bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ballet Gone Wrong
Authors: Stanger Arabella
Published: April 2021

This chapter explores the work of Scottish choreographer Michael Clark: his vexed relationship with British ballet and the mythologization of his work as ballet “gone wrong.” Problematizing this wrongness, the chapter makes three claims about Clark’s practice as a queer dissident classicism. First, a discursive construction of his work as perverted ballet is traced in the conservative, homophobic 1980s and 1990s British dance press and viewed through a Foucauldian historicization of “abnormality” as a normative technology for the fabrication of social-sexual deviance. Second, Clark’s “corruption” of classical form is positioned as a practice that expertly excavates ballet’s already mutated life in certain pedagogies of classical twistedness. Finally, Clark’s dissident classicism is understood to be couched in forms of cultural agility and risk-taking underwritten by whiteness and founded in his consecration by those very institutions from which his work is reputed to deviate.
Mauro Bigonzetti
Authors: Farrugia-Kriel Kathrina
Published: April 2021

In 1990, Mauro Bigonzetti choreographed his first ballet, Sei in Movimento (Six in Motion), for Aterballetto, a pioneering ballet company set up in 1979 in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. Over the course of the 1990s, an emergent, multifaceted choreographic identity began to evolve in his work, entwining the cultural and historical influences that inhabited the creative spaces of Aterballetto in Reggio Emilia. The chapter identifies the (dis)placed stylistic heritage that emerges from Bigonzetti’s choreography, including his reimagining of Bronislava Nijinska’s Les Noces (1923). This chapter articulates Bigonzetti’s artistic contributions throughout the end of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries within the context of Italian contemporary ballet.
Consequentialism as an Intergenerational Ethic
Authors: Mulgan Tim
Published: April 2021

Consequentialist morality is about making the world a better place—by promoting value and producing valuable outcomes. Consequentialist ethics competes with non-consequentialist alternatives where values are to be honored or instantiated rather than promoted and/or where morality is based on rules, virtues, or rights rather than values. Consequentialism’s main rivals in intergenerational ethics are contract-based theories. This chapter first argues that consequentialism has significant comparative advantages over its contract-based rivals, especially in relation to non-identity, the absence of reciprocity, and the need for flexibility and radical critique. These advantages outweigh the challenges facing any consequentialist intergenerational ethics—including cluelessness, counterintuitive demands, and puzzles of aggregation. The chapter then explores many varieties of contemporary consequentialism, arguing that the best consequentialist approach to intergenerational justice is agnostic, moderate, collective consequentialism. Different possible futures—including futures broken by climate change or transformed by new technologies—present new ethical challenges that consequentialism has the flexibility to address. Collective consequentialism can also resolve long-standing debates about the aggregation of well-being. The chapter ends by asking how consequentialist intergenerational ethics might evaluate threats of human extinction, incorporate the value of nonhuman nature, and motivate its potentially extreme demands.
Reparation as Intergenerational Justice
Authors: Thompson Janna
Published: April 2021

Most accounts of reparation for historical injustices fail to explain why the inequalities they cause are not merely a reason for redistribution among existing individuals. Two models present reparation as a requirement of intergenerational justice. The first claims that reparation should be made to the dead victims by awarding it to their descendants. The second appeals to an intergenerational social contract based on lifetime-transcending interests of individuals. These accounts can be strengthened by taking into account the obligations and entitlements that individuals acquire by being born into an intergenerational society. Relationships in such groups give rise to both forward- and backward-looking obligations with no temporal boundaries.
Internal Review Systems and Administrative Justice
Authors: Mullen Tom
Published: April 2021

Internal review is a process whereby an administrative organization reconsiders its own decisions. The rationales typically offered for internal review are that it provides a means of challenging administrative decisions which is more accessible, quicker, and more cost-effective than external remedies such as appeals to tribunal and judicial review, and encourages improvement in the quality of initial decision-making in public administration. This chapter reviews the use made of internal review and evaluates the performance of several existing systems of internal review, concluding that they have failed to deliver the benefits claimed for them. Possible reasons for this failure are discussed and suggestions made as to what is required for internal review systems to achieve the aims to providing effective remedies for bad decisions and to contributing to improving initial decision-making.
The Necessity of Performance Measures for Prosecutors
Authors: Eisen Lauren-Brooke , Krinsky Miriam Aroni
Published: April 2021

Local prosecutors are responsible for 95 percent of criminal cases in the United States—their charging decisions holding enormous influence over the number of people incarcerated and the length of sentences served. Performance metrics are a tool that can align the vision of elected prosecutors with the tangible actions of their offices’ line attorneys. The right metrics can provide clarity to individual line attorneys around the mission of the office and the goals of their job. Historically, however, prosecutor offices have relied on evaluation metrics that incentivize individual attorneys to prioritize more punitive responses and volume-driven activity—such as tracking the number of cases processed, indictments, guilty pleas, convictions, and sentence lengths. Under these past approaches, funding, budgeting, and promotional decisions are frequently linked to regressive measures that fail to account for just results. As more Americans have embraced the need to end mass incarceration, a new wave of reform-minded district attorneys have won elections. To ensure they are accountable to the voters who elected them into office and achieve the changes they championed, they must align measures of success with new priorities for their offices. New performance metrics predicated on the goals of reducing incarceration and enhancing fairness can shrink prison and jail populations, while improving public trust and promoting healthier and safer communities. The authors propose a new set of metrics for elected prosecutors to consider in designing performance evaluations, both for their offices and for individual attorneys. The authors also suggest that for these new performance measures to effectively drive decarceration practices, they must be coupled with careful, thoughtful implementation and critical data-management infrastructure.
Public Prosecutors in Criminal Investigations
Authors: Ruggeri Stefano
Published: April 2021

The purpose of this study is to analyze how public prosecutors act in pre-trial inquiries, and, therefore, how criminal investigation leads to the institution and carrying out of public prosecution. In every model of fair criminal justice, the initiation of a criminal trial entails enormous human, organizational and financial costs, which explains the need for pre-trial investigations. The features and dynamics of pre-trial inquiries vary considerably, however. Some jurisdictions grant the public prosecutor the power to direct a criminal investigation. In those criminal justice systems that still rely on an investigative judge or magistrate, the judicial authority holds the dominant role in the pre-trial inquiry. Still others allow law enforcement agents to operate without direct supervision from prosecutors or judicial authorities. Recent years have witnessed the increasing worldwide use of intrusive measures of investigation, unprecedented because of their hidden nature or their reliance on new technology. Legislative regulations of new investigative techniques have strengthened the reach of public prosecutors. All this leads us to view the public prosecutor’s legal action in pre-trial inquiries in terms of public prosecution after investigations interfere with fundamental rights of the individuals charged with suspicion of guilt. The case-law of the European Court of Human Rights contributes to this view of the relationship between criminal investigation and public prosecution.

The investigative powers of public prosecutors are further strengthened in the field of transnational criminal justice. Judicial cooperation in the EU area in recent years provides significant examples of this phenomenon, such as a new, wide-ranging instrument of transnational evidence-gathering, known as the European investigation order. This framework contributed to the enhancement of the investigative powers of public prosecutorial services within EU countries, by treating public prosecutors as judicial officers. The new European Public Prosecutor’s Office also increased the powers of prosecutorial services in member nations when they cooperate with the EPPO in transborder cases.
Prosecutors and Voters
Authors: Hessick Carissa Byrne
Published: April 2021

This chapter surveys the complicated relationship between prosecutors and voters. It describes the various ways in which American prosecutors are accountable to voters. It surveys the empirical literature about how often voters hold—or are able to hold—their elected prosecutors accountable, as well as the empirical literature that seeks to measure the effects of elections on prosecutorial behavior. It makes some comparisons between the United States and other countries. It also summarizes the tension between the need for prosecutorial accountability and the need for independence.
Corporate Criminal Law Unbounded
Authors: Baer Miriam H.
Published: April 2021

In matters of lawmaking, ascription of fault, and imposition of punishment, corporate prosecution diverges from traditional understandings of what criminal law is, how it should be made, and how it should be implemented. Contemporary criminal law scholarship seeks to restrain the government’s enforcement and lawmaking powers in regard to punishment. At the same time, corporate crime scholarship presses in the opposite direction, urging government prosecutors to punish more often, more severely and more creatively. This divergence merits scrutiny and a measured reconsideration of corporate criminal law’s reform. If the specter of unrestrained prosecutorial discretion provides sufficient reason for criminal law’s contraction and reform, presumably those reform principles ought to apply as well to the world of corporate crime, where limiting principles are almost no-where to be found.

This chapter recites criminal law’s fundamental tenets (aspirational as they may be) and highlights the particular ways in which corporate punishment diverges from and ultimately ignores them. It considers the normative implications of an “unbound” corporate criminal law and concludes by arguing for legislative reforms that would not only improve corporate criminal law’s adherence to the legality principle, but also impose needed restraints on the prosecutors who have been tasked with investigating, sanctioning and effectively regulating corporate misconduct.
Youth Culture on Screens Big and Small
Authors: Jensen Helle Strandgaard , Cross Gary
Published: April 2021

Motion pictures and television have shaped youth identity while also evoking anxiety from adults concerned about the influence of this media on the young. Within different media systems, this phenomenon has had different trajectories, which becomes clear in a comparison of the United States and Scandanavia. In both regions, adults’ anxiety about the influence of films on the young was a dominant issue from the birth of the medium, accompanied by recurrent discussions of censorship and age classifications. After the Second World War, and particularly the 1960s, commercialized youth media in America attempted to directly appeal to youth, often through fantasy and romance. By contrast, publicly funded agencies in Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe invited young people to influence how television and film could be used to advance their own agendas and aesthetics. With the expansion of the World Wide Web, youth were able to come together from all over the world to discuss and celebrate their favorite television series on dedicated fan pages and social media.
Luxury as an Industry
Authors: Donzé Pierre-Yves
Published: April 2021

The nature of luxury as an industrial sector and the boundaries of this industry are unlike most other industries. Luxury is not defined by a specific good, service, or production process but rather by a market position (high-end). It is a transversal industry that can include goods and services from other industries. Hence the problem is to define the border between luxury and nonluxury. Scholars in management and social sciences have demonstrated the existence of several levels between common goods and luxury goods—or several degrees of ‘luxury’, from exclusive luxury to intermediate luxury and accessible luxury. As for economic and social historians, they have discussed the development of a luxury industry through various stages, from the birth of consumption society in 18th-century England to the formation of large conglomerates in the 1980s.
Folding and Friction
Authors: Goulden Murray
Published: April 2021

The internet of things (IoT)—the embedding of networked computing into the material world around us—seeks to reshape our everyday lives. To address the IoT is to address the material interface between the global digital networks of the twenty-first-century economy and the mundane doings, affects, and experiences which occupy the great majority of our existence. Taking domestic IoT, the so-called smart home, as a focus, the author argues that the IoT is more than simply an intensification of existing trends, the ongoing extension of computing connectivity which has already jumped from desktop to laptop to smartphone. In breaking out of the constraints of any single personal device, no matter how mobile, the IoT not only further dissolves the spatial and temporal distance between different social domains but also profoundly implicates social life within those domains, between the members of the setting. The IoT is constitutionally social in a way in which no type of social media is. The chapter provides a consideration of the political economy at play in the smart home, before addressing everyday life and the IoT in terms of information management, control, domestic labor, and resistance. In concluding, two key features of the IoT are highlighted: world folding, whereby incommensurate social domains are layered through one another with often problematic—even absurd—results and its misconceived efforts to erase the social frictions of everyday life, which fails to recognize that it is in these frictions that so much of what is socially valuable resides.
Facework on Social Media in China
Authors: Tian Xiaoli , Li Qian
Published: April 2021

With more social interactions shifting to online venues, the different attributes of major social media sites in China influence how interpersonal interactions are carried out. Despite the lack of physical co-presence online, face culture is extended to online spaces. On social media, Chinese users tend to protect their own face, give face to others, and avoid discrediting the face of others, especially when their online and offline networks overlap. This chapter also discusses the different methods used to study facework online and offline and how facework is studied in different parts of the world. It concludes with a brief discussion of how sociological research has contributed to the study of social media in China and directions for future research.
Symbols and Material Signs in the Debate on Human Origins
Authors: Iliopoulos Antonis , Malafouris Lambros
Published: April 2021

This chapter delves into the issues of symbolization and material signification as they have been conceived in the literature on human origins, focusing on three interrelated questions found at the crux of the debate on behavioral and cognitive “modernity:” firstly, how did material objects signify in prehistoric times? Secondly, how were material signs created at that point in time? And thirdly, how did material signs and human minds evolve and change over time? These questions about the nature, emergence, and evolution of material signification have been addressed in very different ways by two broad schools of thought. The symbolocentric paradigm, which for long was the favored approach, treats material signs in linguistic terms, attributes their creation to predefined mental templates harbored by symbolically and linguistically capable brains, and sees their evolution as an adaptive response to selective pressures. Contrastingly, a more recent approach defines material signs primarily based on their material qualities and relations, ascribes their creation to the anchoring of cognitive projections onto these physical manifestations, and approaches their evolution as an ontogenetic process driven by the prolonged engagement between humans and things. Opting for the latter way of thinking, this chapter evaluates the theoretical assumptions of the traditional approach, and sketches the materially sensitive dictates of Peircean semiotics and the Material Engagement Theory. As we suggest, the emphasis of these chronologically distant, but philosophically proximate frameworks on the ontological primacy of process and situated engagement, allows them to shed new light on the origins of mind and material semiosis.
Civitas/Community
Authors: Brilli Elisa
Published: April 2021

Dante is a ‘civic author’ and a ‘poet of the city’, but what do these labels mean? This chapter envisions the civitas (community) as an emotional and intellectual pivot of Dante’s theological-political thought and literary imagination. The comprehensive analysis of the uses of civitas(and synonyms) in Dante’s lexicon deploys its rich semantic field in the framework of typical late medieval tensions and cleavages. The chapter also focusses on some fundamental problems inherent to this notion—its articulation with, on the one hand, the pluralitas and, on the other hand, the universal monarchy—and dismisses the hypothesis that Dante developed an anti-civitasstance during his life. Finally, the chapter points out the legacy of Dante’s typological approach, namely concerning the new importance attributed to history, gendered personifications, and authorship in a vernacular literary work.
Troubadours
Authors: Burgwinkle William
Published: April 2021

Dante was not only artistically inspired by the troubadours, he also constructed his life and œuvre through an uncanny engagement with their example as political and poetic figures. From an early introduction to their innovative styles and topics, through an exile that echoed their own, some eighty years earlier, he found in them models for his art and for his own unwitting travels. Like them, in exile, and in thrall to patrons and causes, composing on demand, suffering the indignities of misunderstanding and old age, he produced work in his later years which references their own and in which they themselves sometimes play a part. Using Bruno Latour’s notion of the network, this chapter argues for a new reading of Dante and the troubadours, one which sees him as working within such a vortex, passing through the work of his predecessors and serving as a mediator for poetic knowledge.
Literary Evidence
Authors: Sabnis Sonia
Published: April 2021

This chapter examines the use and usefulness of evidence from ancient fiction for the study of slavery. Although these forms of literature tend to portray slavery and enslaved characters in extreme terms, inseparable from the slave owners’ perspective, they provide evidence for the diverse experiences and expectations of slaves as well as for attitudes towards slaves, enslavement, and the conditions of slavery. The chapter surveys literature in which enslaved characters are unusually salient—Homeric epic, Greek and Roman drama, and the ancient novels—and stresses the tension between the degradation of the enslaved body and the usefulness of the autonomous and rational person.
Spatial and temporal localization of SPIRRIG and WAVE/SCAR reveal roles for these proteins in actin-mediated root hair development
Authors: Chin Sabrina , Kwon Taegun , Khan Bibi Rafeiza , Sparks J. Alan , Mallery Eileen L. , Szymanski Daniel B. , Blancaflor Elison B.
Published: April 2021

Root hairs are single-cell protrusions that enable roots to optimize nutrient and water acquisition. These structures attain their tubular shapes by confining growth to the cell apex, a process called tip growth. The actin cytoskeleton and endomembrane systems are essential for tip growth; however, little is known about how these cellular components coordinate their activities during this process. Here, we show that SPIRRIG (SPI), a beige and Chediak Higashi domain-containing protein involved in membrane trafficking, and BRK1 and SCAR2, subunits of the WAVE/SCAR (W/SC) actin nucleating promoting complex, display polarized localizations in Arabidopsis thaliana root hairs during distinct developmental stages. SPI accumulates at the root hair apex via post-Golgi compartments and positively regulates tip growth by maintaining tip-focused vesicle secretion and filamentous-actin integrity. BRK1 and SCAR2 on the other hand, mark the root hair initiation domain to specify the position of root hair emergence. Consistent with the localization data, tip growth was reduced in spi and the position of root hair emergence was disrupted in brk1 and scar1234. BRK1 depletion coincided with SPI accumulation as root hairs transitioned from initiation to tip growth. Taken together, our work uncovers a role for SPI in facilitating actin-dependent root hair development in Arabidopsis through pathways that might intersect with W/SC.
What if a specific neutrinoless double beta decay is absent?
Authors: Asaka Takehiko , Ishida Hiroyuki , Tanaka Kazuki
Published: April 2021

We consider the seesaw model with two right-handed neutrinos, $N_1$ and $N_2$, the masses of which are hierarchical, and investigate their contribution to the neutrinoless double beta ($0 \nu \beta \beta$) decay. Although the lepton number is broken by the Majorana masses of right-handed neutrinos, such decay processes can be absent in some cases. We present a possibility where the lighter $N_1$ gives a destructive contribution to the decay of active neutrinos by choosing the specific mixing elements of $N_1$, while $N_2$ is sufficiently heavy not to contribute to the $0 \nu \beta \beta$ decay. In this case the mixing elements of $N_1$ in the charged current interaction are determined by its mass and the Majorana phase of active neutrinos. We then study the impacts of such a possibility on the direct search for $N_1$. In addition, we discuss the consequence of the case when the $0 \nu \beta \beta$ decay in one specific nucleus is absent.
A mini-review of the rodent models for alcoholic liver disease: shortcomings, application, and future prospects
Authors: Liu Shi-Xuan , Du Yan-Chao , Zeng Tao
Published: April 2021

Rodents are the most common models in studies of alcoholic liver disease (ALD). Although several rodents ALD models have been established and multiple mechanisms have been elucidated based on them, these models have some non-negligible shortcomings, specifically only inducing early stage (mainly steatosis, slight to moderate steatohepatitis) but not the whole spectrum of human ALD. The resistance of rodents to advanced ALD has been suggested to be due to the physiological differences between rodents and human beings. Previous studies have reported significant interstrain differences in the susceptibility to ethanol-induced liver injury and in the manifestation of ALD (such as different alteration of lipid profiles). Therefore, it would be interesting to characterize the manifestation of ethanol-induced liver damage in various rodents, which may provide a recommendation to investigators of ALD. Furthermore, more severe ALD models need to be established for the study of serious ALD forms, which may be achieved by using genetic modified rodents.
A new species of tree hyrax (Procaviidae:Dendrohyrax) from West Africa and the significance of the Niger–Volta interfluvium in mammalian biogeography
Authors: Oates John F , Woodman Neal , Gaubert Philippe , Sargis Eric J , Wiafe Edward D , Lecompte Emilie , Dowsett-Lemaire Françoise , Dowsett Robert J , Gonedelé Bi Sery , Ikemeh Rachel A , Djagoun Chabi A M S , Tomsett Louise , Bearder Simon K
Published: April 2021

Tree hyraxes (Dendrohyrax) are one of only three genera currently recognized in Procaviidae, the only extant family in the mammalian order Hyracoidea. Their taxonomy and natural history have received little attention in recent decades. All tree hyrax populations of Guineo-Congolian forests of Africa are currently treated as a single species, Dendrohyrax dorsalis, the western tree hyrax, but many other groups of mammals distributed across this large biome have been shown to consist of several different species, each restricted to a distinct biogeographical region. We analysed variation in loud-call structure, pelage colour, skull morphometrics and mitochondrial genomes in populations across much of the range of D. dorsalis. This integrative approach uncovered considerable cryptic variation. The population found between the Niger and Volta Rivers in West Africa is particularly distinctive, and we describe it herein as a new species. Our study highlights the need to revise the taxonomy of the genus Dendrohyrax in light of modern systematics and current understanding of its distribution. It also adds to a growing body of evidence that the Niger–Volta interfluvium has a distinct meso-mammal fauna. Unfortunately, the fauna of this region is under major threat and warrants much greater conservation attention.
Arabic Translation and Validation of the Acceptance of Illness Scale and Person-Centered Dermatology Self-care Index
Authors: Soliman Moetaza M.
Published: April 2021

OBJECTIVE

To translate the Acceptance of Illness Scale (AIS) and Person-Centered Dermatology Self-care Index (PeDeSI) from English to Arabic and validate their use among Arabic-speaking patients with psoriasis.

METHODS

Forward-backward translation was used to translate AIS and PeDeSI from English to Arabic language. Validation of the developed Arabic versions was performed using a cross-sectional study design. Arabic-speaking psoriatic patients were asked to complete the Arabic AIS and PeDeSI tools. Patients were also asked to complete the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), which was used as a reference to study external validity. The correlation between questionnaires was tested using Spearman rank correlation test. Factor analysis was used to study the dimensionality of the various tools. Cronbach α coefficient was used to evaluate internal consistency of Arabic versions of AIS and PeDeSI. Floor or ceiling effects were detected if more than 15% of patients achieved the lowest or the highest possible scores, respectively.

RESULTS

A total of 116 Arabic patients with psoriasis submitted the questionnaires. Both translated questionnaires were unidimensional. The internal consistencies of the AIS and PeDeSI were excellent (α coefficient = .90) and good (α coefficient = .87), respectively. There was a significant negative moderate correlation between the AIS and DLQI (ρ = −0.44), whereas the PeDeSI and DLQI were significantly weakly correlated (ρ = −0.23). No floor or ceiling effects were detected.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that the Arabic versions of the AIS and PeDeSI questionnaires fulfilled the criteria for validation and may be used in research and routine clinical practice with Arabic speakers.
Implementation of an Analgesia-Sedation Protocol Is Associated With Reduction in Midazolam Usage in the PICU
Authors: Yang Youyang , Akhondi-Asl Alireza , Geva Alon , Dwyer Danielle , Stickney Carolyn , Kleinman Monica E. , Madden Kate , Sanderson Amy , Mehta Nilesh M.
Published: April 2021

OBJECTIVES:

Examine the association of a revised analgesia-sedation protocol with midazolam usage in the PICU.

DESIGN:

A single-center nonrandomized before-after study.

SETTING:

PICU at a quaternary pediatric hospital (Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA).

PATIENTS:

Children admitted to the PICU who were mechanically ventilated for greater than 24 hours. The preimplementation cohort included 190 eligible patients admitted between July 29, 2017, and February 28, 2018, and the postimplementation cohort included 144 patients admitted between July 29, 2019, and February 28, 2020.

INTERVENTIONS:

Implementation of a revised analgesia-sedation protocol.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS:

Our primary outcome, total dose of IV midazolam administered in mechanically ventilated patients up to day 14 of ventilation, decreased by 72% (95% CI [61–80%]; p < 0.001) in the postimplementation cohort. Dexmedetomidine usage increased 230% (95% CI [145–344%]) in the postimplementation cohort. Opioid usage, our balancing metric, was not significantly different between the two cohorts. There were no significant differences in ventilator-free days, PICU length of stay, rate of unplanned extubations, failed extubations, cardiorespiratory arrest events, and 24-hour readmissions to the PICU.

CONCLUSIONS:

We successfully implemented an analgesia-sedation protocol that primarily uses dexmedetomidine and intermittent opioids, and it was associated with significant decrease in overall midazolam usage in mechanically ventilated patients in the PICU. The intervention was not associated with changes in opioid usage or prevalence of adverse events.
In-house versus on-call trauma surgeon coverage: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: de la Mar Alexander C.J. , Lokerman Robin D. , Waalwijk Job F. , Ochen Yassine , van der Vliet Quirine M.J. , Hietbrink Falco , Houwert R. Marijn , Leenen Luke P.H. , van Heijl Mark
Published: April 2021

BACKGROUND

A rapid trauma response is essential to provide optimal care for severely injured patients. However, it is currently unclear if the presence of an in-house trauma surgeon affects this response during call and influences outcomes. This study compares in-hospital mortality and process-related outcomes of trauma patients treated by a 24/7 in-house versus an on-call trauma surgeon.

METHODS

PubMed/Medline, Embase, and CENTRAL databases were searched on the first of November 2020. All studies comparing patients treated by a 24/7 in-house versus an on-call trauma surgeon were considered eligible for inclusion. A meta-analysis of mortality rates including all severely injured patients (i.e., Injury Severity Score of ≥16) was performed. Random-effect models were used to pool mortality rates, reported as risk ratios. The main outcome measure was in-hospital mortality. Process-related outcomes were chosen as secondary outcome measures.

RESULTS

In total, 16 observational studies, combining 64,337 trauma patients, were included. The meta-analysis included 8 studies, comprising 7,490 severely injured patients. A significant reduction in mortality rate was found in patients treated in the 24/7 in-house trauma surgeon group compared with patients treated in the on-call trauma surgeon group (risk ratio, 0.86; 95% confidence interval, 0.78–0.95; p = 0.002; I
2 = 0%). In 10 of 16 studies, at least 1 process-related outcome improved after the in-house trauma surgeon policy was implemented.

CONCLUSION

A 24/7 in-house trauma surgeon policy is associated with reduced mortality rates for severely injured patients treated at level I trauma centers. In addition, presence of an in-house trauma surgeon during call may improve process-related outcomes. This review recommends implementation of a 24/7 in-house attending trauma surgeon at level I trauma centers. However, the final decision on attendance policy might depend on center and region-specific conditions.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Systematic review/meta-analysis, level III.
Tilt Test: A Review
Authors: Aponte-Becerra Laura , Novak Peter
Published: April 2021

This review recapitulates the head-up tilt test, which is commonly used for evaluation of orthostatic syndromes and dysautonomia. Tilt test evaluates autonomic system responses to orthostatic stress. Established tilt testing includes monitoring of heart rate and blood pressure; adding capnography and cerebral blood flow monitoring expands its diagnostic yield and allows assessing cerebral blood flow regulation. Common syndromes detectable by the tilt test are neurally mediated syncope (vasodepressor, cardiovagal, or mixed), orthostatic hypotension, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, hypocapnic cerebral hypoperfusion, and orthostatic cerebral hypoperfusion syndrome. This review describes relevant physiology, tilt test protocols, diagnostic criteria for orthostatic syndromes, grading test results, diagnostic accuracy, limitations of the tilt test, and safety considerations.
Modulating short-term auditory memory with focal transcranial direct current stimulation applied to the supramarginal gyrus
Authors: Lerud Karl D. , Vines Bradley W. , Shinde Anant B. , Schlaug Gottfried
Published: April 2021

Previous studies have shown that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can affect performance by decreasing regional excitability in a brain region that contributes to the task of interest. To our knowledge, no research to date has found both enhancing and diminishing effects on performance, depending upon which polarity of the current is applied. The supramarginal gyrus (SMG) is an ideal brain region for testing tDCS effects because it is easy to identify using the 10–20 electroencephalography coordinate system, and results of neuroimaging studies have implicated the left SMG in short-term memory for phonological and nonphonological sounds. In the present study, we found that applying tDCS to the left SMG affected pitch memory in a manner that depended upon the polarity of stimulation: cathodal tDCS had a negative impact on performance whereas anodal tDCS had a positive impact. These effects were significantly different from sham stimulation, which did not influence performance; they were also specific to the left hemisphere – no effect was found when applying cathodal stimulation to the right SMG – and were unique to pitch memory as opposed to memory for visual shapes. Our results provide further evidence that the left SMG is a nodal point for short-term auditory storage and demonstrate the potential of tDCS to influence cognitive performance and to causally examine hypotheses derived from neuroimaging studies.
Time and space in segmentation
Authors: Clark Erik
Published: April 2021

Arthropod segmentation and vertebrate somitogenesis are leading fields in the experimental and theoretical interrogation of developmental patterning. However, despite the sophistication of current research, basic conceptual issues remain unresolved. These include: (i) the mechanistic origins of spatial organization within the segment addition zone (SAZ); (ii) the mechanistic origins of segment polarization; (iii) the mechanistic origins of axial variation; and (iv) the evolutionary origins of simultaneous patterning. Here, I explore these problems using coarse-grained models of cross-regulating dynamical processes. In the morphogenetic framework of a row of cells undergoing axial elongation, I simulate interactions between an ‘oscillator’, a ‘switch’ and up to three ‘timers’, successfully reproducing essential patterning behaviours of segmenting systems. By comparing the output of these largely cell-autonomous models to variants that incorporate positional information, I find that scaling relationships, wave patterns and patterning dynamics all depend on whether the SAZ is regulated by temporal or spatial information. I also identify three mechanisms for polarizing oscillator output, all of which functionally implicate the oscillator frequency profile. Finally, I demonstrate significant dynamical and regulatory continuity between sequential and simultaneous modes of segmentation. I discuss these results in the context of the experimental literature.
Dynamical modules in metabolism, cell and developmental biology
Authors: Jaeger Johannes , Monk Nick
Published: April 2021

Modularity is an essential feature of any adaptive complex system. Phenotypic traits are modules in the sense that they have a distinguishable structure or function, which can vary (quasi-)independently from its context. Since all phenotypic traits are the product of some underlying regulatory dynamics, the generative processes that constitute the genotype–phenotype map must also be functionally modular. Traditionally, modular processes have been identified as structural modules in regulatory networks. However, structure only constrains, but does not determine, the dynamics of a process. Here, we propose an alternative approach that decomposes the behaviour of a complex regulatory system into elementary activity-functions. Modular activities can occur in networks that show no structural modularity, making dynamical modularity more widely applicable than structural decomposition. Furthermore, the behaviour of a regulatory system closely mirrors its functional contribution to the outcome of a process, which makes dynamical modularity particularly suited for functional decomposition. We illustrate our approach with numerous examples from the study of metabolism, cellular processes, as well as development and pattern formation. We argue that dynamical modules provide a shared conceptual foundation for developmental and evolutionary biology, and serve as the foundation for a new account of process homology, which is presented in a separate contribution by DiFrisco and Jaeger to this focus issue.
Co-infection in critically ill patients with COVID-19: an observational cohort study from England
Authors: Baskaran Vadsala , Lawrence Hannah , Lansbury Louise E. , Webb Karmel , Safavi Shahideh , Zainuddin Nurul I. , Huq Tausif , Eggleston Charlotte , Ellis Jayne , Thakker Clare , Charles Bethan , Boyd Sara , Williams Tom , Phillips Claire , Redmore Ethan , Platt Sarah , Hamilton Eve , Barr Andrew , Venyo Lucy , Wilson Peter , Bewick Tom , Daniel Priya , Dark Paul , Jeans Adam R. , McCanny Jamie , Edgeworth Jonathan D. , Llewelyn Martin J. , Schmid Matthias L. , McKeever Tricia M. , Beed Martin , Lim Wei Shen
Published: April 2021

Introduction. During previous viral pandemics, reported co-infection rates and implicated pathogens have varied. In the 1918 influenza pandemic, a large proportion of severe illness and death was complicated by bacterial co-infection, predominantly

Streptococcus pneumoniae

and

Staphylococcus aureus

.

Gap statement. A better understanding of the incidence of co-infection in patients with COVID-19 infection and the pathogens involved is necessary for effective antimicrobial stewardship.

Aim. To describe the incidence and nature of co-infection in critically ill adults with COVID-19 infection in England.

Methodology. A retrospective cohort study of adults with COVID-19 admitted to seven intensive care units (ICUs) in England up to 18 May 2020, was performed. Patients with completed ICU stays were included. The proportion and type of organisms were determined at <48 and >48 h following hospital admission, corresponding to community and hospital-acquired co-infections.

Results. Of 254 patients studied (median age 59 years (IQR 49–69); 64.6 % male), 139 clinically significant organisms were identified from 83 (32.7 %) patients. Bacterial co-infections/ co-colonisation were identified within 48 h of admission in 14 (5.5 %) patients; the commonest pathogens were

Staphylococcus aureus

(four patients) and

Streptococcus pneumoniae

(two patients). The proportion of pathogens detected increased with duration of ICU stay, consisting largely of Gram-negative bacteria, particularly

Klebsiella pneumoniae

and

Escherichia coli

. The co-infection/ co-colonisation rate >48 h after admission was 27/1000 person-days (95 % CI 21.3–34.1). Patients with co-infections/ co-colonisation were more likely to die in ICU (crude OR 1.78,95 % CI 1.03–3.08, P=0.04) compared to those without co-infections/ co-colonisation.

Conclusion. We found limited evidence for community-acquired bacterial co-infection in hospitalised adults with COVID-19, but a high rate of Gram-negative infection acquired during ICU stay.
Real-time PCR assay for detection and differentiation of Coccidioides immitis and Coccidioides posadasii from culture and clinical specimens
Authors: Chaturvedi Sudha , Victor Tanya R. , Marathe Anuradha , Sidamonidze Ketevan , Crucillo Kelly L. , Chaturvedi Vishnu
Published: April 2021

Coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever) is a pulmonary and systemic fungal disease with increasing incidence and expanding endemic areas. The differentiation of etiologic agents Coccidioides immitis and C. posadasii remains problematic in the clinical laboratories as conventional PCR and satellite typing schemes are not facile. Therefore, we developed Cy5- and FAM-labeled TaqMan-probes for duplex real-time PCR assay for rapid differentiation of C. immitis and C. posadasii from culture and clinical specimens. The RRA2 gene encoding proline-rich antigen 2, specific for Coccidioides genus, was the source for the first set of primers and probe. Coccidioides immitis contig 2.2 (GenBank: AAEC02000002.1) was used to design the second set of primers and probe. The second primers/probe did not amplify the corresponding C. posadasii DNA, because of an 86-bp deletion in the contig. The assay was highly sensitive with limit of detection of 0.1 pg gDNA/PCR reaction, which was equivalent to approximately ten genome copies of C. immitis or C. posadasii. The assay was highly specific with no cross-reactivity to the wide range of fungal and bacterial pathogens. Retrospective analysis of fungal isolates and primary specimens submitted from 1995 to 2020 confirmed 129 isolates and three primary specimens as C. posadasii and 23 isolates as C. immitis from human coccidioidomycosis cases, while all eight primary samples from two animals were confirmed as C. posadasii. A preliminary analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and pleural fluid samples showed positive correlation between serology tests and real-time PCR for two of the 15 samples. The Coccidioides spp. duplex real-time PCR will allow rapid differentiation of C. immitis and C. posadasii from clinical specimens and further augment the surveillance of coccidioidomycosis.
Specific heterozygous frameshift variants in hnRNPA2B1 cause early-onset oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy
Authors: Kim Hong Joo , Mohassel Payam , Donkervoort Sandra , Guo Lin , O’Donovan Kevin , Coughlin Maura , Lornage Xaviere , Foulds Nicola , Hammans Simon R. , Foley A. Reghan , Fare Charlotte M. , Ford Alice F. , Ogasawara Masashi , Sato Aki , Iida Aritoshi , Munot Pinki , Ambegaonkar Gautam , Phadke Rahul , O’Donovan Dominic G , Buchert Rebecca , Grimmel Mona , Töpf Ana , Zaharieva Irina T. , Brady Lauren , Hu Ying , Lloyd Thomas E. , Klein Andrea , Steinlin Maja , Kuster Alice , Mercier Sandra , Marcorelles Pascale , Péréon Yann , Fleurence Emmanuelle , Manzur Adnan , Ennis Sarah , Upstill-Goddard Rosanna , Bello Luca , Bertolin Cinzia , Pegoraro Elena , Salviati Leonardo , French Courtney E. , Shatillo Andriy , Raymond F Lucy , Haack Tobias , Quijano-Roy Susana , Böhm Johann , Nelson Isabelle , Stojkovic Tanya , Evangelista Teresinha , Straub Volker , Romero Norma B. , Laporte Jocelyn , Muntoni Francesco , Nishino Ichizo , Tarnopolsky Mark A. , Shorter James , Taylor J. Paul , Bönnemann Carsten G.
Published: April 2021

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are essential for post-transcriptional regulation and processing of RNAs. Pathogenic missense variants in RBPs underlie a spectrum of disease phenotypes, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia, inclusion body myopathy, distal myopathy, and Paget’s disease of the bone. Here, we present ten independent families with a severe, progressive, early-onset muscular dystrophy, reminiscent of oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD), caused by heterozygous frameshift variants in the prion-like domain of hnRNPA2B1. We found that in contrast with the previously reported missense variants, the frameshift hnRNPA2B1 variants do not promote, but rather decelerate the fibrillization of the protein. Importantly, the frameshift variants harbor altered nuclear-localization sequences and exhibit reduced affinity for the nuclear-import receptor, Karyopherin-β2, which promotes their cytoplasmic accumulation in cells and in animal models that recapitulate the human pathology. Thus, we expand the phenotypes associated with hnRNPA2B1 to include a severe, early-onset disease reminiscent of OPMD, caused by a distinct class of frameshift variants that alter its nucleocytoplasmic transport dynamics.
# AstraZeneca vaccine disinformation on Twitter
Authors: Jemielniak Dariusz , Krempovych Yaroslav
Published: April 2021

We analyzed 50,080 tweets about # AstraZeneca in English from 2021. We found that the news most common in the frequently retweeted tweets abound in negative information, and in many cases come from media sources well-known for disinformation. Also, we found that RT, a Russian state-sponsored news website, as well as Al Arabiya, a Saudi-owned news website, are frequently retweeted with information about the vaccine. Our analysis identified large coordination networks involved in political astroturfing and vaccine diplomacy in South Asia but also vaccine advocacy networks associated with European Commission employees. Our results show that Twitter discourse about # AstraZeneca is filled with disinformation and bad press, and may be distributed not only organically by anti-vaxxer activists, but also systematically by professional sources.

Highlights

Most commonly retweeted media news links abound in negative information

Well established disinformation media sources are retweeted more

State coordinated networks are active in # AstraZeneca astroturfing
SARS-CoV-2 Immunogenicity in individuals infected before and after COVID-19 vaccination: Israel, January-March 2021: Implications for vaccination policy
Authors: Jabal Kamal Abu , Ben-Amram Hila , Beiruti Karine , Brimat Ira , Saada Ashraf Abu , Bathish Younes , Sussan Christian , Zarka Salman , Edelstein Michael
Published: April 2021

Between December 2020-March 2021 we measured anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG titers post-vaccination with the BNT162b2 vaccine among 725 Israeli hospital workers. Previously infected individuals who received one dose had higher IgG titres than fully vaccinated, never-infected workers. Post-vaccination infection did not increase IgG titres. Individuals infected post-dose one should receive the second.