bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An untargeted metabolome-wide association study of maternal perinatal tobacco smoking in newborn blood spots
Authors: He Di , Yan Qi , Uppal Karan , Walker Douglas I. , Jones Dean P. , Ritz Beate , Heck Julia E.
Published: February 2025

Introduction

Maternal tobacco smoking in the perinatal period increases the risk for adverse outcomes in offspring.

Objective

To better understand the biological pathways through which maternal tobacco use may have long-term impacts on child metabolism, we performed a high-resolution metabolomics (HRM) analysis in newborns, following an untargeted metabolome-wide association study workflow.

Methods

The study population included 899 children without cancer diagnosis before age 6 and born between 1983 and 2011 in California. Newborn dried blood spots were collected by the California Genetic Disease Screening Program between 12 and 48 h after birth and stored for later research use. Based on HRM, we considered mothers to be active smokers if they were self- or provider-reported smokers on birth certificates or if we detected any cotinine or high hydroxycotinine intensities in newborn blood. We used partial least squares discriminant analysis and Mummichog pathway analysis to identify metabolites and metabolic pathways associated with maternal tobacco smoking.

Results

A total of 26,183 features were detected with HRM, including 1003 that were found to be associated with maternal smoking late in pregnancy and early postpartum (Variable Importance in Projection (VIP) scores > = 2). Smoking affected metabolites and metabolic pathways in neonatal blood including vitamin A (retinol) metabolism, the kynurenine pathway, and tryptophan and arachidonic acid metabolism.

Conclusion

The smoking-associated metabolites and pathway perturbations that we identified suggested inflammatory responses and have also been implicated in chronic diseases of the central nervous system and the lung. Our results suggest that infant metabolism in the early postnatal period reflects smoking specific physiologic responses to maternal smoking with strong biologic plausibility.
Cisplatin and methotrexate induce brain microvascular endothelial and microglial senescence in mouse models of chemotherapy-associated cognitive impairment
Authors: Csik Boglarka , Vali Kordestan Kiana , Gulej Rafal , Patai Roland , Nyul-Toth Adam , Shanmugarama Santny , Mukli Peter , Ungvari Anna , Balsara Karl E. , McNall Rene Y. , Razzaghi Talayeh , Tarantini Stefano , Yabluchanskiy Andriy , Ungvari Zoltan , Csiszar Anna
Published: February 2025

The increasing number of cancer survivors has brought heightened attention to the side effects of cancer therapies, including chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment (CRCI, commonly referred to as “chemobrain”). Cisplatin and methotrexate, commonly used first-line chemotherapeutics in gynecologic oncology for cancers such as breast, ovarian, and bladder cancer, are clinically associated with long-term cognitive deficits. Building on our previous preclinical studies demonstrating that paclitaxel chemotherapy induces cerebrovascular endothelial and microglial senescence—leading to blood–brain barrier (BBB) disruption, neuroinflammation, and cognitive impairments—we hypothesized that cisplatin and methotrexate might similarly promote senescence in these cells. Senescent endothelial cells and microglia are known to contribute to neuroinflammation, cerebral blood flow dysregulation, and white matter damage, exacerbating cognitive decline. Using the p16-3MR mouse model, which expresses red fluorescent protein (RFP) in p16 + senescent cells, we evaluated the impact of these drugs on brain endothelial and microglial senescence through flow cytometry. Our results show a significant increase in senescent endothelial and microglial cells two months post-treatment with cisplatin or methotrexate compared to controls. These findings offer new insights into the shared mechanisms underlying CRCI associated with cisplatin or methotrexate treatment, extending our understanding of chemotherapy-induced vascular cognitive impairments.
Additive Manufacturing a One-Piece Microfluidic Device Coupled to Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry for In Vitro Drug Metabolism Analysis
Authors: Lu Shao-Wei , Wu Yi-Hsin , Chen Pin-Chuan , Chen Pai-Shan
Published: February 2025

Understanding the metabolism of drugs is a principal consideration when it comes to understanding the activity of a precursor drug and determining if the precursor is converted into bioactive metabolites after ingestion in the human body. This process is typically studied using either animal models or in vitro models, such as human liver microsomes (HLM). In this research, a novel one-piece microreactor was fabricated with light-curing 3D printing technology, which can be seamlessly and directly integrated with a liquid chromatography–mass spectrometer (LC–MS) system for drug metabolic analysis after an in vitro human liver microsomal reaction. The results clearly showed that: (1) this system was able to conduct metabolic reactions (demonstrated by three commonly abused substances or impurity in illicit heroin including heroin, 6-acetylcodeine, and buprenorphine) at the operation temperature of 37 °C and operation pressure ranging from 7.8 to 21.5 bars, and its performance was very competitive to the conventional method while reducing total processing steps and minimizing manual operation, (2) the integrated LC–MS system demonstrated a high stability and precision where the RSD of chromatographic peak area and retention time was only 2.53% and 0.91%, and (3) the 3D printed reactors, featuring an integrated locking design and a bonded filtration membrane, can significantly enhance usage convenience, reduce specimen process time, and resist high back pressure, potentially advancing drug metabolism studies.
Case report. Een schwannoom in de nier
Authors: Kok Aranxa S. M. , Hoevenaars Brigiet M. , Duijvesz Diederick
Published: February 2025

Samenvatting

Een 59-jarige vrouw presenteerde zich op de polikliniek urologie met een echografisch en asymptomatisch incidentaloom van de linker nier. Een CT-nieren, aanvullende MRI-nieren en biopt van de nier toonde een schwannoom. Na consultatie van de neurochirurg werd vooral op verzoek van de patiënte een nefrectomie verricht, waarna het schwannoom met behulp van pathologie werd bevestigd, zonder maligne kenmerken. Een schwannoom is in essentie een benigne afwijking. Zonder histologie is het maligne karakter echter niet goed uit te sluiten en daarom wordt resectie geadviseerd.
Global stability in large economies
Authors: Keenan Donald C. , Kim Taewon
Published: February 2025

A result is obtained showing how global stability of equilibrium, under the standard tâtonnement dynamic, arises in large economies having a continuous, diffuse distribution of consumers, as well as many goods.
A “Noodle and Thread”: A Low-Fidelity Simulation of Blood Vessel Ligation Using Common Household Items
Authors: Markel Justin , Franke Jacob D. , Woodberry Kerri , Fahrenkopf Matthew
Published: February 2025

Purpose

Simulation is becoming increasingly essential to surgical education, and many skills are learned in simulation-based training laboratories before being used in the operating room (OR). The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the need for alternative methods of learning important surgical techniques, particularly in resource-limited areas. One of the most important early skills for trainees is surgical knot tying without exerting excessive upward traction, such as that used to ligate blood vessels prior to division and cautery.

Methods

To help solve this problem, we have developed a model of blood vessel ligation and surgical knot tying using common, inexpensive household items including noodles, adhesive tape, and thread.

Results

The proposed model adequately simulated blood vessel ligation and displayed a wide spectrum of difficulty levels based on the materials chosen.

Conclusions

Surgical knot tying can be practiced in private settings with the proposed model of blood vessel ligation. The model is low cost, and its difficulty can be adjusted by changing noodle morphology.
The effect of hot isostatic pressing on the thermomechanical behavior of electron beam powder-bed fusion SS316L
Authors: Goviazin Gleb Gil , Braun D. , Tiferet E. , Samuha S. , Hayun S. , Shirizly A. , Rittel D.
Published: February 2025

This study investigates the influence of hot isostatic pressing (HIP) at 100 MPa and temperatures of 960, 1060, and 1160 ℃ on the dynamic mechanical behavior and thermomechanical coupling of 316L stainless steel produced by electron beam powder-bed fusion (EB-PBF). Initially, the density was measured and found to be consistent at about 7.966 g/cm3 across all HIP treatments. Following this, a split Hopkinson pressure bar and a high-speed infrared camera were used to analyze the mechanical response and temperature distribution. These results were compared with those of wire and arc additive manufacturing and bulk (conventionally manufactured) 316L stainless steel. All specimens demonstrated mechanical properties similar to annealed bulk material, with dynamic yield stress around 450–500 MPa and comparable strain hardening. Notably, the EB-PBF material exhibited a higher Taylor–Quinney coefficient (~ 0.7) compared to ~ 0.5 in other cases.
The Negative Legislator: Machiavelli’s Popular Epistemocracy in the Discourses on Livy
Authors: Campos Andre Santos
Published: February 2025

In the Discourses on Livy, Machiavelli maintains that the people is often superior epistemically to princes. This forms the outlines of an argument from popular epistemocracy. However, in light of his theory of humours, how can governance belong to the most epistemically capable if they are driven solely by a negative desire? How can the best decisions regarding domination be made by those who only have a desire to not dominate? This paper develops the thesis that the people’s negative humours can be consistent with the claim that it has the best epistemic capacities to rule insofar as such capacities are understood only negatively, based on the people’s competencies to assess error and identify mistakes in collective decision-making. The argument is divided into three sections. The first unpacks the problem by clarifying how multiplicity in Machiavelli has more robust epistemic value and, consequentially, more political value in certain circumstances. The second explains the negative dimension of epistemic capacity and how Machiavelli attributes it to the people by highlighting two epistemically crucial characteristics: multiplicity and diversity. The third lists the people’s three forms of negative governance displayed in the Discourses: intra-institutional opposition, institutional participation (in litigation, the selection of magistrates, and lawmaking), and extra-institutional contestation. In the end, it should be clear that Machiavelli qualifies as an epistemocrat with democratic tendencies insofar as the people fulfils the role of a ‘negative legislator’.
Effect of Nanocomposite Clays on Storage Stability of Rubberized Binders under Different Curing and Blending Conditions
Authors: Vigneswaran Shyaamkrishnan , Yun Jihyeon , Lee Moon-Sup , Lee Soon-Jae
Published: February 2025

This study investigates the phase separation effects of PG 64–22 modified rubberized binders with two types of nanocomposite clays. Manual blending of crumb rubber modifier (CRM) and conditioning at 200 °C for 1 h were performed, followed by evaluating the binder properties under various curing and blending conditions. Performance characteristics and phase separational changes were assessed using Superpave and Multiple shear creep recovery (MSCR) test methods. The findings reveal that increasing mixing time and temperature results in reduced viscosity of the modified binder, whereas the incorporation of nanocomposite clays leads to increased viscosity. Additionally, the combination of extended mixing time, nanocomposite clays, and crumb rubber enhances the G*/Sin

$$\delta$$

δ

values, with the 3% kaolinite + 10% crumb rubber modified binder exhibiting the highest values. Moreover, the percentage recovery studies demonstrate an inverse relationship between blending duration, load cycles, and recovery percentages, with the 3% kaolinite + 10% crumb rubber modified binder displaying superior recovery. Furthermore, higher temperature and mixing time directly contribute to the reduction of phase separation between the asphaltene-rich and rubber-rich phases. Notably, the addition of nanocomposite clays as a secondary modifier has no impact on reducing phase separation. Finally, the 5% crumb rubber modified binder demonstrates a lower separation index (SI) percentage compared to all other combinations. These findings provide valuable insights for improving asphalt binder modification techniques and developing high-performance asphalt materials.
Proximity-based service discovery for distributed digital twin systems
Authors: Rothermel Kurt , Herzog Otthein , Zhiqiang Siegfried Wu
Published: February 2025

Over the past decade, there has been a significant increase in interest in digital twin (DT) technology in a variety of domains. While research on DTs of single assets was initially prevalent, there has been a notable shift towards distributed systems of DTs, which connect to each other to collaborate. Typically, collaboration is enabled by DTs providing services that can be consumed by other DTs. In service-oriented systems, a service is typically identified by type information. However, this is not sufficient in distributed DT systems, where DTs associated with different physical entities may provide the same type of service. Consequently, selecting the appropriate service depends not only on the service type, but also on the associated physical entity. However, requiring DTs to know the mapping of services to their physical environment is not feasible for large dynamic systems. This paper presents a novel proximity-based service discovery method that allows DTs to select services based on service type and their proximity to other objects. That is, service specifications are fully abstracted from the mapping of services to physical objects, relieving DTs from maintaining information about this mapping. Furthermore, service discovery is robust to changes in the physical environment and service population. The proposed service discovery method has been implemented on top of a spatial DBMS. We argue that this implementation is optimal in terms of network utilization and latency, and perform comprehensive evaluations to show the performance of discovery queries as a function of their complexity.
Relationship Between Heated Tobacco Products and Placental Abruption: A Prospective Cohort Study Using Online Questionnaire
Authors: Ooba Hikaru , Maki Jota , Tabuchi Takahiro , Masuyama Hisashi
Published: February 2025

Background

Placental abruption (PA) is a critical obstetric complication, with maternal smoking recognized as a key risk factor. Despite the increased use of heated tobacco products (HTPs), the impact of HTPs remains unclear. This study investigated whether pregnant women using HTPs are at a higher risk of PA than non-users.

Methods

We analyzed data from “the Japan COVID-19 and Society Internet Survey,” a prospective, self-reported online survey cohort. Questionnaires were randomly distributed between July 28, 2021, and August 30, 2021. Pregnant respondents in 2021 were invited to complete an additional survey from February 14, 2022, to February 28, 2022. We set the outcome as the absolute risk difference (aRD) and relative risk ratio (rRR) of PA incidence due to smoking HTPs in the first trimester of pregnancy. The sample size included 12 836 participants. We calculated outcomes using a generalized linear model (GLM) and inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW). We also performed a Bayesian approach and multiple-bias analysis for sensitivity analysis.

Results

We found the robust aRD of 0.07 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.06, 0.09) and the rRR of 11.3 (95% CI: 7.5, 17.0). Multiple bias analyses showed that unmeasurable confounders would need to have at least an rRR = 14 relationship with both exposure and outcome to disprove the observed association. There has not been post hoc analysis or secondary use of data.

Conclusion

Early pregnancy use of HTPs is associated with an increased risk of PA.
Optical imaging unveiling metabolic dynamics in cells and organisms during aging and diseases
Authors: Shi Lingyan , Villazon Jorge
Published: February 2025

Cellular metabolism plays a critical role in various physiological and pathological processes. High resolution imaging of intracellular metabolic activities is crucial for understanding many biological pathways, and for facilitating disease prognosis and treatment assessment. Raman scattering (RS) spectroscopy/microscopy, in particular stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), has emerged as a powerful imaging technology for cellular imaging with high specificity, high sensitivity, and subcellular resolution. Since its invention, SRS microscopy imaging has been extensively applied in life science for studying composition, structure, metabolism, development, and disease in biological systems. This review focuses on the latest applications of SRS imaging, particularly with heavy water probing, for studying metabolic dynamics of biomolecules in organisms during aging and diseases. Furthermore, future applications and development of SRS imaging in both life science and medicine are considered.

Graphical Abstract
Forest-Based Employment in the Southern United States Under Climate Change: Historical Impacts and Future Projections
Authors: Lamica Austin , Parajuli Rajan , Mihiar Christopher
Published: February 2025

The southern United States (US) is the largest producer of timber products in the world, which faces significant threat from climate driven extreme weather events. The forest products industry is particularly vulnerable to climate change when production is seasonal and working conditions are affected by temperature and precipitation. This study estimates the impacts of climatic factors on forest-based employment in the US South using county-level panel data from 2001 to 2021. Our empirical estimates between employment and climatic variables are employed to project the forest-based employment through 2070 under Representative Concentration Pathways scenarios -- RCP 4.5 and 8.5. Results suggest that precipitation is positively correlated with the aggregate forest-based employment and wood product and furniture manufacturing sectors. We find a negative relationship between temperature and employment in the aggregate forest-based employment and furniture manufacturing sector. The future projections suggest a decline in aggregate forest-based employment by 9% and 16% by 2070 under RCP 4.5 and 8.5, respectively, relative to a constant climate baseline scenario. These results offer implications for forest managers, policy makers, and employers in forest-based industries, as they plan for future management decisions and employment opportunities under a changing climate.
Language and Politics
Authors: House Julianne , Kádár Dániel Z.
Published: February 2025

The research and teaching of language and politics has mainly been carried out in the fields of critical discourse analysis and sociolinguistics. This groundbreaking book provides a concise introduction to the field from the perspective of cross-cultural pragmatics. It introduces a strictly language-based, bottom-up and comprehensive model for analysing political data, which allows the reader to examine political and socio-political data without pre-held convictions and prejudices, avoiding many pitfalls that have lurked for a long time in the study of political language use. It is illustrated with a wealth of data and case studies drawn from many linguacultures, including Anglophone ones, China, Japan, Germany and the former Yugoslavia, and from different contexts of political language use, such as diplomacy, activism, public communication and news articles. It includes handy further reading lists, discussion points and a comprehensive glossary, making it ideal for anyone keen to know how language interacts with politics.
Affective Touching
Authors: Paterson Mark
Published: February 2025

At the end of the twentieth century the discovery of 'slow', affective touch nerves in humans known as C Tactile (CT) afferents, which are entirely separate from the faster pathways for touching objects, had huge social implications. The Swedish neuroscientists responsible formulated an “affective touch hypothesis” or “social touch hypothesis” to consider their purpose. Part I offers a history of the science of social touch, from related discoveries in mammals by physiologists in the 1930s, to the recent rediscoveries of the CT nerves in humans. Part II considers how these findings are being intentionally folded into technologies for interaction. First, as mediated social touch, communicating at a distance through haptics. Second, with the increasing number of social and service robots in health care and domestic settings, the role of affective touch within human-robot interaction design.
Hegel and Heidegger on Time
Authors: Trisokkas Ioannis
Published: February 2025

This Element discusses Heidegger's early (1924–1931) reading and critique of Hegel, which revolve around the topic of time. The standard view is that Heidegger distances himself from Hegel by arguing that whereas he takes time to be 'originarily' Dasein's 'temporality,' Hegel has a 'vulgar' conception of time as 'now-time' (the succession of formal nows). The Element defends the thesis that while this difference concerning the nature of time is certainly a part of Heidegger's 'confrontation' with Hegel, it is not its kernel. What Heidegger aspired to convey with his Hegel-critique is that they have a divergent conception of man's understanding of being (ontology). Whereas Heidegger takes ontology to be grounded in temporality, Hegel thinks it is grounded in 'the concept,' which has a dimension ('logos') manifesting eternity or timelessness. It is argued, contra Kojève, that Heidegger's reading (but not necessarily his critique) of Hegel is, in an important respect, correct.
Subsidiarity
Authors: Follesdal Andreas
Published: February 2025

'Subsidiarity' is vague and contested, yet popular in scholarship about international law due to its role in the European Union (EU). Which conceptions of subsidiarity are more justifiable, and how might they contribute to international law? A principle of subsidiarity concerns how to establish, allocate, or use authority within a social or legal order, stating a rebuttable presumption for the local. Various historical patterns, practices, principles, and justifications offer different recommendations. Seven normative theories vary in how immunity protecting or person promoting they are. The latter appear more justifiable and withstand criticism often raised against subsidiarity. Some conceptions of person promoting subsidiarity serve as a structuring principle for international law and fullfills several criteria of a general principle of law. It can harmonize domestic and international law but is not sufficient to reduce fragmentation among sectors with different objectives.
The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Hospital Surge Preparedness and Response Index: A Retrospective Study in an Italian Hospital
Authors: Rodi Paolo , Weinstein Eric S. , Foti Francesco , Somaschini Roberta , Claus Marco , von Schreeb Johan
Published: February 2025

Objective

To quantitatively assess key performance indicator changes between selected pre-pandemic and pandemic periods at the Sant’Anna Hospital emergency department (ED) in Como, Italy through the retrospective use of Hospital Surge Preparedness and Response index (HSPRI).

Methods

This study collected the average length of stay (LOS), time-to-physician initial assessment (TPIA), and left-without-being seen (LWBS) rates for 2 pre-pandemic (control group) and 3 pandemic periods (study group) in the COVID ED (C-ED) dedicated to treat COVID-19 patients and the non-COVID ED (NC-ED) dedicated to non-COVID cases. Quantitative analysis was based on hypothesis testing. A retrospective qualitative theme and subtheme analysis based on the HSPRI was conducted on baseline strategies before each pandemic period and on the actions implemented thereafter.

Results

LOS increased across all pandemic periods. TPIA decreased in the first 2 pandemic periods in comparison to pre-pandemic. LWBS decreased between pre-pandemic and pandemic periods. Of the 22 action items listed in the HSPRI, 8 were implemented in the first pandemic period, 8 in the second and 1 in the third, for a total of 17 items.

Conclusions

The HSPRI demonstrated value as a tool for a hospital staff to actively utilize during a pandemic to identify KPI triggers to formulate actions to maintain pre-pandemic care or ameliorate the deterioration of care during the pandemic.
Working futures in Australia’s renewable industries?
Authors: Rainnie Al , Snell Darryn , Dean Mark
Published: February 2025

In this article, we consider the future of work in Australia’s renewable energy industry sectors through a consideration of the evolving political and economic context that will continue to shape it in years to come. We are particularly concerned about the quantity and quality of jobs, how these jobs will be realised, who secures them, and who will provide them. Further complicating matters, the debate is being carried out in the context of generalised skill shortages and recruitment difficulties. This article draws on and develops arguments we have put forward recently. Our focus in this article has been on the political economy of work and employment in Australia, especially implications of the polycrisis and associated geopolitics, the militarisation of industrial policy, renewable industries, regional development, just transitions, and the future of work and workers. In developing our argument, we consider Australia’s focus on ‘Renewable Energy Industrial Zones’ in an era of the ‘new state capitalism’, the impact of the US Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act particularly and new geopolitics generally, and the dominance of multinational corporations in renewable industries.
Misunderstanding Aquinas on Law
Authors: Riordan SJ Patrick
Published: February 2025

This article investigates how two eminent scholars, the French cultural historian Rémi Brague and the American professor of Government J.Budziszewski misunderstand Aquinas on law. It explores the possible reasons for their misunderstandings. In both cases there is a failure to appreciate the theological context and content of what St Thomas has to say about law. Their lack of appreciation for the theological content explains also their individual specific distortions of the account of law. Brague confuses eternal law and divine law, which Aquinas explicitly distinguishes, and applies an abstract notion of the divine which heapplies not only to medieval Christian texts, but also to Greek, Egyptian, Jewish, and Islamic ideas on law. Budziszewski imposes on St Thomas’s classification of types of law the logical structure of genus and species, despite acknowledging that Aquinas avoids this language. The result is that he fails to appreciate the significance of eternal law. Both scholars misapprehend eternal law, and this is due to their ignoring theology. They exemplify a characteristic mistake of treating St Thomas as a philosopher, and his theology as something added on to the philosophical account.
Radiocarbon dating of the end of the latest Caspian Sea overflow through the Manych Depression (southeastern European Plain)
Authors: Semikolennykh Daria , Panin Andrei , Zazovskaya Elya
Published: February 2025

The Manych Depression is a relatively narrow elongated depression of tectonic origin, connecting the Caspian and Azov-Black Sea basins. The Caspian Sea repeatedly discharged its waters through this depression into the Black Sea and further into the Mediterranean Sea during the Quaternary period. The last discharge occurred in MIS 2 when the Khvalynian transgression waters exceeded the drainage divide between those two basins. The geochronology of the last flow of Caspian waters into the Black Sea was established recently based on 14C dating of Khvalynian shells, carried out mainly by liquid scintillation counting, and the end of this event was dated to 12.5–12.8 ka cal BP. Recently obtained OSL dates for one of the most complete sections of the Khvalynian deposits of the Manych Depression indicate an older time for the end of the flow. This study aimed to clarify the timing of the Khvalynian transgression discharge by examining two sections containing the Khvalynian mollusk fauna in layers that, according to their stratigraphic and geomorphological position, belong to the final phase of the flow of the Caspian waters. Four 14C AMS dates were obtained from single shells of Didacna ebersini and Hypanis plicata, which agree with the OSL dating results. The results indicate that the last overflow of Caspian waters through the Manych Depression had ceased at around 14.5 ka cal BP.
Associations between diet quality indices and psoriasis severity: results from the Asking People with Psoriasis about Lifestyle and Eating (APPLE) cross-sectional study
Authors: Zanesco Sylvia , Maruthappu Thiviyani , Griffiths Christopher E.M. , Dalrymple Kathryn V. , Gibson Rachel , Hall Wendy L.
Published: February 2025

Psoriasis is a chronic immune-inflammatory skin disease. Cross-sectional research examining diet quality indices (DQIs) in psoriasis has focused on the Mediterranean diet and is confined to Mediterranean populations, thereby lacking generalisability to other populations. We explored associations between DQIs and the likelihood of reporting a higher psoriasis severity. This was an online cross-sectional study recruiting adult volunteers with psoriasis (n=257). A 147-item food frequency questionnaire evaluated adherence to the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS), the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) score, and the Plant-based Diet Index (PDI); original (oPDI), healthy (hPDI), and unhealthy (uPDI) subtypes. Psoriasis severity was determined with the self-assessed Simplified Psoriasis Index. When adjusted for age, sex, smoking, alcohol over-consumption, energy intake, and psychological morbidity, multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed an increased likelihood of reporting a higher psoriasis severity in participants with a very low adherence to DASH OR = 3.75, 95% CI 1.313 – 10.700, P = 0.01), and hPDI (OR = 4.04, 95% CI 1.251 – 13.064, P = 0.02) patterns. A reduced likelihood of reporting a higher psoriasis severity was shown in participants with low adherence to the uPDI (OR = 0.25, 95% CI 0.085 – 0.716, P = 0.01). With further adjustment for body mass index (BMI), a very low adherence to the oPDI was significantly associated with an increased likelihood of reporting a higher psoriasis severity (OR = 3.46, 95% CI 1.029 – 11.656, P = 0.05). Dietary interventions and assessment should be introduced in the care-pathway for psoriasis management.
Modelling sugarcane root elongation in response to mechanical stress as an indicator of soil physical quality
Authors: Grande Luiz Henrique Quecine , Santos John Kennedy dos , Pereira Matheus Batista Néri , Silva Lucas Henrique Amaro da , Muniz Larissa Fernanda , Bolonhezi Denizart , Umburanas Renan Caldas , Moraes Moacir Tuzzin de
Published: February 2025

The root elongation rate represents a biophysical process that can be directly affected by mechanical, water, thermal, and gaseous stresses in the soil to be used as a soil physical quality indicator. The objective of this study was to determine sugarcane root growth parameters under soil physical stress for different root diameter classes in an Oxisol from the Southeast of Brazil. The experimental design was entirely randomized in a factorial scheme 5 × 2 (mechanical × water stress) with three replications. The factor mechanical stress was composed of five compaction levels (1.04; 1.12; 1.19; 1.28; 1.36 Mg m–3). The factor water stress was composed of two matric potentials (–6 kPa and –33 kPa). Soil samples were collected from the 0.0–0.2 m layer of an Oxisol with a clayey texture. Pre-sprouted sugarcane seedlings were transplanted and conditioned in a growth chamber. Root length, volume, surface area, and diameter were quantified to generate root growth models as a function of physical stresses in the soil. Soil penetration resistance increases from 1.4 to 5 MPa reduced root elongation rate from 3.5 to 1.35 cm day–1 (–59%) and the average number of roots from 11 to 6 segments (–45%), respectively. The root volume, surface area, and length were reduced because of the increase in the compaction level. Coarse root diameter (1–2 mm) was weakly impacted by mechanical stress, whereas fine root diameter (0.5–1 mm) was more growth limited in compacted soils. The root elongation rate of sugarcane was modelled as a function of mechanical and water stress. Mechanical stress mainly affects the growth of sugarcane roots with small diameter.
Spilling Millet: The East African Post and Studied Bureaucratic Knowledge
Authors: Robinson Morgan
Published: February 2025

This essay is a study in bureaucratic knowledge production using the example of the postal system in German East Africa. There is a great deal of historical literature that focuses on bureaucratic-knowledge-as-power: bureaucracies produced information that was used to quantify and, ultimately, to control populations both in the metropole and the colony. In this piece I want to emphasize another kind of bureaucratic knowledge production: namely, information about the bureaucratic system that was created through bureaucratic practice — what I call “studied bureaucratic knowledge.” Beyond understanding German attempts to translate (linguistically, administratively, and culturally) one understanding of bureaucracy, the historian who pays attention to the users of colonial bureaucratic structures can uncover bureaucratic knowledge created by those who encountered those structures in their daily lives — and how that information in turned shaped their use of the bureaucratic system.
System size and system complexity: A case study in Pamean nouns and verbs
Authors: Herce Borja , Baerman Matthew , Parker Jeff
Published: February 2025

Inflectional systems vary along multiple dimensions (number of members, size of paradigms, word class, integrative complexity, accidents of history, etc.). This makes it difficult to find significant correlations and causality relations between different properties, as attested systems usually differ in multiple ways at the same time, thus obscuring possible relations between individual variables. Here we analyze the relation between a system’s size by number of members and its morphological complexity. We do so by exploring in detail, via quantitative methods, the cognate inflectional systems of Central Pame and Chichimec (Otomanguean, Mexico), whose inflecting nominal classes differ precisely mostly with regard to their size (i.e. number of members).
Zero-full law for well approximable sets in missing digit sets
Authors: LI BING , LI RUOFAN , WU YUFENG
Published: February 2025

Let

$b \geqslant 3$

be an integer and C(b, D) be the set of real numbers in [0,1] whose base b expansion only consists of digits in a set

$D {\subseteq} \{0,...,b-1\}$

. We study how close can numbers in C(b, D) be approximated by rational numbers with denominators being powers of some integer t and obtain a zero-full law for its Hausdorff measure in several circumstances. When b and t are multiplicatively dependent, our results correct an error of Levesley, Salp and Velani (Math. Ann.338 (2007), 97–118) and generalise their theorem. When b and t are multiplicatively independent but have the same prime divisors, we obtain a partial result on the Hausdorff measure and bounds for the Hausdorff dimension, which are close to the multiplicatively dependent case. Based on these results, several conjectures are proposed.
Constitutional Panic in British India: How the Ilbert Bill Controversy of 1883 Revealed the Constitutive Character of Racial Discrimination in the British Empire
Authors: Machona Gwinyai
Published: February 2025

Until today, not only the general public but also scholars of colonialism and imperialism debate about the extent to which Europeans were aware of the centrality of racial discrimination for colonialism and empires. Those who stress that racism was the foundation of European colonialism appear to be anachronistic. However, as this essay demonstrates, at least the British of the late nineteenth century were well-aware of the constitutive character of racial discrimination for their Empire. During the “constitutional panic” which the proposal of the Ilbert Bill in 1883 caused, the arguments exchanged in newspapers, town hall meetings and parliamentary debates revealed the racist foundation of British India. One contemporary observed “the unhappy tendency of this controversy to bring into broad daylight everything which a wise and prudent administrator should seek to hide.” This essay seeks to bring into broad daylight once again what has been widely forgotten or ignored. Statements in Parliament expressing that it was “perfectly impossible and ridiculous, so long as we retained our hold on India, to give Native races full equality” testify for explicitness of the debate. Analyzing the arguments against the Ilbert Bill, which sought to introduce full racial equality in the judiciary, serves for better understanding the foundation of British India.
AVICENNA AND THE PROBLEM OF INDIVIDUATION VALORIZING THE INDIVIDUALS
Authors: Pournamdar Amir Hossein
Published: February 2025

This study tries to shed further light on Avicenna’s (d. 1037) philosophical and linguistic innovations as suggested in his various accounts of the problem of individuation. To better contextualize his discussions, a background is given from both Porphyry’s (d. 305) Isagoge and Fārābī’s (d. 950) remarks in his Isāġūǧī. I have also enumerated all the candidates for the principle of individuation in Avicenna’s œuvre. It is argued in this paper that the pre-Avicennian Peripatetic tradition hardly engaged, both epistemologically and ontologically, with individual per se as having its own unique identity. Instead, individual was ontologically treated as instantiation of universals and epistemologically it was inquired about to the extent that it could be only told apart. Introducing the notion of individuation as tašaḫḫuṣ, instead of the traditional individuation as tamayyuz, Avicenna offers a new way of looking at intra-species differences for a more complex understanding of the individual per se. According to this view, individual with its unique šaḫṣiyya must be understood on its own through sense perception. This approach appears to propose that the individual should not be deemed as subordinate to Aristotelian universals whose assemblage, in Peripatetic thought, was vainly expected to lead to the knowledge and definition of the individual.
The efficiency of the London Gold Fixing: from gold standard to hoarded commodity (1919–1968)
Authors: O'Connor Fergal , Lucey Brian M.
Published: February 2025

This article presents the newly reconstructed daily gold price from 1919 to 1968 for the world's primary gold market during the London Gold Fixing auction, when gold was the cornerstone of the world's monetary system. We assess whether this market conformed to the Efficient Markets Hypothesis, which posits that prices are unpredictable, or the Adaptive Markets Hypothesis, which posits that a market efficiency will evolve based on changes in the market structure. We find that the Gold Fixing price was inefficient in periods when prices were market-based from 1919 to 1925 and again in the 1930s when private hoarders began to have a significant impact on the market. We find the Gold Fixing was also inefficient during gold standard periods when central bank interventions limited gold's ability to react to new information, despite two episodes where prices rose above the official ceiling.
Determine emotion-label words: Quantifying emotional prototypicality of 1,122 second-language English words
Authors: Wu Chenggang , Zhang Juan , Meng Yaxuan
Published: February 2025

A comprehensive database of emotional prototypicality (EmoPro) scores for 1,122 words in second-language (L2) English was provided and aided in selecting L2 English emotion-label words. EmoPro refers to the degree to which a word clearly represents or conveys an emotion. The results showed that EmoPro was influenced by various factors, including valence, arousal, socialness, age of acquisition (AoA) and concreteness. EmoPro in the L2 context demonstrated its ability to predict naming and lexical decision performance. The similarities observed between EmoPro in the L2 and in the first language (L1) exhibited comparable correlations with other emotional and semantic factors and shared associations with predictors in the L1. This study also serves as a valuable tool for research on L2 emotion words, especially in the selection of prototypical emotion-label words in L2 English.
Advice for Junior Scholars from the Politics & Gender Writing Workshop
Authors: Hahn Majka
Published: February 2025

In the 20 years since the founding of Politics & Gender, gender and politics scholarship has coalesced into a distinct body of research and community of scholarship (Sawer 2025; Tripp 2025). The research published in this journal and others cuts across the traditional political science subfields, methodological approaches, and regional boundaries. While engaging with different topics and parts of the larger discipline, gender and politics research distinguishes itself through its turning around a shared understanding that gender plays a critical explanatory role in our political worlds – whether that be in the gendered ways that politics is enacted or the gendered consequences of political actions. There is a shared language of scholarship amongst researchers.
An evaluation of a pilot high-intensity treatment pathway for prolonged grief reactions in a Devon NHS Talking Therapies service
Authors: Goff Sarah , Carson James , Ladwa Asha , Colletta Megan , Topicu Raluca , Shear Katherine , Dunn Barnaby D.
Published: February 2025

Effective, evidence-based psychological therapies for prolonged grief reactions exist but are not routinely available in United Kingdom National Health Service (NHS) services. This audit evaluated the feasibility and clinical effectiveness of a high-intensity prolonged grief disorder therapy (PGDT) treatment pathway in an NHS Talking Therapies (NHS-TT) context for clients with a prolonged grief reaction alongside depression, anxiety and/or post-traumatic stress disorder. Seventeen experienced high-intensity therapists were trained to deliver PGDT. Ninety-one clients were treated between April 2022 and April 2024, 80 of whom met criteria and were included in this audit; 83% of clients completed at least four treatment sessions (a liberal estimate of minimum adequate dose), the mean number of sessions attended was 10.29 (SD=5.81) and rates of drop-out were low (16%). Data completeness rates were 100% depression, anxiety and functioning measures and 61% for the grief outcome (Brief Grief Questionnaire; BGQ). There was no evidence of treatment-related harms. There were statistically significant, large pre–post treatment effect size improvements across outcomes from intake to last treatment session (p<.001; Cohen’s d>1.05). According to NHS-TT outcome metrics for combined changes in anxiety and depression, 82% of clients exhibited reliable improvement, 72% showed recovery, and 68% of clients achieved reliable recovery. On the BGQ, rates of reliable improvement were 77% and rates of recovery were 63%. Effects held when focusing on the subgroup with more severe grief symptoms (intake BGQ≥8; n=40). These findings suggest it is feasible and probably effective to implement a PGDT pathway in an NHS-TT context.

Key learning aims

(1)

To become familiar with prolonged grief disorder (PGD) as a diagnostic construct.

(2)

To gain insight into using prolonged grief disorder therapy (PGDT) to treat PGD.

(3)

To understand ways to train and supervise National Health Service Talking Therapies (NHS-TT) high-intensity therapists to implement PGDT.

(4)

To evaluate the potential feasibility and effectiveness of implementing PGDT in an NHS-TT context.
Constraining Future Antarctic Warming Under Five Different Emissions Scenarios in the CMIP6 Multi‐Models
Authors: Sun Yuqi , Zhang Yulun , Wang Yetang , Heil Petra , Hou Shugui , Zhai Zhaosheng
Published: February 2025

The Coupled Model Inter‐comparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) multi‐models predict future warming over Antarctica under five different scenarios, but their uncertainties remain high and have not been well constrained. Here we find that the projected Antarctic warming robustly correlates with simulated averaged temperature trends during 1958–2012 across the CMIP6 multi‐models under each scenario, which is thereby used to refine future air temperature projections using observation‐based temperature reconstruction. The median of future warming projections under the five scenarios reduces by 24%, 19%, 18%, 21%, and 21%, respectively. The constrained uncertainty ranges are narrowed down, with the likely range by the end of the century relative to 1850–1900 baseline declining from 4.2°C–6.8°C to 3.2°C–6.1°C under the highest emission scenario. The application of ERA5 for the same constraint shows an increase in future warming and constrained uncertainty ranges. This suggests a key role of observational data set uncertainties in the performance of emergent constraints.
Comparison of Methods to Derive the Height‐Area Relationship of Shallow Lakes in West Africa Using Remote Sensing
Authors: Girard F. , Kergoat L. , Nikiema H. , Wubda M. , Yonaba R. , Fowé T. , Touré A. Abdourhamane , Mainassara I. , de Fleury M. , Grippa M.
Published: February 2025

In West Africa, lakes and reservoirs play a vital role as they are critical resources for drinking water, livestock, irrigation, and fisheries. Given the scarcity of in‐situ data, satellite remote sensing is an important tool for monitoring lake volume changes in this region. Several methods have been developed to do this using water height‐area‐volume relationships, but few publications have compared their performances over small and medium‐sized shallow lakes. In this work we compare four methods based on recent data from high‐resolution optical imagery and radar and lidar altimetry over 16 lakes in the Central Sahel, with areas between 0.22 and 21 . All methods show consistent results and are generally in good agreement with in‐situ data in terms of accuracy (Root Mean Squared Error below 0.42 m for heights and Normalized Root Mean Squared Error below 13% for volumes). The precision of the estimated water height is about 0.20 m for Pleiades Digital Surface Models (DSMs) and less than 0.13 m for the other methods. Inherent limitations such as DSM quality, temporal coverage of DSM and lidar data, and spatial coverage of radar altimetry data are identified. Overall, fine shape patterns are consistently observed over small height amplitudes, highlighting the ability to monitor shallow lakes with non‐linear height‐area relationship. Finally, we show that combining lidar and radar altimetry‐based methods provides estimates of volume changes over the different water bodies of the study region accurate enough to monitor seasonal, interannual, and long‐term variability.
Alaska’s Lakes and Ponds Reveal Effects of Permafrost Thaw
Authors: Sidik Saima
Published: February 2025

A new dataset provides a powerful method for easily tracking changes in permafrost.
Confronting Debris Flow Hazards After Wildfire
Authors: Youberg Ann , McGuire Luke , Oakley Nina , Rengers Francis , Shafer Autym
Published: February 2025

Scientists and practitioners have identified research priorities to improve scientific understanding of postfire debris flows and meet decisionmaking challenges posed by this growing hazard.