bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mysticism: An Overview
Authors: Parsons William
Published: November 2019

The definition and meaning of mysticism have been the subject of debate for decades within academia. While in a colloquial sense its referent may be readily apparent, there is no one existing definition of the term that adequately captures the multiple, diverse phenomena that have been termed “mystical.” Genealogical studies reveal its origin in the Greek mystery religions (muo; mystikos), later taken up by the early Christian Fathers (mystical theology; mystical contemplation) to denote the effects of God’s presence as granted through grace and accessed through participation in a total religious matrix. Starting in the 17th century, one finds the beginning of the modern uses of the term as it became deracinated from a total religious matrix. In its new incarnation as a noun (la mystique), “mysticism” was utilized in the service of multiple academic methods designed to analyze religious phenomena. The implications of this trend were numerous: the democratization of mysticism, its rendering as an “experience” (e.g., William James’ pivotal analysis in The Varieties of Religious Experience), and its “modern” form as nontraditional or “unchurched” (e.g., the “spiritual but not religious movement”; “psycho-spiritualities”). In this latter sense, mysticism became linked to a cousin term, spirituality, which followed a parallel historical trajectory.

The Western origins of the term evoked consternation from comparativists who accept using “mysticism” as a “term of art” only after shearing it from its theological echoes and possible orientalist and colonialist uses, further qualifying it relative to similar terms (e.g., moksha, nirvana, fana) as they accrue specificity in their particular socio-historical and religious contexts. This new, modern rendering of the term also gave rise to additional, sometimes incommensurate academic adventures (e.g., historians, theologians, philosophers, and a wide range of social scientists) into the “what” of mysticism. Such investigations have had the advantage of obviating the idealizations that may blind one to the more problematic formulations and implications regarding, for example, gender, sexuality, and race that can be found in tradition-based forms of mysticism. In turn, they helped facilitate the move to nontraditional forms of spirituality and mysticism while ushering in a new series of debates that currently occupy the field.
Political Participation of Women in Chile through EVA Magazine, 1970–1973
Authors: Stella Toro María
Published: November 2019

Right-wing women in Chile have received relatively little historical attention, and while they have engaged in many public activities, they have usually been seen as a complementary political force, lacking independent agency and relying on directions from party leaders. This perception is related to the denials that such women usually make of their own impacts, justifying their presence in the public arena as an “obligation” to mobilize for the welfare of others, in this case, family and country. This sort of political engagement ebbs and flows according to particular political circumstances, evoking symbols, images, and discourses that have been used at different times. One example is the way that women took to banging on empty pots during the marches against the Popular Unity (Unidad Popular) to express their discontent and their inability to properly care for their families.

The triumph of the Popular Unity coalition in the 1970 elections, led by socialist Salvador Allende, was met with dogged opposition from conservative women who took to the streets even before Allende’s victory was ratified in Congress. Between 1970 and 1973, women involved with political parties and right-wing ideas mobilized both in the streets and in the media; as in the case of EVA magazine, organizing spaces were configured under the discourse that, as mothers and housewives, they were called to defend the country from Marxism, suggesting that women were “naturally” endowed to protect the freedom and democracy that they believed was threatened by a leftist government. Such activism, however, was rooted in a sense of emergency and was never intended to be long-lasting, and it ended abruptly after the 1973 military coup.

The actions of right-wing women raise various questions, particularly regarding the political subjectivities that they constructed, their motivations, their political conceptions, and their self-conceptions. These questions, among others, help us understand Chilean women beyond the traditional roles that they struggled so hard to preserve. The idea that their activism was solely a response to the manipulation of other political forces does not explain the complexity of the processes developed by conservative women or their presence in different historical moments. Thus, it is important to reflect on the inherently political characteristics of their engagement, notwithstanding their consistent denials of partisan considerations.
Morphology in Austronesian Languages
Authors: Levin Theodore , Polinsky Maria
Published: November 2019

This is an overview of the major morphological properties of Austronesian languages. We present and analyze data that may bear on the commonly discussed lexical-category neutrality of Austronesian and suggest that Austronesian languages do differentiate between core lexical categories. We address the difference between roots and stems showing that Austronesian roots are more abstract than roots traditionally discussed in morphology. Austronesian derivation and inflexion rely on suffixation and prefixation; some infixation is also attested. Austronesian languages make extensive use of reduplication. In the verbal system, main morphological exponents mark voice distinctions as well as causatives and applicatives. In the nominal domain, the main morphological exponents include case markers, classifiers, and possession markers. Overall, verbal morphology is richer in Austronesian languages than nominal morphology. We also present a short overview of empirically and theoretically challenging issues in Austronesian morphology: the status of infixes and circumfixes, the difference between affixes and clitics, and the morphosyntactic characterization of voice morphology.
Morphology in Dravidian Languages
Authors: Amritavalli R.
Published: November 2019

The Dravidian languages are rich in nominal and verbal morphology. Three nominal gender systems are extant. Pronouns are gender-number marked demonstratives. Gender-number agreement in the DP suggests an incipient classifier system. Oblique cases are layered on a genitive stem; iterative genitive and plural marking is seen. Genitive and dative case mark possession/ experience (there is no verb have), and the adjectival use of property nouns.

Verbs inflect for agreement (in affirmative finite clauses), aspect, causativity, and benefactivity/ reflexivity. Light verbs are ubiquitous as aspect markers and predicate formatives, as are serial verbs. Variants of the quotative verb serve as complementizers and as topic and evidential particles. Disjunctive particles serve as question particles; conjunctive and disjunctive particles on question words derive quantifiers. Reduplication occurs in quantification and anaphor-formation.
Morphology in Austroasiatic Languages
Authors: Alves Mark J.
Published: November 2019

The languages of the Austroasiatic (AA) language family share a core set of derivational prefixes and infixes that are largely fossilized. Beyond these, there is a wide range of morphological features throughout these more than 160 languages. Of the 13 branches of AA, there is a geographically central concentration of branches with predominantly isolating morphology (Khmeric, Monic, Vietic, and Pearic), while geographically peripheral branches have more complex morphology (Aslian and Khasic), and some with inflectional morphology (Munda and Nicobaric). Other branches are typologically between, largely lacking inflectional morphology (i.e., systematic, productive grammatical morphology) but having a somewhat more complex range of morphological features (Katuic, Bahnaric, Palaungic, Khmuic, and Mangic), including those with some grammatical functions. Other than Munda and Nicobaric, most AA languages have iambic word-level stress and have only prefixes and infixes while lacking suffixes. This has resulted in a collapsing of older morphological material, while new affixes, with new morphosemantic functions, emerge. Alternating reduplication, in which complete prosodic templates are copied but various segments are alternated, is a common word-formation strategy and sometimes combines with prefixes and affixes. While lexical compounds are common, so are pseudo-compounds with near affix-like semantic, and sometimes phonological, features. Overall, while monomorphemic words are common among the more isolating types of AA languages, ample linguistic descriptions show a substantially wider range of morphological complexity throughout the AA language family.
Learning and Using Morphology and Morphosyntax in a Second Language
Authors: Feldman Laurie Beth , Kroll Judith F.
Published: November 2019

We summarize findings from across a range of methods, including behavioral measures of overall processing speed and accuracy, electrophysiological indices that tap into the early time course of language processing, and neural measures using structural and functional imaging. We argue that traditional claims about rigid constraints on the ability of late bilinguals to exploit the meaning and form of the morphology and morphosyntax in a second language should be revised so as to move away from all or none command of structures motivated from strict dichotomies among linguistic categories of morphology. We describe how the dynamics of morphological processing in neither monolingual or bilingual speakers is easily characterized in terms of the potential to decompose words into their constituent morphemes and that morphosyntactic processing is not easily characterized in terms of categories of structures that are learnable and those that are unlearnable by bilingual and nonnative speakers. Instead, we emphasize the high degree of variability across individuals and plasticity within individuals in their ability to successfully learn and use even subtle aspects of a second language. Further, both of the bilingual’s two languages become active when even one language is engaged, and parallel activation has consequences that shape both languages, thus their influence is not in the unidirectional manner that was traditionally assumed. We briefly discuss the nature of possible constraints and directions for future research.
Democratic Policymaking and Community Hazards Management
Authors: Schneider Saundra
Published: November 2019

Disasters are significant events with enormous consequences for democratic political systems. As such, they provide important insights into how governmental institutions address hazardous situations. They also reveal the critical role that the media and politics play in this process. These themes are echoed in the general research on disasters, as well as in the accounts of hazardous events occurring in specific communities and locales. However, despite the wealth of scholarship conducted on this topic across a variety of disciplines, important questions remain about what role citizens play in this process, as well as the impact of governmental hazard management policies on broader democratic processes and societal conditions.
Workplace Emissions and Exposures During Semiconductor Nanowire Production, Post-production, and Maintenance Work
Authors: Isaxon Christina , Lovén Karin , Ludvigsson Linus , Sivakumar Sudhakar , Gudmundsson Anders , Messing Maria E , Pagels Joakim , Hedmer Maria
Published: November 2019

Background

Nanowires are a high-aspect-ratio material of increasing interest for a wide range of applications. A new and promising method to produce nanowires is by aerotaxy, where the wires are grown in a continuous stream of gas. The aerotaxy method can grow nanowires much faster than by more conventional methods. Nanowires have important properties in common with asbestos fibers, which indicate that there can be potential health effects if exposure occurs. No conclusive exposure (or emission) data from aerotaxy-production of nanowires has so far been published.

Methods

Different work tasks during semiconductor nanowire production, post-production, and maintenance were studied. A combination of direct-reading instruments for number concentration (0.007–20 µm) and filter sampling was used to assess the emissions (a couple of centimeter from the emission sources), the exposure in the personal breathing zone (max 30 cm from nose–mouth), and the concentrations in the background zone (at least 3 m from any emission source). The filters were analyzed for metal dust composition and number concentration of nanowires. Various surfaces were sampled for nanowire contamination.

Results

The particle concentrations in the emission zone (measured with direct-reading instruments) were elevated during cleaning of arc discharge, manual reactor cleaning, exchange of nanowire outflow filters, and sonication of substrates with nanowires. In the case of cleaning of the arc discharge and manual reactor cleaning, the emissions affected the concentrations in the personal breathing zone and were high enough to also affect the concentrations in the background. Filter analysis with electron microscopy could confirm the presence of nanowires in some of the air samples.

Conclusions

Our results show that a major part of the potential for exposure occurs not during the actual manufacturing, but during the cleaning and maintenance procedures. The exposures and emissions were evaluated pre- and post-upscaling the production and showed that some work tasks (e.g. exchange of nanowire outflow filters and sonication of substrates with nanowires) increased the emissions post-upscaling.
Seed coat development in explosively dispersed seeds of Cardamine hirsuta
Authors: Neumann Ulla , Hay Angela
Published: November 2019

Background and Aims

Seeds are dispersed by explosive coiling of the fruit valves in Cardamine hirsuta. This rapid coiling launches the small seeds on ballistic trajectories to spread over a 2 m radius around the parent plant. The seed surface interacts with both the coiling fruit valve during launch and subsequently with the air during flight. We aim to identify features of the seed surface that may contribute to these interactions by characterizing seed coat differentiation.

Methods

Differentiation of the outermost seed coat layers from the outer integuments of the ovule involves dramatic cellular changes that we characterize in detail at the light and electron microscopical level including immunofluorescence and immunogold labelling.

Key Results

We found that the two outer integument (oi) layers of the seed coat contributed differently to the topography of the seed surface in the explosively dispersed seeds of C. hirsuta vs. the related species Arabidopsis thaliana where seed dispersal is non-explosive. The surface of A. thaliana seeds is shaped by the columella and the anticlinal cell walls of the epidermal oi2 layer. In contrast, the surface of C. hirsuta seeds is shaped by a network of prominent ridges formed by the anticlinal walls of asymmetrically thickened cells of the sub-epidermal oi1 layer, especially at the seed margin. Both the oi2 and oi1 cell layers in C. hirsuta seeds are characterized by specialized, pectin-rich cell walls that are deposited asymmetrically in the cell.

Conclusions

The two outermost seed coat layers in C. hirsuta have distinct properties: the sub-epidermal oi1 layer determines the topography of the seed surface, while the epidermal oi2 layer accumulates mucilage. These properties are influenced by polar deposition of distinct pectin polysaccharides in the cell wall. Although the ridged seed surface formed by oi1 cell walls is associated with ballistic dispersal in C. hirsuta, it is not restricted to explosively dispersed seeds in the Brassicaceae.
SCGid: a consensus approach to contig filtering and genome prediction from single-cell sequencing libraries of uncultured eukaryotes
Authors: Amses Kevin R , Davis William J , James Timothy Y
Published: November 2019

Motivation

Whole-genome sequencing of uncultured eukaryotic genomes is complicated by difficulties in acquiring sufficient amounts of tissue. Single-cell genomics (SCG) by multiple displacement amplification provides a technical workaround, yielding whole-genome libraries which can be assembled de novo. Downsides of multiple displacement amplification include coverage biases and exacerbation of contamination. These factors affect assembly continuity and fidelity, complicating discrimination of genomes from contamination and noise by available tools. Uncultured eukaryotes and their relatives are often underrepresented in large sequence data repositories, further impairing identification and separation.

Results

We compare the ability of filtering approaches to remove contamination and resolve eukaryotic draft genomes from SCG metagenomes, finding significant variation in outcomes. To address these inconsistencies, we introduce a consensus approach that is codified in the SCGid software package. SCGid parallelly filters assemblies using different approaches, yielding three intermediate drafts from which consensus is drawn. Using genuine and mock SCG metagenomes, we show that our approach corrects for variation among draft genomes predicted by individual approaches and outperforms them in recapitulating published drafts in a fast and repeatable way, providing a useful alternative to available methods and manual curation.

Availability and implementation

The SCGid package is implemented in python and R. Source code is available at http://www.github.com/amsesk/SCGid under the GNU GPL 3.0 license.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
CRISPRitz: rapid, high-throughput and variant-aware in silico off-target site identification for CRISPR genome editing
Authors: Cancellieri Samuele , Canver Matthew C , Bombieri Nicola , Giugno Rosalba , Pinello Luca
Published: November 2019

Motivation

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) technologies allow for facile genomic modification in a site-specific manner. A key step in this process is the in silico design of single guide RNAs to efficiently and specifically target a site of interest. To this end, it is necessary to enumerate all potential off-target sites within a given genome that could be inadvertently altered by nuclease-mediated cleavage. Currently available software for this task is limited by computational efficiency, variant support or annotation, and assessment of the functional impact of potential off-target effects.

Results

To overcome these limitations, we have developed CRISPRitz, a suite of software tools to support the design and analysis of CRISPR/CRISPR-associated (Cas) experiments. Using efficient data structures combined with parallel computation, we offer a rapid, reliable, and exhaustive search mechanism to enumerate a comprehensive list of putative off-target sites. As proof-of-principle, we performed a head-to-head comparison with other available tools on several datasets. This analysis highlighted the unique features and superior computational performance of CRISPRitz including support for genomic searching with DNA/RNA bulges and mismatches of arbitrary size as specified by the user as well as consideration of genetic variants (variant-aware). In addition, graphical reports are offered for coding and non-coding regions that annotate the potential impact of putative off-target sites that lie within regions of functional genomic annotation (e.g. insulator and chromatin accessible sites from the ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements [ENCODE] project).

Availability and implementation

The software is freely available at: https://github.com/pinellolab/CRISPRitzhttps://github.com/InfOmics/CRISPRitz.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Identification of the potential biomarkers in patients with glioma: a weighted gene co-expression network analysis
Authors: Chen Ting-Yu , Liu Yang , Chen Liang , Luo Jie , Zhang Chao , Shen Xian-Feng
Published: November 2019

Glioma is the most common brain tumor with high mortality. However, there are still challenges for the timely and accurate diagnosis and effective treatment of the tumor. One hundred and twenty-one samples with grades II, III and IV from the Gene Expression Omnibus database were used to construct gene co-expression networks to identify hub modules closely related to glioma grade, and performed pathway enrichment analysis on genes from significant modules. In gene co-expression network constructed by 2345 differentially expressed genes from 121 gene expression profiles for glioma, we identified the black and blue modules that associated with grading. The module preservation analysis based on 118 samples indicates that the two modules were replicable. Enrichment analysis showed that the extracellular matrix genes were enriched for blue module, while cell division genes were enriched for black module. According to survival analysis, 21 hub genes were significantly up-regulated and one gene was significantly down-regulated. What’s more, IKBIP, SEC24D, and FAM46A are the genes with little attention among the 22 hub genes. In this study, IKBIP, SEC24D, and FAM46A related to glioma were mentioned for the first time to the current knowledge, which might provide a new idea for us to study the disease in the future. IKBIP, SEC24D and FAM46A among the 22 hub genes identified that are related to the malignancy degree of glioma might be used as new biomarkers to improve the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of glioma.
O50 DIAPHRAGMATIC HERNIA AFTER IVOR-LEWIS OESOPHAGECTOMY: ANALYSIS OF RISK FACTORS AND SURGICAL REPAIR RESULTS
Authors: Francesco Puccetti , Paolo Parise , Stefano De Pascale , Andrea Cossu , Raffaele Cerchione , Marco Palucci , Greta Olivari , Uberto Fumagalli Romario , Riccardo Rosati
Published: November 2019

Backgrounds and aim

oesophagectomy is the mainstay of curative treatment for oesophageal cancer and post-oesophagectomy diaphragmatic hernia (PODH) represents a potentially life-threatening complication with an underestimated occurrence rate and unclear related risk factors. Aim of this study was to identify possible risk factors of PODH and results of surgical treatment from experience of two tertiary referral centers.

Methods

all patients affected by a clinically resectable oesophageal cancer (any T, any N and M0) and submitted to Ivor-Lewis oesophagectomy, regardless of technique (open, hybrid or totally minimally invasive) between 1997 and 2017 at our Institutions were selected for this study. Demographic, clinical pre, intra, post-operative, and follow-up data were prospectively collected in an electronic database. A retrospective analysis was conducted in order to evaluate the incidence of PODH, associated risk factors and surgical repair results.

Results

414 patients underwent Ivor-Lewis oesophagectomy for cancer in the study period and 22 (5.3%) developed PODH at a median follow-up time of 16 months (6 - 177). Surgical repair was mainly conducted by laparoscopic approach (77%) with a conversion rate of 24%. Postoperative morbidity was 22.7% and mortality 4.5%. Median postoperative hospital stay was 6 days (2 - 95). 3 recurrences (13.6%) occurred at a median follow-up time of 10.1 months. A wide univariate analysis identified statistically significant associations between PODH occurrence and the administration of preoperative chemoradiation, a complete pathological response (CPR) and a harvested lymph-nodes number (HLN) larger than 33 (p-value 0.016, 0.001 and 0.024 respectively). A significant association with a large HLN number was confirmed by the multivariable analysis (0.026) along with CPR which could however be considered as a longer survival-related bias.

Conclusions

The minimally invasive surgery and the neoadjuvant chemoradiation, in contrast to results of other authors, in our experience are not associated with PODH development, while a HLN number larger than 33 resulted to be an independent risk factor, probably mirroring the extent of surgical demolition in oesophagectomy. Surgical repair can be safely and effectively performed trough laparoscopy but recurrences can frequently occur.
O83 THE COMPREHENSIVE COMPLICATION INDEX FOR QUALITY MONITORING OF ESOPHAGOGASTRIC CANCER SURGERY SHORT TITLE: BENCHMARKING HOSPITALS WITH CCI
Authors: van der Werf L R , Marang-van de Mheen P J , van Berge Henegouwen M I , Wijnhoven B P L
Published: November 2019

Introduction

Assessments of postoperative morbidity are crucial to monitor the quality of surgery. The Comprehensive Complication Index (CCI®) is a novel composite measure for the total burden of postoperative morbidity. This study aimed to calculate the CCI®◻for all hospitals participating in a nationwide audit and to compare the CCI® with existing quality indicators.

Method

For this nationwide observational study, data was retrieved from the Dutch Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Audit (DUCA). Patients with esophageogastric cancer who underwent an esophagectomy or gastrectomy between 2016 and 2018 were included. The main outcome was the median CCI® per hospital and the percentage of patients per hospital with (1) in the 75th percentile of CCI®, (2) with a complicated postoperative course (defined as any complication in combination with a hospital stay >21 days, reintervention or in-hospital/30-day mortality, and (3) with a Clavien Dindo Classification grade ≥III complication, all adjusted for differences in case-mix.

Results

In total, 2396 patients who underwent esophagectomy and 1373 patients who underwent gastrectomy were included. In the esophagectomy group, the median CCI® was 20.9 (interquartile range: 0.0-33.5) with at least one postoperative complication occurring in 1578 of 2396 patients (66%). In the gastrectomy group, the median CCI® was 0.0 (interquartile range: 0.0-20.9) and at least one postoperative complication occurring in 573 of 1373 patients (42%). The 75th percentile of CCI® outcome was strongly correlated with a complicated postoperative course on hospital level for both esophagectomies and gastrectomies but was not correlated with a Clavien Dindo Classification grade ≥III complication.

Conclusion

The CCI® can be applied in a national clinical audit to report outcomes. Hospital outcomes on the CCI® are strongly correlated with a complicated postoperative course.
Contribution of income and job strain to the association between education and cardiovascular disease in 1.6 million Danish employees
Authors: Framke Elisabeth , Sørensen Jeppe Karl , Andersen Per Kragh , Svane-Petersen Annemette Coop , Alexanderson Kristina , Bonde Jens Peter , Farrants Kristin , Flachs Esben Meulengracht , Hanson Linda L Magnusson , Nyberg Solja T , Villadsen Ebbe , Kivimäki Mika , Rugulies Reiner , Madsen Ida E H
Published: November 2019

Aims

We examined the extent to which associations between education and cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality are attributable to income and work stress.

Methods and results

We included all employed Danish residents aged 30–59 years in 2000. Cardiovascular disease morbidity analyses included 1 638 270 individuals, free of cardiometabolic disease (CVD or diabetes). Mortality analyses included 41 944 individuals with cardiometabolic disease. We assessed education and income annually from population registers and work stress, defined as job strain, with a job-exposure matrix. Outcomes were ascertained until 2014 from health registers and risk was estimated using Cox regression. During 10 957 399 (men) and 10 776 516 person-years (women), we identified 51 585 and 24 075 incident CVD cases, respectively. For men with low education, risk of CVD was 1.62 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.58–1.66] before and 1.46 (95% CI 1.42–1.50) after adjustment for income and job strain (25% reduction). In women, estimates were 1.66 (95% CI 1.61–1.72) and 1.53 (95% CI 1.47–1.58) (21% reduction). Of individuals with cardiometabolic disease, 1736 men (362 234 person-years) and 341 women (179 402 person-years) died from CVD. Education predicted CVD mortality in both sexes. Estimates were reduced with 54% (men) and 33% (women) after adjustment for income and job strain.

Conclusion

Low education predicted incident CVD in initially healthy individuals and CVD mortality in individuals with prevalent cardiometabolic disease. In men with cardiometabolic disease, income and job strain explained half of the higher CVD mortality in the low education group. In healthy men and in women regardless of cardiometabolic disease, these factors explained 21–33% of the higher CVD morbidity and mortality.
Statistical Regularity of Apollonian Gaskets
Authors: Zhang Xin
Published: November 2019

Apollonian gaskets are formed by repeatedly filling the gaps between three mutually tangent circles with further tangent circles. In this paper we give explicit formulas for the limiting pair correlation and the limiting nearest neighbor spacing of centers of circles from a fixed Apollonian gasket. These are corollaries of the convergence of moments that we prove. The input from ergodic theory is an extension of Mohammadi–Oh’s theorem on the equidisribution of expanding horospheres in the frame fundles of infinite volume hyperbolic spaces.
Antimicrobial stewardship in South Africa: a scoping review of the published literature
Authors: Chetty Sarentha , Reddy Millidhashni , Ramsamy Yogandree , Naidoo Anushka , Essack Sabiha
Published: November 2019

Objectives

To map published data of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) interventions that are currently being carried out in hospitals and clinics in the public and private health sectors of South Africa in line with the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) strategy of South Africa.

Methods

A systematic scoping review was conducted to identify AMS initiatives in the public and private health sectors of South Africa for the period 1 January 2000 to 31 March 2019. An electronic search of databases was made including PubMed, Scopus, a key medical journal (South African Medical Journal), University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) WorldCat iCatalogue and AMR networks: Federation of Infectious Diseases Societies in South Africa (FIDSSA). Reference lists of published articles were also reviewed for inclusion. Keywords included ‘antimicrobial antibiotic stewardship South Africa’.

Findings

Of a total of 411 articles, using a stepwise screening process, 18 articles were selected for inclusion in the review. The interventions/initiatives were divided into four broad categories: (i) AMS intervention: prescription audits and usage; (ii) AMS intervention: education and its impact; (iii) other AMS interventions; and (iv) the role of different healthcare professionals in AMS.

Conclusions

The data identifies a need for and the value of AMS in both the public and private health sectors of South Africa. Initiatives are carried out across both sectors but more attention needs to be focused on AMS implementation in line with the National AMR Strategy of South Africa. Collaboration between the different sectors will aid in overcoming the AMR challenge.
Abbreviated Breast MRI for Estimating Extent of Disease in Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer
Authors: Lee-Felker Stephanie , Joines Melissa , Storer Lindsey , Li Bo , DeBruhl Nanette , Sayre James , Hoyt Anne
Published: November 2019

Objective

To evaluate extent of disease estimation of abbreviated protocol (ap) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compared with full protocol (fp) MRI in newly diagnosed breast cancer.

Methods

In this institutional review board–approved, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act–compliant, retrospective study of women with breast cancer who underwent pretreatment fpMRI on a 3 Tesla MRI in 2013, axial fat-saturated pre- and first postcontrast T1, maximum-intensity projection, and subtraction sequences were interpreted independently by three breast radiologists in two sessions, without and with prior imaging, respectively. Agreement was calculated using Cohen’s kappa. Interpretations were compared with histology or clinical stability. Diagnostic performances were compared using Bennett’s statistic. P < 0.05 was significant.

Results

Eighty-one women (mean age 56 years, range 32–92 years), 116 lesions, and 95 cancers (mean size 27 mm, range 4–110 mm) were included. Agreement among radiologists for lesion assessment was excellent (0.83). apMRI cancer detection improved with prior imaging (mean sensitivity from 95% to 99%, specificity from 91% to 97%, positive predictive value [PPV] from 92% to 98%, and negative predictive value [NPV] from 95% to 99%) versus fpMRI (sensitivity 98% [93/95], specificity 94% [76/81], PPV 95% [93/98], and NPV 97% [76/78]). apMRI detected all multifocal, multicentric, and contralateral disease seen in 19% (15/81) of women to the same extent as fpMRI. apMRI axillary metastases detection improved with prior imaging (mean sensitivity from 78% to 86%, specificity from 90% to 92%, PPV from 76% to 82%, and NPV from 89% to 94%) versus fpMRI (sensitivity 71% [17/24], specificity 88% [51/58]), PPV 71% [17/24], and NPV 88% [51/58]).

Conclusion

apMRI may be acceptable for women with newly diagnosed cancer.
Multiplanet disc interactions in binary systems
Authors: Franchini Alessia , Martin Rebecca G , Lubow Stephen H
Published: November 2019

We investigate the evolution of a multiplanet–disc system orbiting one component of a binary star system. The planet–disc system is initially coplanar but misaligned to the binary orbital plane. The planets are assumed to be giants that open gaps in the disc. We first study the role of the disc in shaping the mutual evolution of the two planets using a secular model for low initial tilt. In general, we find that the planets and the disc do not remain coplanar, in agreement with previous work on the single planet case. Instead, the planets and the disc undergo tilt oscillations. A high-mass disc between the two planets causes the planets and the disc to nodally precess at the same average rate but they are generally misaligned. The amplitude of the tilt oscillations between the planets is larger while the disc is present. We then consider higher initial tilts using hydrodynamical simulations and explore the possibility of the formation of eccentric Kozai–Lidov (KL) planets. We find that the inner planet’s orbit undergoes eccentricity growth for a large range of disc masses and initial misalignments. For a low disc mass and large initial misalignment, both planets and the disc can undergo KL oscillations. Furthermore, we find that sufficiently massive discs can cause the inner planet to increase its inclination beyond 90° and therefore to orbit the binary in a retrograde fashion. The results have important implications for the explanation of very eccentric planets and retrograde planets observed in multiplanet systems.
The PAU Survey: background light estimation with deep learning techniques
Authors: Cabayol-Garcia L , Eriksen M , Alarcón A , Amara A , Carretero J , Casas R , Castander F J , Fernández E , García-Bellido J , Gaztanaga E , Hoekstra H , Miquel R , Neissner C , Padilla C , Sánchez E , Serrano S , Sevilla-Noarbe I , Siudek M , Tallada P , Tortorelli L
Published: November 2019

In any imaging survey, measuring accurately the astronomical background light is crucial to obtain good photometry. This paper introduces BKGnet, a deep neural network to predict the background and its associated error. BKGnet has been developed for data from the Physics of the Accelerating Universe Survey (PAUS), an imaging survey using a 40 narrow-band filter camera (PAUCam). The images obtained with PAUCam are affected by scattered light: an optical effect consisting of light multiply reflected that deposits energy in specific detector regions affecting the science measurements. Fortunately, scattered light is not a random effect, but it can be predicted and corrected for. We have found that BKGnet background predictions are very robust to distorting effects, while still being statistically accurate. On average, the use of BKGnet improves the photometric flux measurements by $7{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ and up to $20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ at the bright end. BKGnet also removes a systematic trend in the background error estimation with magnitude in the i band that is present with the current PAU data management method. With BKGnet, we reduce the photometric redshift outlier rate by $35{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ for the best $20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ galaxies selected with a photometric quality parameter.
First on-sky demonstration of an integrated-photonic nulling interferometer: the GLINT instrument
Authors: Norris Barnaby R M , Cvetojevic Nick , Lagadec Tiphaine , Jovanovic Nemanja , Gross Simon , Arriola Alexander , Gretzinger Thomas , Martinod Marc-Antoine , Guyon Olivier , Lozi Julien , Withford Michael J , Lawrence Jon S , Tuthill Peter
Published: November 2019

The characterization of exoplanets is critical to understanding planet diversity and formation, their atmospheric composition, and the potential for life. This endeavour is greatly enhanced when light from the planet can be spatially separated from that of the host star. One potential method is nulling interferometry, where the contaminating starlight is removed via destructive interference. The GLINT instrument is a photonic nulling interferometer with novel capabilities that has now been demonstrated in on-sky testing. The instrument fragments the telescope pupil into sub-apertures that are injected into waveguides within a single-mode photonic chip. Here, all requisite beam splitting, routing, and recombination are performed using integrated photonic components. We describe the design, construction, and laboratory testing of our GLINT pathfinder instrument. We then demonstrate the efficacy of this method on sky at the Subaru Telescope, achieving a null-depth precision on sky of ∼10−4 and successfully determining the angular diameter of stars (via their null-depth measurements) to milliarcsecond accuracy. A statistical method for analysing such data is described, along with an outline of the next steps required to deploy this technique for cutting-edge science.
Optimizing galaxy samples for clustering measurements in photometric surveys
Authors: Tanoglidis Dimitrios , Chang Chihway , Frieman Joshua
Published: November 2019

When analysing galaxy clustering in multiband imaging surveys, there is a trade-off between selecting the largest galaxy samples (to minimize the shot noise) and selecting samples with the best photometric redshift (photo-z) precision, which generally includes only a small subset of galaxies. In this paper, we systematically explore this trade-off. Our analysis is targeted towards the third-year data of the Dark Energy Survey (DES), but our methods hold generally for other data sets. Using a simple Gaussian model for the redshift uncertainties, we carry out a Fisher matrix forecast for cosmological constraints from angular clustering in the redshift range z = 0.2–0.95. We quantify the cosmological constraints using a figure of merit (FoM) that measures the combined constraints on Ωm and σ8 in the context of Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmology. We find that the trade-off between sample size and photo-z precision is sensitive to (1) whether cross-correlations between redshift bins are included or not, and (2) the ratio of the redshift bin width δz to the photo-z precision σz. When cross-correlations are included and the redshift bin width is allowed to vary, the highest FoM is achieved when δz ∼ σz. We find that for the typical case of 5−10 redshift bins, optimal results are reached when we use larger, less precise photo-z samples, provided that we include cross-correlations. For samples with higher σz, the overlap between redshift bins is larger, leading to higher cross-correlation amplitudes. This leads to the self-calibration of the photo-z parameters and therefore tighter cosmological constraints. These results can be used to help guide galaxy sample selection for clustering analysis in ongoing and future photometric surveys.
PDCT-18 (LTBK-03). PHASE I CLINICAL TRIAL WITH ONCOLYTIC VIRUS DNX-2401 FOR DIPGS
Authors: Iñigo-Marco Ignacio , Díez-Valle Ricardo , Garcia-Moure Marc , Patiño-García Ana , González Huarriz Marisol , Jones Chris , Gomez-Manzano Candelaria , Fueyo Juan , Alonso Marta M , Tejada Sonia
Published: November 2019

Delta-24-RGD (DNX-2401 in the clinic) has been tested for adult glioblastoma presenting a safe profile and promising efficacy. Our group has showed that the virus is safe and effective in preclinical models of pHGG and DIPG. Moreover, we showed that the virus is able to trigger an antitumor immune response. These results allowed us to propel a phase I clinical trial for newly diagnosed DIPGs (NCT03178032) where the patients received an intratumoral injection of DNX-2401 (N=12). Tumor biopsy is performed through the cerebellar peduncle, followed by virus injection using a cannula that prevents the reflux. The trial is uncontrolled, unicentric with a 3 + 3 design. The objective of this trial is to determine the safety, tolerability, and toxicity of DNX-2401 in subjects with DIPG. Secondary endpoints are overall survival at 12 months (OS12), percentage of responses and induced immune response against tumor. To date 9 patients have been treated within the trial. Three patients were treated with the D1=1x1010vp and because the lack of toxicity we escalated to the D2= 5x1010vp. The procedure was well tolerated and safe. Patients were home 3–4 days after the injection. All the patients displayed a reduced tumor volume after combined treatment. We performed molecular studies in 8 out of the 9 patients (RNAseq and a thermofisher pediatric panel). Subsequently we evaluated the immune cell composition in the tumor using multiplexed quantitative immunofluorescence on the biopsies pre-virus injection. T cells were hardly noticeable in these tumors while macrophages were abundant. Using a multiplexed TCR-sequencing mRNA-based assay to analyze 18 available paired pre- and post-treatment samples from the trial, we detected increased clonal T cell diversity following treatment with virus. In addition, we are assessing the existence of pre and post treatment neutralizing antibodies and its relationship with survival. Finally, we have performed functional studies using 2 cell lines isolated from patients included in this trials and confronting them with T-cells isolated from peripheral blood of the same patients before and after the treatment with the virus. Information acquired within this clinical study would aid to understand the response of DIPGs to viral therapies and therefore to better tailor this strategy to improve the survival of pediatric brain tumors.
After Nf1 loss in Schwann cells, inflammation drives neurofibroma formation
Authors: Fletcher Jonathan S , Pundavela Jay , Ratner Nancy
Published: November 2019

Plexiform neurofibromas (PNF) are peripheral nerve tumors caused by bi-allelic loss of NF1 in the Schwann cell (SC) lineage. PNF are common in individuals with Neurofibromatosis type I (NF1) and can cause significant patient morbidity, spurring research into potential therapies. Immune cells are rare in peripheral nerve, whereas in PNF 30% of the cells are monocytes/macrophages. Mast cells, T cells, and dendritic cells (DCs) are also present. NF1 mutant neurofibroma SCs with elevated Ras-GTP signaling resemble injury-induced repair SCs, in producing growth factors and cytokines not normally present in SCs. This provides a cytokine-rich environment facilitating PNF immune cell recruitment and fibrosis. We propose a model based on genetic and pharmacologic evidence in which, after loss of Nf1 in the SC lineage, a lag occurs. Then, mast cells and macrophages are recruited to nerve. Later, T cell/DC recruitment through CXCL10/CXCR3 drives neurofibroma initiation and sustains PNF macrophages and tumor growth. Stat3 signaling is an additional critical mediator of neurofibroma initiation, cytokine production, and PNF growth. At each stage of PNF development therapeutic benefit should be achievable through pharmacologic modulation of leukocyte recruitment and function.
Thermal emission from the amorphous dust: An alternative possibility of the origin of the anomalous microwave emission
Authors: Nashimoto Masashi , Hattori Makoto , Génova-Santos Ricardo , Poidevin Frédérick
Published: November 2019

Complete studies of the radiative processes of thermal emission from the amorphous dust from microwave through far-infrared wavebands are presented by taking into account, self-consistently for the first time, the standard two-level systems (TLS) model of amorphous materials. The observed spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for the Perseus molecular cloud (MC) and W 43 from microwave through far-infrared are fitted with the SEDs calculated with the TLS model of amorphous silicate. We have found that the model SEDs reproduce the observed properties of the anomalous microwave emission (AME) well. The present result suggests an alternative interpretation for the AME being carried by the resonance emission of the TLS of amorphous materials without introducing new species. Simultaneous fitting of the intensity and polarization SEDs for the Perseus MC and W 43 are also performed. The amorphous model reproduces the overall observed feature of the intensity and polarization SEDs of the Perseus MC and W 43. However, the model’s predicted polarization fraction of the AME is slightly higher than the QUIJOTE upper limits in several frequency bands. A possible improvement of our model to resolve this problem is proposed. Our model predicts that interstellar dust is amorphous materials with very different physical characteristics compared with terrestrial amorphous materials.
Confronting an Emergency: The Vaccination Campaign Against Meningitis in Brazil (1974–1975)
Authors: Baylac-Paouly Baptiste
Published: November 2019

On the basis of a wide range of historical sources, including published scientific literature and both public and private archives (Institut Mérieux, WHO and IMTSSA), this article examines the history of the Brazilian vaccination campaign against cerebrospinal meningitis between 1974 and 1975. It explores not only certain aspects of vaccine production but also the wider social aspects of the ongoing project. Thus, it shows how the different actors were mobilised and their work coordinated in order to produce and vaccinate a whole country or more specifically, 90 million Brazilians in less than a year. This episode not only adds to the scholarship on the politics of vaccination but also attests to the complex reality of the production and use of a vaccine in the context of a public health emergency.
Estimating hotspots using a Gaussian mixture model from large-scale taxi GPS trace data
Authors: Tang Jin-jun , Hu Jin , Wang Yi-wei , Huang He-lai , Wang Yin-hai
Published: November 2019

The data collected from taxi vehicles using the global positioning system (GPS) traces provides abundant temporal-spatial information, as well as information on the activity of drivers. Using taxi vehicles as mobile sensors in road networks to collect traffic information is an important emerging approach in efforts to relieve congestion. In this paper, we present a hybrid model for estimating driving paths using a density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) algorithm and a Gaussian mixture model (GMM). The first step in our approach is to extract the locations from pick-up and drop-off records (PDR) in taxi GPS equipment. Second, the locations are classified into different clusters using DBSCAN. Two parameters (density threshold and radius) are optimized using real trace data recorded from 1100 drivers. A GMM is also utilized to estimate a significant number of locations; the parameters of the GMM are optimized using an expectation-maximum (EM) likelihood algorithm. Finally, applications are used to test the effectiveness of the proposed model. In these applications, locations distributed in two regions (a residential district and a railway station) are clustered and estimated automatically.