bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pain in children with Bell’s palsy: secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial
Authors: Babl Franz E , Eapen Nitaa , Herd David , Borland Meredith L , Kochar Amit , Lawton Ben , Hort Jason , West Adam , George Shane , Davidson Andrew , Cheek John A , Oakley Ed , Hopper Sandy M , Berkowitz Robert G , Wilson Catherine L , Williams Amanda , MacKay Mark T , Lee Katherine J , Hearps Stephen , Dalziel Stuart R
Published: December 2023

Objective

To describe the prevalence and severity of pain experienced by children with Bell’s palsy over the first 6 months of illness and its association with the severity of facial paralysis.

Methods

This was a secondary analysis of data obtained in a phase III, triple-blinded, randomised, placebo-controlled trial of prednisolone for the treatment of Bell’s palsy in children aged 6 months to <18 years conducted between 13 October 2015 and 23 August 2020 in Australia and New Zealand. Children were recruited within 72 hours of symptom onset and pain was assessed using a child-rated visual analogue scale (VAS), a child-rated Faces Pain Score-Revised (FPS-R) and/or a parent-rated VAS at baseline, and at 1, 3 and 6 months until recovered, and are reported combined across treatment groups.

Results

Data were available for 169 of the 187 children randomised from at least one study time point. Overall, 37% (62/169) of children reported any pain at least at one time point. The frequency of any pain reported using the child-rated VAS, child-rated FPS-R and parent-rated VAS was higher at the baseline assessment (30%, 23% and 27%, respectively) compared with 1-month (4%, 0% and 4%, respectively) and subsequent follow-up assessments. At all time points, the median pain score on all three scales was 0 (no pain).

Conclusions

Pain in children with Bell’s palsy was infrequent and primarily occurred early in the disease course and in more severe disease. The intensity of pain, if it occurs, is very low throughout the clinical course of disease.

Trial registration number

ACTRN12615000563561.
Air pollution and environmental epidemiological evidence in Chile: alerts for decision-makers and citizens
Authors: Cortes Sandra
Published: December 2023

Air pollution in Chile presents unique challenges, exacerbated by inequalities and geographical and climatic diversity. Current policies have not succeeded in aligning air quality with international and national standards, nor have they significantly mitigated public health impacts, despite being more advanced than those in other Latin American countries. The evidence on the health damages caused by air pollution is compelling, showing harmful acute and chronic effects across various life stages. Yet, current measures do not effectively reduce exposure to pollutants. The monitoring network, which reports data from stationary and mobile sources, does not always detect early fugitive emissions and is limited to regulated pollutants, leaving areas without adequate monitoring coverage and without management plans for critical episodes outside of autumn and winter and for a reduced number of pollutants. In the context of climate change, which increases the frequency of forest fires, Chile is experiencing a deterioration of air quality, highlighting the need to expand critical episode management beyond the current Air Pollution Prevention and/or Atmospheric Decontamination Plans. Integrated intersectoral plans need to be improved and extended to address the high exposure to pollutants, due to the large number of people exposed, and a broad population health risks, including quality of life. Decarbonisation by 2040 based on the Sustainable Development Goals is an important pillar of the strategy, but a public debate is needed to establish additional actions for addressing environmental injustice, improving equity and reducing current exposure to air pollutants.
Distributed SGD in overparametrized linear regression
Authors: Nguyen Mike , Kirst Charly , Mücke Nicole
Published: December 2023

We consider distributed learning using constant stepsize stochastic gradient descent (DSGD). The data are distributed uniformly over several devices, each sending a final model update to a central server. In a final step, the local estimates are aggregated. We prove in the setting of overparametrized linear regression general upper bounds with matching lower bounds and derive learning rates for specific data generating distributions. We show that the excess risk is of order of the variance provided the number of local nodes grows not too large with the global sample size. We further compare the sample complexity of DSGD with the sample complexity of distributed ridge regression (DRR) and show that the excess DSGD-risk is smaller than the excess DRR-risk, where both sample complexities are of the same order.
EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF VARIOUS DISINFECTANTS, INCLUDING TRADITIONAL AND MODIFIED NANO TYPES, AGAINSTBRUCELLA MELITENSIS
Authors: Khalafallah Shabaan Saber , Zaki Hoda Mohamed , Seada Ayman Sobhy
Published: December 2023

The zoonotic illness brucellosis may spread between humans and animals in a variety of ways. The prevention and management of brucellosis depend heavily on the cleanliness of the areas around animals and the effective eradication of infection from animal housing. In our investigation, we tested a variety of disinfectants against Brucella melitensis to see how well they worked and whether they would work in various environmental settings. In addition to three different types of nano-disinfectants (Dettol with Silver-NPs, Glutaraldehyde with Silver-NPs, and Calcium oxide-NPs), our study included various conventional forms of disinfectants and antiseptics (Virkon[Formula: see text] S, Cidex, Sodium hypochlorite, Betadine, and Dettol). For estimating the effectiveness of various types of applied disinfectants, reduction rate was employed. The findings indicated that the concentration and length of exposure time of the disinfectants employed, particularly Vircon S, had an impact on their ability to kill bacteria. However, the presence of filthy circumstances and low temperatures considerably reduced the effectiveness of disinfectants, particularly Dettol. On the other hand, nano-disinfectants, particularly glutaraldehyde containing silver nanoparticles, showed better effects than conventional ones. Our research indicated that disinfectants used in everyday life had an impact on Brucella melitensis. However, the presence of filthy environments and low temperatures reduced the bactericidal effectiveness. The impact of nano-disinfectants on Brucella was better.
Threshold dynamics of a nonlocal dispersal SIS epidemic model with free boundaries
Authors: Tong Yachun , Ahn Inkyung , Lin Zhigui
Published: December 2023

To study the influence of the moving front of the infected interval and the spatial movement of individuals on the spreading or vanishing of infectious disease, we consider a nonlocal susceptible–infected–susceptible (SIS) reaction–diffusion model with media coverage, hospital bed numbers and free boundaries. The principal eigenvalue of the integral operator is defined, and the impacts of the diffusion rate of infected individuals and interval length on the principal eigenvalue are analyzed. Furthermore, sufficient conditions for spreading and vanishing of the disease are derived. Our results show that large media coverage and hospital bed numbers are beneficial to the prevention and control of disease. The difference between the model with nonlocal diffusion and that with local diffusion is also discussed and nonlocal diffusion leads to more possibilities.
Switching dynamics of a Filippov memristive Hindmash–Rose neuron model with time delay
Authors: Qiao Shuai , Gao Chenghua
Published: December 2023

Considering the existence of magnetic induction effect with different intensities in the process of subthreshold and suprathreshold oscillations of bioelectrical activities, a non-smooth feedback strategy for memristive current with time delay is proposed, and then a four-dimensional Filippov Hindmarsh–Rose (HR) neuron model is established. The local stability and bifurcation patterns of delayed subsystems are qualitatively analyzed. Accordingly, the discriminant formula for the direction and stability of periodic solutions generated by Hopf bifurcation is obtained on the center manifold. Importantly, the stability of subsystems has switching behavior, which is accompanied by abundant hidden electrical activities under the effect of time delay. The theoretical analysis clarifies that the proposed feedback strategy leads to complex sliding mode dynamics, including sliding segments, various equilibrium points and sliding bifurcations. Meanwhile, the analytical conditions for motions of grazing, sliding, and crossing are developed and verified based on the flow switching theory. Moreover, the mechanism and evolutive rule of the self-excited and hidden sliding electrical activities are revealed by the fast-slow variable dissection method. Finally, it is verified that the time delay can not only induce bistable structures composed of the quiescent state and periodic bursting, but also eliminate the hidden sliding dynamics.
Identifying function modules from protein–protein interaction networks based on Szemerédi’s Regularity Lemma
Authors: He Changxiang , Li Die , Li Yan , Yang Peisheng , Zhang Qingqian , Zhong Wen , Shan Haiying , Dai Hao , Chen LuoNan
Published: December 2023

Szemerédi’s Regularity Lemma (SRL) is a crucial tool in the analysis of large graphs, having made significant contributions in the proof of some sensational results in mathematics. Traditional methods for studying proteins in Protein–Protein Interaction (PPI) networks typically only extract the first-order or second-order neighbor information of proteins, ignoring the potential third-order or higher-order neighbor information between proteins, which may hide certain relationships between proteins. To explore more in-depth insights for PPI networks, we take into account the fourth-order neighbor information of proteins and reconstruct the network in this paper, naming it the weighted dense PPI network. We then partition it using SRL, which primarily utilizes the structural information and corresponds to a unique partition of the original network. Bioinformatics analyses such as those for pathway enrichment analysis and multiple sequence alignment show that our method can classify interacting protein pairs, grouping proteins with functional association, disease association, and sequence similarity together. Overall, this paper has three essential contributions: (1) we present a new model to overcome the astronomically large demand of vertices in applying SRL, and achieve protein classification; (2) we reconstruct a weighted dense PPI network which can make SRL work and mine potential interactions more efficiently; and (3) proteins in the same class partitioned by our method not only have sequence similarity, but also have functional associations.
Investigating Shared Storytelling with a Chatbot as an Approach in Assessing and Maintaining Positive Mental Well-Being among Students
Authors: Ong Ethel , Go Melody Joy , Lao Rebecalyn , Pastor Jaime , To Lenard Balwin
Published: December 2023

Global reports indicate a steady increase in the number of people who are facing mental health concerns. Among those affected are students who struggle with balancing the demands of a hybrid learning environment. Recent studies are emerging on the use of chatbots as an accessible technology-based alternative to help address the challenges faced by school counselors in accommodating the influx of requests for consultations from students. This paper explores the potential in using a chatbot to provide a first-respondent service to help students maintain good mental well-being, a necessary precursor for individuals to practice self-care while reducing the risks of mental illnesses. We designed a chatbot that leverages storytelling strategies to assess the students’ well-being and to guide them in formulating actions necessary to sustain an optimal mental health. End-user validation captured students’ feedback regarding their perception on the support afforded by the chatbot from their three-day sessions. Expert analysis of the chatlogs revealed insights on the user expectations of the role of the chatbot and the impact of storytelling-based conversation flow in addressing support seekers’ needs toward sustaining positive mental health and well-being.
Review—Influence of Corrosion Reactions on the Pulse Electrodeposition of Metals and Alloys
Authors: Green T. A. , Roy S.
Published: December 2023

In the electrodeposition of metal and alloys by pulse plating, the importance of the pulse off-time is often neglected. Traditionally it is considered an electrochemically inactive period, allowing, for example, the relaxation of concentration gradients, desorption of additives, recrystallisation and discharge of the double layer capacitance. However, more recent studies have shown that it is possible to have corrosion processes occurring in the off-time which can significantly influence the deposit properties and current efficiency. This has been observed in both aqueous and non-aqueous systems, and appears a very general phenomenon. Typically, in these systems, corrosion is caused by dissolved oxygen or via comproportionation reactions. Similarly, during the pulse electrodeposition of binary and ternary alloys from aqueous and non-aqueous solutions, displacement (corrosion) reactions have been observed in the off-time that can alter the alloy composition and microstructure. The main aim of this paper is to review these various types of corrosion, establish the conditions under which they occur, and quantify their effects related to deposit characteristics, current efficiency and alloy composition.
Facile Preparation of Petroleum Pitch-Based Activated Carbon with Open Macropore Walls for High Energy Density Supercapacitors
Authors: Jang Suhyeon , Lee Woo Cheol , Park Sang-Hoon , Lim Chang-Hun , Park JaeHyun , Kang Jin-kyun , Han Yujin , Song Byung Jin , Kim Hyun-Kyung
Published: December 2023

Electric double-layer capacitors have attracted considerable attention for energy storage because of their excellent power capability, high stability, and long cycle life. Activated carbon is the most widely employed electrode material for electric double-layer capacitors owing to its high specific surface area, hierarchical porous structure, and high electrical conductivity. However, to increase the energy density of the devices, new synthetic methods for enhancing their specific capacitances are required. We developed a facile preparation method for petroleum pitch-based activated carbon and investigated the optimal conditions to improve its electrochemical performance in terms of rate capability, specific capacitance, and cycle life. The obtained activated carbon exhibited a high specific capacitance (163.67 F/g at 0.1 A/g), which can be attributed to the efficient charge transport due to the micropores developed in the open macroporous walls of the carbon structure and the high electrical conductivity. Our approach provides an efficient strategy for synthesizing activated carbon with excellent properties. The results reveal a correlation between the physicochemical and electrochemical properties of activated carbon.
A Peculiar Cause of Shock: Analysing Two Clinical Cases
Authors: Oliveira João , Costa-Silva Alberto , Vale Luís , Costa Daniel , Almeida-Pinto Rui , Martins-Silva Carlos , Antunes-Lopes Tiago , Silva João
Published: December 2023

Introduction. Pheochromocytoma is a rare neoplasia arising from the adrenal medulla that secretes catecholamines. Those afflicted by this condition can present a wide range of symptoms. One of the most common is paroxysmic hypertension. Interestingly, although rare, some patients present with shock. We describe two cases of pheochromocytoma in which the initial presentation was shock. Case 1. 49 year-old woman, with a history of resistant hypertension, presented to the emergency department with thoracic pain and fever. EKG, echocardiogram (ECC), and myocardial necrosis markers were compatible with Takotsubo syndrome (TS). CT demonstrated a staghorn calculus, hydronephrosis, and signs compatible with xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis in the right kidney. Additionally, and incidentally, it revealed a 60 mm nodule on the right adrenal gland. Piperacillin/tazobactam was started immediately, and the patient was submitted to urgent upper urinary tract drainage. This procedure was complicated by a cardiorespiratory arrest that was treated with adrenaline administration. The patient was admitted to the ICU due to multifactorial shock and started alpha and, posteriorly, beta blockage. Biochemical adrenal incidentaloma endocrinologic study was negative (under hemodialysis). Multiorgan failure progressively improved. After 2 weeks, the patient was submitted to a laparoscopic transperitoneal right adrenalectomy. No complications were reported. Histological analysis revealed a pheochromocytoma. Case 2. 28-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with headaches and nausea. Vitals were compatible with shock. CT revealed an incidental 72 mm mass on the right adrenal. EKG, ECC, and myocardial necrosis markers were compatible with TS. The patient was started on alpha and, posteriorly, beta blockage. Adrenal incidentaloma endocrinological study demonstrated high urinary catecholamines. Right transperitoneal adrenalectomy was performed. No complications were noted. Histological analysis revealed a pheochromocytoma. Conclusion. Pheochromocytoma can present with complex, enigmatic, and rare clinical pictures. Clinicians should be wary of the possibility of this diagnosis when managing adrenal masses.
Metamodernism: A Response About Magic
Authors: Brand Mattias
Published: December 2023

Since Metamodernism presents a vision for the future of theory, one can expect to find fundamental insights to inspire empirical and historical research as well as crucial questions to discuss with graduate students. In this short response, I summarize some of the key terminology of Josephson Storm’s Metamodernism and attempt to apply it to the study of ancient magic. Despite the ambitious aims and density of the book, I would like to connect its theoretical questions concerning realism, ontology, semiotics, and the role of academic values to the day-to-day activities of my scholarship: historical research and teaching within the study of religion\s.
South African Food Studies
Authors: Stanley Ben Jamieson , Lewis Desiree , Mafofo Lynn
Published: December 2023

Introducing a special issue of Matatu titled “South African Food Studies,” this essay argues for the importance of food as a lens for understanding contemporary culture and society. More specifically, the essay advocates for recentring Global South contexts—in this case South Africa—in a ‘food studies’ conversation that has often been dominated by the American academy; it also underscores the vitality of the humanities, qualitative social sciences, and creative arts for transcending reductive ‘food security’ paradigms often applied in the Global South. The essay first examines the short story “Water No Get Enemy” by South African writer Fred Khumalo, introducing how a focus on food and eating can illuminate globalisation, xenophobia, resource conflict, and environmental change. From here, the authors introduce the evolving field of ‘food studies,’ then outline the eight academic, personal, and creative pieces that constitute this special issue, all authored by contributors from the African continent. Issues raised include the gendered and queer politics of food, breastmilk, and soil; the ongoing coloniality of neoliberal approaches to food inequality; the burdening of Black bodies; the role of so-called ‘ethnic restaurants’ in building transnational and multi-ethnic communities; and the heightened stakes of food access during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Becoming Food
Authors: Abrahams Yvette
Published: December 2023

This paper takes a novel perspective on food studies by looking at the role humans play in being food. It encourages us to take a broader view of natural cycles by looking beyond life and death to imagine cycles of birth, life, death, decomposition and nourishment. Every life form feeds another life form; that is the way of Creation. This paper encourages people to think of food as sacrament, and of ourselves as part of a sacred ecology. What does it mean, then, to think of ourselves as food? What obligations does that impose on us to make sure that we are good eating? This essay suggests that eating organically grown food is important for many reasons, but not least because it respects this natural cycle. It does so through a discussion of Eve Balfour, otherwise known as the mother of organic farming. The importance of this topic is underlined by Balfour’s approach to saving the topsoil on which all civilizations depend. Balfour’s ideas on the crucial role of earthworms in soil preservation are examined, and it is suggested that we would do well to take these ideas to heart, and act.
The Unwritten
Authors: Naidoo Pralini
Published: December 2023

For many years, having searched for the foods with which I had grown up within the pages of published recipe books, I realised that there was a lack of written representation around what I had understood as ancestral foods. Neither could I find the voices of the mothers and grandmothers who had fed our bodies and spirits. Through the lens of Indian indenture, a colonial system of servitude that had introduced my ancestors to South Africa, I attempt to understand why. While published recipe books offer multiple readings, they are also powerful forms of knowledge production, contributing to narrow formulations of identity. Power dictates what is published and how. By exploring how recipes live beyond words on the page, I suggest that the possibility exists to revisit hidden food narratives while recognising the creativity, ingenuity, and adaptability of many women, who are usually rendered invisible within food texts. Through poetry, story, and my mother’s handwritten recipe book, I search for my mother and the taste of home.
House of Hunger
Authors: Chipuriro Rejoice Mazvirevesa , Batisai Kezia
Published: December 2023

In South Africa, the politicisation of COVID-19 widened structural fissures, unearthed underlying inequalities, and exposed the ‘rainbow nation’ fallacy. The pandemic highlighted the struggles faced by marginalised households whose income streams were wiped out during lockdown. Public unrest emerged in townships and manifested as food protests, which undermined the perception of South Africa as a food secure country. Whilst the state and mainstream media dismissed these protests as criminal incidences, a contextualised analysis exposes the desperation of certain groups’ experiences of hunger and disillusionment in Black South African townships. Framing ‘food as political’, this paper interrogates the weaponisation of food by the government, which violently used state security forces to subdue marginalised populations. The paper draws on Dambudzo Marechera’s 1978 novella House of Hunger to condemn the gendered and militarised state response to ‘starving black bodies.’ It exposes the ruthlessness of how the state worked with mainstream media to protect corporate capital and foreign investments in the name of ‘security’ and ‘wellbeing,’ and explores the ultimate ‘logic’ of food protests in South African urban areas. In conclusion, the paper argues that the mainstream media hyper-visualised Black bodies as unruly, criminal, and therefore disposable, in order to dismiss their human right to food.
Does Street Social Activity Impact Crime? An Analysis in New York City
Authors: Kim Young-An , Hipp John R.
Published: December 2023

The current study examines the relationship between the level of social activity and crime in place. We theoretically conceptualized the social activity as a combination of two essential elements of vitality and diversity. Our results suggest that level of social activity has a crime enhancing effect on both violent and property crime. We also found that there are positive interaction effects between the measures of vitality and diversity. This study contributes to the field by introducing a theoretically driven concept of social activity and empirically showing how the two dimensions of social activity—vitality and diversity—have independent effects that multiplicatively impact the level of crime at a location.
Rate dependent compressive failure and delamination growth in multidirectional composite laminates
Authors: Singh Vivekendra , Larsson Ragnar , Olsson Robin , Marklund Erik
Published: December 2023

A novel intralaminar model has, for the first time, been applied and validated for the rate-dependent failure of multidirectional carbon/epoxy laminates. Quasi-static compressive failure is evaluated by the growth of intralaminar rate-dependent damage combined with the interaction of cohesive zones for interlaminar delamination. A special feature of the intralaminar model is the homogenised ply response, allowing simultaneous damage-degradation of the polymer matrix combined with the fibres. To model the observed quasi-brittle failure response of the plies under finite deformation, we have used a viscoelastic-viscoplastic matrix combined with damage and isotropic hardening behaviour. Elastic transverse isotropy is used to model the fibre reinforcement of the plies. Standard cohesive surfaces are used to model the initiation and propagation of delamination. Numerical simulations using ABAQUS/Explicit are performed to predict the growth and delamination of intralaminar damage under compression in different laminates with 56 plies of IM7/8552 carbon/epoxy. Predictions of stress versus strain and damage growth are shown to agree well with experimental results for a range of strain rates and stacking sequences.
Book review: Jelle J.P. Wouters, ed. 2022. Vernacular Politics in Northeast India: Democracy, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity
Authors: Haripriya Soibam
Published: December 2023

Jelle J.P. Wouters, ed. 2022. Vernacular Politics in Northeast India: Democracy, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. xii + 413 pp. Figures, references, index. £90 (hardback—ISBN: 9780192863461)
Book review: Adnan Hossain. 2021. Beyond Emasculation: Pleasure and Power in the Making of Hijra in Bangladesh
Authors: Sharma Chetna
Published: December 2023

Adnan Hossain. 2021. Beyond Emasculation: Pleasure and Power in the Making of Hijra in Bangladesh. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press. xii + 236 pp. Figures, glossary, references, index. $110 (hardback—ISBN: 9781316517048)
Book review: Ravi Nandan Singh. 2022. Dead in Banaras: Ethnography of Funeral Travelling
Authors: Cybil K. V.
Published: December 2023

Ravi Nandan Singh. 2022. Dead in Banaras: Ethnography of Funeral Travelling. Delhi: Oxford University Press. xx + 163 pp. Notes, bibliography, index. ₹1346 (hardback—ISBN 9780192864284).
Distinguishing between musical excerpts learned by novices individually or in pairs
Authors: Schiavio Andrea , Popescu Tudor , Kempf Adrian , Timmers Renee
Published: December 2023

In a previous study, we found that musical learning of novices was equally accurate (in terms of playing the correct rhythms and pitches) when learning in a solo or duo setting. Intrigued by these findings, we conducted a follow-up experiment investigating whether the learning outcomes differed in subjective terms as perceived by listeners judging the performances. Here, expert musicians were asked to discern whether melodies learned under conditions of synchrony, turn-taking, or imitation were likely learned individually or with a partner. In addition, they evaluated the learners’ proficiency in playing the melodies, assessing expressiveness, the clarity of their articulation and phrasing, as well as the overall coherence of the performances. Listeners showed differential responses to both the learning condition and the pairing (solo or duo) in which the melodies were learned. Although the outcome did not yield salient-enough results for significant clusters of responses to emerge, our findings could inspire future research to delve into the question of discernible signatures between individual and group musical learning by adopting a longitudinal approach.
Cumulative Part-Whole Relations as a Verbal and Visual Rhetorical Strategy: Song of Songs 7 and Composite Beings of the Southern Levant
Authors: Kim Yeseul
Published: December 2023

In biblical studies, a growing interest in metaphors as the conceptual key to the ancient mind has arisen. However, in contrast with the popularity of metaphor, other tropes have received little attention. This article sheds light on another rhetorical feature: ‘cumulative part-whole relations,’ which construct a new whole by compounding disparate body parts, a textual and visual strategy deliberately used to cross boundaries of individual parts, to integrate the parts into a larger whole, and to demonstrate superiority and supernatural powers. Through examining visual and textual examples from the ancient Near East, including Song 7.1–6 and the composite creatures ( Mischwesen) from the Levant, this article reveals that the rhetorical mechanism of the cumulation of part-whole relations follows the logic that the whole is more than the sum of its parts, while that whole remains a single one no matter how many parts are compounded.
Stories of Antiracist Gay/Lesbian Gender Alliance: Articulating Intersectional Solidarity in the 1980s
Authors: Broad K. L.
Published: December 2023

This article shows how in the early 1980s, Black and White Men Together (BWMT), an interracial group of antiracist gay men, constructed relations of connection with antiracist feminist lesbians of color. My analysis details how BWMT engaged in storytelling through newsletters, reporting their creation of relations of connection with Black, “Third World,” antiracist lesbians and constructing these relations as a multidimensional gender alliance involving important processes of creating networks of reciprocal solidarity, forging political alignment, and creating intentional spaces of camaraderie to sustain intersectional solidarity. This research substantively expands our understanding of U.S. LGBTQ+ intersectional movement(s) activism with the concept of multidimensional gender alliance and analytically expands our understandings of intersectional solidarity.
Memorializing the unspectacular: Toward a minor remembrance
Authors: Golańska Dorota
Published: December 2023

This essay explores the difficulties faced by the field of memory studies to adequately address unspectacular violence. While a majority of mnemonic strategies focus on events of spectacular disasters, outrageous atrocities, extreme occurrences, and massive sufferings contained in time and space, the damages generated by unspectacular operations of slow, latent, and silent violence remain difficult to recognize within the memorial landscape. Building on the concept of slow violence, as well as on posthumanist approaches to violent legacies of colonialism, and in the context of the current shift within memory studies toward a planetary sensitivity, this essay interrogates the possibilities of doing justice to the invisibilized harm spreading across long periods of time in different parts of the world. Sketching a possible agenda for the future, the essay suggests that a critical engagement with theorizations of feminist geopoliticians, along with a turn to practices of minor remembrance, can enable a more effective linking of the unspectacular to the spectacular, ensuring the visibility of the former amid memorializing practices.
Folkloric memory: (Re)connecting the dots for broader perspectives
Authors: Gülüm Erol
Published: December 2023

This article explores various dimensions of the memory-folklore nexus to contribute to interdisciplinary dialogues between folkloristics and memory studies by drawing on a shared paradigm; examining the historical, theoretical, and methodological intersections; and mapping out overlapping approaches in each area. It thus establishes and introduces the concept and approach of folkloric memory to provide broader perspectives on common issues such as referential, migratory, transmedial, mimetic, aesthetic, schematic, and procreative aspects of collective and cultural narratives. The article ultimately aims to review the correlation between memory and folklore, delve into previously unexplored aspects of this connection, develop an interdisciplinary approach, and establish a groundwork for future research.
Chemoprevention in hereditary digestive neoplasia: A comprehensive review
Authors: Chevalier Eugénie , Benamouzig Robert
Published: December 2023

Hereditary syndromes, such as familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), MUTYH polyposis or Lynch syndrome, are particularly predisposing to the development of colorectal cancer. These situations have necessitated the development of adapted prevention strategies based largely on reinforced endoscopic surveillance and the search for complementary prevention strategies. This is the case for chemoprevention, which is the long-term administration of chemical agents limiting carcinogenesis, used as primary or secondary prophylaxis. The aim of this review is to present the available literature and the latest advances in chemoprevention in patients with FAP or MUTYH and other polyposis as well as in patients with Lynch syndrome. The main conclusions of the few available guidelines in these situations are also discussed.
Lateral Medullary Syndrome With Ipsilateral Upper Motor Neuron Facial Palsy
Authors: Ryan Dylan , Gaini Rahul , Snider Michael , Qing Janie , Feng Wuwei
Published: December 2023

Lateral medullary syndrome is a common presentation of posterior circulation ischemia that presents with ipsilateral Horner syndrome, ipsilateral facial numbness, contralateral body numbness, vestibular symptoms, ataxia, dysphagia, and dysarthria. Here, we describe an 84-year-old who presented to the hospital with right upper motor neuron facial weakness and gait abnormality found to have a right lateral medullary ischemic stroke. Multiple MRI’s, including with thin brainstem slices, were without evidence of pontine, midbrain or cerebral ischemia outside the medulla. We postulate that the patient’s ipsilateral upper motor neuron facial weakness was caused by involvement of aberrant corticobulbar fibers in the medulla ascending to the facial nucleus.
Green Libraries and the User’s Perspective: A Case Study in Turkey
Authors: Demirtas Dogan Hatice , Gurpinar Bulut
Published: December 2023

The purpose of this article is to identify green (environmentally friendly) practices in the university libraries of Kocaeli and Istanbul, and to determine the environmental awareness and attitudes of the users (students) of these libraries in their daily lives, as well as conceptually. In addition, students’ level of awareness about the environmental impacts of access to and use of information, and the greenness of libraries from the user’s perspective were also investigated. Within the scope of the study, data was collected through a face-to-face questionnaire method conducted with the library users of 11 universities. Questionnaires were distributed only to student library users, and a total of 436 students answered them. This study differs from the existing literature by evaluating the environmental measures applied by librarians and their users, in contrast to studies employing conceptual approaches to the subject of green libraries. This study is intended to assist library managers, librarians and researchers conducting research on these issues. It encompasses the users’ perceptions of green libraries, environmental approaches and practices that they support in libraries, their awareness of the environmental effects of information access and use, and how they evaluate their library from a green perspective. In a global context, it aims to contribute to the literature on libraries by presenting data from an unresearched region. The study first assesses the green practices of 11 university libraries using a questionnaire given to library managers, and then assesses them using a questionnaire distributed to users. Finally, it seeks to present a concrete link between information literacy and the environment, contrasting green libraries with their users’ awareness of environmental impact. The results of the study showed that 7 of the 11 university libraries are in the green library category. When the data obtained from the users was analyzed, the average score for environmental awareness and attitude (EAA) in daily life among those who had received environmental education was found to be significantly higher than those who had not. The level of greenness a library was evaluated as having (EGL) was significantly higher among users of green libraries than non-green users. This can be interpreted as users having noticed the environmentally friendly measures being practiced. No significant difference was found between the green libraries and their users’ environmental awareness and attitudes in daily life.
COMPASS App: A Patient-centered Physiological based Pain Assessment System
Authors: Zhu Wenchao , Liu Chang , Yu Haoxiang , Guo Yikang , Xiao Yan , Lin Yingzi
Published: December 2023

Chronic pain patients lack at-home pain assessment and management tools. The existing chronic-pain mobile applications are either solely relying on self-report pain levels or restricted to formal clinical settings. Our app, abbreviated from an NSF-funded project entitled Novel Computational Methods for Continuous Objective Multimodal Pain Assessment Sensing System (COMPASS), is a multi-dimensional pain app that collects physiological signals to predict objective pain levels and trace daily at-home activities by incorporating a daily check-in section. We conducted a usability test with 33 healthy participants under pain conditions. The results provided initial support for the validity of the signals in predicting internalizing pain levels among the participants. With further development and testing, we believe the COMPASS app system has the potential to be used by both patients and clinicians as an additional tool to better assess and manage pain, especially for mobile healthcare applications.
ABO Incompatibility Haploidentical Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation Combined with a Single Cord Blood Unit for Severe Aplastic Anemia Patients
Authors: Wang Xiaoning , Ren Juan , Zhu Huachao , Zhang Mei , He Pengcheng
Published: December 2023

Background: For young severe aplastic anemia (SAA) patients without HLA matched donors, haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation can be used as an alternative selection. The grafts of classic Beijing protocol in China is a combination of bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cell. For patients with major or minor blood type incompatibility, bone marrow stem cells need to undergo red blood cell or plasma removal treatment. There was rare reports about haploidentical peripheral blood stem cell combined with a single unrelated cord blood unit for ABO incompatibility haploidentical stem cell transplantation in SAA patients.

Objective: To observe the efficacy of ABO incompatibility haploidentcial peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cell transplantation combined with a single unrelated cord blood unit for SAA patients.

Method s : Fifty-five SAA patients underwent stem cell transplantation from August 2018 to February 2022 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong Univeristy were divided into two groups based on donor-recipient ABO compatibility, the donor-recipient ABO matched group（BM+PB group）using haploidentical bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cell as grafts, and donor-recipient ABO mismatched group（CB+PB group）, using unrelated cord blood and haploidentical peripheral blood stem cell as grafts. The differences of hematopoietic reconstitution, acute and chronic GVHD, CMV and EB virus infection, PFS, and OS between the two groups were compared.

Result s : There were 30 cases in CB+PB group and 27 cases in the BM+PB group. Except for differences in donor-recipient ABO compatibility, the other characteristics of the two groups of patients were comparable((P>0.05). One patient in the BM+PB group had primary graft failure, while the rest of the patients were successfully implanted. There were no significant statistical differences in neutrophil,platelet and red blood cells recovery rates, the incidence of acute and chronic GVHD, CMV, EB virus infection, and PTLD between the two groups of patients(P>0.05). There was no significant statistical difference in OS between the two groups of patients(P>0.05)(Figure 1).

Conclusion: For SAA patients with donor-recipient ABO incompatibility could use haploidentical peripheral blood cell combined with unrelated cord blood for transplantation which had compared outcome with haploidentcal bone marrow and peripheral blood cell transplantation.
15-Pgdh Inhibition Alternatively Activates Macrophages to Promote Hematopoietic Function during Aging
Authors: Desai Amar
Published: December 2023

Aging results in the progressive decline of organ function and integrity across species. In the hematopoietic system aging is associated with diminished stem cell regenerative capacity and contributes to compromised tissue homeostasis and heightened vulnerability to age-related diseases including anemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, and hematological malignancies. Macrophages, integral components of the innate immune system, demonstrate remarkable functional plasticity and play diverse roles in tissue homeostasis, inflammation, and immunity. The balance between pro-inflammatory M1 and anti-inflammatory M2 macrophages significantly influences immune and inflammatory responses, and thus the progression of hematopoietic aging. We have previously demonstrated that the prostaglandin degrading enzyme 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (15-PGDH) regulates hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) activity, that 15-PGDH inhibition (PGDHi) following transplantation results in a markedly accelerated recovery of neutrophils, platelets, and HSCs, and that 15-PGDH knockout animals display enhanced HSC function with age. Here we expand on our previous work and demonstrate in aged mice that (1) 15-PGDH expression and activity remains conserved (2) that PGDHi induces a gene expression signature consistent with alternatively activated M2 macrophages, (3) that prolonged PGDHi results in a significant increase in phenotypic HSCs in both the bone marrow and spleen and induces a gene signature consistent with enhanced HSC function, and (4) that PGDHi treated bone marrow (BM) displays a advantage during primary competitive repopulation studies and prevents age-associated myeloid bias during secondary transplants. Taken together we propose PGDHi represents an in vivo switch to alternatively activate macrophages, which has significant implications to not only prevent age-associated hematopoietic decline, but also as a novel strategy to treat age-associated hematologic disease.
A Novel Dual Kinase Inhibitor for the Treatment of Chronic Graft Vs. Host Disease
Authors: Miller Alan M , Zhang Liqiang , Hirschfeld Gregg J , Moyer Joseph , Devore Kendra , Murray Maggie , Gonzales Paul , Gately Stephen
Published: December 2023

Chronic Graft vs. Host Disease (cGvHD) remains a major debilitating and potentially fatal sequelae of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. Corticosteroids remain the initial therapy of clinically significant cGvHD. Since 2017 three targeted therapies have been approved for steroid refractory cGVHD, ruxolitinib, a JAK 1/2 inhibitor, is approved post one or two previous therapies. Ibrutinib, a Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor, and belumosudil, a ROCK2 inhibitor, are both approved after two previous lines of therapy.

We tested RR- RR-1752 a single digit nM dual ROCK/AURK inhibitor in a mouse model of severe cGVHD. BALB/c recipient mice were preconditioned with 7.5 Gy TBI, 8 hours later they received 10 7 T-cell depleted (TCD) C57BL/6 bone marrow cells alone (Group A, n=7) or 10 7 TCD C57Bl bone marrow cells plus 10 6 splenocytes (Groups B, n=8 and C, n=8). Beginning day 7 post cell infusion animals received either oral vehicle control (groups A and B) or vehicle with 1.0 mg/kg RR-1752 (Group C) daily. Body weight, alopecia score and eye score were monitored 3×/week through day 56 or until termination.

All animals in groups B and C developed signs and symptoms of chronic graft vs. host disease. Animals in group A exhibited 20% weight loss through seven days post irradiation and cell infusion but began to recover to baseline and recovered weight to 90% of baseline. Animal weights in groups B and C dropped to less than 80% at day seven post irradiation, but only recovered to 80.38% +/- 10.18 (Group B) and 87.11% +/- 7.90 (Group C) on day 14 and then declined to 74.10% +/- 4.19 in Group B and 80.23% +/- 7.35 in Group C by day 28 (Figure 1). Animals in Group A had no significant change in eye score or alopecia. In contrast all animals in groups B and C showed signs of cGvHD. Eye showed moderate effects in Group B and mild changes in group C, while alopecia scores were moderate in both groups B and C. All animals in group A survived through day 56, median survival in group B was 16.5 days, as compared to 38 days in group C (Figure 2).

In a separate study in normal mice, RR-1752 given at 1.0 mg/kg/day for 2 weeks showed no negative effects on hemoglobin, hematocrit, platelets, total WBC, or neutrophils, and only a mild decrease in lymphocytes.

Using a model for cGVHD, exhibiting weight loss, alopecia, and ocular changes, we demonstrated that RR-1752 1.0 mg/kg/day slows mouse body weight loss, increases survival and shows trends to ameliorate ocular toxicity. The dose tested did not ameliorate the alopecia in the cGVHD mice. Further studies are ongoing to assess higher dose levels and dose schedule effects in the severe cGVHD mouse model. Additional studies to compare effects on cGVHD to ruxolitinib and belumosudil and in combination with those standard of care therapies need to be conducted.