bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
14. Détente in Decline, 1977–9
Authors: Young John W. , Kent John
Published: August 2020

This chapter examines the decline of détente during the period 1977–9. Détente suffered in part from being identified with Richard Nixon. After 1973, conservatives increasingly questioned détente, felt that the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I) benefited the Soviet Union most, and were disturbed by an apparent pattern of communist adventurism abroad, in the 1973 Middle East War, Angola, and South-East Asia. The chapter first considers détente and policy-making during the time of Jimmy Carter before discussing the conflict in the Middle East, in particular the Lebanon Civil War, and the Camp David summit of 1978 that resulted in an Egyptian–Israel peace treaty. It then analyses the Ogaden conflict of 1977–8, the ‘normalization’ of Sino-American relations, and the Sino-Vietnamese War. It concludes with an assessment of the SALT II treaty.
20. Europe and the Former Soviet Union
Authors: Young John W. , Kent John
Published: August 2020

This chapter examines important developments in Europe and the former Soviet Union. The collapse of communism paved the way for the greatest changes in Europe since 1919, with the political disintegration of three Eurasian countries: the then USSR, with localized outbreaks of violence; Yugoslavia, with several years of bloody civil war; and Czechoslovakia, where the Czechs and Slovaks peacefully agreed to go their own way as of January 1993, in the so-called ‘velvet divorce’. Communism’s demise also brought reunification to a divided nation: Germany. The chapter first considers the German reunification, before discussing the break-up of the USSR and the Wars of Succession, Yugoslavia’s break-up and the Bosnian War, NATO and European security, and the emergence of the European Union, which replaced the European Community.
2. Approaches in Comparative Politics
Authors: Peters B. Guy
Published: August 2020

This chapter examines five main approaches in comparative politics that represent important contributions: old and new institutional analysis, interest approach, ideas approach, individual approach, and the influence of the international environment. The role of ‘interaction’ is also explored. After explaining the use of theory in comparative political analysis, the chapter considers structural functionalism, systems theory, Marxism, corporatism, institutionalism, governance, and comparative political economy. It also discusses behavioural and rational choice approaches, how political culture helps to understand political behaviour in different countries, self-interest in politics, and the implications of globalization for comparative politics. The chapter concludes by assessing the importance of looking at political processes and of defining what the ‘dependent variables’ are.
3. Comparative Research Methods
Authors: Pennings Paul , Keman Hans
Published: August 2020

This chapter examines the ‘art of comparing’ by showing how to relate a theoretically guided research question to a properly founded research answer by developing an adequate research design. It first considers the role of variables in comparative research, before discussing the meaning of ‘cases’ and case selection. It then looks at the ‘core’ of the comparative research method: the use of the logic of comparative inquiry to analyse the relationships between variables (representing theory), and the information contained in the cases (the data). Two logics are distinguished: Method of Difference and Method of Agreement. The chapter concludes with an assessment of some problems common to the use of comparative methods.
10. Elections and Referendums
Authors: Gallagher Michael
Published: August 2020

This chapter focuses on the two main opportunities that people have to vote in most societies: elections and referendums. Elections are held to fill seats in parliaments or to choose a president, whereas referendums allow citizens to decide directly on some issue of policy. Elections are the cornerstone of representative democracy, and referendums are sometimes regarded as the equivalent of ‘direct democracy’. In practice, referendums are used only as an option in systems of representative democracy. The chapter first provides an overview of elections and electoral systems, focusing on electoral regulations and the main categories of electoral systems, namely single-member plurality, alternative vote, two-round system, and proportional representation. It then examines the rules under which elections are held, as well as the consequences of this variation. It also considers the use of the referendum and its potential impact on politics.
6. Traditional Ideologies
Authors: Garner Robert
Published: August 2020

This chapter examines a range of traditional ideologies associated with the Enlightenment, including liberalism, socialism, nationalism, anarchism, conservatism, and fascism. It first explains what an ideology is and what their general characteristics are before discussing liberalism, socialism, conservatism, nationalism, fascism, and anarchism. It is noted how all of these ideologies were shaped by the Enlightenment, either—in the case of liberalism, socialism, nationalism, and anarchism—adopting its key principles, or—in the case of conservatism and fascism—railing against them. The chapter suggests that each ideology must be understood within the economic, social, and political environment in which it emerged. It also emphasizes the impact of these ideologies on the development of world politics in the last two centuries.
18. Critical Approaches to Global Politics
Authors: Lawson Stephanie
Published: August 2020

This chapter examines seven critical approaches to global politics: Marxism, Critical Theory, constructivism, feminism, postmodernism, postcolonial theory, and green theory. In their book The Manifesto of the Communist Party, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels address the implications for global order of the rise of capitalism and the role of the bourgeoisie as controllers of capital. Their ideas have had a major influence on critical approaches to virtually all aspects of both domestic and global politics. The chapter considers some major strands of Marxist-influenced theory of direct relevance to global politics, including dependency theory, world-system theory, Gramscian theory, and Frankfurt School theory. It also discusses gender theory and compares postmodern/poststructural approaches to global politics with Critical Theory and constructivism in International Relations.
23. Conclusion: Towards a Globalizing, Post- Western-Dominated World
Authors: Lawson Stephanie
Published: August 2020

This chapter summarizes the text’s various arguments. It first considers the relationships between the study of political philosophy, political institutions, and international relations and suggests that the study of politics cannot be divorced from the study of other social sciences such as economics, sociology, psychology, philosophy, law, and history. It also contends that the study of politics should be seen as a genuinely international and comparative enterprise and explains how trends in globalization have further eroded the distinctions between domestic and international politics and between the domestic politics of individual nation-states. Finally, it discusses the rise of the so-called ‘new medievalism’, a scenario in which the world is moving towards greater anarchy; signs that global power is shifting from the West to the East; and developments showing that domestic politics and international relations are mutating.
Political Research
Authors: Halperin Sandra , Heath Oliver
Published: August 2020

Political Research: Methods and Practical Skills provides a practical and relevant guide to the research process for students. It equips readers with the knowledge and skills needed to evaluate research findings and successfully carry out independent study and research. Taking a helpful step-by-step approach, the chapters guide the reader through the process of asking and answering research questions and the different methods used in political research, providing practical advice on how to be critical and rigorous in both evaluating and conducting research. Topics include research design, surveys, interviewing and focus groups, ethnography and participant observation, textual analysis, quantitative analysis, bivariate analysis, and multivariate analysis. With an emphasis throughout on how research can impact important political questions and policy issues, the book equips readers with the skills to formulate significant questions and develop meaningful and persuasive answers.
1. Political Research
Authors: Halperin Sandra , Heath Oliver
Published: August 2020

This text provides readers with the analytic skills and resources they need to evaluate research findings in political research, as well as the practical skills for conducting their own independent inquiry. It shows that empirical research and normative research are not independent of each other and explains the distinction between positivism and interpretivism, and between quantitative and qualitative research. Part 1 of this edition discusses key issues in the philosophy of social science, while Part 2 presents a ‘nuts and bolts’ or ‘how to’ guide to research design, such as how to find and formulate a research question. Part 3 evaluates different methods of data collection and analysis that can be used to answer research questions, along with the variety of considerations and decisions that researchers must confront when using different methods.
2. Forms of Knowledge: Laws, Explanation, and Interpretation in the Study of the Social World
Authors: Halperin Sandra , Heath Oliver
Published: August 2020

This chapter focuses on fundamental assumptions that researchers make about how we can know and develop knowledge about the social world, such as assumptions about the nature of human behaviour and the methods appropriate to studying and explaining that behaviour. The main objective is how to carry out a systematic and rigorous investigation of social phenomena. The chapter considers three different answers to the question of how to approach the study of social phenomena: those offered by positivism, scientific realism, and interpretivism. It also explores the differences among these answers and their implications for conducting political research. Finally, it discusses the use of a positivist (rational choice) and interpretivist (constructivist) approach to the analysis of ethnic conflicts in Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
13. Ethnography and Participant Observation
Authors: Halperin Sandra , Heath Oliver
Published: August 2020

This chapter discusses the principles of ethnography and participant observation: what they are, how (if) they became standardized as a research method, what form of evidence they constitute, and what place they occupy in the study of Politics. Participant observation has emerged as a popular research tool across the social sciences. In particular, political ethnographies are now widely carried out in a broad variety of contexts, from the study of political institutions and organizations to the investigation of social movements and informal networks, such as terrorist groups and drugs cartels. Political ethnography is also becoming a research method of choice in the field of International Relations. The chapter examines the strengths of ethnographic fieldwork, focusing on issues relating to sampling, access, key informants, and collecting observational data. It also addresses the weaknesses of ethnography, especially issues of subjectivity, reliability, and generalizability.
17. A Guide to Multivariate Analysis
Authors: Halperin Sandra , Heath Oliver
Published: August 2020

This chapter extends the principles of bivariate analysis to multivariate analysis, which takes into account more than one independent variable and the dependent variable. With multivariate analysis, it is possible to investigate the impact of multiple factors on a dependent variable of interest, and to compare the explanatory power of rival hypotheses. Multivariate analysis can also be used to develop and test multi-causal explanations of political phenomena. After providing an overview of the principles of multivariate analysis, and the different types of analytical question to which they can be applied, the chapter shows how multivariate analysis is carried out for statistical control purposes. More specifically, it explains the use of ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and logistic regression, the latter of which builds on cross-tabulation, to carry out multivariate analysis. It also discusses the use of multivariate analysis to debunk spurious relationships and to illustrate indirect causality.
4. Critical Perspectives
Authors: Bulmer Simon , Parker Owen , Bache Ian , George Stephen , Burns Charlotte
Published: August 2020

This chapter examines the range of critical perspectives now applied to the European Union, including social constructivism, critical political economy, critical social theory, critical feminism, and post-structuralism. These critical—often termed ‘post-positivist’—approaches emphasize the constructed and changeable nature of the social and political world. Many such approaches reject the notion that social reality can be objectively observed and argue that various agents, including policy actors and scholars themselves, are involved in its construction. They highlight the less obvious manifestations of power that pervade the interrelated worlds of political action and political theorizing. It is important to consider why these more critical perspectives have been absent for so long within mainstream studies of the EU.
8. The Revival of European Integration (the Mid-1970s to the Late 1980s)
Authors: Bulmer Simon , Parker Owen , Bache Ian , George Stephen , Burns Charlotte
Published: August 2020

This chapter examines the revival of European integration from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s. It first considers leadership changes in the European Commission before turning to the European Council and the European Monetary System (EMS), the Commission’s southern enlargements, and the British budget rebate. It then discusses leadership changes in the Commission from 1981 to 1982, the Single European Act (SEA), and the European Council meeting at Fontainebleau in June 1984. It also looks at the initiatives of various Commission presidents such as Roy Jenkins, Gaston Thorn, and Jacques Delors. Finally, it describes the implementation of the SEA, widely seen as the big breakthrough in the revival of European integration.
9. Maastricht and Amsterdam (the Late 1980s to the Late 1990s)
Authors: Bulmer Simon , Parker Owen , Bache Ian , George Stephen , Burns Charlotte
Published: August 2020

This chapter examines two important developments in the history of the European Union (EU): the signing of the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties. In June 1989, the European Council agreed to European Commission President Jacques Delors’s three-stage plan for monetary union by 1999, despite British opposition. In 1991, intergovernmental conferences (IGCs) were held on both monetary union and political union. The proposals of these IGCs were incorporated into the Treaty on European Union (TEU), agreed at Maastricht in December 1991. The TEU marked a major step on the road to European integration. It committed most of the member states to adopting a single currency and introduced the concept of European citizenship, among others. This chapter considers the events leading up to the signing of the TEU, from the Maastricht negotiations to the issue of enlargement, the 1996 IGC, and the Treaty of Amsterdam.
12. The Institutional Architecture
Authors: Bulmer Simon , Parker Owen , Bache Ian , George Stephen , Burns Charlotte
Published: August 2020

This chapter examines the pattern of European Union (EU) institutions and the formal rules that govern them. It first considers the Treaties that form the founding ‘constitutional’ documents of the EU, from the Treaty of Paris to the Treaty on Stability, Co-ordination and Governance in the economic and monetary union (EMU), before turning to the main institutions involved in the processes of decision making, namely: the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, and the European Parliament, plus two consultative committees, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. The chapter proceeds by analysing the Union method of decision making, focusing on the budgetary and legislative procedures, as well as the process on the Common Foreign and Security Policy. It also discusses the implementation of EU decisions once they have been made, and concludes with some reflections on the post-Lisbon institutional architecture of the EU, including differentiated integration.
6. Regional Trade Agreements
Authors: Ravenhill John
Published: August 2020

This chapter assesses regional trade agreements (RTAs). The number of RTAs has grown rapidly since the World Trade Organization (WTO) came into existence in 1995. Roughly one-half of world trade is now conducted within these preferential trade arrangements, the most significant exception to the WTO's principle of non-discrimination. Governments have entered regional economic agreements motivated by a variety of political and economic considerations. They may prefer trade liberalization on a regional rather than a global basis for several reasons. The chapter then reviews the political economy of regionalism: why RTAs are established; which actors are likely to support regional rather than global trade liberalization; the effects that regionalism has had on the trade and welfare of members and non-members; and the relationship between liberalization at the regional and global levels.
8. The Evolution of the International Monetary and Financial System
Authors: Helleiner Eric , Babe Melsen
Published: August 2020

This chapter explores the international monetary and financial system, which plays a central role in the global political economy (GPE). Since the late nineteenth century, the nature of this system has undergone several pivotal transformations in response to changing political and economic conditions at both domestic and international levels. The first was the collapse of the integrated pre-1914 international monetary and financial regime during the interwar years. The second transformation took place after the Second World War, when the Bretton Woods order was put in place. Since the early 1970s, various features of the Bretton Woods order have unravelled with the globalization of finance, the collapse of the gold exchange standard, and the breakdown of the adjustable peg exchange rate regime. These changes have important political consequences for the key issue of who gets what, when, and how in the GPE.
9. Financial Openness and the Challenge of Global Governance
Authors: Pauly Louis W.
Published: August 2020

This chapter studies the globalization of finance. The world economy today reflects a systemic experiment involving, on the one hand, the unleashing of cross-border capital movements and, on the other, the dispersion of the political authority necessary to oversee and, when necessary, stabilize the markets through which vast amounts of capital now flow. Resulting tensions become most obvious during financial crises, when those flows suddenly stop or reverse their direction. In the late twentieth century, most such crises began in emerging-market or developing countries and had limited systemic consequences. In 2008, however, the global experiment capital market openness, now far along in its evolution, almost failed catastrophically when policy mistakes in the United States combined with large national payments' imbalances and a broad economic downturn to spawn a worldwide emergency. Shortly thereafter, Europeans at the core of the system narrowly escaped a similar disaster at the regional level. The chapter then explores key implications for contemporary global governance. It calls particular attention to the increasingly difficult and variegated politics of systemic risk assessment, emergency management, and future crisis prevention as the experiment continues.
13. The Political Economy of Development
Authors: Phillips Nicola
Published: August 2020

This chapter examines the political economy of development. Despite the many accomplishments since the end of the Second World War, the problems of development in the contemporary global political economy are still of arresting proportions, and the various incarnations of a ‘global development agenda’ to deal with these problems have had a very mixed record. In fact, there is still little consensus on what development actually is, let alone how it might be achieved, in either academic debates or public discourse. One of the most disputed questions in this context relates to the relationship between globalization and development, and how people should understand the impact of globalization on development across the world. The chapter explores these debates. It starts by reviewing the different ways of thinking about development that have emerged since the end of the Second World War, and demonstrating how particular understandings of development have given rise to particular kinds of development strategies, at both the national and global levels. The chapter then considers the impacts and consequences of these strategies for development, and shows on this basis that many of the problems and failures of development have not only persisted but also worsened in the contemporary period.
1. Introduction
Authors: Kendall-Taylor Andrea , Lindstaedt Natasha , Frantz Erica
Published: August 2020

Threats to democracy 2

The bright spots 6

Overview of the book 7

Key definitions and caveats 9

Democracy is in crisis. By most accounts, this is the most trying period democracy has faced since the 1930s when fascism spread over much of Europe. Even the most optimistic observers posit that democracy will decline unless rich countries address vexing challenges such as inequality, cultural and demographic shifts, and technological change. Pessimists fear we have already crossed a critical threshold and that the democratic dominance we have grown accustomed to has ended (...
11. Institutional Drivers of Democracy
Authors: Kendall-Taylor Andrea , Lindstaedt Natasha , Frantz Erica
Published: August 2020

Political parties 212

Electoral systems 217

System of government 220

Federal versus unitary states 222

Consociationalism 223

Political institutions and democratization: A double-edged sword 226

Conclusion 227

Key Questions 228

Further Reading 228

In the former Soviet space (excluding the Baltics), some countries are more open and less authoritarian than others. Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and Kyrgyzstan, for example, have enjoyed relatively greater political and civil liberties—and even periods of nascent democracy. Freedom House rated Ukraine as ‘Free’ shortly after the country’s Orange Revolution in 2004–05. In contrast, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, and the other Central Asian countries have been far more closed. What accounts for this difference? The former Soviet states share a number of common features like their communist history and high levels of corruption, making these factors poor candidates for explaining the political divergence. Economic factors also have little explanatory power, as some of the poorest countries like Georgia and Kyrgyzstan have been among the relatively more democratic. Instead, some scholars have emphasized the importance of institutions for explaining the different levels of freedom within the region. The relatively more open counties have parliamentary systems, while the more authoritarian countries have presidential systems (Hale 2016, 2011). When power is vested in a president rather than divided between a president and prime minister, the argument goes, it facilitates a president’s expansion of executive power....
12. International Drivers of Democracy
Authors: Kendall-Taylor Andrea , Lindstaedt Natasha , Frantz Erica
Published: August 2020

Geopolitics and the international order 231

Diffusion, diffusion-proofing, and autocracy promotion 232

External imposition 240

Linkage and leverage 243

Foreign aid 245

International organizations 249

Conclusion 251

Key Questions 252

Further Reading 252

Most scholars agree that democratic transitions tend to cluster in time and space. Samuel Huntington was the first to refer to this phenomenon as ‘waves of democracy’. The most recent and widely analysed wave, the ...
13. The Rise of Populism and Its Impact on Democracy
Authors: Kendall-Taylor Andrea , Lindstaedt Natasha , Frantz Erica
Published: August 2020

What is populism? 256

Populist ideology 257

Populist leaders 261

Populist supporters 263

Populism and democracy 265

The drivers of populism 267

Conclusion 271

Key Questions 271

Further Reading 272

Populism is not new. Although there has been a substantial uptick in support for populist parties and leaders in recent years, populism has long been a feature of democratic politics. Since Roman times, almost every type of government holding competitive elections has experienced some form of populism (...
Skeletal muscle regeneration in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is correlated with pathological severity
Authors: Banerji Christopher R S , Henderson Don , Tawil Rabi N , Zammit Peter S
Published: August 2020

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is an autosomal-dominant myopathy characterized by slowly progressive skeletal muscle weakness and wasting. While a regenerative response is often provoked in many muscular dystrophies, little is known about whether a regenerative response is regularly elicited in FSHD muscle, prompting this study. For comparison, we also examined the similarly slowly progressing myotonic dystrophy type 2 (DM2). To first investigate regeneration at the transcriptomic level, we used the 200 human gene Hallmark Myogenesis list. This myogenesis biomarker was elevated in FSHD and control healthy myotubes compared to their myoblast counterparts, so is higher in myogenic differentiation. The myogenesis biomarker was also elevated in muscle biopsies from most independent FSHD, DM2 or Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) studies compared to control biopsies, and on meta-analysis for each condition. In addition, the myogenesis biomarker was a robust binary discriminator of FSHD, DM2 and DMD from controls. We also analysed muscle regeneration at the protein level by immunolabelling muscle biopsies for developmental myosin heavy chain. Such immunolabelling revealed one or more regenerating myofibres in 76% of FSHD muscle biopsies from quadriceps and 91% from tibialis anterior. The mean proportion of regenerating myofibres per quadriceps biopsy was 0.48%, significantly less than 1.72% in the tibialis anterior. All DM2 muscle biopsies contained regenerating myofibres, with a mean of 1.24% per biopsy. Muscle regeneration in FSHD was correlated with the pathological hallmarks of fibre size variation, central nucleation, fibrosis and necrosis/regeneration/inflammation. In summary, the regenerative response in FSHD muscle biopsies correlates with the severity of pathology.
Who stole disarmament? History and nostalgia in nuclear abolition discourse
Authors: Egeland Kjølv
Published: August 2020

Influential members of the disarmament community have in recent years maintained that further progress towards the international community's nominally shared goal of a world without nuclear weapons depends on recapturing the spirit and practices of cooperation that prevailed in the late 1980s and 1990s. Proponents of abolition, in this view, should focus their efforts on revitalizing the tried and tested arms control formula that was implemented following the end of the Cold War. In this article, I argue that this call to make disarmament great again reflects unwarranted nostalgia for a past that never was, fostering overconfidence in established approaches to the elimination of nuclear weapons. Far from putting the world on course to nuclear abolition, the end of the Cold War saw the legitimation of nuclear weapons as a hedge against ‘future uncertainties’ and entrenchment of the power structures that sustain the retention of nuclear armouries. By overselling past progress towards the elimination of nuclear arms, the nostalgic narrative of a lost abolitionist consensus is used to rationalize the existing nuclear order and delegitimize the pursuit of new approaches to elimination such as the movement to stigmatize nuclear weapons and the practice of nuclear deterrence.
The future war studies community and the Chinese revolution in military affairs
Authors: Liao Kai
Published: August 2020

This article traces the origins and evolution of the ideas and concepts associated with the Chinese revolution in military affairs (RMA). It identifies the PLA Daily's ‘Study Military’ column and ‘Military Salon’ as core elements of a future war studies community that has been a major force advocating a forward-looking approach to military studies and defence planning since the early 1980s. It examines their studies and activities, and argues that this community was at the forefront of studying foreign military theories and ideas and introduced RMA-related concepts to China and adapted them to the Chinese context. More specifically, in the early 1980s, they contributed to the reassessing of the international security environment and shaped the Chinese leadership's threat perception, which eventually led to the shift of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) strategic thought from preparing for imminent all-out war to peacetime army-building. In the late 1980s, they proposed major PLA-wide future war studies initiatives, which resulted in introducing the concepts of local war and high-tech wars into the PLA. They were a major intellectual force that laid the theoretical foundation for the PLA's doctrine of ‘local war under high-tech conditions’, announced in 1993, which paved the way to the RMA with Chinese characteristics.
Global–local dynamics in anti-feminist discourses: an analysis of Indian, Russian and US online communities
Authors: Rothermel Ann-Kathrin
Published: August 2020

Women's rights are a core part of a global consensus on human rights. However, we are currently experiencing an increasing popularity of anti-feminist and misogynist politics threatening to override feminist gains. In order to help explain this current revival and appeal, in this article I analyse how anti-feminist communities construct their collective identities at the intersection of local and global trends and affiliations. Through an in-depth analysis of representations in the collective identities of six popular online anti-feminist communities based in India, Russia and the United States, I shed light on how anti-feminists discursively construct their anti-feminist ‘self’ and the feminist ‘other’ between narratives of localized resistance to change and backlash against the results of broader societal developments associated with globalization. The results expose a complex set of global–local dynamics, which provide a nuanced understanding of the differences and commonalities of anti-feminist collective identity-building and mobilization processes across contexts. By explicitly focusing on the role of discursively produced locations for anti-feminist identity-building and providing new evidence on anti-feminist communities across three different continents, the article contributes to current discussions on transnational anti-feminist mobilizations in both social movement studies and feminist International Relations.
Meropenem population pharmacokinetics in patients with decompensated cirrhosis and severe infections
Authors: Bastida Carla , Hernández-Tejero María , Aziz Fátima , Espinosa Cristina , Sanz Miquel , Brunet Mercè , López Ester , Fernández Javier , Soy Dolors
Published: August 2020

Objectives

Meropenem pharmacokinetics (PK) may be altered in patients with cirrhosis, hampering target attainment. We aimed to describe meropenem PK in patients with decompensated cirrhosis and severe bacterial infections, identify the sources of PK variability and assess the performance of different dosing regimens to optimize the PK/pharmacodynamic (PD) target.

Methods

Serum concentrations and covariates were obtained from patients with severe infections under meropenem treatment. A population PK analysis was performed using non-linear mixed-effects modelling and the final model was used to simulate meropenem exposure to assess the PTA.

Results

Fifty-four patients were enrolled in the study. Data were best described by a one-compartment linear model. The estimated typical mean value for clearance (CL) was 8.35 L/h and the estimated volume of distribution (V) was 28.2 L. Creatinine clearance (CLCR) and MELD score significantly influenced meropenem CL, and acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) significantly affected V. Monte Carlo simulations showed that a lower meropenem dose would be needed as CLCR decreases and as the MELD score increases. Patients with ACLF would have lower peak meropenem concentrations but similar steady-state concentrations compared with patients with no ACLF.

Conclusions

Our study identified two new covariates that influence meropenem PK in patients with decompensated cirrhosis in addition to CLCR: MELD score and ACLF. Dosing regimens are recommended to reach several PK/PD targets considering these clinical variables and any MIC within the susceptibility range.
Cell-based meat: the need to assess holistically
Authors: Faustman Cameron , Hamernik Deb , Looper Michael , Zinn Steven A
Published: August 2020

Proof-of-principle for large-scale engineering of edible muscle tissue, in vitro, was established with the product’s introduction in 2013. Subsequent research and commentary on the potential for cell-based meat to be a viable food option and potential alternative to conventional meat have been significant. While some of this has focused on the biology and engineering required to optimize the manufacturing process, a majority of debate has focused on cultural, environmental, and regulatory considerations. Animal scientists and others with expertise in muscle and cell biology, physiology, and meat science have contributed to the knowledge base that has made cell-based meat possible and will continue to have a role in the future of the new product. Importantly, the successful introduction of cell-based meat that looks and tastes like conventional meat at a comparable price has the potential to displace and/or complement conventional meat in the marketplace.
Anaplastic Transformation in Myxopapillary Ependymoma: A Report of 2 Cases and Review of the Literature
Authors: Gitto Lorenzo , Serinelli Serenella , Galbraith Kristyn , Williams Michael , Mirchia Kanish , Galgano Michael A , Krishnamurthy Satish , de la Roza Gustavo , Viapiano Mariano S , Walker Jamie M , Jour George , Serrano Jonathan , DeLorenzo Michael , Snuderl Matija , Richardson Timothy E
Published: August 2020

Myxopapillary ependymoma (MPE) is a relatively common neoplasm arising primarily in the filum terminale/lumbosacral region of the spinal cord. It is designated as a grade I tumor in the most recent WHO Classification of Tumours of the CNS, although aggressive clinical behavior can be observed, especially in cases arising in an extradural location. Anaplastic transformation in MPE is exceedingly rare with <20 examples reported in the English literature, and consensus on diagnostic features and definitive grading remain to be determined. Here, we present 2 cases of recurrent MPE with anaplastic features, both of which had histology consistent with conventional MPE as well as areas with significant atypia, frequent mitotic figures, elevated Ki-67 proliferation indices (>10%–50%), necrosis, and focal vascular proliferation. Targeted next-generation sequencing panels revealed no definitive pathogenic mutations or fusion proteins in either case. Copy number profiling, methylation profiling, and t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding were performed to investigate the molecular characteristics of these tumors. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first reported cases of MPE with anaplastic features with methylation profiling data. In addition, we review the literature and discuss common histologic and molecular findings associated with anaplastic features in MPE.
Contrasting responses of native and alien plant species to soil properties shed new light on the invasion of dune systems
Authors: Vitti Stefano , Pellegrini Elisa , Casolo Valentino , Trotta Giacomo , Boscutti Francesco
Published: August 2020

Aims

Among terrestrial ecosystems, coastal sandy dunes are particularly prone to alien plant invasion. Many studies related the invasion of dune habitats to anthropic causes, but less is known about the role of soil properties and plant traits in plant invasion. In this study, we tested the relationships between soil features and alien plant invasion in dune systems, focusing on the interplay between soil nutrients, soil salinity and plant functional traits.

Methods

Study sites were sandy barrier islands of the Marano and Grado lagoon (northern Adriatic Sea). One hundred plots (4 m × 4 m) were selected within 10 areas according to the main habitats occurring along the ecological gradient of dune system (foredune, backdune and saltmarsh). In each plot, we recorded all plant species occurrence and abundance and we collected a soil core. For each soil sample, soil texture, conductivity (as proxy of soil salinity), organic carbon and nitrogen content were analyzed and related to the species number and cover of native and alien plants. Variation of main reproductive and vegetative functional traits among habitats was also analyzed for both alien and native species.

Important Findings

Soil properties were strongly related to overall plant diversity, by differently affecting alien and native species pools. In backdune, the most invaded habitat, a high soil conductivity limited the number of alien species, whereas the content of soil organic carbon increased along with alien plant abundance, suggesting also the occurrence of potential feedback processes between plant invasion and soil. We found a significant convergence between native and alien plant functional trait spectra only in backdune habitat, where environmental conditions ameliorate and plant competition increases. Our findings suggest that in harsh conditions only native specialized plants can thrive while at intermediate conditions, soil properties gradient acts in synergy with plant traits to curb/facilitate alien plant richness.
The impacts of warming and nitrogen addition on competitive ability of native and invasive populations of Plantago virginica
Authors: Luo Xi , Zheng Yi , Xu Xiaohong , Xiao Rui , Guo Hui
Published: August 2020

Aims

Global change factors (e.g. warming and nitrogen deposition) may influence biological invasions, but how these factors may influence the performance of invasive species and further mediate the interactions with native competitors remain still unknown.

Methods

Here, we conducted a 5-month greenhouse experiment to examine the effects of warming (using open-top chambers, +0.62°C) and N addition (adding NH4NO3 at a rate of 4.2 g m−2) on the performance of the native and invasive populations of an invasive species Plantago virginica in competition with a native Plantago asiatica.

Important Findings

Under warming treatment and its interaction with nitrogen addition treatment (W × N), invasive and native populations of P. virginica had different biomass allocation strategies to compete with native competitor P. asiatica. Native population of P. virginica (PV-Na) increased more below-ground biomass, whereas those from the invasive population (PV-In) increased more above-ground biomass. We also found that invasive species P. virginica had stronger responses to warming and N addition than the native species P. asiatica. The competitive ability of the invasive plants was significantly reduced by warming which indicated that the invasive plant were much stronger sensitivity to elevated temperature than native plant. Similarly, N addition and W × N reduced the competitive response of PV-In in below-ground biomass, but increased the competitive response of PV-Na in above-ground and total biomass when they grew with the P. asiatica. The results show that P. virginica have occurred differential biomass allocation strategies during its invasions and invasive population exhibit flexible competition ability to adapt to environmental changes (especially warming). These findings may potentially help to predict plant invasions and make management strategies in a world with changing climate.
Spectrophotometric characterization of the Philae landing site and surroundings with the Rosetta/OSIRIS cameras
Authors: Hoang Hong Van , Fornasier S , Quirico E , Hasselmann P H , Barucci M A , Sierks H , Tubiana C , Güttler C
Published: August 2020

We investigate Abydos, the final landing site of the Philae lander after its eventful landing from the Rosetta spacecraft on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 2014 November 12. Over 1000 OSIRIS-level 3B images were analysed, which cover the 2014 August–2016 September timeframe, with spatial resolution ranging from 7.6 m pixel−1 to approximately 0.06 m pixel−1. We found that the Abydos site is as dark as the global 67P nucleus and spectrally red, with an average albedo of 6.5 per cent at 649 nm and a spectral slope value of about 17 per cent/(100 nm) at 50° phase angle. Similar to the whole nucleus, the Abydos site also shows phase reddening but with lower coefficients than other regions of the comet, which may imply a thinner cover of microscopically rough regolith compared to other areas. Seasonal variations, as already noticed for the whole nucleus, were also observed. We identified some potential morphological changes near the landing site implying a total mass-loss of (4.7–7.0) × 105 kg. Small spots ranging from 0.1 to 27 m2 were observed close to Abydos before and after perihelion. Their estimated water ice abundance reaches 30–40 per cent locally, indicating fresh exposures of volatiles. Their lifetime ranges from a few hours up to three months for two pre-perihelion spots. The Abydos surroundings showed a low level of cometary activity compared to other regions of the nucleus. Only a few jets are reported originating nearby Abydos, including a bright outburst that lasted for about 1 h.
The hierarchical fragmentation of filaments and the role of sub-filaments
Authors: Clarke S D , Williams G M , Walch S
Published: August 2020

Recent observations have revealed the presence of small fibres or sub-filaments within larger filaments. We present a numerical fragmentation study of fibrous filaments investigating the link between cores and sub-filaments using hydrodynamical simulations performed with the moving-mesh code arepo. Our study suggests that cores form in two environments: (i) as isolated cores, or small chains of cores, on a single sub-filament, or (ii) as an ensemble of cores located at the junction of sub-filaments. We term these isolated and hub cores, respectively. We show that these core populations are statistically different from each other. Hub cores have a greater mean mass than isolated cores, and the mass distribution of hub cores is significantly wider than isolated cores. This fragmentation is reminiscent of parsec-scale hub-filament systems, showing that the combination of turbulence and gravity leads to similar fragmentation signatures on multiple scales, even within filaments. Moreover, the fact that fragmentation proceeds through sub-filaments suggests that there exists no characteristic fragmentation length-scale between cores. This is in opposition to earlier theoretical works studying fibre-less filaments which suggest a strong tendency towards the formation of quasi-periodically spaced cores, but in better agreement with observations. We also show tentative signs that global collapse of filaments preferentially form cores at both filament ends, which are more massive and dense than other cores.
The molecular mechanisms that underlie fragile X-associated premature ovarian insufficiency: is it RNA or protein based?
Authors: Rosario Roseanne , Anderson Richard
Published: August 2020

The FMR1 gene contains a polymorphic CGG trinucleotide sequence within its 5′ untranslated region. More than 200 CGG repeats (termed a full mutation) underlie the severe neurodevelopmental condition fragile X syndrome, while repeat lengths that range between 55 and 200 (termed a premutation) result in the conditions fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome and fragile X-associated premature ovarian insufficiency (FXPOI). Premutations in FMR1 are the most common monogenic cause of premature ovarian insufficiency and are routinely tested for clinically; however, the mechanisms that contribute to the pathology are still largely unclear. As studies in this field move towards unravelling the molecular mechanisms involved in FXPOI aetiology, we review the evidence surrounding the two main theories which describe an RNA toxic gain-of-function mechanism, resulting in the loss of function of RNA-binding proteins, or a protein-based mechanism, where repeat-associated non-AUG translation leads to the formation of an abnormal polyglycine containing protein, called FMRpolyG.
Evidence for stage-based larval vulnerability and resilience to acidification in Crassostrea virginica
Authors: Miller A Whitman , Reynolds Amanda , Minton Mark S , Smith Rachel
Published: August 2020

Using image analysis of scanning electron micrographs (SEMs), we compared differences in growth of D-stage veligers [i.e. prodissoconch I and II (PI and PII) larvae] of eastern oysters Crassostrea virginica grown in mesohaline water under high- and low-CO2 conditions. We found SEMs to reveal no evidence of dissolution or shell structure deformity for larval shells in either of the CO2 treatments but detected prominent growth lines in the PII regions of larval shells. The number of growth lines closely approximated the duration of the experiment, suggesting that growth lines are generated daily. Mean growth line interval widths were 20% greater for larval shells cultured in low- vs high-CO2 conditions. Crassostrea virginica veliger larvae were shown to tolerate high CO2 levels and aragonite saturation states (Ωarag) < 1.0, but larval growth was slowed substantially under these conditions. Differences in growth line interval width translate into substantial changes in shell area and account for previously observed differences in total shell area between the treatments, as determined by light microscopy and image analysis. Other studies have documented high mortality and malformation of D-stage larvae in bivalves when pre-veliger life stages (i.e. eggs, gastrula and trochophores) were exposed to elevated CO2. Our experiments revealed statistical differences in rates of larval survival, settlement and subsequent early-stage spat mortality for veligers reared in high- and low-CO2 conditions. Although each of these rates was measurably affected by high CO2, the magnitude of these differences was small (range across categories = 0.7–6.3%) suggesting that the impacts may not be catastrophic, as implied by several previous studies. We believe the apparent disparity among experimental results may be best explained by differential vulnerability of pre-veliger stage larvae and veligers, whereby PI and PII larvae have greater physiological capacity to withstand environmental conditions that may be thermodynamically unfavourable to calcification (i.e. Ωarag < 1.0).