bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
LGBT Rights in the Former Soviet Union
Authors: Wilkinson Cai
Published: October 2019

This chapter examines how LGBT politics have evolved in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and other countries of the former Soviet Union since 1991. Using the concept of visibility as an analytical lens, it charts the changing experiences of LGBT people and public attitudes toward homosexuality and gender identity through three distinct phases: first from erasure to invisibility in the 1990s and early 2000s, then increasing in visibility in the 2000s with the emergence of the region’s second wave of LGBT activism, and finally the current state of hypervisibility as state-sponsored political homophobia has intensified. For each stage, the main features of the configuration of a post-Soviet “regime of visibility” are outlined, charting the parallel development of activism and resistance and their interactions. The chapter concludes by considering the geotemporalities of post-Soviet LGBT politics and the insights that this region offers for both practices and understandings of global LGBT activism.
Translational Controls in Pain
Authors: Loerch Sarah , De La Peña June Bryan , Song Jane , Pancrazio Joseph J. , Price Theodore J. , Campbell Zachary T.
Published: October 2019

Pain is an unpleasant but essential sensation. On a cellular level, pain typically originates in sensory neurons called nociceptors. They undergo rapid increases in cap-dependent translation in response to noxious stimuli. The specificity of translational controls in nociceptors is governed by regulatory factors and mRNAs that collaborate to ensure precise temporal and spatial regulation of protein synthesis. Multiple signaling pathways bridge extracellular cues to nascent translation, including the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), and the integrated stress response (ISR). The torrent of information on both mechanisms and targets of translational controls in nociceptive circuits supports an enticing corollary. Targeted inhibition of aberrant translation in the cells responsible for the genesis of pain signals in the periphery affords a new strategy to prevent or reverse chronic pain states. We describe the implications of emerging insights into translational controls predominantly in the peripheral nervous system on the search for safer and more specific pain therapeutics.
Legislators Should Eliminate Religious Exemptions from Laws Protecting Children
Authors: Hamilton Marci A. , Griffin Leslie C.
Published: October 2019

The laws that protect children apply to everyone, religious and nonreligious. Too often, however, parents claim exemptions from child-protecting laws in the name of religious freedom beyond that which is required by the First Amendment. They refuse to vaccinate or to secure medical care for injury or illness, or they harm, abuse, or even kill their children, claiming they are doing so for protected religious reasons. This chapter argues that all children need full protection of the laws prohibiting abuse and neglect, and all parents must obey them. Children are no longer property; they are persons, and the laws that affect them should prevent harm, not cause it. Children’s health, safety, and well-being are rights that should be protected even against parents who harm them.
School Vouchers and Student Rights
Authors: Mead Julie F.
Published: October 2019

When the Court in Tinker v. Des Moines famously declared that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate,” everyone understood that the gate was the entrance to a public school, funded by state tax dollars and operated by state officials. No one on the Court had yet contemplated what might happen to those students’ rights if the gate accessed a private school and public funds were used to buy that entry. Publicly funded subsidies for private education have evolved considerably since the Court heard Tinker and now parents in many states may use public funds to choose the school for their child via voucher programs, tax credit scholarship programs, and education savings accounts. But what impact does such a choice have on the rights students typically enjoy in schools? This chapter explores that question and explains that even though voucher and voucher-like programs like tax credit scholarship programs and education savings accounts are publicly funded, the rights afforded to children when they enroll in a private school through such a program do not mirror those enjoyed in public school settings. In fact, when parents exercise a voucher, they effectively trade constitutional protections for contractual obligations. That trade has significant impacts on the claims that may be brought should concern arise over issues related to students’ rights to freedom of speech, freedom of religion, or due process.
Citizen Deliberation Online
Authors: Rossini Patrícia , Stromer-Galley Jennifer
Published: October 2019

Political conversation is at the heart of democratic societies, and it is an important precursor of political engagement. As society has become intertwined with the communication infrastructure of the Internet, we need to understand its uses and the implications of those uses for democracy. This chapter provides an overview of the core topics of scholarly concern around online citizen deliberation, focusing on three key areas of research: the standards of quality of communication and the normative stance on citizen deliberation online; the impact and importance of digital platforms in structuring political talk; and the differences between formal and informal political talk spaces. After providing a critical review of these three major areas of research, we outline directions for future research on online citizen deliberation.
Appealing to Diverse Electorates in the United States
Authors: Searle David M. , Abrajano Marisa
Published: October 2019

As electorates around the world become increasingly diverse, addressing how electoral persuasion emerges is a major concern. Focusing on the United States, this chapter explores the campaign strategies used by candidates to persuade, mobilize, and target diverse voters. It begins by conducting an exhaustive review of the existing research. After doing so, the chapter concludes that there is still much to be done and highlights particular aspects ripe for future research. In particular, scant attention has been paid to the ways candidates, political parties, and outside groups target African Americans and the extent to which they are persuaded or mobilized by these efforts. A similar need exists with respect to the campaign strategies used to target Asian Americans. Critically, it is important to know whether the electoral tactics, long proven effective for white Americans also work in the same way for voters with distinct political experiences and socialization processes. The remainder of the chapter offers future avenues and directions for scholars wishing to better understand how electoral persuasion operates in diverse electorates.
Electoral Persuasion in the New Democracies Challenges and Opportunities
Authors: Aguilar Rosario , Conroy-Krutz Jeffrey
Published: October 2019

How do political aspirants seek to persuade voters to their side in new democracies? In general, populations in such countries are poorer, less politically experienced, and less able to access information than their counterparts in older democracies; these differences shape the types of persuasive strategies that parties and candidates employ. This article examines four general persuasive strategies in newer democracies, including those involving distributional appeals, ascriptive identities, program-related promises, and messaging using mass media.
In the Name of Internationalism
Authors: Lu Xiaoning
Published: October 2019

The red martyr holds a special place in the collective memory of communist nations. In the Chinese pantheon of red martyrs, Norman Bethune, a renowned Canadian doctor who died during his selfless support of China’s anti-imperialist war against Japan, occupies a unique place. Bethune was sacralized as the ultimate symbol of internationalism by Mao Zedong in his essay “In Memory of Norman Bethune.” Much of the commemorative art about Bethune inevitably entails performing exegetic exercises of the Mao text. Using the 1962 compilation documentary In Memory of Norman Bethune and the 1964 biopic Doctor Bethune as examples, this article examines specific narrative strategies utilized in the cinematic memorialization of Bethune. It argues that despite their diverging styles and innovative engagements with the Mao text, both films perpetuate the political reification of the spirit of Bethune as proletarian internationalism incompatible with humanitarianism, while consolidating the political power of central authorities.
Charles Beitz, Political Theory and International Relations
Authors: Bertoldi Nancy
Published: October 2019

Charles Beitz’s Political Theory and International Relations (PTIR) played a pioneering role for contemporary international political theory by bringing together two domains of inquiry that had proceeded largely independently from each other in the twentieth century. This chapter will assess PTIR’s contributions to international political theory and explore its continuing relevance for debates on sovereignty, human rights, and globalization in a plural world. After reviewing the ways in which PTIR shaped the evolution of both international relations theory and political theory by questioning the central assumptions of international anarchy and political autonomy and by establishing cosmopolitanism as the dominant mode of analysis for international political theory with its groundbreaking argument for a global difference principle, the chapter will conclude by identifying several productive tensions in Beitz’s work that can further enrich contemporary discussions of global justice.
The Science of Voice Perception
Authors: Frühholz Sascha , Belin Pascal
Published: October 2019

The modern science of voice perception is a discipline that has its roots in scientific development that started in the middle of the nineteenth century. New technological developments and new scientific methods that evolved in the twentieth century finally led to an explosion of scientific research on voice perception in the last three to four decades. Today, the science of voice perception is a flourishing field to which contributions are growing every year, including the expansion and integration of the research field into many scientific disciplines. The studies on voice perception have now reached a level of diversity and extension that makes it difficult for the unfamiliar scientist, scholar, or student to quickly and comprehensively orientate him or herself in the research field. The Oxford Handbook of Voice Perception has exactly this purpose of supporting orientation for unfamiliar readers within this growing research field, and to also give a broad overview on the field for familiar readers. This introductory chapter establishes the structure of the handbook and gives a general introduction to the science of voice perception by outlining the interdisciplinary nature of the field, including a cross-species perspective and general definition of what a ‘voice’ is as produced by many vertebrate species.
One Step BeyondMusical Expertise and Word Learning
Authors: Elmer Stefan , Dittinger Eva , Besson Mireille
Published: October 2019

This chapter takes a new look at an old riddle by discussing putative parallelisms between speech and music processing, as well as music to speech transfer effects. Interestingly, both speech and music rely on comparable acoustic information (i.e. timing, pitch, and timbre) and share, at least partially, perceptive, cognitive, motivational, and motor components. Importantly, in this context, the chapter introduces a cortical framework of speech processing, as well as the perceptual and cognitive operations underlying speech learning mechanisms. It then reviews previous literature pinpointing the influence of music training on segmental and suprasegmental aspects of speech processing as well as on cognitive functions. Two complementary hypotheses underlying such transfer effects—cascade effects and multidimensional processes—are proposed. The issue of shared versus distinct neural networks for music and speech processing is also discussed. Finally, the chapter integrates the often observed perceptual and cognitive advantages of musicians in a holistic framework by considering their interrelations during an ecological, valid, word-learning task.
Social Perception in Infancy
Authors: Mercure Evelyne , Kischkel Laura
Published: October 2019

From the first days of life, babies appear to be naturally attracted to human faces and voices. These early biases maximize their social interaction and experience of social stimuli, leading to an impressive neurocognitive development of social perception in their first year. Recent advances in neuroimaging methods have revealed patterns of voice sensitivity in the infant’s temporal cortex. These patterns resemble the ones observed in adults, and their voice sensitivity increases rapidly in the first few months of life. Voice sensitivity in the infant temporal cortex is observed cross-culturally but seems to be altered in infants at risk of developing autism spectrum disorder. Activation of the infant social brain is also modulated by the emotional content of human vocalizations in regions involved in emotion processing in adulthood, such as the temporal voice-sensitive area, amygdala, and orbitofrontal cortex. Very young infants also appear to be sensitive to the integration of facial and vocal cues of gender, age, identity, emotions, and speech articulation. These skills are present from the first months of life and are increasingly more sophisticated as infants get closer to their first birthday. This chapter discusses the most recent findings in the early development of voice processing in the infant brain, as well as the emergence of audiovisual integration in social perception.
The Neural Network Underlying the Processing of Affective Vocalizations
Authors: Frühholz Sascha , Ceravolo Leonardo
Published: October 2019

The human voice can convey a lot of socially important information, from which listeners infer the affective state of the speaker. The affective state of the speaker is expressed in certain voice features that concern intonations in non-verbal and verbal vocal expressions. The brain of the listener involves certain neurocognitive mechanisms in decoding the affective meaning of a voice. The chapter outlines the large-scale neural network that supports different functions for decoding affect from voices. This large-scale neural network is composed of the auditory cortex, the limbic system (i.e. the amygdala), and the inferior frontal cortex that provide an acoustic analysis, an emotional decoding, and an evaluation of affective voices, respectively. Additional brain systems, such as the basal ganglia, the hippocampus, and the medial frontal cortex, provide additional functional processes for decoding affective voices. Beyond this large-scale neural network, recent studies also point to a local subnetwork within the core network that provides additional subfunctions. These recent studies altogether point to a prioritized processing of affective voices, which is also able to facilitate other cognitive functions such as (spatial) attentional orientating, memory formation, and emotional regulation.
Laughing Out Loud! Investigations on Different Types of Laughter
Authors: Alter Kai , Wildgruber Dirk
Published: October 2019

This chapter summarizes findings on the production, perception, and cerebral processing of different types of laughter, such as friendly laughter, tickling laughter, ‘schadenfreude’ laughter (expressing the pleasure about somebody’s misfortune), and taunting laughter. It discusses the articulatory and acoustic patterns related to these different types of laughter. The majority of acoustic patterns specifically linked to distinct types of laugher are related to voice parameters, such as fundamental frequency, and the involvement of the oral and nasal cavities. This may result in coughing-like or snoring-like features of laughter. The chapter argues that this may constitute a link to the evolutionary progression of emotional expression. Regarding laughter perception, the chapter presents studies showing that different types of laughter can be classified by listeners based solely on acoustics. Moreover, it reports specific changes in laughter perception, such as in the case of gelotophobia (the fear of being laughed at) and social anxiety. Lastly, the chapter shows data on the neurobiological underpinnings of laughter perception in healthy subjects, as well as the neural correlates of the negative attention bias observed in patients with social anxiety. The identification of neurobiological correlates of cognitive biases during laughter perception may provide a promising target for evaluation of therapeutic interventions such as neuropsychological training, non-invasive brain stimulation, or neural feedbacktraining in further research projects. To conclude, laughter is a multi-faceted expression of both emotional and social interaction. Studies on how laughter can impact social interaction can be particularly helpful for future work on patients suffering from anxiety.
Perceiving Speaker Identity from the Voice
Authors: Schweinberger Stefan R. , Zäske Romi
Published: October 2019

This chapter reviews both the development and current trends of research into human abilities to recognize other speakers by the voice, considering convergent evidence from behavioural psychological experiments, clinical case studies, and studies using methods from the cognitive neurosciences. First, substantial evidence suggests that the recognition and identification of voices of well-known speakers and the discrimination of speaker identity for unfamiliar voices represent separate abilities. Second, and unlike for other social signals such as vocal emotion, there is no unitary set of acoustic parameters that is crucial to voice-identity recognition. Third, although much current research points to the possibility that voice identity is represented in a norm-based manner, we currently lack a detailed computational model of the representation of individual known voices. Rapid technological progress may soon promote better understanding of dimensions of statistical variation between familiar voices, and possibly the nature of their mental representation. Fourth, there are remarkably large individual differences in voice-recognition abilities in the general population, and this chapter discusses a number of factors related to those differences. Fifth, research into voice learning has begun to elucidate the time course of brain mechanisms mediating the acquisition of speech-invariant representations of voice identity, and neuroimaging research has both established voice-sensitive areas in temporal cortex and identified a network of areas that subserve various aspects of voice-identity processing. Finally, the chapter discusses the role and possible mechanisms of audiovisual face–voice integration in the perception of speaker identity.
Perceptual Correlates and Cerebral Representation of Voices—Identity, Gender, and Age
Authors: Latinus Marianne , Zäske Romi
Published: October 2019

This chapter describes the putative representation of voices in human memory by looking at perceptual, acoustical, and cerebral correlates for the processing of speaker identity, gender, and age. Specifically, it outlines the factors that contribute to the variability in recognition accuracy for these speaker attributes, highlighting the importance of learning mechanisms. The chapter presents behavioural and neurological evidence for the notion that voices, similar to faces, are represented in memory relative to an average prototypical voice within a multidimensional acoustic space. While this account presents a useful framework to understand the neural coding of individual voices, it will take further research to elucidate how gender, age, and other speaker attributes are represented in this putative ‘voice space’. Furthermore, it remains to be determined whether and how the processing of various vocal cues may interact to shape everyday speaker perception.
Voices in the Context of Human Faces and Bodies
Authors: Kreifelts Benjamin , Ethofer Thomas
Published: October 2019

More often than not, emotion perception is a process guided by several sensory channels, accompanied by multimodal integration of emotional information. This process appears vital for effective social communication. This chapter provides an overview of recent studies describing the crossmodal integration of non-verbal emotional cues communicated via voices, faces, and bodies. The first parts of the chapter deal with the behavioural and neural correlates of multimodal integration in the healthy population using psychophysiological, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging measures, highlighting a network of brain areas involved in this process and discussing different methodological approaches. The final parts of the chapter, in contrast, are dedicated to the alterations of the multisensory integration of non-verbal emotional signals in states of psychiatric disease, with the main focus on schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders.
The ‘Vocal Brain’
Authors: Belin Pascal
Published: October 2019

Voice cognition—the set of abilities to extract diverse types of information in voices—is supported in our brain by a large set of distributed neural areas. This ‘vocal brain’ is constituted of a core network of voice-sensitive areas in the temporal lobe, the temporal voice areas (TVAs), connected to an extended network of extra-temporal areas with significant voice sensitivity including the amygdala and inferior prefrontal cortex bilaterally. The TVAs are likely performing voice detection and ‘structural encoding’ based on internal voice templates, as a preliminary computational stage necessary prior to analysis of goal-relevant information in the extended network. Despite its early development and long evolutionary history, the vocal brain remains poorly understood and much work remains ahead for a better understanding of its detailed functional organization.
Linguistic ‘First Impressions’Accents as a Cue to Person Perception
Authors: Bestelmeyer Patricia E.G.
Published: October 2019

Accents are the way in which speakers pronounce and stress words. These variations in pronunciation of the same language provide important social information about a speaker’s ethnic, socio-economic, and geographical background. The ability to differentiate between regional accents and draw social inferences based on accents develops in early adolescence. Much research, particularly in the social sciences, has demonstrated the importance of accents on the social evaluation of speakers. It is therefore not surprising that the social influence of certain types of accents, particularly foreign ones, is regularly exploited in the movie industry. More recent studies have also demonstrated an interesting preference for speakers who ‘sound like us’, and some scientists even argue that humans are not the only species to use accents as a social signal. Accented vocalizations seem to be a marker for group membership even in the non-human animal kingdom. Novel neuroimaging results provide further support for the notion of accents as a group membership cue and demonstrate that our perception of speech is partly shaped by the listener’s geographical background.
Voice Biometrics for FORENSIC Speaker Recognition Applications
Authors: Dellwo Volker , French Peter , He Lei
Published: October 2019

Voices are highly individual, and this information may be used to recognize people. This chapter provides an overview of how speaker-specific voice information can be used to assist in identifying unknown speakers in evidential audio recordings in order to assist in progressing criminal investigations or for evidential purposes. While the chapter is predominantly concerned with forensic applications of speaker recognition, it also considers commercially-orientated applications such as the voice-access systems increasingly used in banking, for example. The chapter distinguishes between biometric features of voice (i.e. aspects of speech that facilitate identification of an individual) and biometric recognition (i.e. the process of using those features to undertake the identification). Biometric features include a range of frequency- and time-domain characteristics that vary between speakers and are useable in human-based and automatic speaker-recognition processes, the principles of which the chapter explains and discusses. Finally, the chapter considers possible future scenarios in which biometric features of voice might be of use, should certain methodological obstacles be overcome.
Impairments in Decoding Vocal Emotion in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder
Authors: Leitman David I. , Haigh Sarah M.
Published: October 2019

Communication of social-affective intent through vocal modulation (prosody) has received increasing recent attention from cognitive neuroscientists. Clinically, dysprosodia is a cardinal feature of schizophrenia and may also be present in bipolar disorder. This chapter summarizes the state of knowledge regarding schizophrenia and bipolar dysprosodia, examining how it is measured and the neural mechanisms that underlie its disturbance. The authors argue that in schizophrenia, rather than reflecting generalized emotional dysfunction, affective prosody deficits are better explained from an information theoretical perspective of impaired audio-linguistic signal processing (ALSP) beginning with basic impairments to simple pitch perception that, along with higher-order cognitive impairments, generate dysprosodia. The ALSP model engenders specific theoretical and clinical implications, which the chapter also details. Finally, the chapter outlines the limitations of the ALSP model and current approaches that examine dysprosdia in single individuals, advocating that future research must study prosody within a communication and linguistic perspective that examines interpersonal communications.
Perception of Voices That Do Not ExistNeuronal Mechanisms in Clinical and Non-Clinical Hallucinations
Authors: Kompus Kristiina , Hugdahl Kenneth
Published: October 2019

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) consist of hearing voices that are not physically present. This perceptual phenomenon is of increasing interest for many research fields. In psychiatric patients, negative and distressing AVH reduce the quality of life, and understanding the mechanisms causing AVH is relevant for advancing clinical interventions. The cognitive and neural mechanisms of AVH are also of interest for research into neural underpinnings of speech processing. This chapter reviews theories of AVH and gives an overview of the main findings from behavioural and neuroimaging studies on individuals with AVH. Individuals who experience AVH show structural changes to auditory perception regions in the superior temporal lobes, as well as altered structural and functional connectivity patterns between auditory perception areas and other brain regions. The active ‘state’ of AVH is associated with increased neural activity in the primary and secondary auditory areas. Taken together, AVH are a perceptual phenomenon that represents a dysfunctional bottom-up activity in the temporal lobe auditory perception region, and altered connectivity with the areas responsible for implementing top-down control in the frontal cortex.
Acoustic Properties of Infant-Directed Speech
Authors: Wang Yuanyuan , Houston Derek M. , Seidl Amanda
Published: October 2019

Language acquisition is a complex process that involves an interaction between learning mechanisms and the input to the child. An important component of infants’ input is infant-directed speech (IDS)—a unique speech register that caregivers use when talking to infants. IDS differs from adult-directed speech (ADS) in a variety of dimensions. This chapter examines empirical research on the acoustic properties of IDS and the role that IDS may play in supporting infant language learning. Taking the discussion of IDS function in language development to the next level, this chapter further discusses the underlying mechanisms of IDS to promote language learning and caregivers’ intentions to use this speech register. Theoretical and practical implications of this body of work are discussed and areas for future research are highlighted.
Humility: A Qualitative Review
Authors: Worthington Everett L. , Goldstein Lillian , Hammock Brianne , Griffin Brandon J. , Garthe Rachel , Lavelock Caroline R. , Davis Don E. , Hook Joshua N. , Van Tongeren Daryl R.
Published: October 2019

Humility has gained empirical traction as a character strength. Between January 2000 and August 2015, 96 empirical articles on humility were published, and we conducted a qualitative systematic review. Humility was defined as having three aspects: accurate self-presentation and attitude of teachability; modest self-presentation; and other-orientedness. Several types of humility were identified. The findings are organized into seven hypotheses. The most support was found for the social hypotheses, spiritual hypothesis, virtues and vices hypotheses, societal peace hypothesis, and structure of humility hypothesis. For the structure of humility, the first two aspects are well supported, but it is unclear whether humility requires an orientation toward others or merely lack of self-focus. Little evidence supported the Humility–Health hypotheses. Little evidence supported the connection between humility and ultimate life satisfaction. The chapter suggests an urgent need to investigate little-studied hypotheses, especially health-related hypotheses.
Europe in the Iron Age
Authors: Haselgrove Colin , Rebay-Salisbury Katharina , Wells Peter S.
Published: October 2019

This chapter introduces the regional framework within which the archaeology of Iron Age Europe is presented in Chapters 4–17 of the book, and examines some key aspects of climate, environment, and population during the period. It outlines the main features of European physical geography—including landscapes, mountain ranges, river systems, and coastlines—discussing their roles as barriers to and facilitators of human connectivity during the Iron Age. Topography, soil types, and natural resources all had a major impact on subsistence practices and lifeways across the continent; climate changes presented specific challenges to the people at the end of the Bronze Age and in several phases during the Iron Age. Biological anthropology informs us about Iron Age health and nutrition, while isotope and DNA analyses of human remains are increasingly shedding new light on individual mobility and population histories through the period.
Stimulation
Authors: Buchtel Henry A. , Berlucchi Giovanni
Published: October 2019

The history of brain mapping using stimulation is long and nonlinear. It started with very imprecise stimulation of the brain using electrical discharges in the early 1800s. With better control of the electrical sources and more precise application of the stimuli, the real mapping of brain functions began in the 1870s, starting with the easily observed effects of activation of neurons in the motor cortex. Work since then has shown that the cerebral mantle is highly specialized and, more interesting, that experience and practice can cause significant alterations of the organization of neurons in the cortex and subcortical structures. New techniques to alter neuronal activity are being developed each year and will certainly increase our understanding of how the brain is organized and how it can be modified.
Irish Cursing and the Art of Magic, 1750–2018*
Authors: Waters Thomas
Published: October 2019

Fairies, leprechauns, banshees, witches, holy wells and rural remedies. Historic Ireland is famous for its superstitions, magic and ‘alternative beliefs’. Yet we should not ignore what was once the most widespread Irish magic of all: cursing. A righteous occult attack, a dark prayer for terrible pains to blight evildoers, cursing was unnervingly common from ancient times until the mid-twentieth century. This article explores its neglected modern history, since the late 1700s, by carefully scrutinizing the Irish style of cursing, relating it to wider social and economic conditions, and making comparisons with maledictions elsewhere. Irish imprecations can be analysed using familiar academic categories such as belief, ritual, symbolism, tradition and discourse. However, by repurposing an older way of thinking about magic, I argue that historic Irish cursing is best understood as an art, because it required knowledge, practice, wit, skill and composure. Intimidating, cathartic and virtuoso: cursing mingled gruesome yet poetic phrases with ostentatious rites, in the name of supernatural justice. It had many applications but was particularly valuable to Ireland’s marginalized people, fighting over food, religion, politics, land and family loyalties. Cursing rapidly faded from the mid-twentieth century and, unlike other forms of occultism, was not revived by the post 1970s ‘New Age’ movement. Its unusual history underlines three wider points: (i) magic can usefully thrive in modern societies, figuring in the most vital areas of life; (ii) different types of magic have distinct chronologies; (iii) the most psychologically powerful forms of magic are subtle arts that deserve our (begrudging) respect.
Phylogeny and revision of the Oriental leafhopper genus Amritodus (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Idiocerini)
Authors: Xue Qingquan , Zhang Yalin
Published: October 2019

The phylogeny of the Oriental leafhopper genus Amritodus is reconstructed, for the first time, based on 47 discrete morphological characters and DNA sequence data from one nuclear and two mitochondrial genes. The phylogenetic results show that Amritodus is not monophyletic, and its concept is narrowed here to include four species: Amritodus atkinsoni, Amritodus brevis, Amritodus brevistylus and Amritodus saeedi. The phylogenetic results support establishment of a new genus, Paramritodus gen. nov., with three new species,Paramritodus triangulus sp. nov. (type species), Paramritodus introflexus sp. nov., Paramritodus spatiosus sp. nov. and three species previously included in Amritodus: Paramritodus pistacious comb. nov., Paramritodus flavocapitatus comb. nov. and Paramritodus podocarpus comb. nov. In addition, Amritodus flavoscutatus is transferred from Amritodus to Hyalinocerus as Hyalinocerus flavoscutatus comb. nov. Keys to species of Amritodus and Paramritodus are provided.
Formyl peptide receptor 2 regulates monocyte recruitment to promote intestinal mucosal wound repair
Authors: Birkl Dorothee , O'Leary Monique N. , Quiros Miguel , Azcutia Veronica , Schaller Matthew , Reed Michelle , Nishio Hikaru , Keeney Justin , Neish Andrew S. , Lukacs Nicholas W. , Parkos Charles A. , Nusrat Asma
Published: October 2019

Mucosal wound repair is coordinated by dynamic crosstalk between endogenous and exogenous mediators and specific receptors on epithelial cells and infiltrating immune cells. One class of such receptor‐ligand pairs involves formyl peptide receptors (FPRs) that have been shown to influence inflammatory response and repair. Here we explored the role of murine Fpr2/3, an ortholog of human FPR2/receptor for lipoxin A4 (ALX), in orchestrating intestinal mucosal repair. Compared with wild‐type (WT) mice, Fpr2/3–/– mice exhibited delayed recovery from acute experimental colitis and perturbed repair after biopsy‐induced colonic mucosal injury. Decreased numbers of infiltrating monocytes were observed in healing wounds from Fpr2/3–/– mice compared with WT animals. Bone marrow transplant experiments revealed that Fpr2/3–/– monocytes showed a competitive disadvantage when infiltrating colonic wounds. Moreover, Fpr2/3–/– monocytes were defective in chemotactic responses to the chemokine CC chemokine ligand (CCL)20, which is up‐regulated during early phases of inflammation. Analysis of Fpr2/3–/– monocytes revealed altered expression of the CCL20 receptor CC chemokine receptor (CCR)6, suggesting that Fpr2/3 regulates CCL20‐CCR6‐mediated monocyte chemotaxis to sites of mucosal injury in the gut. These findings demonstrate an important contribution of Fpr2/3 in facilitating monocyte recruitment to sites of mucosal injury to influence wound repair.—Birkl, D., O'Leary, M. N., Quiros, M., Azcutia, V., Schaller, M., Reed, M., Nishio, H., Keeney, J., Neish, A. S., Lukacs, N. W., Parkos, C. A., Nusrat, A. Formyl peptide receptor 2 regulates monocyte recruitment to promote intestinal mucosal wound repair. FASEB J. 33, 13632‐13643 (2019). www.fasebj.org
Modifiable and nonmodifiable factors associated with patient satisfaction in spine surgery and other orthopaedic subspecialties: A retrospective survey analysis
Authors: Steinmetz Leah , Vasquez-Montes Dennis , Johnson Bradley C. , Buckland Aaron J. , Goldstein Jeffrey A. , Bendo John A. , Errico Thomas J. , Fischer Charla R.
Published: October 2019

Background:

The Press Ganey (PG) satisfaction survey is the most common measure to assess ambulatory patient satisfaction. Understanding how factors affecting spine patient satisfaction compare with other orthopedic subspecialties may allow for interventions to increase satisfaction. This study aimed to determine if patient satisfaction predictors differ between spine and nonspine orthopaedic subspecialties.

Methods:

PG surveys from 2013-2017 were retrospectively analyzed. Correlation analysis was performed between each survey question, and overall experience as measured by Likelihood of Recommending the provider (LTR) and Provider Rating (PR). Regression modeling was utilized to identify differences between ambulatory patients in spine and other nonspine orthopaedic subspecialties.

Results:

Overall, 16,175 orthopaedic patient surveys were analyzed, of which 1,400 surveys were from spine patients. The mean age for respondents was 55.4 yr, and 41.2% were female. Poor ratings were predicted by higher education level in both groups. Female physicians (PR OR=1.320 P=0.07, LTR OR=1.529 P=0.04) and a high school education (PR OR=1.488 P=0.05, LTR OR=1.968 P=0.01) were significant predictors of satisfaction in nonspine orthopaedic subspecialties, but not in spine patients. Provider communication, staff communication, concordant ethnicity, and age bias were predictors for PR (Spine R2=0.735, Orthopedics R2=0.665) and LTR (Spine R2:0.642, Orthopedics R2=0.599) in both groups. Provider communication was the strongest independent predictor of high satisfaction for spine (PR R2=0.728, LTR R2=0.627) and nonspine orthopaedic patients (R2=0.662, R2=0.583) followed by staff communication, ethnicity, and age.

Conclusions:

Satisfaction for both spine and nonspine orthopaedic patients is driven by provider communication, followed by staff communication, ethnicity, and age.

Level of Evidence:

Level IV.
Femoral-side revision using dual-mobility components for failed hip resurfacing: A retrospective case series
Authors: Abdelazim Haytham , Gemeah Mostafa , Diab Ramy Ahmed
Published: October 2019

Background:

The aim of this study was to report clinical outcomes and complications of femoral-side revision using dual-mobility components for failed hip resurfacing.

Methods:

Eighteen consecutive patients underwent revision of failed hip resurfacing for the femoral side using dual mobility components with acetabular component retention. The mean follow-up period was 18 mo.

Results:

The modified Harris Hip score, visual analog scale, and Short-Form (SF)-12 scores had all improved significantly (P<0.01, P<0.05 and P<0.05, respectively) with no evidence of loosening, dislocations, or any other complications.

Conclusions:

Femoral-side revision only using dual-mobility liners in failed hip resurfacing appears to be a simple, safe technique with high success.
Insights From Atrial Fibrillation Genomics
Authors: Chung Mina K. , Youn Wass So Jin , Barnard John
Published: October 2019

From the bedside of patients contributing samples to large genome-wide association studies for atrial fibrillation (AF), over 100 AF risk loci have been identified. The top locus is near a gene implicated in pulmonary vein formation; the ostia of the pulmonary veins harbor initiating triggers of AF, and isolation of these areas is the cornerstone of ablation therapies for AF. Transcriptomic studies suggest that AF is associated with impaired or overwhelmed responses to cell stress. A dual risk model proposes that in genetically-susceptible individuals, inadequate transcriptional responses to stress predispose to AF in later life. Drugs targeting metabolic, oxidative, or protein handling stress may be novel upstream agents to bring back to the bedside for study in the prevention of AF.
Prevalence of isolated nocturnal hypertension according to 2018 European Society of Cardiology and European Society of Hypertension office blood pressure categories
Authors: Salazar Martin R. , Espeche Walter G. , Balbín Eduardo , Leiva Sisnieguez Carlos E. , Minetto Julián , Leiva Sisnieguez Betty C. , Maciel Pablo M. , Stavile Rodolfo N. , Carbajal Horacio A.
Published: October 2019

Objectives:

To estimate the prevalence of isolated nocturnal hypertension (INH) and its relationships with office blood pressure (BP) categories defined by 2018 ESC/ESH guidelines.

Methods:

We conducted a prospective cohort study in consecutive patients referred to perform an ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) for diagnosis or therapeutic purposes. Office BP measurements and ABPM were performed in the same visit. The cohort was divided according to office BP in optimal, normal, high-normal and hypertension. The prevalence and adjusted risk for combined daytime and nocturnal hypertension and INH were estimated for each category.

Results:

We evaluated 1344 individuals, 59.3% women (51 ± 14 years old) and 40.7% men (52 ± 15 years old). 61.5% of the individuals had nocturnal hypertension, 12.9% INH and 48.7% combined daytime and nocturnal hypertension. Prevalence of combined daytime and nocturnal hypertension increased through office BP categories (P < 0.001). Conversely, prevalence of INH was lower in individuals with hypertension than in normotensives (7.4 vs. 17.2%, P < 0.001) and similar between nonhypertensive office BP categories, 16.6, 15 and 19.4% for optimal, normal and high-normal BP, respectively (P < 0.399). In individuals with office BP values less than 140/90 mmHg, the prevalence of masked hypertension phenotypes were 8.6, 17.2 and 30.2% for daytime, INH and combined daytime and nocturnal hypertension, respectively. Adjusted risk for combined daytime and nocturnal hypertension increased significantly through office BP categories; conversely, the risk for INH was similar in all nonhypertensive office BP categories.

Conclusion:

Nocturnal hypertension was the more prevalent phenotype of masked hypertension and more than one-third of the individuals with nocturnal hypertension had INH. The risk for INH was not related to nonhypertensive office BP categories.
Lack of a significant legacy effect of baseline blood pressure ‘treatment naivety’ on all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in the Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial
Authors: Ho Chau L.B. , Breslin Monique , Chowdhury Enayet K. , Doust Jenny , Reid Christopher M. , Davis Barry R. , Simpson Lara M. , Nelson Mark R.
Published: October 2019

Objectives:

To investigate legacy effects at 14-year follow-up of all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in ‘treatment-naive’ or ‘previous treatment’ groups based on blood pressure (BP)-lowering treatment status at baseline.

Methods:

A post-hoc observational study of the Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial. We excluded participants with a previous history of CVD events. Cox proportional hazard model and 95% confidence interval were used to estimate the effects of treatment naive on mortality outcomes. Moreover, a subgroup analysis by estimated 10-year Framingham risk score was performed.

Results:

In multivariable models adjusting for baseline and in-trial characteristics (BP values and number of BP medications as time-dependent variables), there was no statistically significant difference in 5 and 14-year all-cause mortality with a hazard ratio of 0.93 (95% confidence interval 0.80–1.09) and hazard ratio 0.95 (0.88–1.03) and in 5 and 14-year CVD mortality hazard ratio 0.94 (0.72–1.23) and hazard ratio 0.93 (0.80–1.08). In subgroup by absolute CVD risk, no heterogeneity of the association between treatment naive and short-term or long-term all-cause or CVD mortality were found. All comparisons are between the treatment-naive and previous treatment groups.

Conclusion:

Physicians are concerned about ‘legacy effects’ of not treating individuals with a BP of 140 mmHg or over and low absolute risk. When treatment intensification was taken into consideration in the primary prevention population in this study, no adverse legacy effect as a result of baseline BP ‘treatment naivety’ was evident in 14 years of follow-up. The nonsignificant associations were consistent across the CVD risk subgroups. However, the results may be biased due to unobserved residual confounding and therefore should be interpreted with caution.
DISEASE CLASSIFICATION OF MACULAR OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY SCANS USING DEEP LEARNING SOFTWARE
Authors: Bhatia Kanwal K. , Graham Mark S. , Terry Louise , Wood Ashley , Tranos Paris , Trikha Sameer , Jaccard Nicolas
Published: October 2019

Purpose:

To evaluate Pegasus optical coherence tomography (OCT), a clinical decision support software for the identification of features of retinal disease from macula OCT scans, across heterogenous populations involving varying patient demographics, device manufacturers, acquisition sites, and operators.

Methods:

Five thousand five hundred and eighty-eight normal and anomalous macular OCT volumes (162,721 B-scans), acquired at independent centers in five countries, were processed using the software. Results were evaluated against ground truth provided by the data set owners.

Results:

Pegasus-OCT performed with areas under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic of at least 98% for all data sets in the detection of general macular anomalies. For scans of sufficient quality, the areas under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic for general age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema detection were found to be at least 99% and 98%, respectively.

Conclusion:

The ability of a clinical decision support system to cater for different populations is key to its adoption. Pegasus-OCT was shown to be able to detect age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, and general anomalies in OCT volumes acquired across multiple independent sites with high performance. Its use thus offers substantial promise, with the potential to alleviate the burden of growing demand in eye care services caused by retinal disease.