bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Camera-trapping reveals new insights in the ecology of three sympatric muntjacs in an overhunted biodiversity hotspot
Authors: Alexiou Ioannis , Abrams Jesse F. , Coudrat Camille N. Z. , Nanthavong Chanthalaphone , Nguyen An , Niedballa Jürgen , Wilting Andreas , Tilker Andrew
Published: April 2022

The Annamites ecoregion harbors exceptional levels of species richness and endemism, but intensive snaring has decimated populations of terrestrial mammals. Ungulates, such as muntjacs, are susceptible to snaring, and in need of effective conservation action. At least three muntjacs occur sympatrically in the region: the Annamite dark muntjac species complex Muntiacus rooseveltorum/truongsonensis, the northern red muntjac Muntiacus vaginalis, and the large-antlered muntjac Muntiacus vuquangensis. We conducted a landscape-scale systematic camera-trapping survey in Nakai-Nam Theun National Park to gather information on the ecology and distribution of these muntjacs. We analyzed camera-trap records within an occupancy framework to evaluate responses to environmental and anthropogenic variables, and to predict distributions across the protected area. We found varying responses to the covariates, indicating complex drivers of occurrence, though all three muntjac had higher occupancies in more inaccessible areas. Mean (95%) PAO in the protected area was higher for large-antlered muntjac (0.33 [0.22–0.49]), followed by Annamite dark muntjac (0.28 [0.18–0.39]), and then northern red muntjac (0.27 [0.15–0.42]). Large-antlered muntjac and northern red muntjac were widespread, while dark muntjac was restricted to a single high elevation area. Overall, our results provide new insights into muntjac ecology, distribution, and population status, and we discuss how this information can be used to inform conservation efforts. Given the high occupancies that we found for the Critically Endangered large-antlered muntjac, we argue that Nakai-Nam Theun National Park may be vital for the long-term survival of the species.
Tax Policy
Authors: Boadway Robin , Cuff Katherine
Published: April 2022

Tax policies are informed by principles developed in the tax theory and policy literature. This Element surveys the policy lessons that emerge from optimal tax analysis since the 1970s. This Element begins with the evolution of tax policy principles from the comprehensive income approach to the expenditure tax approach to normative tax analysis based on social welfare maximization and recounts key results from the optimal income tax analysis inspired by Mirrlees and extended by Diamond to the extensive margin approach. This Element also emphasizes analytical techniques that yield empirically relevant concepts and show the equity-efficiency trade-off at the heart of tax policy. We also extend the analysis to recent literature incorporating involuntary unemployment, and policies like welfare and unemployment insurance.
“This Place Belongs to Us”: Historic Contexts as a Mechanism for Multivocality in the National Register
Authors: Hanson Kelsey E. , Baumann Steve , Pasqual Theresa , Seowtewa Octavius , Ferguson T. J.
Published: April 2022

Since the creation of the National Register of Historic Places, determining eligibility for listing on it has become the fundamental process driving archaeology in the United States. This process affects how archaeological sites are identified, recorded, evaluated, and ultimately how they are protected. Yet less than 6% of properties on the National Register are archaeological sites. Although scholars often lament the rigidity of the National Register and its eligibility criteria, notable revisions in National Park Service guidance pave the way for important changes. One of the National Register's most pervasive and fundamental concepts—the historic context—remains deeply undertheorized when compared to more familiar terms like “significance” and “integrity.” In this article, we argue that archaeologists are well positioned to reinvigorate the National Register by using historic contexts as a mechanism for recognizing layered relationships to places. Using an example from the multivocal nomination of the Inscription Rock Archaeological District as a case study, we argue that the oft-neglected concept of the historic context can be used to commemorate multivocality, moving from one national history to the production of multivocal national histories.
Effectiveness of a digital data gathering system to manage the first pandemic wave among healthcare workers in a main European coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) tertiary-care hospital
Authors: Sansone Emanuele , Sala Emma , Albini Elisa , Tiraboschi Mara , Cipriani Lorenzo , De Palma Giuseppe
Published: April 2022

Objective:

To evaluate the information collected from workers infected with severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) or close contacts using a digital data gathering system (DDGS) developed at the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to better manage the spread of infection at our hospital.

Design:

Observational retrospective study.

Setting:

Tertiary University Hospital “Spedali Civili” Hospital, Brescia, Italy.

Participants:

Workers (most of whom are healthcare workers) employed at the hospital.

Methods:

The information collected by the DDGS was transferred to the IBM SPSS statistical software package and then statistically analyzed.

Results:

Overall, ∼16% of the hospital workforce was infected by SARS-CoV-2 in the first pandemic wave. Nurses were the professional category with the highest infection rate (∼15%). The asymptomatic rate of infection was between 31% and 62%. Positive molecular swabs were significantly more frequent in workers undergoing the test after sending a signaling form to our DDGS. Among workers sending the signaling forms, the information about symptoms was more predictive in terms of risk, compared to the close-contact information. The concordance between molecular swabs and subsequent serological testing was significantly higher in workers signaling their at-risk condition through the DDGS.

Conclusions:

Overall, our data demonstrate the advantages of a digital system to gather information from workers, which is useful for managing emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This holds particularly true for large organizations such as hospitals.
When Agronomy Flirts with Markets, Gender, and Nutrition: A Political Ecology of the New Green Revolution for Africa and Women’s Food Security in Burkina Faso
Authors: Moseley William G. , Ouedraogo Melanie
Published: April 2022

Advocates of the Green Revolution for Africa (GR4A) argue that the best way to address malnutrition is to incorporate smallholders into the global food economy via value chains involving the use of improved inputs, production technologies, and access to markets. Moseley and Ouedraogo critically assess these tactics using a feminist political ecology lens to analyze GR4A efforts in southwestern Burkina Faso which target female rice farmers. They examine the nature of the GR4A rice value chain, the degree to which a GR4A project is impacting the nutrition of participating women, and the influence of gender roles on GR4A rice project outcomes.
Building an Ideational and Institutional Architecture for Africa’s Agricultural Transformation
Authors: Munro William , Schurman Rachel
Published: April 2022

Over the past two decades, transnationally networked actors have promoted a vision of transforming African agriculture from an object of poverty-alleviating development assistance to a motor of economic growth by integrating smallholders into markets and promoting agribusiness through multi-stakeholder initiatives. Munro and Schurman analyze the networking and communicative labor that key policy actors have performed to advance this vision. An institutional and ideational architecture for this project is created by defining agricultural challenges in specific ways, imbuing particular ideas with authority and establishing strategic institutional connections. This architecture constitutes an emerging governance regime for African agriculture, but its long-term prospects remain uncertain.
Reassessing Africa’s New Post-Coup Landscape
Authors: Elischer Sebastian , Lawrance Benjamin N.
Published: April 2022

Between 2020 and 2022, sub-Saharan Africa witnessed a substantial increase in the number of military coups. The military interventions in Guinea (September 2021), Mali (August 2020 and May 2021), Chad (April 2021), Sudan (April 2019 and October 2021), and Burkina Faso (January 2022) contributed to democratic backsliding and authoritarianism on the continent. In addition, Niger (March 2021) and Guinea Bissau (February 2022) saw failed coup attempts. As a result of these five coups and two failed coup attempts, media reports now ask whether coups are making a comeback in Africa. As the extant literature about civil-military relations in Africa reveals, military coups were never absent. But the recent number and frequency of coups has led to a greater awareness of the threat that militaries pose to civilian rulers from the Atlantic coast (Guinea) to the Red Sea (Sudan).
Exploring unintended consequences of adult antimicrobial stewardship programs: An Emerging Infections Network survey
Authors: Durkin Michael J. , Lake Jason , Polgreen Philip M. , Beekmann Susan E. , Hersh Adam L. , Newland Jason G.
Published: April 2022

We performed a survey of adult infectious diseases (ID) physicians to explore unintended consequences of antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP). ID physicians worried about disagreement with colleagues, provider autonomy, and remote recommendations. Non-ASP ID physicians expressed more concern regarding ASPs focus on costs, provider efficiency, and unintended consequences of ASP guidance.
The magnitude and direction of changes in age-specific at-risk-of-poverty rates: an analysis of patterns of poverty trends in Europe in the mid-2010s
Authors: Ilmakunnas Ilari
Published: April 2022

The European Union’s at-risk-of-poverty threshold is set at 60 per cent of national median disposable equivalent income. Changes in median income therefore shift the threshold, which is likely to affect at-risk-of-poverty rates. This effect is likely to vary across population subgroups due to, for instance, connectedness to the labour market. This exploratory study investigates whether there are typical patterns related to changes in age-specific at-risk-of-poverty rates. The study uses European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions microdata and focusses on the development of poverty rates in 30 European countries in the mid-2010s. Results show that especially the old-age poverty rates followed patterns that were different from those of child or working-age poverty rates. There were differences between age groups regarding both the magnitude and direction of at-risk-of-poverty rates. Additionally, the association between changes in at-risk-of-poverty rates and changes in poverty thresholds, income and employment significantly differs between the older population and the two other age groups.
Ancient Maya Embedded Economies and Changing Ground Stone Densities in Households at Actuncan, Belize
Authors: LeCount Lisa J. , Blitz John H. , Tidwell Jonathan W.
Published: April 2022

In embedded economies where multiple modes of production and exchange exist, artifact distributions in households alone do not reflect the strength of specific modes. We use a diachronic perspective tied to changes in political economies and artifact class densities standardized by excavation volume at the Maya site of Actuncan, Belize, to elucidate changes in the strength of individual production and exchange modes in the Preclassic and Classic periods. We focus on ground stone densities as a measure of grinding intensity across elite and common households. Data indicate that common households always ground more maize than elites, but intensity peaked in the Late Classic when tax and tribute demands and market exchanges were greatest. In the Terminal Classic, common household grinding intensity decreased by half as tribute burdens diminished, illustrating the impact of political hierarchies on household economies.
Central Andean (28–34°S) flood record 0–25 ka from Salinas del Bebedero, Argentina
Authors: Quade Jay , Dente Elad , Cartwright Alyson , Hudson Adam , Jimenez-Rodriguez Sebastian , McGee David
Published: April 2022

The Salinas del Bebedero occupies an isolated basin in the foreland of central Argentina at 33°S and was flooded repeatedly over past 25 ka. Isotopic evidence demonstrates that this flooding was due to overflow of the nearby Río Desaguadero with waters derived from the distant (≥300 km) central Andes between 28–34°S. Stratigraphic and shoreline evidence shows that floods occurred most frequently from 14.3 to 11.4 ka, followed by lesser events between 14.3 to 11.4 ka, and during the late Holocene from 2.6 to ca. 0.2 ka. Hydraulic modeling (2D HEC-RAS) shows that these floods could have originated from repeated subglacial drainage or sudden outbursts with a volume of >100 × 106m3and a peak discharge of >1,000 m3s-1each. The absence of flood deposits from 11 to 3 ka points to exceptionally dry and virtually ice-free conditions in the Andes between 28–34°S. The floods were probably caused by major rainfall or dammed-lake outbursts clustered largely during wet pluvial periods in the otherwise moisture-limited central Andes and Atacama Desert, such as when the Intertropical Convergence Zone was shifted southward. These include Central Andean pluvial events (CAPE) I (17–14.5 ka) and II (12.5–9 ka), and the Neoglacial/Formative archeological period 2500 ka to near-present.
How people appraise their government: corruption perception of police and political legitimacy in Africa
Authors: Hatungimana William
Published: April 2022

Recent protests against police brutality in Nigeria and the Arab Spring, which was sparked by an incident of police brutality in Tunisia, led to public demands that brought political reforms. This paper explores the question, how do citizens evaluate their government in regards to corruption? Using the Afrobarometer Wave 6 dataset, I investigate the relationship between the public's perception of police and upper-level government officials’ corruption in African countries. Due to lack of transparency, the public has no direct information from upper-level bureaucracy but can evaluate corruption of upper-level government officials through direct experience with police. My finding demonstrates that regardless of regime type, the corruption perception of police influences the corruption perception of upper-level government officials. The public cues to evaluate their government quality are likely derived from interactions with police. Therefore corruption perception of police can affect government legitimacy.
‘A Game of Pain’: youth marginalisation and the gangs of Freetown
Authors: Mitton Kieran
Published: April 2022

Within two decades, Sierra Leone's ‘cliques’ have transformed from peripheral social clubs to warring Crips, Bloods, and Black street gangs at the heart of criminal and political violence. Nevertheless, they remain severely under-studied, with scholarship on Sierra Leonean youth marginality heavily focused on ex-combatants. Drawing on extended fieldwork with Freetown's cliques as they played the ‘game’ – the daily hustle to survive and resist the ‘system’ – this article offers two main contributions. First, it addresses the knowledge gap by charting the origins, evolution and contemporary organisation of these new urban players. Second, it argues that although this history reveals continuity in perennial forms of youth marginalisation, it also shows that the game itself has changed. Cycles of escalating violence and growth are hardwired into this new game. Exacerbated by a political system that sustains and exploits them, cliques present a far greater challenge to everyday peace than has hitherto been recognised.
Keeping Ebola at bay: public authority and ceremonial competence in rural Sierra Leone
Authors: Kamara Foday , Mokuwa Gelejimah Alfred , Richards Paul
Published: April 2022

Ebola Virus Disease struck Sierra Leone in May 2014. An international response was instrumental in ending the epidemic by December 2015 and has been extensively documented. Less attention has been paid to local responses. Here, we focus on a case in which there was no infection despite high infection in neighbouring areas. This brings into focus the role of customary public authority in implementing successful controls. We pay particular attention to the activities of a chiefdom Ebola Task force committee chaired by the Paramount Chief. Meetings were characterised by protocol and ceremony, but ‘face time’ served to reinforce, in ritual terms, important messages about quarantine and social distancing. The committee's pronouncements had illocutionary force. Local volunteers translated this ceremonial message into practical action to block imported cases. The analysis of ceremonial competence, we conclude, opens a window into how public authority addresses developmental shocks in Africa.
Building one's own house: power and escape for Ethiopian women through international migration
Authors: Carruth Lauren , Smith Lahra
Published: April 2022

This study uses ethnography along Ethiopian women's irregular migration routes through Djibouti to analyse the complex reasons women leave home to seek labour opportunities in the Gulf States. Theories and policies that either narrowly depict women's motivations as economic in nature or focus only on women's needs for security and protection, fail to account both for the politics of seeking employment abroad, and the ways migration provides women a potential refuge from various forms of violence at home. Using a feminist analysis, we argue that women do not migrate only for financial opportunities, but also to escape combinations of domestic, political and structural violence. As such, irregular migration both evinces a failure of asylum systems and humanitarian organisations to protect Ethiopians, and a failure of the state to provide Ethiopian women meaningful citizenship. Lacking both protection and meaningful citizenship, international migration represents women's journeys for opportunity and emancipation.
Political Control, Administrative Simplicity, or Economies of Scale? Four Cases of the Reunification of Nationalized Theatres in Russia, Germany, Austria, and France (1918–45)
Authors: Golovlev Alexander
Published: April 2022

In 1917–18, the new republican governments of Russia, Germany, and Austria nationalized their former court property. A monarchic-turned-national heritage of prestigious opera and dramatic theatres weighed heavily on national and regional budgets, prompting first attempts to create centralized forms of theatre governance. In a second wave of theatre reorganization in the mid-1930s, the Soviet government created ‘union theatres’ under a Committee for Arts Affairs; the German and Austrian theatres underwent the Nazi Gleichschaltung (1933–35 and 1938); and France, a ‘democratic outlier’, opted for nationalizing the Opéra and Opéra-Comique under the Réunion des théâtres lyriques nationaux. These conglomerates have so far been little studied as historically specific forms of theatre management, particularly from a comparative, trans-regime perspective. What balance can be struck between economic, political, and ‘artistic’ costs and benefits? How does ‘Baumol’s law’ of decreasing theatre profitability apply to these very different politico-economic systems, as well as to war economies? Dictatorships reveal an economic seduction power, while this essay argues for confirming a long-term ‘great European convergence’ of state-centred theatre management, internal structure, and accountability, both in peace and war. Here, the stated goals and short-term contingencies yielded to trends originating from the logic of theatre production itself, and the compromises that the state, theatre professionals, and the public accepted in exchange for the capital of prestige. Alexander Golovlev (PhD, European University Institute in Florence, 2017) is a senior research fellow at the HSE Institute for Advanced Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies at the University of Moscow. His recent publications include, for New Theatre Quarterly, ‘Theatre Policies of Soviet Stalinism and Italian Fascism Compared, 1920–1940s’ (2019), and ‘Balancing the Books and Staging Operas under Duress: Bolshoi Theatre Management, Wartime Economy, and State Sponsorship in 1941–1945’, Russian History XLVII, No. 4 (2020).
The Potentials and Challenges of Zoom Live Theatre during Coronavirus Lockdown: Pandemic Therapy and Corona Chicken (Part Two)
Authors: Karam Khaled Mostafa , Naguib Galal Mohamed
Published: April 2022

This study discusses the potentials and challenges of Zoom theatre performances during the lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. It examines the utilization and applicability of videoconferencing software Zoom, and other streaming software compatible with it, in creating a viable performance option for theatre practitioners and audiences during mandatory social distancing. Such software can be a strategy for social inclusion, alleviating the adverse effects of extended quarantine. The article also discusses the technical and performative aspects of Zoom theatre, pointing out its pros and cons. It uses a critical and analytical approach to performances of two Zoom plays, Pandemic Therapy and Corona Chicken (Part Two), revealing how the playwright, dramaturg, and actors manage to present a live theatrical experience capable of engaging audiences and promoting social interaction. Khaled Mostafa Karam is an Assistant Professor of English Literature at the Suez University in Egypt and a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Cognitive Science, Case Western Reserve University, USA. He has published eleven articles on the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science and drama. Galal Mohamed Naguib is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Suez University and author of several articles in the fields of demographic analysis and the sociology of art.
Maternal hepatitis B surface antigen carrier status and pregnancy outcome: a retrospective cohort study
Authors: Chen Yiming , Ning Wenwen , Wang Xue , Chen Yijie , Wu Bin , Tao Jie
Published: April 2022

To investigate the effect of maternal hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carrier status during pregnancy on pregnancy outcomes in a population of patients in Hangzhou, China. A retrospective cohort study was conducted to analyse data from 20 753 pregnant women who delivered at Hangzhou Women's Hospital between January 2015 and March 2020. Of these, 18 693 were normal pregnant women (the non-exposed group) and 735 were HBsAg carriers (the exposed group). We then analysed by binary multivariate logistic regression to determine the association between maternal HBsAg-positive and adverse pregnancy outcomes. The prevalence of HBsAg carriers was 3.78% and the odds ratio (OR) for maternal age in the exposed group was 1.081. Pregnant women who are HBsAg-positive in Hangzhou, China, are at higher risk of a range of adverse pregnancy outcomes, including intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) (adjusted OR (aOR) 3.169), low birth weight (aOR 2.337), thrombocytopenia (aOR 2.226), fallopian cysts (aOR 1.610), caesarean scar pregnancy (aOR 1.283), foetal distress (aOR 1.414). Therefore, the obstetricians should pay particular attention to ICP, low birth weight, thrombocytopenia, fallopian cysts, caesarean scar, foetal distress in HBsAg-positive pregnant women.
Climate and energy balance of the ground in University Valley, Antarctica
Authors: Marinova Margarita M. , McKay Christopher P. , Heldmann Jennifer L. , Goordial Jacqueline , Lacelle Denis , Pollard Wayne H. , Davila Alfonso F.
Published: April 2022

We report 3 years of data from one meteorological and three smaller stations in University Valley, a high-elevation (1677 m) site in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica with extensive dry permafrost. Mean air temperature was -23.4°C. Summer air temperatures were virtually always < 0°C and were consistent with the altitude lapse rate and empirical relationships between summer temperature, distance from the coast and elevation. The measured frost point (-22.5°C) at the 42 cm deep ice table is equal to the surface frost point and above the atmospheric frost point (-29.6°C), providing direct evidence that surface conditions control ground ice depth. Observed peak surface soil temperatures reach 6°C for ice-cemented ground > 15 cm deep but stay < 0°C when it is shallower. We develop an energy balance model tuned to this rocky and dry environment. We find that differences in peak soil surface temperatures are primarily due to the higher thermal diffusivity of ice-cemented ground compared to dry soil. Sensitivity studies show that expected natural variability is insufficient for melt to form and significant excursions from current conditions are required. The site's ice table meets the criteria for a Special Region on Mars, with 30% of the year > -18°C and water activity > 0.6.
Negative emotionality as a candidate mediating mechanism linking prenatal maternal mood problems and offspring internalizing behaviour
Authors: Gordon Green Cathryn , Szekely Eszter , Babineau Vanessa , Jolicoeur-Martineau Alexia , Bouvette-Turcot Andrée-Anne , Minde Klaus , Sassi Roberto , Atkinson Leslie , Kennedy James L. , Steiner Meir , Lydon John , Gaudreau Helene , Burack Jacob A. , Herba Catherine , Pennestri Marie-Helene , Levitan Robert , Meaney Michael J. , Wazana Ashley
Published: April 2022

Negative emotionality (NE) was evaluated as a candidate mechanism linking prenatal maternal affective symptoms and offspring internalizing problems during the preschool/early school age period. The participants were 335 mother–infant dyads from the Maternal Adversity, Vulnerability and Neurodevelopment project. A Confirmatory Bifactor Analysis (CFA) based on self-report measures of prenatal depression and pregnancy-specific anxiety generated a general factor representing overlapping symptoms of prenatal maternal psychopathology and four distinct symptom factors representing pregnancy-specific anxiety, negative affect, anhedonia and somatization. NE was rated by the mother at 18 and 36 months. CFA based on measures of father, mother, child-rated measures and a semistructured interview generated a general internalizing factor representing overlapping symptoms of child internalizing psychopathology accounting for the unique contribution of each informant. Path analyses revealed significant relationships among the general maternal affective psychopathology, the pregnancy- specific anxiety, and the child internalizing factors. Child NE mediated only the relationship between pregnancy-specific anxiety and the child internalizing factors. We highlighted the conditions in which prenatal maternal affective symptoms predicts child internalizing problems emerging early in development, including consideration of different mechanistic pathways for different maternal prenatal symptom presentations and child temperament.
Ministering to the Middle: Christian Megachurches and Minoritarian Politics in Southeast Asia
Authors: Goh Daniel P. S. , Chong Terence
Published: April 2022

Christian megachurches have been growing in members, organization, and financial resources in the large cities of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines and in Singapore. However, they remain as religious minorities facing an asymmetrical balance of political power due to the Islamization of politics, strong state secularism, or the close entanglement of the political elites with majority Catholicism. We propose a framework of minoritarian politics to understand the actions adopted by the churches to defend and advance their interests. While the scholarship on religion and politics tends to focus on churches' direct engagement with political elites and the mobilization of grassroots movements, we argue that the megachurches prefer to minister to the middle by forging outreach networks to accumulate social capital with a broad range of intermediaries. This is not just due to theological conservatism, but also because ministering to the middle has been the effective strategy given the political circumstances.
Chemotherapie und Radio-/Chemotherapie des lokal fortgeschrittenen Ösophaguskarzinoms
Authors: Wille Kai , Mann Carolina , Berlth Felix , Fetzner Ulrich Klaus , Othmann Katharina , Mönig Stefan Paul
Published: April 2022

Zusammenfassung. Die alleinige Resektion eines lokal fortgeschrittenen Ösophaguskarzinoms führt in nur ca. 30% der Fälle zu einer langfristigen Heilung, sodass multimodale Therapiekonzepte entwickelt wurden, die zu einer Verbesserung des Gesamtüberlebens führen. Die multimodale Strategie bei lokal fortgeschrittenen Tumoren, hier vor allem die neoadjuvante Radiochemotherapie und Chemotherapie, hat die Langzeitprognose deutlich verbessert. Die Therapieplanung muss prätherapeutisch in einem interdisziplinären Tumorboard an einem Zentrum mit hoher Fallzahl erfolgen. Für die Plattenepithelkarzinome sind die neoadjuvanten Radio-/Chemotherapie mit anschliessender Resektion oder die definitive Radio-/Chemotherapie derzeitig die Therapien der Wahl. Für die Adenokarzinome werden die neoadjuvante Radio-/Chemotherapie mit anschliessender Resektion oder die perioperative Chemotherapie als gleichwertige Therapiestandards angesehen. Nach neoadjuvanter Radiochemotherapie wird – bei nur partiellem pathologischen Response – aktuell eine adjuvante Immuntherapie empfohlen.
Moderne multimodale Konzepte für fortgeschrittene und metastasierte Ösophaguskarzinome
Authors: Mann Carolina , Wille Kai , Tagkalos Evangelos , Grimminger Peter , Berlth Felix , Mönig Stefan Paul , Fetzner Ulrich Klaus
Published: April 2022

Zusammenfassung. Bei lokal fortgeschrittenen Ösophaguskarzinomen hat sich in den Leitlinien die klare Empfehlung zur multimodalen Therapie etabliert. So auch die rein systemische Therapie in der palliativen, metastasierten Situation. Vor dem Hintergrund zunehmender Erfahrung mit multimodalen Konzepten und aber auch von einem parallelen Trend zur stärker personalisierten Tumortherapie kommen vermehrt darüber hinaus reichende Therapieoptionen zum Einsatz. Das jüngste Kapitel hierbei ist der erfolgreiche Einsatz von Antikörpern und Immuncheckpoint-Inhibitoren im adjuvanten, additiven oder palliativen Setting. Auch Salvage-Konzepte und die Salvage-Operation finden Anwendung. Dies sind effiziente Optionen, um aus einer Situation der klinischen Remission und strenger Beobachtung bei Tumorrückfall operativ reagieren zu können. Die limitiert radikalen Operationsverfahren mit Rekonstruktion nach Merendino und dem Double-Tract-Verfahren mit begrenzter Resektion des distalen Ösophagus und proximalen Magens ausschliesslich von abdominal sind eine Option für Hochrisikopatienten oder sehr betagte Patienten. Sie weisen grosse Vorteile bezüglich der operativen Belastung und – insbesondere das Double-Tract-Verfahren – bezüglich der Lebensqualität auf. Auch die oligometastasierte Situation ist Gegenstand laufender Studien. Unter strenger klinischer Beobachtung kann es sinnvoll sein, Patienten mit sehr limitierter Metastasierung nicht grundsätzlich von einem kurativen Konzept auszuschliessen. Hierzu ermutigen zahlreiche Fälle von Langzeitüberlebenden. Im palliativen Setting spielt neben der klassischen Chemotherapie und Best-Supportive-Care auch zunehmend die Immuntherapie eine grosse Rolle und auch hier ist bei gutem Ansprechen grundsätzlich eine Konversion in ein kuratives Konzept möglich. Palliative Ösophagusresektionen bei disseminierter Metastasierung, Infiltration von Wirbelkörpern, Aorta oder Trachea beziehungsweise Hauptbronchien hingegen müssen weiterhin strikt unterbleiben und müssen leider als inkurabel bezeichnet werden.
Komplikationen und Komplikationsmanagement nach Resektion und Rekonstruktion der Speiseröhre
Authors: Sorleto Michele , Poos Hendrik , Borggrefe Jan , Kröger Jan Robert , Gartung Carsten , Gerdes Berthold , Uekermann Lutz , Haß Thomas , Fetzner Ulrich Klaus
Published: April 2022

Zusammenfassung. Eine kurative Therapie des fortgeschrittenen Ösophaguskarzinoms wird vorrangig durch die radikale Ösophagektomie mit Lymphadenektomie ermöglicht. In den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten konnten beeindruckende Fortschritte bei den chirurgischen Techniken der Ösophaguschirurgie durch die minimalinvasive und robotische Ösophagektomie erzielt werden. Auch das perioperative Management mit Prähabilitation, PDK-Anlage, früher Mobilisation und frühem Kostaufbau trug signifikant zu einer Reduktion von Komplikationen bei. Dennoch bleibt die Chirurgie der Speiseröhre komplikationsträchtig. Die Anastomoseninsuffizienz ist eine klinisch relevante postoperative Komplikation. Die Rate beträgt verfahrensunabhängig ca. 10–16 %. Neben einer versierten, subtilen, atraumatischen und zügigen OP-Technik stellen die frühe Erkennung (klinisch, endoskopisch, radiologisch) und das adäquate, interdisziplinäre Management von perioperativen Komplikationen in der resezierenden Ösophaguschirurgie die Schlüssel zur Erhöhung der Sicherheit dieser komplexen Eingriffe. Die Behandlung der Komplikationen umfasst konservative, interventionelle und operative Massnahmen. In den letzten Jahrzehnten hat sich ein radikaler Wandel vollzogen von einst ausschliesslich operativen Revisionen mit hoher Invasivität und schlechtem Outcome zu heute meist konservativ-interventionellem Management mit geringerer Patientenbelastung und – in Zentren mit entsprechender Expertise – guten Ergebnissen.
Parker Solar Probe Observations of Solar Wind Energetic Proton Beams Produced by Magnetic Reconnection in the Near‐Sun Heliospheric Current Sheet
Authors: Phan T. D. , Verniero J. L. , Larson D. , Lavraud B. , Drake J. F. , Øieroset M. , Eastwood J. P. , Bale S. D. , Livi R. , Halekas J. S. , Whittlesey P. L. , Rahmati A. , Stansby D. , Pulupa M. , MacDowall R. J. , Szabo P. A. , Koval A. , Desai M. , Fuselier S. A. , Velli M. , Hesse M. , Pyakurel P. S. , Maheshwari K. , Kasper J. C. , Stevens J. M. , Case A. W. , Raouafi N. E.
Published: April 2022

We report observations of reconnection exhausts in the Heliospheric Current Sheet (HCS) during Parker Solar Probe Encounters 08 and 07, at 16 Rs and 20 Rs, respectively. Heliospheric current sheet (HCS) reconnection accelerated protons to almost twice the solar wind speed and increased the proton core energy by a factor of ∼3, due to the Alfvén speed being comparable to the solar wind flow speed at these near‐Sun distances. Furthermore, protons were energized to super‐thermal energies. During E08, energized protons were found to have leaked out of the exhaust along separatrix field lines, appearing as field‐aligned energetic proton beams in a broad region outside the HCS. Concurrent dropouts of strahl electrons, indicating disconnection from the Sun, provide further evidence for the HCS being the source of the beams. Around the HCS in E07, there were also proton beams but without electron strahl dropouts, indicating that their origin was not the local HCS reconnection exhaust.
Radar Diagnosis of the Thundercloud Electron Accelerator
Authors: Williams E. , Mkrtchyan H. , Mailyan B. , Karapetyan G. , Hovakimyan S.
Published: April 2022

Thunderstorm Ground Enhancements (TGEs) refer to correlated enhancements in surface electric field and gamma ray flux that are manifestations of electron runaway in the storm overhead. The electric field enhancements can be of positive or negative polarity. In this study, altitude‐resolved S‐band radar observations of graupel are used to demonstrate distinct differences in storm structure linked with these “positive” and “negative” TGEs. The physical interpretation rests on the well‐established temperature‐dependent tripole structure of thunderstorms, with the main negative charge of the tripole acting as an electron repeller. This interpretation is supported by case studies showing altitude‐stable convection, with shallow (deep) development linked with “positive” (“negative”) TGEs, and by case studies of collapsing storms that show upper dipole dominance early and lower inverted dipole dominance later when graupel particles descend from a colder to warmer temperature domain. In the case of many TGEs on Mt Aragats (3.2 km MSL), the temperature‐dependent altitude of downward electron acceleration and avalanching may be sufficiently distant (>500 m) from surface detectors that the energetic electrons (1–10 MeV) are not likely avalanche/runaway electrons. Instead, they are Compton‐scattered and pair‐produced electrons from bremsstrahlung gamma radiation emanating from the high‐field avalanche region aloft. These inferences are consistent with GEANT4 calculations that identify the physical origins of energetic electrons at the surface.
Significant Association Between Winter North Atlantic SST and Spring NDVI Anomaly Over Eurasia
Authors: Meng Meng , Gong Daoyi , Zhu Tao , Yao Pengjuan , Zhou Tao
Published: April 2022

In this study, the single value decomposition method was used to analyze the covariation between the winter (December, January, and February) North Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) and spring (April and May) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) over mid‐high‐latitude Eurasia for the period 1982–2015. The results show that the first paired mode explains 32.8% of the total squared covariance, and the correlation of time coefficients is +0.67 (p < 0.01), suggesting that the meridional tripole structure of the winter North Atlantic SST is significantly associated with the three zonally anomalous centers of the spring mid‐high‐latitude Eurasian NDVI. Surface air temperature (T2m) is the most important factor related to spring NDVI changes. The tripole pattern of the winter North Atlantic SST can persist until the following spring, triggering an eastward anomalous Rossby wave train in the middle troposphere, which features two negative geopotential height anomalies centers near northwestern Europe and eastern Siberia and one positive center over central Eurasia. Surface temperature anomalies are well consistent with these anomalous pressure centers. This implies that the winter North Atlantic SST could be a robust driver and potential precursor for spring vegetation prediction over the mid‐high latitudes of Eurasia.
Explicit IMF By‐Dependence of Energetic Protons and the Ring Current
Authors: Holappa L. , Buzulukova N. Y.
Published: April 2022

The most important parameter driving the solar wind‐magnetosphere interaction is the southward (Bz) component of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). While the dawn‐dusk (By) component of the IMF is also known to play an important role, its effects are usually assumed to be independent of its sign. Here we demonstrate for the first time a seasonally varying, explicit IMF By‐dependence of the ring current and Dst index. Using satellite observations and a global magnetohydrodynamic model coupled with a ring current model, we show that for a fixed level of solar wind driving the flux of energetic magnetospheric protons and the growth‐rate of the ring current are greater for By < 0 (By > 0) than for By > 0 (By < 0) in Northern Hemisphere summer (winter). While the physical mechanism of this explicit By‐effect is not yet fully understood, our results suggest that IMF By modulates magnetospheric convection and plasma transport in the inner magnetosphere.
Appreciation of Peer Reviewers for 2021
Authors: Zhang Minghua , Fu Rong , Giorgi Filippo , Leung Ruby , Liang Xin‐Zhong , Mellouki Wahid , Randel William , Riemer Nicole , Rogers Robert , Russell Lynn , Yang Ping , Zhang Chidong
Published: April 2022

Key Point

The editors thank the 2021 peer reviewers

The journal received 1581 submitted manuscripts

2510 scientists reviewed for the journal in 2021
Unveiling bulk and surface radiation forces in a dielectric liquid
Authors: Astrath N. G. C. , Flizikowski G. A. S. , Anghinoni B. , Malacarne L. C. , Baesso M. L. , Požar T. , Partanen M. , Brevik I. , Razansky D. , Bialkowski S. E.
Published: April 2022

Precise control over light-matter interactions is critical for many optical manipulation and material characterization methodologies, further playing a paramount role in a host of nanotechnology applications. Nonetheless, the fundamental aspects of interactions between electromagnetic fields and matter have yet to be established unequivocally in terms of an electromagnetic momentum density. Here, we use tightly focused pulsed laser beams to detect bulk and boundary optical forces in a dielectric fluid. From the optical convoluted signal, we decouple thermal and nonlinear optical effects from the radiation forces using a theoretical interpretation based on the Microscopic Ampère force density. It is shown, for the first time, that the time-dependent pressure distribution within the fluid chiefly originates from the electrostriction effects. Our results shed light on the contribution of optical forces to the surface displacements observed at the dielectric air-water interfaces, thus shedding light on the long-standing controversy surrounding the basic definition of electromagnetic momentum density in matter.
WT-PE: Prime editing with nuclease wild-type Cas9 enables versatile large-scale genome editing
Authors: Tao Rui , Wang Yanhong , Hu Yun , Jiao Yaoge , Zhou Lifang , Jiang Lurong , Li Li , He Xingyu , Li Min , Yu Yamei , Chen Qiang , Yao Shaohua
Published: April 2022

Large scale genomic aberrations including duplication, deletion, translocation, and other structural changes are the cause of a subtype of hereditary genetic disorders and contribute to onset or progress of cancer. The current prime editor, PE2, consisting of Cas9-nickase and reverse transcriptase enables efficient editing of genomic deletion and insertion, however, at small scale. Here, we designed a novel prime editor by fusing reverse transcriptase (RT) to nuclease wild-type Cas9 (WT-PE) to edit large genomic fragment. WT-PE system simultaneously introduced a double strand break (DSB) and a single 3′ extended flap in the target site. Coupled with paired prime editing guide RNAs (pegRNAs) that have complementary sequences in their 3′ terminus while target different genomic regions, WT-PE produced bi-directional prime editing, which enabled efficient and versatile large-scale genome editing, including large fragment deletion up to 16.8 megabase (Mb) pairs and chromosomal translocation. Therefore, our WT-PE system has great potential to model or treat diseases related to large-fragment aberrations.
Tracing the path of carbon export in the ocean though DNA sequencing of individual sinking particles
Authors: Durkin Colleen A , Cetinić Ivona , Estapa Margaret , Ljubešić Zrinka , Mucko Maja , Neeley Aimee , Omand Melissa
Published: April 2022

Surface phytoplankton communities were linked with the carbon they export into the deep ocean by comparing 18 S rRNA gene sequence communities from surface seawater and individually isolated sinking particles. Particles were collected in sediment traps deployed at locations in the North Pacific subtropical gyre and the California Current. DNA was isolated from individual particles, bulk-collected trap particles, and the surface seawater. The relative sequence abundance of exported phytoplankton taxa in the surface water varied across functional groups and ecosystems. Of the sequences detected in sinking particles, about half were present in large (>300 μm), individually isolated particles and primarily belonged to taxa with small cell sizes (<50 µm). Exported phytoplankton taxa detected only in bulk trap samples, and thus presumably packaged in the smaller sinking size fraction, contained taxa that typically have large cell sizes (>500 μm). The effect of particle degradation on the detectable 18 S rRNA gene community differed across taxa, and differences in community composition among individual particles from the same location largely reflected differences in relative degradation state. Using these data and particle imaging, we present an approach that incorporates genetic diversity into mechanistic models of the ocean’s biological carbon pump, which will lead to better quantification of the ocean’s carbon cycle.
Role of diet and its effects on the gut microbiome in the pathophysiology of mental disorders
Authors: Horn J. , Mayer D. E. , Chen S. , Mayer E. A.
Published: April 2022

There is emerging evidence that diet has a major modulatory influence on brain-gut-microbiome (BGM) interactions with important implications for brain health, and for several brain disorders. The BGM system is made up of neuroendocrine, neural, and immune communication channels which establish a network of bidirectional interactions between the brain, the gut and its microbiome. Diet not only plays a crucial role in shaping the gut microbiome, but it can modulate structure and function of the brain through these communication channels. In this review, we summarize the evidence available from preclinical and clinical studies on the influence of dietary habits and interventions on a selected group of psychiatric and neurologic disorders including depression, cognitive decline, Parkinson’s disease, autism spectrum disorder and epilepsy. We will particularly address the role of diet-induced microbiome changes which have been implicated in these effects, and some of which are shared between different brain disorders. While the majority of these findings have been demonstrated in preclinical and in cross-sectional, epidemiological studies, to date there is insufficient evidence from mechanistic human studies to make conclusions about causality between a specific diet and microbially mediated brain function. Many of the dietary benefits on microbiome and brain health have been attributed to anti-inflammatory effects mediated by the microbial metabolites of dietary fiber and polyphenols. The new attention given to dietary factors in brain disorders has the potential to improve treatment outcomes with currently available pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies.