bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Survey of hepatitis E virus in pork products and pig stools in Nakhon Pathom Province, Thailand
Authors: Thippornchai Narin , Leaungwutiwong Pornsawan , Kosoltanapiwat Nathamon , Vuong Cindy , Nguyen Kellyan , Okabayashi Tamaki , Lee Awapuhi
Published: May 2022

Background

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an important public health threat resulting in more than 3 million symptomatic cases and 70,000 deaths annually. HEV is classified into at least eight genotypes, and five are associated with human infection. Genotypes 1 and 2 primarily affect humans, whereas genotypes 3 and 4 circulate in both humans and swine and are considered zoonotic viruses. Previous studies in Central Thailand have reported human HEV isolates with high similarity to swine strains and high seroprevalence in pigs, suggesting the potential for pig‐to‐human transmission.

Objectives

This study aimed to detect and analyse HEV in pork products and pig stools collected from local markets and pig farms in Nakhon Pathom Province in Central Thailand.

Methods

A total of 177 pig stool and 214 pork product samples were detected for HEV by using RT–PCR amplification. Next, nucleotide sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were performed.

Results

We found one sample of pork products (1/214, 0.5%), which was a pig liver sample (1/51, 2.0%), and 49 HEV‐positive samples in pig stools (49/177, 27.7%). Phylogenetic analysis showed that all these HEV sequences belonged to genotype 3, with a high correlation between our samples and HEV from humans and swine was previously reported in Thailand.

Conclusions

This study suggested that the consumption of poorly sanitized or uncooked animal meat or food and frequent exposure to pig stools may be risk factors for HEV infections in humans.
Stakeholder Engagement in Humanizing Business
Authors: Sachs Sybille , Kujala Johanna
Published: May 2022

This chapter aims to provide a humanized understanding of stakeholder engagement. In doing so, we first revise the assumptions of human nature within the conceptualization of stakeholder engagement, and define stakeholders as resourced humans with personal resources such as different values, capabilities, interests, and emotions, which they can activate in value creation. After that, we take a relational view to stakeholder engagement to understand human interactions taking place in stakeholder relationships and value creation. Furthermore, we examine in-group and out-group interactions for humanizing stakeholder engagement, and discuss how to define individuals’ social self-concepts in interactions with other stakeholder groups, and how to simultaneously maintain trust within the stakeholder group. Finally, we argue that humanizing stakeholder engagement necessitates a change in the current business mindset from economic to multiple values, and from the focal firm to a stakeholder perspective.
Retheorising Migration: A South-South Perspective
Authors: Batisai Kezia
Published: May 2022

Broadening the conceptual scope beyond the Global North and ‘Asian biases’, this chapter takes cognisance of the challenges of universalistic approaches to migration realities, which undermine the fact that both experience and knowledge are contextual. Emphasis is on re-theorising migration to account for contextual specificities that shape the realities of moving within the Global South, particularly in Africa where migration – subsequent to involuntary push factors such as civil war, political violence, economic challenges, extreme poverty and social realities specific to the continent – is often a forced experience compared to the Global North where it is a choice and lifestyle. Contextual theories of migration in this chapter avoid rendering the specific universal by exploring how the state polices the migratory process; the social meanings society attaches to ‘that which is foreign’; and the ultimate meaning of being a black African migrant in Africa. These contextual realities call for conceptual renegotiation of the meaning of Africanness or African identities, especially for black Africans located in spaces of violent and brutal prejudice against those perceived as foreign. The main conceptual contribution is built around experiences that hardly find their way into mainstream discourses and theorisations where Global North and Asian biases have dominated what has become to be known as literature and theories of migration.
Migrating Beyond Borders and States: Instrumental and Contingent Solidarities Among South Asian Migrant Informal Workers in South Africa
Authors: Rugunanan Pragna
Published: May 2022

South-to-South migration instead of South to the Global North will dominate global migration trends in the future. This calls for redefining how we view and theorise about migration to the Global South, who is migrating, to which countries, the reasons for migration, whether this is a renewed form of circular migration, our understanding of transnationalism, the role of remittances and how migrants are received in the countries of the South and. In particular, I argue that migration research to and from Africa is not given the prominence it deserves in the global migration literature. I further argue that that the similarities and differences of migration to the Global South is under-theorised. The increase in South-to-South migration is creating a shift in economies resulting in the creation of new ‘geographies of growth’ and thus a Sociology of Migration understanding of patterns of migration and development in the Global South is needed. A case study of South Asian migrants to South Africa is illustrative of these geographies of growth and shows how migrants develop instrumental and contingent solidarities to integrate.
Neoliberal Capitalism and Migration in the Global South: A Case of Post-ESAP Zimbabwe to South Africa Migration
Authors: Hadebe Samukele
Published: May 2022

Zimbabwe has been haemorrhaging via international migration, especially since the 1990s and 2000s. While there could be as many different reasons for this exodus of Zimbabweans as there are people emigrating, it is indisputable that the introduction of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) in 1991 at the behest of the Bretton Woods Institutions forms the major causes. Zimbabwe used to be a migrant-sending as well as a migrant-receiving country, but after ESAP, the trends were outwards with barely any inward movements. Zimbabwe became not only a net exporter of labour, especially human capital, but it depleted its human resources capacity, perhaps beyond levels of easy recovery in the foreseeable future. The political economic factors resulting from ESAP-induced poverty drove a significant section of the population to the indignity and insecurity of migrant labour. Drawing from that experience, it could be claimed confidently that “migration and labour questions are two sides of the same coin” (Delgado, 2015: 26) driven by neoliberal capitalism.
Informal Settlements: A Manifestation of Internal and Cross-Border Migration
Authors: Oksiutycz Anna , Azionya Caroline Muyaluka
Published: May 2022

Informal settlements are perceptible material expressions of internal and cross-border migration in South Africa. New arrivals, drawn to urban centres in search of economic opportunities, find a residence in one of the high-density informal settlements dotted around the economic hub of South Africa, the Gauteng province. It is projected that an estimated 1.6 million migrants, including 48% of all immigrants in South Africa, will make Gauteng province their home by 2021 (Stats SA, 2018a). However, instead of better conditions, rural-urban and urban-urban migrants as well as undocumented and documented immigrants experience a lack of service delivery in health, education, road infrastructure, security, electricity, water and sanitation (Marutlulle, 2017). The lack of provision of basic services and resources from the government at such sites often results in community protests and translates into attacks against immigrants residing in those communities.
Mechanics of Writing
Authors: Luby Stephen , Southern Dorothy L.
Published: May 2022

Articles that are easy for readers to understand are more likely to be read thoroughly and so more likely to influence fellow scientists and contribute to the global scientific conversation. Authors can take several steps to improve the clarity of their writing including by avoiding acronyms, avoiding writing in all capital letters, and using commas in large numbers consistent with scientific practice. Authors require the feedback of busy co-authors and reviewers to further develop their manuscripts. Authors build goodwill among these key stakeholders and enhance the efficiency of the review process by providing easy-to-review drafts that have been spell-checked, that have paragraphs clearly demarcated by indentation, and that align text to the left, use consistent fonts, and deploy informative document names.
Approaching Publication
Authors: Luby Stephen , Southern Dorothy L.
Published: May 2022

Moving from a first draft of the complete manuscript to a published article requires ongoing collaboration with your co-authors and with journal editors. Clear, efficient, and professional communication helps advance your manuscript. Authors who respect the time of their co-authors and so request comments within a professional turnaround time, carefully consider the comments that they have received, and take multiple steps to minimize the time demands on busy co-authors are much more likely to develop productive collegial relationships that help to advance their work. Sending blank forms for co-authors to complete, not providing co-authors a copy of the submitted manuscript, not keeping co-authors informed of discussion with journal editors, and sending draft manuscripts with figures that are not compressed demonstrate a lack of courtesy for your collaborators’ time. Choosing a journal that is appropriate for your manuscript, following the journal’s details of style, including respecting the journal word limit, and using an appropriate reporting guideline, all facilitate moving from a draft manuscript to a published article.
The Policy and Politics of Public Health in Pandemics
Authors: Fierlbeck Katherine , McNamara Kevin , MacDonald Maureen
Published: May 2022

The utility of political science insight and methodology for public health has become increasingly apparent in discussions over policy implementation. However, prior to coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), public health analyses undertaken within a political science paradigm focused primarily on how to mobilize decision-makers in order to bring about particular kinds of legislation or policy initiatives (policies on tobacco, alcohol, urban design, etc.). This chapter, written before the onset of COVID-19, suggested that it would be useful to use the lens of political science to understand pandemic planning, as the evidence-policy-politics nexus in public health differs substantially between the fields of health promotion and disease surveillance and response. Using the case of H1N1 in Nova Scotia, the chapter notes some of the political tensions that arose when decisions had to be made in the face of limited information, public pressure, and rapidly-changing circumstances.
Mechanisms to Bridge the Gap Between Science and Politics in Evidence-Informed Policymaking: Mapping the Landscape
Authors: Cassola Adèle , Fafard Patrick , Palkovits Michèle , Hoffman Steven J.
Published: May 2022

Despite long-standing efforts to enhance evidence-informed decision-making in public health policy, tensions remain between the goal of basing decisions on the best available scientific evidence and the need to balance competing aims, interests, and evidentiary sources in representative democracies. In response, several strategies have been proposed both to democratize evidence production and evaluation, and to effectively integrate evidence into the decision-making processes of institutions of representative democracy. Drawing on a synthesis of the conceptual and empirical literature, this chapter describes and categorizes mechanisms that aim to reconcile political and scientific considerations in evidence-informed policymaking and develops an analytical typology that identifies salient dimensions of variation in their selection and design.
Political Science In, Of, and With Public Health
Authors: Fafard Patrick , Cassola Adèle , Weldon Isaac
Published: May 2022

There is stalemate of sorts between two views of the place of politics in public health. The public health enterprise is concerned with the ways in which “politics” interferes with the making of public health policy whereas political science sees politics as endemic and something to be better understood. To transcend this stalemate this exploratory essay proposes a typology of the possible interactions between political science and public health: political sciencewithout, in, of,and ideallywithpublic health. Each has different implications for what role political science can play in better understanding the role scientific evidence does and does not play in the making of public health policy.
How Policy Appetites Shape, and Are Shaped by Evidence Production and Use
Authors: Oliver Kathryn
Published: May 2022

Despite long-standing critiques, the rationalist model—which describes a simple, linear process by which evidence should inform policy decision-making—remains dominant in the minds of many researchers and policymakers. Why is this the case, and does it matter? I argue that in addition to its intuitive, simple appeal, the rationalist model has been bolstered by repeated appeals from the public health research community for policymakers to rely (often solely) on the ‘best’ evidence. The insistence on an evidence hierarchy creates the idea that some forms of evidence are of more value than others, and that research design can be used as a way to quickly identify ‘best’ evidence. I argue this enables misuse of evidence and reduces the scope for effective dialogue between those who make and those who use evidence. A more useful approach would be to explore how knowledge and policy interact at a more systemic level, to help us understand who is involved in evidence production, valuing, codification, and use. Conceptualising the political economy of knowledge in this way offers a new way to begin thinking about how to creatively shape a more helpful environment for both policy and evidence.
Is Local Better? Evolving Hybrid Theorising for Local Health Policies
Authors: de Leeuw Evelyne
Published: May 2022

Good arguments can be made why the deployment of theories and concepts from political science disciplines to public health and health promotion fields yields novel and actionable insights. But this chapter purports to show that there may be a qualitative difference for the effectiveness of this deployment across jurisdictions. It shows how the application of a comprehensive and hybrid array of political science theories to public health issues at the ‘local’ level generates relevant and actionable insights for policy advocacy, agenda setting, prioritisation, implementation and learning. It draws on work in a range of Healthy Cities and local government settings around the world and shows that, although local is better, health policymaking always has glocal dimensions.
Struggling with Conceptual Framings to Understand Swedish Displacement Processes
Authors: Listerborn Carina , Baeten Guy
Published: May 2022

Research on displacement has a long trajectory in Western geography and urban studies. In a Swedish context theory formation around displacement re-emerged in the 2010s as a response to an increasingly heated housing market, increased gentrification and growing homelessness, and as a consequence of ‘renoviction’ processes. Learning from empirical research in Sweden, the Nordic experiences differ from the Anglo-American context, and set ground for a theoretical discussion on how to understand the specificities of displacement processes in (post-)welfare societies. In this chapter we investigate some Swedish manifestations of displacement that cannot easily be grasped by conceptual apparatuses often developed in an Anglo-American context. The process of displacement in a Swedish (and Nordic) context is often more indirect and slower but its eventual outcomes have the same damaging effects on its victims. The chapter provides both an historical and contemporary view of Swedish displacement processes and practices, and we argue that we cannot uncritically import a conceptual apparatus that grew out of other socio-spatial contexts and develop particular understandings of displacement based on Nordic empirical observations.
Translating Space: The Rise and Fall of Central Place Theory and Planning-Geography in Sweden
Authors: Wikman Pär , Mohall Marcus
Published: May 2022

This chapter explores the emergence and eventual decline of a distinctive kind of planning-oriented human geography in post-war Sweden and the closely related adaptation of Walter Christaller’s central place theory by geographers such as Torsten Hägerstrand and Sven Godlund. The rapidly expanding Swedish welfare state gave rise to a demand for skills and expertise of a kind many geographers were eager to provide, and Christaller’s abstract framework allowed them to position themselves as producers of socially useful knowledge. Eventually, however, several voices raised concerns about how the focus on planning and the dominance of reductive theories such as central place theory constrained the academic development of the discipline. The end of the expansive phase of the welfare state also decreased the demand for the expertise geographers had provided. In essence, the popularity of central place theory was tethered to a particular historical moment, and it only allowed for rather narrow analyses of socio-spatial relations. Nonetheless, the theory played a key role in the transformation of Swedish human geography into a modern social science, insofar as the comparatively novel understanding of space it provided contributed to the development of more complex and philosophical theories and approaches to geography.
Trends and Challenges in Nordic Gender Geography
Authors: Forsberg Gunnel , Stenbacka Susanne
Published: May 2022

The development of Nordic gender geography is closely related to societal transformation. The way the gendered labour market is structured and re-structured is a recurrent theme for investigation. In this chapter, we discuss Nordic gender geography since its establishment in the 1980s, with the aim of scrutinising long-term and contemporary trends and challenges. We discern an engagement in issues based on socio-spatial conditions, where agency, identity and intersectional perspectives work together with materiality, institutions and structures. Nordic gender geography thereby contributes with a contextual gender theory, emphasising space as both a designer and an interpreter of gender relations. Regional and local gender relations become a player in the structure-agency relationship, and we argue that socio-spatial gender theorising can modify the idea of universal and all-embracing theoretical explanation of how gender is constructed. Nordic gender geography constitutes a prevailing and growing potential for a significant contribution to gender theory and to socio-spatial analysis of power.
Challenges Facing the Philosophy of Education in the Twenty-First Century
Authors: Bagheri Noaparast Khosrow
Published: May 2022

New trends in the philosophy of education in the twenty-first century have sprung from their background in the twentieth century. This essay introduces the twentieth-century philosophies within Dewey’s early pragmatism and other “ism” movements as well as the educational revolution of analytic philosophy. The twenty-first century has introduced reactions (i.e., new pragmatism, post-structuralism, post-modernism, and constructivism), and each of these trends is shown to have provided a new horizon in philosophical thought on education. However, the new trends are also expected to have their own weaknesses. For instance, Rorty is too quick to reject scientific objectivity, Derrida undermines the roles of agents in favor of taking deconstruction as an event, post-modernists are too quick to reject generality in modern thought, and constructivists ignore the power of reality. Thus, educational thought could learn: from new pragmatism to resist naïve scientism but it should be alert not to ignore the real power of scientific thought; from post-structuralism to put educational structures under scrutiny in terms of educational justice but it should take the role of agents more seriously into account in moderating the power of structures; from post-modernism to be alert to local requirements for education but give similar weight to generality too; and finally from constructivism to embrace creativity in the classroom without replacing the discovery dimension of truth with it altogether.
New School Designs and Sustainable Development
Authors: Amann Beatriz
Published: May 2022

The twenty-first-century context of global transformation has had a direct consequence on educational goals and methods. Contemporary education has introduced a natural focus attending to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This involves an evolution of teaching methods and dynamics. Does the future of education require the transformation of school space designs? Can space positively accompany new school education? How can space design become an agent of change at this point? The objectives guiding this chapter seek to answer these questions and identify potential design criteria for a space design that would be able to reinforce contemporary pedagogical models. The study uses an inductive methodology that works with the criticism of the process as a specific analysis tool that analyzes the interactions among the systems included in the space ecosystem. Thus, interactions between contemporary educational models and interior design can be identified. This chapter shows space as a reactive factor within the pedagogical model. As the main finding, specific space design criteria capable of accompanying contemporary educational models based on sustainable development are additionally identified for new school designs.
Twenty-First-Century Teacher Competencies and Trends in Teacher Training
Authors: Gümüş Arife
Published: May 2022

In the context of digitalization, globalization, and internationalization, the twenty-first century has changed societies as well as their institutions and concepts, significantly affecting powerful communication technologies and the speed and forms of access to information. Being employable, coping with global competition, and having the appropriate equipment and skills for the professions of the future have become more important than ever in an information-intensive economic structure. The question of how education will function in adapting to the new work order and managing and categorizing knowledge has been important. Considering the success teachers have in achieving the purpose of education, what the skills of both the learner and the teacher should be in order to adapt to the rapidly changing world has become more important. Changing learning environments and styles, new student profiles, and transformations in social life and the business world are critical issues for the role of the teacher. This study discusses the skills teachers should have and tendencies toward teacher training within the scope of twenty-first-century standards. We make the following recommendations: having holistic goals for teachers’ pre-service, in-service, and professional development; providing opportunities for national and international mobility; promoting better salaries and working conditions; providing continuous professional development opportunities for teachers just starting their profession; lightening the curriculum while preserving wages; participating in guidance programs; facilitating access to resources; providing opportunities to systematically associate theory and practice; supporting consultation with colleagues; and encouraging the selection of mentors only from qualified and experienced specialist teachers in both in pre-service and in-service teacher training.
Scientific Paradigm Shifts and Curriculum: Experiences in the Transition to Social Constructivist Education in Turkey and Singapore
Authors: Ulukütük Mehmet
Published: May 2022

This chapter examines the relationship between changes in the scientific paradigm and curriculum after 2000 in Turkey and Singapore as case countries that experienced the transition to social constructivist education. This chapter explores the following questions: Can the traces of paradigm shifts be seen in the curricula? What was the education curriculum like in Turkey and Singapore before 2000? Have any changes occurred in the curricula in Turkey and Singapore after 2000? If any apparent changes have occurred in the curricula, how can they be explained through the relationship with the science-knowledge paradigm shift? After 2000, Singapore and Turkey were observed to have adopted the contextual and subjectivist paradigm, which changes based on idiosyncratic conditions, rather than the objectivist science-knowledge paradigm based on the positivist paradigm. Since 2000, Turkey has started to apply the constructivist paradigm in its education system after trying out various education approaches. Likewise, Singapore started to search for a new paradigm following its independence from England in 1959 and separation from Malesia in 1965. Even though the change in Turkey’s curriculum after the 2000s indicates positivism to be questioned, the realist ontology and objectivist approach to knowledge have apparently not been put behind. In the case of Singapore, the constructivism that had evolved over time emerged in the curriculum, not the relativist and anti-realist constructivism. Singapore’s success compared to Turkey’s is debatable; nevertheless, Singapore’s performance on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is noteworthy.
Current Trends in School Management: School Leadership in Education 4.0
Authors: Çetin Münevver , Karsantık İsmail
Published: May 2022

Meeting the needs of industrial development and reflecting the emerging demands onto the field of education has led to the emergence of Education 4.0 and initiated pedagogical, cultural, and managerial transformation in education in this direction. As a result of this transformation, macroscale structures and policies have been replaced by a microscale, web-oriented, local government paradigm. This section discusses current trends in education management and school leadership which are examined in the light of new education and management paradigms. In this direction, the shift in the education management paradigm, the sources of change, the role of school leaders in organizational development, the expected characteristics of school leaders in Education 4.0, and the use of the Internet of Things in education management and monitoring systems are addressed. In Education 4.0, the concepts of innovation management, digital literacy, productivity, collective participation in management and decisions, education communities, and capacity development are prominent in school leadership. This section emphasizes that strategic leaders who are able to adapt to the paradigm shift contribute and direct the formation of school culture and values. In this direction, the importance of organizing trainings for developing leadership skills and raising leaders who will help to restructure schools and shape cultural trends are underlined in the chapter. Emphasis is placed on the importance of raising leaders with technological skills who can use multi-channel communication strategies in school management.
The link between corporate sustainability and willingness to invest: new evidence from the field of ethical investments
Authors: Lingnau Volker , Fuchs Florian , Beham Florian
Published: May 2022

In recent decades, academia has addressed a wide range of research topics in the field of ethical decision-making. Besides a great amount of research on ethical consumption, also the domain of ethical investments increasingly moves in the focus of scholars. While in this area most research focuses on whether socially or environmentally sustainable businesses outperform traditional investments financially or investigates the character traits as well as other socio-demographic factors of ethical investors, the impact of sustainable corporate conduct on the investment intentions of private investors still requires further research. Hence, we conducted two studies to shed more light on this highly relevant topic. After discussing the current state of research, in our first empirical study, we explore whether besides the traditional triad of risk, return, and liquidity, also sustainability exerts a significant impact on the willingness to invest. As hypothesized, we find that sustainability shows a clear and decisive impact in addition to the traditional factors. In a consecutive study, we investigate deeper into the sustainability-willingness to invest link. Here, our results show that improved sustainability might not pay off in terms of investment attractiveness, however and conversely, it certainly harms to conduct business in a non-sustainable manner, which cannot even be compensated by an increased return.
The RTM harmonic correction revisited
Authors: Klees R. , Seitz K. , Slobbe D. C.
Published: May 2022

In this paper, we derive improved expressions for the harmonic correction to gravity and, for the first time, expressions for the harmonic correction to potential and height anomaly. They need to be applied at stations buried inside the masses to transform internal values into harmonically downward continued values, which are then input to local quasi-geoid modelling using least-squares collocation or least-squares techniques in combination with the remove-compute-restore approach. Harmonic corrections to potential and height anomaly were assumed to be negligible so far resulting in yet unknown quasi-geoid model errors. The improved expressions for the harmonic correction to gravity, and the new expressions for the harmonic correction to potential and height anomaly are used to quantify the approximation errors of the commonly used harmonic correction to gravity and to quantify the magnitude of the harmonic correction to potential and height anomaly. This is done for two test areas with different topographic regimes. One comprises parts of Norway and the North Atlantic where the presence of deep, long, and narrow fjords suggest extreme values for the harmonic correction to potential and height anomaly and corresponding large errors of the commonly used approximation of the harmonic correction to gravity. The other one is located in the Auvergne test area with a moderate topography comprising both flat and hilly areas and therefore may be representative for many areas around the world. For both test areas, two RTM surfaces with different smoothness are computed simulating the use of a medium-resolution and an ultra-high-resolution reference gravity field, respectively. We show that the errors of the commonly used harmonic correction to gravity may be as large as the harmonic correction itself and attain peak values in areas of strong topographic variations of about 100 mGal. Moreover, we show that this correction may introduce long-wavelength biases in the computed quasi-geoid model. Furthermore, we show that the harmonic correction to height anomaly can attain values on the order of a decimetre at some points. Overall, however, the harmonic correction to height anomaly needs to be applied only in areas of strong topographic variations. In flat or hilly areas, it is mostly smaller than one centimetre. Finally, we show that the harmonic corrections increase with increasing smoothness of the RTM surface, which suggests to use a RTM surface with a spatial resolution comparable to the finest scales which can be resolved by the data rather than depending on the resolution of the global geopotential model used to reduce the data.
Rigid, strained, and flexible: a DFT study of a backbone-affected monohydride formation of salen and salan complexes
Authors: Purgel Mihály
Published: May 2022

The monohydride formation of some palladium(II)-sulfosalen and sulfosalan catalysts was studied by DFT methods. The coordination of the hydrogen molecule to the metal center and the following heterolytic dissociation of the coordinated hydrogen could occur in a two-step or a concerted process resulting in a monohydride complex and having a protonated dissociated phenolate arm. The effect of the backbone frame of the ligands (the molecular unit between two nitrogen atoms) strongly determines the energetics and the type of the hydride formation. Rigid, strained, and flexible molecular structures were studied covering a wide range of planar and spherical types of backbones. Besides the previously studied Direct 1 and Direct 2 mechanisms, three other mechanisms of direct monohydride formation were found. Known and fictive structures were studied to predict kinetically and thermodynamically preferred pathways as well as complexes for this type of reaction.

Graphical Abstract
Preclinical investigations using [177Lu]Lu-Ibu-DAB-PSMA toward its clinical translation for radioligand therapy of prostate cancer
Authors: Tschan Viviane J. , Borgna Francesca , Busslinger Sarah D. , Stirn Martina , Rodriguez Josep M. Monné , Bernhardt Peter , Schibli Roger , Müller Cristina
Published: May 2022

[177Lu]Lu-Ibu-DAB-PSMA was previously characterized with moderate albumin-binding properties enabling high tumor accumulation but reasonably low retention in the blood. The aim of this study was to investigate [177Lu]Lu-Ibu-DAB-PSMA in preclinical in vivo experiments and compare its therapeutic efficacy and potential undesired side effects with those of [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 and the previously developed [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-ALB-56. BALB/c nude mice without tumors were investigated on Day 10 and 28 after injection of 10 MBq radioligand. It was revealed that most plasma parameters were in the same range for all groups of mice and histopathological examinations of healthy tissue did not show any alternations in treated mice as compared to untreated controls. Based on these results, a therapy study over twelve weeks was conducted with PC-3 PIP tumor-bearing mice for comparison of the radioligands’s therapeutic efficacy up to an activity of 10 MBq (1 nmol) per mouse. In agreement with the increased mean absorbed tumor dose, [177Lu]Lu-Ibu-DAB-PSMA (~ 6.6 Gy/MBq) was more effective to inhibit tumor growth than [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 (~ 4.5 Gy/MBq) and only moderately less potent than [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-ALB-56 (~ 8.1 Gy/MBq). As a result, the survival of mice treated with 2 MBq of an albumin-binding radioligand was significantly increased (p < 0.05) compared to that of mice injected with [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 or untreated controls. The majority of mice treated with 5 MBq or 10 MBq [177Lu]Lu-Ibu-DAB-PSMA or [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-ALB-56 were still alive at study end. Hemograms of immunocompetent mice injected with 30 MBq [177Lu]Lu-Ibu-DAB-PSMA or 30 MBq [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 showed values in the same range as untreated controls. This was, however, not the case for mice treated with [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-ALB-56 which revealed a drop in lymphocytes and hemoglobin at Day 10 and Day 28 after injection. The data of this study demonstrated a significant therapeutic advantage of [177Lu]Lu-Ibu-DAB-PSMA over [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 and a more favorable safety profile as compared to that of [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-ALB-56. Based on these results, [177Lu]Lu-Ibu-DAB-PSMA may has the potential for a clinical translation.
The effect of long calcar screws on the primary stability of 3-part, varus impacted proximal humeral fractures compared to short calcar screws: a real fracture simulation study
Authors: Ott Nadine , Hackl Michael , Prescher Andreas , Scaal Martin , Lanzerath Fabian , Müller Lars Peter , Wegmann Kilian
Published: May 2022

Background

Complex proximal humeral fracture ranks among the most common fracture types, especially in elderly patients. In locked plate fixation of proximal humerus fractures, the calcar is deciding for screws providing further medial column support. To date, the biomechanical effect of the length of these calcar screws is not well known. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of long calcar screws on fresh frozen prefractured cadaveric specimens.

Methods

In the present biomechanical study, 8 pairs of cadaveric proximal humeri were fractured identically using a custom-made fracture simulator. ORIF was performed using a locking plate (PHILOS; Fa. Synthes). The specimens were tested in a biomechanical setup under increased axial load without any calcar screws installed, with short calcar screws and long calcar screws installed. Strain gages (4-wire-120 Ohm, Fa. Vishay) mounted on the locking plate were used to evaluate the fixation strain and to give an estimate for primary stability..

Results

The measured strain of the locking plate without calcar screws (804,64 µm/m) at maximum load (200 N) was significantly higher than with short (619,07 µm/m; p = 0.02) or long calcar screws (527,31 µm/m; p = 0.007). Additionally, strain with short calcar screws was noticeably higher in comparison to long calcar screws (619,07 µm/m vs. 527,31 µm/m; p = 0.03).

Conclusion

Use of calcar screws improves the stability of realistically impacted 3-part varus humeral fractures. Long calcar screws that are positioned as close as possible to the joint provide further primary stability compared to short calcar screws.

Level of evidence

Basic science study.
Therapy of pyogenic liver abscess with a primarily unknown cause
Authors: Meister Phil , Irmer Hannes , Paul Andreas , Hoyer Dieter P.
Published: May 2022

Purpose

Pyogenic liver abscess (PLA) is a collection of pus in the liver, often without a known direct cause. There is discord on the best diagnostic and therapeutic strategy. We aimed to examine these questions in our patient cohort.

Methods

A total of 66 out of 309 patients with PLA at our tertiary referral center between 2012 and 2020 had a primarily unknown cause. We analyzed PLA configuration, comorbidities, and whether an underlying cause could be found later. Therapy was sorted by antibiotics alone, percutaneous drainage, and primary surgery. Success was assessed by a change of initial therapy, in-hospital mortality, and mean hospital stay.

Results

Overall mortality was 18%; in 55%, a causative condition could be found. CRP, GGT, size, and multiple localization go along with higher mortality. Antibiotics alone had a failure rate of 82%. Percutaneous drainage was successful in 70% of cases. Surgery was mainly reserved for failed previous non-surgical treatment and had in-hospital mortality of 12%.

Conclusions

PLA goes along with high mortality. In the majority of all patients, a causative condition can be identified by detailed diagnostics. Percutaneous drainage together with antibiotics is the therapy of choice and is successful in 70% of cases. If drainage is insufficient or impossible, surgery is an effective alternative.
A hybrid Genetic–Grey Wolf Optimization algorithm for optimizing Takagi–Sugeno–Kang fuzzy systems
Authors: Elghamrawy Sally M. , Hassanien Aboul Ella
Published: May 2022

Nature-inspired optimization techniques have been applied in various fields of study to solve optimization problems. Since designing a Fuzzy System (FS) can be considered one of the most complex optimization problems, many meta-heuristic optimizations have been developed to design FS structures. This paper aims to design a Takagi–Sugeno–Kang fuzzy Systems (TSK-FS) structure by generating the required fuzzy rules and selecting the most influential parameters for these rules. In this context, a new hybrid nature-inspired algorithm is proposed, namely Genetic–Grey Wolf Optimization (GGWO) algorithm, to optimize TSK-FSs. In GGWO, a hybridization of the genetic algorithm (GA) and the grey wolf optimizer (GWO) is applied to overcome the premature convergence and poor solution exploitation of the standard GWO. Using genetic crossover and mutation operators accelerates the exploration process and efficiently reaches the best solution (rule generation) within a reasonable time. The proposed GGWO is tested on several benchmark functions compared with other nature-inspired optimization algorithms. The result of simulations applied to the fuzzy control of nonlinear plants shows the superiority of GGWO in designing TSK-FSs with high accuracy compared with different optimization algorithms in terms of Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) and computational time.
Fist-Palm Test (FiPaT): a bedside motor tool to screen for global cognitive status
Authors: Cuoco Sofia , Erro Roberto , Carotenuto Immacolata , Picillo Marina , Pellecchia Maria Teresa , Barone Paolo
Published: May 2022

Objective

The Fist-Palm Test (FiPaT) is a novel non-verbal task to be used at the patient’s bedside for a cognitive functions screening. The aims of this study are to analyze (I) the qualitative and quantitative performance features at FiPaT, (II) the psychometric characteristics of FiPaT, and (III) the correlation between FiPat and traditional cognitive assessments in subjects with normal cognition (NC), Mild Cognitive Impairment-single domain (MCI-sd), and Mild Cognitive Impairment-multiple domain (MCI-md).

Methods

One hundred-thirteen subjects (53M/60F), with a mean age of 66.28 ± 7.22 years and 11.08 ± 4.93 years of education, were recruited and underwent a complete neuropsychological battery and FiPaT.

Results

We found 68 subjects with NC, 31 with MCI-sd, and 14 with MCI-md and a high reliability of the FiPaT (alpha =0.762). The number of FiPaT errors correlated with age and all neuropsychological tests, except for the memory recall test. Subjects with MCI had greater FiPaT errors than subjects with NC. The FiPaT, used with the MOCA test, predicted the presence of MCI, with a variance of 44%.

Conclusion

The FiPaT is an acceptable and reliable non-verbal test, able to screen for global cognitive status, attention, and executive functions, and to predict the MCI. Future studies will validate this initial findings as well as the discriminatory role of the FiPaT in detecting specific types of cognitive impairment.
The influence of UGT1A1 polymorphisms on modified FOLFIRINOX dose in double-variant-type patients with advanced pancreatic cancer
Authors: Satake Tomoyuki , Morizane Chigusa , Maruki Yuta , Ohba Akihiro , Nagashio Yoshikuni , Kondo Shunsuke , Hijioka Susumu , Ueno Hideki , Okusaka Takuji
Published: May 2022

Background

UGT1A1 polymorphisms should be considered when using irinotecan-containing regimens, especially in patients with a double-variant-type (DV), including homozygous for UGT1A1*28 and UGT1A1*6 and heterozygous for both UGT1A1*28 and UGT1A1*6. We investigated the safety and efficacy of modified FOLFIRINOX (mFOLFIRINOX) (irinotecan 80 mg/m2) in patients having DV.

Methods

Patients with advanced pancreatic cancer who had received FOLFIRINOX between January 2015 and December 2019 were included in this study. Non-DV patients received the standard mFOLFIRINOX (irinotecan 150 mg/m2) as first-line (non-DV1) or second-line therapy (non-DV2); however, DV patients received mFOLFIRINOX (irinotecan 80 mg/m2) as the second-line therapy (DV2). We retrospectively evaluated the safety and efficacy of the lowered irinotecan dose in the DV2 group relative to the non-DV1 (safety) or non-DV2 (safety and efficacy) groups.

Results

A total of 235 patients were eligible for this study with 118 patients in the non-DV1, 106 in the non-DV2, and 11 in the DV2 groups. Major grade 3–4 adverse events were neutropenia (33.9, 31.1, and 18.2%) and febrile neutropenia (6.8, 3.8, and 9.1%) in the non-DV1, non-DV2, and DV2 groups, respectively. The median progression-free survival was 3.4 months in the non-DV2 group, and 4.4 months in the DV2 group. The overall survival from the date of starting second-line chemotherapy was 8.8 months in the non-DV2 group and 11.5 months in the DV2 group.

Conclusions

Based on our findings, the safety and efficacy of mFOLFIRINOX (irinotecan 80 mg/m2) in DV patients were comparable with the standard mFOLFIRINOX (irinotecan 150 mg/m2) in non-DV patients.
Robotic oncologic colorectal surgery with a new robotic platform (CMR Versius): hope or hype? A preliminary experience from a full-robotic case-series
Authors: Huscher Cristiano , Marchegiani Francesco , Cobellis Francesco , Tejedor Patricia , Pastor Carlos , Lazzarin Gianni , Wheeler James , Di Saverio Salomone
Published: May 2022

Background

The present case-series describes the first full-robotic colorectal resections performed with the new CMR Versius platform (Cambridge Medical Robotics Surgical, 1 Evolution Business Park, Cambridge, United Kingdom) by an experienced robotic surgeon.

Methods

In a period between July 2020 and December 2020, patients aged 18 years or older, who were diagnosed with colorectal cancer and were fit for minimally invasive surgery, underwent robotic colorectal resection with CMR Versius robotic platform at “Casa di Cura Cobellis” in Vallo della Lucania,Salerno, Italy. Three right colectomies, 2 sigmoid colectomies and 1 anterior rectal resection were performed. All the procedures were planned as fully robotic. Surgical data were retrospectively reviewed from a prospectively collected database.

Results

Four patients were male and 2 patients were female with a median (range) age of 66 (47–72) years. One covering ileostomy was created. Full robotic splenic flexure mobilization was performed. No additional laparoscopic gestures or procedures were performed in this series except for clipping and stapling which were performed by the assistant surgeon due to the absence of robotic dedicated instruments. Two ileocolic anastomoses, planned as robotic-sewn, were performed extracorporeally. One Clavien–Dindo II complication occurred due to a postoperative blood transfusion. Median total operative time was 160 (145–294) min for right colectomies, 246 (191–300) min for sigmoid colectomies and 250 min for the anterior rectal resection.

Conclusions

The present series confirms the feasibility of full-robotic colorectal resections while highlighting the strengths and the limitations of the CMR Versius platform in colorectal surgery. New devices will need more clinical development to be comparable to the current standard.