bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
P1369Predictors of atrial fibrillation recurrence after radiofrequency ablation in patients with chronic heart failure with preserved ejection fraction
Authors: Zolotarova T
Published: June 2020

Introduction. Randomized controlled trials and meta-analyzes have shown high efficacy of the radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for both initial and secondary strategies after unsuccessful drug therapy (DT) to maintain sinus rhythm (SR) and improve functional and morphological quality of life; in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), RFA were associated with a significant relative reduction in the risk of overall mortality, atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence, and hospitalization for cardiac pathology (compared with DT). High risk of arrhythmia recurrence (up to 45% within 6 - 12 months after intervention) remains a major RFA problem.

Purpose. to evaluate predictive properties of demographic, hemodynamic and electrocardiographic parameters for recurrence after atrial fibrillation ablation in patients with chronic heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Methods. We included 120 patients, aged 59.80 ± 10.08 years with CHF with preserved ejection fraction (EF) of left ventricle (LV) who underwent first time RFA for AF with LV EF(> 40%) I-III FC NYHA. Baseline clinical data, ECG before and after the procedure, ECHO parameters were collected

Results Thirty-two patients had AF recurrence after a mean follow-up of twelve months. Those experiencing recurrence were more female (50% vs.39%, p <0,01), had a longer QTc interval before ablation than those without recurrence (387,23 ± 2,31 vs. 341,22 ± 8,91 ms, p < 0,01) and after ablation (439,01 ± 4,73 vs. 373,21 ± 7,92 ms, p < 0,001), lower LV EF (59% vs. 63%, p < 0,05), higher left atrium diameter (4,59 ± 0,45 vs. 4,08 ± 0,61 cm, p < 0,001) and higher mean pulmonary artery gradient (32,86 ± 9,67 vs. 25,15 ± 9,73, p < 0,01).

Conclusions. QTc duration to radiofrequency ablation and its prolongation after intervention are independent predictors of arrhythmia recurrence in patients with chronic heart failure with a preserved left ventricular ejection fraction. The size of the left atrium before ablation is a highly sensitive predictor of recurrence of arrhythmia
P359Outcomes of radiofrequency catheter ablation of ischemic ventricular tachycardia in patients with electrical storm
Authors: Oksul M , Yorgun H , Sener Y Z , Ates A H , Canpolat U , Aytemir K
Published: June 2020

Background

Electrical storm (ES) is defined as 3 or more episodes of sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) within 24 hours and related with high mortality rates. Catheter ablation is an effective treatment option in patiens with ES. 

Purpose

 

We aimed to evaluate outcomes of VT catheter ablation in patients with ES.

Methods

 

All patients who underwent catheter ablation due to VT ablation between June 2014 and November 2018 were screened and outcomes of patients who admitted with ES were evaluated. 

Results

A total of 128 patients were included. 52 (40.6%) patients were admitted with ES. Mean age of the patients with ES was 68 ± 10,5 years and 48(92,3) patients were male. Median follow up was 22.5 (8-46)  months. Baseline characteristics were listed in Table- 1.Multivariate regression analysis revealed that hemoglobin level (HR:0.76, CI:0,61-0,94, p = 0.011 ) and antiarrhythmic drug use (HR:0.25, CI:0,10-0.62, p = 0.003) were predictors of ES development. Recurrence rates and number of re-do ablation procedures were significantly higher in patients with ES (Table-1). Cardiovascular and all cause mortality rates were also significantly higher in patients with ES (Table-1). 

Conclusion

Despite catheter ablation is an effective treatment in patients with ES; presence of ES is related with increased mortality and recurrence rates after ablation.

Table-1 Patients with ES Patients without ES p value Age, years 68 ± 10,5 63,8 ± 8,8 0,017* Gender, male, n (%) 48(92,3) 72(94,7) 0,853 Hypetension, n (%) 34(65,4) 59(77,6) 0,158 Diabetes, n (%) 17(32,7) 18(23,7) 0,314 Previous PCI 32(61,5) 51(67,1) 0,574 NYHA >II 17(32,7) 13(17,1) 0,044* LV EF, (%) 27,8 ± 8 29,1 ± 8,3 0,369 LV EDD, mm 64,6 ± 9,1 63,3 ± 8,2 0,431 Hemoglobin, g/dL 13,0 ± 2,1 14,1 ± 1,6 0,002* BNP level (pg/mL) 461(35-3161) 244(10-4517) 0,008* Recurrence 23(44,2) 21(27,6) 0,050* Re-do ablation 0,050* 8(10,5) 0,010* Cardiovascular mortality 16(34,8) 12(16,9) 0,045* All cause mortality 22(42,3) 17(22,4) 0,020* Baseline characteristics and outcomes of catheter ablation in patients with and without ES
Draft genome assemblies using sequencing reads from Oxford Nanopore Technology and Illumina platforms for four species of North American Fundulus killifish
Authors: Johnson Lisa K , Sahasrabudhe Ruta , Gill James Anthony , Roach Jennifer L , Froenicke Lutz , Brown C Titus , Whitehead Andrew
Published: June 2020

Background

Whole-genome sequencing data from wild-caught individuals of closely related North American killifish species (Fundulus xenicus, Fundulus catenatus, Fundulus nottii, and Fundulus olivaceus) were obtained using long-read Oxford Nanopore Technology (ONT) PromethION and short-read Illumina platforms.

Findings

Draft de novo reference genome assemblies were generated using a combination of long and short sequencing reads. For each species, the PromethION platform was used to generate 30–45× sequence coverage, and the Illumina platform was used to generate 50–160× sequence coverage. Illumina-only assemblies were fragmented with high numbers of contigs, while ONT-only assemblies were error prone with low BUSCO scores. The highest N50 values, ranging from 0.4 to 2.7 Mb, were from assemblies generated using a combination of short- and long-read data. BUSCO scores were consistently >90% complete using the Eukaryota database.

Conclusions

High-quality genomes can be obtained from a combination of using short-read Illumina data to polish assemblies generated with long-read ONT data. Draft assemblies and raw sequencing data are available for public use. We encourage use and reuse of these data for assembly benchmarking and other analyses.
A rare complication of myocardial ischaemia following single-stage repair in a case of Berry syndrome
Authors: Duyen Mai Dinh , Haranal Maruti Y , Dillon Jeswant , Sivalingam Sivakumar
Published: June 2020

Berry syndrome is a rare congenital cardiac lesion consisting of a distal aortopulmonary window, the aortic origin of the right pulmonary artery (PA), intact ventricular septum and an interrupted or hypoplastic aortic arch. Different repair techniques have been described in the literature. We report a case of Berry syndrome, in whom myocardial ischaemia developed following direct implantation of the right PA to the main PA, which was resolved using an interposition tube graft.
Development of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Patients Aged 75–84 Years With Chronic Hepatitis C Treated With Direct-Acting Antivirals
Authors: Ogawa Eiichi , Nomura Hideyuki , Nakamuta Makoto , Furusyo Norihiro , Kajiwara Eiji , Dohmen Kazufumi , Kawano Akira , Ooho Aritsune , Azuma Koichi , Takahashi Kazuhiro , Satoh Takeaki , Koyanagi Toshimasa , Ichiki Yasunori , Kuniyoshi Masami , Yanagita Kimihiko , Amagase Hiromasa , Morita Chie , Sugimoto Rie , Kato Masaki , Shimoda Shinji , Hayashi Jun ,   The Kyushu University Liver Disease Study (KULDS) Group
Published: June 2020

Background

Direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment has revolutionized hepatitis C virus (HCV) care. We aimed to evaluate the risk for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients aged 75–84 years with chronic hepatitis C after HCV elimination.

Methods

This multicenter cohort study included 2405 consecutive patients with chronic hepatitis C without a history of HCC who achieved HCV elimination by DAAs. Patients in whom HCC developed within 1 year of DAA initiation were excluded. Propensity score matching analysis was used to evaluate differences in HCC risk between patients aged 75–84 versus 60–74 years.

Results

The median observational period was 3.5 years. Among patients aged 75–84 years with a high Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index (≥3.25 at baseline), there was no significant difference in the annual incidence of HCCs between groups with an FIB-4 index ≥3.25 (2.75 per 100 person-years [PY]) versus <3.25 (2.16 per 100 PY) at 12 weeks after the end of treatment, unlike the results in those aged 60–74 years (3.61 and 1.51 per 100 PY, respectively) (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.20; P = .04). In 495 pairs matched by propensity score matching, in patients without cirrhosis, the cumulative HCC incidence was significantly higher in the 75–84-year than in the 60–74-year age group (P = .04).

Conclusions

Older patients aged 75–84 years remained at high risk for the development of HCC, even after HCV elimination and the improvement of the FIB-4 index to <3.25.
Emergence of vancomycin- and teicoplanin-resistant Enterococcus faecium via vanD5-harbouring large genomic island
Authors: Sato Toyotaka , Wada Takayuki , Shinagawa Masaaki , Fukushima Yukari , Nakajima Chie , Suzuki Yasuhiko , Takahashi Satoshi , Yokota Shin-ichi
Published: June 2020

Background

Treatment of VRE is of clinical concern. While certain numbers of vanD-type VRE have been isolated, only two vanD5-harbouring Enterococcus faecium isolates have been reported in Canada and Japan.

Methods

We report the isolation of vanD5-type E. faecium and the first ever determination of the whole-genome sequence to investigate the possible mechanisms of the acquisition of the vanD5 gene cluster in E. faecium.

Results

Two vanD5-harbouring vancomycin-resistant E. faecium were isolated from the skin (SMVRE19) and faeces (SMVRE20) of a patient with a skin ulcer in Japan. The isolates exhibited vancomycin and teicoplanin MIC values of 128 mg/L, whilst the previous isolates of vanD5-harbouring E. faecium were only resistant to vancomycin. SMVRE19 and SMVRE20 were clones related to ST18, which is also seen in vanA- and vanB-type VRE. These isolates harboured an insertion element, ISEfm1, in the ddl gene, similar to a previously described teicoplanin-resistant vanD3-type E. faecium. The vanD5 gene cluster was integrated into the SMVRE20 chromosome as a part of a large genomic island (approximately 127 kb), similar to other recently spreading vanD variants in the Netherlands. The genomic island shared the greatest similarity with a part of the Blautia coccoides genome sequence, except for the region surrounding the vanD gene cluster.

Conclusions

This study reports that emergence of vancomycin- and teicoplanin-resistant vanD5-type E. faecium occurred via acquisition of the vanD5 cluster and ISEfm1 insertion into ddl. Considering the genetic similarity between the various VRE strains, the current study should serve as a warning against the spread of vanD5-type VRE.
How consumption and repulsion set planetary gap depths and the final masses of gas giants
Authors: Rosenthal M M , Chiang E I , Ginzburg S , Murray-Clay R A
Published: June 2020

Planets open gaps in discs. Gap opening is typically modelled by considering the planetary Lindblad torque which repels disc gas away from the planet’s orbit. But gaps also clear because the planet consumes local material. We present a simple, easy-to-use, analytic framework for calculating how gaps deplete and how the disc’s structure as a whole changes by the combined action of Lindblad repulsion and planetary consumption. The final mass to which a gap-embedded gas giant grows is derived in tandem. The analytics are tested against 1D numerical experiments and calibrated using published multidimensional simulations. In viscous alpha discs, the planet, while clearing a gap, initially accretes practically all of the gas that tries to diffuse past, rapidly achieving super-Jupiter if not brown dwarf status. By contrast, in inviscid discs – that may still accrete on to their central stars by, say, magnetized winds – planets open deep, repulsion-dominated gaps. Then only a small fraction of the disc accretion flow is diverted on to the planet, which grows to a fraction of a Jupiter mass. Transitional disc cavities might be cleared by families of such low-mass objects opening inviscid, repulsion-dominated, overlapping gaps which allow most of the outer disc gas to flow unimpeded on to host stars.
On the spin-up events and spin direction of the X-ray pulsar GX 301-2
Authors: Liu Jiren
Published: June 2020

Recently, a retrograde neutron star is proposed for the classical wind-fed X-ray pulsar, GX 301-2, to explain the orbital spin-up to spin-down reversal near periastron, based on the stream model invoked to explain the pre-periastron flare of GX 301-2 previously. We study in detail three rare spin-up events detected by Fermi/GBM and find that the spin derivatives are correlated with the Swift/BAT fluxes, following a relation of $\dot{\nu }\propto F^{0.75\pm 0.05}$. All the spin-up events of GX 301-2 started about 10 d after the periastron, which is the time needed for tidally stripped gas to reach the neutron star. The slow rotation of the optical companion implies that the accreted matter is likely to have angular momentum in the direction of the orbital motion, as in a Roche lobe-like overflow. As a result, the spin-up events of GX 301-2 would favour accretion of a prograde disc to a prograde neutron star. We also find that the flare of intrinsic X-ray emission of GX 301-2 happened 0.4 d before periastron, while the flare of low-energy emission (2–10 keV) happened about 1.4 d before periastron. The preceding low-energy flare can be explained by stronger absorption of the intrinsic X-ray emission closer to the periastron. This finding weakened the need of the stream model. The pulse fraction of GX 301-2 near periastron is reduced heavily, which is likely caused by Compton-scattering process. Compton reflection from the optical companion might be responsible for the observed orbital spin reversal of GX 301-2.
Aspects of the Real Numbers: Putnam, Wittgenstein, and Nonextensionalism
Authors: Floyd Juliet
Published: June 2020

I defend Putnam’s modal structuralist view of mathematics but reject his claims that Wittgenstein’s remarks on Dedekind, Cantor, and set theory are verificationist. Putnam’s “realistic realism” (1990–2016) showcases the plasticity of our “fitting” words to the world. The applications of this—in philosophy of language, mind, logic, and philosophy of computation—are robust. I defend Wittgenstein’s nonextensionalist understanding of the real numbers, showing how it fits Putnam’s view. Nonextensionalism and extensionalism about the real numbers are mathematically, philosophically, and logically robust, but the two perspectives are often confused with one another. I separate them, using Turing’s work as an example.
Eukaryotic life without tQCUG: the role of Elongator-dependent tRNA modifications in Dictyostelium discoideum
Authors: Schäck Manfred A , Jablonski Kim Philipp , Gräf Stefan , Klassen Roland , Schaffrath Raffael , Kellner Stefanie , Hammann Christian
Published: June 2020

In the Elongator-dependent modification pathway, chemical modifications are introduced at the wobble uridines at position 34 in transfer RNAs (tRNAs), which serve to optimize codon translation rates. Here, we show that this three-step modification pathway exists in Dictyostelium discoideum, model of the evolutionary superfamily Amoebozoa. Not only are previously established modifications observable by mass spectrometry in strains with the most conserved genes of each step deleted, but also additional modifications are detected, indicating a certain plasticity of the pathway in the amoeba. Unlike described for yeast, D. discoideum allows for an unconditional deletion of the single tQCUG gene, as long as the Elongator-dependent modification pathway is intact. In gene deletion strains of the modification pathway, protein amounts are significantly reduced as shown by flow cytometry and Western blotting, using strains expressing different glutamine leader constructs fused to GFP. Most dramatic are these effects, when the tQCUG gene is deleted, or Elp3, the catalytic component of the Elongator complex is missing. In addition, Elp3 is the most strongly conserved protein of the modification pathway, as our phylogenetic analysis reveals. The implications of this observation are discussed with respect to the evolutionary age of the components acting in the Elongator-dependent modification pathway.
Risk Factors for Candidemia After Open Heart Surgery: Results From a Multicenter Case–Control Study
Authors: Giacobbe Daniele Roberto , Salsano Antonio , Del Puente Filippo , Miette Ambra , Vena Antonio , Corcione Silvia , Bartoletti Michele , Mularoni Alessandra , Maraolo Alberto Enrico , Peghin Maddalena , Carnelutti Alessia , Losito Angela Raffaella , Raffaelli Francesca , Gentile Ivan , Maccari Beatrice , Frisone Stefano , Pascale Renato , Mikus Elisa , Medaglia Alice Annalisa , Conoscenti Elena , Ricci Davide , Lupia Tommaso , Comaschi Marco , Giannella Maddalena , Tumbarello Mario , De Rosa Francesco Giuseppe , Del Bono Valerio , Mikulska Malgorzata , Santini Francesco , Bassetti Matteo
Published: June 2020

Background

Candida species are among the most frequent causative agents of health care–associated bloodstream infections, with mortality >40% in critically ill patients. Specific populations of critically ill patients may present peculiar risk factors related to their reason for intensive care unit admission. The primary objective of the present study was to assess the predictors of candidemia after open heart surgery.

Methods

This retrospective, matched case–control study was conducted in 8 Italian hospitals from 2009 to 2016. The primary study objective was to assess factors associated with the development of candidemia after open heart surgery.

Results

Overall, 222 patients (74 cases and 148 controls) were included in the study. Candidemia developed at a median time (interquartile range) of 23 (14–36) days after surgery. In multivariable analysis, independent predictors of candidemia were New York Heart Association class III or IV (odds ratio [OR], 23.81; 95% CI, 5.73–98.95; P < .001), previous therapy with carbapenems (OR, 8.87; 95% CI, 2.57–30.67; P = .001), and previous therapy with fluoroquinolones (OR, 5.73; 95% CI, 1.61–20.41; P = .007). Crude 30-day mortality of candidemia was 53% (39/74). Septic shock was independently associated with mortality in the multivariable model (OR, 5.64; 95% CI, 1.91–16.63; P = .002). No association between prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass time and candidemia was observed in this study.

Conclusions

Previous broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy and high NYHA class were independent predictors of candidemia in cardiac surgery patients with prolonged postoperative intensive care unit stay.
Recombinant Human Plasma Gelsolin Improves Survival and Attenuates Lung Injury in a Murine Model of Multidrug-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa Pneumonia
Authors: DiNubile Mark J , Levinson Susan L , Stossel Thomas P , Lawrenz Matthew B , Warawa Jonathan M
Published: June 2020

Background

Plasma gelsolin (pGSN) is an abundant circulating protein quickly consumed by extensive tissue damage. Marked depletion is associated with later poor outcomes in diverse clinical circumstances. Repletion with recombinant human (rhu)–pGSN in animal models of inflammation lessens mortality and morbidity.

Methods

Neutropenic mice were treated with different meropenem doses ±12 mg of rhu-pGSN commencing 1 day before an intratracheal challenge with multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Survival, bacterial counts, and pulmonary pathology were compared between corresponding meropenem groups with and without rhu-pGSN.

Results

Overall survival was 35/64 (55%) and 46/64 (72%) in mice given meropenem without and with rhu-pGSN, respectively (Δ = 17%; 95% CI, 1–34). In control mice receiving meropenem 1250 mg/kg/d where the majority died, the addition of rhu-pGSN increased survival from 5/16 (31%) to 12/16 (75%) (Δ = 44%; 95% CI, 13–75). Survival with minor lung injury was found in 26/64 (41%) mice receiving only meropenem, vs 38/64 (59%) in mice given meropenem plus rhu-pGSN (Δ = 19%; 95% CI, 2–36).

Conclusions

In a series of dose-ranging experiments, both mortality and lung injury were reduced by the addition of rhu-pGSN to meropenem against carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa. Rhu-pGSN offers a novel candidate therapy for antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.
Human and Divine Selves
Authors: Brown Samuel Morris
Published: June 2020

Joseph Smith and his early Mormon followers loved and embraced many Enlightenment ideas of selfhood—human agency, freedom of religious expression, and an extremely high anthropology. In this respect, they sound modern, even emphatically so. But they also saw modern individualism as an oppressive prison. They sought a mechanism to transform themselves into the best of both humans and gods. The mechanism by which they achieved these ontological changes was what Smith—following and modifying generations of Christian thought—called translation. He elaborated multiple avenues out of the prison of modern individualism, including sacred movement through space, even to a physical heaven, and establishment of otherworldly communitarian settlements based on the model of a primordial city called Zion and led by the mystical hero Enoch. The ways Latter-day Saints navigated the incipient tensions of church versus state reflected their position, standing askew to the usual positions of modern Western thought.
The Egyptian Bible and the Cosmic Order
Authors: Brown Samuel Morris
Published: June 2020

The Latter-day Saint Book of Abraham is an excellent test case for understanding Smith’s complementary modes of translation. Both insiders and outsiders have used a narrow linguistic model to understand Smith’s encounter with ancient Egyptian papyri he purchased in Ohio in 1835. But, according to the logic of early Mormon thought, the translation problems at hand were metaphysical as well as linguistic. The written texts of Smith’s Egyptian project were a subset of the spiritual gift of glossolalia, in this case graphic glossolalia. This spiritual gift generated an Egyptian Bible that became central to the Nauvoo temple liturgy, which served as the ritual infrastructure of Smith’s Chain of Belonging (his recasting of the traditional Chain of Being). The Egyptian Bible was thus an important example of the metaphysics of translation and the connective tissue between Smith’s early scriptures and the ultimate ritual system that merged humans and texts.
Precursors to the Eden Narrative (Gen 2:4b–3:24)
Authors: Carr David M.
Published: June 2020

This chapter offers a diachronically informed synchronic reading of the Garden of Eden story (Gen 2:4b–3:24) as a complex meditation on a mix of themes surrounding human identity and mortality that are well attested in Mesopotamian literary texts. Where some scholars (including the present author) have been inclined to see Genesis 2–3 as formed out of distinct literary levels focusing on wisdom and (later) mortality, this chapter argues on the contrary that these themes cannot be separated in Genesis 2–3—that numerous integral components in the Eden story (e.g., the snake) relate to both, much as earlier Mesopotamian traditions (especially the Gilgamesh and Adapa epics) reflect on how humans might have godlike rationality but have no access to godlike immortality. In addition, there are signs that key elements of Genesis 2–3 may have originated from its being loosely modeled on the structure and emphases of an earlier oral tradition about brotherly fratricide that is more closely reflected in Gen 4:1–16.
Aftermath to the Flood
Authors: Carr David M.
Published: June 2020

Much like the flood narrative that preceded it, the survey of Noah’s postflood offspring in Gen 10:1–11:9 appears to have been the conflation of a well-preserved Priestly overview of Noah’s sons (10:1a, 2–7, 20, 22–23, 31–32), with portions of a non-P overview of Noah’s sons (e.g., Gen 10:13–19, 21) along with a non-P fragment about Nimrod (Gen 10:8b–12). Within the present text this survey has been reframed by the previously-discussed non-P story of Noah and his sons (Gen 9:18–27) and a non-P account of human spreading from Babel (Gen 11:1–9). The chapter argues that this non-P treatment of Noah and his sons evolved over time, initially featuring the story of Noah and his sons (Gen 9:18–27) along with a brief overview of Shem’s fathering of a proto-Hebrew group “the sons of Eber” (Gen 10:21) versus Canaan’s fathering (10:15) of Sidon (standing for Phoenicia) and Het (standing for inhabitants of inland Canaan). New elements were added to this when Noah was transformed into the flood hero and father of post-flood humanity, including elements about how Noah’s family populated the whole earth (Gen 9:19; 11:1–9) and elements anticipating Egypt (10:13–14) and Mesopotamia (Gen 10:8b–12). The Priestly overview of Noah’s descendants appears to build on both levels of the non-P tradition. Other materials—e.g., Gen 10:1b, 8a, 16–19, 24–30—are later additions, most added with the conflation of P and non-P.
The Gun Gap
Authors: Joslyn Mark R.
Published: June 2020

To understand public opinion and political behavior, researchers typically sort people by self-identified groupings such as party identification, race, gender, education, and income. This book advances gun owners as a new classification. It demonstrates a “gun gap,” which captures the differences between gun owners and nonowners, and shows how this gap improves conventional models of political behavior. The gun gap in fact represents an important explanation for voter choice, voter turnout, perceptions of personal and public safety, preferences for gun control policies, and support for the death penalty. Moreover, the gun gap is growing. During the 1970s and 1980s, it was small. However, legislative battles over guns in the early 1990s marked a significant growth in the gun gap that continues to this day. The 2016 presidential election witnessed the largest recorded gun gap in history. The gun gap in voter choice was nearly three times larger in 2016 than the gender gap, and it exceeded age and education gaps by notable margins. This book also focuses on variation among gun owners. Gun owners are not a monolith but exhibit attitudinal and behavioral differences that can be as large as the gap between gun owners and nonowners. The gun gap thus affords a new and compelling vantage point to evaluate modern mass politics.
“Men Don’t Sing Soprano”
Authors: Jones Alisha Lola
Published: June 2020

Male soprano sound in gospel choral participation has come to be a locus for scrutiny, representing a site for the vocalized performance of identity. Drawing on a case study of African-American countertenor Patrick Dailey and an ethnography of his live performance, chapter 2 observes a black countertenor’s embodiment of gendered sound and the peculiar vocal qualities that are socioculturally perceived to signify a man’s queer potential. African-American gospel singing challenges the gender binary framework that the American public expects of men as singing low and women as singing high. Dailey’s performance engages African-American audiences through various types of cultural familiarity to portray competency as a worship leader and trained artist.
Ritualizing the Unspoken
Authors: Jones Alisha Lola
Published: June 2020

Chapter 6 continues exploration of Tonéx’s Unspoken album to consider unspokenness as a means of decentering the primacy of oration in African American worship leadership, while bringing to center the power of presence in ministry when the posture of standing in one’s truth is assumed in public worship. While music scholars have researched the moments in which the musical rest is a facet of sound, chapter 6 contends that unspokenness is a prized aspect of African American orality and nonverbal communication. More than a silent treatment, unspokenness manages musical moments in the face of censorship and oppression, during worship experiences where queer potential is assessed and rebuked. The multifold notion of standing in one’s truth is an animating principle that symbolizes a queer ministry of presence.
The Battle for the Clergy
Authors: Compton John W.
Published: June 2020

Covering the period from 1945 to 1960, this chapter examines a series of clergy education initiatives that attempted to build support for libertarian economic ideas. Launched by conservative activists and organizations, these programs sought to undermine clerical support for the New Deal–era welfare state, but they mostly ended in failure. With financial support from the wealthy oil executive J. Howard Pew, organizations like Spiritual Mobilization and the Christian Freedom Foundation spread the gospel of free enterprise using newsletters, radio broadcasts, and sermon contests. But polls funded by Pew himself found they had little impact on the political or economic views of rank-and-file ministers. The National Association of Manufacturers’ (NAM) clergy-industry program was marginally more successful, though its organizers were similarly disappointed at their inability to stoke clerical opposition to the New Deal/Fair Deal agenda. The chapter concludes with a series of observations on why Christian Libertarianism gained little traction with either ministers or lay people during the 1950s.
Alan Rabinowitz and the Jaguar
Authors: Toohey Peter
Published: June 2020

What is it in a human brain that allows some individuals to like to wait when placed in a situation where most people, consumed by fear, would bolt? There are two brain chemicals that appear to enable an individual’s capacity to wait. Both seem to do this by “modulating” ort enabling the value of waiting for a reward to come. There are two great enablers of waiting, the neuromodulators dopamine and serotonin. In this chapter I’ll attempt to exemplify the operation of the neuromodulator serotonin in the life of the scientist, author, and big cat expert, Alan Rabinowitz. Fort the operation of dopamine, I’ll look at, amongst others, the famous sniper, Chris Kyle.
Setting the Scene
Authors: Whitmore Aleysia K.
Published: June 2020

Part I examines the world music industry from the points of view of European and American industry personnel (e.g., booking agents, record labels personnel, tour managers). Chapter 1 contextualizes the world music industry in the larger music and culture industries. Since its birth in 1987, world music has been a vague category. It has encompassed an enormous variety of music: traditional and folk musics, newly composed traditional musics, and vintage and contemporary popular musics. What, then, is “world music”? Where did it come from? After providing a historical overview of world music through its emergence as a genre category in the 1980s and its growth in the ’90s, the chapter examines how culture industries have, in collaboration with consumers, developed a market for, and expectations of, ethnic “others” in Europe and North America.
Postlude
Authors: Whitmore Aleysia K.
Published: June 2020

The Postlude examines how musicians, industry personnel, and audiences today reflect on the history of the industry and its future. New technologies and platforms offer exciting new tools for participating in the genre culture and for addressing the issues of (mis)representation and power asymmetries that world music has been grappling with for the last thirty years. New world music 2.0 actors are redefining world music and rejecting the label altogether. However, they also confront the same challenges as their predecessors. While they denounce “old” world music, power asymmetries, self-righteous attitudes, and colonialist associations, they too find themselves negotiating which sounds to record, how to sell them, and what values and identities these musics carry with them. This chapter argues that those working in world music 1.0 and 2.0 should speak with one another—collaborate—in order to productively negotiate these issues in the context of a changing genre culture.
Introduction
Authors: Stinson Russell
Published: June 2020

This book deals with J. S. Bach’s posthumous role in music history. Combining the disciplines of history, biography, and musical analysis, it considers how four of the greatest composers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries engaged with Bach’s legacy. Special emphasis is given to Felix Mendelssohn’s and Robert Schumann’s reception of Bach’s organ works, Schumann’s encounter with the St. Matthew and St. John Passions, Richard Wagner’s musings on the Well-Tempered Clavier, and Edward Elgar’s (resoundingly negative) thoughts on Bach’s vocal works.
Bach in Bayreuth
Authors: Stinson Russell
Published: June 2020

This chapter focuses on Richard Wagner’s reception of the forty-eight preludes and fugues that comprise Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, primarily on the basis of the diaries of Wagner’s wife Cosima. Cosima’s diaries record how Wagner and the pianist Joseph Rubinstein surveyed these masterpieces in a series of soirees at the couple’s home in Bayreuth. Wagner considered the Well-Tempered Clavier to be the essence of Bach’s art.
Biblical Exegesis and Early Modern Legal History in Calvin’s Mosaic Harmony
Authors: Pitkin Barbara
Published: June 2020

The chapter examines John Calvin’s commentary on Exodus through Deuteronomy (1563) through the lens of sixteenth-century historical jurisprudence, exemplified in the works of Calvin’s contemporaries François de Connan and François Baudouin. Recent scholarship has demonstrated how Calvin’s historicizing exegesis is in continuity with broader contemporary trends in premodern Christian biblical interpretation; this chapter explores another essential context for Calvin’s approach to the Bible. The intermingling of narrative and legal material in these four biblical books inspired Calvin to break with his customary practice of lectio continua and apply his historical hermeneutic more broadly and creatively to explain the Mosaic histories and legislation. Calvin’s unusual and unprecedented arrangement of the material in this commentary and his attention to the relationship between law and history reveal his engagement with his generation’s quest for historical method.
The Ethics of Capitalism
Authors: Halliday Daniel , Thrasher John
Published: June 2020

This book acquaints the reader with arguments for the moral foundations of market society, as well as the applications of these arguments. Broadly, the book encourages a distinction between capitalism construed as an ideal rather than as a label for the economic status quo and its associated injustices. These foundational arguments are compared with arguments in favor of socialism. Special attention is paid to historically significant figures such as Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, and F.A. Hayek. Later chapters deal with more specific and contemporary themes. These include problems not fully foreseen by historic proponents of market order, such as the challenges of climate change, competitive consumption, and the need for an institutionalized order for global trade. Other chapters focus on institutions familiar to most market societies, such as a welfare state, as well as alternatives, such as basic income. Overall, the book seeks to both revisit historically influential arguments for capitalism while also seeking to examine how these historical views stand up to contemporary challenges of economic justice. The book is written primarily for an audience of undergraduates (including majors in the humanities and the social sciences). But it would also be useful for anyone seeking a summary of major themes in political economy, particularly those with moral significance.
Introduction
Authors: Halliday Daniel , Thrasher John
Published: June 2020

This chapter presents the basic question of this textbook: what might be meant by asking about the “ethics” of capitalism? And what makes this question so important that it gets its own book? The chapter then proceeds by first clarifying the intellectual discipline of political economy, emphasizing its philosophical and moralized content. This helps draw attention to the problem of economic justice. The chapter then distinguishes capitalism from alternative institutional systems before articulating the key questions about capitalism and justice that will be discussed in the larger body of the book, as well as the methods used to consider various answers to such questions.
Capitalism Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time
Authors: Halliday Daniel , Thrasher John
Published: June 2020

This chapter seeks to convey the way in which political economy, as an academic discipline, attempts to unify what are now recognized as the distinct disciplines of economics and political philosophy. This will be done largely by way of a historical narrative, one that details the rise of political economy and the authors behind it, such as Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill, before providing some reasons for its decline in the 20th century as academia underwent increased specialization and fragmentation. This will provide some background for appreciating the comeback that political economy is now enjoying, as another golden age is perhaps approaching.
Market Order and Market Failure
Authors: Halliday Daniel , Thrasher John
Published: June 2020

This chapter presents and discusses the most influential argument in favor of a capitalist economy characterized by widespread economic freedom as opposed to central government planning. Capitalist ecnonomies, on this traditional view, are better than planning because they are efficient. Normatively this is important since human welfare is important. Capitalism delivers the goods better than the alternative in terms of both the goods that are produced and the welfare that it generates. This is argument relies on the importance markets and trade to produce price signals disperse private, often implicit knowledge through a public signal. Capitlist markets are, in this sense, spontaneous orders that work best when left alone. The chapter then examines some counterarguments that emphasize the limits of price signaling and other alleged cases of “market failure.”
The Welfare State and Its Rivals
Authors: Halliday Daniel , Thrasher John
Published: June 2020

This chapter looks at some leading proposals for dealing with the fact that the labor market confers rewards unequally. Over the years, governments have made various attempts to correct for this by regulating or intervening with the labor market, such as the minimum wage and the welfare state. After discussing these familiar solutions, the chapter examines some proposals that have not (yet) been widely implemented through labor market legislation, such as universal basic income. These proposals have interesting philosophical arguments behind them and which seek to improve on what governments currently do. They also raise a number of interesting questions about the nature of work and ideas of meritocracy in the workplace.
Introduction
Authors: Poznansky Michael
Published: June 2020

This chapter introduces the central question at the heart of this book, namely why leaders sometimes opt for covert action when pursuing regime change rather than pursuing overt alternatives. It begins with several empirical puzzles. For example, why did the United States openly help overthrow Muammar Gaddafi in Libya in 2011 but opt for covert action in the quest to topple Bashar al-Assad in Syria a year later despite the fact that both episodes involved humanitarian catastrophes spurred on by brutal dictators with a history of acrimonious relations with the West? The remainder of the chapter summarizes the book’s central theoretical argument, defines key terms, explains the importance of studying the phenomenon under investigation, and highlights the primary scholarly contributions. It also provides a roadmap for each of the subsequent chapters contained in the rest of the book.
The Evolution of Nonintervention
Authors: Poznansky Michael
Published: June 2020

This chapter traces the evolution of the nonintervention principle from its inception in the mid-eighteenth century to its codification in international law two centuries later. Before nonintervention was formally codified, great powers largely ignored the wishes of international lawyers, philosophers, and smaller states by regularly pursuing overt intervention. Although foreign interference continued after nonintervention became treaty law in the mid-twentieth century, states were more likely to relegate such acts to the covert sphere despite the fact that doing so decreased their chances of success. Overt intervention became the exception. Understanding these dynamics provides historical context for the remaining chapters, helps justify the book’s focus on the postwar period, and offers a basis for examining how changes to the rules governing intervention such as the rise of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine may influence how states intervene abroad in the future.
The Politics of Secret Interventions
Authors: Poznansky Michael
Published: June 2020

This chapter constitutes the theoretical core of the book. It begins by introducing existing explanations for why decision makers choose covert action or overt alternatives when pursuing regime change. These include the desire to control escalation dynamics, circumvent domestic political constraints, and avoid stirring up nationalist sentiment in the target state. Having laid out these alternatives, the chapter advances the book’s central claim that leaders are more likely to pursue regime change overtly when they can find a legal exemption to the nonintervention principle. Otherwise, they will choose covert action. The mechanisms underlying this claim are decision makers’ interest in protecting their credibility and avoiding hypocrisy costs by refraining from brazenly violating other states’ sovereignty. The United States is especially susceptible to these considerations given its long-standing interest in projecting an image of strategic restraint and legitimate leadership. The chapter concludes by taking up lingering questions, describing case selection and methodology, and outlining observable implications.
Operation Zapata: Cuba
Authors: Poznansky Michael
Published: June 2020

This chapter explores one of the most infamous episodes of covert action during the Cold War: The Bay of Pigs. The operation, which was authorized by Dwight Eisenhower in March of 1960 and carried out by John F. Kennedy in mid-April of the following year, involved training and arming Cuban exiles with the aim of overthrowing Fidel Castro. America’s hand was not supposed to show. In the end, the mission was a failure. Consistent with the book’s argument, the evidence shows that decision makers were reluctant to openly violate the nonintervention principle by pursuing overt action against Fidel Castro. As a result, they opted for a covert operation they knew was less likely to succeed to avoid undermining America’s moral authority and to protect the credibility of its commitments. Decision makers were also willing to act overtly if a legal exemption to nonintervention materialized.
The Purpose of My Death
Authors: Kamm F. M.
Published: June 2020

Chapter 2 discusses Shelly Kagan’s views about (i) when ending or not ending one’s life does or does not make sense, and (ii) how to reach a decision about this issue. It considers whether his views about the worth of living on are consistent with his views about when it makes no sense to end one’s life. The chapter also examines whether the way in which Kagan adds up the negative and positive aspects of life to decide whether to live on gives sufficient weight to context-dependent values and to the reasonableness of not going through great suffering for the sake of an even greater good to oneself.
Direction and Distribution in Life
Authors: Kamm F. M.
Published: June 2020

Chapter 5 distinguishes qualitative aging from becoming older in years by considering the fictional case of Benjamin Button. It then considers the significance and necessity at a given time of death in lives with different aging trajectories. There follows a discussion of better and worse distributions of goods and bads within lives, both on the assumption that we have and do not have control over the total of goods and bads and the length of life. Finally the chapter considers how the difference between conditional and categorical goods may affect appropriateness of tradeoffs between quantity and quality of life.
Left-wing movements facing dilemmas
Authors: Porta Donatella della , Gattinara Pietro Castelli , Eleftheriadis Konstantinos , Felicetti Andrea
Published: June 2020

Chapter 5 compares the debates that took place among left-wing groups and those engaged in civil-rights advocacy after the Charlie Hebdo attacks. It argues that the attacks had a serious impact on reemphasizing differences inside left-wing public spheres, particularly on unsettled issues with religion and freedom of expression. These tensions refer to racism and the protection of religious minorities as major issues of social inequalities to be addressed on the left. While we observed a consensus on the stigmatization of racist or state violence, the means to tackle it varied according to the position of the actors in the field, in terms of ideological embeddedness and access to the public sphere, institutional recognition, and social capital. We first map these consensual topics across the different movements in Europe, and across national contexts. We then present the internal tensions in the left-wing sphere concerning diversity and pluralism in current democracies.
Multiculturalism backlash and anti-establishment politics
Authors: Porta Donatella della , Gattinara Pietro Castelli , Eleftheriadis Konstantinos , Felicetti Andrea
Published: June 2020

Chapter 6 focuses on a collective actor that has played a crucial role in migration and identity politics across Europe, at least since the early 1990s: the contemporary far right. Relying on frame analysis of web portals, social media pages, blogs, and websites of far-right collective actors in France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom, we investigate the narrative they constructed on Charlie Hebdo and uncover the patterns of interaction existing between them and other actors, within and across national settings. The empirical analysis shows that the European far right effectively mobilized as a collective actor in the shadow of the January attacks. On the one hand, the Charlie Hebdo juncture brought forth issues that are deeply intertwined with far-right politics, and highly embedded in their agendas. On the other, the far right recognized itself in the collective struggle of opposing multiculturalism and Islamization, and of representing the will of the people against corrupt political elites, at the national and transnational levels.
Sounding Feminine
Authors: Kennerley David
Published: June 2020

This book examines the uses and meanings of women’s voices in British society and musical culture between 1780 and 1850. As previous scholars have argued, during these decades patriarchal power increasingly came to rest upon a particular understanding of the essentially different nature of male and female physiology and psychology. As a result, this book contends, the female voice—believed to blend both physical and mental attributes—became central to maintaining, and challenging, gendered power structures. The book argues that the varying ways women used their voices—the sounds that they made, as much as the words they spoke or sang—were understood by contemporaries as aural markers of different kinds of femininity. Consequently, contemporary divisions over feminine ideals were both expressed and contested through women’s use of their voices and audiences’ responses to them. Following an introduction that lays out the book’s theoretical frameworks and main arguments, the first three chapters explore how contemporary responses to different styles of female vocality were shaped by class, religious, and national discourses, through an exploration of conduct literature, letters, diaries, life-writing, and music criticism and reportage in newspapers and periodicals. Two case studies then extend the argument further through detailed analysis of the use and meaning of women’s voices on the part of both amateur and professional female singers respectively. A closing epilogue draws together the book’s major themes and discusses their implications for the gender history of this period.