bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pathways between multiple sclerosis, sleep disorders, and cognitive function: Longitudinal findings from The Nurses’ Health Study
Authors: Braley Tiffany J , Shieu Monica M , Zaheed Afsara B. , Dunietz Galit Levi
Published: January 2023

Background:

The potential mediating and moderating effects of sleep disorders on cognitive outcomes in multiple sclerosis (MS) have been insufficiently studied.

Objectives:

To determine direct and indirect longitudinal associations between sleep disorders and perceived cognitive dysfunction in women with MS.

Methods:

The 2013 and 2017 waves of the Nurses’ Health Study ( n = 63,866) were utilized. All diagnoses and symptoms including MS ( n = 524) were self-reported. Subjective cognitive function was measured using a composite score of four memory items and three binary outcomes that assessed difficulty following instructions, conversations/plots, and street navigation. Moderating and mediating effects of diagnosed/suspected obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), sleepiness, and insomnia between MS and cognition were estimated using the four-way decomposition method.

Results:

Prevalence of diagnosed/suspected OSA, sleepiness, and insomnia in 2013 were higher for nurses with MS (NwMS). NwMS were more likely to report cognitive difficulties in 2017. Insomnia mediated 5.4%–15.1% of the total effect between MS and following instructions, conversations/plots, and memory impairment, while sleepiness mediated 8.6%–12.3% of the total effect for these outcomes. In interaction analyses, OSA significantly accounted for 34% of the total effect between MS and following instructions.

Conclusion:

Prevalent OSA, insomnia, and sleepiness could differentially moderate or mediate the effect of MS on cognition in women with MS.
‘It stretches your body but makes you feel good too’: A qualitative study exploring young people’s perceptions and experiences of yoga
Authors: Cartwright Tina , Doronda Tatjana
Published: January 2023

Whilst research suggests that yoga can positively impact physical and psychological wellbeing, understanding of youth’s experiences is limited with no non-clinical studies in the UK. Ten focus groups explored perceptions and experiences of yoga among 35 youth (10–18 years). Inductive thematic analysis revealed that yoga was viewed as a holistic mind-body practice cultivating greater awareness and enhanced physical performance. Youth described yoga as providing tools that developed confidence, stress-management and emotional self-regulation. Social and relational impacts of yoga were highly valued. Despite the perceived biopsychosocial benefits of yoga, gendered and media representations of yoga may serve as a barrier to uptake.
A Paradox Theory of Social Media Consumption and Child Well-Being
Authors: Yap Sheau-Fen , Lim Weng Marc
Published: January 2023

Social media has impacted child well-being in paradoxical ways. Yet, our understanding of this paradox remains piecemeal. To address this gap, this conceptual article endeavors to delineate the interplay between child well-being and contradictions associated with social media consumption and the ways to manage these contradictions. Using paradox theory, we develop a theoretical framework that explains the relationships and dynamics surrounding conflicting demands between empowerment and protection and the cyclical responses to paradoxical tensions involving social media that are affecting child well-being. Using this framework, we offer a collection of propositions to stimulate further research on the empowerment–protection paradox and a set of mediating pathways to manage paradoxical tensions arising from social media consumption and promote children’s well-being in the digital era.
Unsupervised structural damage detection based on an improved generative adversarial network and cloud model
Authors: Luo Yongpeng , Guo Xu , Wang Lin-kun , Zheng Jin-ling , Liu Jing-liang , Liao Fei-yu
Published: January 2023

The measurements derived from damaged conditions are difficult to acquire in actual structures, which limits the applicability of supervised damage detection methods. In this study, an unsupervised damage detection method that leverages an improved generative adversarial network (IGAN) and cloud model (CM) is proposed. This method only needs the data in the healthy state of the structure for model training, which can solve the above problems. Firstly, an IGAN model is established, which uses the encoder-decoder-encoder generative network to encode, reconstruct and re-encode the structural response in healthy state. The essential features hidden in complex data are learned by minimizing the distance between the real response and the reconstructed response, and the distance between the latent vectors obtained after two different encodings. During the test phase, when unknown state data is input into the model, the differences of the latent features of the two different codes can be used to preliminarily judge whether the structure is damaged. In addition, CM theory is used to further quantify structural damage and solve the problem of damage misjudgment caused by measurement noise, model parameters, feature selection, and other uncertain factors. The effectiveness of the proposed damage detection method is verified by Phase I IASC-ASCE benchmark structure and a bridge health monitoring benchmark model. The results prove that the proposed method can accurately detect the damage that has occurred.
Three-dimensional printed thermoplastic polyurethane on fabric as wearable smart sensors
Authors: Kumar Sanjeev , Singh Rupinder , Singh Amrinder Pal , Wei Yang
Published: January 2023

The microstrip patch antenna (MPA) with a thermoplastic substrate has been widely used in wearable sensors primarily due to its lightweight, flexibility, strength, and compactness. But up till now, little has been conveyed on the use of three-dimensional (3D) printed thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) on cotton-lycra woven (CLW) fabric-based substrate as a wearable sensor. This study presents a novel and scalable approach for characterizing, simulating, and fabricating the substrate for wearable sensor applications. In this study 3D printing of TPU on CLW fabric (70% cotton (on the warp side)-30% lycra (on the weft side) using fused filament fabrication (FFF) process) has been reported with a tradeoff between flexibility and strength (of a substrate for wearable sensor applications). The rheological, mechanical, morphological, four-dimensional (4D), and resonance frequency (RF) characterization of the substrate has been established. As regards rheological properties, the melt flow index (MFI) of primary (1°) recycled TPU was observed as 29.758 g/(10min). Further, the optimized 3D printing settings of TPU were obtained based on the mechanical testing (minimum stiffness, maximum peak strength (PS), maximum Young's modulus (E), and maximum strain energy (SE)) which comes out to be 225°C nozzle temperature, 18 mm/s printing speed and 60% infill density with a stiffness of 3.311 N/mm and PS of 9.628 MPa. The mechanical properties of TPU printed on stretched and unstretched CLW fabric were tested for lower stiffness (more flexibility). To ascertain the mechanical properties, porosity analyses of samples printed on CLW fabric have been performed based on scanning electron microscopy (SEM). For dielectric properties, and RF characterization, the ring resonator (RR) test was performed based on a Vector network analyzer (VNA). Finally, 4D characterization of the substrate was performed by applying a load from 0 to 25 N, resulting in programable RF output (in the industry scientific and medicine (ISM) band).
A comparative study of fixed-gain classical knock control strategies
Authors: Peyton Jones James C , Patel Vatsal
Published: January 2023

Classical knock control strategies are still widely used in production vehicles but exist in several variant forms whose performance with respect to one another, and to engine efficiency, ease of calibration and analytical tractability has not been rigorously evaluated. This paper examines the absolute and relative performance of these strategies subject to both transient and systematic disturbances using both time history simulation methods and analytical methods. The former illustrates the response to specific instances of the knock process, while the latter enables the statistical properties of the closed loop response to be computed and compared.
‘Rocky road’ & ‘brick walls’ – Multiple meanings of resilience in a social work context through the lens of critical realist Informed grounded theory
Authors: Sims-Schouten Wendy , Thapa Manisha
Published: January 2023

This study seeks to build an explanation of the multiple meanings of resilience in a social work context, centralising the interplay between human agency (meaning-making, motivations and intentionality) and social structures (enduring patterns, social rules, norms and laws). Specifically, this research provides insight into how care-experienced people (aged 17–50 years old) and social workers and affiliated practitioners in England make sense of ‘resilience’ and ‘resilient’ behaviours. Critical realist informed grounded theory (CRGT) provides unique opportunities here, with critical realist’s primacy of ontology as the starting point and grounded theory providing the epistemological force, contextualising research and imbedding this more firmly into practice. Drawing on the four stages of retroductive argumentation proposed by Kempster and Parry (2014) and developed by us, we identify a number of key themes, namely, ‘Having/Building an Ability’ – ‘Rocky Road’ and ‘Brick Walls’ – Resilience as Resistance – ‘Compliance’, as well as causal factors impacting upon the themes (such as traumatic life experiences, protective factors, external support systems, political agendas, structure-agency relationships and stigma, discrimination and marginalisation). The research highlights how multiple causal mechanisms, including interpretations of situations by individuals (in this case care-experienced individuals and social workers/affiliated practitioners) interact and generate multiple meaning in relation to process and outcomes of resilience. The research thus provides insight into deeply embedded interpretations of resilience, which should be viewed in light of the stratified non-linear dynamics of embodied experiences, material/institutional forces and social relationships, that co-constitute subjectivity, as well as having an ongoing influence on body–brain systems.
“A Stain Remains”
Authors:   Turps Banana Collaborative Writers
Published: January 2023

This community of 12 artists and writers had been brought together through the U.K.-based “Turps Banana” course program for painters by painters. They decided to write collaboratively about their experiences as painters, and of everyday life, at a time of global crisis (while they were writing, and painting, the world was experiencing a pandemic and Russia invaded Ukraine). They met together via “zoom” and read their words out loud, and then wrote into the space they had created. They repeated this process several times and then took turns in editing and collating the text.
How can we implement targeted policies of rumor governance? An empirical study based on survey experiment of COVID-19
Authors: Fu Chengzhe , Liao Liao , Xie Haolun , Zhou Xunzhi
Published: January 2023

Since early 2020, COVID-19 has been a major public security crisis that has had an enormous impact on the world. With the spread of the epidemic, rumors occur, some of which have even caused public panic. They have greatly affected the government’s efforts of epidemic prevention and thus urgently need to be evaluated. This study aimed to examine how to make flexible use of different policy tools to govern rumors based on their different characteristics. From the perspective of behavioral public policy, this study observes the effectiveness of various behavioral policy tools in rumor governance, hoping to explore the optimal solution of rumor governance from the perspective of micro public psychology. The survey experiment shows that individual behavior-related rumors (hereafter referred to as IBRs) are easier to be governed than epidemic progress-related rumors (hereafter referred to as EPRs) are, and that quick response is more effective than non-quick response. Through interaction analysis, it is known that in the governance of IBRs, nudge is more effective in rapid response, while in the context of non-quick response, boost outperforms nudge in rumor governance. A similar phenomenon can be seen in the scenario of EPR governance, despite a tinier difference in effectiveness compared with that of IBRs. The study enlightens us that rumor refutation requires not only people’s disbelief in and restraint on rumors, but also the implementation of science-based targeted policies. Based on the conclusion, this study puts forward suggestions on implementing targeted policies of rumor governance.
Public sectors and nonprofit organizations use of social media to communicate compassion during crisis
Authors: Shi Wanzhu , Luo Fei , Soto-Vásquez Arthur D , Gonzalez Ariadne A
Published: January 2023

Using compassion is an important public communication strategy associated with many positive outcomes. While research on compassion has grown in many fields, few studies have explored the role of compassion in crisis communication. This study fills the gap in the research to examine if public sectors and nonprofit organizations used compassion on their social media content and how it impacts public emotion in a winter freeze crisis in Texas. Facebook posts from four local agencies were analyzed to investigate the role of compassion in crisis communication during this emergency. The results highlight the value of using compassion on social media in crisis communication. Facebook posts containing compassion components significantly increased online public engagement. Furthermore, compassion functioned to decrease negative emotions and bolster positive emotions among the public. Media richness did not exert any significant impact on public reactions. Policy implications for government agencies and non-profit organizations are discussed.
Comparison of Perioperative Outcomes and Early Complications Between a Direct Anterior Approach or Posterolateral Approach in Simultaneous Bilateral Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Retrospective Study
Authors: Chen Liyile , Sun Shuo , Wang Qiuru , Bahete Aergen , Cai Lijun , Kang Pengde
Published: January 2023

Background: Controversies remain on the best surgical approaches for unilateral total hip arthroplasty (THA). There are little data on simultaneous bilateral THA via direct anterior approach (SimBDAA-THA) or posterolateral approach (SimBPA-THA). Purpose: We sought to assess differences in perioperative outcomes and early medical and surgical complications between SimBDAA-THA and SimBPA-THA. Methods: This retrospective study involved patients who underwent either SimBDAA-THA in a supine position (n = 73) or SimBPA-THA in a lateral position (n = 162) at our institution from January 2015 to November 2021. The 2 groups were compared in terms of clinical and demographic characteristics, surgical parameters, and complications during 6-months of follow-up. Results: There were no differences in clinical and demographic characteristics between the 2 groups prior to surgery. Simultaneous bilateral THA via direct anterior approach significantly shortened the length of both the operation (117.50 ±19.42 vs 143.97 ± 32.20 min) and the hospitalization (140.64 ± 43.22 vs 156.24 ± 56.64 h) but increased perioperative loss of hemoglobin (3.28 ± 1.01 vs 3.21 ± 2.26 g/dL). There were no significant differences between the two groups in transfusion rate; levels of interleukin-6, C-reactive protein or creatine kinase; or complications. Conclusion: This retrospective study of patients at a single institution found minimal differences in perioperative outcomes or early medical and surgical complications between SimBDAA-THA and SimBPA-THA except operative time and length of hospitalization. Larger studies with longer follow-up should be conducted to identify whether a direct anterior approach is superior to a posterolateral one.
In vitro experimental study on effect of fiber denier, yarn doubling, and specialty treatments on physical and thermal behaviors of knitted sports socks
Authors: Abbas Adeel , Anas Muhammad Sohaib , Azam Zeeshan
Published: January 2023

Knitted sports socks remain in continuous scuff with wearers’ feet and shoes during activities. Such continuous physical contact governs severe pills on socks surface, which is unpleasant for both the wearer and the working life of socks. Hence it becomes necessary to take measures for controlling fabric deterioration, that is, anti-pilling treatments. Though pilling performance is enhanced; however, thermal comfort characteristics are compromised through the treatments. Simultaneous acquirement of both pilling and thermal characteristics is an area of interest. Fiber denier and yarn doubling techniques are among the influential factors in the solution to the problem. Specimens have been developed using four different fiber deniers, two yarn doubling conditions, and two specialty wet treatments under a full factorial experimental design. Results showed a significant variation in pilling behaviors and thermal characteristics before and after treatments in the statistical analysis, predicting the possible stages, that is, a combination of experimental factors for desired characteristics attainment.
A mixed-copula-based integral method for reliability analysis of a novel multi-functional rescue end-effector
Authors: Wang Chunrong , Xia Erdong , Wang Kun-Chieh , Zhao Jing
Published: January 2023

To improve the performance of a conventional rescue equipment, we designed a novel multi-functional rescue end-effector comprising a separation mechanism and a grasping mechanism. The failure causes of the separation mechanism are analyzed, and three main failure modes are determined. Meanwhile, their performance functions are established as well. To solve the complex correlations among multiple failure modes, a novel mixed copula function that can capture the upper and lower tail dependencies simultaneously is proposed, which comprises the Gumbel copula and the Clayton copula. Further, a novel procedure that adopts the non-parametric kernel density estimation (NKDE) technique to estimate the probability density function (PDF) and the cumulative distribution function (CDF) for each performance function of the separation mechanism is proposed. The parameters of the mixed copula function are estimated using the method of maximum likelihood estimation. Subsequently, to further study the separation mechanism’s reliability during working, a time-variant parameter estimation method is introduced to build the time-variant mixed copula function. Finally, both the reliability and time-variant reliability of the separation mechanism are analyzed via the proposed integral methods. Comparisons with other analysis schemes show that the proposed integral method is not only effective but also efficient in analyzing the reliability of our target mechanism.
Online sharenting: Identifying existing vulnerabilities and demystifying media reported crime risks
Authors: Lavorgna Anita , Ugwudike Pamela , Tartari Morena
Published: January 2023

Sharenting – the digital sharing of sensitive information of minors by parents or guardians – has not yet been investigated from a criminological perspective. However, there are reported concerns regarding its criminogenic potential amidst fast-growing media interest in sharenting practices, particularly in relation to the perceived crime risks. This article offers an exploratory analysis of cases where such practices led to the victimisation of minors, evidencing the gap between media reports about crime risks and actual victimisation. The paper also demonstrates that sharenting is a more complex phenomenon than generally recognised. By exploring these issues, the paper advances criminological understanding of the practice and demonstrates the divergences between media-reported crime risks and victimisation associated with sharenting. Although the paper highlights media exaggerations of such crime victimisation which can heighten public fear and anxiety, the article also provides new insights on the nature of actual victimisation, to raise awareness and aid preventative intervention.
Interactionally Embedded Gestalt Principles of Multimodal Human Communication
Authors: Trujillo James P. , Holler Judith
Published: January 2023

Natural human interaction requires us to produce and process many different signals, including speech, hand and head gestures, and facial expressions. These communicative signals, which occur in a variety of temporal relations with each other (e.g., parallel or temporally misaligned), must be rapidly processed as a coherent message by the receiver. In this contribution, we introduce the notion of interactionally embedded, affordance-driven gestalt perception as a framework that can explain how this rapid processing of multimodal signals is achieved as efficiently as it is. We discuss empirical evidence showing how basic principles of gestalt perception can explain some aspects of unimodal phenomena such as verbal language processing and visual scene perception but require additional features to explain multimodal human communication. We propose a framework in which high-level gestalt predictions are continuously updated by incoming sensory input, such as unfolding speech and visual signals. We outline the constituent processes that shape high-level gestalt perception and their role in perceiving relevance and prägnanz. Finally, we provide testable predictions that arise from this multimodal interactionally embedded gestalt-perception framework. This review and framework therefore provide a theoretically motivated account of how we may understand the highly complex, multimodal behaviors inherent in natural social interaction.
Enriching Psychology by Zooming Out to General Mindsets and Practices in Natural Habitats
Authors: Van de Vliert Evert , Conway Lucian G. , Van Lange Paul A. M.
Published: January 2023

Psychology has been “zooming in” on individuals, dyads, and groups with a narrow lens to the exclusion of “zooming out,” which involves placing the targeted phenomena within more distal layers of influential context. Here, we plea for a paradigm shift. Specifically, we showcase largely hidden scientific benefits of zooming out by discussing worldwide evidence on inhabitants’ habitual adaptations to colder-than-temperate and hotter-than-temperate habitats. These exhibits reveal two different types of theories. Clement-climate perspectives emphasize that generic common properties of stresses from cold and hot temperatures elicit similar effects on personality traits and psychosocial functioning. Cold-versus-heat perspectives emphasize that specific unique properties of stresses from cold and hot habitats elicit different effects on phenomena, such as speech practices and intergroup discrimination. Both zooming-out perspectives are then integrated into a complementary framework that helps identify explanatory mechanisms and demonstrates the broader added value of embedding zooming-in approaches within zooming-out approaches. Indeed, zooming out enriches psychology.
Disclosing and managing non-financial conflicts of interest in scientific publications
Authors: Resnik David
Published: January 2023

In the last decade, there has been increased recognition of the importance of disclosing and managing non-financial conflicts of interests to safeguard the objectivity, integrity, and trustworthiness of scientific research. While funding agencies and academic institutions have had policies for addressing non-financial interests in grant peer review and research oversight since the 1990s, scientific journals have been only recently begun to develop such policies. An impediment to the formulation of effective journal policies is that non-financial interests can be difficult to recognize and define. Journals can overcome this problem by providing guidance concerning the types of non-financial interests that should be disclosed, including direct research interests, direct professional interests, expert testimony, involvement in litigation, holding a leadership position in a non-governmental organization, providing technical or scientific advice to a non-governmental organization, and personal or professional relationships. The guidance should apply to authors, editors, and reviewers.
No conclusive evidence for number-induced attentional shifts in a temporal order judgement task
Authors: Hesselmann Guido , Knops André
Published: January 2023

The Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect refers to the observation that relatively small (e.g., 1) and large numbers (e.g., 9) elicit faster left- and right-sided manual responses, respectively. In a variation known as the attentional SNARC effect, merely looking at numbers caused a left- or right-ward shift in covert spatial attention, depending on the number’s magnitude. In our study, we probed the notion that numbers induce shifts of spatial attention in accordance with their position on a mental number line (MNL). Critically, we removed any putative spatial response code that may contaminate the responses. We used a square and a tilted square as targets, thereby situating the decisive response dimension in the ventral, non-spatial processing stream. In two experiments where numbers were used as non-informative cues preceding a temporal order judgement (TOJ) task, we did not observe a deflection of the locus of spatial attention as a function of the numerical magnitude of the cue. In a third experiment, finding a significant modulation of TOJ performance as a function of the pointing direction of arrow cues allowed us to rule out the possibility that the absence of any significant modulation in Experiments 1 and 2 was due to a lack of sensitivity of our task set-up. We conclude from the current findings that the spatial codes that the perception and naming of numbers potentially elicit are not in and by themselves sufficient to elicit deflections of spatial attention.
Pyroptosis, inflammasome, and gasdermins in tumor immunity
Authors: Ouyang Xiaohu , Zhou Junfen , Lin Lan , Zhang Zili , Luo Shanshan , Hu Desheng
Published: January 2023

The gasdermins (GSDM), a family of pore-forming proteins, consist of gasdermin A (GSDMA), gasdermin B (GSDMB), gasdermin C (GSDMC), gasdermin D (GSDMD), gasdermin E (GSDME) and DFNB59 (Pejvakin (PJVK)) in humans. These proteins play an important role in pyroptosis. Among them, GSDMD is the most extensively studied protein and is identified as the executioner of pyroptosis. Other family members have also been implicated in certain cancers. As a unique form of programmed cell death, pyroptosis is closely related to tumor progression, and the inflammasome, an innate immune mechanism that induces inflammation and pyroptosis. In this review, we explore the current developments of pyroptosis, the inflammasome, and especially we review the gasdermin family members and their role in inducing pyroptosis and the possible therapeutic values in antitumor effects.
Perceived stigma among diabetic patients and their caregivers: a review
Authors: Kaur R , Sinha AK
Published: January 2023

Aims:

Considerable number of studies in the existing literature indicate the existence of stigma related to many diseases, disabilities, and disorders, but less attention has been given to diabetes-related stigma. This narrative review of literature aims to explore the existence of stigma surrounding type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM).

Methods:

Literature were searched using search engines, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus electronic databases published from year 2000 to 2020. Both qualitative and quantitative studies focusing on the stigma associated with T1DM were included. A total of 21 articles met the inclusion criteria. Thematic analysis of collected research material was done.

Results:

Results provided substantial evidence that stigma associated with T1DM was experienced by T1DM patients and their caregivers at some point in their lives and it had affected their lives in different domains such as difficulty finding a spouse, discrimination at employment opportunities, educational institutions, management of disease, being misjudged as a druggie, poor quality of life of the patient and caregiver, depressive symptoms among parents of patients, constant worrying of their child’s disease management, and so on.

Conclusion:

Stigma related to T1DM is experienced by individuals suffering from it, and it is widespread. It not only affects the sufferers but their loved ones also. To reduce and cope-up with stigma, there is a need to increase public education and awareness at a mass level. Further research and awareness will serve to build our understanding of the experience of diabetes-related stigma.
The verbalization of numbers: An explainable framework for tourism online reviews
Authors: De Nicolò Francesco , Bellantuono Loredana , Borzì Dario , Bregonzio Matteo , Cilli Roberto , De Marco Leone , Lombardi Angela , Pantaleo Ester , Petruzzellis Luca , Shashaj Ariona , Tangaro Sabina , Monaco Alfonso , Amoroso Nicola , Bellotti Roberto
Published: January 2023

Online reviews have been found very useful in decision-making. It is important to design and implement accurate systems to analyze the reviews and, based on textual information, predict their ratings. Given the different sources, languages and evaluating systems, intelligent systems are needed to use textual and numerical reviews to better understand the evaluation of the tourist experience and derive useful information to improve the offer. This paper aims to present an eXplainable Artificial Intelligence framework that contributes to the discussion on numerical and textual evaluations of the hospitality experience. It combines sentiment analysis and machine learning to accurately model and explain the evaluation of the tourist experience. The main findings are that review ratings should be used with caution and accompanied by a sentiment evaluation and explainability plays a central role in identifying which are the key concepts of positive or negative ratings, providing invaluable intelligence about the tourist experience.
Points of contact between network psychometrics and experimental psychopathology
Authors: McNally Richard J.
Published: January 2023

Experimental psychology has long embodied the quest to identify the causes of psychopathology. This venerable tradition has been joined in this quest by network theory, a novel approach to conceptualizing episodes of disorder as emerging from complex systems characterized by dynamic interactions of symptoms. Although issuing from the correlational, psychometric tradition rather than the experimental one, it nevertheless offers methods for identifying symptom targets for clinical experimental intervention. The purpose of this article is to sketch the points of contact between network psychometrics and experimental psychopathology.
The impact of Antimicrobial Stewardship Programmes in paediatric emergency departments and primary care: a systematic review
Authors: Brigadoi Giulia , Rossin Sara , Visentin Davide , Barbieri Elisa , Giaquinto Carlo , Da Dalt Liviana , Donà Daniele
Published: January 2023

Background:

Antibiotics remain the most prescribed medicine in children worldwide, but half of the prescriptions are unnecessary or inappropriate, leading to an increase in antibiotic resistance. This study aims to systemically review the effects of different Antimicrobial Stewardship Programmes (ASPs) on reducing the rates of both antibiotic prescriptions and changes in antimicrobial resistance, and on the economic impact in paediatric emergency departments (PED) and primary care settings.

Materials and methods:

Embase, MEDLINE, and Cochrane Library were systematically searched, combining Medical Subject Heading and free-text terms for ‘children’ and ‘antimicrobial’ and ‘stewardship’. The search strategy involved restrictions on dates (from 1 January 2007 to 30 December 2020) but not on language. Randomized controlled trials, controlled and non-controlled before and after studies, controlled and non-controlled interrupted time series, and cohort studies were included for review. The review protocol was registered at the PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews: Registration Number CRD42021270630.

Results:

Of the 47,158 articles that remained after removing duplicates, 59 were eligible for inclusion. Most of the studies were published after 2015 (37/59, 62.7%) and in high-income countries (51/59, 86.4%). Almost half of the studies described the implementation of an ASP in the primary care setting (28/59, 47.5%), while 15 manuscripts described the implementation of ASPs in EDs (15/59, 25.4%). More than half of the studies (43/59, 72.9%) described the implementation of multiple interventions, whereas few studies considered the implementation of a single intervention. Antibiotic prescriptions and compliance with guidelines were the most frequent outcomes (47/59, 79.7% and 20/59, 33.9%, respectively). Most of the articles reported an improvement in these outcomes after implementing an ASP. Meanwhile, only very few studies focused on health care costs (6/59, 10.2%) and antimicrobial resistance (3/59 5.1%).

Conclusion:

The implementation of ASPs has been proven to be feasible and valuable, even in challenging settings such as Emergency Departments and Primary care.
The Influence of Teaching Practicum on Foreign Language Teaching Anxiety Among Pre-Service EFL Teachers
Authors: Li Qi , Xie Zhilong , Zeng Guofang
Published: January 2023

Most previous studies focused on foreign language learning anxiety, whereas relatively few have ever examined the foreign language teaching anxiety (FLTA), particularly experienced by pre-service EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers. By administering the “Foreign Language Teaching Anxiety Scale” (FLTAS) and a semi-structured interview, the current study examined whether the EFL teaching practicum had an influence on FLTA by comparing the differences of FLTA between pre-service EFL teachers who had 4 months of practicum experience and those without the practicum, and explored the potential factors contributing to FLTA. Results of descriptive analyses showed that overall the pre-service teachers had a relatively high level of FLTA. Results of independent sample t-test analyses indicated that the practicum group had significantly higher FLTA compared to the non-practicum group. Furthermore, within the two groups, female teachers consistently showed higher FLTA than the male teachers. Results of the interview content analyses revealed that anxiety-provoking factors primarily originated from fear of negative evaluation, low self-perception of language proficiency, and teaching inexperience. The findings of the current study provide insights of anxiety research in EFL context and implications for teachers to better reduce anxiety in English teaching practice.
The Psychological Affordances of Solitude in Emerging Adulthood
Authors: Thomas Virginia
Published: January 2023

The slim but growing literature on solitude relies heavily on survey and experimental designs but lacks a substantive understanding of the lived experiences of time spent alone, and by extension, what those experiences might reveal about the psychological functions of time in solitude. Following Gibson’s theory of affordances, solitude was viewed as an environment that offers various meaningful possibilities for action. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 43 emerging adults who shared positive and negative experiences of solitude, motivations for being alone, and perceived benefits of time spent by themselves. Narratives were examined using thematic analysis (TA), revealing five positive affordances (focused attention, restoration, reflection, freedom, transcendence), two negative affordances (loneliness, rumination), and one mixed affordance (emotional expression). Affordances as an interactive match between environment and person, and the importance of purpose and the capacity to perceive such affordances, are discussed in relation to the benefits of solitude for emerging adults.
Feature on Teaching: Bringing an Entrepreneurial Lens to the Business Communication Course
Authors: Tomlinson Elizabeth C.
Published: January 2023

Instructors face myriad competing demands for topical coverage in their courses, while navigating pressure to teach in varied modalities and meet employers’ expectations for graduates. Starting from a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning framework, this article contributes to the bridging-the-gap literature by addressing local employers’ needs and proposing an entrepreneurship-based approach to business communication curriculum.
A Seat at the Table: A New Data Set of Social Movement Organization Representation before Congress during the Twentieth Century
Authors: Seguin Charles , Maher Thomas V. , Zhang Yongjun
Published: January 2023

The authors ask descriptive questions concerning the relationship between social movement organizations (SMOs) and the state. Which movement’s SMOs are consulted the most by the state? Do only a few “spokes-organizations” speak for the whole of movements? Has the state increasingly consulted SMOs over time? Do the movements consulted most by the state advise only a few state venues? The authors present and describe a new publicly available data set covering 2,593 SMOs testifying at any of the 87,249 public congressional hearings held during the twentieth century. Testimony is highly concentrated across movements, with just four movements giving 64 percent of the testimony before Congress. A very few “spokes-organizations” testify far more often than typical SMOs. The SMO congressional testimony diversified over the twentieth century from primarily “old” movements such as Labor to include “new” movements such as the Environmental movement. The movements that testified most often did so before a broader range of congressional committees.
Are Supervision Violations Filling Prisons? The Role of Probation, Parole, and New Offenses in Driving Mass Incarceration
Authors: Phelps Michelle S. , Dickens H. N. , Beadle De Andre’ T.
Published: January 2023

Advocates for reform have highlighted violations of probation and parole conditions as a key driver of mass incarceration. As a 2019 Council of State Governments report declared, supervision violations are “filling prisons and burdening budgets.” Yet few scholarly accounts estimate the precise role of technical violations in fueling prison populations during the prison boom. Using national surveys of state prison populations from 1979 to 2016, the authors document that most incarcerated persons are behind bars for new sentences. On average, just one in eight people in state prisons on any given day has been locked up for a technical violation of community supervision alone. Thus, strategies to substantially reduce prison populations must look to new criminal offenses and sentence length.
“People expect you to choose”: Postcolonial hybridity in complex geographies of scaled diaspora identities
Authors: Devadoss Christabel
Published: January 2023

Hybridity in geography, specifically hybridity through a postcolonial lens, is often removed from postcolonial origins regarding geographic scale. I argue that postcolonial hybridity is key to situating geographic scalar identity within the context of postcolonial diasporas navigating competing ideas of nationalism and regionalism. Postcolonial hybridity as opposed to hybridity as hyphenated identity, provides a historically contingent lens useful to contextualizing lived scalar identities within diaspora communities, particularly in the United States, a nation founded on settler colonial ideologies. Drawing from 3 years of observational and interview-based research in the US Indian Tamil diaspora, I argue that scalar identity is a directly influenced by colonial constructions of race, identity, and ideas of nationalism. Drawing from Bhabha’s (1994) concept of hybridity, I demonstrate how scalar identity can be reconceptualized with respect to postcolonial geographies of identity.
Identifying Japanese students’ core spatial reasoning skills by solving 3D geometry problems: An exploration
Authors: Fujita Taro , Kondo Yutaka , Kumakura Hiroyuki , Miawaki Shinichi , Kunimune Susumu , Shojima Kojiro
Published: January 2023

Taking the importance of spatial reasoning skills, this article aims to identify “core” spatial reasoning skills which are likely to contribute to successful problem-solving in three-dimensional (3D) geometry. “Core” spatial skills are those which might be particularly related to students’ successful problem-solving in 3D geometry. In this article, spatial reasoning skills are malleable and can be improved with teaching/interventions with mental rotation, spatial orientation, spatial visualization, and property-based reasoning. To achieve the study aim, we conducted a survey in total of 2,303 Japanese Grade 4–9 students (10–15 years old). We take the following stages of the procedures in this article: (a) Descriptive statistics; (b) 2 parameter logistic model (2PLM) analysis; and (c) Experiments with the Pearson correlation coefficient. As a result, we identified that a set of a few tasks can be used to check if students have “core” spatial skills in 3D geometry. For both primary and secondary, rotating given representations mentally, and imagining and drawing 3D shapes, are important, and for secondary schools, property-based reasoning is also crucial for further problem-solving skills. Our findings and methodological approach have implications for mathematics education research and practice as our results provide clear, and promising principles for task/units/curriculum design for spatial reasoning in which more robust teaching intervention is necessary.
Metabolism in stem cell driven leukaemia: parallels between haematopoiesis and immunity
Authors: Rattigan Kevin M. , Zarou Martha M. , Helgason Vignir
Published: January 2023

Our understanding of cancer metabolism spans from its role in cellular energetics and supplying the building blocks necessary for proliferation, to maintaining cellular redox and regulating the cellular epigenome and transcriptome. Cancer metabolism, once thought to be solely driven by upregulated glycolysis, is now known to comprise of multiple pathways with great plasticity in response to extrinsic challenges. Furthermore, cancer cells can modify their surrounding niche during disease initiation, maintenance and metastasis, contributing to therapy resistance. Leukaemia is a paradigm model of stem cell driven cancer. Here, we review how leukaemia remodels the niche and rewires its metabolism with particular attention paid to therapy-resistant stem cells. Specifically, we aim to give a global, non-exhaustive overview of key metabolic pathways. By contrasting the metabolic rewiring required by myeloid leukaemic stem cells with that required for haematopoiesis and immune cell function, we highlight the metabolic features they share. This is a critical consideration when contemplating anti-cancer metabolic inhibitor options, especially in the context of anti-cancer immune therapies. Finally, we examine pathways that have not been studied in leukaemia but are critical in solid cancers in the context of metastasis and interaction with new niches. These studies also offer detailed mechanisms that have yet to be investigated in leukaemia. Given that cancer (and normal) cells can meet their energy requirements by not only upregulating metabolic pathways, but also utilising systemically available substrates, we aim to inform how interlinked these metabolic pathways are, both within leukaemic cells and between cancer cells and their niche.
Detecting the changes of wood properties with respect to elapsed years since wood formation by the eigenvalue distribution of near infrared spectral matrices
Authors: Fujimoto Takaaki
Published: January 2023

The effects of aging on wood properties are usually evaluated based on cambial age, with the assumption that the properties do not change once the wood has formed. This study examined changes in wood properties with the number of years elapsed since wood formation. Near-infrared (NIR) spectra were acquired from various positions of 20 sample trees, and changes in the spectra were examined with respect to elapsed years. We considered changes in multiple traits inclusively, rather than individually, using the distribution of eigenvalues calculated from NIR spectral matrices. The diffusion of eigenvalues with an increase in elapsed years followed Dyson’s Brownian motion. The gradual increase in the first eigenvalue, which is equivalent to the Helmholtz-free energy, indicates that the xylem in the heartwood changes to a more ordered physical state over time. The variations in Shannon entropy and density matrix with elapsed years revealed the irreversibility of the aging process. The proposed method is independent of a specific coordinate system and can, therefore, be applied using a wide variety of information other than that obtained from NIR spectra.
Systematic characterization of Brassica napus UBC13 genes involved in DNA-damage response and K63-linked polyubiquitination
Authors: Kumasaruge Ivanthi , Wen Rui , Wang Lipu , Gao Peng , Peng Gary , Xiao Wei
Published: January 2023

Background

Ubc13 is the only known ubiquitin conjugating enzyme (Ubc/E2) dedicated to promoting Lys (K)63-linked polyubiquitination, and this process requires a Ubc/E2 variant (UEV). Unlike conventional K48-linked polyubiquitination that targets proteins for degradation, K63-linked polyubiquitination, which is involved in several cellular processes, does not target proteins for degradation but alter their activities.

Results

In this study we report the identification and functional characterization of 12 Brassica napus UBC13 genes. All the cloned UBC13 gene products were able to physically interact with AtUev1D, an Arabidopsis UEV, to form stable complexes that are capable of catalyzing K63-linked polyubiquitination in vitro. Furthermore, BnUBC13 genes functionally complemented the yeast ubc13 null mutant defects in spontaneous mutagenesis and DNA-damage responses, suggesting that BnUBC13s can replace yeast UBC13 in mediating K63-linked polyubiquitination and error-free DNA-damage tolerance.

Conclusion

Collectively, this study provides convincing data to support notions that B. napus Ubc13s promote K63-linked polyubiquitination and are probably required for abiotic stress response. Since plant Ubc13-UEV are also implicated in other developmental and stress responses, this systematic study sets a milestone in exploring roles of K63-linked polyubiquitination in this agriculturally important crop.