bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Nasopharyngeal mucoepidermoid carcinoma with mastermind-like transcriptional coactivator 2 translocation: A case report and comprehensive literature review of a rare entity
Authors: Chio Chan-Fong , Sam Wan-Pang , Wong Sio-In , Sio Cheong-Un , Kok Lai-Fong , Pai Ki-Man , Hlaing Thazin
Published: September 2024

Mucoepidermoid carcinoma is one of the most common malignant tumors in salivary glands and is usually associated with mastermind-like transcriptional coactivator 2 (MAML2) rearrangement. Primary nasopharyngeal mucoepidermoid carcinoma is extremely rare, and MAML2 status was reported in only two studies. Herein, we present a 70-year-old male patient with incidentally found nasopharyngeal mucoepidermoid carcinoma. MAML2 translocation was detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization test. Additionally, we conducted a comprehensive literature review and summarized the clinicopathological features of this rare condition. Nasopharyngeal mucoepidermoid carcinoma shows a similar mean age at diagnosis and gender ratio to those of mucoepidermoid carcinoma in salivary glands. More than half of the patients exhibit high histologic grade at the time of diagnosis. As MAML2 status is unreported in almost all published cases, further studies are needed to explore the incidence and prognostic value of MAML2 rearrangement in nasopharyngeal mucoepidermoid carcinoma.
Navigating cold agglutinin-induced hemolytic anemia in developing countries: A case report and literature review
Authors: Amjad Ayesha , Zaidi Syeda Mahrukh Fatima , Khan Muhammad Umer , Khan Sajjad Ali
Published: September 2024

Cold agglutinin-induced hemolytic anemia presents diagnostic and management challenges, particularly in resource-limited settings like Pakistan. A 92-year-old male presented with altered consciousness, fever, weakness, and severe asthenia. Laboratory findings revealed severe anemia, elevated mean corpuscular volume, and deranged renal function tests. The diagnosis was confirmed via a positive Direct Coombs test and elevated cold agglutinin titers. Multidisciplinary management led to symptom resolution, including blood transfusions and immunosuppressive therapy. This case report and literature review emphasize the complexities of diagnosing and managing cold agglutinin-induced hemolytic anemia in Pakistan. By enhancing awareness and understanding of this condition, clinicians can optimize patient outcomes through timely intervention and multidisciplinary care.
My Data, My Choice? Privacy, Commodity Activism, and Big Tech’s Corporatization of Care in the Post-Roe Era
Authors: Martin Zelly , Montiel Valle Dominique , Shorey Samantha
Published: September 2024

After the Dobbs decision ended federal abortion protection in the United States, experts raised concerns about digital data collected from people seeking abortions. U.S. technology corporations—Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon—were conspicuously silent. Instead, GAMMA (Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon) released statements and/or policies surrounding commitments to data privacy seemingly incongruous with surveillance-based business models. We examine GAMMA’s policies, statements, and associated news coverage post-Roe through commodity activism and politics of care. We reveal recurring discourses that cast technical privacy features as sufficiently protective alongside scrupulous data practices by users and that constrain the purview of company responsibility to full-time employees. A focus on responsible data management sidesteps critiques of data collection, framing GAMMA’s policy changes as corporate care but furthering commodification of individual privacy, reproducing the neoliberal subject, and upholding surveillance capitalism.
“What You Post in the Group Stays in the Group”: Examining the Affordances of Bounded Social Media Places
Authors: Malhotra Pranav
Published: September 2024

This study focuses on the affordances of bounded social media places (BSMPs), low visibility places within social media platforms like private messaging and private groups. While researchers have focused on BSMPs within specific platforms, this study presents a systematic examination of BSMPs across multiple platforms to facilitate theoretical durability. Interviews with users of BSMPs across diverse platforms ( N = 35) reveal that BSMPs discourage the affordance of visibility as they are considered private due to visibility management mechanisms and trust in known audiences. They encourage personalization as users believe they receive relevant content from and can send relevant content to specific audiences, in the absence of algorithms. BSMPs also encourage synchronicity by facilitating continuous conversations. The strength of encouragement or discouragement of these affordances varies across different BSMPs and is informed by users’ social positions. This study therefore contributes a framework and shared terminology for future research on BSMPs across social media.
Emotional Intelligence and Meaning in Life: Mediation by Sense of Security and Self-Esteem
Authors: Luo Nan , Jiang Fangyuan , Jo Namjeong
Published: September 2024

This study aimed to explore the direct effect of emotional intelligence on the meaning in life from the positive psychology perspective and to verify whether the sense of security and self-esteem can improve the meaning in life based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. It involved 599 undergraduates selected randomly from four universities located in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The study applied structural equation modeling to illustrate the mediating and chain-mediating effects of the sense of security and self-esteem on the relationship between emotional intelligence and meaning in life. Notably, the results showed a strong mediating effect of a sense of security. These findings provided a new perspective and theoretical model for positive psychology to improve the meaning in life among undergraduates.
Evolution and Current Research Status of Educational Leadership Theory: A Content Analysis-Based Study
Authors: Peng Teng , Wang Chengliang , Xu Jun , Dai Jian , Yu Teng
Published: September 2024

Educational leadership theory is a dynamic and multifaceted subject that emerged from enterprise leadership perspectives, but it necessitates alignment with the practical aspects of educational management. To comprehensively grasp the evolution and present research status of this theory, content analysis is employed in this study to systematically analyze and quantify pertinent information. The key findings are as follows: Firstly, empirical research serves as the predominant research method in studying educational leadership theory. Within this field, qualitative and quantitative research methods are employed simultaneously. Moreover, case studies play a crucial role in advancing the development of issues and the construction of theories. Additionally, the distributed leadership theory has gained significant prominence within the realm of educational leadership. Current research methods employed in this theory are still in a stage of maturity, relying primarily on qualitative research to uncover underlying patterns among social phenomena through examination of specific cases. Finally, the primary focus of educational leadership theory lies in studying school managers and teachers. In light of the influence stemming from distributed leadership theory, teacher leadership has garnered increasing attention from scholars and has emerged as a burgeoning area of interest. This study contributes to the field by presenting a comprehensive framework for cognitive educational leadership theory through an extensive content analysis, thereby offering valuable insights into its overall developmental trajectory. These findings provide a macro-level perspective on educational leadership theory, particularly beneficial for subsequent researchers, especially those new to the field, seeking to grasp the broader landscape of this discipline.
Can COVID-19 Be a Turning Point for More Sustainable Trends? Exploring Changes in Recycling Discourse Pre- and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea
Authors: Chun Jung Won , Lee Ah Ram , Chung Yoo Jin
Published: September 2024

Since the onset of COVID-19, concerns have risen regarding the environmental impact of increased waste generation. Of particular concern is the surge in plastic usage, prompting a call for enhanced recycling practices. This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on recycling discourse in South Korea by analyzing news media coverage on recycling and reuse based on framing theory. Employing Python and R, a total of 24,928 news articles containing keywords (i.e., recycling and reuse) both pre- and during the COVID-19 pandemic were collected and analyzed. The results of computational analyses, such as topic modeling, semantic network analysis, and framing analysis, show that while an initial spike in COVID-19 cases correlated with heightened recycling-related coverage, this trend gradually waned as the pandemic persisted. The results also revealed shifts in keywords, frames, and framing functions over time. Notably, major frames expanded during the pandemic to incorporate COVID-19-related topics and concrete recycling efforts. Throughout, the primary framing function remained prognostic. This research provides valuable insights into the evolving environmental discourse amidst a global pandemic.
“A Privilege and a Weapon”: Saudi Undergraduate Students’ Beliefs About Bilingualism
Authors: Alsahafi Morad
Published: September 2024

Bilingualism has become the norm—not the exception—in today’s globalized world. The development of bilingual proficiency in English and other languages is increasing worldwide. Saudi Arabia is one of many countries within the expanding circle of nations in which English (although with no official status) enjoys a special position as the sole foreign language taught in public schools. This study examined Saudi university students’ beliefs about issues surrounding bilingualism, particularly about their first language (L1), second language (L2), and potential benefits of being bilingual. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and a focus group discussion with 15 university students. The findings showed that all students explicitly self-identified as bilingual based on their perceived linguistic repertoire and daily bilingual practices. Self-identification seems to have an empowering effect, which positively influences beliefs about bilingualism and language learning. As members of the dominant Arabic-speaking group, the students were able to achieve sequential additive bilingualism. Overall, the students saw bilingualism as an advantage and highlighted its perceived benefits, the instrumental importance of English, and the vital role of Arabic as a marker of their ethnoreligious identity.
Sex Differences in Indicators of Mental and Cardiovascular Health in Cannabis-Using Undergraduates
Authors: Kara Thompson , Watt Margo C. , Darien DeWolf , Rachael MacDonald-Spracklin
Published: September 2024

This study investigated sex differences in indicators of mental health (anxiety, depression) and cardiovascular health (e.g., physical activity levels, heart rate, VO2 max) in a sample of cannabis-using undergraduates. The sample included 209 participants (65% female) who completed two daily diaries for 14 days on their mobile devices; half of whom ( n = 100) also wore a Fitbit Charge 4. Females (vs. males) reported significantly more psychological distress at baseline; greater use of cannabis to cope with symptoms of both physical and mental ill-health; and more risks to cardiovascular health. Discriminant function analysis revealed that the variables that significantly distinguished females from males were: 1. Lower VO2 max percentile; 2. Fewer “moderate-to-very active” minutes of physical activity; 3. Higher depression scores plus poorer perceptions of mental health and physical health. Findings from this study suggest that female emerging adults who use cannabis regularly may be uniquely vulnerable to cannabis-related risks.
Global Value Chains and Agribusiness in Africa: Upgrading or Capturing Smallholder Production?
Authors: Amanor Kojo S.
Published: September 2024

This article critically examines the concept of agrarian value chains in Africa, exploring the extent to which they reflect the expansion of agribusiness and its influence on agriculture. It traces the rise of agribusiness in the United States as a system based on extracting value through control over input marketing, processing and retailing in the post-war period. It examines the close relationship between US imperialism and the expansion of agribusiness and the facilitation of agribusiness interests by the rise of neoliberalism and the opening of global markets. Against the backdrop of monopolies, mergers and takeovers, it questions the extent to which conceptions of upgrading through smallholder integration into agribusiness chains accurately reflects the fortunes of smallholder farmers. It argues that far from constituting a dynamic system of entrepreneurship that facilitates acquisition of new skills by farmers, upgrading of production, and higher incomes, agribusiness constitutes a system of value capture in which transnational corporations extend their control over production and marketing through takeovers and contractual arrangements that control farmers’ production. This is largely absent from value chain frameworks, since they focus on the transformations of commodities rather than the existing relations of production, make assumptions about the relationship between upgrading and integration into global markets, and assume that failures to upgrade result from the peculiarities of national and regional settings rather than agribusiness practice. Three case studies are presented focusing on monopolies within the seed breeding, cocoa and pineapple and their impact on smallholders and national patterns of accumulation.
Sam Moyo and Samir Amin on the Peasant Question
Authors: Shivji Issa G.
Published: September 2024

This second Sam Moyo Lecture was delivered in Harare, Zimbabwe, on 22 January 2019, during the Annual Agrarian Summer School organized by The Sam Moyo African Institute for Agrarian Studies and the Agrarian South Network. The lecture celebrates the life and legacy of two great Pan-Africanists and world intellectuals, Samir Amin and Sam Moyo, who were close friends with mutual respect and admiration for each other, and who passed away in quick succession in the last 3 years. The lecture addresses three areas that were close to both Amin and Moyo: first, trajectories of accumulation on a world scale; second, the contestations over the agrarian question and third, the contradictions of the national question. Sam’s and Samir’s works were mutually complementary. Sam’s empirical research was thorough and conscientious; his research site was Zimbabwe, but he trained his sight on the continent. Samir painted in broad strokes on the world canvas; his theory was global, his vision was epochal. In Sam and Samir, we had a fine ‘glocal’ pair. They have left us a wealth of writings from which we will continue to draw for many years to come.
Global Agricultural Value Systems and the South: Some Critical Issues at the Current Juncture
Authors: Jha Praveen , Yeros Paris
Published: September 2024

Contemporary capitalism has been in a process of restructuring driven by giant corporations for which the world as a whole has become the playing field, more than ever before. As such, components of a single end-use commodity/final output are conceived, designed, produced, procured, and processed in different parts of the globe, before being assembled at a specific destination for ultimate consumption, which again may have a global reach. This is the crux of what is termed Global Value Systems (GVSs) in this article, a notion which is introduced in its conceptual underpinnings and historical significance. This then applied to global agriculture, to argue that a key feature of contemporary capitalism is the expansion of Global Agricultural Value Systems (GAVSs), alongside the GVSs in industry and services. GAVSs have contributed to the strengthening of direct land acquisitions and contract farming or out-grower models in the peripheries across the South.
India’s Rice Export: What Is in It for Farmers?*
Authors: Kumar Manish
Published: September 2024

In a situation where the Indian farming community is already facing deficits and is unable to cover the cost of production, the recent export prices are an additional concern. Since an exporter of any country cannot alone change the world price, to make export profitable, even with a lower margin, the price squeeze is possible only in the backward linkages in general and from farmers in particular.
Contracting Sugarcane Farming in Global Agricultural Value Chains in Eastern Africa: Debates, Dynamics, and Struggles
Authors: Martiniello Giuliano , Azambuja Ricardo
Published: September 2024

Integrating smallholders within global agricultural value chains through contract farming has regained momentum in the development agenda, particularly in Africa. Governments, corporate agri-business, and global development institutions have embraced sugarcane as a suitable commodity to promote the integration of smallholders within commercial agricultural circuits so as to improve the prospects of rural development and reduce rural poverty. Influenced by the new institutional economics paradigm, win-win scenarios in which agribusiness companies and smallholders reciprocally benefit—the former by getting regular and standardized quantities of produce; the latter through secure access to the market—are advocated. However, little evidence of success in contract farming has been provided. By exploring the socio-ecological implications of contract farming within two major agro-industrial complexes (in Uganda and Tanzania), we demonstrate that the incorporation of smallholders in these schemes is spearheading dispossession from below, selection of most competitive producers, ecological degradation, social differentiation, and conflict.
Samir Amin and Debates at the University of Dar es Salaam in the 1980s
Authors: Kamata Ng’wanza
Published: September 2024

At the University of Dar es Salaam Amin would be remembered by many students of the 1960s to 1980s as a great teacher who influenced their way of thinking, and how to critically engaging with ideas. His views shaped students’ and staffs’ debates on the question of development for the countries of the South. Delinking was a popular subject and Amin’s views on it was at the center of the debate. Amin’s works are today not as popular and familiar with students and staffs as they used to be in the 1980s. This however did not deter Amin from engaging with a body of students and staff when he visited the university and delivered a lecture in 2017. As was typical of him he concluded his engagement with a powerful argument for radical delinking and building of socialism as the inevitable alternative for the liberation of the people of the South.
Evaluation and Management of Glenohumeral Instability in Adolescent Patients: An Expert Consensus Statement
Authors: Fithian Andrew T. , Edmonds Eric W. , Egger Anthony C. , Nissen Carl W. , Bomar James D. , Veerkamp Matthew W. , Gupta Rajul ,   PRiSM Shoulder Research Interest Group, Parikh Shital N.
Published: September 2024

Background:

Management of glenohumeral instability in the adolescent population can be both challenging and controversial. There are no current guidelines for optimal management of glenohumeral instability in this population (unidirectional or multidirectional), and the cutoff ages for transition to adult treatment are not known.

Purpose:

To develop consensus-based guidelines for the management of glenohumeral instability in adolescents.

Study Design:

Consensus statement.

Methods:

A 26-question, multiple-choice survey was developed after 2 rounds of iterations and was submitted to the orthopaedic surgeons of the Pediatric Research in Sports Medicine (PRiSM) Society. The survey comprised 3 sections—demographics, practice setting, and decision-making—and included cutoff ages and management in 5 specific case scenarios. Consensus-based guidelines were generated with 66% response agreement. An indication score was then applied to each response related to more aggressive management to determine if variables related to consensus (or lack thereof) could be identified.

Results:

A total of 54 responses were returned. Of the respondents, 59% were from academic practice, 84% were pediatric orthopaedic fellowship trained, and 46% performed >25 shoulder instability cases per year. In the setting of first-time anterior shoulder dislocation, nonoperative treatment was preferred for boys aged <14 years and girls aged <13 years. Besides age, proximal humerus physeal status, injury mechanism, sport, and presence of bony injury affected treatment selection. The presence of a Bankart lesion was an indication for stabilization in first-time dislocations for contact athletes with a closing or closed physis, but not in patients with an open physis or noncontact injury mechanisms. For recurrent anterior shoulder dislocation, stabilization was preferred irrespective of physis status. Initial nonoperative treatment was preferred for multidirectional instability.

Conclusion:

In the setting of first-time anterior shoulder dislocation in patients with open physes, nonoperative treatment was preferred for boys <14 years and girls <13 years. Future multicenter prospective studies focusing on outcomes would help to validate current practice patterns, especially in scenarios for which no consensus was reached.
“Stay in a Child’s Place”: Adult Authority in Schooling in the Louisiana Delta
Authors: Mingo Meaghan
Published: September 2024

It is well documented that Black children are disproportionately suspended and expelled in schools, but less explored is the importance of place in shaping disciplinary decision-making and student experiences of punishment. Drawing on over a year of ethnographic work at Abundance Junior High School (AJHS), a predominantly Black school of 150 students, I argue that school discipline in the rural northeast Louisiana Delta is shaped by racial, spatial, and social dimensions of place. Specifically, I argue that treatment and punishment of Black children in schools is shaped by (1) cultural expectations that they remain in “a child’s place,” a social position characterized by obedience and deference, and (2) socialization reinforcing respectability and compliance with authority informed by historical and contemporary threats of racial violence and Louisiana’s carceral logics. I conclude by discussing how these disciplinary and socialization practices, while motivated in part by the desire to protect Black children, ultimately reproduce forms of social control and harm students.
Reinvigorating Integrative Learning Experiences: Translating Graduate Program Skills to Careers
Authors: Heavey Sarah Cercone , Knapp Jessica Braymiller , Kruger Jessica Sloan
Published: September 2024

For the spring semester of 2021, two University at Buffalo faculty collaborated and built a course to address Council on Education in Public Health (CEPH) competencies and support student career readiness. This new course builds on the existing Integrated Learning Experience (ILE) to enhance its transmissibility for future employers and help students articulate their ILE as evidence of the strengths gained during their MPH program. Throughout the course, students focus their ILE on one public health topic as a set of high quality, written materials that promote synthesis, including a literature review, executive summary, and gap analysis. These assignments must demonstrate synthesis of foundational and concentration-specific competencies students gained from their coursework, including at least one competency related to equity, structural racism, or cultural competence. To supplement the ILE process, students develop additional components allowing them to translate skills and knowledge from the MPH program into career-ready materials such as a revised resume, a cover letter, and mock interviews. The goal for these supplemental components is to allow students to demonstrate their abilities with prospective employers. All students in the initial spring 2021 cohort and subsequent cohorts are currently working in public health-related jobs.
Adolescent Perception of Stiffness After Spinal Fusion Surgery
Authors: Lindsay Sarah E. , Thompson Austin , Hummel Jenny , Halsey Matthew F. , Yang Scott
Published: September 2024

Posterior spinal instrumented fusion (PSIF) is a treatment option for adolescent spinal deformity. PSIF leads to loss of spinal segment motion. It is unclear the extent to which spinal stiffness is perceived by adolescent patients after fusion. Focus groups of adolescents between ages 11 and 21 years who underwent PSIF for spinal deformity were performed. Focus groups were evaluated for common themes, and a 36-question survey was designed. Survey responses were analyzed relative to last instrumented vertebra (LIV) and Scoliosis Research Society-22 (SRS-22) scores. Five focus groups were held with 18 patients in total. Three main themes were identified by participants: 56% identified difficulty bending forward, 44% identified difficulty hunching while sitting, and 56% identified difficulty with twisting motions. Patients with more distal LIV reported significant more difficulty with self-care/grooming ( P = .014) and chores ( P < .001). SRS-22 function/activity scores correlated well with survey categories in self-care/grooming ( r = .61; P = .049) and recreation ( r = .69; P = .019). Focus groups suggest that spinal stiffness is frequently perceived and leads to alteration in daily tasks in adolescents after spinal fusion.
The Effect of Intergenerational Income Mobility: Reachability-Based Conceptualization and Copula-Based Measurement
Authors: Hu Anning , Zhou Zhipeng
Published: September 2024

Studies examining the consequences of intergenerational income mobility for individuals often face challenges due to multicollinearity between origin, destination, and a mobility construct based on the origin-destination difference. This article introduces a novel conceptualization of mobility, termed “reachability mobility,” which is based on the “easiness” of achieving a particular origin-destination combination within a population. This approach contrasts with the traditional lattice-based conceptualization. Furthermore, this study proposes using copulas—a statistical tool that captures the dependence structure between incomes of two generations while remaining insensitive to their marginal distributions—to measure reachability mobility. When combined with a standard measure of mobility direction, this approach allows scholars to simultaneously estimate the effects of origin, destination, and mobility along with numerous other methodological advantages. An illustrative example is provided that investigates the effect of intergenerational income mobility on mental health status using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979.
The Long Arm of School Punishment: The Role of School Suspension on Self-Rated Health from Adolescence to Midlife
Authors: Niño Michael , Angton Alexia , Norton-Smith Kathryn , Allison Kayla
Published: September 2024

School suspension has been linked to numerous adverse social outcomes in adolescence and adulthood. While research continues to highlight the deleterious consequences tied to suspension, less is known about how exposure to suspension influences health over the life course. Drawing from panel data, we address this gap by investigating whether school suspension is associated with self-rated health from adolescence to midlife. Compared to youth with no history of suspension, suspended youth were more likely to report poorer health in adolescence. Findings also demonstrate that school suspension plays a significant role in self-rated health patterns over time. Specifically, we find suspended youth experience a persistent health gap in excellent health from adolescence to midlife and a more rapid acceleration of fair and poor health from their late 20s to midlife. Taken together, this study provides new evidence of the role of exclusionary discipline in shaping health disparities from adolescence to midlife.
Effect of Height and Weight on Heel Fat Pad Movements Between Microchamber and Macrochamber Layers in Loading and Unloading
Authors: Maemichi Toshihiro , Matsumoto Masatomo , Tsutsui Toshiharu , Ichikawa Shota , Okunuki Takumi , Tanaka Hirofumi , Kumai Tsukasa
Published: September 2024

Background:

The purpose of this study was to clarify the differences in the movement of the superficial microchambers and deep macrochambers of the heel fat pad during loading and unloading movements, and to clarify the influence of height and weight on this movement.

Methods:

The subjects were 21 healthy adults. The right foot was placed on an evaluation instrument stand made of polymethylpentene (PMP) resin plate, and the left foot was placed on a scale stand used to adjust the amount of load. When measuring, the heel fat pad is divided into the superficial microchamber layer and the deep macrochamber layer, and the thickness due to loading from 0% to 100% of the body weight and unloading from 100% to 0% is measured. Measurement was performed every 20% using an ultrasound imaging device. We also examined the rate of change in the thickness of the superficial and deep layers of the heel fat pad when applying 100% load (end load) from 0% load (unload).

Results:

No changes were observed in the superficial layer of the heel fat pad during unloading, but significant changes were observed in the deeper layers. Additionally, the thickness of the microchamber and macrochamber layers tended to increase under each loading condition as the height and weight increased. On the other hand, the rate of change in the thickness of the macrochamber layer tended to decrease.

Conclusion:

The microchamber layer and the macrochamber layer of the heel fat pad may have different functions. As height and weight increase, the thickness of the microchamber and macrochamber layers may increase, and the rate of change in the thickness of the macrochamber layer appears to decrease. Although the thickness increases as the load increases, we found that the related elasticity decreases.

Level of Evidence:

Level Ⅳ, cross-sectional survey study.
The Microbial Diversity and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Profile Underlying Diabetic Foot Osteomyelitis: A Retrospective Study Conducted in North Queensland, Australia
Authors: Kulasegaran Nandini , Vangaveti Venkat , Norton Robert , Malabu Usman
Published: September 2024

Background:

Diabetic foot osteomyelitis (DFO) commonly occurs secondary to ulcerations of the skin. Empirical antibiotic agents are a key element of treatment and their use is dependent on local knowledge of the microbial spectrum of diabetic foot infections. This study aimed to retrospectively analyze the local microbiological profile, including bacterial culture/sensitivity results of DFO, and compare findings with literature. This study also aimed to review the concordance of microbiology results with national guidelines for the future treatment of DFO.

Methods:

A retrospective review of clinical records was performed on patients who presented to the high-risk foot clinic, Townsville University Hospital, between 2018 and 2022. All patients older than 18 years and diagnosed with DFO were included. Our exclusion criteria included all other foot presentations, including trauma, vasculitis, and neoplasms.

Results:

On the basis of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 124 patients with DFO were selected. Most patients in the cohort were males (70.2%), non-Indigenous (68.5%), aged 50-69 years (55.6%), and with elevated HbA1c levels (>8.6). Chronic kidney disease (39.5%) and ischemic heart disease (41.9%) were common comorbidities. Of the pertinent microbial results, Staphylococcus aureus (~76%) was the most commonly isolated Gram-positive organism. Gram-positive bacteria were significantly increased in the elderly population with DFO ( P < .05). All methicillin-resistant S aureus isolates were vancomycin- and cotrimoxazole-sensitive. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the predominant Gram-negative organism isolated (39.3%). P aeruginosa exhibited low sensitivity to ciprofloxacin.

Conclusion:

This study has enhanced our understanding of the various microbial species underlying DFO at our center and may be generalizable.

Level of Evidence:

Level IV, retrospective case series.
Clinical Presentation and Treatment Outcomes of Adult-Onset Coats Disease
Authors: Hansraj Saarang , Raval Vishal , Jalali Subhadra , Sahoo Niroj , Das Anthony Vipin
Published: September 2024

Purpose: To study the clinical profile, treatment, and outcomes of patients 35 years or older diagnosed with Coats disease. Methods: A cross-sectional observational hospital-based study was performed. Results: The study included 74 eyes diagnosed with adult-onset Coats disease. The mean age at presentation was 50 years (range, 35-75). Most patients were men (72.5%) and had a unilateral presentation (92.8%). The most common stage at presentation was 2A (extrafoveal exudation [39.2%]) followed by 2B (foveal exudation [33.7%]). Optical coherence tomography was performed in 40 eyes; 32 eyes (80.0%) had intraretinal fluid (IRF), 31 eyes (77.5%) had hard exudates, and 22 eyes (55.0%) had a disorganized retinal inner layer. Fluorescein angiography was performed in 35 eyes and showed an irregular foveal avascular zone in 28 eyes (80.0%). Multiple leaking microaneurysms were seen in 32 eyes (91.4%), with extensive vascular abnormalities involving the macula (86%) and extramacular zones (91%). Treatment modalities comprised laser photoablation (43.4%), cryotherapy with or without laser application (5.7%), and intravitreal injections (49%), alone or in combination. At a mean follow-up of 28 months (range, 3-293), 23 eyes (39.6%) had anatomic resolution of subretinal fluid and/or IRF. No statistically significant improvement was found in the mean best-corrected visual acuity (VA) between preoperatively and postoperatively ( P > .05). Conclusions: Patients with adult-onset Coats disease have a unilateral presentation with a less severe stage than patients with childhood-onset disease. Despite the good anatomic response after treatment, the final VA remained unchanged.
Developing SysteMatic: Prevention, precision and equity by design for people living with multiple long-term conditions
Authors: Mair Frances S. , Nickpour Farnaz , Nicholl Barbara , MacDonald Sara , Joyce Dan W. , Cooper Jonathan , Dickson Nic , Leason Isobel , Abbasi Qammer H. , Akin Izzettin F. , Deligianni Fani , Camacho Elizabeth , Downing Jennifer , Garrett Hilary , Johnston Gray Martina , Lowe David J. , Imran Muhammad A. , Padmanabhan Sandosh , McCowan Colin , Clarkson P. John , Walker Lauren E. , Buchan Iain
Published: September 2024

Background

The number of individuals living with multiple (≥2) long term conditions (MLTCs) is a growing global challenge. People with MLTCs experience reduced life expectancy, complex healthcare needs, higher healthcare utilisation, increased burden of treatment, poorer quality of life and higher mortality. Evolving technologies including artificial intelligence (AI) could address some of these challenges by enabling more preventive and better integrated care, however, they may also exacerbate inequities.

Objective

We aim to deliver an equity focused, action-ready plan for transforming MLTC prevention and care, co-designed by people with lived experience of MLTCs and delivered through an Innovation Hub: SysteMatic.

Design

Our Hub is being co-designed by people with lived experience of MLTCs, practitioners, academics and industry partners in Liverpool and Glasgow, UK. This work builds on research into mental-physical health interdependence across the life-course, and on mobilisation of large-scale quantitative data and technology validation in health and care systems serving deprived populations in Glasgow and Liverpool. We work with 3 population segments: 1) Children & Families: facing psychosocial and environmental challenges with lifetime impacts; 2). Working Life: people with poorly integrated mental, physical and social care; and 3) Pre-Frailty: older people with MLTCs. We aim to understand their experiences and in parallel look at routinely collected health data on people with MLTCs to help us identify targets for intervention. We are co-identifying opportunities for systems transformation with our patient partners, healthcare professionals and through discussion with companies and public-sector organisations. We are co-defining 3/5/7-year MLTC innovation/transition targets and sustainable learning approaches.

Discussion

SysteMatic will deliver an actionable MLTC Innovation Hub strategic plan, with investment from the UK National Health Service, civic health and care partners, universities, and industry, enabling feedback of well-translated, patient and public prioritised problems into the engineering, physical, health and social sciences to underpin future equitable innovation delivery.
When money talks, the science falls silent: Devastating effects of massification and the Third Mission on tertiary education system
Authors: Toomela Aaro
Published: September 2024

Mayer (this issue) discusses several problems related to the financing crisis that characterizes science and tertiary education for already about half a century. First of all she focusses on the question how the ways of financing inhibit careers of young scientists. In this paper I take a look at the financing problems from a wider background. The financing crisis emerged because of the substantial increase of the expectations imposed on universities without increasing proportionally the financing: massification and the so called Third Mission. Instead of helping universities to cope with the new tasks without reducing any of the traditional tasks of them, universities are left alone with more tasks and less money. Universities are also pushed to replace meaningful and constructive activities with bureaucratic formal activities which contribution to the society is increasingly questionable. Massification and the Third Mission in the current form have increasingly devastating effect on the research and tertiary education.
Possible agentic mechanisms to reformulating one’s creative identity as a professional creator
Authors: Velcu-Laitinen Oana
Published: September 2024

In what ways do creators in non-artistic domains recognize and act upon their creativity, in mid-adulthood? This paper takes a developmental perspective combined with the socio-cultural lens to examine how Pro-c experts, in the mid-stage of their careers, view their creativity, and its relevance, in their work roles. Also, this study aims to identify possible new ways of understanding one’s creativity and how they become visible in professional choices. Previous research found creative thinking processes, commitment to creative activities and the expression of one’s feelings through creative outlets to play an important role in the formation of an adolescent’s identity. Based on the interviews with eight professionals in entrepreneurship, science, and engineering, one’s creative identity can be fluid and multiple in mid-adulthood, marked by moments of proactivity intertwined with the serendipity of interpersonal interactions, underlined by economic changes and multicultural living. In essence, this paper proposes a four-faceted nature of non-artistic creative identities, characterized by their dynamic expression, as an artistic skill, a passion, as creative thinking, or as resourcefulness. The fluidity is enabled by creative metacognition, which triggers agentic mechanisms towards new actions, in entrepreneurial, scientific, or expert roles.
Impact of precipitation change in the Yangtze River source area on groundwater from the perspective of ground-based and satellite-based observations
Authors: Shi Guangyao , Dai Erfu
Published: September 2024

In the context of global climate change, the hydrological cycle of the Yangtze River source area has produced significant changes. It is of great practical value to study the influence of regional precipitation changes and precipitation events on regional water resources, especially groundwater. This study uses base flow segmentation and GRACE groundwater reserve calculation technology to examine precipitation’s spatial and temporal variation, especially extreme precipitation events, in the Yangtze River source area. The events analyzed were the extreme precipitation-runoff-base flow response from the Yangtze River source, the extreme precipitation-terrestrial water (surface water and groundwater) response, and the comparison of these events. The findings indicated that extremely strong precipitation, maximum precipitation for five consecutive days, days of moderate rain and above moderate rain intensity precipitation, the longest number of precipitation days, and other extreme precipitation indices had a significantly increasing trend and increased intensity of extreme precipitation events, the regional differences in precipitation trended less significantly. The base flow index gradually increased at a rate of 0.0014 yr-1, suggesting the overall increase of water resources and the contribution rate of groundwater to the runoff was an increased trend . There is a high correlation between the change of water resources in the source area and the change of precipitation, and the increased precipitation influenced an increase in groundwater and regional water resources. These findings inform current knowledge of precipitation-groundwater response mechanisms in alpine and arid regions such as the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
‘Walking on eggshells’: Exploring tensions and ambivalences in platformised feminist practices on Instagram
Authors: Caldeira Sofia P
Published: September 2024

Feminists have long taken advantage of social media platforms for political and activist practices. While these efforts can take place in a varied digital media ecosystem, different platforms, with their distinct affordances and cultures of use, can help shape different modes of feminist expression. Drawing on 18 in-depth interviews with a varied group of feminist Instagram users, this article explores how Instagram, and particularly its Stories feature, can be used for feminist purposes. Adopting a holistic perspective, this article engages with participants using Instagram in different capacities – personal, professional, and activist – and is attentive to both highly visible social media practices and small acts of engagement, such as sharing to one's Stories, that embed feminisms in everyday social media uses. These interviews present a wide array of political action within Instagram, highlighting how Stories’ ephemeral affordances, interactive functionalities, and casual cultures of use can contribute to their perceived political potential. However, these interviews also help to foreground the tensions, complexities, and contradictions that can emerge in these feminist practices, addressing how political responsibility, platform logics of algorithmic visibility, and an uneasy relationship between the two can coalesce in pressures for constant online presence. This article thus offers a reflection on Instagram as an ambivalent vehicle for platformised feminisms, balancing platform limitations with critical users’ agency.
Ground failures and foundation performances in Adıyaman–Gölbaşı following the 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaraş–Türkiye Earthquake Sequence
Authors: Cetin Kemal Onder , Moug Diane , Soylemez Berkan , Ayhan Bilal Umut , Zarzour Moutasem , Suhaily Ahmed Al , Akil Bülent , Unutmaz Berna , Firat Seyhan , Tekin Erhan , Cakir Elife , Frost David , Macedo Jorge , Bray Jonathan , Moss Robb , Bassal Patrick , Gurbuz Ayhan , Işık Nihat Sinan , Akin Muge , Sahin Arda , Duman Emre
Published: September 2024

The 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaraş–Türkiye earthquake sequence (M7.8 and M7.6) presents an exceptional opportunity to investigate both the effects of local soil conditions on damage patterns under strong shaking conditions and the performance of building foundations in areas that experienced ground failure. The significant ground failure and structural damage in Adıyaman–Gölbaşı triggered an intensive series of detailed reconnaissance and field surveys. This article aims to present the resulting database of observations on ground failures, building, and foundation performances. The field reconnaissance of ground failures and their effects on building performances involved aerial and walk-down surveys, including high-quality photographs taken across the town. In addition, data on building damage statistics compiled by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change were accessed and analyzed. The subsurface characteristics of the town were characterized using available data from pre-earthquake site investigation campaigns employed for town planning purposes. It is concluded that the ground failures in the town primarily resulted from soil liquefaction and cyclic softening. Most of the poor building and foundation performances and ground failures were documented in the northern part of Atatürk Boulevard, closer to the lake of Gölbaşı, where soil site characteristics were unfavorable. This revealed once again the significant effects of local soil site conditions, particularly soil liquefaction, on the intensified ground failures, foundation, and structural damage levels.
CD37 in acute myeloid leukemia: a novel surface target for drug delivery
Authors: Jeremy Erin , Artiga Esthela , Elgamal Sara , Cheney Carolyn , Eicher Dalen , Zalponik Kevan , Orwick Shelley , Mao Charlene , Wasmuth Ronni , Harrington Bonnie , Mustonen Allison , Beshay Peter , Halley Patrick , Castro Carlos , Williams Katie , Hing Zachary , Chen Timothy , Lucas Christopher , Vantangoli Nicholas J. , Lapalombella Rosa , Grieselhuber Nicole , Mo Xiaokui , Hertlein Erin , Muthusamy Natarajan , Mundy-Bosse Bethany L. , Byrd John C. , Larkin Karilyn T.
Published: September 2024

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common and lethal leukemia in adults. AML consists of many genetic subtypes, which limits broad applicability of targeted therapy. We discovered that the hematopoiesis-restricted tetraspanin CD37 is expressed on the majority of primary AML blasts and thus may represent a common therapeutic target for AML regardless of subtype. We demonstrate that the internalization properties of CD37 are distinct in AML blasts when compared with normal blood cells, and that CD37 rapidly accumulates inside AML blasts via dynamin-dependent endocytosis. Our work revealed that the clinically relevant anti-CD37 antibody–drug conjugate (ADC) Debio 1562 (αCD37-DM1) is highly cytotoxic to AML blasts, but not normal hematopoietic stem cells. We found that αCD37-DM1 improved clinical outcomes and overall survival in multiple in vivo models of AML. Together, these data demonstrate that targeting CD37 with an ADC such as αCD37-DM1 is a feasible and promising therapeutic option for the treatment of AML.