bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Facio vs. Valla
Authors: Mori Giuliano
Published: February 2024

This chapter illustrates the contrast between the two main models of humanist historiography by analyzing the paradigmatic case of a quarrel that broke out in the 1440s between Bartolomeo Facio and Lorenzo Valla. In line with the historiographical tenets espoused by authors such as Leonardo Bruni, Facio blamed Valla’s History of King Ferdinand of Aragon for disobeying the Ciceronian precepts of brevity and verisimilitude, providing an indecorous and ultimately untruthful account of the life of King Ferdinand. Valla responded by advocating a model of truthful history aimed at reporting in a factual manner all transpired events, irrespective of their perceived verisimilitude and decorum. Accordingly, Valla condemned Facio’s call to omit minor and possibly indecorous details as a tool of falsification. By opting for factuality over verisimilitude and exhaustiveness over brevity and selectiveness, Valla’s notion of historical truth was essentially opposite to that of Facio. As Valla argues, revising Aristotle’s Poetics, history does not derive its capacity to relate to universals from the verisimilar character of its materials. On the contrary, history relates to universals by reporting particular examples from which one can draw a universal teaching. History is thus superior to poetry because it does not relate to universals via fiction but through factual examples that Valla considers logically necessary and hence irrefutably true.
The Illegality Defence in the Courts Today
Authors: Burrows Andrew
Published: February 2024

This chapter covers the defence of illegality in the courts today. The illegality defence is a question of law subject to a correctness review by the appellate courts. According to Ewan McKendrick, the Patel v Mirza case is one of the legally most significant decisions of the Supreme Court. Common law illegality is applied where the effects of the illegality have not been laid down in statute. The chapter elaborates on the standard of review by an appellate court, while also explaining that courts should take the initiative when dealing with the defence of illegality.
Schrödinger’s Lawful Act Duress: Dead or Alive?
Authors: Chen-Wishart Mindy , Gardner Jodi
Published: February 2024

This chapter explores the uncertain content of the category of lawful act duress within English contract law. It references the Times Travel v Pakistan International Airline Corporation (PIAC) case wherein Lord Hodge delivers the majority, while Lord Burrows the minority, judgements. Despite the Supreme Court’s unanimous recognition of the importance of the doctrine of lawful act duress to English common law of contract, neither the majority nor minority judgments yield substantive content beyond that covered by the existing doctrines. The chapter also challenges the negative outcome of the case by questioning the reasoning in both judgements and proposing a test of the bad faith which would give independent content to lawful act duress.
Pain of Punjab
Authors: Dutt Sandeep , Hayat Faisal , Ritika
Published: February 2024

This chapter narrates the story of Punjab Rai Talwar, an engineer born to a proclaimed wrestler of Raja Jung at that time. He tells how his family had left their ancestral home with 250 silver coins, survived a violent train journey, leaving the grandparents behind, and almost losing one of the family members, before finally settling down in Ludhiana. Read about how he embarks on a journey of reliving all his memories with a complete stranger with whom he was not related by blood but sadly by shared pain. This is the Pain of Punjab; one who misses his childhood friend very dearly and dreams of reuniting with them for one last time.
Daughter of Knight
Authors: Dutt Sandeep , Hayat Faisal , Ritika
Published: February 2024

This chapter unfolds the story of Anima Syam who studied as the only female student among 40 male students, for the strength inherited from her brave mother. This chapter begins with beautiful fisheries, large ponds, boats carrying flowers, and a lot of natural beauty of Sylhet, Bangladesh (then East Pakistan), and then partition takes it to Assam, but it took 13 years for this family of seven kids and two parents to fully migrate. The story, Daughter of Knight is about the mother of the family acted as a knight; strongly guarding the family while taking care of the family business as the father tried to settle down in Assam.
Recipe to Revive
Authors: Dutt Sandeep , Hayat Faisal , Ritika
Published: February 2024

The chapter unfolds the story of a 19-year-old daughter of a postmaster, Shakuntala Malhotra who was born in Lahore and brought up in Lyallpur. She was living in Delhi in a two-bedroom flat with her husband at the time of partition. She tells how she went back with her husband to take some belongings in Lyallpur which was an ordeal in itself that still gives her shivers every time she recalls them. She also talks about her uncle who was posted in Azad Hind Army. Narrating her story from the United States, her Punjabi vegetarian recipes get published weekly in the paper she wishes only if she had a recipe to revive …
Colour of Blood
Authors: Dutt Sandeep , Hayat Faisal , Ritika
Published: February 2024

The chapter follows the story of Ashfaq Ahmed Khan. Born in the family of Yousafzais, his father was a policeman who passed away serving at duty. Raised by his elder brother, he remembers his birthplace Rohtak, where people would puff the pipe, attend wedding ceremonies and funerals together. He still remembers the bhajan he recited that saved his life. He tells the scenes he had to witness all through the way which still gives him nightmares. The story is about the man who believes that we all may have different names but the Colour of Blood in our veins is the same. All he appeals for is peace.
Du Bois’s Intellectual and Political Significance for China
Authors: Li Dai
Published: February 2024

Du Bois visited the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1959 and 1962 and received high-level receptions. His significance was two-fold: he was possibly instrumental in helping the PRC develop relations with newly independent African countries, and he was also deemed an ally in the worldwide class struggle against imperialism. He is extensively studied by historians, literature scholars, and other social scientists. However, he is curiously absent in Chinese sociology. This might be due to the discontinuation of sociology during 1952–1979, which coincided with his visits. The career of Fei Xiaotong, possibly the most influential Chinese sociologist, illustrates that Chinese sociology has long shared a vision of a sociology for the people since its inception. This is similar to Du Bois’s vision of a liberating sociology. Contemporary Chinese sociology can learn from Fei and Du Bois when charting its own path forward.
Albanian-Language Etnopop and the Emergence of a “Balkan” Regional Music Sphere
Authors: Sugarman Jane C.
Published: February 2024

This chapter traces the development of the Albanian-language musical genre etnopop during the early 2000s, primarily by arrangers in Kosova and North Macedonia. At the heart of Albanian etnopop production lay a paradox. On the one hand, new communications and production technologies enabled Albanians both to maintain close contact transnationally as a self-identified national group and to create an extensive music industry whose products were often a focal point of transnational social interaction. On the other, those same technologies enabled, and often encouraged, personnel within the industry to engage with non-Albanian producers and performers in neighboring countries. The result was a situation in which the Albanian industry maintained a facade of autonomous existence for much of its audience while in fact fostering intricate transnational interconnections. Ultimately, such interactions contributed to what has emerged as a complexly organized southeast European regional music sphere.
The Healthcare Industry
Authors: Donzé Pierre-Yves
Published: February 2024

This chapter provides an overview of the development of healthcare as an industry. First, it discusses the nature of the industry and outlines its main characteristics (highly regulated; broad range of actors; fast-growing; high level of technological innovation). Second, it presents the historical evolution of this sector in Western Europe, the US, and Japan, from its formation in the middle of the 19th century, which led to (i) the emergence of hospitals as a crucial actor, (ii) the subsequent creation of health insurance systems, supporting the demand for healthcare, and (iii) increasing government intervention, followed, more recently, by reform attempts driven by neoliberal ideas. It then sketches the spread of this model to countries outside the West and Japan. Overall, the chapter shows that despite hospitals as the dominant organizational form and the international diffusion of technologies, policies and practices, the healthcare industry continues to show significant variations from country to country.
It’s All de Jure
Authors: Ladson-Billings Gloria , Tate William F. , Jones Richard L.
Published: February 2024

The narrative about public school segregation in the United States typically casts southern states as villains because of their practice of de jure segregation, or segregation by law. Under this view, the South was committed to entrenching the “separate but equal” doctrine the Supreme Court established in Plessy v. Ferguson in the context of education. The North, according to this narrative, did not engage in de jure racial segregation. To the extent that schools were segregated in the North, that was a product of de facto racial segregation, or a matter of circumstance based on housing patterns. In this chapter, the authors argue that all school segregation is de jure, whether it occurs through the establishment of separate schools or whether it is a result of more “upstream” practices, like the establishment of restrictive covenants, redlining, or discriminatory housing financing and policies. To substantiate this claim, they offer a brief description of the prevailing post-Civil War narratives in the North and in the South. They examine southern strategies to undermine the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, with a particular focus on how pieces of that strategy transcended the North and figured prominently in the Midwestern state of Missouri. The authors highlight massive housing discrimination along the northeast coast and link it to school segregation to further support the thesis that a great majority of US school segregation is de jure.
Race and Contracts
Authors: Houh Emily
Published: February 2024

This chapter considers how social identities—including those based on race, gender, and sex--affect contract law, and vice versa. It explains how traditional contract law is a social construct that in turn helps construct racialized and gendered capitalism. Yet, certain equitable doctrines in contract law provide opportunities to think about how and why this is so, and how contracts and race and/or gender intersect. The chapter then discusses three cases about three equitable contract doctrines—undue influence, misrepresentation, and unconscionability—to illustrate how this point.It then offers an example of how contract doctrine might be used to achieve more just results in a way that accounts not only for the parties’ individual transactional conduct, but also for more structural forms of discrimination
Just Like a Freefall
Authors: Arnold Lorin Basden
Published: February 2024

While metaphor has long been part of qualitative and critical methodologies in organizational studies, that use has not been untroubled by issues. This chapter discusses the critical theory perspective regarding language, organizational metaphors, and power; the benefits and drawbacks of a critical frame for organizational metaphor research; and suggestions for maintaining the benefits while reducing the problems. It does so with a focus on critical metaphor work proceeding from a “colored lens” or “pigeon-hole” approach (Örtenblad 2016). Benefits of this research include making space for unheard voices, highlighting systems of oppression, and creating possibilities for change. Potential issues include problems related to understanding organizations from a distance, ignoring the multiplicity of meaning, elitism, and ignoring outlying or dissenting voices. Recommendations include highlighting the position of the scholar, examining exploitation and silencing in the research process, embracing the messiness of understanding, and moving beyond producing scholarship for other scholars.
Open Innovation and Coopetition
Authors: Bez Sea Matilda , Le Roy Frédéric
Published: February 2024

While the open innovation literature has acknowledged competitors as a source of innovative knowledge, competitors have been relatively neglected relative to other sources such as universities, suppliers, customers, and employees. Research in open innovation increasingly includes this counter-intuitive partner and acknowledges that the drivers and management of the open innovation practice with competitors are different from those with a non-competitive partner. In parallel and independently from the open innovation literature, research on coopetition and coopetitive innovation has grown and explored when, why, and how a competitor is a relevant partner for innovation. These frameworks develop by the coopetition literature brought into the open innovation research to generate new insights and a whole research agenda. The main insight is: coopetitive open innovation, defined as open innovation with competitors embracing a “coopetitive mindset” and specific managerial principles (i.e., cooperation and competition, should be simultaneously pursued and the competition dimension should not be reduced).
What the Kālamukhas Can Tell Us about Identity, Institutions, and Community in the Early Medieval Deccan
Authors: Schwartz Jason
Published: February 2024

This essay represents an initial attempt to revive the rather moribund study of the Kālamukhas by turning to fresh archives and methodologies. The designation “Kālamukha” by and large does not designate a discrete doctrinal formation but instead indexes vibrant and internally diversified “context-specific” religious imaginaries, few of which have yet been adequately historicized given surviving documentary, textual, and material cultural evidence. Toward this end, I offer three brief case studies: one purely textual, one concerned with visual culture in situ, and one offering regional institutional histories over the longue durée. These case studies aim to speak to the composite nature of Kālamukha imaginaries on and off the page, in the process urging us to think more robustly about not merely the content of our sources, whether in text or stone, but also their workmanly dimensions. They also suggest the need for reassessing the relationship between the idealized prescriptive textualities on which we focus and the lived realities within which our sources circulated. What emerges in each case study is an acute sense that the lived realities of the early medieval Deccan were all but defined by the blurring of the boundaries between Atimārga and Mantramārga, and that it is the monastic networks of the Kālamukhas themselves that become heavily invested in the transmission of Tantric knowledge and practice.
Arms Control and the Myth of Peaceful Uses in Outer Space
Authors: West Jessica
Published: February 2024

This chapter considers the concept of peace in outer space, which has been fundamental to the development of its governance, yet, despite early indications of success, non-armament has been an intractable challenges of space governance. The prevention of an arms race in outer space (PAROS) has been on the international agenda for decades with little progress. Existing explanations for this are unconvincing. Drawing on theory of political myth, the chapter contends that the failure to restrict weapon use in space is a consequence of an abiding myth of the peacefulness of outer space. While there is some evidence to suggest that this emphasis on the peaceful use of outer space has made the deployment of weapons in space taboo for most, it is also true that a general belief in this myth has permitted some space actors to engage in military competition, cloaked by a fog of peace.
California’s Channel Islands
Authors: Perry Jennifer E. , Jazwa Christopher S. , Radde Hugh D.
Published: February 2024

California’s Channel Islands have been home to Island Chumash and Tongva and their ancestors for more than 13,000 years, along with a diverse array of plant and animal species that were central to their livelihoods. After the displacement of island populations to the mainland by the mid-eighteenth century, animal grazing and other Euro-American farming and ranching activities promoted environmental degradation, including large-scale landscape changes. Since that time, and throughout the 20th century, the Channel Islands have been the site of extensive archaeological research, with disparate and intersecting themes across the eight-island archipelago including human ecology, colonization, exchange, and hunter-gatherer complexity. This chapter highlights developments in theoretical and methodological approaches, including historical ecology and human behavioral ecology and their applications and intersection. It also considers some of the broad questions that the Channel Islands are poised to address, including the timing and process of early colonization of the Americas and the development of social complexity among hunter–gatherers. These historical and contemporary trajectories of island research have the potential to advance future studies on the Channel Islands and their relevance to understanding human–coastal interactions globally.
Native American Archaeology of the Coastal American Southeast
Authors: Thompson Victor D. , Holland-Lulewicz Isabelle
Published: February 2024

In this comparative synthesis the authors summarize the most recent archaeological research in the coastal regions of the American Southeast, focusing on the Gulf coast of Florida and the lower Atlantic coast. Specifically, they outline the evolution of coastal ecosystems in this region, explore early adaptations to coastal environments and the emergence of villages and their concomitant new social institutions, and provide the most recent evidence for the construction of monuments and expanding ritual economies. In the latter part of this chapter, they compare some of the well-studied peoples of this region who were known to inhabit the area during the sixteenth century. These groups include the Calusa, Tocobagans, Timucuans, and Guale. Research on these peoples has provided critical information on coastal economies, the impacts of colonialism, and the role of Indigenous governance in the greater Southeast. In the final section, the authors consider the archaeology of the region and its importance in documenting large-scale cooperative endeavors, including how these groups sustainably managed fisheries over long periods and what that can say about the future of these environments in the face of large-scale climate change.
Life after Lapita
Authors: Shaw Ben , Connaughton Sean P.
Published: February 2024

The spread of Lapita cultural groups through the New Guinea region 3350–3250 years ago and into the uninhabited remote Pacific islands from 3050–3000 years ago was one of the greatest migrations in human history. Over subsequent millennia, novel adaptations and intergenerational social linkages led to the emergence of a complex mosaic of culture and language reflected in modern Pacific populations. Broadly defined as “post-Lapita,” this chapter assesses the current breadth of archaeological information about human settlement and practices in the few centuries after the arrival of Lapita communities within the former ambit of their distribution. In doing so, the authors highlight the continuity, change, and innovations of cultural practices and behaviors that contributed to such remarkable diversity. An assessment of “transitional” post-Lapita sites indicates that the complex motifs on Lapita pottery reflecting social markers were retained in Near Oceania for several centuries longer than in Remote Oceania, where diverse social identities were quickly forged within and between island groups. Settlement patterns, social networks, and subsistence strategies were continually adapted to localized constraints and, together with ongoing population migrations and cross-cultural interaction, contributed to the Pacific region becoming one of the most culturally diverse regions in the world.
American Illiberal Thinkers
Authors: Tait Joshua
Published: February 2024

Given the dominant place of liberalism in the United States, American conservatism has always been post-liberal. The illiberal scripts and tools were present in the American conservative movement in its earliest articulations. American illiberalism’s leading voices in the United States emerged from conservatism, both intellectually and institutionally. “Traditionalist” intellectuals were most post-liberal. Due to alliances with classical liberals and libertarians against political liberals (both New Deal Democrats and liberal Republicans), and historical contingencies, the dominant formulation of American conservatism—“fusionism”—minimized illiberal scripts in favor of a right-wing liberalism. The social, economic, cultural, and political bases of fusionism collapsed in the 1990s. Illiberalism gained new resonance, particularly via Patrick Buchanan and paleoconservatism. Donald Trump’s election accelerated this trend. Contemporary illiberal thinkers can be broadly categorized as Catholic, national conservatives, and neoreactionaries, although the boundaries are porous. Both the traditionalist and illiberal right have drawn on European thought while indigenizing it.
Using Agent-based Modeling for Theory Building in Organizational Routines
Authors: Gao Dehua
Published: February 2024

Routines are ubiquitous in every organization, capturing the typical way in which participants repetitively accomplish their organizational tasks. Conducting agent-based modelling (ABM) in organizational routines is an interdisciplinary but burgeoning area of research, and publications are still rare. This chapter offers an overview of the cotemporary use of ABM in organizational routines research. It then summarizes the development of organizational routines, particularly routine dynamics, which has rapidly grown in recent years. The chapter then discusses the goal and intended purposes of ABM (i.e., including illustration, description, theoretical exposition, explanation, and prediction) and compares several typical agent-based models that have been developed in the literature. By doing this, several challenges and potential reflections of future work are identified. The chapter shows a general picture of how ABM as a methodology can be applied for theory building in the field of organizational routines, hence theoretically contributing to literature on both organizational routines and ABM.
Pick Up the Slack
Authors: Baumann Oliver , Benincasa Stefano
Published: February 2024

The behavioural theory of the firm has emphasized the significance of scarce cognitive resources, necessitating that managers and organizations engage in search when faced with complex and uncertain decision problems. At the same time, search processes, such as exploration and exploitation, also compete for scarce resources beyond the cognitive domain. The dynamics through which these resources accumulate or diminish are linked to organizational procedures for target setting, action selection, and the interpretation of performance feedback, affecting whether and how organizational slack emerges. This chapter proposes to reinvigorate the analysis of how scarce cognitive resources interact with the availability of organizational resources. It analyses how “slack” accumulates and shapes search activities, the resulting performance outcomes, and the broader organizational architecture in which these processes occur. We consolidate the limited existing modelling accounts in this domain, summarize the key behavioural patterns observed in empirical studies, and outlines the shortcomings in current understanding, thereby suggesting promising avenues for future modelling efforts.
Foreign Aid and Strategic Foreign Policy
Authors: Gamso Jonas
Published: February 2024

Foreign aid is one of the main economic tools that states use to advance strategic objectives, such as securing alliances, supporting the political survival of friendly foreign leaders, and generating support within international organizations. Over the last several decades, political economists have thoroughly investigated the strategic allocation of aid, producing a large and varied body of scholarship in the process. This literature has revealed that aid is often influenced by donor interests, but it has also faced some methodological and conceptual challenges. This chapter first provides an in-depth review of the evolution of the foreign aid literature, as well as its limitations. It then suggests that scholars of geoeconomics push the field forward by exploring the role of foreign aid in renewed great power competition and the emergence of private aid donors. After reviewing the scholarship and suggesting new directions for analysts to move toward, the chapter discusses several implications for researchers and policymakers. Among other things, it recommends that researchers take steps to ensure that their scholarship reaches policy audiences and that policymakers representing donor countries with common goals coordinate their aid donations to maximize impact.
Freedom from Arbitrary Detention
Authors: Chen Yu-Jie , Cohen Jerome A.
Published: February 2024

The power to detain holds the potential for oppression. Freedom from arbitrary detention therefore is one of the most universal protections that international human rights norms and domestic constitutions seek to guarantee. This chapter compares these protections across the People’s Republic of China(PRC), the Republic of China on Taiwan, and the PRC’s Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong. All have constitutional principles against arbitrary detention. Taiwan and Hong Kong have also incorporated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the PRC has signed but never ratified, into their domestic law, yet their practices differ vastly. The rampant resort to unlawful and arbitrary detention in China paints a sobering picture of how law on the books can remain an empty promise. Taiwan and Hong Kong, on the other hand, have made significant strides in limiting arbitrary detention, but the events of the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests, marked by police brutality and mass arrests, expose the fragility of these safeguards under authoritarian influence. This chapter explores these diverse experiences, offering critical insights into effective mechanisms for restraining governmental detention powers, while also highlighting the precarious nature of such safeguards when confronted with authoritarian regimes.
National Roles and Foreign Policy
Authors: Breuning Marijke
Published: February 2024

Role theory has been part of foreign policy analysis (FPA) for decades. In its first generation, role theory was primarily structural, whereas its second generation focuses on agency. Second-generation role theory draws on symbolic interactionism in social psychology, shares assumptions in common with constructivism, and pursues an eclectic mix of empirical strategies. Most second-generation role theory scholarship in FPA focuses on the ways states socialize one another and on domestic role contestation. There are also studies that treat the concept of sovereignty as a role rather than a norm and that investigate international organization actions from a role theory perspective. Role theory is a thriving field that produces innovative scholarship. The chapter suggests future directions for the field.
International Democracy Promotion
Authors: Donno Daniela
Published: February 2024

Is international pressure for democracy effective in authoritarian regimes? While research indicates that international efforts can help solidify transitions in new or fragile democracies, it is less effective in authoritarian contexts. This chapter discusses three modes of international democracy promotion (IDP)—assistance, monitoring, and conditionality—and synthesizes what we know about the effects of these efforts in authoritarian regimes. Two points are emphasized. First, in more open authoritarian regimes, international pressure and assistance can complement the efforts of opposition parties and civil society, but democracy promotion is less effective in tightly controlled hegemonic authoritarian regimes. Second, autocrats can strategically adapt to international pressure for democracy by focusing on reforms that do not pose an immediate political threat. Rising advances in women’s rights in many autocracies is an example of this type of selective compliance. Nevertheless, certain tools of democracy promotion can have meaningful effects in authoritarian regimes, including election monitoring and assistance to election-management bodies. The chapter concludes by highlighting lessons for how IDP can be strengthened and streamlined.
Enhancing Disaster Management Preparedness Through Simulation
Authors: Russin Kelly , Mottel Hannah
Published: February 2024

Disaster management can be difficult to teach in the classroom, yet nurses must be prepared to respond to emergency situations and feel confident doing so. Educators developed a simulated learning activity—a mock disaster drill using live volunteers as patients and emergency medical technicians—to improve disaster management preparedness, confidence, and interdisciplinary teamwork among nursing students. This article details their strategy and experience with this project.
Trends in Survival for Adult Organ Transplantation
Authors: Patrick Grant , Hickner Brian , Goli Karthik , Ferreira Liam D. , Goss John , Rana Abbas
Published: February 2024

Objective:

Intent-to-treat analysis follows patients from listing to death, regardless of their transplant status, and aims to provide a more holistic scope of the progress made in adult solid-organ transplantation.

Background:

Many studies have shown progress in waitlist and post-transplant survival for adult kidney, liver, heart, and lung transplants, but there is a need to provide a more comprehensive perspective of transplant outcomes for patients and their families.

Methods:

Univariable and multivariable Cox regression analyses were used to analyze factors contributing to intent-to-treat survival in 813,862 adults listed for kidney, liver, heart, and lung transplants. The Kaplan–Meier method was used to examine changes in waitlist, post-transplant, and intent-to-treat survival. Transplantation rates were compared using χ2 tests.

Results:

Intent-to-treat survival has steadily increased for liver, heart, and lung transplants. The percentage of patients transplanted within 1 year significantly increased for heart (57.4% from 52.9%) and lung (73.5% from 33.2%). However, the percentage of patients transplanted within 1 year significantly decreased from 35.8% to 21.2% for kidney transplant. Notably, intent-to-treat survival has decreased for kidneys despite increases in waitlist and post-transplant survival, likely because of the decreased transplant rate.

Conclusion:

Intent-to-treat survival steadily improved for liver, heart, and lung transplant over the 30-year study period. Continued advancements in allocation policy, immunosuppression, and improved care of patients on the waitlist may contribute to further progress in outcomes of all organs, but the increasing discrepancy in supply and demand of donor kidneys is alarming and has impeded the progress of kidney intent-to-treat survival.
Plasma sPD-L1 and VEGF levels are associated with the prognosis of NSCLC patients treated with combination immunotherapy
Authors: Dong Changhong , Hui Kaiyuan , Gu Jie , Wang Mei , Hu Chenxi , Jiang Xiaodong
Published: February 2024

The clinical significance of plasma soluble programmed cell death ligand 1 (sPD-L1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with the combination of anti-angiogenic therapy and anti-PD-L1 antibody (Ab) remain unknown. This study aimed to explore the association between plasma sPD-L1 and VEGF levels and the prognosis of NSCLC patients treated with the combination of Envafolimab and Endostar. Peripheral blood samples were collected from 24 NSCLC patients at baseline and after 6 weeks of treatment and were detected for sPD-L1 and VEGF levels. Both baseline and posttreatment sPD-L1 were significantly higher in progressive disease (PD) group than in controlled disease (CD) group (median: 77.5 pg/ml vs. 64.6 pg/ml, P = 0.036, median: 8451 pg/ml vs. 5563 pg/ml, P = 0.012). In multivariate analysis, lower baseline sPD-L1 levels were significantly associated with longer progression-free survival (PFS) (HR = 6.834, 95% CI: 1.350–34.592, P = 0.020). There were significantly higher posttreatment VEGF levels in PD group compared with CD group (median: 323.7 pg/ml vs. 178.5 pg/ml, P = 0.009). Higher posttreatment VEGF levels were significantly associated with shorter PFS in multivariate analysis (HR = 5.911, 95% CI: 1.391–25.122, P = 0.016). Plasma sPD-L1 and VEGF levels are associated with the clinical response and prognosis of NSCLC patients treated with the combination of PD-L1 inhibitors and anti-angiogenetic therapy.
NFATc2 promotes lactate and M2 macrophage polarization through USP17 in lung adenocarcinoma
Authors: Wang Liang , Ma Yuanyuan , Zhang Shanyuan , Yang Yue , Huang Bo
Published: February 2024

It is well known that immune cells including macrophages within the tumor microenvironment play an essential role in tumor progression. Here, we studied how NFATc2 regulated macrophage properties in lung adenocarcinoma. Higher expression of NFATc2 was observed in the lung adenocarcinoma tissues than in the normal lung tissues. Positive relationships were found between NFATc2 and genes associated with hypoxia and glycolysis in lung adenocarcinoma from the TCGA dataset. According to single-cell sequence data, NFATc2 was closely associated with infiltrating immune cells and was related to macrophage polarization. As a transcription factor, NFATc2 binding to the USP17 promoter region, that enhanced cell migration and lactate level in lung adenocarcinoma cells, and M2 polarization in macrophages. Furthermore, the NFATc2 inhibitor suppressed lactate and M2 macrophage polarization induced by NFATc2 and USP17. In conclusion, NFATc2 promotes lactate level and M2 macrophage polarization by transcriptionally regulating USP17 in lung adenocarcinoma.
Real-World Implications of Updated Surviving Sepsis Campaign Antibiotic Timing Recommendations*
Authors: Taylor Stephanie P. , Kowalkowski Marc A. , Skewes Sable , Chou Shih-Hsiung
Published: February 2024

OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate real-world implications of updated Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) recommendations for antibiotic timing.

DESIGN:

Retrospective cohort study.

SETTING:

Twelve hospitals in the Southeastern United States between 2017 and 2021.

PATIENTS:

One hundred sixty-six thousand five hundred fifty-nine adult hospitalized patients treated in the emergency department for suspected serious infection.

INTERVENTIONS:

None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS:

We determined the number and characteristics of patients affected by updated SSC recommendations for initiation of antibiotics that incorporate a risk- and probability-stratified approach. Using an infection prediction model with a cutoff of 0.5 to classify possible vs. probable infection, we found that 30% of the suspected infection cohort would be classified as shock absent, possible infection and thus eligible for the new 3-hour antibiotic recommendation. In real-world practice, this group had a conservative time to antibiotics (median, 5.5 hr; interquartile range [IQR], 3.2–9.8 hr) and low mortality (2%). Patients categorized as shock absent, probable infection had a median time to antibiotics of 3.2 hours (IQR, 2.1–5.1 hr) and mortality of 3%. Patients categorized as shock present, the probable infection had a median time to antibiotics 2.7 hours (IQR, 1.7–4.6 hr) and mortality of 17%, and patients categorized as shock present, the possible infection had a median time to antibiotics 6.9 hours (IQR, 3.5–16.3 hr) and mortality of 12%.

CONCLUSIONS:

These data support recently updated SSC recommendations to align antibiotic timing targets with risk and probability stratifications. Our results provide empirical support that clinicians and hospitals should not be held to 1-hour targets for patients without shock and with only possible sepsis.
Personalized treatment of well-differentiated gastric neuroendocrine tumors based on clinicopathological classification and grading: A multicenter retrospective study
Authors: Huang Ju , Liu Huimin , Yang Dekun , Xu Tianming , Wang Jing , Li Jingnan
Published: February 2024

Background:

The incidence of well-differentiated gastric neuroendocrine tumors (G-NET) is increasing annually, and while they have a good prognosis and low mortality rate, their high recurrence rate makes treatment options controversial. This study aims to determine the relationship between individualized treatment plans and the recurrence of G-NET.

Methods:

We performed a multicenter, retrospective study of 94 patients with highly differentiated G-NET and treated at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital, and Beijing Zhong-Neng-Jian Hospital from November 2015 to September 2023. Risk factors for recurrence of G-NETs were investigated using chi-squared test and multifactorial logistic regression analysis.

Results:

After a median follow-up of 49 months, the overall recurrence rate among the 94 G-NET patients was 14% (13/94). The recurrence rates of endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR), endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), somatostatin analog (SSA) therapy, and surgery were 43% (6/14), 10% (5/49), 5% (1/22), and 11% (1/9), respectively. Post-treatment recurrence rates were significantly different (P = 0.014) among four treatments (EMR, ESD, SSA, and surgery), and further subgroup comparisons revealed lower recurrence rates in the ESD and SSA groups than in the EMR group. From the second month onward, SSA therapy considerably reduced the gastrin levels from 1081.0 (571.5, 2472.8) pg/mL to 461.5 (255.3, 795.0) pg/mL (Z = –3.521, P <0.001). Both chi-squared test and multifactorial logistic regression analysis suggested that among the clinicopathological parameters studied, only the pre-treatment gastrin level (P = 0.018 and 0.005) and the type of treatment (P = 0.014 and 0.017) were significantly associated with G-NET recurrence.

Conclusions:

Individualized treatment strategies may reduce the risk of relapse after G-NET treatment. Long-term SSA therapy may be a secure and efficacious treatment option for type 1 G-NET with more than six lesions, and it substantially decreases the incidence of post-treatment recurrence.
Effects of closed loop ventilation on ventilator settings, patient outcomes and ICU staff workloads – a systematic review
Authors: Goossen Robin L. , Schultz Marcus J. , Tschernko Edda , Chew Michelle S. , Robba Chiara , Paulus Frederique , van der Heiden Pim L.J. , Buiteman-Kruizinga Laura A.
Published: February 2024

BACKGROUND

Lung protective ventilation is considered standard of care in the intensive care unit. However, modifying the ventilator settings can be challenging and is time consuming. Closed loop modes of ventilation are increasingly attractive for use in critically ill patients. With closed loop ventilation, settings that are typically managed by the ICU professionals are under control of the ventilator's algorithms.

OBJECTIVES

To describe the effectiveness, safety, efficacy and workload with currently available closed loop ventilation modes.

DESIGN

Systematic review of randomised clinical trials.

DATA SOURCES

A comprehensive systematic search in PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Central register of Controlled Trials search was performed in January 2023.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Randomised clinical trials that compared closed loop ventilation with conventional ventilation modes and reported on effectiveness, safety, efficacy or workload.

RESULTS

The search identified 51 studies that met the inclusion criteria. Closed loop ventilation, when compared with conventional ventilation, demonstrates enhanced management of crucial ventilator variables and parameters essential for lung protection across diverse patient cohorts. Adverse events were seldom reported. Several studies indicate potential improvements in patient outcomes with closed loop ventilation; however, it is worth noting that these studies might have been underpowered to conclusively demonstrate such benefits. Closed loop ventilation resulted in a reduction of various aspects associated with the workload of ICU professionals but there have been no studies that studied workload in sufficient detail.

CONCLUSIONS

Closed loop ventilation modes are at least as effective in choosing correct ventilator settings as ventilation performed by ICU professionals and have the potential to reduce the workload related to ventilation. Nevertheless, there is a lack of sufficient research to comprehensively assess the overall impact of these modes on patient outcomes, and on the workload of ICU staff.
Incorporating Acute Conditions into Risk-Adjustment for Provider Profiling: The Case of the US News and World Report Best Hospitals Rankings Methodology
Authors: Hammill Bradley G. , Hoffman Molly N. , Clark Amy G. , Bae Jonathan G. , Shannon Richard P. , Curtis Lesley H.
Published: February 2024

Several years ago, the US News and World Report changed their risk-adjustment methodology, now relying almost exclusively on chronic conditions for risk adjustment. The impacts of adding selected acute conditions like pneumonia, sepsis, and electrolyte disorders (“augmented”) to their current risk models (“base”) for 4 specialties—cardiology, neurology, oncology, and pulmonology—on estimates of hospital performance are reported here. In the augmented models, many acute conditions were associated with substantial risks of mortality. Compared to the base models, the discrimination and calibration of the augmented models for all specialties were improved. While estimated hospital performance was highly correlated between the 2 models, the inclusion of acute conditions in risk-adjustment models meaningfully improved the predictive ability of those models and had noticeable effects on hospital performance estimates. Measures or conditions that address disease severity should always be included when risk-adjusting hospitalization outcomes, especially if the goal is provider profiling.
The Facial Artery Perforator Flap for Reconstruction of Facial Defects: Surgical Pearls and Clinical Series
Authors: Zhu Jingjing , Zhang Yuxin , Chen Liang , Wang Heng , Zhou Yiqun , Guo Yu , Dong Dong , Wang Wei , Liu Tianyi
Published: February 2024

Background:

Based on the knowledge of facial vascularity, facial artery perforator flaps could be used as potent tools for facial defect reconstruction. However, lack of experience and misconception of this technique limits the broad application in the clinical background. Here, we discussed surgical techniques based on our previous experience with facial artery perforator (FAP)-based facial defect reconstruction.

Methods:

A retrospective review of 12 patients undergoing facial defect reconstruction using an FAP flap was performed, including 8 defects in the mid-facial part and 4 defects in the nasal area generally resulted from basal cell carcinoma (8 patients), squamous cell carcinoma (3 patients), and actinic keratosis (one patient).

Results:

All patients received one-stage FAP flap reconstruction. The overall follow-up period was 6 to 12 months. All reconstructions were successful with satisfactory patient-reported outcome and no local recurrence. No significant complications were observed in most cases, except for one instance of partial flap loss.

Conclusions:

Overall, taking advantage of FAP flaps will contribute to a good functional and esthetic outcome of facial defect reconstructions.
A Rare Complication of Maxillomandibular Advancement Surgery: Postoperative Plate Bending Following Emergency Intubation
Authors: Lightfoot Emily , Jensen Emilija D. , Gamage Sanjaya N. , Cheng Andrew H. , Sambrook Paul J.
Published: February 2024

Maxillomandibular advancement surgery is a recognized technique for the management of obstructive sleep apnea. Complications for this surgery are not well-documented in the literature. The authors report an unusual case of mandibular plate bending following unplanned postoperative airway management using an oral endotracheal tube in a 65-year-old male. The bent mandibular plate and airway concern required a return to the theater for the replacement of bent plates and tracheostomy placement. This case documents the importance of multidisciplinary team planning for airway-related surgery as well as the need for multidisciplinary team management of postoperative airway management following orthognathic surgery.
Practice Patterns and Attitudes Regarding Pregnancy and Parenthood After Lung Transplantation
Authors: Gaffney Nicole S. , Snell Greg , Levvey Bronwyn , Gerovasili Vicky , DeFilippis Ersilia M. , Paraskeva Miranda
Published: February 2024

Background.

Parenthood after lung transplantation (LuTx) is uncommon. Although data exist regarding practice patterns surrounding pregnancy after heart transplantation, there are no data specific to LuTx recipients and parenthood more broadly.

Methods.

We conducted a voluntary, anonymous online survey between October and December 2021. It was distributed electronically to select LuTx units and advertised to LuTx providers internationally.

Results.

A total of 103 responses were included in our analysis. Respondents were primarily women (n = 63; 62%) and included LuTx pulmonologists (n = 59; 58%) or nurses and transplant coordinators (n = 28; 27%). The majority were from centers performing >40 LuTx annually (n = 53; 52%) and had >10 y of transplant experience (n = 56; 55%). Most respondents discuss fertility issues with recipients (n = 63; 62%), but centers lacked clear policies relating to female (n = 51; 70%) and male (n = 62; 83%) fertility and parenthood. Few were aware of policies regarding assisted reproduction and fertility preservation (n = 13; 13%) or pregnancy (n = 23; 22%). Many cited ethical concerns regarding parenthood post-LuTx (n = 38; 37%), but most were supportive of the use of surrogacy by female recipients (n = 74; 92%) and felt there were no contraindications to parenthood in male recipients (n = 59; 59%). Although geography influenced some logistical issues around care provision, general attitudes toward parenthood in LuTx recipients were unaffected by respondent age, sex, location, or experience.

Conclusions.

Although providers were overall supportive of post-LuTx parenthood, the absence of peer-reviewed evidence, expert consensus, and policy-driven guidance may be a significant barrier to safe and successful parenthood in LuTx recipients.