The most recent divergences concern sympatric taxon pairs usually treated as separate species, whereas the divergence of all clades including C. africana subspecies is as old as sister species pairs in other lark genera. We propose the recognition of nine instead of five species, while C. ashi is synonymised with C. somalica rochei as C. s. ashi. The geographical distributions are incompletely known, and although the nine species are generally para-/allopatric, some might be sympatric.
Marbles and Bubbles of the Pancreas: Imaging and Management of Pancreatic Solid and Cystic Lesions
Authors: Naamo Samar , Chung Katherine , Rawal Sahil , Mpoy Mutshipay , Ros Pablo R.
Published: September 2023

The imaging features of focal pancreatic lesions have been extensively investigated in medical literature. However, given the range of pancreatic solid and cystic masses, determining the appropriate course of management can be challenging. Our purpose is to describe classic imaging findings of solid and cystic pancreatic lesions, review their clinical features, discuss the latest management recommendations, and avoid pitfalls considering lesion mimickers.
Monogenic forms of common variable immunodeficiency and implications on target therapeutic approaches
Authors: Tessarin Giulio , Baronio Manuela , Lougaris Vassilios
Published: September 2023

Purpose of review

Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is the most common symptomatic inborn error of immunity. The disorder is characterized by variable clinical and immunological manifestations, and, in a small minority of patients, a monogenic cause may be identified. In this review, we focalized on three different monogenic forms of CVID-like disease.

Recent findings

Activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta syndrome (APDS) is a rare disorder characterized by hyperactivated class I phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) pathway. Affected patients present with respiratory infectious episodes, impaired viral clearance and lymphoproliferation. Recently, a direct PI3K inhibitor has been approved and it showed encouraging results both in controlling clinical and immunological manifestations of the disease. On the other hand, patients with defects in CTLA-4 or LRBA gene present with life-threatening immune dysregulation, autoimmunity and lymphocytic infiltration of multiple organs. Abatacept, a soluble cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) fusion protein that acts as a costimulation modulator, has been widely implemented for affected patients with good results as bridge treatment.

Understanding the biological basis of CVID is important not only for enriching our knowledge of the human immune system, but also for setting the basis for potential targeted treatments in this disorder.
Outcomes and Complications for Concurrent Hernia Repair Among Women Undergoing Hysterectomy
Authors: Lim Stephanie L. , Knochenhauer Hope , Truong Tracy , Weber Jeremy M. , Havrilesky Laura J. , Previs Rebecca A.
Published: September 2023

OBJECTIVE:

To assess whether concurrent hernia repair at time of hysterectomy is associated with increased complications.

METHODS:

In this retrospective cohort study, patients who underwent hysterectomy and hysterectomy with concurrent hernia repair were queried using the American College of Surgeons’ National Surgical Quality Improvement Program participant use file (2005–2019). Propensity score matching was performed 1:1 with respect to preoperative and operative characteristics. Outcomes were operation time, length of stay (LOS), and major and minor complications. A secondary analysis of patients who underwent hysterectomy for malignancy was performed.

RESULTS:

A total of 369,010 patients underwent hysterectomy, and 5,071 of those underwent hysterectomy with concurrent hernia repair. After propensity score matching, there were 5,071 patients in each arm. Hysterectomy with concurrent hernia repair had a longer operation time by 46 minutes (95% CI 42.6–49.6; P<.001) and longer LOS after surgery by 0.71 days (95% CI 0.59–0.84; P<.001). Hysterectomy with concurrent hernia repair was associated with a 21.9% higher risk (15.6% vs 12.8%; 95% CI 1.11–1.34, P<.001) of major complications and was associated with a 34.5% higher risk (7.4% vs 5.5%; 95% CI 1.16–1.56, P<.001) of minor complications. In subgroup analyses, there was no significant increase in risk among patients with body mass indexes (BMIs) lower than 40, those who were younger than age 40 years or older than age 60 years, and those with tobacco use, diabetes, or a minimally invasive surgical approach. For patients undergoing hysterectomy for malignancy, hysterectomy with concurrent hernia repair was associated with a 32-minute longer operation time (95% CI 25.2–38.8; P<.001) and a 0.35-day longer LOS (95% CI 0.04–0.67, P=.027), but there was no significant difference in major and minor complications.

CONCLUSION:

Hysterectomy with concurrent hernia repair is associated with increased operation time, LOS, and risk of major and minor complications compared with hysterectomy without hernia repair. The subgroup analyses suggest that hysterectomy with concurrent hernia has a similar complication risk as hysterectomy without hernia repair in select populations, such as those with BMIs lower than 40 or with known malignancy.
Association of Childbirth With Medical Debt
Authors: Moniz Michelle H. , Stout Molly J. , Kolenic Giselle E. , Carlton Erin F. , Scott John W. , Miller Morgen M. , Becker Nora V.
Published: September 2023

We evaluated the association between childbirth and having medical debt in collections and examined differences by neighborhood socioeconomic status. Among a statewide cohort of commercially insured pregnant (n=14,560) and postpartum (n=12,157) adults, having medical debt in collections was more likely among postpartum individuals compared with pregnant individuals (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.36, 95% CI 1.27–1.46) and those in lowest-income neighborhoods compared with all others (aOR 2.18, 95% CI 2.02–2.35). Postpartum individuals in lowest-income neighborhoods had the highest predicted probabilities of having medical debt in collections (28.9%, 95% CI 27.5–30.3%), followed by pregnant individuals in lowest-income neighborhoods (23.2%, 95% CI 22.0–24.4%), followed by all other postpartum and pregnant people (16.1%, 95% CI 15.4–16.8% and 12.5%, 95% CI 11.9–13.0%, respectively). Our findings suggest that current peripartum out-of-pocket costs are objectively more than many commercially insured families can afford, leading to medical debt. Policies to reduce maternal–infant health care spending among commercially insured individuals may mitigate financial hardship and improve birth equity.