bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms of telomere maintenance and associated therapeutic vulnerabilities in malignant gliomas
Authors: Waitkus Matthew S , Erman Elise N , Reitman Zachary J , Ashley David M
Published: January 2024

A majority of cancers (~85%) activate the enzyme telomerase to maintain telomere length over multiple rounds of cellular division. Telomerase-negative cancers activate a distinct, telomerase-independent mechanism of telomere maintenance termed alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT). ALT uses homologous recombination to maintain telomere length and exhibits features of break-induced DNA replication. In malignant gliomas, the activation of either telomerase or ALT is nearly ubiquitous in pediatric and adult tumors, and the frequency with which these distinct telomere maintenance mechanisms (TMMs) is activated varies according to genetically defined glioma subtypes. In this review, we summarize the current state of the field of TMMs and their relevance to glioma biology and therapy. We review the genetic alterations and molecular mechanisms leading to telomerase activation or ALT induction in pediatric and adult gliomas. With this background, we review emerging evidence on strategies for targeting TMMs for glioma therapy. Finally, we comment on critical gaps and issues for moving the field forward to translate our improved understanding of glioma telomere maintenance into better therapeutic strategies for patients.
Glioblastoma and radiotherapy: A multicenter AI study for Survival Predictions from MRI (GRASP study)
Authors: Chelliah Alysha , Wood David A , Canas Liane S , Shuaib Haris , Currie Stuart , Fatania Kavi , Frood Russell , Rowland-Hill Chris , Thust Stefanie , Wastling Stephen J , Tenant Sean , McBain Catherine , Foweraker Karen , Williams Matthew , Wang Qiquan , Roman Andrei , Dragos Carmen , MacDonald Mark , Lau Yue Hui , Linares Christian A , Bassiouny Ahmed , Luis Aysha , Young Thomas , Brock Juliet , Chandy Edward , Beaumont Erica , Lam Tai-Chung , Welsh Liam , Lewis Joanne , Mathew Ryan , Kerfoot Eric , Brown Richard , Beasley Daniel , Glendenning Jennifer , Brazil Lucy , Swampillai Angela , Ashkan Keyoumars , Ourselin Sébastien , Modat Marc , Booth Thomas C
Published: January 2024

Background

The aim was to predict survival of glioblastoma at 8 months after radiotherapy (a period allowing for completing a typical course of adjuvant temozolomide), by applying deep learning to the first brain MRI after radiotherapy completion.

Methods

Retrospective and prospective data were collected from 206 consecutive glioblastoma, isocitrate dehydrogenase -wildtype patients diagnosed between March 2014 and February 2022 across 11 UK centers. Models were trained on 158 retrospective patients from 3 centers. Holdout test sets were retrospective (n = 19; internal validation), and prospective (n = 29; external validation from 8 distinct centers). Neural network branches for T2-weighted and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted inputs were concatenated to predict survival. A nonimaging branch (demographics/MGMT/treatment data) was also combined with the imaging model. We investigated the influence of individual MR sequences; nonimaging features; and weighted dense blocks pretrained for abnormality detection.

Results

The imaging model outperformed the nonimaging model in all test sets (area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve, AUC P = .038) and performed similarly to a combined imaging/nonimaging model (P > .05). Imaging, nonimaging, and combined models applied to amalgamated test sets gave AUCs of 0.93, 0.79, and 0.91. Initializing the imaging model with pretrained weights from 10 000s of brain MRIs improved performance considerably (amalgamated test sets without pretraining 0.64; P = .003).

Conclusions

A deep learning model using MRI images after radiotherapy reliably and accurately determined survival of glioblastoma. The model serves as a prognostic biomarker identifying patients who will not survive beyond a typical course of adjuvant temozolomide, thereby stratifying patients into those who might require early second-line or clinical trial treatment.
Comparative Student Movements in South Africa
Authors: Mangcu Xolela , Heffernan Anne K.
Published: January 2024

The emergence of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) in the 1960s led to a nationwide process of consciousness-raising in apartheid South Africa. It also fostered a long-standing political and philosophical discourse about how exactly the movement could bring about a democratic society. Competing political parties and organizations debated about violent versus nonviolent methods, and about the benefits and risks of collaborating with White anti-apartheid activists. This ideological conflict continued through the violent protests of the 1970s and 1980s, which claimed the life of BCM and South African Students Organization (SASO) founder Steven Biko, among others; through the formal democratic transition in the 1990s; and into the age of social media in the twenty-first century, when activists used BCM-inflected rhetoric to challenge a majority-Black government in the #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall protests. Author Xolela Mangcu provides firsthand narratives of the early days of the movement (particularly in the introductory section) in which he was directly involved. Mangcu also analyzes the political activities from the perspectives of social movement theorists such as Sidney Tarrow. Coauthor Anne Heffernan adds historiographical context to each of the major phases of the student movement in South Africa, with both providing separate reflections in the concluding sections.
Methodological Diversity and Collective Intelligence
Authors: Page Scott E.
Published: January 2024

This chapter covers how diverse models, methodologies, purposes, and perspectives can contribute to a more collectively intelligent political science. Collective intelligence exists when the discipline includes ensembles of research that outperform individual research efforts and when the discipline exhibits emergent functionalities. These functionalities include breadth and depth of understanding, out of sample predictability, and conceptual robustness. Diverse models, methods, purposes, and perspectives are necessary for collective intelligence, but diversity alone is not sufficient. Each of many diverse research efforts can be of high quality without the pieces being superadditive. For collective intelligence to arise, the diversity must either be assembled or arise from selective pressures that promote coherence as well as individual success. How does one measure the efficacy of political science? Each research effort must be of high quality but evaluating research in isolation ignores how those pieces fit together.
EMDR with Children and Adolescents
Authors: Beer Renée , de Roos Carlijn , Schubert Sarah J.
Published: January 2024

This chapter introduces the section of this Handbook that is devoted to EMDR therapy with children and adolescents, starting with a synopsis of the accompanying chapters in this section. The chapter itself explains the context of working with this target-group, sketches the current state of empirical evidence for the efficacy of EMDR therapy for this group, and explicates some challenges lying ahead in the EMDR child and adolescent field. The chapter incorporates information about the potential impact of trauma for this population and clarifies why adaptations are necessary for attuning EMDR therapy to the needs of the child in relevant contexts, such as developmental phases and systemic contexts. The collective information provided in this section aims to illuminate our appeal that for therapists who want to treat children utilizing EMDR therapy, EMDR child and adolescent training is an essential foundation.
Adaptation to Discontinuous Nonroutine Events
Authors: Waller Mary J. , Salvador Rommel , Sutcliffe Kathleen M.
Published: January 2024

Existing research suggests that when faced with discontinuous nonroutine events, individuals often perceive threat and typically respond to this threat with rigid, well-learned, dominant responses. In this chapter, the authors draw on work from two extant literatures to suggest that discontinuous nonroutine events actually generate not one single perceived threat, but instead the dual threats of control threat and meaning threat; further, the authors suggest that fear mediates the relationship between these perceived threats and subsequent adaptive and maladaptive responses. The authors discuss the implications of their dual-threat model for existing and future work on fear, sensemaking, and adaptation in organizations.
Lawmaking in the Conservative Movement
Authors: Kwall Roberta Rosenthal
Published: January 2024

This chapter outlines the lawmaking structure of Conservative Judaism with a focus on the movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, the primary body providing lawmaking guidance for Jews worldwide. It illustrates more specifically how Conservative Judaism’s distinct theological and lawmaking approach can impact its legal rulings by examining two representative decisions, both responding to significant changes in the lived reality of Jews. The first decision, issued in 1950, permitted driving to synagogue and a limited use of electricity on Shabbat. The second decision, written in 2020 during the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, concluded that it is permissible to stream services on Shabbat and other holy days subject to certain parameters. The chapter concludes by advocating for an approach that focuses on a norms-based ritual practice, even if such practice does not conform to a strict application of Jewish law. Given the composition of the movement, this approach represents the best future direction for a transmissible Conservative Judaism in light of today’s political and social realities.
Borges’s Self-Figuration Process in the Late Fiction (1970–1983)
Authors: Fishburn Evelyn
Published: January 2024

Jorge Luis Borges was a notoriously shy individual in life yet paradoxically he inscribed himself prominently in his writings. The focus of this chapter is on the late fiction, an underrepresented corpus in traditional Borges studies, and its aim is to examine how the author’s need to depend on others to take down stories which he dictated from memory affected his literary persona. Its originality lies in the investigation’s approach which does not rely on known biographical accounts but on what has been coined as “biographemes”, meaning snippets of biographical information linked to the author without intending to be a complete portrayal. Mostly, these biographemes are transposed clues that are purposely and misleadingly disguised, such as opaque references to his illustrious ancestors, to other writers, or to fictional characters. An underlying concern is whether and the extent to which this self-figuration is authentic or is itself a subterfuge to mask greater unknowable complexities. The collections examined are El informe de Brodie [Doctor Brodie's Report] (1970) which relates tales of rivalry, violence, and bravado while El libro de arena [The Book of Sand] (1975) is thematically varied and includes “Ulrikke,” the only love story told from the female perspective, as well as “El congreso” [The Congress], described by the author as his most autobiographical story. La memoria de Shakespeare [Shakespeare's Memory] (1983) focuses on the complex relationship between life and its recollection seen from the shadow of death.
Technology and Economic and Social Rights
Authors: Land Molly K. , Barry Jack J.
Published: January 2024

Although the effects of new technologies on human rights have received considerable attention in recent years, this attention has focused nearly exclusively on civil and political rights. However, the problems that technologies pose are neither new nor limited to freedom of expression and privacy. Economic and social rights have been affected in profound ways by decades of experimentation with technological innovations. Using analytical tools from both human rights and science and technology studies, this chapter articulates a human rights-based approach to analyzing the effects of technology, and it applies that approach to historical and current examples of innovation deployed in the context of economic and social rights. The chapter argues that despite the promise that these innovations hold, their use has tended to divert resources away from system-level reforms and the social determinants of rights. This shift will only become more pronounced and less amenable to democratic control and accountability as states deploy new technologies such as artificial intelligence in meeting their obligations with respect to economic and social rights.
Sustaining Culture and Heritage in Kiribati
Authors: Kotarba-Morley Ania , Thomas Frank , Morley Mike W.
Published: January 2024

Sea level rise (SLR) and coastal inundation leave many heritage sites and places of cultural significance at risk of degradation, disconnection, and destruction. The potential loss of cultural heritage faced by Small Island Developing States in the Pacific requires immediate action. This chapter focuses on a case study from the remote Pacific archipelagos of Kiribati, located in the central Pacific Ocean. This Micronesian nation of thirty-three islands (thirty-two atolls and table reefs and one higher island, Banaba) has been subject to radical landscape change in recent years and will be severely affected by climate change in the very near future, potentially rendering it uninhabitable. Climate change has had the most tangible and significant impact on Pacific Island nations because SLR rapidly reduces the land mass of low-lying islands and contaminates freshwater reserves with saltwater intrusion. Scientists predict that most of the 112,000 inhabitants of Kiribati are likely to need relocation by 2050 when their home islands—continuously occupied for at least 2,000 years—will no longer be a viable habitat. De-rooting an entire nation and displacing it to a new geographic and cultural location due to climate change would be unprecedented. Archaeologists, historians, heritage experts, and Indigenous custodians of the land all need to be part of such a transition process early on to ensure the sustainability of cultural heritage and to address resettlement and humanitarian concerns. To assist in developing sustainable methods for preserving it for future generations, this chapter provides an overview of the threatened cultural heritage (both tangible and intangible) of Kiribati.
Islamism in Republican Turkey
Authors: Dalacoura Katerina
Published: January 2024

The chapter discusses Islamism in republican Turkey and assesses its future in Turkey’s current social and political context. It argues that, if Islamism is understood as a political ideology that seeks to restructure the political process and, through it, to reform society according to Islamic principles, Islamism has been and will remain a movement of important but limited political appeal in republican Turkey. On the basis of this narrow definition, the chapter analyzes two strands of Islamism, the nationalist variety associated with Milli Görüş (National Outlook) and the ‘renewalist’ variety seeking to reform Islam through a re-reading of its foundational texts. Strands from conservative parties merged with elements of nationalist Islamism to constitute the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party), which has been in power in Turkey since 2002. Ultimately, Turkish Islamism may have opposed the republic, but it was also, inevitably, a product of its sociopolitical and legal context.
The Trajectory of Illiberal Backlash
Authors: Garrido Marco
Published: January 2024

This chapter traces the trajectory of illiberal backlash in the Philippines. Conceptually, it emphasizes the work of time in the formation of an illiberal disposition. It espouses an historically embedded explanation of illiberalism centered on the question of “why now?” rather than simply “why?” and accounts for dynamics such as sequence, buildup, and contingency. Empirically, it roots the Philippines’ illiberal turn in the serial failures of actually existing liberal democracy. Repeated failure has given rise to calls for “disciplining” democracy. Rodrigo Duterte was seen as a “strong leader” and the answer to such calls, hence his enormous popularity. Over the course of his administration, Filipinos have developed a taste for illiberal rule. The concluding section looks beyond this trajectory to examine another aspect of illiberal backlash: class power. Here I argue that the election of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos III was partly driven by anti-elitist sentiment, and that, in general, attending to class dynamics can help us appreciate illiberalism’s counterhegemonic aspect.
Policing Assemblies and the Use of Force
Authors: Casey-Maslen Stuart
Published: January 2024

The chapter addresses the standards and constraints that international law imposes on police use of force in connection with assemblies. Force may only be used when it is reasonably necessary in the circumstances and must not be disproportionate to the threat posed, for instance, by a violent individual during an assembly. Only weapons duly authorized for use may be deployed and each use of force must be justified and justifiable. Firearms may never be used to disperse an assembly. If private actors are involved in the policing of assemblies, the State remains responsible under international human rights law for abuses that may occur.
Assembly, Pluralism, and Identity
Authors: Inazu John
Published: January 2024

The right of assembly is often viewed as a protection for expressive events like protests and demonstrations. Its scope, however, extends well beyond the gathering itself to the group that precedes the gathering. In fact, Article 20(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes a singular ‘right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association’. This chapter argues that the connection between assembly and association is crucial to establishing the importance of assembly to pluralism and identity. It also criticizes US constitutional law for obscuring this connection. Protections for groups in the United States fall under a largely undeveloped right of association; meanwhile, protests are governed almost exclusively by free speech law. But severing the expressive gathering from the group that precedes the gathering ignores the interconnectedness between gathering and group, particularly when it comes to notions of pluralism and identity. While current US law sees gatherings principally as speech and groups principally as associations, a more robust understanding of gathering and group suggests that both properly fall within the right of assembly.
The Definition of Peaceful Assembly
Authors: Shany Yuval
Published: January 2024

This chapter focuses on the manner in which two international human rights bodies have recently defined the term ‘peaceful assembly’ and thus the scope of protection afforded by the right to peacefully assembly. These are the Human Rights Committee, which dedicated a recent general comment—General Comment No. 37 (2020)—to the right to peaceful assembly, and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE/ODIHR) and European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), which published an update to its Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly in 2019. It will survey and analyze the positions adopted by the Human Rights Committee and ODIHR/Venice Commission on key aspects of the definition of the term ‘peaceful assembly’, and discuss the implications of the interpretative choices made by the Committee and ODIHR/Venice Commission, as far as they concern the scope of protection afforded to the right to peaceful assembly. The chapter starts by considering the relationship between the associative, expressive, and participatory components of the right to peaceful assembly, and moves on to describe specific interpretative choices relating to the purposeful gathering requirement, as well as specific issues relating to online assemblies and conditions for ‘peacefulness’.
Neo-Roman Liberty
Authors: Skinner Quentin
Published: January 2024

To speak of neo-Roman liberty is to refer to the claim that the concept of liberty needs to be contrasted with independence rather than with restraint, and thus with asking what counts as arbitrary power rather than what counts as interference. The first section outlines the classic statement of the neo-Roman view of freedom and slavery presented in the Digest of Roman law. Section 2 examines neo-Roman claims about dependence and enslavement, focusing on arguments about the plight of women and the colonized. Section 3 considers the attack on neo-Romanism that began to be widely mounted in the era of revolution at the end of the eighteenth century, when the contention that liberty consists simply in the absence of restraint first came to be generally accepted. The chapter concludes with a defence of neo-Roman liberty against the objections that continue to be raised against it.
Roman Republicanism
Authors: Atkins Jed W.
Published: January 2024

This chapter explores Roman republicanism as a tradition of thought which views the res publica (republic) as the central unit of political life. This tradition emerges as thinkers such as Polybius, Sallust, Cicero, Livy, and Tacitus defend the sovereignty of the republic as the fundamental realm of political life against philosophical and ethical commitments that would devalue it. In articulating the case for the res publica and defending it against internal and external threats, whether from strains of thought within philosophical schools such as Epicureanism and Stoicism or from internal corruption, Roman ‘republican’ thinkers offered influential and often contrasting accounts of concepts such as the purpose of the res publica; the mixed constitution; freedom as non-domination; deliberative rhetoric as means of decision-making; republican virtues; and reflections on patriotism, empire, and just wars.
Dutch Republicanism
Authors: Weststeijn Arthur
Published: January 2024

This chapter discusses the development of republican practices and theories in the Dutch Republic from its rise in the 1580s to its demise around 1800. Focusing on the writings of, among others, Hugo Grotius, Pieter de la Court, and Baruch Spinoza, the chapter discusses the tensions between aristocratic and democratic interpretations of local autonomy, shared government, and collective forms of citizen rule. It relates how a commercial conception of republican citizenship resulted in a positive assessment of the amalgamation between self-interest and the common good. Analyzing the paradox between the propagation of republican liberty at home and the institution of chattel slavery abroad, the chapter shows how the rationalization of the Dutch domestic order went hand in hand with the rationalization of imperial rule. As a confederal republican polity that developed into a colonial empire, the case of the Dutch Republic reveals the intricate relationship between republicanism and empire.
English Republicanism
Authors: Hammersley Rachel
Published: January 2024

This chapter explores what can be gained from examining English republicanism over the longue durée from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. It sets out the key principles of seventeenth-century English republicanism—government in the common good, a commitment to liberty, and popular sovereignty. It then identifies various issues that were matters of debate, including the form of government, virtue, and religion. Having set out the elements of seventeenth-century English republicanism, the chapter considers how these ideas were deployed and developed over the following two centuries. Ultimately, it presents an account of English republicanism as multifaceted rather than unified, emphasizing that debates frequently occurred between its leading advocates. At the same time, the chapter argues that there was a considerable degree of continuity over time in terms of both the key principles that were upheld and the matters of contention.
French Republicanism
Authors: Fontana Biancamaria
Published: January 2024

Today France’s image is so strongly associated with her republican identity that it is easy to forget how in 1792 the country became a republic more by accident than by design. In 1789 most revolutionaries aimed at transforming France’s millennial monarchy into a constitutional regime; however, unforeseen circumstantial factors led to the liquidation of royalty and the establishment of a republican government. While they agreed on some basic principles—abolition of hereditary privileges, equality of rights, and sovereignty of the people—the revolutionaries held rather distant conceptions of the new republic: for some it must be founded upon wide democratic participation and social justice; for others it should be bourgeois, liberal, and based on property. In practice the resulting governments were often a compromise between these two approaches; however ideologically they remained radically opposed. Over two centuries and four republics later, the controversy over the true nature of the French Republic has not been settled and continues to inform contemporary political debates.
Republican Freedom in Choice, Person, and Society
Authors: Pettit Philip
Published: January 2024

By a characteristically republican account, a person is free in the exercise of a choice to the extent that no one else has the power, even the unexercised power, of interfering in that choice. The account makes good analytical sense, as rival accounts may also do, but its appeal primarily consists in its rich implications for the freedom of persons and the society as a whole. If people are to be equally free in this sense—if they are to enjoy equal freedom as non-domination—then the law must identify the basic liberties or choices of each and provide each with security against the domination of others in the exercise of those choices; by a traditional metric, it must enable citizens to be free persons, able to look one another in the eye without reason for fear of deference. But if they and their society are to count as free, republican freedom must also guard citizens against domination by those who make and impose law. Those in power must be constrained to make public decisions under a system of electoral and other controls that are sustained or applied by ordinary citizens, rather than enjoying discretionary or arbitrary power; intuitively, they must rule on the people’s terms.
What Can Quantitative and Formal Models Teach Us about Transitional Justice
Authors: Ang Milena , Nalepa Monika
Published: January 2024

This chapter provides an overview of using formal and quantitative models in the study of transitional justice. It focuses on lustration as a transitional justice mechanism that screens political elites for secret participation or collaboration with the ancien regime. We argue that formal models allow us to examine the consistency of theoretical mechanisms, while quantitative models offer the ability to test these mechanisms, and to warrant generalizations. The chapter also discusses the limitations associated with using either the formal or the quantitative approach alone, as well as the criticisms concerning the Empirical Implications of Theoretical Models (EITM) research program.
Right to Life
Authors: Hsu Jimmy Chia-Shin
Published: January 2024

This chapter examines the right to life in East and Southeast Asia. It discusses three issues: capital punishment, the right to life of the unborn, and euthanasia. The chapter contends that the development of the right to life can be divided into two generations. In the first generation, the right to life is typically part and parcel of a constitutional due process clause. In the second generation, which emerged after the Second World War, the right to life is an entrenched free-standing right. Further, the early second generation allows capital punishment as an exception to the right to life, while the late second generation abolishes the exception. With respect to Asia, the chapter argues that the first and early second generations are the mainstay. On abortion, religious traditions matter. While countries in the Confucian cultural sphere are more permissive of abortion, countries with strong Islamic and Catholic influence are more restrictive. Lastly, active euthanasia and assisted suicide remain illegal in all East and Southeast Asian countries, while passive euthanasia is conditionally allowed in some.
Bodily Diversity and the Right to Bodily Integrity
Authors: O’Brien Wendy
Published: January 2024

Variations in sex characteristics are a naturally occurring part of the broader diversity of human biology and a powerful reminder that biological sex is a spectrum of variety that is falsely constructed as dimorphic. In the absence of broader community knowledge about naturally occurring variations in human biology, individuals with intersex traits are at risk of being characterized as troubling departures from the normative expectation that sexed bodies be either male or female. Individuals with bodily characteristics that exceed the dichotomous classifications on which both the medical and legal professions rely are regularly subjected to hyper-regulation in the form of unnecessary and harmful medical interventions including surgery and other acts of violence and exclusion. In the context of increasing recognition, internationally, of the harms of discrimination on the grounds of sex characteristics, this chapter identifies the importance of legal recognition and legal protections for persons with variations in sex characteristics.
Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Sexual Orientation in the Context of the Inter-American Human Rights System
Authors: Gutiérrez Castillo Victor Luis
Published: January 2024

The non-discrimination principle does not have a strict definition in the inter-American system. This category was included by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights within the term ‘any other social condition’ and so it was protected by the Inter-American Convention. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has repeatedly stated that the principle of nondiscrimination is one of the pillars of any democratic system and that it is one of the fundamental bases of the human rights protection system installed by the Organization of American States. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has adopted many decisions on sexual orientation discrimination. This chapter analyses the role of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in upholding and protecting this principle. The chapter describes the evolution of key jurisprudence in this area over the past decade within the inter-American human rights system.
Italy
Authors: Chiussi Curzi Ludovica , Tanzi Attila
Published: January 2024

The essence of Italy’s approach to international law is dominated by ‘moderation’. The soul of the country in the matter can be distilled in three elements: moderate openness of its domestic legal order to international law; moderate stands in multilateral forums; a prolific academic community informed by temperate positions and by a moderate involvement in international practice. The chapter first unravels the permeability of the Italian legal system to international rules, as emerges from the post-World War II Constitution. It then singles out shadows of domestic legal protectionism, with special regard to the Italian judiciary. Italy’s compromising attitude in multilateral forums will also be highlighted, alongside some of the distinguishing features of Italian scholarship. The chapter concludes by emphasizing how, despite the frequent turnovers in government, moderation has allowed elements of continuity in the country’s stance on international law.
Ukraine
Authors: Gnatovskyy Mykola
Published: January 2024

The chapter on Ukraine, written amidst Russia’s full-scale war of aggression and territorial conquest waged against this country, seeks to provide elements for defining Ukraine’s place on the international law map of Europe. As references to history, or rather Russia’s own version of it, have been extensively relied on by Russia to deny Ukraine the right of sovereign existence, the chapter offers an overview of various stages of historical development of Ukraine’s international legal personality, from the beginnings of its statehood until the transformation of the atypical international legal personality of the Ukrainian SSR, a constituent part of the Soviet Union and simultaneously a founding member of the United Nations, into a fully sovereign State. It also highlights some of the key features of Ukraine’s international legal practice and broadly describes the development of the country’s own scholarship of the field.
Schools as Cultural Reproduction Devices
Authors: Fong Frankie T. K. , Erut Alejandro , Legare Cristine H.
Published: January 2024

A prevailing view of education is that schools are designed to teach academic content knowledge. Schools are thus predominantly studied in the context of content mastery and rarely from a cultural evolutionary perspective. The authors propose that schools should be studied as devices of cultural reproduction that foster cultural contact, transmission, and change, where children acquire specific cultural adaptations (e.g., learning a lingua franca) to be reproduced to fulfil particular cultural and ecological demands. They use historical examples to illustrate how schools support cultural stability and how they serve as the point of contact to deliver content. They discuss how schools contribute to cultural reproductions of knowledge and skills as well as values and identities. Finally, the authors raise important questions about the suitability of most traditional schools in satisfying current global changes and cultural demands.
Changing Dynamics of Untouchability
Authors: Waghmore Suryakant
Published: January 2024

This chapter argues that the traditional forms and ideas of untouchability are under severe duress due to migration, urbanization, protective-preventive and compensatory legal measures and more importantly due to assertion and activism of ex-untouchable castes. Paradoxically withering of the caste system and eradication of untouchability is accompanied with increased violence against untouchables in rural areas and newer forms of exclusion of untouchables in urban areas. Despite limitations, urban India promises better possibilities of dignity and equality for ex-untouchables.
Dalit Movements in India
Authors: Gorringe Hugo , Damodaran Karthikeyan
Published: January 2024

This chapter focuses on Dalit mobilisation across India. Following a recent directive from the BJP government against using ‘Dalit’ in official communication, it begins by discussing the meaning and history of the term ‘Dalit’. It then explores the history of anti-caste protest and looks at more contemporary developments and debates. Against accounts of a ‘harmonious’ past, we detail pre-colonial proto-movements, examine the role of Dalit movements in debates around Independence, and then bring readers up to date with contemporary mobilisations. We conclude by engaging with claims that Dalits are engaged in ‘reverse-casteism’, and highlight the continued need for movements against caste for social justice.
Caste and the Diaspora
Authors: Modi Radha
Published: January 2024

The significance of caste within the South Asian diaspora continues to be a contested issue. The ongoing debate and inquiry point to a fundamental question in caste scholarship. Can the caste system endure outside of the South Asian subcontinent? If caste does endure, what are the mechanisms of that reproduction? This chapter answers both questions by exploring multiple factors such as the type of migration (indentured or free), caste status at the time of migration, quality and continuity of networks in both sending and receiving countries, immigration policies in host countries, family unification and structure, religious practices, intercaste relations, and caste discrimination. I conclude that caste continues to be a significant social organizing tool for South Asian diasporic communities and it has a meaningful impact on important life outcomes.
Genomic analysis reveals phylogeny of Zygophyllales and mechanism for water retention of a succulent xerophyte
Authors: Ma Qing , Liu Hai-Shuang , Li Hu-Jun , Bai Wan-Peng , Gao Qi-Fei , Wu Sheng-Dan , Yin Xiu-Xia , Chen Qin-Qin , Shi Ya-Qi , Gao Tian-Ge , Bao Ai-Ke , Yin Hong-Ju , Li Li , Rowland Owen , Hepworth Shelley R , Luan Sheng , Wang Suo-Min
Published: January 2024

Revealing the genetic basis for stress-resistant traits in extremophile plants will yield important information for crop improvement. Zygophyllum xanthoxylum, an extant species of the ancient Mediterranean, is a succulent xerophyte that can maintain a favorable water status under desert habitats; however, the genetic basis of this adaptive trait is poorly understood. Furthermore, the phylogenetic position of Zygophyllales, to which Z. xanthoxylum belongs, remains controversial. In this study, we sequenced and assembled the chromosome-level genome of Z. xanthoxylum. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Zygophyllales and Myrtales form a separated taxon as a sister to the clade comprising fabids and malvids, clarifying the phylogenetic position of Zygophyllales at whole-genome scale. Analysis of genomic and transcriptomic data revealed multiple critical mechanisms underlying the efficient osmotic adjustment using Na+ and K+ as “cheap" osmolytes that Z. xanthoxylum has evolved through the expansion and synchronized expression of genes encoding key transporters/channels and their regulators involved in Na+/K+ uptake, transport, and compartmentation. It is worth noting that ZxCNGC1;1 (cyclic nucleotide-gated channels) and ZxCNGC1;2 constituted a previously undiscovered energy-saving pathway for Na+ uptake. Meanwhile, the core genes involved in biosynthesis of cuticular wax also featured an expansion and upregulated expression, contributing to the water retention capacity of Z. xanthoxylum under desert environments. Overall, these findings boost the understanding of evolutionary relationships of eudicots, illustrate the unique water retention mechanism in the succulent xerophyte that is distinct from glycophyte, and thus provide valuable genetic resources for the improvement of stress tolerance in crops and insights into the remediation of sodic lands.
Marriage Market and Labour Market Sorting
Authors: Calvo Paula , Lindenlaub Ilse , Reynoso Ana
Published: January 2024

We develop a new equilibrium model in which households’ labour supply choices form the link between sorting on the marriage market and sorting on the labour market. We first show that in theory, the nature of home production—whether partners’ hours are complements or substitutes—shapes equilibrium labour supply as well as marriage and labour market sorting. We then estimate our model using German data to empirically assess the nature of home production, and find that spouses’ home hours are complements. We investigate to what extent complementarity in home hours drives sorting and inequality. We find that home production complementarity strengthens positive marriage sorting and reduces the gender gap in hours and in labour sorting. This puts significant downward pressure on the gender wage gap and on within-household income inequality, but fuels between-household inequality. Our estimated model sheds new light on the sources of inequality in today’s Germany, and—by identifying important shifts in home production technology toward more complementarity—on the evolution of inequality over time.
Integrated bioinformatics analysis identifies a Ferroptosis-related gene signature as prognosis model and potential therapeutic target of bladder cancer
Authors: Liu Zonglai , Du Dan , Zhang Shizhong
Published: January 2024

Background

Bladder cancer (BLCA) is one of the most prevalent cancers worldwide. Ferroptosis is a newly discovered form of non-apoptotic cell death that plays an important role in tumors. However, the prognostic value of ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs) in BLCA has not yet been well studied.

Method and materials

In this study, we performed consensus clustering based on FRGS and categorized BLCA patients into 2 clusters (C1 and C2). Immune cell infiltration score and immune score for each sample were computed using the CIBERSORT and ESTIMATE methods. Functional annotation of differentially expressed genes were performed by Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis. Protein expression validation were confirmed in Human Protein Atlas. Gene expression validation were performed by qPCR in human bladder cancer cell lines lysis samples.

Result

C2 had a significant survival advantage and higher immune infiltration levels than C1. Additionally, C2 showed substantially higher expression levels of immune checkpoint markers than C1. According to the Cox and LASSO regression analyses, a novel ferroptosis-related prognostic signature was developed to predict the prognosis of BLCA effectively. High-risk and low-risk groups were divided according to risk scores. Kaplan–Meier survival analyses showed that the high-risk group had a shorter overall survival than the low-risk group throughout the cohort. Furthermore, a nomogram combining risk score and clinical features was developed. Finally, SLC39A7 was identified as a potential target in bladder cancer.

Discussion

In conclusion, we identified two ferroptosis-clusters with different prognoses using consensus clustering in BLCA. We also developed a ferroptosis-related prognostic signature and nomogram, which could indicate the outcome.
The benefits of woody plant stem photosynthesis extend to hydraulic function and drought survival in Parkinsonia florida
Authors: Ávila-Lovera Eleinis , Haro Roxana , Choudhary Manika , Acosta-Rangel Aleyda , Pratt R Brandon , Santiago Louis S
Published: January 2024

As climate change exacerbates drought stress in many parts of the world, understanding plant physiological mechanisms for drought survival is critical to predicting ecosystem responses. Stem net photosynthesis, which is common in arid environments, may be a drought survival trait, but whether the additional carbon fixed by stems contributes to plant hydraulic function and drought survival in arid land plants is untested. We conducted a stem light-exclusion experiment on saplings of a widespread North American desert tree species, Parkinsonia florida L., and after shading acclimation, we then subjected half of the plants to a drought treatment to test the interaction between light exclusion and water limitation on growth, leaf and stem photosynthetic gas exchange, xylem embolism assessed with micro-computed tomography and gravimetric techniques, and survival. Growth, stem photosynthetic gas exchange, hydraulic function and survival all showed expected reductions in response to light exclusion. However, stem photosynthesis mitigated the drought-induced reductions in gas exchange, xylem embolism (percent loss of conductivity, PLC) and mortality. The highest mortality was in the combined light exclusion and drought treatment, and was related to stem PLC and native sapwood-specific hydraulic conductivity. This research highlights the integration of carbon economy and water transport. Our results show that additional carbon income by photosynthetic stems has an important role in the growth and survival of a widespread desert tree species during drought. This shift in function under conditions of increasing stress underscores the importance of considering stem photosynthesis for predicting drought-induced mortality not only for the additional supply of carbon, but also for its extended benefits for hydraulic function.
Morphological change and genome-wide transcript analysis of Haloxylon ammodendron leaf development reveals morphological characteristics and genes associated with the different C3 and C4 photosynthetic metabolic pathways
Authors: Zhang Lingling , Peng Jieying , Zhang Anna , Zhang Sheng
Published: January 2024

C4 photosynthesis outperforms C3 photosynthesis in natural ecosystems by maintaining a high photosynthetic rate and affording higher water-use and nitrogen-use efficiencies. C4 plants can survive in environments with poor living conditions, such as high temperatures and arid regions, and will be crucial to ecological and agricultural security in the face of global climate change in the future. However, the genetic architecture of C4 photosynthesis remains largely unclear, especially the genetic regulation of C4 Kranz anatomy. Haloxylon ammodendron is an important afforestation tree species and a valuable C4 wood plant in the desert region. The unique characteristic of H. ammodendron is that, during the seedling stage, it utilizes C3 photosynthesis, while in mature assimilating shoots (maAS), it switches to the C4 pathway. This makes an exceptional opportunity for studying the development of the C4 Kranz anatomy and metabolic pathways within individual plants (identical genome). To provide broader insight into the regulation of Kranz anatomy and non-Kranz leaves of the C4 plant H. ammodendron, carbon isotope values, anatomical sections and transcriptome analyses were used to better understand the molecular and cellular processes related to the development of C4 Kranz anatomy. This study revealed that H. ammodendron conducts C3 in the cotyledon before it switches to C4 in AS. However, the switching requires a developmental process. Stable carbon isotope discrimination measurements on three different developmental stages showed that young AS have a C3-like δ13C even though C4 Kranz anatomy is found, which is inconsistent with the anatomical findings. A C4-like δ13C can be measured in AS until they are mature. The expression analysis of C4 key genes also showed that the maAS exhibited higher expression than the young AS. In addition, many genes that may be related to the development of Kranz anatomy were screened. Comparison of gene expression patterns with respect to anatomy during leaf ontogeny provided insight into the genetic features of Kranz anatomy. This study helps with our understanding of the development of Kranz anatomy and provides future directions for studies on key C4 regulatory genes.