bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The diagnostic value of pulse oximetry with data transmission via a smartphone for the diagnosis of respiratory disorders in chronic heart failure
Authors: Shorikov P , Shorikov EI , Shorikova D , Bordiyan V , Ismael O
Published: May 2022

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: None.

Introduction

All diagnostic systems used to clarify breathing disorders during sleep are divided into 4 types. The level of evidence for their use depends on the number of recorded parameters and reflects the amount of information obtained during the study. The simplest type includes screening systems that measure the level of blood saturation.

The aim of our work was to study the diagnostic value of pulse oximetry as a screening method for the diagnosis of breathing disorders during sleep in patients with chronic heart failure.

Materials and methods

A comparative study of the two methods included 70 patients (50 men and 20 women), whose average age was 55.5 ± 11.2 years. All patients underwent contact pulse measurement using a smart watch with data sending via a smartphone. In parallel, control was carried out with a resuscitation cardiac monitor.

Results

When analyzing the distribution of patients into groups according to the number of episodes of a decrease in oxygen saturation by more than 3% during pulse oximetry and during cardiorespiratory monitoring. Thus, less than 5 events per hour were recorded in 16 (22.8%) patients according to pulse oximetry data and in 18 (25.7%) patients according to cardiorespiratory monitoring data; from 5 to 15 events per hour - in 17 (24.2%) patients according to the results of two methods, from 15 to 30 events per hour - 18 (25.7%) and 11 (15.7%) patients, respectively, and more than 30 events per hour - in 16 (22.8%) and 11 (15.7%) patients, while there was no statistically significant difference between the groups.

Thus, the sensitivity of the remote pulse oximetry method with the option of transmitting via a smartphone in detecting breathing disorders during sleep of varying severity (the number of episodes more than 5 per hour) was 94.4%. The specificity of the method of computerized pulse oximetry when detecting a sign of the presence of more than 5 events per hour is 79.2%. The predictive value of a positive result was 91.1%, i.e. in patients with a desaturation index of more than 5 events per hour according to pulse oximetry data, respiratory disorders will be confirmed by monitoring with a probability of 91.1%.

Conclusions

Pulse oximetry with data transmission via a smartphone is an accurate screening diagnostic method among cardiac patients for a broader detection of breathing disorders during sleep.
Photoplethysmography telemonitoring during the first week after atrial fibrillation ablation: Feasibility and clinical implications
Authors: Manninger M , Rohrer U , Eberl AS , Andrecs L , Loibnegger S , Pratl B , Hermans A , Hendriks J , Pluymaekers NAHA , Zirlik A , Linz D , Scherr D
Published: May 2022

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: None.

The incidence of early atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence within the first week after AF ablation and its predictive value for late AF recurrences are unclear. TeleCheck-AF is a remote on-demand mobile health (mHealth) infrastructure, which is based on a mobile phone app using photoplethysmography (PPG) technology (Fibricheck) allowing rate and rhythm monitoring through teleconsultations. The feasibility and clinical implications of PPG telemonitoring specifically during the first week after atrial fibrillation ablation is unknown.

Methods

Within the TeleCheck-AF project, the Medical University offered a total of 382 consecutive patients undergoing AF ablation (between June 1st 2020 and December 15th 2021) photoplethysmography (PPG) telemonitoring with "FibriCheck" during the first week after the ablation procedure. Patients received a QR code for activation of the software on their smartphone and were connected to the clinician’s telemedicine portal. They were instructed to perform rhythm monitoring three times per day and in case of symptoms. Clinicians assessed the tracings and contacted the patients if therapeutic steps were indicated.

Results

In total, 119 patients (31%) agreed to perform telemonitoring after ablation. Patients undergoing telemonitoring were younger compared to those who refused participation (58±10years vs. 62±10years, p<0.001). 34% were female, median CHA2DS2-VASc-Score was 1 (0-6). 62% of patients had paroxysmal AF and 37% had persistent AF. One of four patients (24%) had already undergone previous ablations. Most index ablations were radiofrequency ablations (89%; 7% cryo; 4% pulsed field ablation). Median follow up duration was 281 (16-620) days.

27% of patients had tracings suggestive of AF in the week following the index ablation. Telemonitoring resulted in clinical interventions ins 24% of patients: amiodarone was started in 8%, class I antiarrhythmic drugs were up titrated in 7%, cardioversion was scheduled in 5%, antiarrhythmic drugs were reduced due to symptomatic bradycardia in 3% of patients.

During follow-up, 22% of patients had ECG-documented AF recurrences. PPG recordings suggestive of AF in the week after ablation were predictive of late recurrences (p<0.001).

Conclusion

Rhythm monitoring with a PPG-based mHealth application was feasible and often resulted in clinical interventions. Due to its high availability, PPG-based follow-up actively involving patients after AF ablation may close a diagnostic and prognostic gap and increase active patient-involvement.

Figure 1: Schematic overview of the telemonitoring process. After the ablation, the patient measures PPGs for one week, dashboard view for clinician shows regular rhythm (green, atrial fibrillation (red) and unclear tracings (blue).
Biosensors in cardiology. T-CARE project: a preliminary study on an innovative wearable telemonitoring system
Authors: Amati F , Santobuono VE , Bozza N , Latorre M , Memeo R , Favale S
Published: May 2022

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: Public Institution(s). Main funding source(s): REGIONE PUGLIA

Introduction

The demographic trend evolution and the modification of health needs highlight the requirement for a novel organization of the healthcare system. Telemedicine allows the assistance of patients remotely, breaking down geographical barriers.

Purpose

The aim of the present study was to assess the validity of a novel wearable system to monitor EKG, heart rate and pulse oximetry in patients with chronic cardiac diseases. The equippement included a T-shirt with electrodes and a band with a photopletimosgraphic sensor, connected to a tiny dock station (Figure 1, panel A).

Methods

We enrolled 38 patients admitted to the coronary care unit at our hospital in Italy, 71% male, mean age 67 years, mean EF 45%. The main characteristics of the sample are listed in Table 1. The system was entirely automatic. Health parameters recording started as soon as patients wore T-shirt and band. Data were transmitted by Bluetooth technology to an external control unit. Recordings could be stored or could be checked in real time from a control room. Data were compared to measurements obtained by traditional monitoring system (telemetry).

Results

The devices tested in this study showed a satisfying level of reliability in monitoring heart rate, pulse oximetry, QT interval, QRS complex duration, and onset of arrhythmic events. Indeed, the difference between traditional monitoring system and the new wearable equipment in acquiring health parameters was not statistically significant (Figure 1, panel B). However, alerts produced by arrhythmias different from atrial fibrillation were not completely reliable.

Conclusions

The most important aspect of this new equipment was the need of minimal patient’s interaction. This system was not inferior to traditional telemetry in recording health parameters.
High-rate atrial pacing to reduce left-sided filling pressures: a combined computational and clinical pilot study
Authors: Van Loon T , Boerdonk P , Sack K , Cornelussen R , Jackson T , Delhaas T , Linz D , Luermans J , Vernooy K , Lumens J
Published: May 2022

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: Foundation. Main funding source(s): This work was supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO- ZonMw, VIDI grant 016.176.340 to J.L.) and the Dutch Heart Foundation (ERA-CVD JTC2018 grant 2018T094; Dr. Dekker Program grant 2015T082 to J.L.)

Background

In heart failure patients, interventions to reduce elevated left ventricular (LV) filling pressure improve symptoms and reduce the risk of hospitalization. In this combined computational-clinical study, we explore high-rate atrial pacing as an alternative intervention to reduce LV filling pressure.

Methods

First, the theoretical basis was explored in a computational model of reduced LV compliance and various fixed atrioventricular delays. Second, an explorative clinical study was conducted in 19 paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) patients undergoing pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) with sinus rhythm at the beginning of the procedure. Prior to the PVI, atrial pacing rate was gradually increased from resting heart rate to Wenckebach point with 10bpm increments. LA pressure was continuously monitored with a fluid-filled transseptal catheter.

Results

Computational modelling demonstrated a parabolic relationship between atrial pacing rate and LA pressure depending on atrioventricular delay (Figure A). In patients (Figure B), intermediately increased rates (60bpm[60-70], median[IQR], to 90bpm[73-100], respectively) reduced LA pressure from 16.0mmHg[14.0-20.5] to 14.0mmHg[10.8-16.8]. Highly increased rates (130bpm[120-140]) significantly increased LA pressure to 26.0mmHg[21.5-27.8].

Conclusions

Both the model simulations and the subsequent clinical pilot study support the hypothesis that high-rate atrial pacing can reduce left-sided filling pressure. However, inter-patient variability of response to high-rate pacing was observed, to which simulations identified atrioventricular conduction to be a potential source.
Evaluation of electrocardiographic repolarization parameters in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome
Authors: Orosz A , Szabo LA , Vagvolgyi A , Magony S , Nyiraty SZ , Toth B , Pesei F , Abraham GY , Nemes A , Lengyel CS , Varkonyi T , Baczko I
Published: May 2022

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): National Research, Development and Innovation Office

Introduction

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a multifactorial, endocrine disease associated with metabolic disturbances (e.g. hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance) and increased cardiovascular risk. Recent data strongly suggest that different QT variability parameters characterizing cardiac repolarization instability represent novel markers in proarrhythmic risk assessment.

Purpose

In the present study we investigated ECG repolarization parameters, including QT variability parameters in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Methods

Fifty-five PCOS patients (age: 29±6 years) and 55 age-matched healthy volunteers (age: 29±10 years) were enrolled in the study. Five-minute 12-lead resting electrocardiograms were recorded, the ECGs were digitized and evaluated off-line using the Cardiosys-A01 system (Cardiosys-A01). The following parameters were determined: the frequency corrected QT interval (QTc) using Bazett’s, Fridericia, Framingham and the Hodges formulas; QT dispersion (QTd) and T wave peak-to-end distance (Tpeak-Tend). Among QT variability parameters we analyzed the QT variance (QTv), the QT variability index (QTVI), the short-term beat-to-beat QT and RR interval variability (STV-QT, STV-RR) based on constructed Poincaré plots and the variability ratio (VR).

Results

The RR interval did not differ significantly in PCOS patients compared to controls (821±129 ms vs. 847±99 ms), however the QT interval (373±30 ms vs. 391±27 ms, p<0.01), the QTc calculated with Bazett’s, Framingham, Fridericia and Hodges correction formulas (QTc Bazett’s: 413±18 ms vs. 426±21 ms, p<0.01) and the Tpeak-Tend intervals were significantly shorter (76±10 ms vs. 83±12 ms, p<0.01). The QTd, QTv, and STV-RR did not differ significantly. However, the VR (0.3±0.4 vs. 0.2±0.2, p<0.05), the QTVI (-0,9±0.5 vs. -1,3±0.4, p<0.001), and importantly, the STV-QT were significantly higher in PCOS patients compared to controls (4.0±0.9 ms vs. 3.2±0.9 ms, p<0.0001).

Conclusion

Some of the alterations in repolarization parameters and the significant increase in the short-term beat-to-beat QT interval variability and the QT variability index may indicate increased repolarization instability in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome compared to age-matched controls, however, further studies are needed to establish the exact relation of this finding to increased arrhythmia propensity in this population.
Atrial fibrillation and coronavirus infection
Authors: Sychov OS , Talaieva TV , Gavrilenko TI , Romanova OM , Hetman TV , Stasyshena OV , Ilchyshyna O YA
Published: May 2022

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: Public Institution(s). Main funding source(s): NSC M.D Strazhesko Institute of Cardiology

Coronavirus infection (CI) needs to be specified in terms of the impact on the development of first-onset arrhythmia episodes and the worsening of the course of pre-existing arrhythmias and conduction disturbances.

The aim of our study was to examine the features of the most common and potentially dangerous arrhythmia - atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with COVID-19 infection (CI).

Research methods in this fragment of work the estimation of clinical and anamnestic characteristics of patients (pts) and a course of a disease is resulted.

Results

We studied 29 pts, including 9 men and 20 women, aged 65.7 + 1.8 years, who 3.8 + 0.6 months ago underwent CI, and were admitted to our clinic with a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation ( AF): 18 pts with paroxysmal, 8 pts with persistent and three people with permanent forms of this arrhythmia. Of these, 18 (62.1%) had AF before COVID-19 (study group 1), and 11 (37.9%) pts had this arrhythmia after CI (study group 2). In pts of the 1st group after CI there was an increased duration of AF paroxysm in all 15 pts with paroxysmal and persistent forms of AF from 1.9 + 0.4 to 59.1 + 2.0 days (p (0.001). In favor of the latter is the fact that in these patients the frequency of arrhythmia paroxysms increased from 2.5 + 0.4 times a year to 53.6 + 1.9 during the same time (up to almost once a week) (p <0.001). In addition, all three pts with persistent AF had a transition from "normosystolic" form of this arrhythmia to "tachysystolic" (100%, p <0,05). Pts of the 1st group more often had coronary heart disease (77.8% vs. 72.7%, p <0.05), a history of myocardial infarction 5.6% vs. 0%, p <0.05), stroke (11.1% vs. 0%, p <0.05), diabetes mellitus (22.2% vs. 0%, p <0.05). Pts in group 1 were older than patients in group 2 (67.7 + 1.9 years versus 63.9 + 2.4 years) (p <0.001). AF in group 1 first appeared on average 6.1 + 0.6 years before the survey, which is significantly greater than the difference in human age of 3.8 +1.9 years (p <0.001) between pts of the 1st and 2nd groups. That is, AF in pts of the 2nd group of CI dishonestly accelerated its development. Finally, the 1st group of women there were 61.1%, which is more than men, which was 38.9% 1.6 times, and in the 2nd group the number of women increased significantly ( and amounted to 81.8% to 18.2% of men), and the ratio of women to men increased to 4.5 - almost three times more than in the group of pts with AF to CI (p <0.001).

Conclusions

Coronavirus infection significantly worsens the course of all forms of atrial fibrillation. COVID-19 increases the likelihood of newly registered atrial fibrillation in pts without significant comorbid and age-related "load". The probability of atrial fibrillation after coronavirus infection in women is higher than in men.
Sympatho-vagal activation during obstructive respiratory events in pigs and blunted atrial arrhythmogenic effects by pharmacological IKACh-inhibition
Authors: Linz B , Hertel JN , Sattler SM , Tfelt-Hansen J , Linz D , Jespersen T
Published: May 2022

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: Foundation. Main funding source(s): Novo nordisk foundation

Background

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with a sympatho-vagal activation which is suspected to create a complex substrate for atrial fibrillation (AF).

Purpose

In pigs, we investigated atrial arrhythmogenic consequences of simulated obstructive respiratory events by intermittent negative upper airway pressure (INAP) application and tested antiarrhythmic properties of an atria-specific IK,ACh-inhibitor.

Methods

In spontaneously breathing pigs, obstructive respiratory events were simulated by intermittent negative upper airway pressure (INAP) applied via a pressure device connected to the intubation tube. INAP was applied for 75 seconds, every 10 minutes, three times before (vehicle) and two times following infusion of an IK,ACh-inhibitor. P-wave, PQ-duration, atrial effective refractory periods (AERP) and left ventricular hemodynamic parameters (maximum upstroke velocity, minimal downslope velocity and systole duration) were acquired before (Pre-INAP), during (INAP) and after (Post-) INAP. AF-inducibility was determined by a S1S2 atrial pacing protocol.

Results

During vehicle infusion, INAP transiently shortened AERP (Pre-INAP: 147±8ms vs. Post-INAP 105±12 ms; p=0.021) and increased AF-inducibility (Pre-INAP: 10±6% vs. Post-INAP 57±15%; p=0.018). Whereas p-wave duration remained stable, PQ-duration prolonged (Pre-INAP: 130±6ms vs. Post-INAP 142±7ms; p=0.03). Left ventricular maximum upstroke velocity increased (Pre-INAP: 1990±118 mmHg/s vs. Post-INAP 3980±704 mmHg/s; p=0.04), minimal downslope velocity decreased and systole duration shortened (Pre-INAP: 236±6 ms vs. Post-INAP 202±12 ms; p=0.04).

The IK,ACh-inhibitor increased AERP (vehicle 147±8ms vs. IK,ACh-inhibitor 171±9ms; p=0.05) and sufficiently prevented INAP-associated AERP-shortening (Pre-INAP: 171±9ms vs. Post-INAP 180±9ms; p=0.219) and PQ-duration prolongation (Pre-INAP: 116±8ms vs. Post-INAP 113±7ms; p=0.76). INAP-induced changes of left ventricular maximum upstroke/minimal downslope velocity and systole duration remained unaffected in the presence of the IK,ACh-inhibitor.

Conclusion

During obstructive respiratory events simulated by INAP in pigs, left ventricular hemodynamic changes demonstrated elevated sympathetic tone, while atrial electrophysiological parameters resemble elevated parasympathetic tone at the same time. This was associated with increased AF-susceptibility. Pharmacological IK,ACh-inhibition blunted INAP-induced impairment of atrial electrophysiology without affecting left ventricular hemodynamic changes. Hence, pharmacological IKACh-inhibition may constitute a promising treatment strategy in AF-patients with OSA.
Sex-Differences in Phenology: A Tinbergian Perspective
Authors: Williams Cory T , Chmura Helen E , Deal Cole K , Wilsterman Kathryn
Published: May 2022

Synopsis

Shifts in the timing of cyclic seasonal life-history events are among the most commonly reported responses to climate change, with differences in response rates among interacting species leading to phenological mismatches. Within a species, however, males and females can also exhibit differential sensitivity to environmental cues and may, therefore, differ in their responsiveness to climate change, potentially leading to phenological mismatches between the sexes. This occurs because males differ from females in when and how energy is allocated to reproduction, resulting in marked sex-differences in life-history timing across the annual cycle. In this review, we take a Tinbergian perspective and examine sex-differences in timing of vertebrates from adaptive, ontogenetic, mechanistic, and phylogenetic viewpoints with the goal of informing and motivating more integrative research on sexually dimorphic phenologies. We argue that sexual and natural selection lead to sex-differences in life-history timing and that understanding the ecological and evolutionary drivers of these differences is critical for connecting climate-driven phenological shifts to population resilience. Ontogeny may influence how and when sex-differences in life-history timing arise because the early-life environment can profoundly affect developmental trajectory, rates of reproductive maturation, and seasonal timing. The molecular mechanisms underlying these organismal traits are relevant to identifying the diversity and genetic basis of population- and species-level responses to climate change, and promisingly, the molecular basis of phenology is becoming increasingly well-understood. However, because most studies focus on a single sex, the causes of sex-differences in phenology critical to population resilience often remain unclear. New sequencing tools and analyses informed by phylogeny may help generate hypotheses about mechanism as well as insight into the general “evolvability” of sex-differences across phylogenetic scales, especially as trait and genome resources grow. We recommend that greater attention be placed on determining sex-differences in timing mechanisms and monitoring climate change responses in both sexes, and we discuss how new tools may provide key insights into sex-differences in phenology from all four Tinbergian domains.
Invasive Bullfrogs Maintain MHC Polymorphism Including Alleles Associated with Chytrid Fungal Infection
Authors: LaFond Jacob , Martin Katherine R , Dahn Hollis , Richmond Jonathan Q , Murphy Robert W , Rollinson Njal , Savage Anna E
Published: May 2022

Maintenance of genetic diversity at adaptive loci may facilitate invasions by non-native species by allowing populations to adapt to novel environments, despite the loss of diversity at neutral loci that typically occurs during founder events. To evaluate this prediction, we compared genetic diversity at major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and cytochrome b (cytb) loci from 20 populations of the American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) across theinvasive and native ranges in North America and quantified the presence of the pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). Compared to native populations, invasive populations had significantly higher Bd prevalence and intensity, significantly higher pairwise MHC and cytb FST, and significantly lower cytb diversity, but maintained similar levels of MHC diversity. The two most common MHC alleles (LiCA_B and Rapi_33) were associated with a significant decreased risk of Bd infection, and we detected positive selection acting on four peptide binding residues. Phylogenetic analysis suggested invasive populations likely arose from a single founding population in the American Midwest with a possible subsequent invasion in the northwest. Overall, our study suggests that the maintenance of diversity at adaptive loci may contribute to invasion success and highlights the importance of quantifying diversity at functional loci to assess the evolutionary potential of invasive populations.
The Concept of Anxiety in Ontological Security Studies
Authors: Krickel-Choi Nina C
Published: May 2022

The growing literature on ontological security theory (OST) in international relations, ontological security studies (OSS), is characterized by great internal diversity. This internal pluralism is one of its greatest strengths, but it is also potentially confusing, for example, when different works using an ontological security lens arrive at contradictory conclusions without it being obvious why. In order to make sense of this diversity, this article traces two interrelated conceptual divergences related to the notion of anxiety. The first one concerns the observation that anxiety is seemingly both debilitating and an impediment to action, as well as a call to action, inspiring adaptation and change. The second divergence centers on whether ontological security is at all attainable, which is largely a matter of whether anxiety is best understood as an extraordinary and temporally limited condition or as an ever-present and normal part of life. This article argues that the divergent answers to these questions, and the problems they give rise to, are primarily the result of ambiguity with regard to the key concept of anxiety. The malleable nature of the concept of anxiety engenders deviating interpretations and applications among scholars. While awareness of these issues already goes a long way toward making sense of some of the diversity within OSS, this article further suggests ways to increase the conceptual clarity of anxiety and to address the two issues of change and attainability. Doing so increases our conceptual understanding of OST.
Bacterial Lipopolysaccharide as a Negative Predictor of Adjuvant Gemcitabine Efficacy in Pancreatic Cancer
Authors: Guenther Michael , Gil Lina , Surendran Sai Agash , Palm Melanie Alexandra , Heinemann Volker , von Bergwelt-Baildon Michael , Mayerle Julia , Engel Jutta , Werner Jens , Boeck Stefan , Ormanns Steffen
Published: May 2022

Adjuvant gemcitabine (aGC) is one standard of care after pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) resection. No biomarker for its efficacy is established. As bacteria mediate gemcitabine resistance, we analyzed whether lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as surrogate for bacterial colonization is prognostic in PDAC patients treated with aGC or without aGC adjuvant gemcitabine. We detected LPS in 86 tumors from 376 patients, which defined a specific microbiome as revealed by 16 s-rRNA-sequencing. In the 230 aGC patients, LPS conferred worse disease-free survival (8.3 vs 13.7 months; hazard ratio = 1.75, 95% confidence interval = 1.22 to 2.49; log-rank P = .002) and overall survival (21.7 vs 28.5 months; hazard ratio = 1.80, 95% confidence interval = 1.23 to 2.57; log-rank P = .001) but not in the 146 naGC patients, which was confirmed in an independent validation cohort (n = 178). LPS may serve as a negative predictor for aGC efficacy in PDAC, which suggests a role for microbiome modification to overcome bacteria-mediated chemotherapy resistance.
Introduction
Authors: Walker Michael L.
Published: May 2022

The book opens with a personal account from arrest to confinement in a Golden County jail. It is designed to (a) introduce the issue of mental health in American jails, (b) situate American jails within the broader institution of punishment, (c) describe organic ethnography as a methodology, (d) describe the book’s aim, and (e) orient the reader to the author’s writing style. American jails constitute a unique punishment experience worthy of investigation in its own right and yet, a study of social life in the Golden County jail system can illuminate how people respond to uncertainty and vulnerability, how perceptions of time change in response to uncertainty, and how the features of organizational living lead to the development of specific cultural habits and technologies. The author defines and describes what is meant by “organic ethnography” and how that methodology figured into the gathering, analysis, and presentation of data for this book.
Introduction
Authors: Nassar Dalia
Published: May 2022

The introduction offers a first presentation of the philosophical tradition of romantic empiricism, enumerates its most important insights, and suggestively indicating its continued relevance. The introduction argues that the romantic empiricists developed a distinctive approach to the study of nature: an approach that emphasized starting with experience, and remaining with the phenomenon, while also recognizing the creative role of the knower in the activity of knowledge. Furthermore, unlike the majority of philosophical traditions and approaches, romantic empiricism regarded art and aesthetic education as crucial in the expansion and deepening of our understanding of nature. The introduction identifies four key representatives of the romantic empiricist movement—Kant Herder, Goethe, and Alexander von Humboldt—and argues that romantic empiricism played foundational roles in the emergence of a number of disciplines, including ecology. The introduction concludes by pointing to the ways in which the romantic empiricist approach can address contemporary questions and concerns.
Setting the Stage
Authors: Nassar Dalia
Published: May 2022

This chapter investigates Kant’s place in romantic empiricism, focusing on his notion of reflecting judgment and its scientific status. The chapter argues that when reflecting judgment turns to the study of nature—and thus becomes teleological judgment, as Kant understood it—reflecting judgment becomes analogical. This means, first, that its approach to nature is motivated by the analogy between nature and art, and second, that it proceeds analogically, that is, it studies nature as if it were a work of art. To elucidate the analogical structure of teleological judgment, the chapter examines Kant’s shifting understanding of analogy and its role in science, situates Kant within his larger eighteenth-century context, and considers the meaning and significance of Kant’s conceptualization and use of analogy in the third Critique. The chapter concludes by highlighting the similarities between teleological judgment and intuitive understanding, while also pointing the way beyond Kant to those thinkers who were convinced of the necessity of analogical reflection and intuitive understanding for the study of nature.
The Hermeneutics of Nature
Authors: Nassar Dalia
Published: May 2022

This chapter examines how Herder arrived at his distinctive understanding of nature as dynamic. Specifically, the chapter argues that Herder developed a novel approach to the study of nature, which is founded in his hermeneutic methodology. By tracing the idea of a “world,” which was first articulated in Herder’s study of Shakespeare and his “world,” the chapter shows how this notion played a crucial role both in Herder’s understanding of human language (and its “origins”) and in his conceptualization of nature. For by thinking of nature as a world that is inhabited by its members, and that also inhabits its members, Herder began to conceive of nature as a dynamic reality—a collaboration. This allowed Herder to offer a nonabstract conception of nature, while also enabling him to explicate differences within nature: between animals and also between humans and other animals.
Intuitive Judgment and Goethe’s Ethics of Knowledge
Authors: Nassar Dalia
Published: May 2022

This chapter offers a systematic explication of two crucial notions in Goethe’s epistemology—intuitive judgment and the Urphänomen—and elaborates their environmental and ethical significance and implications. The chapter begins by offering a detailed examination of the character and procedure of intuitive judgment, one of Goethe’s most widely discussed and philosophically compelling ideas. It then moves to consider the kind of concept that intuitive judgment generates, which is identified as the Urphänomen. The chapter distinguishes the Urphänomen from other kinds of concepts, in that it is neither general (and divested of particularity), nor particular (in that it cannot be seen or pointed to). Rather, it is shown that the Urphänomen is a collaborative effort between knower and known—a claim with vast ethical and epistemological consequences. The chapter turns to explicating the consequences of Goethe’s theory of knowledge, homing in on their significance for establishing new directions in environmental ethics.
Embodied Cognition
Authors: Nassar Dalia
Published: May 2022

This chapter locates the continued relevance of Humboldt’s science in his specific form of writing, which he describes as Naturgemälde and which might best be understood as an embodied form of aesthetics. The chapter situates Humboldt’s aesthetic writings in the context of his own theory of art, in particular his notion of “truth to nature [Naturwahrheit]” in art, and in the debate regarding the differences between poetry and painting. By showing the extent to which Humboldt valued the philosophical and poetic works of Friedrich Schiller, the chapter demonstrates the significance of Schiller’s conceptualization of the relation between aesthetics and ethics for Humboldt, and the ways in which Humboldt went beyond Schiller in recognizing the cognitive value of art. The chapter concludes with an investigation of the relevance of Humboldt’s embodied aesthetics—which addresses the whole human being, i.e., her intellect, senses, and imagination—and how it challenges us to develop new practices of knowledge.
That Damned Fence
Authors: Hathaway Heather
Published: May 2022

This book explores writing produced by Japanese Americans during their World War II incarceration. In five of the ten War Relocation Authority camps, occasional literary magazines were published alongside weekly or daily newspapers. The newspapers communicated necessary information from camp administrators to the detained, but the literary magazines contained creative works written by Japanese Americans themselves. In Topaz, TREK captured the distinctive culture and community that developed in the Utah camp, as did the Pulse for Granada/Amache in Colorado, the Dispatch Magazine for Tule Lake in northern California, the Denson Magnet for Jerome, and The Pen for Rohwer, both in southeast Arkansas. The fiction, poetry, journalism, and artwork in the magazines provide insight into the daily realities and emotional experiences of the incarcerated. Comparing the magazines to one another demonstrates how the geographic locations and climates of each camp, points of origin and professional and educational backgrounds of the imprisoned, gender and generational demographics, and attitudes of camp administrators combined to create not a monolithic experience of “the camps,” but rather five unique communal modes of survival. Particular attention is paid to the art and literature of Toyo Suyemoto, Taro Katayama, James Yamada, Toshio Mori, Hiroshi Nakamura, Miné Okubo, Henry Sugimoto, and Hisaye Yamamoto.
Introduction
Authors: Hathaway Heather
Published: May 2022

This introduction discusses the context in which the literary magazines written by Japanese Americans interned at the War Relocation Authority (WRA) prisons were produced. The prisons represented in this volume are Topaz (TREK), Tule Lake (Tulean Dispatch Magazine), Granada/Amache (the Pulse), Rohwer (The Pen), and Jerome (the Magnet). The chapter discusses the importance of the terminology used to describe historical trauma, provides a general overview of scholarship about the incarceration, and situates the creative work by the incarcerated within prewar and postwar Japanese American literary history. Reading these literary magazines comparatively illuminates how and why one camp differed from another. Reading them collectively confirms the tenacity, humor, sorrow, anger, despair, and resilience with which Japanese Americans faced their wartime incarceration.
After the Bombs
Authors: Hathaway Heather
Published: May 2022

This chapter focuses on the biography and poetry of Toyo Suyemoto and argues that writing offered her a means of surviving the trauma of incarceration. Suyemoto was a rising literary star who was living in San Francisco with her husband, the journalist Iwao Kawakami, and their infant, Kay, when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Suyemoto’s poetry, including that published in TREK, and her memoir, I Call to Remembrance (2007), provide primary sources through which to trace her experiences in the Tanforan Assembly Center and the Central Utah Relocation Center (Topaz). The chapter discusses the lasting impact that poor living conditions and inadequate healthcare in the camps had on the imprisoned through consideration of the life of Suyemoto’s son, Kay Kawakami, who developed severe allergies to horse dander in Tanforan that were exacerbated by the ubiquitous dust in Topaz, and who consequently died prematurely at sixteen from a respiratory illness.
Writing as Resistance
Authors: Hathaway Heather
Published: May 2022

This chapter focuses on Topaz’s literary magazine, TREK, particularly on the contributions of the journalist Taro Katayama and the humorist Jim Yamada, and argues that their material critiqued the incarceration. The chapter sketches Katayama’s career in San Francisco prior to the war, including his relationship with James Omura, editor of Current Life, and describes Katayama’s frustration with government censorship he encountered when editing Tanforan’s newspaper, the Totalizer. In TREK, Katayama found the opportunity for greater freedom of expression and he used the venue to veil political statements in seemingly benign prose. Jim Yamada’s satire did the same. Yamada sometimes wrote under the pseudonym, Globularius Schraubi. The chapter analyzes the political messages that infuse Yamada/Schraubi’s play on H. L. Mencken’s The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States, which offers an inquiry into the development of “evacuese.”
Dispatches from Tumultuous Tule Lake
Authors: Hathaway Heather
Published: May 2022

This chapter argues that inmates at Tule Lake were especially assertive, compared to other camps, about their identities as US citizens. It demonstrates this by analyzing material published in the Tulean Dispatch Magazine between its opening on May 27, 1942, and July 15, 1943, when the camp converted into a segregation center for “disloyals” and the magazine ceased production. The chapter examines how writers for the Dispatch Magazine drew on tropes of American patriotism, such as the Whitmanian literary catalog or battles between Indigenous tribes (the Modoc, specifically) and white colonizers, to emphasize their inherent “Americanness.” The chapter assesses the disruption caused by the infamous “loyalty questionnaire,” which forced Nisei (Japanese Americans born in the United States) to agree to serve the war effort and Issei (Japanese immigrants to the United States) to renounce allegiance to Japan, the only nation where they held citizenship, to “prove” their loyalty.
Humiliation and Hope in Rohwer’s The Pen
Authors: Hathaway Heather
Published: May 2022

This chapter focuses on how Rohwer’s location in the segregated southern United States forced prisoners there to engage their racialized status as neither “black” nor “white” under Jim Crow. It explains how contributions to the camp’s literary magazine, The Pen, address this central tension. The chapter situates this dilemma within prominent theories of racialization during the period, particularly as presented by Japanese Evacuation and Resettlement Study’s (JERS) budding sociologist Tom Shibutani. It examines tensions that arose about repatriation between Kibei (Nisei who had lived in Japan for part of their lives) and Nisei (American-born people of Japanese descent). It analyzes how Rohwer’s mascot, “Lil Dan’l,” embodies the classic American tropes of freedom of speech and a “pioneer” spirit. Finally, it considers how contributions to The Pen by inmates in other camps provide a comparative frame through which to highlight the complexity of the incarceration across the ten facilities.
Upper Egypt before the New Kingdom
Authors: Polz Daniel
Published: May 2022

The time between the Middle and the New Kingdoms is less well-defined than the preceding and succeeding periods of ancient Egypt in terms of its political, administrative, and economic structure. After the decline of the Middle Kingdom central state, the so-called Second Intermediate Period is characterized by a parceling of Egypt’s territory into a number of local or regional centers of power. This decentralization also resulted in an apparent reduction of textual and other sources. The chapter focuses on political and historical developments during the later phase of the Second Intermediate Period, corresponding to the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Dynasties (ca. 1650–1550 BC) of Upper Egypt, namely the southern region between Abydos and Aswan. The chapter includes a reconstruction of the sequence of rulers of the Seventeenth Dynasty, as this forms an essential prerequisite for the interpretation of the historical developments immediately preceding the New Kingdom.
King and court did not rule over their territory from one permanent royal residence, but rather from temporarily occupied “palaces” constructed for that purpose throughout the country; military personnel seemingly gained importance in the state organization toward the end of the Second Intermediate Period. The emergence of the New Kingdom is marked by the military actions of the Upper Egyptian rulers against their adversaries in the north, the “Hyksos.” The chapter argues that these actions did not represent a “war of liberation” against oppressive foreign rule, but instead a vigorous territorial expansion of the southern polity.
The New Kingdom of Egypt under the Ramesside Dynasty
Authors: Cooney Kathlyn M.
Published: May 2022

The Ramesside period saw the contraction of Egypt’s hegemony in the ancient Mediterranean, extraordinary economic contraction and lessening monumental production, and generations of mass migrations, destabilizing Egypt. The period followed Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty, an apex of steady growth, consistent wealth, and high-quality artistic production under able and well-known kings to whom the Ramesside period kings are often compared to their detriment. Should one view the Ramesside period in a different way? Ramesside kings witnessed a steady decline of authority, experiencing palace infighting so intense that it resulted in two civil wars. This period was also punctuated by one of the most devastating social and global apocalypses the Mediterranean and ancient Near East had ever known—the Bronze Age collapse. The fall of the Twentieth Dynasty was part of a larger crisis in economic, political, and climatic systems, not a miscalculation of one or two dynastic families. When the Ramesside kings did finally fall from power, historians draw a stark line between the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties, on the one hand, and the Twenty-first Dynasty, on the other, even though decentralized and competitive ruling strategies remained largely unchanged from one period to the next. The historical creation of a crisp division between the New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period can be understood as the chief reason why Egyptologists do not see the Ramesside period for what it was, a runway that formed the elements of the ensuing Iron Age.
The Aegean in the Context of the Eastern Mediterranean World
Authors: Nakassis Dimitri
Published: May 2022

The chapter provides an overview of major socioeconomic developments in the Aegean and Cyprus during the late Middle to Late Bronze Ages (ca. 1750–1050 BC) based on the archaeological and textual evidence. This period witnessed the emergence of a dense network of towns with monumental architecture, palaces, wealthy burials, and writing. The first half of the period (ca. 1750–1450 BC) is characterized by the dominance of “Minoan” Crete and its palatial centers, whose artistic and cultural influence stretched from the Nile delta to the northern Aegean, stimulating the emergence of new hybrid cultures in the Aegean islands and the coastal mainlands of Greece and Anatolia. In the second half of the period (ca. 1400–1200 BC), the newly established “Mycenaean” palaces on the Greek mainland become central to Aegean networks and material expression. Cyprus, while influenced by Aegean developments, undergoes its own distinctive changes connected to the increasing exploitation of the island’s copper sources and its proximity to the Levant. The final collapse of Aegean palatial systems ca. 1200 BC ushers in a period of dynamic transformations that look forward to the establishment of a new Iron Age order.
Kassite Babylonia
Authors: Paulus Susanne
Published: May 2022

The chapter gives an overview of the political history of Babylonia from the fall of the Hammurabi dynasty to the rise of the Second Dynasty of Isin around 1155 BC—the period of the Kassite dynasty. Originally foreigners with their own traditions and language, this royal house adapted well to the Babylonian social and political environment and catered to the local elites by following traditional conventions of kingship, such as commissioning royal inscriptions and providing continuous worship for the Babylonian gods. These policies were highly successful, and no other royal house occupied the Babylonian throne longer than the Kassite Dynasty. We use contemporary sources as well as later texts to compile a comprehensive overview of the reigns of all thirty-six rulers of this dynasty, with special attention given to problems of historiography and scholarly debate.
Legal interpretation as a solution to disputes over the validity of laws
Authors: Stawecki Tomasz
Published: May 2022

For centuries the idea of law was determined by the dispute between legal positivism and natural law theory. A conflict between positive and natural laws resulted in recognition of the former as non-binding or not applicable. The interpretative turn brought new impulses to the practice of domestic courts. Finding that a statutory rule contradicts the constitution encourages judges to seek for an interpretation which might be closest to the standards of the Basic Law. By analogy, the concept of the interpretation of domestic law conforming to EU law encourages local judges to apply statutes as far as possible in conformity with Community laws. In both types of case we may observe the decline of interest in the problems of validity of the law in favour of focusing on issues of interpretation. This is not only an important change in practice, but also a significant change in the modern paradigm of the law.
Do legal concepts travel?
Authors: Dyrda Adam , Gizbert-Studnicki Tomasz
Published: May 2022

International commercial arbitration is a cross-cultural enterprise. This chapter explores basic legal concepts that are not specific to any legal system but are used by all developed legal systems, such as ‘ownership’, ‘contract’, and ‘negligence’ (substantive multicultural concepts [SMCs]). Such concepts derive their meaning from the applicable law of a particular jurisdiction. However, lawyers from different jurisdictions are usually successful in communicating through the use of such concepts. How can this be explained? Four hypotheses are proposed which constitute a partial explanation. First, some of the SMCs are governed by supranational standards. Second, certain SMCs have ‘travelled’ from national legislation to lex mercatoria. Third, certain SMCs are relatively isolated in the sense that grasping their meaning does not require the determination of relationships between them and many other legal concepts. Such isolated SMCs tend to travel better. Fourth, different conceptual frameworks do not constitute obstacles to reaching a common understanding if the outcomes of their application are similar, which is frequently the case, when the ethical background of different legal systems is similar.
Who forges the tools?
Authors: Udich Julian
Published: May 2022

This chapter sketches an outline for a methodological framework that aims to explain how interpretive methods in Public International Law (PIL) become recognized within this legal system and a procedure for amendments to those methods, which is based upon the status quo of PIL practice. It defines the methods of interpretation not as norms, but as the result of a meta-discourse accompanying any interpretation of PIL norms by the respective interpretative communities. It is argued that this discourse thereby defines the legitimate interpretive methods—regardless of whether the interpretative methods are made explicit or applied implicitly. The article submits that such methods of interpretation may be applied as yardstick to test the legitimacy of a particular, subjective interpretation.