bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Last Man
Authors: Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft
Published: December 2020

The last man! I may well describe that solitary being’s feelings, feeling myself as the last relic of a beloved race, my companions extinct before me.’ Mary Shelley, Journal (May 1824). Best remembered as the author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley wrote The Last Man eight years later, on returning to England from Italy after her husband’s death. It is the twenty-first century, and England is a republic governed by a ruling elite, one of whom, Adrian, Earl of Windsor, has introduced a Cumbrian boy to the circle. This outsider, Lionel Verney, narrates the story, a tale of complicated, tragic love, and of the gradual extermination of the human race by plague. The Last Man also functions as an intriguing roman à clef, for the saintly Adrian is a monument to Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his friend Lord Raymond is a portrait of Byron. The novel offers a vision of the future that expresses a reaction against Romanticism, as Shelley demonstrates the failure of the imagination and of art to redeem her doomed characters.
The Confidence-Man
Authors: Melville Herman
Published: December 2020

Male, female, deft, fraudulent, constantly shifting: which of the ‘masquerade’ of passengers on the Mississippi steamboat Fidèle is ‘the confidence man’? The central motif of Melville’s last and most ‘modern’ novel can be seen as a symbol of American cultural history.
The Lifted Veil, and Brother Jacob
Authors: Eliot George
Published: December 2020

‘She had believed that my wild poet's passion for her would make me her slave; and that, being her slave, I should execute her will in all things.’ The Lifted Veil was first published in Blackwood's Magazine in 1859. A dark fantasy woven from contemporary scientific interest in the physiology of the brain, mesmerism, phrenology and experiments in revification it is Eliot's anatomy of her own moral philsophy - the ideal of imaginative sympathy or the ability to see into others' minds and emotions. Narrated by an egoccentric, morbid young clairvoyant man whose fascination for Bertha Grant lies partly in her obliquity, the story also explores fiction's ability to offer insight into the self, as well as being a remarkable portrait of a misdeveloped artist whose visionary powers merely blight his life. The Lifted Veil is now one of the most widely read and critically discussed of Eliot's works. Published as a companion piece to The Lifted Veil, Brother Jacob is by contrast Eliot's literary homage to Thackeray, a satirical modern fable that draws telling parallels between eating and reading. Yet both stories reveal Eliot's deep engagement with the question of whether there are ‘necessary truths’ independent of our perception of them and the boundaries of art and the self. Helen Small's introduction casts new light on works which fully deserve to be read alongside Eliot's novels.
Young Goodman Brown and Other Tales
Authors: Hawthorne Nathaniel
Published: December 2020

This selection of twenty of Hawthorne’s tales is the first in paperback to present his most important short works with full annotation in one volume.
Old Mortality
Authors: Scott Walter
Published: December 2020

Old Mortality (1816), which many consider the finest of Scott’s Waverley novels, is a swift-moving historical romance that places an anachronistically liberal hero against the forces of fanaticism in seventeenth-century Scotland, in the period infamous as the ‘killing time’. Its central character, Henry Morton, joins the rebels in order to fight Scotland’s royalist oppressors, little as he shares the Covenanters’ extreme religious beliefs. He is torn between his love for a royalist’s granddaughter and his loyalty to his downtrodden countrymen. As well as being a tale of divided loyalties, the novel is a crucial document in the cultural history of modern Scotland. Scott, himself a supporter of the union between Scotland and England, was trying to exorcise the violent past of a country uncomfortably coming to terms with its status as part of a modern United Kingdom. This novel is in itself a significant political document, in which Scott can be seen to be attempting to create a new centralist Scottish historiography, which is not the political consensus of his own time, the seventeenth century, or today.
Camilla
Authors: Burney Fanny
Published: December 2020

First published in 1796, Camilla deals with the matrimonial concerns of a group of young people-Camilla Tyrold and her sisters, the daughters of a country parson, and their cousin Indiana Lynmere-and, in particular, with the love affair between Camilla herself and her eligible suitor, Edgar Mandlebert. The path of true love, however, is strewn with intrigue, contretemps and misunderstanding. An enormously popular eighteenth-century novel, Camilla is touched at many points by the advancing spirit of romanticism. As in Evelina, Fanny Burney weaves into her novel strands of light and dark, comic episodes and gothic shudders, and creates a pattern of social and moral dilemmas which emphasize and illuminate the gap between generations. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
The Belly of Paris
Authors: Zola Émile
Published: December 2020

‘Respectable people… What bastards!’ Unjustly deported to Devil's Island following Louis-Napoleon's coup-d'état in December 1851, Florent Quenu escapes and returns to Paris. He finds the city changed beyond recognition. The old Marché des Innocents has been knocked down as part of Haussmann's grand programme of urban reconstruction to make way for Les Halles, the spectacular new food markets. Disgusted by a bourgeois society whose devotion to food is inseparable from its devotion to the Government, Florent attempts an insurrection. Les Halles, apocalyptic and destructive, play an active role in Zola's picture of a world in which food and the injustice of society are inextricably linked. The Belly of Paris (Le Ventre de Paris) is the third volume in Zola's famous cycle of twenty novels, Les Rougon-Macquart. It introduces the painter Claude Lantier and in its satirical representation of the bourgeoisie and capitalism complements Zola's other great novels of social conflict and urban poverty.
The Wind in the Willows
Authors: Grahame Kenneth
Published: December 2020

‘Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. ’ So says Rat to Mole, as he introduces him to the delights of the river and his friends Toad, the spirit of rebellion, and Badger, the spirit of England. But it is a world where the motor-car is about to wreck the gipsy caravan, the revolutionaries in the Wild Wood are threatening the social fabric, the god Pan is abroad, and the warm seductive whispers of the south are drifting into the English lanes. An international children's classic, The Wind in the Willows grew from the author's letters to his young son, yet it is concerned almost exclusively with adult themes: fear of radical changes in political, social, and economic power. Mole's acceptance into the conservative world of the River Bank, and Toad's wild attempts to escape from it, are narrated in virtuoso language ranging from lively parody to elaborate fin-de-siècle mysticism. A profoundly English fiction with a world following, it is a book for adults adopted by children, a timeless masterpiece, and a vital portrait of an age.
The Eustace Diamonds
Authors: Trollope Anthony
Published: December 2020

‘She liked lies…To lie readily and cleverly, recklessly and yet successfully, was, according to the lessons which she had learned, a necessity in a woman.’ Lizzie Eustace is young, beautiful, and widowed. Her determination to hold on to the Eustace family’s diamond necklace in the face of legal harassment by her brother-in-law’s solicitor entangles her in a series of crimes - apparent and real - and contrived love-affairs. Her cousin Frank, Tory MP and struggling barrister, loyally assists her, to the distress of his fiance, Lucy Morris. A pompous Under-Secretary of State, an exploitative and acquisitive American and her unhappy niece, a shady radical peer, and a brutal aristocrat are only some of the characters in this, one of Trollope’s most engaging novels: part sensation fiction, part detective story, part political satire, and part ironic romance. The Eustace Diamonds (1873) belongs to Trollope’s Palliser series. Though often considered the least political of the six novels, it is a highly revealing study of Victorian Britain, its colonial activities in Ireland and India, its veneration of wealth, and its pervasive dishonesty.
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater and Other Writings
Authors: De Quincey Thomas
Published: December 2020

I took it: – and in an hour, oh! Heavens! what a revulsion! what an upheaving, from its lowest depths, of the inner spirit! what an apocalypse of the world within me!' Thomas De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821) launched a fascination with drug use and abuse that has continued from his day to ours. In the Confessions De Quincey invents recreational drug taking, but he also details both the lurid nightmares that beset him in the depths of his addiction as well as his humiliatingly futile attempts to renounce the drug. Suspiria de Profundis centres on the deep afflictions of De Quincey's childhood, and examines the powerful and often paradoxical relationship between drugs and human creativity. In 'The English Mail-Coach', the tragedies of De Quincey's past are played out with horrifying repetitiveness against a backdrop of Britain as a Protestant and an imperial power. This edition presents De Quincey's finest essays in impassioned autobiography, together with three appendices that are highlighted by a wealth of manuscript material related to the three main texts.
Earth
Authors: Zola Émile
Published: December 2020

‘Only the earth is immortal…the earth we love enough to commit murder for her.’ Zola's novel of peasant life, the fifteenth in the Rougon-Macquart series, is generally regarded as one of his finest achievements, comparable to Germinal and L'Assommoir. Set in a village in the Beauce, in northern France, it depicts the harshness of the peasants’ world and their visceral attachment to the land. Jean Macquart, a veteran of the battle of Solferino and now an itinerant farm labourer, is drawn into the affairs of the Fouan family when he starts courting young Françoise. He becomes involved in a bitter dispute over the property of Papa Fouan when the old man divides his land between his three children. Resentment turns to greed and violence in a Darwinian battle for supremacy. Zola's unflinching depiction of the savagery of peasant life shocked his readers, and led to attacks on Naturalism's literary agenda. This new translation captures the novel's blend of brutality and lyricism in its evocation of the inexorable cycle of the natural world.
Mg–Sr–Nd Isotopic Insights into Petrogenesis of the Xiarihamu Mafic–Ultramafic Intrusion, Northern Tibetan Plateau, China
Authors: Chen Lie-Meng , Song Xie-Yan , Hu Rui-Zhong , Yu Song-Yue , Yi Jun-Nian , Kang Jian , Huang Kang-Jun
Published: December 2020

To characterize the integrated magmatic processes for magma plumbing systems from mantle sources to magma chambers, we present Mg–Sr–Nd isotopic data for a representative mafic–ultramafic intrusion in Xiarihamu, northern Tibetan Plateau, China. The intrusion hosts the largest magmatic Ni–Cu sulfide deposit in an orogenic setting in the world and is composed predominantly of harzburgite, orthopyroxenite, websterite, and gabbronorite. The cumulate harzburgites have relatively low δ26Mg of orthopyroxene (–0·49 to –0·34‰) and moderately high (87Sr/86Sr)i and positive εNd(t) values (0·7067–0·7080 and +0·4 to +1·8, respectively). Most of the orthopyroxenites, websterites, and gabbronorites have slightly higher δ26Mg of orthopyroxene (–0·34 to –0·21‰) and higher (87Sr/86Sr)i and lower εNd(t) values (0·7087–0·7118 and –4·0 to –1·4, respectively) than the harzburgites. On the other hand, marginal facies (i.e. a few centimeters to meters from the contact between the intrusion and country rocks of schist, gneiss, and marble) including websterite and gabbronorite are marked by low δ26Mg of orthopyroxene (–0·44 to –0·33‰) and extremely high (87Sr/86Sr)i and negative εNd(t) values (0·7127–0·7172 and –5·4 to –4·8, respectively). The relatively low δ26Mg, moderately high (87Sr/86Sr)i, and positive εNd(t) of the harzburgites are best interpreted by inheritance from the mantle source, which was previously metasomatized by subducted Mg-rich carbonates. Given the fact that the solidus of carbonated mantle is significantly lower than that of volatile-free mantle, mantle metasomatism by carbonates may be critical to generate voluminous mafic magmas and to form the giant Xiarihamu Ni–Cu deposit and other magmatic sulfide deposits in convergent settings worldwide. The relatively high δ26Mg, high (87Sr/86Sr)i, and low εNd(t) of most orthopyroxenites, websterites, and gabbronorites were produced by extensive contamination of isotopically heavy crustal rocks in a deep-seated magma chamber. The slightly low δ26Mg, extremely high (87Sr/86Sr)i and negative εNd(t) of the marginal facies, compared with other websterites and gabbronorites, were governed by assimilation of local low-δ26Mg country rocks (e.g. gneiss and marble) at the Xiarihamu magma chamber during emplacement. These observations indicate that mafic–ultramafic cumulates away from marginal facies can preserve their primitive Mg–Sr–Nd isotope signatures inherited from deep magma chambers, even from mantle sources, with negligible crustal contamination during magma ascent and emplacement. These findings for the first time, to our knowledge, provide observational evidence to characterize the integrated magmatic processes of a single magma plumbing system from deep mantle source to magma chambers, which sheds light on the petrogenesis and mineralization of mafic–ultramafic intrusions.
Honduras: two hurricanes, COVID-19, dengue and the need for a new digital health surveillance system
Authors: Durón Reyna M , Sánchez Eduardo , Choi Joon Nak , Peralta Guímel , Ventura Sandra Gómez , Soto Ramón J , Rodríguez Gaspar , Ahrens Chad , Farach Efraín , Figueroa Julio , Pineda Gracia , Romero Aldo , Rodríguez Oswaldo , Discua David , Salgado Javier
Published: December 2020

A recently published article of this journal stated that informatics solutions can guide better public health decision-making during the COVID 19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) pandemic. Honduras is a country facing the COVID-19 pandemic with a weak health surveillance system while also fighting a dengue epidemic and the aftermath of two hurricanes that struck its territory in November 2020. In response, we as academics started a COVID-19 and Dengue Observatory combining several technological platforms and developing multidisciplinary research to help the country navigate the crisis. Mapping the pandemic and the natural disasters showed us that technology can be applied toward epidemiology to benefit communities in a time of need by quickly building a basic digital health surveillance system for Honduras.
Differences between the productivities of organic and conventional dairy farms in Denmark
Authors: Aigner Lorenz , Asmild Mette
Published: December 2020

The study compares the productivity change over time of organic and conventional dairy farms in Denmark between 2011 and 2018 using data envelopment analysis, and aims to identify which technology is superior. Productivity changes and the differences between organic and conventional frontiers in each year for observations from each group are calculated for each technology separately using the Malmquist Productivity Index and its components. Then, a recently developed permutation test is used to analyse the statistical significance of the results. The analysis identifies volatility in the (economic) production possibilities, which is likely related to changes in milk prices caused by geopolitical events, which the conventional technology seems to be more susceptible to. Furthermore, the organic technology on average became superior for conventional farms in 2015. Farm level analysis identifies characteristics of the input–output mix of the farms, indicating whether a farm could benefit from conversion to the other technology.
Integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses reveal regulation of terpene biosynthesis in the stems of Sindora glabra
Authors: Yu Niu , Chen Zhaoli , Yang Jinchang , Li Rongsheng , Zou Wentao
Published: December 2020

Sesquiterpenes are important defensive secondary metabolites that are synthesized in various plant organs. Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) plays a key role in plant defense responses and secondary metabolism. Sindora glabra Merr. ex de Wit produces abundant sesquiterpenes in its trunks, and was subjected to investigation after MeJA treatment in order to characterize the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of sesquiterpene biosynthesis in plant stems and further our understanding of oleoresin production in trees. A total of 14 types of sesquiterpenes in the stems of mature S. glabra trees were identified. The levels of two sesquiterpenes, α-copaene and β-caryophyllene, significantly increased after MeJA treatment. Differentially expressed genes involved in terpenoid backbone biosynthesis were significantly enriched over time, while the expression of JAZ genes involved in the jasmonic acid signaling pathway and TGA genes involved in the salicylic acid signaling pathway was significantly enriched at later time points after treatment. Two new terpene synthase genes, SgSTPS4 and SgSTPS5, were also identified. Following MeJA treatment, the expression levels of SgSTPS1, SgSTPS2 and SgSTPS4 decreased, while SgSTPS5 expression increased. The major enzymatic products of SgSTPS4 were identified as β-elemene and cyperene, while SgSTPS5 was identified as a bifunctional mono/sesquiterpene synthase that could catalyze farnesyl pyrophosphate to produce nine types of sesquiterpenes, including α-copaene and β-caryophyllene, while SgSTPS5 could also use geranyl pyrophosphate to produce geraniol. Dramatic changes in the amounts of α-copaene and β-caryophyllene in response to MeJA were correlated with transcriptional expression changes of SgSTPS5 in the wood tissues. In addition, the transcription factors MYB, NAC, ARF, WRKY, MYC, ERF and GRAS were co-expressed with terpene biosynthesis genes and might potentially regulate terpene biosynthesis. Metabolite changes were further investigated with UPLC-TOF/MS following MeJA treatment. These results contribute to the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of terpene biosynthesis and regulation as well as to the identification of candidate genes involved in these processes.
Massive complicated secondary inguinal mycetoma: a case series
Authors: Ezaldeen Eshraga Abakar , Ahmed Eiman Siddig , Fahal Ahmed Hassan
Published: December 2020

Mycetoma is a chronic subcutaneous granulomatous disease of the soft tissue and extremities. Herein we report four cases of mycetoma caused by different agents, two caused by Madurella mycetomatis, with Actinomadura madurae and Streptomyces somaliensis affecting the others. These lesions originated at different sites but eventually spread to the inguinal region. The exact mechanism for such spread is still unknown and the clinical presentation of our case series was distinctive and required intensive follow-up for appropriate management.
A Novel Marking Technique for Descemet Membrane Endothelial Graft Using an Ophthalmic Viscoelastic Device
Authors: Or Lior , Krakauer Yonit , Sorkin Nir , Knyazer Boris , Ashkenazy Zach , Gushansky Kostya , Dubinsky-Pertzov Biana , Gazit Inbal , Einan-Lifshitz Adi
Published: December 2020

Purpose:

To describe the viscoelastic marking technique, a novel marking technique of Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) grafts that enables usage of a single donor cornea for 2 surgeries—one that uses Descemet membrane and endothelium (DMEK) and the other using the stroma and Bowman layer.

Methods:

A retrospective case analysis was performed on 26 eyes of 26 consecutive patients who underwent DMEK using the “viscoelastic marking technique.” In this novel technique, an ophthalmic viscoelastic device (Healon 5) is placed over the endothelial side. Descemet membrane is then folded in half over the ophthalmic viscoelastic device with the stromal side up, and the F mark is drawn on the stromal side of the folded Descemet membrane. Primary outcome was best spectacle-corrected visual acuity, and secondary outcomes included graft detachment and rebubble rate, graft failure, and endothelial cell density.

Results:

Mean best spectacle-corrected visual acuity improved significantly from 1.0 ± 0.7 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (LogMAR) before the surgery to 0.9 ± 0.7 LogMAR, 0.5 ± 0.6 LogMAR, 0.4 ± 0.2 LogMAR, and 0.4 ± 0.4 LogMAR at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery, respectively. Seven eyes (27%) had partial graft detachment that required air injection. Primary failure occurred in 3 eyes (11%). There were no free-floating donors or recognized inverted donors. The endothelial cell density loss at 12 months after surgery was a cell-loss rate of 38.3%.

Conclusions:

The viscoelastic marking technique is a simple, approachable, and safe technique for marking DMEK grafts while preserving the anterior cornea for additional surgery.
Active Middle Ear Implant Patient Outcomes With Adaptive Feedback Canceller
Authors: Peixoto Maria Conceição , Pratas Rui , Miranda Cristina , Bento Mafalda , Oliveira Susana , Correia da Silva Victor
Published: December 2020

Objective:

Evaluation of the audiological patient performance with an upgrade of the firmware from the fixed feedback canceller (FFC) to the adaptive feedback canceller (AFC) on an active middle ear implant.

Study Design:

Retrospective observational nonrandomized group study.

Setting:

Private hospital.

Patients/Intervention(s):

From March 2018 to September 2019, 15 patients implanted with an active middle ear implant, with 6 or more months of experience with a FFC system, were upgraded to an AFC algorithm.

Main Outcome Measure(s):

Functional gain, speech perception in silence and in noise, and sound localization capacities were examined. Feedback reduction was also analyzed.

Results:

Thirteen patients were analyzed. Pure tone audiometric evaluation with FFC (mean value of 48.02 dB) compared with AFC at 1 (mean value of 49.12 dB) and 6 months (mean value of 42.75 dB) revealed no statistically significant differences (p = 0.889 and p = 0.358 respectively).

In speech discrimination in silence, clinically relevant improvements were observed with AFC at 1 and 6 months, with a mean value of 41.5 and 38.3 dB, respectively (p = 0.03 and p = 0.021 correspondingly). In speech discrimination in noisy environments, we observed an improvement of the different conditions tested. No differences were found in localization capacities between FFC and AFC at the two different moments of evaluation.

Conclusions:

AFC is more effective than FFC in cancelling feedback and improving sound quality, allowing for better speech understanding in silence and in noise.
Platelet hyperaggregability and venous thrombosis risk: results from the RETROVE project
Authors: Llobet Dolors , Vallvé Cristina , Tirado Isabel , Vilalta Noèlia , Carrasco Marina , Oliver Artur , Mateo José , Fontcuberta Jordi , Souto Juan Carlos
Published: December 2020

The aim of the study was to determine whether platelet hyperaggregability correlates with short closure times (PFA-100) and if hyperaggregability is associated with the risk of venous thrombosis in a Spanish population. Case--control study (RETROVE project) involving 400 patients with venous thrombosis and 400 healthy controls. We determined platelet aggregation in platelet-rich plasma (PRP) by light transmission aggregometry. Various concentrations of two aggregation agonists [ADP and epinephrine (EPI)] were tested to determine the percentage of maximal aggregation and the percentage area under the curve (AUC). Venous thrombosis risk associated with platelet hyperaggregability was calculated by logistic regression. We estimated the crude and adjusted (by sex and age) odds ratios (OR) for venous thrombosis risk. An agonist concentration of 0.5 μmol/l differentiated between hypo-responders and hyper-responders at the following AUC cut-off values: EPI: the 50th percentile for aggregation with 0.5 μmol/l of EPI (EPI_AUC) was 22.53% (>22.53% = hyper-EPI); the crude risk for venous thrombosis was statistically significant (OR = 1.37; 95% CI 1.03–1.82); ADP: the 75th percentile for aggregation with 0.5 μmol/l of ADP (ADP_AUC) was 29.6% (>29.6% = hyper-ADP), with a significant crude risk for venous thrombosis (OR = 1.44; 95% CI 1.05–1.98). However, after adjustment for confounders (age), the ORs for EPI or ADP aggregation were no longer significant. EPI_AUC and PFA-100 values with the EPI agonist were significantly correlated (R = −0.342, P < 0.01). Only 12% of the PFA-100 values were explained by platelet aggregation. In this case--control study, platelet hyperaggregability was not associated with the risk of developing venous thrombosis.
Airway management in the critically ill
Authors: Myatra Sheila Nainan
Published: December 2020

Purpose of review

To provide an evidence-based approach to improve first pass success in tracheal intubation while maintaining patient safety in the critically ill.

Recent findings

Despite advances in the management of critically ill patients, tracheal intubation in these patients remains a high-risk procedure associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Recent interventions to enhance patient safety and improve first pass success in tracheal intubation emphasize reducing repeated attempts at tracheal intubation, oxygen desaturation and cardiovascular collapse during airway management by optimizing patient physiology to mitigate risks and reduce complications. These include various strategies to improve peri-intubation oxygenation like use of noninvasive ventilation, high flow nasal cannula oxygen and gentle mask ventilation between induction of anesthesia and laryngoscopy; use of a videolaryngoscope and a bougie; careful selection of drugs including neuromuscular blocking agent; improved strategies to avoid haemodynamic collapse; rescue oxygenation strategies and human factor considerations.

Recognizing the challenges and using the appropriate interventions to improve first pass tracheal intubation success, while maintaining patient safety are essential during tracheal intubation in critically ill patients. This review will provide recommendations based on the current evidence, various guidelines and expert opinion in the field. Further research will help us better understand the best strategies to improve patient outcomes.
Micronutrients early in critical illness, selective or generous, enteral or intravenous?
Authors: Berger Mette M. , Manzanares William
Published: December 2020

Purpose of review

Micronutrients have essential antioxidant and immune functions, while low blood concentrations are frequently observed in critically ill patients. This has led to the concepts of complementation, repletion, or even pharmacological supplementation. Over the last three decades, many clinical studies have tested the latter strategy, with controversial or negative results. Therefore, this review aims at evaluating micronutrient-related interventions that are mandatory or need to be assessed in future trials or clinical registries in all or specific critically ill patients.

Recent findings

In the critically ill, low plasma/serum micronutrient levels not always reflect a true deficiency in the absence of demonstrable losses. Current practices of micronutrient provision and monitoring in critical care, vary substantially across the world. Also, recent clinical trials testing high dose as monotherapy (selenium, thiamine, vitamin C, vitamin D) or in combination have failed to demonstrate clinical benefits in sepsis. However, these studies have not applied a physiological integrative approach of micronutrient action.

Micronutrients are essential in nutrition but their administration and monitoring are difficult. So far, different well designed RCTs on intravenous and oral high dose micronutrient supplementation have been conducted. Nevertheless, very high-dose single micronutrients cannot be advocated at this stage in sepsis, or any other critical condition. By contrast, studies using combination of moderate doses of micronutrients in specific diseases, such as burns and trauma have been associated with improved outcomes. Intravenous administration seems to be the most efficient route. Future clinical trials need to integrate the physiology underlying the interconnected micronutrient activity, and choose more specific primary and secondary endpoints.
Global health disparities in childhood cancers
Authors: Lubega Joseph , Kimutai Robert L. , Chintagumpala Murali M.
Published: December 2020

Purpose of review

The high cure rates of children with cancer in high-income countries (HICs) are due to the impact of biomedical innovations on children with highly fatal diseases. We discuss why these innovations have not benefitted most children with cancer globally and propose broad strategies to reduce these disparities.

Recent findings

Over 85% of children with cancer in HIC are cured while less than 20% in many low-income countries survive the disease. Hence, childhood cancer survival is poor globally since over 80% of children with cancer live in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Inadequate skilled workforce and health infrastructure across all disciplines of pediatrics in LMIC are the main reasons for these disparities. Although biological differences may contribute to these disparities as well, many are unconfirmed because they are confounded by differences in referral patterns and clinical capacity. HIC partnerships with LMIC that focus on locally based pediatrics training and clinical infrastructure building are beginning to close the gap.

Pediatric oncology is symbolic of the significant disparities in childhood survival arising from poverty, inadequate pediatric infrastructure, and skilled workforce in LMIC. Partnerships with HIC that build multidisciplinary pediatrics capacity and clinical infrastructure are beginning to make transformative improvements.
Only the Lonely: Expression of Proinflammatory Genes Through Family Cancer Caregiving Experiences
Authors: Kim Youngmee , Cole Steve W. , Carver Charles S. , Antoni Michael H. , Penedo Frank J.
Published: December 2020

Objective

The experience of cancer elicits not only turmoil but also resilience in the family, which has been related to psychological adjustment and physical health of family caregivers. The biological pathways linking family cancer caregiving to health, however, remain poorly understood. This study examined the extent to which psychological risk and resilience factors related to a proinflammatory gene expression profile (conserved transcriptional response to adversity, or CTRA) among caregivers during the first-year postdiagnosis of a patient with colorectal cancer.

Methods

A total of 41 caregivers (mean age = 54 years, 74% female, 40% Hispanic) provided psychological data and peripheral blood samples around 4 and 12 months after diagnosis. Mixed regression models controlling for demographic and biometric factors were used to test the associations of caregiver CTRA gene expression with caregiving stress, loneliness, and lack of social support (risk factors), as well as benefit finding and meaning (resilience factors).

Results

When individually tested, all but benefit finding were significantly related to CTRA (R
2 ≥ 0.112, p < .045). When adjusted for other factors in either the risk or resilience group, loneliness, social support, and meaning effects remained significant (R
2 ≥ 0.120, p < .041). When all study factors were simultaneously adjusted (R
2 = 0.139), only loneliness remained significant (p = .034).

Conclusions

Findings suggest that caregiving-related transcriptional effects seem to be most pronounced when caregivers experience low social support and loneliness, as well as little meaning or purpose in their caregiving. These findings suggest that the development of new intervention strategies that prioritize reductions in caregiver loneliness may favorably impact biological mechanisms related to caregiver health.
Redetermination of K2Mg3(OH)2(SO4)3(H2O)2from single-crystal X-ray data revealing the correct hydrogen-atom positions
Authors: Weil Matthias
Published: December 2020

In comparison with the previous structure determination of K2Mg3(OH)2(SO4)3(H2O)2, dipotassium trimagnesium dihydroxide tris(sulfate) dihydrate, from laboratory powder X-ray diffraction data [Kubel & Cabaret-Lampin (2013).Z. Anorg. Allg. Chem.639, 1782–1786], the present redetermination against CCD single-crystal data has allowed for the modelling of all non-H atoms with anisotropic displacement parameters. As well as higher accuracy and precision in terms of bond lengths and angles, the clear localization of the H-atom positions leads also to a reasonable hydrogen-bonding scheme for this hydroxy hydrate. The structure consists of (100) sheets composed of corner- and edge-sharing [MgO6] octahedra and sulfate tetrahedra. Adjacent sheets are linked by the potassium cations and a hydrogen bond of medium strength involving the water molecule. The title compound is isotypic with its CoIIand MnIIanalogues: the three K2M3(OH)2(SO4)3(H2O)2(M= Mg, Co, Mn) structures are quantitatively compared.
An engineered disulfide bridge traps and validates an outward-facing conformation in a bile acid transporter
Authors: Wang Xiaodong , Lyu Ying , Ji Yujia , Sun Ziyi , Zhou Xiaoming
Published: December 2020

Apical sodium-dependent bile acid transporter (ASBT) mediates the uptake of bile acids from the ileum lumen into enterocytes and presents a potential target for the treatment of several metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes. It has been proposed that the underlying mechanism for transport by ASBT is an elevator-style alternating-access model, which was deduced mainly by comparing high-resolution structures of two bacterial ASBT homologs (ASBTNM from Neisseria meningitides and ASBTYf from Yersinia frederiksenii) in different conformations. However, one important issue is that the only outward-facing structure (PDB entry 4n7x) was obtained with an Na+-binding site mutant of ASBTYf, which severely cripples its transport function, and therefore the physiological relevance of the conformation in PDB entry 4n7x requires further careful evaluation. Here, another crystal structure is reported of ASBTYf that was captured in a state closely resembling the conformation in PDB entry 4n7x using an engineered disulfide bridge. The introduced cysteine mutations avoided any proposed Na+- or substrate-binding residues, and the resulting mutant retained both structural and functional integrity and behaved similarly to wild-type ASBTYf. These data support the hypothesis that the PDB entry 4n7x-like structure represents a functional outward-facing conformation of ASBTYf in its transport cycle.
Age and job-specific skill obsolescence: the moderating effects of human resource practices
Authors: Yue Lin-Yang , Huang Wei-de
Published: December 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to examine theJ-shaped relationship between age and job-specific skill obsolescence (JSSO), and the differential moderating effects of development and maintenance HR practices on this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Regression models of survey data obtained from a sample of 722 Chinese knowledge workers were used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The results show that among women age and JSSO areJ-shaped related and the relationship weakens under high development HR practices; while among men theJ-shaped age-JSSO relation is significant only under low maintenance HR practices.

Research limitations/implications

This research is subject to the cross-sectional design, and the sample is restricted to knowledge workers.

Originality/value

This study advances previous studies that hold a linear (positive or negative) age-JSSO relationship by theorizing and testing aJ-shaped one. The differentiated moderating effects of two bundles of HR practices proved improves our knowledge about how to use HR practices appropriately to sustain employee work competency in the context of workforce aging.
Digitalization of the buyer–seller relationship in the steel industry
Authors: Salo Jari , Tan Teck Ming , Makkonen Hannu
Published: December 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to cast light on the nature of the digitalization process that occurs when digital technologies are adopted in buyer–seller relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

The study features a case study from the steel processing industry.

Findings

The present research builds on and extends the interaction approach to the context of buyer–seller relationship digitalization process. The study explicates the interrelated elements of digital infrastructure, digital communication and degree of digitalization of the buyer–seller relationship.

Research limitations/implications

The study aims at theoretical generalization and thus produces conceptual understanding that is to some extent applicable to various contexts. The generalization of the empirical insights to other process-focused industries is to some extent possible. However, further research in versatile empirical contexts is needed to validate the results.

Practical implications

For managers, the study presents a success case of digital technologies use for improving a buyer–seller relationship.

Originality/value

The originality of the present research is in the way it depicts how a buyer–seller relationship is gradually digitalized in successive digital technology adoptions, that is, a virtuous cycle of digitalization, that creates and alters the digital infrastructure and digital communication processes between the buyer and the seller resulting in different outcomes (degrees of digitalization in the buyer–seller relationship).
Organizing personal digital information: an analysis of faculty member activities
Authors: Jacques Jerry , Mas Sabine , Maurel Dominique , Dorey Jonathan
Published: December 2020

Purpose

The objective of this paper is to document and analyze the organizational activities of faculty members using a personal information management (PIM) framework developed by Jacques (2016).

Design/methodology/approach

Interviews were carried out with seven faculty members, focusing on their personal information organization practices as they relate to their academic activities. These interviews took the form of a guided tour of informants' digital workspaces.

Findings

Analyses focused on PIM activities make it possible to identify the different strategies adopted by faculty members to organize their academic personal information. This qualitative approach highlights four activities involved in the organization of personal information: inclusion, exclusion, apprehension and implementation. It also reveals differences in the ability of faculty members to analyze their own practices. Finally, the relationship to time and memory of PIM practices is examined through the lens of the concepts of virtualization and actualization.

Originality/value

This research provides a more nuanced understanding of PIM practices, specifically of organizational activities, by considering the meaning of these practices for individuals as part of their daily lives. It aims to foster literacy by facilitating the interactions of individuals with their personal information through educational activities.
Evidence on the relation between audit committee financial expertise and internal audit function effectiveness
Authors: Oussii Ahmed Atef , Boulila Neila
Published: December 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper aims to investigate whether the source of audit committee accounting expertise influences the internal audit function (IAF) effectiveness in the Tunisian setting.

Design/methodology/approach

In the analysis, the authors conduct a survey of chief internal auditors from Tunisian listed companies. Then, a multivariate regression analysis is performed in order to analyze the relationship between audit committee financial expertise and IAF effectiveness.

Findings

The findings of the present study show that audit committee accounting financial expertise is most likely to be positively associated with the implementation of internal audit report recommendations. The authors also find that only financial expertise gained from accounting education and experience (e.g. an audit committee member with experience as a certified public accountant, auditor, chief financial officer or chief accounting officer) is associated with a stronger implementation of IAF recommendations, but not financial expertise gained from work experience in finance positions.

Practical implications

These results may have implications for regulatory bodies. They can provide a better understanding of the role of the audit committee expertise in monitoring internal audit processes. The major contribution of this study is that the audit committee's oversight role is strengthened if the committee members have accounting and auditing expertise.

Originality/value

The study extends prior literature by providing evidence that the source of audit committee accounting financial expertise enhances internal audit effectiveness beyond the outcomes it has on financial reporting quality. The study also contributes to the ongoing debate in the corporate governance literature concerning the definition of the financial expertise of audit committee members.
Lean manufacturing implementation and performance: the role of economic volatility in an emerging economy
Authors: Basu Protik , Chatterjee Debaleena , Ghosh Indranil , Dan Pranab K.
Published: December 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the mediation effect of volatile economic conditions on performance benefits of successful kean manufacturing implementation (LMI). The mediating factor of economic volatility (EV) is constructed based on four macroeconomic dimensions – supplier uncertainty, market demand fluctuations, governmental policy changes and peer competition.

Design/methodology/approach

An attempt is made to build an exhaustive list of the internal operational manifests grouped into one human and three technical input factors. Similarly the benefits accrued are collated under two performance measures – customer satisfaction (CS) and organizational goal satisfaction (OGS). Based on data from the Indian manufacturing sector, structural equation modelling (SEM) and ordinary least square (OLS) analyses are carried out to validate the proposed model.

Findings

Results of the structural model validate the first six hypotheses posited in the model. Results of OLS further reveal the mediation effect of EV having negative impact on LMI–CS and LMI–OGS nexus.

Practical implications

This research offers a fair understanding of the internal operational lean factors and the effect of volatile macroeconomic conditions on lean benefits. The structural model will aid the academicians and lean implementers comprehend the dimensional structure underlying the lean practices and beliefs. This work further helps to understand the moderation effect of environmental complexity on the output measures of LMI in the Indian manufacturing sector.

Originality/value

This work is one of the very first empirical analyses of lean performance under contingent economic conditions. The paper presents a valuable recommendation to practitioners for considering the dynamism of external economic environment instead of simply adopting standalone internal lean parameters, if satisfactory levels of performance in terms of CS and OGS are to be achieved.
An exploration of the drivers of employee motivation to facilitate value co-creation
Authors: Waseem Donia , Biggemann Sergio , Garry Tony
Published: December 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the drivers of employee motivation to facilitate value co-creation. Specifically, it enhances the understanding of social and contextual elements that contribute towards the co-creation of value.

Design/methodology/approach

Embracing an interpretive paradigm, the study draws on 57 in-depth interviews together with participant observation field notes. The data were analysed using thematic analysis.

Findings

The findings identify six key drivers that motivate employees to facilitate value co-creation: rewards and recognition, opportunities for life-long learning, interpersonal engagement, role responsibility and accountability, organisational vision and social purpose.

Research limitations/implications

This study is undertaken within a traditional organisation setting. Other organisational contexts such as working from home should also be considered. Second, this study focused on the individual relational orientations of employees. Also, there is an opportunity to explore the collective orientation of employees.

Originality/value

Drawing on service-dominant logic (S-D logic) as a theoretical lens, this study adopts and adapts Lindenberg and Steg’s (2013) goal-framing theory to conceptualise six drivers of employee motivation to facilitate value co-creation within three-goal frames that leads to in-role and extra-role job performance.
Non-Fourier thermal analysis on transport of heat and momentum in viscoelastic fluid over convectively heat surface in the presence of thermal memory effects
Authors: Batool Saima , Nawaz Muhammad , Kbiri Alaoui Mohammed
Published: December 2020

Purpose

This study presents a mathematical approach and model that can be useful to investigate the thermal performance of fluids with microstructures via hybrid nanoparticles in conventional fluid. It has been found from the extensive literature survey that no study has been conducted to investigate buoyancy effects on the flow of Maxwell fluid comprised of hybrid microstructures and heat generation aspects through the non-Fourier heat flux model.

Design/methodology/approach

Non-Fourier heat flux model and non-Newtonian stress–strain rheology with momentum and thermal relaxation phenomena are used to model the transport of heat and momentum in viscoelastic fluid over convectively heated surface. The role of suspension of mono and hybrid nanostructures on an increase in the thermal efficiency of fluid is being used as a medium for transportation of heat energy. The governing mathematical problems with thermo-physical correlations are solved via shooting method.

Findings

It is noted from the simulations that rate of heat transfer is much faster in hybrid nanofluid as compare to simple nanofluid with the increasing heat-generation coefficient. Additionally, an increment in the thermal relaxation time leads to decrement in the reduced skin friction coefficient; however, strong behavior of Nusselt number is shown when thermal relaxation time becomes larger for hybrid nanofluid as well as simple nanofluid.

Originality/value

According to the literature survey, no investigation has been made on buoyancy effects of Maxwell fluid flow with hybrid microstructures and heat generation aspects through non-Fourier heat flux model. The authors confirm that this work is original, and it has neither been published elsewhere nor is it currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.