bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Anthropology and Catholicism
Authors: Lee Christine
Published: May 2022

Roman Catholicism has been a repeated subject of interest for anthropology, from Julian Pitt-Rivers’s early ethnography of an Andalusian Catholic community to Talal Asad’s historical anthropological work on medieval monastics. Furthermore, a number of prominent social anthropologists of the mid-20th century—e.g., E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Mary Douglas, Victor Turner, and Godfrey Lienhardt—were themselves Catholics, a fact which infused not just their biography but often their subsequent work. At the same time, anthropologists on the whole have rarely taken Roman Catholicism as the focus of study; instead, Roman Catholicism has often been the invisible backdrop against which the main ethnographic action takes place. In the wake of the development of the anthropology of Christianity, however, an anthropology of Catholicism has burgeoned. The modern Catholic Church, with around 1.3 billion members worldwide, is the largest institution in history. As such, scholars have often examined the way the Church maintains itself as a unified institution even while containing vast spectrums of diversity in practice, theology, and lived experience. Resulting literature has often focused on this, examining institutional continuity over both time—such as the legacy of Catholic evangelization as a key part of colonial endeavors—and space—such as the question of syncretism and the nature of Catholicism’s relationship with indigenous cultures around the world.
Police and Crime in the American City, 1800–2020
Authors: Balto Simon , Felker-Kantor Max
Published: May 2022

The relationship between policing and crime in American history has been tenuous at best. In fact, policing and crime are imperfectly correlated. Crime is understood as a socially constructed category that varies over time and space. Crime in the American city was produced by the actions of police officers on the street and the laws passed by policymakers that made particular behaviors, often ones associated with minoritized people, into something called “crime.” Police create a statistical narrative about crime through the behaviors and activities they choose to target as “crime.” As a result, policing the American city has functionally reinforced the nation’s dominant racial and gender hierarchies as much as (or more so) than it has served to ensure public safety or reduce crime. Policing and the production of crime in the American city has been broadly shaped by three interrelated historical processes: racism, xenophobia, and capitalism. As part of these processes, policing took many forms across space and time. From origins in the slave patrols in the South, settler colonial campaigns of elimination in the West, and efforts to put down striking workers in the urban North, the police evolved into the modern, professional forces familiar to many Americans in the early 21st century. The police, quite simply, operated to uphold a status quo based on unequal and hierarchical racial, ethnic, and economic orders.

Tracing the history of policing and crime from the colonial era to the present demonstrates the ways that policing has evolved through a dialectic of crisis and reform. Moments of protest and unrest routinely exposed the ways policing was corrupt, violent, and brutal, and did little to reduce crime in American cities. In turn, calls for reform produced “new” forms of policing (what was often referred to as professionalization in the early and mid-20th century and community policing in the 21st). But these reforms did not address the fundamental role or power of police in society. Rather, these reforms often expanded it, producing new crises, new protests, and still more “reforms,” in a seemingly endless feedback loop. From the vantage point of the 21st century, this evolution demonstrates the inability of reform or professionalization to address the fundamental role of police in American society. In short, it is a history that demands a rethinking of the relationship between policing and crime, the social function of the police, and how to achieve public safety in American cities.
Guardian and Protector Deities in Tibetan Buddhism
Authors: Bailey Cameron
Published: May 2022

Dharma protectors are a critical and indispensable aspect of Tibetan Buddhism, but the full theological, psychological, political, and literary significance of this special class of deity and their cults is still relatively poorly understood and understudied in Western scholarship. Dharma protectors, who in their typically distinctively wrathful appearances embody and transmute negative emotion and terrifying existential realities, constitute a kind of spiritual or daemonic sangha that in their most immediate function is meant to act as an apotropic ward against any and all threats to the human Buddhist community. Further, these beings are often invoked and employed as something like “familiar” or servitor spirits for a range of purposes by Buddhist religious specialists.

While there are hundreds if not thousands of different protector deities in the shifting, kaleidoscopic “polytheon” of Tibetan Buddhism, there are a relative few main deities around which Tibetans have historically and continually produced a large body of art, ritual, and narrative literature. The most soteriologically and cosmologically significant protector deities, and consequently often the most popular, are usually figures directly borrowed from Indian Buddhism, such as Mahākāla, a wrathful Buddhist form of the Hindu god Śiva, or they are adaptations of Indian deities, such as the great goddess Śrī Devī and the astrological demon Rāhula. These more “Indian” deities tend to be regarded in Tibetan Buddhism as fully enlightened and are distinguished from native Tibetan deities who are more typically seen as unenlightened or more recently enlightened protectors.

The Tibetan mythology of these deities usually takes the form of a conversion narrative, describing how they were born and the events leading up to their becoming (under often quite violent circumstances) guardians of the Buddhist teachings. These Tibetan Buddhist myths, which have largely been neglected by Western scholars, imitate the structures and themes of Indian Buddhist and non-Buddhist Jātaka, Purāṇic, Māravijaya, and Avadāna literary genres, but also often transvalue and subvert them. Thus the “biographies” of these protector deities represent the dark tantric inversions of normative Buddhist hagiography.
Islamic Finance in North America
Authors: Hassan M. Kabir , Huq Tahsin , Muneeza Aishath
Published: May 2022

Islamic finance is an alternative source of financing to the conventional financing that emerged via institutionalization in the 1960s. It has gained popularity in the world irrespective of faith convictions due to the universal and ethical principles adhered in the practice of it. In this regard, North America is not an exception. In the United States and Canada, Islamic finance has been adopted, and there is an established regulatory environment for the operation of it with political support. There is also a wide range of innovative Islamic finance products structured and used in this part of the world that is conducive to the demand of the population and regulatory environment of Islamic finance found in the respective jurisdictions. These two countries are often described as competitors in the region, but the reality is despite the competitive relationship they are in by default, they are also collaborators in developing Islamic finance in the region. More than one million self-identified Muslims in Canada represents 3.2 percent of the total Canadian population. In comparison, the Muslim population in the United States represents 0.9 percent of the total population. Hence, Canada has been viewed as more suitable to become the hub of Islamic finance in the region simply because the number of Muslims in Canada is greater than that found in the United States in terms of religious representation in each nation’s total population. Furthermore, in terms of the regulatory environment, though the regulatory landscape applicable to financial institutions including Islamic financial institutions in the United States is much more sophisticated, the lack of a regulatory environment in Canada for Islamic finance is viewed as an opportunity for Canada as this provides flexibility required to develop and innovate unique Islamic finance products and increase the number of institutions dealing with Islamic finance. Sharia governance is the backbone of the Islamic finance industry in any jurisdiction. A common weakness found in both countries in the development of Islamic finance is on adopting a uniform Sharia governance framework applicable to all institutions offering Islamic finance products and services. In the early 21st century, the practice of Islamic financial institutions in the region indicates that there is no uniform yardstick to adopt in this regard, leading to confusion as well as lack of confidence—not only among “laypeople” but among Sharia scholars as well—in the Sharia-compliant products offered. In the absence of regulatory backing in this regard, an agreement among the industry stakeholders in the region would be sufficient to standardize this practice and implement procedural requirements that ought to be followed in offering Sharia-compliant products and services.
COVID-19 and Digital Archives in Latin America
Authors: Marino Ian Kisil , Nicodemo Thiago Lima
Published: May 2022

Historians devoted to telling the story of the COVID-19 pandemic should question the archival conditions involved. In this article, we approach the archival landscape in Latin America in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, which particularly unfolded in the digital environment. First, we suggest a review of archival digitization in Latin America, providing context for the conditions observed during the pandemic. Second, we discuss the emergence of digital memory initiatives that focused on COVID-19, showing typological relations that may arise from transnational analyses. Accordingly, we dive into some Brazilian archival initiatives with major ethnographic rigor since, in addition to closely representing the reality of the region, they provide us with a more accurate immersion into the agents, platforms, and challenges of this pandemic digital undertaking. Lastly, we point out the complex situation of public archives amidst the mass of documents resulting from the pandemic. This way, we pose questions about the increasingly important interface between history, archives, and a policy for transparency of data.
European Antiquarianism and the Americas
Authors: Schnapp Alain
Published: May 2022

The discovery of the Americas occurred at a time when the Renaissance was upending European sciences, especially history and its representation. Suddenly there appeared peoples who seemed to be the exact opposite of Europeans on account of their customs and techniques, and others, like the Incas or the Aztecs, who seem to compete with the Romans of antiquity, as much with their political system as with their sumptuous monuments. Before that, the West had never been confronted with such a clash of civilizations occurring within only a few decades. While new generations of scholars in Europe were reinterpreting the classical heritage, others set about exploring pre-Roman cultures, interpreting runes, and describing megaliths. This intellectual revolution went hand in hand with the foundation of an ethnographic knowledge enriched with a practice of images that overturned knowledge. Scholars undertook to depict the mores of the Indians with the same enthusiasm as they had depicted those of the first inhabitants of Europe. They became interested in the glyphs of the Aztecs and Mayas with a tenacity identical to that deployed to decipher Roman or Greek inscriptions. The Mexican or Peruvian antiquarians of the 16th and 17th centuries, some of whom were the descendants of the indigenous elites, had no reason to be envious of their European colleagues. Beyond the terrible violence of colonization, the singularity of the discovery of the Americas lies in the foundation of a transatlantic culture that, on both sides of the ocean, drew the contours of a universal history of humanity.
The Reception of Generativism in Romance Linguistics
Authors: Pescarini Diego
Published: May 2022

The reception of generativism in Romance linguistics has been uneven. In the field of morphophonology, scholars were engaging in the discussion about the tenets of generative phonology as early as the 1960s. Structuralist and generative phonologists spoke a mutually understandable metalanguage and worked on agreed-upon empirical facts. Generative syntacticians, by contrast, developed a far more intricate and technical metalanguage by exploring little-known phenomena or by turning apparently trivial facts into theoretically appealing issues. As a result, the reception of generativism in Romance syntax has been almost pathological: Generative and “traditional” Romance scholars have kept working on similar phenomena but from irreconcilable perspectives. Findings and ideas have often been discussed in separate venues and largely incommunicable terms. The reasons for this mutual indifference (rather than overt antipathy) are quite understandable. On the one hand, scholars with a historical/philological background, working on change and variation, had little or no interest in a model of synchronic competence detached from the cultural heritage of linguistic communities. Moreover, the highly technical style of generativist studies—mostly in English—hindered the diffusion of generative ideas beyond the circle of practitioners. On the other hand, generative grammarians have always had the tendency to exploit Romance data as a test bed for their theories, sometimes ignoring or downplaying the contribution of previous descriptive studies. From a generative standpoint, Romance linguistics has always been instrumental in improving theoretical linguistics, not the other way around. The relationship between the communities of Romance linguists and generativists has evolved over time. In the 1960s and early 1970s, the debate was vivid, as witnessed by conference proceedings and articles focusing on the most theoretical aspects of transformational grammar and generative (morpho)phonology, in particular with respect to the analysis of linguistic change and reconstruction. With some remarkable exceptions, however, generative ideas and methods were not readily implemented, and the history of the reception of generativism in Romance linguistics since the early 1980s can more easily be reconstructed from lacunae than documents. In this scenario, collaborative projects featuring generative and nongenerative linguists stand out, because they not only are rare but also yield exceptional results such as the Grande Grammatica Italiana di Consultazione or the Gramática Descriptiva de la Lengua Española, which are recognized reference works for both communities.
Morphologically ‘Autonomous’ Structures in the Romance Languages
Authors: O'Neill Paul
Published: May 2022

This contribution analyses morphologically autonomous structures within the context of the Romance languages, the family of languages which, along with Latin, have most served as an evidence base for these structures. Autonomous morphological structures are defined as an abstract representation of paradigmatic cells which form a cohesive group and reliably share exponents with each other, and the forms which realize them, are thus to a large extent interpredictable. In this contribution, I restrict my discussion to the most canonical type of these structures and those which have sparked the most controversy in the linguistic literature. I analyze this controversy and suggest that it is due to (a) their overlapping meaning with the term morphome, a concept which embodies an empirical claim about all morphology and (b) the controversy surrounding what morphology actually is and the basic units of morphological analysis and storage. I make a distinction between abstractive and constructive models of morphology and suggest that historical tendencies within the latter encourage scholars to view morphologically autonomous structures either as not synchronically relevant or as phonologically or semantically derivable due to their theoretical assumptions about the nature of language and the mental storage of words. These assumptions constitute the horizons of intelligibility of such models regarding the functioning of language and its governing principles, including outdated ideas of the capacity of mental storage. Unfortunately, however, the different theories furnish scholars with an expansive array of devices through which they can seemingly explain away the synchronic generalizations of the data while relegating the most recalcitrant data to the domain of memorized forms which are not relevant to the grammar. I present evidence in favor of the psychological reality of morphologically autonomous structures in diachrony and I argue that synchronically, these structures are necessary to explain the distribution of the data and capture the fact that speakers do not memorize every inflectional form of a paradigm but rely on patterns of predictability and implicational relationships between forms. It is my suggestion that morphologically autonomous structures encourage a revaluation of the basic units of memorization and the structure of the lexicon in accordance with abstractive theories of morphology.
Social Work and Social Policy in Namibia
Authors: Gibson Priscilla A. , Ananias Janet , Freeman Rachel , Chilwalo Namoonga
Published: May 2022

Social work and social policy are intertwined in the Republic of Namibia and heavily influenced by its complex colonial sociopolitical history, struggle for human rights, and progress toward social development. These factors inform how the social and human needs of Namibians are being met. A human rights lens was adopted in 1990 by a democratic government that guided the delivery of social services to a diverse ethnic population. Namibia has successfully integrated social work into its society, supported by (a) a social justice mandate, (b) a capacity-building framework, and (c) Vision 2030. Social and human service needs are provided naturally by indigenous families and communities, and formal services are provided by governmental and nongovernmental agencies. This article consists of an overview of the socio-historical and political contexts of social work and social policies in this emerging democracy, along with special attention to four challenging and interrelated areas of social work practice including poverty, language and national identity, intergenerational caregiving and the Coronavirus pandemic.
Gangrade, Kesharichand Dashrathsa
Authors: Bhatt Sanjai
Published: May 2022

Kesharichand Dashrathsa Gangrade (1926–2019) is known for his indigenous writings and application of Gandhian principles in social work practices in India. He developed the concept of Gandhian social work—an amalgamation of Gandhian ideology and values of social work practice. He had an immense exposure to the sociocultural dynamics of different societies and working with vulnerable groups and marginalized communities. Gangrade brought all his wisdom, from experiments to experiences in community organization practices, in his 30 books. He was also an educational administrator par excellence. Imbibing Gandhian virtues in his practices and belief in simplicity and trusteeship as life principles, he learned, loved, and lured values of life with Gandhian ethics. Along with academics, he worked with Mahatma Gandhi’s close associate Jai Prakash Narayan through promoting nongovernmental and community-based organizations for rural development.
Cox, Frederick
Authors: Frank Dionne V.
Published: May 2022

Frederick Augustus Salvador Cox (April 15, 1944–July 12, 2009) was a teacher, social worker, and lay minister who campaigned for sexual and reproductive rights, advocated for the preservation of the family, and worked tirelessly to encourage men to play a meaningful role in society. Born on April 15, 1944, in the rural community of Freetown, Pomeroon, Guyana, Frederick moved to the capital city, Georgetown, where he trained as a teacher and social worker. He contributed to Guyana’s social development in many ways, including as a principal (Sophia Special School), president (Guyana Association of Professional Social Workers), chairman (Medical Termination of Pregnancy Board) as the longest serving executive director of the Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association and a lay minister with the Church of the Transfiguration. Apart from maintaining an active public profile and addressing various social issues, Frederick gained national attention hosting Social Work and You, a weekly radio program. His activism and contributions were such that in paying tribute to him on his death on July 12, 2009, then Minister of Health Dr. Leslie Ramsammy told the media that Frederick Cox was an asset who would be difficult to replace. Indeed, since the passing of this consummate social worker, Guyana has not seen another male of his caliber assume a public role to advocate for sexual and reproductive health and women’s rights.
Queer Communities, LGBTQIA2S+ Populations, and Macro Practice
Authors: Dentato Michael P.
Published: May 2022

Related to understanding queer identities, an ongoing need exists for the expansion of competency among social workers across micro and macro practice frameworks. Practitioners must be aware of their own positionality and use of cultural humility associated with practice and advocacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and two-spirit+ (LGBTQIA2S+) communities, which include those identifying as demisexual, omnisexual, and pansexual, among others. Relatedly, social workers must be attentive to evolving terminology and contexts through which the term queer has been defined over the years, as well as relevant challenges with connectedness to (or separation from) the larger LGBTQIA2S+ community. Age cohort associations and the role of intersectionality also have relevance and underscore the multidimensional discourse necessary to develop effective competency and the ability to engage in affirming macro practice with queer communities. Social work practitioners must understand the implications for best practices associated with establishing and maintaining an affirming alliance with queer clients via policy practice efforts, advocacy efforts, community organizing, service provision, or therapeutic context. In addition, there remains a continued need for ongoing research associated with understanding the unique needs of queer identities and the queer community at large.
Facilitation of auxin biosynthesis and metabolism by salt stress in rice plants
Authors: Isobe Takuya , Miyagawa Hisashi
Published: May 2022

To investigate the effects of salt stress on the auxin in rice plants, we analyzed indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and its metabolites in hydroponically grown rice plant seedlings (Oryza sativa cv. Nipponbare) and in the culture medium using LC-ESI/MS/MS. We found that the IAA level in the culture medium was increased about 20-fold due to salt stress treatment, while those in the shoots and roots were increased by less than twofold. The culture medium also contained high amounts of oxidized metabolites such as OxIAA, DiOxIAA, DiOxIAA-Glu, and DiOxIAA-Asp. The total amount of IAA and its metabolites in the shoots, roots, and culture medium was significantly increased with salt treatment. A salt stress-responsive increase in the IAA metabolites was observed in nine tested cultivars of rice. The results indicate that salt stress facilitates the metabolic turnover of IAA in rice plants and may open new insight into the role of auxin.
Kinetochore tracking in 3D from lattice light-sheet imaging data with KiT
Authors: Harrison Jonathan U , Sen Onur , McAinsh Andrew D , Burroughs Nigel J
Published: May 2022

Motivation

Lattice light-sheet microscopy (LLSM) is revolutionizing cell biology since it enables fast, high-resolution extended imaging in three dimensions combined with a drastic reduction in photo-toxicity and bleaching. However, analysis of such datasets still remains a major challenge.

Results

Automated tracking of kinetochores, the protein complex facilitating and controlling microtubule attachment of the chromosomes within the mitotic spindle, provides quantitative assessment of chromosome dynamics in mitosis. Here, we extend existing open-source kinetochore tracking software (KiT) to track (and pair) kinetochores throughout prometaphase to anaphase in LLSM data. One of the key improvements is a regularization term in the objective function to enforce biological information about the number of kinetochores in a human mitotic cell, as well as improved diagnostic tools. This software provides quantitative insights into how kinetochores robustly ensure congression and segregation of chromosomes during mitosis.

Availability and implementation

KiT is free, open-source software implemented in MATLAB and can be downloaded as a package from https://github.com/cmcb-warwick/KiT. The source repository is available at https://bitbucket.org/jarmond/kit (tag v2.4.0) and under continuing development.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Autosomal dominant and sporadic late onset Alzheimer's disease share a commonin vivopathophysiology
Authors: Morris John C , Weiner Michael , Xiong Chengjie , Beckett Laurel , Coble Dean , Saito Naomi , Aisen Paul S , Allegri Ricardo , Benzinger Tammie L S , Berman Sarah B , Cairns Nigel J , Carrillo Maria C , Chui Helena C , Chhatwal Jasmeer P , Cruchaga Carlos , Fagan Anne M , Farlow Martin , Fox Nick C , Ghetti Bernardino , Goate Alison M , Gordon Brian A , Graff-Radford Neill , Day Gregory S , Hassenstab Jason , Ikeuchi Takeshi , Jack Clifford R , Jagust William J , Jucker Mathias , Levin Johannes , Massoumzadeh Parinaz , Masters Colin L , Martins Ralph , McDade Eric , Mori Hiroshi , Noble James M , Petersen Ronald C , Ringman John M , Salloway Stephen , Saykin Andrew J , Schofield Peter R , Shaw Leslie M , Toga Arthur W , Trojanowski John Q , Vöglein Jonathan , Weninger Stacie , Bateman Randall J , Buckles Virginia D
Published: May 2022

The extent to which the pathophysiology of autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease corresponds to the pathophysiology of ‘sporadic’ late onset Alzheimer's disease is unknown, thus limiting the extrapolation of study findings and clinical trial results in autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease to late onset Alzheimer's disease.

We compared brain MRI and amyloid PET data, as well as CSF concentrations of amyloid-β42, amyloid-β40, tau and tau phosphorylated at position 181, in 292 carriers of pathogenic variants for Alzheimer's disease from the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network, with corresponding data from 559 participants from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Imaging data and CSF samples were reprocessed as appropriate to guarantee uniform pipelines and assays. Data analyses yielded rates of change before and after symptomatic onset of Alzheimer's disease, allowing the alignment of the ∼30-year age difference between the cohorts on a clinically meaningful anchor point, namely the participant age at symptomatic onset.

Biomarker profiles were similar for both autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease and late onset Alzheimer's disease. Both groups demonstrated accelerated rates of decline in cognitive performance and in regional brain volume loss after symptomatic onset. Although amyloid burden accumulation as determined by PET was greater after symptomatic onset in autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease than in late onset Alzheimer's disease participants, CSF assays of amyloid-β42, amyloid-β40, tau and p-tau181 were largely overlapping in both groups. Rates of change in cognitive performance and hippocampal volume loss after symptomatic onset were more aggressive for autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease participants.

These findings suggest a similar pathophysiology of autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease and late onset Alzheimer's disease, supporting a shared pathobiological construct.
Genome-wide association studies for Alzheimer’s disease: bigger is not always better
Authors: Escott-Price Valentina , Hardy John
Published: May 2022

As the size of genome-wide association studies increase, the number of associated trait loci identified inevitably increase. One welcomes this if it allows the better delineation of the pathways to disease and increases the accuracy of genetic prediction of disease risk through polygenic risk score analysis. However, there are several problems in the continuing increase in the genome-wide analysis of ‘Alzheimer’s disease’. In this review, we have systematically assessed the history of Alzheimer’s disease genome-wide association studies, including their sample sizes, age and selection/assessment criteria of cases and controls and heritability explained by these disease genome-wide association studies. We observe that nearly all earlier disease genome-wide association studies are now part of all current disease genome-wide association studies. In addition, the latest disease genome-wide association studies include (i) only a small fraction (∼10%) of clinically screened controls, substituting for them population-based samples which are systematically younger than cases, and (ii) around 50% of Alzheimer’s disease cases are in fact ‘proxy dementia cases’. As a consequence, the more genes the field finds, the less the heritability they explain. We highlight potential caveats this situation creates and discuss some of the consequences occurring when translating the newest Alzheimer’s disease genome-wide association study results into basic research and/or clinical practice.
Transfusing Convalescent Plasma as Post-Exposure Prophylaxis Against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Infection: A Double-Blinded, Phase 2 Randomized, Controlled Trial
Authors: Shoham Shmuel , Bloch Evan M , Casadevall Arturo , Hanley Daniel , Lau Bryan , Gebo Kelly , Cachay Edward , Kassaye Seble G , Paxton James H , Gerber Jonathan , Levine Adam C , Naeim Arash , Currier Judith , Patel Bela , Allen Elizabeth S , Anjan Shweta , Appel Lawrence , Baksh Sheriza , Blair Paul W , Bowen Anthony , Broderick Patrick , Caputo Christopher A , Cluzet Valerie , Cordisco Marie Elena , Cruser Daniel , Ehrhardt Stephan , Forthal Donald , Fukuta Yuriko , Gawad Amy L , Gniadek Thomas , Hammel Jean , Huaman Moises A , Jabs Douglas A , Jedlicka Anne , Karlen Nicky , Klein Sabra , Laeyendecker Oliver , Lane Karen , McBee Nichol , Meisenberg Barry , Merlo Christian , Mosnaim Giselle , Park Han-Sol , Pekosz Andrew , Petrini Joann , Rausch William , Shade David M , Shapiro Janna R , Singleton J Robinson , Sutcliffe Catherine , Thomas David L , Yarava Anusha , Zand Martin , Zenilman Jonathan M , Tobian Aaron A R , Sullivan David J
Published: May 2022

Background

The efficacy of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) convalescent plasma (CCP) for preventing infection in exposed, uninfected individuals is unknown. CCP might prevent infection when administered before symptoms or laboratory evidence of infection.

Methods

This double-blinded, phase 2 randomized, controlled trial (RCT) compared the efficacy and safety of prophylactic high titer (≥1:320 by Euroimmun ELISA) CCP with standard plasma. Asymptomatic participants aged ≥18 years with close contact exposure to a person with confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the previous 120 hours and negative SARS-CoV-2 test within 24 hours before transfusion were eligible. The primary outcome was new SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Results

In total, 180 participants were enrolled; 87 were assigned to CCP and 93 to control plasma, and 170 transfused at 19 sites across the United States from June 2020 to March 2021. Two were excluded for screening SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) positivity. Of the remaining 168 participants, 12/81 (14.8%) CCP and 13/87 (14.9%) control recipients developed SARS-CoV-2 infection; 6 (7.4%) CCP and 7 (8%) control recipients developed COVID-19 (infection with symptoms). There were no COVID-19-related hospitalizations in CCP and 2 in control recipients. Efficacy by restricted mean infection free time (RMIFT) by 28 days for all SARS-CoV-2 infections (25.3 vs 25.2 days; P = .49) and COVID-19 (26.3 vs 25.9 days; P = .35) was similar for both groups.

Conclusions

Administration of high-titer CCP as post-exposure prophylaxis, although appearing safe, did not prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Clinical Trials Registration

NCT04323800.
Pacing lead extraction in the management of tricuspid regurgitation: a case report
Authors: Khor Lynn , Madan Kedar , Lee Choon Huat , Ng Martin K C
Published: May 2022

Background

Patients with a cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED)-induced tricuspid regurgitation (TR) have an increased mortality and morbidity. However, the impact of CIED-lead extraction and its indications are not well-defined.

Case summary

A 69-year-old woman presented with recurrent hospital admissions for right heart failure refractory to medical therapy, on the background of a single-chamber permanent pacemaker (Biotronik) implanted 6 years ago for tachycardia–bradycardia syndrome. Transoesophageal echocardiography identified severe TR which was predominantly CIED-induced from a lead impingement of the posterior tricuspid valve (TV) leaflet preventing adequate leaflet coaptation. This had progressed to cause a degree of secondary functional TR. The patient underwent pacing lead extraction followed by epicardial lead placement via minithoracotomy, with significant symptomatic and echographic improvement of TR.

Discussion

CIED-induced TR from a lead impingement of TV leaflets carries the highest risk of TR and its consequences. This case illustrates the significance of the relationship between CIED-leads and the TV, which impacts management strategy. We recommend a mechanistic approach and incorporating CIED-lead interaction with the TV apparatus as the underlying principle in developing future management guidelines for CIED-induced TR.
Tyranny and Liberty, Resistance and Regicide: Political Assassination in John Galt’s The Spaewife
Authors: Garber Zachary
Published: May 2022

Though its use declined after the Middle Ages, the chronicle long remained the genre of choice for those unsatisfied with conventional histories. John Galt, a Scottish Romantic author currently enjoying renewed critical interest, demonstrates the political applications of the chronicle, in both form and content, as a means of harnessing Britain’s distant past to come to terms with the material and philosophical developments of the long eighteenth century. In particular, Galt’s adaptation of the chronicle offers an alternate reading of the past in which history is not something from which society must escape, nor something uniformly primitive, but rather something to be harnessed in buttressing political systems, an expression of trust in social institutions typical of Burkean conservatism. This line of argument reveals a committed Tory who fears the potential for violence – particularly political assassination and regicide – in the post-Revolutionary era. The Spaewife (1823) depicts a historical moment drawn from Scotland’s chronicle tradition using language linking it to political circumstances of the 1820s. Just as Galt’s earlier works question the purpose and efficacy of early century social unrest, so too does The Spaewife undermine the argument for political assassination even as it leaves open an understanding of the circumstances that (mistakenly) led parties to commit such acts. Unlike the novel’s proximal source text, Galt’s narrative locates political justice on the side of the murdered King James I, and in so doing resuscitates Scotland’s oldest textual tradition in opposition to theories of resistance that had been used to justify contemporary cases of political assassination.
Prognostic impact of type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus in atrial fibrillation and the effect of severe hypoglycaemia: a nationwide cohort study
Authors: Karayiannides Stelios , Norhammar Anna , Landstedt-Hallin Lena , Friberg Leif , Lundman Pia
Published: May 2022

Aims

To compare prognosis between individuals without diabetes, type 1 and type 2 diabetes in a nationwide atrial fibrillation cohort in Sweden and study the significance of severe hypoglycaemia.

Methods

Using data from all-inclusive national registers, 309,611 patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation were enrolled during 2013–2014. Of these, 2,221 had type 1 and 58,073 had type 2 diabetes. Patients were followed for all-cause mortality until 27 March 2017, and for myocardial infarction, ischaemic stroke and first-ever diagnosis of heart failure or dementia until 31 December 2015. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using Cox and competing risk regression.

Results

Using individuals without diabetes as reference (HR = 1), the adjusted HRs in type 1 vs. type 2 diabetes were for mortality 1.87 (CI 1.73–2.02) vs. 1.51 (CI 1.47–1.55), heart failure 1.59 (CI 1.42–1.78) vs. 1.41 (CI 1.34–1.48), myocardial infarction 2.49 (CI 2.17–2.85) vs. 1.70 (CI 1.59–1.81), ischaemic stroke 1.59 (CI 1.35–1.87) vs. 1.31 (CI 1.22–1.40), and dementia 1.46 (CI 1.15–1.85) vs. 1.28 (CI 1.18–1.40). Among individuals with type 2 diabetes, those with previous severe hypoglycaemia had increased risk of mortality (HR 1.26; CI 1.17–1.36) and dementia (HR 1.37; CI 1.08–1.73) compared with those without previous severe hypoglycaemia.

Conclusion

Presence of diabetes—regardless of type— in atrial fibrillation is associated with an increased risk of premature death, cardiovascular events and dementia. This increase is more pronounced in type 1 than in type 2 diabetes. A history of severe hypoglycaemia is associated with a worsened prognosis in type 2 diabetes.
Evolutionary jumps in bacterial GC content
Authors: Mahajan Saurabh , Agashe Deepa
Published: May 2022

Genomic GC (Guanine-Cytosine) content is a fundamental molecular trait linked with many key genomic features such as codon and amino acid use. Across bacteria, GC content is surprisingly diverse and has been studied for many decades; yet its evolution remains incompletely understood. Since it is difficult to observe GC content evolve on laboratory time scales, phylogenetic comparative approaches are instrumental; but this dimension is rarely studied systematically in the case of bacterial GC content. We applied phylogenetic comparative models to analyze GC content evolution in multiple bacterial groups across 2 major bacterial phyla. We find that GC content diversifies via a combination of gradual evolution and evolutionary “jumps.” Surprisingly, unlike prior reports that solely focused on reductions in GC, we found a comparable number of jumps with both increased and decreased GC content. Overall, many of the identified jumps occur in lineages beyond the well-studied peculiar examples of endosymbiotic and AT-rich marine bacteria and do not support the predicted role of oxygen dependence. Our analysis of rapid and large shifts in GC content thus identifies new clades and novel contexts to further understand the ecological and evolutionary drivers of this important genomic trait.
Variation in leaf transcriptome responses to elevated ozone corresponds with physiological sensitivity to ozone across maize inbred lines
Authors: Nanni Adalena V , Morse Alison M , Newman Jeremy R B , Choquette Nicole E , Wedow Jessica M , Liu Zihao , Leakey Andrew D B , Conesa Ana , Ainsworth Elizabeth A , McIntyre Lauren M
Published: May 2022

We examine the impact of sustained elevated ozone concentration on the leaf transcriptome of 5 diverse maize inbred genotypes, which vary in physiological sensitivity to ozone (B73, Mo17, Hp301, C123, and NC338), using long reads to assemble transcripts and short reads to quantify expression of these transcripts. More than 99% of the long reads, 99% of the assembled transcripts, and 97% of the short reads map to both B73 and Mo17 reference genomes. Approximately 95% of the genes with assembled transcripts belong to known B73–Mo17 syntenic loci and 94% of genes with assembled transcripts are present in all temperate lines in the nested association mapping pan-genome. While there is limited evidence for alternative splicing in response to ozone stress, there is a difference in the magnitude of differential expression among the 5 genotypes. The transcriptional response to sustained ozone stress in the ozone resistant B73 genotype (151 genes) was modest, while more than 3,300 genes were significantly differentially expressed in the more sensitive NC338 genotype. There is the potential for tandem duplication in 30% of genes with assembled transcripts, but there is no obvious association between potential tandem duplication and differential expression. Genes with a common response across the 5 genotypes (83 genes) were associated with photosynthesis, in particular photosystem I. The functional annotation of genes not differentially expressed in B73 but responsive in the other 4 genotypes (789) identifies reactive oxygen species. This suggests that B73 has a different response to long-term ozone exposure than the other 4 genotypes. The relative magnitude of the genotypic response to ozone, and the enrichment analyses are consistent regardless of whether aligning short reads to: long read assembled transcripts; the B73 reference; the Mo17 reference. We find that prolonged ozone exposure directly impacts the photosynthetic machinery of the leaf.
Serotonin signals through postsynaptic Gαq, Trio RhoGEF, and diacylglycerol to promote Caenorhabditis elegans egg-laying circuit activity and behavior
Authors: Dhakal Pravat , Chaudhry Sana I , Signorelli Rossana , Collins Kevin M
Published: May 2022

Activated Gαq signals through phospholipase-Cβ and Trio, a Rho GTPase exchange factor (RhoGEF), but how these distinct effector pathways promote cellular responses to neurotransmitters like serotonin remains poorly understood. We used the egg-laying behavior circuit of Caenorhabditis elegans to determine whether phospholipase-Cβ and Trio mediate serotonin and Gαq signaling through independent or related biochemical pathways. Our genetic rescue experiments suggest that phospholipase-Cβ functions in neurons while Trio Rho GTPase exchange factor functions in both neurons and the postsynaptic vulval muscles. While Gαq, phospholipase-Cβ, and Trio Rho GTPase exchange factor mutants fail to lay eggs in response to serotonin, optogenetic stimulation of the serotonin-releasing HSN neurons restores egg laying only in phospholipase-Cβ mutants. Phospholipase-Cβ mutants showed vulval muscle Ca2+ transients while strong Gαq and Trio Rho GTPase exchange factor mutants had little or no vulval muscle Ca2+ activity. Treatment with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate that mimics 1,2-diacylglycerol, a product of PIP2 hydrolysis, rescued egg-laying circuit activity and behavior defects of Gαq signaling mutants, suggesting both phospholipase-C and Rho signaling promote synaptic transmission and egg laying via modulation of 1,2-diacylglycerol levels. 1,2-Diacylglycerol activates effectors including UNC-13; however, we find that phorbol esters, but not serotonin, stimulate egg laying in unc-13 and phospholipase-Cβ mutants. These results support a model where serotonin signaling through Gαq, phospholipase-Cβ, and UNC-13 promotes neurotransmitter release, and that serotonin also signals through Gαq, Trio Rho GTPase exchange factor, and an unidentified, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate-responsive effector to promote postsynaptic muscle excitability. Thus, the same neuromodulator serotonin can signal in distinct cells and effector pathways to coordinate activation of a motor behavior circuit.
Fast and accurate estimation of multidimensional site frequency spectra from low-coverage high-throughput sequencing data
Authors: Mas-Sandoval Alex , Pope Nathaniel S , Nielsen Knud Nor , Altinkaya Isin , Fumagalli Matteo , Korneliussen Thorfinn Sand
Published: May 2022

Background

The site frequency spectrum summarizes the distribution of allele frequencies throughout the genome, and it is widely used as a summary statistic to infer demographic parameters and to detect signals of natural selection. The use of high-throughput low-coverage DNA sequencing data can lead to biased estimates of the site frequency spectrum due to high levels of uncertainty in genotyping.

Results

Here we design and implement a method to efficiently and accurately estimate the multidimensional joint site frequency spectrum for large numbers of haploid or diploid individuals across an arbitrary number of populations, using low-coverage sequencing data. The method maximizes a likelihood function that represents the probability of the sequencing data observed given a multidimensional site frequency spectrum using genotype likelihoods. Notably, it uses an advanced binning heuristic paired with an accelerated expectation-maximization algorithm for a fast and memory-efficient computation, and can generate both unfolded and folded spectra and bootstrapped replicates for haploid and diploid genomes. On the basis of extensive simulations, we show that the new method requires remarkably less storage and is faster than previous implementations whilst retaining the same accuracy. When applied to low-coverage sequencing data from the fungal pathogen Neonectria neomacrospora, results recapitulate the patterns of population differentiation generated using the original high-coverage data.

Conclusion

The new implementation allows for accurate estimation of population genetic parameters from arbitrarily large, low-coverage datasets, thus facilitating cost-effective sequencing experiments in model and non-model organisms.
NuCLS: A scalable crowdsourcing approach and dataset for nucleus classification and segmentation in breast cancer
Authors: Amgad Mohamed , Atteya Lamees A , Hussein Hagar , Mohammed Kareem Hosny , Hafiz Ehab , Elsebaie Maha A T , Alhusseiny Ahmed M , AlMoslemany Mohamed Atef , Elmatboly Abdelmagid M , Pappalardo Philip A , Sakr Rokia Adel , Mobadersany Pooya , Rachid Ahmad , Saad Anas M , Alkashash Ahmad M , Ruhban Inas A , Alrefai Anas , Elgazar Nada M , Abdulkarim Ali , Farag Abo-Alela , Etman Amira , Elsaeed Ahmed G , Alagha Yahya , Amer Yomna A , Raslan Ahmed M , Nadim Menatalla K , Elsebaie Mai A T , Ayad Ahmed , Hanna Liza E , Gadallah Ahmed , Elkady Mohamed , Drumheller Bradley , Jaye David , Manthey David , Gutman David A , Elfandy Habiba , Cooper Lee A D
Published: May 2022

Background

Deep learning enables accurate high-resolution mapping of cells and tissue structures that can serve as the foundation of interpretable machine-learning models for computational pathology. However, generating adequate labels for these structures is a critical barrier, given the time and effort required from pathologists.

Results

This article describes a novel collaborative framework for engaging crowds of medical students and pathologists to produce quality labels for cell nuclei. We used this approach to produce the NuCLS dataset, containing >220,000 annotations of cell nuclei in breast cancers. This builds on prior work labeling tissue regions to produce an integrated tissue region- and cell-level annotation dataset for training that is the largest such resource for multi-scale analysis of breast cancer histology. This article presents data and analysis results for single and multi-rater annotations from both non-experts and pathologists. We present a novel workflow that uses algorithmic suggestions to collect accurate segmentation data without the need for laborious manual tracing of nuclei. Our results indicate that even noisy algorithmic suggestions do not adversely affect pathologist accuracy and can help non-experts improve annotation quality. We also present a new approach for inferring truth from multiple raters and show that non-experts can produce accurate annotations for visually distinctive classes.

Conclusions

This study is the most extensive systematic exploration of the large-scale use of wisdom-of-the-crowd approaches to generate data for computational pathology applications.