bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Synthesis, wettability and optical properties of xTiO2- (1-x) SiO2 composite thin films
Authors: Wang Jun , Bai Lingyun , Xiao Yueyuan , Luo Yuhong , Zhu Binghua , Zhang Wenjuan
Published: January 2020

xTiO2- (1-x) SiO2 composite thin films with x=1.0, 0.9, 0.7, 0.5 were dip-coated on glass substrates by sol-gel method. The effects of composition on the microstructure, wettability and optical properties were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), contact angle tester and ultraviolet visible spectrophotometer. Results showed that only the anatase diffraction peaks of TiO2 were found in composite materials. With the increase of SiO2 concentration, the crystallization degree of the composite material decreased slightly. The hydrophilicity was enhanced after coating on glass substrates. The water contact angle of TiO2 film was the smallest in all the films. All the composite films were transparent in visible wavelength. And the average transmittance of 0.5TiO2-0.5SiO2 was highest. The sharp decrease of transmittance was observed in the transmittance spectra, which was related to absorption of photos by electron in valence band.
Effect of different macromonomer molecular size in polycaroxylate superplasticizer by molecular dynamics simulation
Authors: Chuang Po-Hsiang , Zhang Shaomin , Ke Yuliang , Guo Yuanqiang
Published: January 2020

Molecular dynamics simulations were carried out to investigate the solution conformation of polycarboxylate superplasticizer (PCE) with different macromonomer molecular size. Simulation results showed that the larger size of macromonomer in the PCE make the molecules have greater intermolecular interactions. The probability of water molecules around the PCE molecules affected the water distribution in the systems. These results indicated that there were more water molecules around the main chain of PCE, while the macromonomer in PCE was larger. Knowledge of the interaction relationship between water molecules and PCE using molecular dynamics simulation opens the way for understanding the mechanism of superplasticizer in cement systems.
Facile synthesis of C, N-TiO2 nanorods via layered

Ti

3

O

7

2
−

-TMAH interlaminar bonding interaction and their enhanced catalytic performance
Authors: Wang Ruikai , Ma Xiuqiang , Hao Kun , Song Liang , Liu Tong , Dai Pengfei , Li Yuchao , Tjong Sie Chin , Yu Qing , Wang Zhongwei
Published: January 2020

A green and efficient photocatalyst based on C and N co-doped titanium based nanorods (NRs) was prepared by facile hydrothermal synthesis and interlaminar bonding interaction between layered

Ti

3

O

7

2
−

and tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH). TMAH as one of quaternary ammonium-based compounds was used as the doping source of C and N elements. The results showed that C and N co-doping did not affect the anatase crystal structure of TiO2 NRs. C, N-TiO2 NRs showed excellent photocatalytic activity for degrading methyl orange under simulated sunlight irradiation. In particular, the 20:1 TiO2 NRs catalyst showed the best catalytic performance, showing efficient photocatalytic rate of 90%. The photocatalytic reaction kinetics of undoped and doped catalysts was also studied. In addition, reactive species (RSs) experiments showed that hydroxyl radical (·OH), superoxide radical anions (·O2−) and photogenerated holes (h+) were major active species during the photocatalytic process. The mechanisms of the electrostatic attraction and potential photocatalytic degradation were proposed and discussed.
The Transpacific Subject in Asian American Culture
Authors: Suzuki Erin , Bahng Aimee
Published: January 2020

The use of the term transpacific in Asian American studies should be reevaluated vis-à-vis Pacific studies, Indigenous studies, and Oceanic studies. In particular, following Lisa Yoneyama’s model for examining “decolonial genealogies of transpacific studies,” such a reevaluation emphasizes interdisciplinarity, intersectionality, and, above all, a reckoning with settler taxonomies of intellectual production as vital to the continued use of the term. Beginning with a review of key scholarly interventions into the “settler colonial grammar of AA/PI,” this article relates the US histories and logics that first produced the categories “Asian American” and “Pacific Islander” and brought them into categorical relation with one another. These historical entanglements between diasporic and Indigenous movements across and through the Pacific, can be understood through cultural analysis of literary works that reconfigure transpacific studies around Oceanic passages and Pacific currents highlighting an Indigenous-centered regional formation. Rather than allowing transpacific discourses to dismiss the Pacific Islands as distant or remote “islands in a far sea,” such an approach recasts the region along the lines of what Tongan scholar Epeli Hau‘ofa formulates as an interconnected “sea of islands.” It concludes by considering the ongoing harm produced by settler epistemologies of possessive liberal humanism and by inviting a decolonial approach to Asian American cultural politics.
Crowdfunding for Entrepreneurs
Authors: Butticè Vincenzo , Colombo Massimo G.
Published: January 2020

Fundraising has proved difficult for many entrepreneurs and ventures in the early stages of their businesses because of significant information asymmetries with investors and a lack of collateral. In an attempt to overcome such difficulties, since the early 2010s, some entrepreneurs have come to rely on the Internet in order to directly seek funding from the general public, or the “crowd.” The practice of collecting small amounts of capital from the “crowd” of Internet users is called crowdfunding.

Crowdfunding research is a relative newcomer to the discipline of entrepreneurial finance. However, the availability of easy-to-access data, the diffusion of this funding channel among entrepreneurs, and increasing policy attention have made crowdfunding one of the most investigated areas of research in entrepreneurial finance. The literature has discussed crowdfunding as more than a simple mean of financing. Crowdfunding also allows entrepreneurs to develop a virtual community of followers, which provides a valuable source of information with which to test and improve early versions of innovative products. Moreover, crowdfunding represents a method of gaining information about market response to a given product and the size of demand for that product, and is a powerful marketing instrument that can be used to increase brand awareness and to promote the arts, social initiatives, and financial inclusion.

However, crowdfunding also entails a number of pitfalls for entrepreneurs. In order to collect financial resources from the crowd, entrepreneurs are required to share sensitive information online. This includes information about the entrepreneurial initiative, the team, and the business model they are using. The provision of this information may facilitate product counterfeiting, or the appropriation of the value of the idea by other firms or entrepreneurs. Moreover, crowdfunding entails the risk of social stigma if the funding campaign results in a failure, because information about the performance of the crowdfunding campaign usually remains accessible online. Finally, crowdfunding entails additional challenges related to the management of the crowd of backers after the campaign, since several backers will be active providers of feedback and will interact with the entrepreneurs through direct communication. Despite these disadvantages crowdfunding has become a widely used funding source for entrepreneurs looking for financing for sustainable projects, creative initiatives, and innovative ideas.
User Innovation
Authors: Franke Nikolaus , Lüthje Christian
Published: January 2020

Users of products and services, be they user firms or consumers, frequently develop innovations for their own benefit. Such user innovation is a long-existing phenomenon, but it has gained much momentum in the new millennium. The Internet has greatly facilitated connections between creative users, and at the same time cost-effective design and prototyping technologies are making it increasingly feasible for users to develop their own products and services.

Users have been found to innovate mainly because they want solutions that best serve their own needs. In general, their innovation activities involve no expectations of monetary profit, being motivated rather by self-rewards (such as fun, positive feelings of altruism, signaling of competence to the community of peers). This explains why users are typically willing to share their innovations without requiring payment. A problem of user innovation is that, since the benefit that others could gain is an externality for users, they lack strong incentives to invest in the active diffusion of their innovations. The consequence of this “diffusion shortfall” is social welfare losses.

There are several ways in which producers and service providers can help overcome these problems and benefit from the innovation potential of users at the same time. They can apply the lead user method to actively search for a small group of particularly highly motivated and qualified users, they can outsource product design work to their users via user design toolkits, and they can broadcast innovation challenges to an appropriate crowd of external problem solvers.
Mindfulness and School Leadership
Authors: Kruse Sharon D.
Published: January 2020

Organizational mindfulness refers to an organization’s collective disposition toward learning and supports its ongoing quest for effective and reliable performance. Descended from Buddhist thought, mindfulness draws attention to a leader’s awareness of the moment and subsequent decision-making and is informed by in-the-moment observation and attentiveness. This Eastern perspective suggests that as leaders work to craft informed responses to the demands before them, mindfulness places them in a position to maximize learning in real-time and respond to challenges from a place of equanimity. Complemented by the Eastern perspective, Western perspectives concerning organizational mindfulness have focused on the development of practices designed to increase highly reliable leadership performance. In this conception, mindful leadership is focused on potential threats to organizational performance and leadership effort is oriented toward eliminating or minimizing negative impact. Furthermore, mindful leaders seek robust and complex interpretations of organizational threat, embracing a heightened sensitivity to the link between organizational processes and outcome. Finally, Western notions of mindful leadership suggest that resiliency, a tenacious commitment to learning from failure, and deference to expertise rather than formal authority are hallmarks of mindful practice. In this way, mindful leaders orient their work toward organizational and cultural change evident in a collective attention that orients the work of its members. To do so requires that a leader’s attention be oriented toward deeply developed explanations of activities within the organizational school setting, including opportunities for formative, substantive data use and on-the-ground real time orientation to communal learning. In turn, mindful practice sets the stage for school leaders to engage the school community in becoming active partners in communal knowledge creation with the intent of improving classroom practice, student learning, and well-being.
School Networks
Authors: Mifsud Denise
Published: January 2020

It is evident that in many educational systems there has been a partial dissolution of the traditional single school model towards more flexible modes of organizational link-up, taking the form of increased collaboration among schools. The early 21st-century climate of rapid technological change creates a need for collective knowledge creation and information sharing at classroom, school, and system level. Different forms of networks, collaboratives, and federations have become an established part of many educational landscapes and have arisen for a number of reasons. Some have been “imposed” on schools, others have been “incentivized” by the offer of external funding, but many have arisen because of the efforts of educational leaders who want to “make a difference” in their locality, which assumes their essential “good.” Within education, networks are regarded as one of the most promising levers for large-scale reform due to their potential to re-culture both the environment and the system in which policy-makers operate through increased cooperation, interconnectedness, and multi-agency. School networks contribute to capacity-building across the education service through the production of multiple solutions for potential, multifaceted, and intractable problems. Networks foster innovation, providing a test bed for new ideas while offering a platform for gradual innovation, distributing the risks and the workloads among different schools. Moreover, they provide capacity-building, reflective practice, and an inquiry frame of mind besides raising achievement and enhancing student outcomes through the sharing of resources and professional expertise. Networks enable schools to overcome their isolationism and move to form community relationships. Notwithstanding the benefits generated by collaboration, some of the ambiguities surrounding the setting up of school networks focus on: network purpose; collaborative inertia; collaboration and accountability; trust and relationships; conscription and volunteerism; identity and autonomy; competition and cooperation; lateral agency; and power inequality. There is no simple, single solution to leading networks, due to the very nature of a network making it difficult to define who its leaders are, resulting in leadership that is defined by activity rather than by formal position.
African Women in Art
Authors: Makhubu Nomusa
Published: January 2020

The intersecting histories of African women artists are often found in three historical categories: traditional/classical, modern, and contemporary. As historical categories they mark the transitions in conceptualizations of gender, race, and class. Treated as a linear progression of history, these categories may, on the one hand, be useful in understanding the radical impact of imperialism and colonialism on African societies and specifically African women and their creative practices. On the other hand, however, they obscure the intricacies of intertwined creative practice, separating urban and cosmopolitan art forms from rural, localized ones, drawing more attention to art that circulates in market-driven international exhibitions, making it harder to comprehend and account for nuanced historical narratives of African women artists.

Furthermore, the hangover of hypermasculine colonial bureaucratic structures not only displaced African histories but more specifically silenced gendered perspectives on art and creative practice in general. The modern African nation, though liberated, confined women to colonially constructed gendered spaces. However, through nationalist ideologies the figure of the woman—or at least as male artists generally portrayed her—came to symbolize rebirth and the rising nation. This artistic rendition of women did not materialize into the formal recognition of the work of women artists, making it possible to declare that “African women artists remain unknown to the Western world,” as art historian Freida Tesfagiorgis states. This is affirmed by the sparse literature on African women artists and analyses of their work. There are more resources about internationally recognized contemporary women artists than there are about modern women artists or women whose work has been foundational in the so-defined traditional category. These categories, then, are indicative not only of the gaps in art history but also of the incongruent methodological approaches to how that gendered history is constructed. In this article, these categories are used loosely to reflect on gender and creative practice in Africa.
African Women in Colonial Settler Towns in East and Southern Africa
Authors: Jeater Diana
Published: January 2020

The first permanent African residents of the new towns established by whites in southern and eastern Africa at the end of the 19th century were female. These towns were new social spaces, existing where no towns had existed before. The residents had to invent the rules for living: new forms of urban identity emerged over time. For white settlers, the towns were intended to mirror familiar European urban spaces. For Africans, little was recognizable, but there were many opportunities to adapt familiar social relationships to the new contexts.

African women’s lives in the early years of these white settler towns seem paradoxical. They were permanent residents, but officially they had no rights of residence at all. They had very limited economic opportunities, being pushed into prostitution and beer brewing, yet they ended up being powerful property owners with independent wealth. They can appear as both victims and liberated agents. Their lives were complicated. But part of the paradox arises from trying to interpret their lives through European lenses, in which terms such as “prostitute wife” seem oxymoronic. Their lives perhaps made more sense to these women pioneers than they have to the academics who have attempted to reconstruct them.
Maps and Cartography in the History of South Africa: From Print to Digital
Authors: Etherington Norman
Published: January 2020

The first well-attested maps showing Southern Africa date from the late 15th century. Before the 19th century, maps provided little information about the interior but depicted coastlines in great detail, thanks to the requirements of seaborne navigators. Information about the inhabitants was scanty and skewed by misconceptions about the nature of African societies. Land-based exploration activity increased dramatically in the 1830s but the poorly trained and equipped human agents made many errors that had significant historical consequences. Accuracy in the mapping of physical topography improved with the advent of skilled civil and military surveyors, but entanglement with advancing forces of European colonialism resulted in biased representations of the nature and distribution of the indigenous people. Competition among European invaders during the so-called Scramble for Africa in the last decades of the 19th century made cartography a volatile element in the general mix of combustible material. Continual war among Europeans and Africans also affected the production of maps. The impact of African resistance to colonial surveys and land seizures on map making was for too long neglected by historians. By the end of World War I, the geopolitical boundaries of the region assumed their present configuration, marking off South Africa from its neighbors. The imposition of European rule, racial inequality, and segregation introduced cartographical distinctions between areas in which land was held in freehold title by members of a ruling racial elite and so-called African reserves and locations where land was held communally under the surveillance of traditional authorities. Decolonization beginning in the 1960s swept away the colonial racial order but did not abolish its legacy of boundaries, inequality, and parallel systems of land governance. The advent of geographical information systems, digital mapping, and satellite imaging has revolutionized cartography.
Improving on Simple Majority Voting by Alternative Voting Mechanisms
Authors: Goeree Jacob K. , Louis Philippos , Zhang Jingjing
Published: January 2020

Majority voting is the predominant mechanism for collective decision making. It is used in a broad range of applications, spanning from national referenda to small group decision making. It is simple, transparent, and induces voters to vote sincerely. However, it is increasingly recognized that it has some weaknesses. First of all, majority voting may lead to inefficient outcomes. This happens because it does not allow voters to express the intensity of their preferences. As a result, an indifferent majority may win over an intense minority. In addition, majority voting suffers from the “tyranny of the majority,” i.e., the risk of repeatedly excluding minority groups from representation. A final drawback is the “winner-take-all” nature of majority voting, i.e., it offers no compensation for losing voters. Economists have recently proposed various alternative mechanisms that aim to produce more efficient and more equitable outcomes. These can be classified into three different approaches. With storable votes, voters allocate a budget of votes across several issues. Under vote trading, voters can exchange votes for money. Under linear voting or quadratic voting, voters can buy votes at a linear or quadratic cost respectively. The properties of different alternative mechanisms can be characterized using theoretical modeling and game theoretic analysis. Lab experiments are used to test theoretical predictions and evaluate their fitness for actual use in applications. Overall, these alternative mechanisms hold the promise to improve on majority voting but have their own shortcomings. Additional theoretical analysis and empirical testing is needed to produce a mechanism that robustly delivers efficient and equitable outcomes.
Inter-Agency Collaboration for Natural Hazard Management in Developed Countries
Authors: Ray-Bennett Nibedita , Mendez Daniel , Alam Edris , Morgner Christian
Published: January 2020

Although the concept of natural hazard management as the central institutional mode of governance for coping with disasters appeared in the 1970s, inter-agency collaboration in natural hazard management came to the fore with the declaration of the United Nations (UN) Yokohama Strategy in 1994. The Yokohama Strategy focused on collaboration amongst international and regional organizations, donors, early-warning systems, the scientific community and national emergency agencies, among others. The successors of the strategy, the Hyogo Framework for Action launched in 2005, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in 2015, continue to emphasize the same. Inter-agency collaboration in governing hazard management is a collective effort, and these efforts have been promoted through cooperation, communication, and effective decision making between actors and organizations, enabled by enhanced technology. The content of the UN’s Yokohama Strategy, Hyogo Framework, Sendai Framework, and the cluster system bear this out. However, more research is required to understand the extent to which national governments have translated the UN’s frameworks into action. Studying how governments and responders coordinate and cooperate and what they coordinate, cooperate on, and communicate will clarify the realized processes that underpin hazard management.
Associations of Reservoir-Excess Pressure Parameters Derived From Central and Peripheral Arteries With Kidney Function
Authors: Armstrong Matthew K , Schultz Martin G , Picone Dean S , Black J Andrew , Dwyer Nathan , Roberts-Thomson Philip , Sharman James E
Published: January 2020

BACKGROUND

Central artery reservoir-excess pressure parameters are clinically important but impractical to record directly. However, diastolic waveform morphology is consistent across central and peripheral arteries. Therefore, peripheral artery reservoir-excess pressure parameters related to diastolic waveform morphology may be representative of central parameters and share clinically important associations with end-organ damage. This has never been determined and was the aim of this study.

METHODS

Intra-arterial blood pressure (BP) waveforms were measured sequentially at the aorta, brachial, and radial arteries among 220 individuals (aged 61 ± 10 years, 68% male). Customized software was used to derive reservoir-excess pressure parameters at each arterial site (reservoir and excess pressure, systolic and diastolic rate constants) and clinical relevance was determined by association with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR).

RESULTS

Between the aorta and brachial artery, the mean difference in the diastolic rate constant and reservoir pressure integral was −0.162 S−1 (P = 0.08) and −0.772 mm Hg s (P = 0.23), respectively. The diastolic rate constant had the strongest and most consistent associations with eGFR across aortic and brachial sites (β = −0.20, P = 0.02; β = −0.20, P = 0.03, respectively; adjusted for traditional cardiovascular risk factors). Aortic, but not brachial peak reservoir pressure was associated with eGFR in adjusted models (aortic β = −0.48, P = 0.02).

CONCLUSIONS

The diastolic rate constant is the most consistent reservoir-excess pressure parameter, in both its absolute values and associations with kidney dysfunction, when derived from the aorta and brachial artery. Thus, the diastolic rate constant could be utilized in the clinical setting to improve BP risk stratification.
The Impact of High Dietary Sodium Consumption on Blood Pressure Variability in Healthy, Young Adults
Authors: Migdal Kamila U , Babcock Matthew C , Robinson Austin T , Watso Joseph C , Wenner Megan M , Stocker Sean D , Farquhar William B
Published: January 2020

BACKGROUND

High sodium (Na+) intake augments blood pressure variability (BPV) in normotensive rodents, without changes in resting blood pressure (BP). Augmented BPV is associated with end-organ damage and cardiovascular morbidity. It is unknown if changes in dietary Na+ influence BPV in humans. We tested the hypothesis that high Na+ feeding would augment BPV in healthy adults.

METHODS

Twenty-one participants (10 F/11 M; 26 ± 5 years; BP: 113 ± 11/62 ± 7 mm Hg) underwent a randomized, controlled feeding study that consisted of 10 days of low (2.6 g/day), medium (6.0 g/day), and high (18.0 g/day) salt diets. On the ninth day of each diet, 24-h urine samples were collected and BPV was calculated from 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring. On the tenth day, in-laboratory beat-to-beat BPV was calculated during 10 min of rest. Serum electrolytes were assessed. We calculated average real variability (ARV) and standard deviation (SD) as metrics of BPV. As a secondary analysis, we calculated central BPV from the 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring.

RESULTS

24-h urinary Na+ excretion (low = 41 ± 24, medium = 97 ± 43, high = 265 ± 92 mmol/24 h, P < 0.01) and serum Na+ (low = 140.0 ± 2.1, medium = 140.7 ± 2.7, high = 141.7 ± 2.5 mmol/l, P = 0.009) increased with greater salt intake. 24-h ambulatory ARV (systolic BP ARV: low = 9.5 ± 1.7, medium = 9.5 ± 1.2, high = 10.0 ± 1.9 mm Hg, P = 0.37) and beat-to-beat ARV (systolic BP ARV: low = 2.1 ± 0.6, medium = 2.0 ± 0.4, high = 2.2 ± 0.8 mm Hg, P = 0.46) were not different. 24-h ambulatory SD (systolic BP: P = 0.29) and beat-to-beat SD (systolic BP: P = 0.47) were not different. There was a trend for a main effect of the diet (P = 0.08) for 24-h ambulatory central systolic BPV.

CONCLUSIONS

Ten days of high sodium feeding does not augment peripheral BPV in healthy, adults.

CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION

NCT02881515.
III—On Principled Compromise: When Does a Process of Transitional Justice Qualify as Just?
Authors: Murphy Colleen
Published: January 2020

Processes of transitional justice (for instance, amnesty, truth commissions, reparations, trials) deal with large-scale wrongdoing committed during extended periods of conflict or repression. This paper discusses three common moral objections to processes of transitional justice, which I label shaking hands with the devil, selling victims short, and entrenching the status quo. Given the scale of wrongdoing and the context in which transitional justice processes are adopted, compromise is necessary. To respond to these objections, I argue, it is necessary to articulate the conditions that make a compromise principled. I defend three criteria that distinguish principled from unprincipled compromises.
200 years of the RAS: Ancestors and descendants
Authors: Chapman Allan
Published: January 2020

Allan Chapman considers the origins of British learned societies and how they influenced the founding of the RAS 200 years ago, finding a streak of sturdy independence that has shaped our community.
200 years of the RAS: Publishing progress
Authors: Lock Bella , Alexander Louise
Published: January 2020

The RAS has been publishing scientific research for almost 200 years. Bella Lock and Louise Alexander review how the Society's world-class journals began and evolved.
100 years of cosmology
Authors: Longair Malcolm
Published: January 2020

Malcolm Longair describes the development of a subject that was little better than science fiction 200 years ago when the RAS was founded, to our present understanding of the origins of what we see on the largest scale in the universe today – a triumph of experimental, instrumental, observational and theoretical astronomy.
Uncovering dubious Viking news
Authors: Morrison Leslie , Stephenson F Richard
Published: January 2020

Leslie Morrison and F Richard Stephenson explore the records of the Viking eclipse of AD 1263, a cautionary tale about historical accounts of eclipses.
Evidence of an Association of Increases in Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Coverage With Decreases in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Diagnosis Rates in the United States, 2012–2016
Authors: Smith Dawn K , Sullivan Patrick S , Cadwell Betsy , Waller Lance A , Siddiqi Azfar , Mera-Giler Robertino , Hu Xiaohong , Hoover Karen W , Harris Norma S , McCallister Scott
Published: January 2020

Background

Annual human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) diagnoses in the United States (US) have plateaued since 2013. We assessed whether there is an association between uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and decreases in HIV diagnoses.

Methods

We used 2012–2016 data from the US National HIV Surveillance System to estimate viral suppression (VS) and annual percentage change in diagnosis rate (EAPC) in 33 jurisdictions, and data from a national pharmacy database to estimate PrEP uptake. We used Poisson regression with random effects for state and year to estimate the association between PrEP coverage and EAPC: within jurisdictional quintiles grouped by changes in PrEP coverage, regressing EAPC on time; and among all jurisdictions, regressing EAPC on both time and jurisdictional changes in PrEP coverage with and without accounting for changes in VS.

Results

From 2012 to 2016, across the 10 states with the greatest increases in PrEP coverage, the EAPC decreased 4.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], −5.2% to −2.9%). On average, across the states and District of Columbia, EAPC for a given year decreased by 1.1% (95% CI, −1.77% to −.49%) for an increase in PrEP coverage of 1 per 100 persons with indications. When controlling for VS, the state-specific EAPC for a given year decreased by 1.3% (95% CI, −2.12% to −.57%) for an increase in PrEP coverage of 1 per 100 persons with indications.

Conclusions

We found statistically significant associations between jurisdictional increases in PrEP coverage and decreases in EAPC independent of changes in VS, which supports bringing PrEP use to scale in the US to accelerate reductions in HIV infections.
A Prospective Evaluation of Point-of-Care Measurements of Maternal Glucose for the Diagnosis of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus
Authors: O’Malley Eimer G , Reynolds Ciara M E , O’Kelly Ruth , Killalea Anne , Sheehan Sharon R , Turner Michael J
Published: January 2020

Background

Point-of-care (POC) measurement of glucose is currently recommended only for the monitoring of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). This prospective observational study evaluated the use of POC measurements of maternal glucose to diagnose GDM in women being screened selectively with a 1-step 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT).

Methods

The strictest preanalytic and analytic international laboratory standards were applied to measure maternal plasma glucose at fasting and at 1 and 2 h post glucose load. The recent International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups diagnostic criteria were used. At the same time, maternal capillary glucose was measured. Because of differences in plasma and capillary glucose measurements, regression analysis of POC capillary glucose results vs laboratory plasma glucose results was conducted. The regression equations for plasma glucose were derived in a derivation cohort (n = 102). These equations were applied in the validation cohort (n = 100). Predicted and actual plasma glucose values were compared.

Results

Of the 202 women screened, 36.6% were nulliparous, 56.4% were obese, and 81.2% were Irish-born. Two thirds had a single risk factor for GDM, and a third had multiple risk factors. Based on the plasma measurements, 53.5% had GDM. As a predictor of GDM, the diagnostic accuracy of POC measurement was 83.0% (95% confidence interval, 74.2–89.8).

Conclusions

In high-resource settings where measures to inhibit glycolysis are implemented, the use of POC measurements for the diagnosis of GDM is not justified based on this study. In low- and medium-resource settings, where measures to inhibit glycolysis are not achievable, regression analysis using POC measurements may be acceptable compared with plasma samples subject to glycolysis.
JAK Inhibitors Safety in Ulcerative Colitis: Practical Implications
Authors: Agrawal Manasi , Kim Eun Soo , Colombel Jean-Frederic
Published: January 2020

Janus kinase inhibitors [JAKi] are a new class of small molecule drugs that modulate inflammatory pathways by blocking one or more JAK receptors, and are increasingly being used in the treatment of immune-mediated diseases. Tofacitinib, a non-selective JAKi, is now approved for moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis [UC] that is refractory or intolerant to tumour necrosis factor inhibitors [TNFi]. Whereas tofacitinib is associated with the advantages of oral administration, rapid onset of action, and lack of immunogenicity over TNFi, there are many safety considerations to take into account such as the risk of thromboembolism, infections, and hyperlipidaemia: each with specific nuances pertaining to prevention and monitoring strategies. Considerations such as pregnancy, breastfeeding, and history of malignancy also are to be navigated with utmost caution, given that very few data are available for guidance. With the use of JAKi in the real world progressively over time, safety implications will become more lucid, including caveats pertaining to JAK selectivity and gut-selective JAKi, as well as mechanistic data pertaining to adverse effects. This Viewpoint serves as a practical guide for clinicians managing inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] patients to navigate safety concerns around JAKi, including preventive and monitoring strategies.
A collective European experience with left atrial appendage suture ligation using the LARIAT+ device
Authors: Tilz Roland Richard , Fink Thomas , Bartus Krzysztof , Wong Tom , Vogler Julia , Nentwich Karin , Panniker Sandeep , Fang Qizhi , Piorkowski Christopher , Liosis Spyridon , Gaspar Thomas , Sawan Noureddin , Metzner Andreas , Nietlispach Fabian , Maisano Francesco , Lee Randall J , Foran John P , Ouyang Feifan , Sievert Horst , Deneke Thomas , Kuck Karl-Heinz
Published: January 2020

Aims

We report the collective European experience of percutaneous left atrial appendage (LAA) suture ligation using the recent generation LARIAT+ suture delivery device.

Methods and results

A total of 141 patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation and contraindication to oral anticoagulation (OAC), thrombo-embolic events despite OAC or electrical LAA isolation were enrolled at seven European hospitals to undergo LAA ligation. Patients were followed up by clinical visits and transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE) following LAA closure. Left atrial appendage ligation was completed in 138/141 patients (97.8%). Three patients did not undergo attempted deployment of the LARIAT device due to pericardial adhesion after previous epicardial ventricular tachycardia ablation (n = 1), a pericardial access-related complication (n = 1), and multiple posterior LAA lobes (n = 1). Serious 30-day procedural adverse events occurred in 4/141 patients (2.8%). There were two device-related LAA perforations (1.4%) not resulting in any corrective intervention as the LAA was completely sealed with the LARIAT. Minor adverse events occurred in 19 patients (13.5%), including two pericardial effusions due to procedure-related pericarditis requiring pericardiocentesis. Transoesophageal echocardiography was performed after LAA ligation in 103/138 patients (74.6%) after a mean of 181 ± 72 days. Complete LAA closure was documented in 100 patients (97.1%). Two patients (1.8% of patients with follow-up) experienced a transient ischaemic attack at 4 and 7 months follow-up, although there was no leak observed with TOE. There were two deaths during long-term follow-up which were both not device related.

Conclusion

Initial experience with the LARIAT+ device demonstrates feasibility of LAA exclusion. Further larger prospective studies with longer follow-up are warranted.
“It’s Luck as to What Sort of Family You’re Born Into” Cumulative Dis/advantage Generative Systemic Processes Across the Life Course of a Baby-Boom Birth Cohort
Authors: Wildman Josephine M
Published: January 2020

Objectives

While a large body of evidence exists in support of outcomes associated with cumulative dis/advantage (CAD), individual-level experiences of the systemic processes that generate unequal outcomes have received far less attention. This study explored experiences, among members of an early baby-boom birth cohort, of CAD-generative processes within the education and housing systems and the mechanisms by which they interacted with initial social position to perpetuate inequalities.

Methods

The author conducted in-depth interviews (n = 27) with members of the Newcastle Thousand Families Study, a UK 1947 birth cohort. Longitudinal survey data enabled participant sampling on the basis of gender, occupational social class at birth and age 50, educational attainment and homeownership status at age 60. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results

Analysis identified two themes: Firstly, the sorting and funneling mechanisms by which the “meritocratic” education system interacted with initial social position, progressively narrowing aspirations and opportunities; and secondly, the creation in later life of winners and losers in the property market, resulting in legitimization of inequalities through a deservingness narrative.

Discussion

CAD has proved persistent, even among the supposedly “lucky” early baby-boom cohort. Policies to ameliorate CAD generation through education and property systems act instead to entrench advantaged social positions. Later-life outcomes can be naturalized as the product of effort-plus-ability if not seen in a whole-life context. Disruption of CAD processes requires challenging vested interest inherent in social systems.
Rising Illusion and Illusion of Rising: Mapping Global Financial Governance and Relocating China
Authors: Zhang Falin
Published: January 2020

The empirical changes in global financial governance (GFG) and China's position in it, against the backdrop of the 2008 global financial crisis and China's economic rise in recent decades, suggest two plausible conclusions: (1) the present GFG system has been significantly reformed and improved by forming a networked architecture and a regime complex; (2) China's economic rise has automatically extended to China's rise in GFG, embodying its full integration into the architecture and regime. This article constructs a three-dimensional international political economy (IPE) analytical framework to reexamine the two conclusions and thus finds two illusions: an increasingly widespread—or rising—illusion of a much improved and more stable GFG system and an illusion of China's rising in GFG via an automatic transformation from economic might to governance power. The “rising illusion” of a much-improved GFG risks resulting in a reform dilemma, while the illusion of China's rise in GFG risks escalating the China-US and, more broadly, emerging-dominant states conflicts into full-scale confrontation. The prevalence of these two illusions highlights the need for greater attention from academic and policy spheres to relevant issues.
Transmission of plasmid-borne and chromosomal blaCTX-M-64 among Escherichia coli and Salmonella isolates from food-producing animals via ISEcp1-mediated transposition
Authors: Zhao Qiu-Yun , Chen Pin-Xian , Yang Ling , Cai Run-Mao , Zhu Jia-Hang , Fang Liang-Xing , Webber Mark A , Jiang Hong-Xia
Published: January 2020

Objectives

To clarify the transmission mechanism of the blaCTX-M-64 gene between Escherichia coli and Salmonella isolates from food animals.

Methods

A total of 329 E. coli and 60 Salmonella isolates collected from food animals in 2016 were screened for the presence of blaCTX-M-64 genes. The blaCTX-M-64-positive isolates were typed and plasmid and chromosome DNA was sequenced to determine the genetic context of blaCTX-M-64 and the plasmid types present.

Results

The blaCTX-M-64 gene was identified in only three E. coli isolates but was the predominant gene in the Salmonella isolates (n = 9). These 12 CTX-M-64-positive isolates were all resistant to ampicillin, cefotaxime, ceftiofur, ceftriaxone, ceftazidime and florfenicol and 9 were resistant to ciprofloxacin. The blaCTX-M-64 gene was located on transferable IncI2 plasmids and an IncHI2 plasmid in three E. coli and one Salmonella isolate, respectively. The remaining eight Salmonella isolates contained blaCTX-M-64 integrated into the chromosome. Different genetic contexts of blaCTX-M-64 genes were found among the 12 isolates: ISEcp1-blaCTX-M-64-orf477-A/C on IncI2 plasmids of 3 E. coli isolates; ΔISEcp1-blaCTX-M-64-orf477-A/C in the chromosome of 1 Salmonella isolate; and ISEcp1-blaCTX-M-64-orf477 on the IncHI2 plasmid and chromosome of 8 Salmonella isolates.

Conclusions

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of chromosomally encoded CTX-M-64 in Salmonella isolates. ISEcp1-mediated transposition is likely to be responsible for the spread of blaCTX-M-64 between different plasmids and chromosomes in Enterobacteriaceae especially E. coli and Salmonella.
Learning unsupervised contextual representations for medical synonym discovery
Authors: Schumacher Elliot , Dredze Mark
Published: January 2020

Objectives

An important component of processing medical texts is the identification of synonymous words or phrases. Synonyms can inform learned representations of patients or improve linking mentioned concepts to medical ontologies. However, medical synonyms can be lexically similar (“dilated RA” and “dilated RV”) or dissimilar (“cerebrovascular accident” and “stroke”); contextual information can determine if 2 strings are synonymous. Medical professionals utilize extensive variation of medical terminology, often not evidenced in structured medical resources. Therefore, the ability to discover synonyms, especially without reliance on training data, is an important component in processing training notes. The ability to discover synonyms from models trained on large amounts of unannotated data removes the need to rely on annotated pairs of similar words. Models relying solely on non-annotated data can be trained on a wider variety of texts without the cost of annotation, and thus may capture a broader variety of language.

Materials and Methods

Recent contextualized deep learning representation models, such as ELMo (Peters et al., 2019) and BERT, (Devlin et al. 2019) have shown strong improvements over previous approaches in a broad variety of tasks. We leverage these contextualized deep learning models to build representations of synonyms, which integrate the context of surrounding sentence and use character-level models to alleviate out-of-vocabulary issues. Using these models, we perform unsupervised discovery of likely synonym matches, which reduces the reliance on expensive training data.

Results

We use the ShARe/CLEF eHealth Evaluation Lab 2013 Task 1b data to evaluate our synonym discovery method. Comparing our proposed contextualized deep learning representations to previous non-neural representations, we find that the contextualized representations show consistent improvement over non-contextualized models in all metrics.

Conclusions

Our results show that contextualized models produce effective representations for synonym discovery. We expect that the use of these representations in other tasks would produce similar gains in performance.
Simultaneous Determination of Total Vitamins B1, B2, B3, and B6 in Infant Formula and Related Nutritionals by Enzymatic Digestion and LC-MS/MS—A Multi-Laboratory Testing Study Final Action: AOAC Method 2015.14
Authors: McClure Sean
Published: January 2020

Background/Objective

A multi-laboratory study was completed for AOAC First Action Method 2015.14. Ten laboratories from eight countries participated. Each laboratory analyzed (in duplicate) a placebo and 14 fortified nutritionals. Product matrices analyzed included milk, soy, partially hydrolyzed milk, partially hydrolyzed soy, and elemental-based infant formula powders, milk based infant formula ready-to-feed liquids, adult low-fat powders, and adult high fat and high protein ready-to-drink nutritionals. Data was then compared to standard method performance requirements (SMPR).

Method

Samples were prepared by enzymatic digestion with papain, α-amylase, and phosphatase to hydrolyze protein and complex carbohydrate and to free phosphorylated vitamin forms respectively. Stable-isotope labeled internal standards were incorporated into the sample preparation to correct for variability in both the sample preparation and instrument response. Prepared samples and working standard solutions were injected onto an ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatograph, interfaced to a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer (MS/MS). Reverse phase gradient chromatography, using mobile phases of methanol and 20 mM ammonium formate in water on a C-18 column, were used for the analysis. The MS/MS was configured to monitor precursor-fragment ion pairs for each analyte and internal standard. Vitamins B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), and B6 (pyridoxine) were quantified by least squares regression using the response ratio of the analyte to its internal standard.

Results/Conclusions

Total vitamins B1, B2, B3, and B6 had average repeatability of 2.3%, 3.9%, 2.7%, and 2.2% RSD, and reproducibility of 8.2%, 6.9%, 6.7%, and 5.8% RSD, respectively. Repeatability and reproducibility SMPR were met for 53/56 and 50/56 fortified-product/analyte pairs analyzed, respectively.