bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Black Social Gospel as Rainbow Politics
Authors: Dorrien Gary
Published: September 2023

The role of the Black social gospel in undergirding racial justice organizing, politics, and church preaching vastly transcended the debates that consumed academic theologians. Andrew Young and Jesse Jackson went on to highly prominent political careers that symbolize, between them, the march of the civil rights movement into electoral politics. The political struggles that consumed Young and Jackson drove the Black social gospel in ways that impacted millions of people. Both combined an anti-racist postcolonial approach to world politics with a vigorous Black capitalism, imagining a new world order shaped by Black internationalists and enlightened corporations. Both contended that Black internationalists and Black capitalists held better values than the White versions--or at least they should. Jackson wanted to be two things that conflicted, a King-like moral prophet and a leading politician. He oscillated for many years, never quite willing or able to stop wavering. He shared with King the powerful Black folk spirituality of the NBCUSA, which Jackson inflected, like MLK, with social gospel theology and politics. Jackson was a lodestar to many Black liberationists and progressives finding their way in the shadow years. He radicalized King’s approach by collaborating with Black nationalists, aligning PUSH with Black Power, developing a Black national agenda, and flirting with third party politics. He showed there was a third way between civil rights liberalism and the nationalist and left-wing sects that derided Jackson as a dead-end opportunist. This third way was always subject to Jackson’s wavering and whims. Jackson gyrated until his Rainbow Coalition campaigns of 1984 and 1988 harnessed him to the concrete, historic, high profile, and draining demands of running for president.
Theologies of Blackness with A Liberationist Bent
Authors: Dorrien Gary
Published: September 2023

The founders of Black theology were wrong to claim that Black Americans had never produced an important theologian. Black religious historian Joseph Washington pioneered this claim in 1964, contending that Black Christianity was a sub-Christian folk faith with no theology and no theologians. James Cone and J. Deotis Roberts took from Washington the threefold verdict that Black Protestantism is wholly different from White Protestantism, lacks any real basis in Reformation theology, and thus lacked theologians. This argument buttressed the assertion of Cone and Roberts that Black theology began with them; they had no theological predecessors. Cone became a towering figure by founding Black liberation theology, brilliantly expressing what it means to take blackness seriously on liberationist terms. His early framing argument, however, wrongly discounted Reverdy Ransom, Henry McNeal Turner, Mordecai Johnson, Benjamin E. Mays, Howard Thurman, and King—creative theological thinkers who thought through their blackness. They were not systematic theologians, but systematic theology is a Euro-academic enterprise, a point that Gayraud Wilmore and religious historian Charles Long pressed against Cone. Wilmore rightly implored Black theologians to stop saying that Black theology was invented in 1969, and wrongly steered three generations of students away from the Black social gospel tradition. Wilmore was Cone’s closest friend and toughest critic. He argued that Black theology should be a subordinate discipline within Black religious thought, not a normative Christian enterprise as with Cone, and that Black theology should appropriate the Black radical tradition. Dwight Hopkins, the leading second-generation Black theologian, got his bearings by fusing Cone and Wilmore.
Frames of Identity and World House Struggle
Authors: Dorrien Gary
Published: September 2023

Obama proclaimed in his first inaugural address that the old arguments about anti-racist politics were stale and no longer applied. The ground had shifted with his ascension; those who still talked about congenital anti-blackness needed to climb into the new century. The ground shifted again when Trayvon Martin’s murderer went free and Black queer organizer Alicia Garza said it surprised her how little Black lives matter. These three words radiated brilliantly as a judgment on America’s entire history of anti-Black racism, including the so-called Obama era. The half-truth in Obama’s inaugural address was powerful enough to carry him to the White House, but did not rectify centuries of racist oppression and exclusion, ongoing legacies of police violence, catastrophic Black unemployment rates, and incarceration policies that created a New Jim Crow. Chapter 7 is a reflection on moral leadership in the prophetic Black church, focusing on Walter Fluker, Lawrence Edward Carter, Eugene Rivers, Traci Blackmon, William Barber, and Raphael Warnock, and building to a concluding reflection on Black religious philosophy. Historically, all Black churches shared a simple creed of non-racism, and Black leaders in the social gospel stream called on Black churches to live up to the liberationist aspects of Black faith. This twofold frame still describes the broad reality. Three trajectories are in play for proponents of Black social justice theologies. The first is to settle for a home in the academy. The second is to make serious headway in the Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal churches of the Sanctified tradition. The third is to renew the social gospel and liberationist churches that combine personal evangelical piety and social justice politics.
The Wars Women Were Already Fighting
Authors: Dubcovsky Alejandra
Published: September 2023

This chapter explores the injustice faced by Native women. It follows the life story of María Jacoba, who lived and adopted Spanish norms but still faced injustice after capturing a known murderer. Due to her repeated abscondence, Spanish authorities labeled María Jacoba as a cimarrón who fled beyond the control of Florida officials. The term cimarrón racialized María Jacoba, which tied her transgressive movements and associations with those of the Black community. The chapter also notes that a Native woman gave the first warning to Florida officials about the coming imperial war, but no one bothered to learn the Christian Yndia Chacata's name despite the significance of her warnings.
Epilogue
Authors: Dubcovsky Alejandra
Published: September 2023

This concluding chapter considers the erasure of Native women. Native women's long historical shadows are cast not solely by their absences but also by the continued and repeated denial of their presence. A careful eye and a discerning ear are needed to catch and understand the stories of Native women, especially when they are often buried in colonial documents. The chapter mentions that accounts of Native women require reading many colonial documents that are often in European languages. It then explains that drawing attention to the deaths disproportionately affecting contemporary Native communities reveals a long history of abuse and neglect.
Big Science in a Small Pond
Authors: Kingsland Sharon E.
Published: September 2023

This chapter considers the phytotron concept in greater detail and examines a few of the scientific problems studied in California Institute of Technology's (Caltech) laboratory. It explores the biological clock as an example of a basic research question and the damaging effects of photochemical smog as an example of an environmental problem. It also discusses the phytotron's use in connection with California's emerging smog problem, illustrating how the authority of precise, laboratory-based science could come to the aid of a controversial theory about smog formation. The chapter analyzes how the phytotron turned out to be a valuable instrument for biologists who were trying to prove that an organism's clock mechanism was in-built, an idea that was controversial at the time. It shows how experiments in the phytotron helped to resolve controversies, which Went viewed as one of the chief advantages of this type of laboratory.
Phytotrons Under Communism
Authors: Kingsland Sharon E.
Published: September 2023

This chapter focuses on the case studies of Russia and Hungary suggesting new perspectives on the history of “Lysenkoism,” which is a movement in Soviet science associated with the controversial ideas of Trofim Lysenko. It looks at how Lysenkoism is generally viewed as a tragic episode of political interference in science that did long-lasting damage to Soviet biology. It also mentions the dismissal of modern Mendelian genetics and the promotion of the idea that acquired characters are inherited. The chapter describes Russia's first phytotron, built in Moscow in the 1950s, which was an effective way to counteract the destructive influence that Lysenkoism was having on Soviet biology after 1948. The chapter also covers the Hungarian phytotron, which opened in 1972, and aimed to advance an unorthodox biological argument that had its origins in Lysenkoism and belief in the inheritance of acquired characters.
Love for the Land
Authors: Lamb Brooks
Published: September 2023

Love for the Land explores the power and potential of people-place relationships, elevating the virtues of imagination, affection, and fidelity—concepts promoted by farmer-writer Wendell Berry—and showing how they motivate small and midsize farmers to care for the land, even in the face of intense adversity. Focusing on farmland loss from haphazard suburban sprawl, rampant agricultural consolidation, and, for farmers of color, racial injustice, the book reckons with the harsh realities that smaller-scale farmers face. Featuring in-depth interviews and hands-on experiences in two changing rural communities, the book shares stories and sacrifices from dozens of farmers, local leaders, agricultural service providers, and land conservationists. The author’s rural roots and farming background enable him to cultivate honest, trusting connections with the farmers he engages, yielding raw and powerful insights. Time and again, compelling evidence reveals that stewardship virtues encourage people to live and act as devoted caretakers.
The book argues that these resilient and often overlooked farmers show rural and urban people alike a way forward, one that serves people, places, and the planet. That path is rooted in love for the land.
The Virtues of Imagination, Affection, and Fidelity: A Philosophical Foundation
Authors: Lamb Brooks
Published: September 2023

After introducing Wendell Berry’s ideas of imagination, affection, and fidelity and discussing the differences between exploitive and nurturing relationships to the land, Chapter 1 explores and defines “virtues,” and it explains their environmental and agricultural relevance. Following a brief discussion of various virtues promoted by scholars and famed conservationists, the chapter then positions Berry’s concepts of imagination, affection, and fidelity as “stewardship virtues.” Imagination is much like attunement; the intimate and evolving knowledge it yields leads to understanding and attachment. Affection is a deep and enduring love for place, one that goes beyond reactive or sentimental emotions. Fidelity is a long-term commitment to caring for a place and its people, akin to devotion and loyalty. With these descriptions in view, Chapter 1 touches on Berry’s real-life practice of these virtues and his observations of these character traits in other small farmers. These examples are useful, the chapter says, but we need to look elsewhere to determine the influence of these virtues on the ground. Chapter 1 thus closes by calling for an ethnography of imagination, affection, and fidelity that investigates the presence and power of these virtues in rural, agricultural communities. The remaining chapters offer that grounded exploration.
“The Hard Thing Is Keeping the Land”: Reckoning with Reality
Authors: Lamb Brooks
Published: September 2023

Chapter 2 begins by sharing the story of a farmland auction that the author attended in the book’s primary field site (Robertson County, Tennessee). Using this experience as a springboard into the topics of agricultural consolidation and farmland loss from real estate development, the chapter continues by sharing statistics that reveal the prevalence and pervasiveness of these two related issues, both in Robertson County and across the state, region, and nation. This Middle Tennessee community near Nashville is an ideal place to observe how farmland loss and agricultural consolidation impact small and midsized farmers everywhere, the chapter explains. Here as elsewhere, these issues are threatening the survival of agrarian communities and right-sized farming. Although the statistics and quantitative data shared are important, Chapter 2 explains that these figures can only tell us so much. Qualitative, ethnographic studies, however, can reveal the emotions and on-the-ground impacts of farmland loss, industrial agriculture, and rural gentrification. The chapter closes by describing how the author envisioned and conducted this qualitative research, setting up stories and insights from small farmers, farm-service providers, local leaders, and land conservationists that serve as the heart of the book
“I Wouldn’t Take Nothing for It”: Stewardship Virtues and Place-Based Perseverance
Authors: Lamb Brooks
Published: September 2023

The Black farmers interviewed for this book continue to persist in place. Chapter 6 shows that they’ve done so because they practice imagination, affection, and fidelity. Describing the specific ways that they have come to understand, love, and care for their farms, Black farmers highlighted here show the tremendous power of stewardship virtues, even if they refer to these traits with different verbiage. Like white farmers in Robertson County, these Black farmers highlight stewardship motivations related to economics, family, and religion, too. Echoing the writings of bell hooks, Black farmers also described feelings of “belonging” in their rural, agricultural communities, despite the way the wider world tends to see (or ignore) them. Ultimately, the chapter closes by asserting: “We would be wise to emulate these Black farmers’ examples and efforts. In doing so, we might begin to heal some of our nation’s wounds: wounds of racism, environmental exploitation, economic injustice, and agricultural excess. We may find ways to better serve and love one another and to care for the places we call home. By generously sharing their experiences, these farmers help us see a better way to interact with the earth. They show us a way forward.”
Efficacy and anti-inflammatory analysis of glucocorticoid, antihistamine and leukotriene receptor antagonist in the treatment of allergic rhinitis
Authors: Qiu Chen , Feng Dai
Published: September 2023

β cells are the main cells responsible for the hypoglycemic function of pancreatic islets, and the insulin secreted by these cells is the only hormone that lowers blood glucose levels in the human body. β cells are regulated by various factors, among which neurotransmitters make an important contribution. This paper discusses the effects of neurotransmitters secreted by various sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves on β cells and summarizes the mechanisms by which various neurotransmitters regulate insulin secretion. Many neurotransmitters do not have a single source and are not only released from nerve terminals but also synthesized by β cells themselves, allowing them to synergistically regulate insulin secretion. Almost all of these neurotransmitters depend on the presence of glucose to function, and their actions are mostly related to the Ca2+ and cAMP concentrations. Although neurotransmitters have been extensively studied, many of their mechanisms remain unclear and require further exploration by researchers.
Effects of humanized nursing care on negative emotions and complications in patients undergoing hysteromyoma surgery
Authors: Liu Li , Xiao Ya-Hong , Zhou Xue-Hua
Published: September 2023

β cells are the main cells responsible for the hypoglycemic function of pancreatic islets, and the insulin secreted by these cells is the only hormone that lowers blood glucose levels in the human body. β cells are regulated by various factors, among which neurotransmitters make an important contribution. This paper discusses the effects of neurotransmitters secreted by various sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves on β cells and summarizes the mechanisms by which various neurotransmitters regulate insulin secretion. Many neurotransmitters do not have a single source and are not only released from nerve terminals but also synthesized by β cells themselves, allowing them to synergistically regulate insulin secretion. Almost all of these neurotransmitters depend on the presence of glucose to function, and their actions are mostly related to the Ca2+ and cAMP concentrations. Although neurotransmitters have been extensively studied, many of their mechanisms remain unclear and require further exploration by researchers.
Paraneoplastic myopathy-related rhabdomyolysis and pancreatic cancer: A case report and review of the literature
Authors: Costantini Andrea , Moletta Lucia , Pierobon Elisa Sefora , Serafini Simone , Valmasoni Michele , Sperti Cosimo
Published: September 2023

β cells are the main cells responsible for the hypoglycemic function of pancreatic islets, and the insulin secreted by these cells is the only hormone that lowers blood glucose levels in the human body. β cells are regulated by various factors, among which neurotransmitters make an important contribution. This paper discusses the effects of neurotransmitters secreted by various sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves on β cells and summarizes the mechanisms by which various neurotransmitters regulate insulin secretion. Many neurotransmitters do not have a single source and are not only released from nerve terminals but also synthesized by β cells themselves, allowing them to synergistically regulate insulin secretion. Almost all of these neurotransmitters depend on the presence of glucose to function, and their actions are mostly related to the Ca2+ and cAMP concentrations. Although neurotransmitters have been extensively studied, many of their mechanisms remain unclear and require further exploration by researchers.
Rotationplasty type BIIIb as an effective alternative to limb salvage procedure in adults: Two case reports
Authors: Chen Zhang-Xin , Guo Xiao-Wei , Hong Hai-Sen , Zhang Cong , Xie Wei , Sha Mo , Ding Zhen-Qi
Published: September 2023

β cells are the main cells responsible for the hypoglycemic function of pancreatic islets, and the insulin secreted by these cells is the only hormone that lowers blood glucose levels in the human body. β cells are regulated by various factors, among which neurotransmitters make an important contribution. This paper discusses the effects of neurotransmitters secreted by various sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves on β cells and summarizes the mechanisms by which various neurotransmitters regulate insulin secretion. Many neurotransmitters do not have a single source and are not only released from nerve terminals but also synthesized by β cells themselves, allowing them to synergistically regulate insulin secretion. Almost all of these neurotransmitters depend on the presence of glucose to function, and their actions are mostly related to the Ca2+ and cAMP concentrations. Although neurotransmitters have been extensively studied, many of their mechanisms remain unclear and require further exploration by researchers.
Testicular mixed germ cell tumor: A case report
Authors: Xiao Qi-Fan , Li Jie , Tang Bin , Zhu Yu-Qing
Published: September 2023

β cells are the main cells responsible for the hypoglycemic function of pancreatic islets, and the insulin secreted by these cells is the only hormone that lowers blood glucose levels in the human body. β cells are regulated by various factors, among which neurotransmitters make an important contribution. This paper discusses the effects of neurotransmitters secreted by various sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves on β cells and summarizes the mechanisms by which various neurotransmitters regulate insulin secretion. Many neurotransmitters do not have a single source and are not only released from nerve terminals but also synthesized by β cells themselves, allowing them to synergistically regulate insulin secretion. Almost all of these neurotransmitters depend on the presence of glucose to function, and their actions are mostly related to the Ca2+ and cAMP concentrations. Although neurotransmitters have been extensively studied, many of their mechanisms remain unclear and require further exploration by researchers.
2.2  kW single-mode narrow-linewidth laser delivery through a hollow-core fiber
Authors: Cooper M. A. , Wahlen J. , Yerolatsitis S. , Cruz-Delgado D. , Parra D. , Tanner B. , Ahmadi P. , Jones O. , Habib Md. S. , Divliansky I. , Antonio-Lopez J. E. , Schülzgen A. , Amezcua Correa R.
Published: September 2023

Antiresonant hollow-core fibers (AR-HCFs) have opened up exciting
possibilities for high-energy and high-power laser delivery because of
their exceptionally low nonlinearities and high damage thresholds.
While these fiber designs offer great potential for handling
kilowatt-class powers, it is crucial to investigate their performance
at multi-kW power levels. Until now, transmission of narrow-linewidth
single-mode lasers at multi-kW power levels through a HCF has not been
demonstrated, to our knowledge. Here, we present the delivery of a
record 2.2 kW laser power with an input spectral linewidth of
86 GHz, centered at 1080 nm, while maintaining 95%
transmission efficiency and beam quality (M2) of 1.03. This was achieved via a
104.5 m single-mode five-tube nested AR-HCF with
0.79 dB/km loss. Furthermore, we show power delivery of
1.7 kW with a spectral linewidth as narrow as 38 GHz
through the same fiber. Our results could lead to a new generation of
fiber-based laser beam delivery systems with applications in precision
machining, nonlinear science, directed energy, and power beaming over
fiber.
Long distance all-optical logic operations through a single multimode fiber empowered by wavefront shaping
Authors: Yu Zhipeng , Zhong Tianting , Li Huanhao , Li Haoran , Man Woo Chi , Cheng Shengfu , Jiao Shuming , Liu Honglin , Lu Chao , Lai Puxiang
Published: September 2023

Multimode fibers (MMFs) are a promising solution for high-throughput signal transmission in the time domain. However, crosstalk among different optical modes within the MMF scrambles input information and creates seemingly random speckle patterns at the output. To characterize this process, a transmission matrix (TM) can be used to relate input and output fields. Recent innovations use TMs to manipulate the output field by shaping the input wavefront for exciting advances in deep-brain imaging, neuron stimulation, quantum networks, and analog operators. However, these approaches consider input/output segments as independent, limiting their use for separate signal processing, such as logic operations. Our proposed method, which makes input/output segments as interdependent, adjusts the phase of corresponding output fields using phase bias maps superimposed on input segments. Coherent superposition enables signal logic operations through a 15-m-long MMF. In experiments, a single optical logic gate containing three basic logic functions and cascading multiple logic gates to handle binary operands is demonstrated. Bitwise operations are performed for multi-bit logic operations, and multiple optical logic gates are reconstructed simultaneously in a single logic gate with polarization multiplexing. The proposed method may open new avenues for long-range logic signal processing and transmission via MMFs.
Adipose-derived stem cells significantly increases collagen level and fiber maturity in patient-specific biological engineered blood vessels
Authors: Wonski Bryan T. , Patel Bijal , Tepper Donna G. , Siddiqui Aamir , Kabbani Loay S. , Lam Mai T.
Published: September 2023

Tissue engineering has driven significant research in the strive to create a supply of tissues for patient treatment. Cell integration into engineered tissues maximizes functional capabilities, however, issues of rejection remain. Autologous cell sources able to solve this issue are difficult to identify for tissue engineering purposes. Here, we present the efficacy of patient-sourced cells derived from adipose (adipose-derived stem cells, ASCs) and skin tissue (dermal fibroblasts, PtFibs) to build a combined engineered tunica media and adventitia graft, respectively. Patient cells were integrated into our lab’s vascular tissue engineering technique of forming vascular rings that are stacked into a tubular structure to create the vascular graft. For the media layer, ASCs were successfully differentiated into the smooth muscle phenotype using angiotensin II followed by culture in smooth muscle growth factors, evidenced by significantly increased expression of αSMA and myosin light chain kinase. Engineered media vessels composed of differentiated ASCs (ASC-SMCs) exhibited an elastic modulus (45.2 ± 18.9 kPa) between that of vessels of undifferentiated ASCs (71.8 ± 35.3 kPa) and control human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs; 18.7 ± 5.49 kPa) (p<0.5). Tensile strength of vessels composed of ASCs (41.3 ± 15.7 kPa) and ASC-SMCs (37.3 ± 17.0 kPa) were higher compared to vessels of HASMCs (28.4 ± 11.2 kPa). ASC-based tissues exhibited a significant increase in collagen content and fiber maturity- both factors contribute to tissue strength and stability. Furthermore, vessels gained stability and a more-uniform single-tubular shape with longer-term 1-month culture. This work demonstrates efficacy of ASCs and PtFibs to create patient-specific vessels.
Ismétlés és kauzalitás
Authors: Kovács András Bálint
Published: September 2023

Az elbeszélések eseményei között nincs szükségszerű okozatiság, csak
különböző valószínűségű eseményszekvenciák vannak, amelyekben az okozati
viszony a befogadó tapasztalatán és képzeletén múlik. Az elbeszélések
kötőanyagát a nagy valószínűségű eseményszekvenciák képviselik, amelyeket a
befogadók túlnyomó többsége ugyanúgy értelmez. Megfigyelhető, hogy az
elbeszélések többségében található egy vagy több kis valószínűségű esemény,
amely nem következik közfelfogás szerinti okozati szabályokból. Ezeknek az
eseményeknek a szabályai az elbeszélésben a nagy valószínűségű események
variált ismétléséből épülnek föl, és ezek az események jelentik a szabály
szélsőséges példáját. A kis valószínűségű események az elbeszélésben bárhol
elhelyezkedhetnek, de többnyire a vége felé találhatók, és ezek teszik az
elbeszélést tetszőlegesen folytathatóvá.
Simultaneous Single-Position Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion Surgery and Unilateral Percutaneous Pedicle Screw Fixation for Spondylolisthesis
Authors: Lv Hui , Yang Yu Sheng , Zhou Jian Hong , Guo Yuan , Chen Hui , Luo Fei , Xu Jian Zhong , Zhang Zhong Rong , Zhang Ze Hua
Published: September 2023

Objective: To evaluate the clinical and radiological efficacy of a combine of lateral single screw-rod and unilateral percutaneous pedicle screw fixation (LSUP) for lateral lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF) in the treatment of spondylolisthesis.Methods: Sixty-two consecutive patients with lumbar spondylolisthesis who underwent minimally invasive (MIS)-TLIF with bilateral pedicle screw (BPS) or LLIF-LSUP were retrospectively studied. Segmental lordosis angle (SLA), lumbar lordosis angle (LLA), disc height (DH), slipping percentage, the cross-sectional areas (CSA) of the thecal sac, screw placement accuracy, fusion rate and foraminal height (FH) were used to evaluate radiographic changes postoperatively. Visual analogue scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) were used to evaluate the clinical efficacy.Results: Patients who underwent LLIF-LSUP showed shorter operating time, less length of hospital stay and lower blood loss than MIS-TLIF. No statistical difference was found between the 2 groups in screw placement accuracy, overall complications, VAS, and ODI. Compared with MIS-TLIF-BPS, LLIF-LSUP had a significant improvement in sagittal parameters including DH, FH, LLA, and SLA. The CSA of MIS-TLIF-BPS was significantly increased than that of LLIF-LSUP. The fusion rate of LLIF-LSUP was significantly higher than that of MIS-TLIF-BPS at the follow-up of 3 months postoperatively, but there was no statistical difference between the 2 groups at the follow-up of 6 months, 9 months, and 12 months.Conclusion: The overall clinical outcomes and complications of LLIF-LSUP were comparable to that of MIS-TLIF-BPS in this series. Compared with MIS-TLIF-BPS, LLIF-LSUP for lumbar spondylolisthesis represents a significantly shorter operating time, hospital stay and lower blood loss, and demonstrates better radiological outcomes to maintain lumbar lordosis, and reveal an overwhelming superiority in the early fusion rate.
Three-Dimensional Quantitative Assessment of Pedicle Screw Accuracy in Clinical Utilization of a New Robotic System in Spine Surgery: A Multicenter Study
Authors: Ha Byeong-Jin , Lee Jong-Min , Yoon Seon-Jin , Kim Byung-Kwan , Lee Junseok , Lee Suhun , Ryu Seungjae , Cha Yongyeob , Hwang Sungteac , Woo Donggi , Lee Chang Kyu , Shin Dong Ah , Ha Yoon , Kuh Sung Uk , Kim Keung Nyun , Son Dongwuk , Yi Seong
Published: September 2023

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of pedicle screw placement in patients undergoing percutaneous pedicle screw fixation with robotic guidance, using a newly developed 3-dimensional quantitative measurement system. The study also aimed to assess the clinical feasibility of the robotic system in the field of spinal surgery.Methods: A total of 113 patients underwent pedicle screw insertion using the CUVIS-spine pedicle screw guide system (CUREXO Inc.). Intraoperative O-arm images were obtained, and screw insertion pathways were planned accordingly. Image registration was performed using paired-point registration and iterative closest point methods. The accuracy of the robotic-guided pedicle screw insertion was assessed using 3-dimensional offset calculation and the Gertzbein-Robbins system (GRS).Results: A total of 448 screws were inserted in the 113 patients. The image registration success rate was 95.16%. The average error of entry offset was 2.86 mm, target offset was 2.48 mm, depth offset was 1.99 mm, and angular offset was 3.07°. According to the GRS grading system, 88.39% of the screws were classified as grade A, 9.60% as grade B, 1.56% as grade C, 0.22% as grade D, and 0.22% as grade E. Clinically acceptable screws (GRS grade A or B) accounted for 97.54% of the total, with no reported neurologic complications.Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that pedicle screw insertion using the novel robot-assisted navigation method is both accurate and safe. Further prospective studies are necessary to explore the potential benefits of this robot-assisted technique in comparison to conventional approaches.
Comparative Analysis of Pigtail Drainage Catheters
Authors: Stibbs Peter , Singh Anjali , Kumar Kavita , Byrne David , Mei Liu
Published: September 2023

BackgroundPigtail drainage catheters are essential tools in medical interventions that require the drainage of fluid collections from bodily cavities. Two commonly employed designs feature punched holes and skived holes. Despite the prevalence of these catheters in clinical set- tings, little research exists to compare the efficiency of the two-hole designs in terms of fluid dynamics and clinical applicability.ObjectiveThe primary objective of this study is to thoroughly investigate and compare the fluid dynamics characteristics and efficiency of pigtail drainage catheters with skived holes and punched holes. This study aims to quantify the effects of these hole designs on shear stress, turbulence, and volumetric flow rates, providing insight into the potential clinical implica- tions.MethodsTo achieve this, we employed a multi-modal approach incorporating both computational and experimental methods. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was employed to simulate the flow of fluid through each catheter design. This model solved the Navier-Stokes equations numerically to produce detailed velocity and pressure profiles.[1]An experimental setup mimicking in vivo conditions was also used, where catheters with both hole types were inserted into a fluid chamber filled with a viscous fluid resembling human biological fluid.Key FindingsOur results indicate that catheters with skived holes demonstrate significantly lower shear stress and turbulence when compared to catheters with punched holes. Furthermore, catheters featuring skived holes achieved higher volumetric flow rates, signifying more effi- cient drainage capabilities.Clinical Implications
A Study of Dietary Patterns Derived by Cluster Analysis and Their Association With Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease Severity Among Hispanic Patients
Authors: Zhang Xiaotao , Daniel Carrie R. , Soltero Valeria , Vargas Ximena , Jain Shilpa , Kanwal Fasiha , Thrift Aaron P. , Balakrishnan Maya
Published: September 2023

INTRODUCTION:

Diet is a modifiable metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) risk factor, but few studies have been conducted among Hispanic patients, despite the fact that MASLD prevalence and severity are highest among this ethnic subgroup. We aimed to identify prevalent dietary patterns among Hispanic patients using cluster analysis and to investigate associations with MASLD severity.

METHODS:

This cross-sectional analysis included 421 Harris County MASLD Cohort participants who self-reported Hispanic ethnicity and completed baseline food frequency questionnaires. All included patients had MASLD, diagnosed per standard clinical criteria. K-means analysis was used to identify clusters of patients sharing similar dietary habits. Multivariable adjusted logistic regression was used to estimate associations of dietary clusters with aminotransferases among the overall sample and with histologic steatosis, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, and fibrosis among a subsample of patients who underwent liver biopsy within 6 months of their baseline food frequency questionnaire (n = 186).

RESULTS:

We identified 2 clusters: a plant-food/prudent and a fast-food/meat pattern. The fast-food/meat pattern was associated with 2.47-fold increased odds (95% confidence interval 1.31–4.65) of more severe steatosis than the plant-food/prudent pattern after adjusting for demographics, metabolic score, physical activity, and alcohol (q = 0.0159). No significant association was observed between diet and aminotransferases, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or fibrosis.

DISCUSSION:

Given the importance of sociocultural influences on diet, it is important to understand dietary patterns prevalent among Hispanic patients with MASLD. Using cluster analysis, we identified 1 plant-based pattern vs 1 distinct fast-food/meat-based pattern associated with detrimental effects among our population. This information is an important starting point for tailoring dietary interventions for Hispanic patients with MASLD.
Modernist Disruptions
Authors: Gilmore Shawn
Published: September 2023

This chapter explores Art Spiegelman's allegiance to a modernist aesthetic and his integrity as “fine” artist with faux mass-cultural credentials. It presents a wide net across Spiegelman's career as avant-garde cartoonist, editor, and historian to argue that a key impetus of his contributions on all these fronts is the desire to create striking assemblages in the tradition of modernist collage. The chapter seeks to understand both Spiegelman's pre-Maus work and his engagements with the legacy of modernist aesthetics, which played an important role in his artistic development. It then addresses this gap in Spiegelman's critical reception to argue that in many of his early works, Spiegelman employs the key modernist aesthetic of formal juxtaposition to jar and unsettle, while simultaneously drawing new connections by means of visual parataxis. In tracing Spiegelman's overlapping modernist efforts over twenty years, the chapter aims to show how he extended the logic of visual parataxis to radically reshape the possibilities of comics, their presentation, and their cultural cachet. It first investigates some of Spiegelman's early experimental comics, including “Don't Get Around Much Anymore” and “Ace Hole: Midget Detective,” as well as his collection Breakdowns (1977), which brought many of these strips together. Finally, the chapter shows how Spiegelman's attachment to the practice of visual parataxis combined his interest in the formal logic of comics—which relies on sequence and juxtaposition—with elements of modernist art, particularly the effects derived from the play of forms.
Provisional Equanimity
Authors: Lawrence Patrick
Published: September 2023

This chapter applies a different lens to Art Spiegelman's September 11 comics, one that organizes the role of visual media in Spiegelman's memorialization of personal experience and world-historical trauma. The history of comics is imbued with nostalgia—for simpler times and truths, for the familiar faces of childhood heroes. By evoking early twentieth-century Manhattan icons, the chapter suggests that Spiegelman devises a mode of consolation in times of turmoil that is unique to comics. It recounts that Spiegelman turns to early twentieth-century newspaper comics as a source of models to represent what he felt and observed in millennial Manhattan. By borrowing from older modes of comics representation, the chapter notes that he moves toward a complex, layered form of solace. However, as the chapter argues, this mode of citation also risks diminishing the specificity of the event, which many trauma theorists warn against since it encourages forgetting and limits the potential for meaningful change.
Art Imitating Life
Authors: Earle Harriet
Published: September 2023

This chapter posits that Art Spiegelman brings together testimony and traumatic affect—the kind of emotion engendered by the intensity of trauma—to ensure that his text is both firmly rooted in personal history and able to elicit a strong emotive response in the reader. The chapter explores Spiegelman's emotional approach to his family story and, more broadly, the role of emotion in creating art after the Holocaust. It first considers the narratives that came before Maus and the preexisting environment of Holocaust remembering and reflection into which Spiegelman released his graphic memoir. The chapter then discusses Death Mills (1946) and Nuit et Brouillard (1956), two key cinematic works in this canon, to consider what influences likely played a part in the creation of Maus's distinctive aesthetic. Next, the chapter looks at three aspects of Nuit et Brouillard—the black-and-white visuals, the iconic image of the Auschwitz gates, and the fact that violence is kept off-screen—before considering how Spiegelman uses similar techniques to convey traumatic affect. It asks how we can measure the legacy of Spiegelman's aesthetic of trauma in both the contemporary comics world and the wider fields of trauma art and Holocaust representation.
Who Published Maus ?
Authors: Beineke Colin
Published: September 2023

This chapter contends that RAW Books and Graphics (RBG)-Maus and Pantheon-Maus constitute meaningfully distinct constructions. It argues that the singular material and paratextual framings of RBG-Maus proffer a different—if not more complex—reading of Spiegelman's work than do the collected editions from Pantheon. The chapter emphasizes that the format of the Maus inserts and the large RAW pages against which they are set, guide readers' engagement with the text and its themes. It also notes that the insert booklets of RBG-Maus adopt a small physical format similar to that of a personal diary, which emphasizes the intimate nature of both Vladek Spiegelman's and Art Spiegelman's disclosures. Complementing this construction of Maus-as-diary, the chapter underlines that the small pages of the inserts encourage a “reading” rather than “viewing” approach to the text, a technique that Spiegelman has frequently theorized. The chapter analyzes how Spiegelman utilizes the large RAW companion pages to which the Maus inserts are attached as a space for metacommentary.
Art Spiegelman’s Faustian Bargain
Authors: Konstantinou Lee
Published: September 2023

This chapter glimpses at a version of Spiegelman's “Faustian bargain” with the museum and the school. It seeks to answer the question: If Spiegelman was so unsure about this bargain, why did he turn to creating comics explicitly designed for the classroom? Why revive or even strengthen the association between childhood and comics? How does creating “high-quality” comics for kids help advance Spiegelman's aim of securing the future of comics? The chapter then argues that Spiegelman's turn to children's comics does not break with his broader mission. Instead, creating comics-for-kids is, from Spiegelman's perspective, the next logical step of the necessary-if-problematic bargain he struck with the culture's gatekeepers. To support this claim, the chapter offers readings of Spiegelman's Jack and the Box, Open Me…I'm a Dog!, and “Prince Rooster.” It stresses that celebrations of multimodal literacy elevate modernist values such as “autonomy” and “medium-specificity,” but also cannot avoid thinking of these values instrumentally. The chapter argues that this is the cultural contradiction that lies at the heart of Spiegelman's ongoing struggle to find a non-Faustian way to legitimate, nourish, and protect comics in the twenty-first century.
“On the Verge of Flying Back”
Authors: Griffiths Jennifer
Published: September 2023

Chapter 1 raises the issue of artistic giftedness in Black youth as a problematic articulated in Bill Gunn’s 1968 play Johnnas. Johnnas remains an outcast in his brief life, in spite of tremendous potential, when he fails to find the kind of artistic community essential for reconciling his work with identity, culture, and history. Johnnas serves as an introduction to the problematic of the “young, gifted, and Black” artist presented in Gunn’s complex representation at a critical threshold in relation to the Civil Rights era.
“You’re Young, You’re Black, and You’re on Trial. What Else do they Need to Know?”
Authors: Griffiths Jennifer
Published: September 2023

Chapter 5 compares recent social media efforts to reclaim the self-representation of black youth with Walter Dean Myer’s novel Monster, an experimental text in which an African American teenager scripts his experience in jail and on trial for a murder he did not commit. Part of the analysis will include the recent exoneration of the Central Park Five and will compare Myers’s novel with the depiction of the five teenagers in the Central Park case, who were all treated as “monsters” in the court of public opinion. With this history and current critique in mind, this chapter will examine Monster as a radical creative intervention toward recognizing the complex, nuanced subjectivity of a young Black man who takes control over his own narrative under extreme circumstances.
Subjectivity, Theory of Mind, and the Creation of Deaf Characters in Fiction
Authors: Stephens John
Published: September 2023

This chapter explores how d/Deaf characters are represented in two very different books, Roz Rosen’s Deaf Culture Fairy Tales (2017), retold stories ideologically positioned within Deaf Culture, and Antony John’s YA novel Five Flavors of Dumb (2010), whose post-lingually deaf first person narrator embodies deaf experience as immersed in the hearing world but without any contact with Deaf Culture. The fictive characterization of complex deaf characters is brought about by the interaction of multiple cognitive processes, which include Theory of Mind and cognitive mapping, within a social ecology. Because Deaf Culture Fairy Tales is grounded in Deaf-centric epistemology (members of Deaf Culture establish a truth based on their cultural beliefs and experiences), the two books are largely ideologically incompatible, since Five Flavors of Dumb is firmly positioned within majority hearing culture. The novel in effect sets aside some major worries of Deaf Culture by representing them in their most successful manifestations.
“The Only Thing You Can’t Do Is Hear” 1
Authors: Ehriander Helene
Published: September 2023

Set in the 1990s and engaging with issues current at that time, Hurt Go Happy tells two interconnected and thematically analogous stories: first, the struggle of deaf protagonist Joey Willis to be allowed to learn sign language and, second, twentieth-century experiments to teach American Sign Language to chimpanzees. The novel engages with the oralist/manualist debate and contends that being deaf and not being permitted to learn sign language is to be suspended between two cultures and denied agency. In its description of the different means of communication the novel gives voice to those who cannot always speak for themselves: children, the disabled and animals. The challenge is how to be a part of a society and a family without choosing one of the cultures over the other but naturally belonging to both. The chapter draws on theories from comparative literature, cultural studies, language studies and ethology.
Sociopolitical Contexts for the Representation of Deaf Youth in Contemporary South Korean Film
Authors: Lee Sung-Ae
Published: September 2023

Several South Korean film genres include films with principal characters who are deaf, for example, Like for Likes (romantic comedy), Bling Bling Sounds (high school melodrama), Glove (sport film) and Dogani, aka Silenced (social critique). Some common deaf character schemas are employed – especially the sweet innocent, the supercrip, and the tragic victim. Communication is either through speechreading or Korean Sign Language. Deafness is rarely thematized – the exception is the advocacy film, Bling Bling Sounds – but rather incorporated so that deaf or hard of hearing characters have a plot function, are secondary to hearing characters, or function as a metonym of society’s deficiencies and failings. An important theme dealt with in each film is the assumption that deafness carries a stigma which imputes inferiority to the deaf and defines them as objects of pity, and each film represents a desire to destigmatize deafness and accept it as part of everyday culture.
Local Hawai‘i Children’s Literature
Authors: Benegas Nina , Ching Stuart , Pataray-Ching Jann
Published: September 2023

Exploring the ways in which local Hawai‘i children’s literature can support the preservation of Hawai‘i Sign Language (HSL), this chapter frames the emergence and endangerment of HSL within Hawai‘i’s contexts of colonialism and post-colonialism; interprets the ways in which recent YouTube media within a post-colonial globalized electronic space imbues HSL with a sense of place and the local Hawai‘i body (specifically, the HSL user as a kupuna, or respected elder and bearer of knowledge for posterity); and analyzes how Hawai‘i children’s literature might support HSL’s revitalization through connections among language, place, community, and body.
Intersections of Deaf and Queer Embodiment in Fiction for Young People
Authors: Simpson Josh
Published: September 2023

Through the lenses of compulsory able-bodiedness and compulsory heterosexuality, this chapter examines the literary containment of disabled, queer sexuality in three novels for young people: Stick by Andrew Smith, St. Nacho’s by Z.A. Maxfield, and War Boy by Kief Hillsbery. In particular, the analysis demonstrates how each novel, through representations of d/Deaf and queer identities, facilitates and makes visible able-bodied heterosexuality. The argument is made that, while youth literature has the potential to promote cultural awareness of marginalized identities and to celebrate d/Deaf and queer experiences, the novels considered in this chapter operate instead to render ability and heterosexuality as compulsory and even as compensatory for perceived weaknesses and imperfections.