bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Admissible Evidence
Authors: Roberts Paul
Published: November 2022

This chapter addresses the core evidentiary idea of ‘admissibility’. Exclusionary rules are the hallmark of common law approaches to regulating evidence, but they do not—as is sometimes asserted or assumed—exhaust the disciplinary domain of evidence law. The first hurdle to admissibility is relevancy; which is assessed by extra-legal considerations of logic and common sense. Irrelevant evidence is always inadmissible. Exclusionary doctrines target particular categories of relevant but ‘suspect’ evidence—information which may be unsuitable for inclusion in criminal trials on epistemic and/or normative grounds. However, exclusionary rules are typically subject to a further normative layer of inclusionary exceptions. Admissibility structures are presented in a simple flowchart. Evidence is also routinely categorized according to whether it is direct, circumstantial, real, collateral, or testimonial. Additional sources of information in litigation include formal proofs, agreed evidence, views and demonstrations, and miscellaneous informal sources of knowledge and observations. All types and sources of information relied on criminal trials should be tested against normative standards of procedural justice (including human rights and fair trial principles).
Vulnerable Witnesses and the Principle of Orality
Authors: Roberts Paul
Published: November 2022

This chapter surveys extensive procedural innovation in the treatment of vulnerable or intimidated witnesses (VIWs) in criminal trials in England and Wales, prompting further reflection on the contemporary status and future prospects of the traditional ‘principle of orality’. Given the institutional dynamics of adversarial trial, any witness might be characterized as ‘vulnerable’. VIW-accommodating procedural reform originally focused on complainants of sexual offences and child witnesses, but progressively gathered momentum and expanded in scope and coverage, culminating in the ‘special measures directions’ (SMDs) framework introduced by the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999. The chapter describes the evolution and development of English law’s ‘rape shield’, now contained in YJCE Act 1999, s.41, regulating the admissibility of complainants’ previous sexual history evidence. Legislative drafting and case law applications, including extended discussion of the high-profile Evans case, are critically evaluated. Reforms of children’s evidence date back to the 1980s. Children were the primary beneficiaries of ‘special measures’ under the YJCE Act 1999, including prerecorded video interviews in lieu of examination-in-chief, testifying via Live Link CCTV, screens and the provision of intermediaries. Tailored menus of special measures have been incrementally extended to other categories of adult VIWs. Ongoing policy debates concern the roll-out of prerecorded cross-examination pursuant to YJCE Act 1999, s.28; and the ‘inequality of arms’ experienced by child defendants in accessing equivalent special measures. SMDs were introduced as exceptional adjustments for VIWs. As their range of application expands and is further deepened through technological innovation, however, the ‘exception’ becomes increasingly normalized. We must then confront an existential question: what remains of the traditional ‘principle of orality’ in this transformed model of the criminal trial?
Expert Evidence
Authors: Roberts Paul
Published: November 2022

Chapter 11 is concerned with expert evidence, a topic traditionally conceptualized as an exceptional category of ‘opinion evidence’ and frequently marginalized in Evidence textbooks. Our approach emphasizes institutional context and epistemological foundations, and centrally features forensic science evidence—which is increasingly influential in modern criminal litigation (and sometimes associated with miscarriages of justice). The supposed dichotomy between ‘facts’ and ‘opinions’ is conceptually dubious but rarely significant in practice. It is more illuminating to think about expert evidence in terms of the epistemic warrant it supplies for criminal verdicts. Building on Ron Allen’s perceptive distinction between fact-finder ‘education’ and ‘deference’, a model of rational reliance on forensic expertise is proposed and tested against doctrinal precedents and principles. Expert witnesses must be competent and objective. However, these elementary qualifications are complicated in practice by the adversarial structure of criminal litigation. Traditional mechanisms of evidence-testing, including cross-examination, are not well-suited to exposing the deficiencies of expert evidence. If radical solutions, such as court-appointed experts, flatter to deceive, more modest procedural reform may increase institutional resilience, viewed in the broader context of criminal proceedings as a whole. Regulatory structures, codes of practice, professional ethics, and pre-trial safeguards might better enhance the quality of forensic science evidence than trial-centric measures. As a doctrinal matter, admissibility of expert evidence essentially boils down to competence (Davie), relevance and ‘helpfulness’ (Turner). Other evidentiary rules are either obsolete (ultimate issues) or fact-specific applications of the general Turner standard. More recently, there is (equivocal) doctrinal flirtation with a supplementary ‘reliability’ criterion, especially in relation to novel forensic science or new technological applications. Further insight is derived from comparative experiences, especially US Daubert jurisprudence and major reports (NRC, PCAST) criticizing the methodological underpinnings of forensic science. In England and Wales, legislative policies animating the Law Commission’s unimplemented Expert Evidence Bill have been partly incorporated into Part 19 of the Criminal Procedure Rules and Practice Directions.
Pentecost
Authors: Maiden John
Published: November 2022

This chapter examines how and why charismatics imagined a ‘New Pentecost’ in the various distinctive social, cultural, geopolitical, and religious contexts of the ‘long Sixties’. By looking at different ‘moments of emergence’ in a range of secular and church settings, it draws out the common themes which shaped the formation of a charismatic eschatological imaginary of the Spirit being poured out. Alongside these broader issues, it also looks in detail at the specificities of two cases: Quebec and South Africa. The coherence of charismatic renewal and its eschatological imagination, this chapter shows, was defined by narratives—such as The Cross and the Switchblade, Arthur Wallis’ In the Day of Thy Power, and Kevin and Dorothy Ranaghan’s Catholic Pentecostals—of experiences of authentic, spiritual power in moments of cultural and personal crisis.
World
Authors: Maiden John
Published: November 2022

The chapter explores the ways in which the Spiritscape of charismatic renewal in North America, the British Isles, Australasia, and South Africa, interconnected with a much wider global nexus of charismatic, pentecostal, and holiness movements in the non-English-speaking West, the communist bloc, and the Third World. It shows how from the beginnings of charismatic renewal, a global move of the Spirit was assumed. Increasingly, global reflexes meant that Anglo-world perceptions of the charismatic geography of the Spirit expanded to include the imagined work of God in places such as Argentina, Indonesia, Kenya, and South Korea. Although initially there was little substantial engagement between Anglo-world charismatics and these movements, against a backdrop of Western ‘secularisation’, mutual exchange increased markedly as the 1970s progressed.
Politics and the Urban Frontier
Authors: Goodfellow Tom
Published: November 2022

Despite the rise of global technocratic ideals of city-making, cities around the world are not merging into indistinguishable duplicates of one another. In fact, as the world urbanizes, urban formations remain diverse in their socio-economic and spatial characteristics, with varying potential to foster economic development and social justice. This book argues that these differences are primarily rooted in politics, and if we continue to view cities as economic and technological projects to be managed rather than terrains of political bargaining and contestation, the quest for better urban futures is doomed to fail. Dominant critical approaches to urban development tend to explain difference with reference to the variegated impacts of neoliberal regulatory institutions. This, however, neglects the multiple ways in which the wider politics of capital accumulation and distribution drive divergent forms of transformation in different urban places. In order to unpack the politics that shapes differential urban development, this book focuses on East Africa as the global urban frontier: the least urbanized but fastest urbanizing region in the world. Drawing on a decade of research spanning three case-study countries (Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Uganda), Politics and the Urban Frontier provides the first sustained, book-length comparative analysis of urban development trajectories in Eastern Africa and the political dynamics underpinning them. Through a focus on infrastructure investment, urban propertyscapes, street-level trading economies, and urban political protest, it offers a multi-scalar, historically grounded, and interdisciplinary analysis of the urban transformations unfolding in the world’s most dynamic crucible of urban change.
East Africa and the politics of late urbanization
Authors: Goodfellow Tom
Published: November 2022

Although comparative urban research has flourished in recent years, existing analytical frameworks cannot adequately explain patterns of urban similarity and difference—even within a region such as East Africa, which has similar urbanization levels between its countries, but substantial differences in urban form and function. This introductory chapter argues that East Africa is the world’s urban frontier in the sense of being the least urbanized but fastest-urbanizing region, which makes it a crucial site for comparative research on urban development and change. It introduces the concept of ‘late urbanization’ to encapsulate some of the shared features of East Africa’s regional trajectory, before explaining the ways in which we need to situate political analysis at multiple scales in order to fully understand urban divergence within the region. The chapter then sets out the book’s empirical ‘puzzle’, previews its argument, and outlines the structure of the book to follow.
The making of urban territory
Authors: Goodfellow Tom
Published: November 2022

The first of two historical chapters, Chapter 3 focuses on urban territory and property. It traces the making of urban territory from the emergence of the first kingdoms in the Great Lakes region, the internal imperial conquests of the Horn of Africa and the city-states of the Swahili coast. Then it turns to the colonial encounter and its effects on land policy and on urban formations, examining varying forms of territorialization and property formation. Dynamics of urban land in the early postcolonial period are then examined, in the context of seismic changes and attempts to nationalize land and overcome colonial legacies in Rwanda and Uganda, as well as the radical transformations that shook Ethiopia after 1974. The chapter closes with a discussion of land policy and its urban ramifications under the victorious rebel-led regimes that claimed power in Uganda, Ethiopia, and Rwanda in the closing decades of the twentieth century.
Politics and the urban frontier
Authors: Goodfellow Tom
Published: November 2022

This concluding chapter revisits the questions of capitalist globalization and late urbanization and their relationship to convergence and divergence in the region’s urban trajectories, before reviewing the main findings of the book. Drawing across the book’s analytical framework, the chapter examines the relationship between associational and infrastructural power, and how these intersect with strategies of legitimation, infrastructural practices, and modalities of political informality to shape both urban physical transformation and the nature of urban political dissent. The chapter concludes by reflecting on the achievements, limitations, and lessons of efforts to reshape territory, property, and social contracts in these three cities at the global urban frontier. It argues that East African states have shown how driving distinct paths through late urbanization is possible, and how despite challenges in terms of political inclusion and sustainable social contracts, East Africa is a vital urban laboratory from which the world needs to learn.
Introduction
Authors: Gibson Andrew
Published: November 2022

The question of Coetzee as public figure has long been of interest, since he shrinks from but also embraces the role. How far may its terms have shifted since it was last substantially addressed by a group of critics (2006)? The world has changed, and so have Coetzee’s circumstances. He is no longer primarily a South African novelist, but a global figure in a global world. How might his move to Australia, the financial crisis of 2008–2009, the defensive fetishization of contemporary forms of democracy and ‘egalitarianism’ and the exponential growth of critiques of neoliberalism affect how we read him? Following Joseph North, Simon During, and Jean-Jacques Lecercle, the chapter argues for a direct mode of critical intervention which will ‘go public’ for Coetzee whilst respecting his subtlety, bringing out how far his work, from its narrative and discursive modes to its tones, runs counter to the global, neoliberal monolith.
Introduction
Authors: Lutz Deborah
Published: November 2022

The Introduction explores the theoretical underpinnings of the project, in particular its flourishing at the intersection of material culture and the history of the book. In examining why these artifacts and histories have been largely overlooked, this chapter also presents reasons to take note. Part of this neglect has to do with the fact that many of these authors’ attention (and the present author’s own) to granular and seemingly insignificant details has been aligned, historically and philosophically, with the feminine, as Naomi Schor and Talia Schaffer have argued. Some male writers during the period experimented in similar ways with the materials of their craft, yet the minute—even domestic—character of many of these acts has led to their being mostly disregarded.
Afterword
Authors: Van Dyke Christina
Published: November 2022

The Afterword takes stock of recent allegations that we are currently living in a ‘new Dark Age’—one characterized by fear, ignorance, religious extremism, and white supremacy. Fortunately, there is a wealth of literature that debunks the notion that the worst of today’s present mirrors the best of the Middle Ages’s past. This book is offered as a very small step in the same direction—that is, towards a more accurate representation of an intellectual, cultural, political, and religious landscape that is often maligned and/or dismissed on the basis of events that didn’t even happen in its thousand-year span. (Witch trials, for instance, only really took off in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in what’s commonly called the Scientific Revolution.) Although often overlooked, medieval contemplative philosophy is vibrant, engaged, and surprisingly relevant to contemporary concerns; the fact that this tradition is where medieval Christian women engaged in philosophical discussions is one very good reason to delve into it, but it is hardly the only one.
Introduction to Bayesian inference
Authors: Cocco Simona , Monasson Rémi , Zamponi Francesco
Published: November 2022

This first chapter presents basic notions of Bayesian inference, starting with the definitions of elementary objects in probability. We introduce Bayes formula for the statistical inference of model parameters from data, as well as the fundamental notions of likelihood, and of prior and posterior distributions. We then discuss two historically motivated examples of Bayesian inference, in which a single parameter has to be inferred from data: the German tank problem and the estimation of the birth rates of females and males by Laplace.
High-dimensional inference: searching for principal components
Authors: Cocco Simona , Monasson Rémi , Zamponi Francesco
Published: November 2022

We have focused so far on how to infer simple models (defined by one or few parameters) from few or many data. In this chapter we are going to address a more complex situation, where the number of unknown parameters is comparable to the number of available data. This situation happens in many practical applications of statistical inference methods. We here concentrate on one of them, principal component analysis (PCA), that is, the inference of the most relevant direction in the high-dimensional space of data. Based on random matrix theory we will see how the inference of this direction is characterized by a phase transition, called retarded learning, which defines a minimum value of the number of data per parameter below which successful inference is not possible.
Affect and Cognition in Schopenhauer and Nietzsche
Authors: Janaway Christopher
Published: November 2022

Schopenhauer holds that affects and emotions impair cognition, while Nietzsche apparently replies that they are ineliminable from cognition, and that they enhance it. For Schopenhauer, human cognition is normally in the service of affective states that he classes as ‘movements of the will’. But he sees cognition as spoiled, warped, or tainted by its inability to shake off the emotions, desires, or drives that belong to human nature. The exception is a rare kind of cognition in which an individual becomes the ‘pure subject of cognition’. Nietzsche accepts something analogous to Schopenhauer’s descriptive position on the relation between cognition and the affects, but firmly rejects Schopenhauer’s evaluative stance, and denies the possibility of a pure, objective, affect-free cognition. Nietzsche argues that the influence of the affects on human cognition is not only necessary, but beneficial. This, the chapter argues, is at the heart of Nietzsche’s famous ‘perspectivism’.
Attitudes to Suffering
Authors: Janaway Christopher
Published: November 2022

Derek Parfit argues that Nietzsche does not disagree with central normative beliefs that ‘we’ hold. However, Nietzsche defends a conception of well-being that challenges Parfit’s normative claim that suffering is bad in itself for the sufferer. Nietzsche recognizes the phenomenon of ‘growth through suffering’ as essential to well-being. Hence, removal of all suffering would lead to diminished well-being. Suffering for Nietzsche is not merely instrumentally necessary for psychological growth, nor is it easy to construe it as something bad in itself that contributes value as part of a good whole. Suffering that can be given meaning through growth is something we have reason to want. Suffering that remains brute and uninterpreted is something we have reason not to want. But for Nietzsche, suffering as such has no invariant value across all contexts.
Leadership development for public services as a growth industry
Authors: Wallace Mike , Reed Michael , O’Reilly Dermot , Tomlinson Michael , Morris Jonathan , Deem Rosemary
Published: November 2022

This chapter sets out the aims of the book: to explain why the selected extreme case comprising a suite of national leadership development interventions for each public service sector was introduced by the Labour government in England during the early 2000s; and to locate these interventions within the international movement by governments to promote leadership development for public services, especially in Anglophone countries. The scope of the interventions is described, and the contemporary significance of the extreme case is justified. A central theme is introduced and the key concept that it entails is coined: the extent to which the English interventions might have constituted an ‘elite meta-lever’, a means of acculturating senior staff in public service organizations as leaders who would be committed to implementing public service reforms introduced by the present or any future government. The way in which the central argument will be developed in the remaining chapters is outlined.
Elite orchestration of national leadership development interventions for public services
Authors: Wallace Mike , Reed Michael , O’Reilly Dermot , Tomlinson Michael , Morris Jonathan , Deem Rosemary
Published: November 2022

Research findings are reported explaining why and how the United Kingdom (UK) Labour government mounted national leadership development interventions or financially supported representative bodies for senior staff in public service organizations in doing so. The discourse of government documents was shown to align with public service neoliberalization. Leadership was construed as concerning change, and especially regulated marketization reforms. Leadership development was construed as building nationwide leadership capacity to facilitate reform implementation through developing senior staff as leaders and junior staff as future leaders. Government elites established the intervention for school education, reconfigured its counterpart for healthcare, and financially supported the intervention for higher education (HE) mounted by representative bodies for senior staff. An abductive explanation is advanced of the generative mechanisms embodied in the government commitment to launching these interventions within the political and economic context outlined in earlier chapters, centring on the attempted co-optative acculturation of senior staff while delimiting their scope for corporate agency.
Elite mediation of acculturation
Authors: Wallace Mike , Reed Michael , O’Reilly Dermot , Tomlinson Michael , Morris Jonathan , Deem Rosemary
Published: November 2022

This chapter reports research findings on the self-perceptions of senior staff from public service organizations with or without experience of national intervention provision as leaders who were government change agents, and any impacts of provision on their practice. Most informants implied that they had not been acculturated as government change agents, but they were acculturated towards compliance with performance expectations imposed by the Labour government’s accountability regime. They were formally co-opted as leaders who bounded their own scope for corporate agency to avoid incurring negative sanctions. A substantial minority of senior staff were motivated to participate in provision to gain credentials from the record of participation for their career advancement. An abductive explanation is advanced, centring on the mild subversion by senior staff of their acculturative co-optation as change agents for reforms and the acquisition of symbolic forms of capital as leaders through participation in provision, resulting in their restricted professionalization as leaders.
Developing public service leaders
Authors: Wallace Mike , Reed Michael , O’Reilly Dermot , Tomlinson Michael , Morris Jonathan , Deem Rosemary
Published: November 2022

The conclusion considers the indirect and diffuse contribution of contemporary national leadership development interventions towards public service neoliberalization in England, and to wider social change. Extrapolation from the abductive explanation of the interventions investigated empirically suggests that national interventions have become institutionalized as an integral component of neoliberalization. Provision embraces change, including innovations connected with reforms or continuous improvement agendas that are changing public services as institutions, and so the nature of public service organizations. Interventions support continuing domination by government elites by fostering local leading activity while bounding the parameters for decision-making through the threat posed by the accountability regime. Three emergent and potentially emancipatory themes are discussed: alternatives to a leader-centric construal of leadership, the unfavourable structural and cultural conditions for interventions to operate as an acculturative and co-optative elite policy meta-lever; and limitations of the long-institutionalized development and training methods that interventions use for supporting social learning.
Protein kinase R dependent phosphorylation of α-synuclein regulates its membrane binding and aggregation
Authors: Reimer Lasse , Gram Hjalte , Jensen Nanna Møller , Betzer Cristine , Yang Li , Jin Lorrain , Shi Min , Boudeffa Driss , Fusco Giuliana , De Simone Alfonso , Kirik Deniz , Lashuel Hilal A , Zhang Jing , Jensen Poul Henning
Published: November 2022

Aggregated α-synuclein (α-syn) accumulates in the neuronal Lewy body (LB) inclusions in Parkinson's disease (PD) and LB dementia. Yet, under nonpathological conditions, monomeric α-syn is hypothesized to exist in an equilibrium between disordered cytosolic- and partially α-helical lipid-bound states: a feature presumably important in synaptic vesicle release machinery. The exact underlying role of α-syn in these processes, and the mechanisms regulating membrane-binding of α-syn remains poorly understood. Herein we demonstrate that Protein kinase R (PKR) can phosphorylate α-syn at several Ser/Thr residues located in the membrane-binding region that is essential for α-syn's vesicle-interactions. α-Syn phosphorylated by PKR or α-syn isolated from PKR overexpressing cells, exhibit decreased binding to lipid membranes. Phosphorylation of Thr64 and Thr72 appears as the major contributor to this effect, as the phosphomimetic Thr64Glu/Thr72Glu-α-syn mutant displays reduced overall attachment to brain vesicles due to a decrease in vesicle-affinity of the last two thirds of α-syn's membrane binding region. This allows enhancement of the “double-anchor” vesicle-binding mechanism that tethers two vesicles and thus promote the clustering of presynaptic vesicles in vitro. Furthermore, phosphomimetic Thr64Glu/Thr72Glu-α-syn inhibits α-syn oligomerization and completely abolishes nucleation, elongation, and seeding of α-syn fibrillation in vitro and in cells, and prevents trans-synaptic spreading of aggregated α-syn pathology in organotypic hippocampal slice cultures. Overall, our findings demonstrate that normal and abnormal functions of α-syn, like membrane-binding, synaptic vesicle clustering and aggregation can be regulated by phosphorylation, e.g., via PKR. Mechanisms that could potentially be modulated for the benefit of patients suffering from α-syn aggregate-related diseases.
Cryo-EM structures for the Mycobacterium tuberculosis iron-loaded siderophore transporter IrtAB
Authors: Sun Shan , Gao Yan , Yang Xiaolin , Yang Xiuna , Hu Tianyu , Jingxi Liang , Xiong Zhiqi , Ran Yuting , Ren Pengxuan , Bai Fang , Guddat Luke W , Yang Haitao , Rao Zihe , Zhang Bing
Published: November 2022

The ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter, IrtAB, plays a vital role in the replication and viability of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), where its function is to import iron-loaded siderophores. Unusually, it adopts the canonical type IV exporter fold. Herein, we report the structure of unliganded Mtb IrtAB and its structure in complex with ATP, ADP, or ATP analogue (AMP-PNP) at resolutions ranging from 2.8 to 3.5 Å. The structure of IrtAB bound ATP-Mg 2+ shows a “head-to-tail” dimer of nucleotide-binding domains (NBDs), a closed amphipathic cavity within the transmembrane domains (TMDs) and a metal ion liganded to three histidine residues of IrtA in the cavity. Cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) structures and ATP hydrolysis assays show that the NBD of IrtA has a higher affinity for nucleotides and increased ATPase activity compared with IrtB. Moreover, the metal ion located in the TM region of IrtA is critical for the stabilization of the conformation of IrtAB during the transport cycle. This study provides a structural basis to explain the ATP-driven conformational changes that occur in IrtAB.
Sex- and Age-Specific Deviations in Cerebellar Structure and Their Link With Symptom Dimensions and Clinical Outcome in Individuals at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis
Authors: Sefik Esra , Boamah Michelle , Addington Jean , Bearden Carrie E , Cadenhead Kristin S , Cornblatt Barbara A , Keshavan Matcheri S , Mathalon Daniel H , Perkins Diana O , Stone William S , Tsuang Ming T , Woods Scott W , Cannon Tyrone D , Walker Elaine F
Published: November 2022

Background

The clinical high-risk (CHR) period offers a temporal window into neurobiological deviations preceding psychosis onset, but little attention has been given to regions outside the cerebrum in large-scale studies of CHR. Recently, the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS)-2 revealed altered functional connectivity of the cerebello-thalamo-cortical circuitry among individuals at CHR; however, cerebellar morphology remains underinvestigated in this at-risk population, despite growing evidence of its involvement in psychosis.

Study Design

In this multisite study, we analyzed T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scans obtained from N = 469 CHR individuals (61% male, ages = 12–36 years) and N = 212 healthy controls (52% male, ages = 12–34 years) from NAPLS-2, with a focus on cerebellar cortex and white matter volumes separately. Symptoms were rated by the Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes (SIPS). The outcome by two-year follow-up was categorized as in-remission, symptomatic, prodromal-progression, or psychotic. General linear models were used for case-control comparisons and tests for volumetric associations with baseline SIPS ratings and clinical outcomes.

Study Results

Cerebellar cortex and white matter volumes differed between the CHR and healthy control groups at baseline, with sex moderating the difference in cortical volumes, and both sex and age moderating the difference in white matter volumes. Baseline ratings for major psychosis-risk dimensions as well as a clinical outcome at follow-up had tissue-specific associations with cerebellar volumes.

Conclusions

These findings point to clinically relevant deviations in cerebellar cortex and white matter structures among CHR individuals and highlight the importance of considering the complex interplay between sex and age when studying the neuromaturational substrates of psychosis risk.
Role of Stress-Induced Proteins RpoS and YicC in the Persistence of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica Serotype Typhimurium in Tomato Plants
Authors: Deblais Loïc , Ranjit Sochina , Vrisman Claudio , Antony Linto , Scaria Joy , Miller Sally A. , Rajashekara Gireesh
Published: November 2022

Understanding the functional role of bacterial genes in the persistence of Salmonella in plant organs can facilitate the development of agricultural practices to mitigate food safety risks associated with the consumption of fresh produce contaminated with Salmonella spp. Our study showed that Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serotype Typhimurium (strain MDD14) persisted less in inoculated tomato plants than other Salmonella Typhimurium strains tested (JSG210, JSG626, JSG634, JSG637, JSG3444, and EV030415; P < 0.01). In-vitro assays performed in limited-nutrient conditions (growth rate, biofilm production, and motility) were inconclusive in explaining the in-planta phenotype observed with MDD14. Whole-genome sequencing combined with non-synonymous single nucleotide variations analysis was performed to identify genomic differences between MDD14 and the other Salmonella Typhimurium strains. The genome of MDD14 contained a truncated version (123 bp N-terminal) of yicC and a mutated version of rpoS (two non-synonymous substitutions, i.e., G66E and R82C), which are two stress-induced proteins involved in iron acquisition, environmental sensing, and cell envelope integrity. The rpoS and yicC genes were deleted in Salmonella Typhimurium JSG210 with the Lambda Red recombining system. Both mutants had limited persistence in tomato plant organs, similar to that of MDD14. In conclusion, we demonstrated that YicC and RpoS are involved in the persistence of Salmonella in tomato plants in greenhouse conditions and, thus, could represent potential targets to mitigate persistence of Salmonella spp. in planta.

[Formula: see text] Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license .
Immunohistochemical Characteristics of Atypical Fibroxanthoma and Pleomorphic Dermal Sarcoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Ørholt Mathias , Abebe Kiya , Aaberg Frederik , Rasmussen Louise Eggers , Daugaard Søren , Loya Anand Chainsukh , Herly Mikkel , Vester-Glowinski Peter Viktor
Published: November 2022

Background:

Differentiating atypical fibroxanthoma (AFX) from pleomorphic dermal sarcoma (PDS) remains a challenge. Increasing the use of immunohistochemistry has led to the proposal of many immunomarkers that may aid in the diagnosis of AFX and PDS. In this meta-analysis, we investigate the immunohistochemical characteristics of AFX and PDS based on suggested immunomarkers in the literature. Second, we identify potential distinctive markers found in the tumors' respective immunohistochemical profiles.

Methods:

We included studies using immunomarkers on at least 10 consecutive patients with clinically and histopathologically verified AFX or PDS. The positive rates of the immunomarkers were pooled across the included studies with random-effects models. The immunomarkers were further categorized by a priori–chosen cutoffs in positive rates as positive markers (>90%) or negative markers (<10%). Differences between AFX and PDS were compared with Wald tests.

Results:

We included 45 studies (1516 tumors) reporting on 35 immunomarkers. CD10 was positive in 94% (95% confidence interval, 87–99) of AFX cases and 100% (95% confidence interval, 99–100) of PDS cases. In accordance with the literature, both AFX and PDS were mainly negative for epithelial markers, melanocytic markers, markers of smooth muscle differentiation, and endothelial markers. None of the examined immunomarkers could distinguish AFX from PDS.

Conclusions:

Our results suggest that CD10 is a useful positive immunomarker for both AFX and PDS. We found no difference in immunohistochemical profile when comparing AFX with PDS. Our analysis suggests that CD10, AE1/AE3, CK5/CK6, p63, S100, SOX10, desmin, SMA, CD31, and ERG could be used to differentiate AFX and PDS from other spindle cell neoplasms.
PARAFOVEAL INNER RETINAL THINNING AS THE BIOMARKER PREDICTING LESS RECURRENCE OF MACULAR EDEMA IN CENTRAL RETINAL VEIN OCCLUSION AFTER DISCONTINUING ANTIVASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL GROWTH FACTOR
Authors: Roh Hyeon Cheol , Lee Geun Woo , Kang Se Woong , Son Ki Young , Kang Min Chae , Choi Kyung Jun , Kim Sang Jin
Published: November 2022

Purpose:

To identify the predictive factors for the recurrence of macular edema after the cessation of antivascular endothelial growth factor treatment in eyes with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO).

Methods:

This retrospective study included participants who had discontinued intravitreal bevacizumab injections for complete resolution of macular edema related to CRVO at 3 months after the last injection. Fifty-two eyes were enrolled in this study and classified into two groups based on the recurrence of macular edema within 1 year after the stopping point, when the decision to discontinue injections was made. Clinical characteristics and optical coherence tomographic parameters at baseline and at the stopping point were investigated.

Results:

Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that, at baseline, old age was associated with a significantly higher risk of macular edema recurrence (odds ratio, 1.092; P = 0.022). At the stopping point, parafoveal inner retinal thickness (odds ratio: 1.043, P = 0.014) and the presence of ellipsoid zone disruption (odds ratio: 5.922, P = 0.032) were predictive factors for recurrence. The receiver operating characteristic curve showed that parafoveal inner retinal thinning of >7 µm compared with that in the fellow eye was significantly associated with decreased recurrence of macular edema.

Conclusion:

Parafoveal inner retinal thinning and intact ellipsoid zone after resolution of macular edema by antivascular endothelial growth factor treatment were predictive of a lower risk of recurrence of macular edema in CRVO. These intuitive biomarkers may help predict future disease courses and design optimal treatment strategies.
ANTI–VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL GROWTH FACTOR BIOSIMILARS IN OPHTHALMOLOGY
Authors: Kaiser Peter K. , Schmitz-Valckenberg Marc Steffen , Holz Frank G.
Published: November 2022

Background/Purpose:

Anti–vascular endothelial growth factor therapies have proven effective in treating retinal diseases but come with a high financial burden to the patient and health care system. Biosimilar drugs present an opportunity to decrease the cost of these important ophthalmic medications, and several ophthalmic biosimilars are expected to be approved and enter the market in the coming years. The objectives of this review are to educate ophthalmologists on the safety and efficacy of biosimilars in ophthalmology in the United States and European Union, review the biosimilar manufacturing and approval process, and describe the upcoming ophthalmic biosimilars.

Results:

Two ranibizumab biosimilars are currently approved in the United States and European Union. Additional ranibizumab biosimilars, as well as biosimilars for aflibercept and bevacizumab, are currently in clinical development.

Conclusion:

Biosimilar use in ophthalmology is expected to grow with the patent expiration of two major anti–vascular endothelial growth factor drugs, ranibizumab and aflibercept, and the development of an ophthalmology-specific bevacizumab biosimilar. Financial savings from biosimilar use in ophthalmology have the potential to reduce economic burden, increase treatment adherence, and ultimately improve health outcomes.
A 3-Year Follow-Up and Radiological Analysis of Cochlear Implantation Patients with Cochlear Nerve Deficiency and Modiolar Deficiency-Type Malformations
Authors: Lu Simeng , Wei Xingmei , Kong Ying , Chen Biao , Chen Jingyuan , Zhang Lifang , Yang Mengge , Xue Shujin , Shi Ying , Liu Sha , Xu Tianqiu , Dong Ruijuan , Chen Xueqing , Li Yongxin
Published: November 2022

Objective

Cochlear nerve deficiency (CND) is often combined with modiolar deficiency-type inner ear malformations, which cause variable cochlear implantation (CI) outcomes. We aimed to assess the postoperative development of auditory and speech perception in CND patients with modiolar deficiency-type malformations after 3 years of follow-up to determine the factors correlated with CI outcomes.

Methods

Sixty-seven CND patients with modiolar deficiency-type malformations who underwent CI surgery were retrospectively reviewed. Modiolar deficiency-type malformations included common cavity (CC), cochlear hypoplasia (CH) (including CH-I and CH-II) and incomplete partition-I (IP-I). Categorical auditory performance (CAP) and the infant-toddler meaningful auditory integration scale (MAIS) were used to assess auditory ability. The speech intelligibility rating (SIR) and meaningful use of speech scale (MUSS) were used to assess the speech intelligibility of these CI patients. The CI outcomes were evaluated at 0, 12, 24 and 36 months after implant activation.

Results

All patients demonstrated improvements in auditory ability and speech intelligibility after CI. There were no significant differences in CI outcomes at any time point according to the malformation type. The number of nerve bundles within the internal auditory canal (IAC) showed significant differences at 12, 24 and 36 months after CI (p < 0.05). Patients with one nerve bundle had relatively poor CI outcomes.

Conclusions

CND patients with modiolar deficiency-type malformations showed continuous improvement in auditory and speech abilities after CI. Compared with malformations, the number of nerve bundles should be given more attention when selecting the side for CI.
Treatment on patients with spastic cerebral palsy in the past 30 years: A systematic review and bibliometric analysis
Authors: Chen Dingfang , Wu Yuefeng , Li HaiYing , Pan Xue , Zhou Jin
Published: November 2022

Background:

Over the past 30 years, treatments from different disciplines have been applied to spastic cerebral palsy (SCP). However, few bibliometric studies have been conducted to date. This study explored the knowledge base, emerging hotspots, and future trends related to SCP treatment research using bibliometric analysis.

Methods:

Publications on SCP treatment included in the Web of Science Core Collection database between 1990 and 2020 were retrieved, and Medical Subject Headings terms were extracted from PubMed. Online bibliometric analysis website (http://bibliometric.com/), 2 pieces of software called “CiteSpace” and “VOSViewer” were used for quantitative analysis and knowledge map establishment.

Results:

A total of 1668 papers were retrieved from 1990 to 2020. The number of publications has increased annually. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology is the most productive and the highest co-cited journal. The United States has been the largest contributor. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam ranked first in the number of papers published among institutions that have conducted correlational research. Becher JG and Graham HK should be considered scholars who have made outstanding contributions. The knowledge base of the SCP treatment research field is thoughtfully constructed to promote understanding of the field.

Conclusion:

This bibliometric study identified global achievements, research hotspots, and trends of SCP treatment. They provide insights into the research field and valuable information for future scientific research and clinical treatment.
Trends and frontiers in natural products for arthritis, 2000–2021: A bibliometric analysis
Authors: Pan Junying , Wang Haoyu , Chen Yinghua
Published: November 2022

Background:

Arthritis has become one of the trouble diseases that upsets people. A growing number of studies have shown that natural products have great potential for the treatment of arthritis. However, few bibliometrics have been systematically studied in this area. This paper analyzes the literature data of natural products on the arthritis research, and the research hot spots and future research directions of the treatment of arthritis by natural products were explored.

Method:

Through CiteSpace, VOSviewer software and Bibliometricx under the R language environment, the article and review literatures on the treatment of arthritis with natural drugs in the Web of Science core collection database were analyzed by bibliometric analysis.

Results:

On December 28, 2021, a total of 2102 records were retrieved, 81.69% publications were issued in 2012 to 2021, mainly in China-dominated Asian countries, with cooperation among countries. The analysis of the number of articles published by institutions shows that the number of articles published by China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences is up to 82. Lu, Aiping and Smolen, JS are the authors with the highest citation frequency and co-citation frequency. Keywords analysis showed that the research of natural drugs mainly focused on gene expression, anti-inflammatory and other mechanisms and signaling pathways. With the progress of science and technology and the integration of multi-disciplines, the research on natural drugs for arthritis will be more in-depth and specific.

Conclusion:

In this study, literature metrology analysis was conducted on natural products in the treatment of arthritis, in order to grasp the background, trends and frontiers of the research, and predict possible research hotspots in the future. It is expected to provide some reference value and direction for future scholars in this field.
Changes to the myocardial enzyme spectrum in patients with different degrees of spleen injury and their clinical value
Authors: Gu Peng , Han Shengjin , Zhou Zhengwu , Ma Jianzhong
Published: November 2022

To investigate the changes to the myocardial enzyme profile and its clinical value in patients with different degrees of spleen injury.

Of all patients who underwent total splenectomy due to trauma-induced spleen injury from January 2019 to January 2022 were selected, 70 patients with grade III and IV spleen injuries were selected as the experimental group. In addition, 70 patients with grade I and II were selected as control group 1, and another 70 patients as control group 2. The levels of creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the 3 groups were detected before (T0) and on the 1st day (T1) after surgery, on the 3rd day (T2) and on the 7th day (T3) after surgery, and on the 14th day (T4) after surgery, respectively, to analyze the relationship with the severity of spleen injury.

The spleen injury experimental group, control group 1, and control group 2 were all cured and discharged after corresponding treatment, and there was no myocardial infarction within 3 months of hospitalization and discharge follow-up. The experimental group had higher CK, CK-MB, and LDH than control group 1 and control group 2 at the same time point from T0 to T4 (P<.05); the CK and CK-MB of control group 1 were higher than those of control group 2 at the same time points from T0 to T4 (P < .05), the LDH at points T0 to T2 was higher than that of control group 2 (P < .05), and the LDH was lower at points T3 and T4. Compared with T0 in the same group, CK, CK-MB, and LDH at T1 to T4 in the 3 groups were all lower than those at T0 (P < .05).

The early peripheral blood myocardial enzyme spectrum of patients with different degrees of spleen injury is increased, and the increase of myocardial enzyme spectrum is positively correlated with the severity of spleen injury, suggesting that patients with traumatic spleen injury may have myocardial damage in the early stage, and should be treated as soon as possible.