bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Truth Conditions
Authors: Ettenhuber Katrin
Published: October 2023

The final chapter examines the logical writings of Jacopo Zabarella and his theory of drama as a form of social praxis. It explores Zabarella’s conception of dramatic spectatorship as an exercise in civic engagement, where audiences use strategies of logical inference and deduction to reveal the key moral insights of a play and apply them to their own experience. The chapter then charts the transmission of Zabarella’s works in early modern England, before exploring a series of case studies from Shakespeare’s plays. The focus is on As You Like It, a play that affirms Zabarella’s conviction that shared principles of reasoning can build and sustain communities, but also resists the idea of coopting drama as an instrument of political philosophy. Literature’s ways of knowing cannot always be accommodated to the frameworks of practical reasoning Zabarella describes, but instead extend our thinking into the more fragile and complex spaces of potentiality.
The Thirty-Six Streets
Authors: Obert Julia C.
Published: October 2023

This chapter considers the palimpsestic architectural and cultural development of Vietnam’s capital city. Hanoi is a pastiche of early Chinese and indigenous structures, French builds, Soviet-inflected Modern Constructivist architecture, and more recent Western-style, tourist-oriented development. Indeed, despite French assertions to the contrary, Hanoi was always already thoroughly hybridized. Similarly, despite colonial efforts to enforce urban apartheid in Hanoi by dividing the Ancient Quarter known as “the Thirty-Six Streets” from the “rational” grid of French Hanoi, Vietnamese subjects had to pass through White neighborhoods in order to enter and leave the city. Consequently, despite Hanoi’s seeming segregation, its racial barriers were surprisingly porous. And while streets and structures have been redeveloped over the decades, the city’s earlier morphologies recalcitrantly hold their shape. Hanoi’s layered histories therefore frequently undermined French architectures of power. Hanoi authors have tended to focus on the city’s Sino-Vietnamese morphologies, speaking to their capacities to shield and shelter local subjects. In particular, they note that the Ancient Quarter, a maze of winding alleyways full of small stores and workshops, is still the “people’s city.” Moreover, writers who focus on the Old Quarter do so primarily to marshal critiques of neo-imperialism: where private developers would build high-rise hotels and condos—a function of the rise of capitalism in Vietnam in the 1990s that would sacrifice Hanoi’s architectural distinctiveness on the altar of international tourism—these writers see the city’s very sense of place.
Ultra-Processed Food Environments
Authors: Mockshell Jonathan , Ritter Thea Nielsen
Published: October 2023

Why is finding solutions to combat the increasing access to affordable ultra-processed foods so controversial and what strategies are necessary for policy change? To address this question, this chapter applies a political economy analysis of coalitions and policy beliefs in the ultra-processed food environment in Ghana. By combining the Advocacy Coalition Framework with the discourse analysis approach and factor analysis, the chapter reveals a trichotomy of coalitions in the food environment, consisting of state, market, and civil society actors. The discourses reveal shared policy beliefs among these coalitions on the need for more regulation, independent beliefs on production incentives, and divergent beliefs on public awareness. The evidence highlights entry points for policy-oriented learning and policy change, including subsidies to support access to healthy foods, a prohibitive tax on ultra-processed foods, voluntary regulations, labeling and advertisement bans, and regulatory instruments.
Introduction to Volume 2
Authors: Duncan Anthony , Janssen Michel
Published: October 2023

This chapter gives a summary, as non-technical as possible, of the rest of the book. It thus gives a brief synopsis of the development of matrix mechanics, wave mechanics, and two formalisms, statistical transformation theory and the Hilbert space formalism, tying the two together. It describes how the book covers the transition from the old to two distinct forms of the new quantum theory, including Bohr’s (unsuccessful) attempts in the early 1920s to account for the periodicity of the table of elements, and the introduction of two ingredients the first of which was indispensable for this task: Pauli’s (1925b) exclusion principle and Uhlenbeck and Goudsmit’s (1925) electron spin. It revisits the successes and failures of the old quantum theory and shows how the new theory took care of the failures and put the successes on a more solid basis.
Successes and Failures of the Old Quantum Theory Revisited
Authors: Duncan Anthony , Janssen Michel
Published: October 2023

This chapter discusses how the new quantum theory took care of some of the failures of the old quantum theory and how it put the old theory’s successes on a firmer basis. Examples in the former category are the new theory’s resolution of the problems the old theory ran into with the anomalous Zeeman effect and helium (giving the wrong value for its ground state energy and being unable to explain the spectroscopic divide between ortho- and parahelium). Examples in the latter category are the fine structure in hydrogen and the Stark effect. The chapter also discusses some examples of Kuhn losses, instances where the new theory (at least initially) could not account for phenomena explained by the old one.
Building peace by building prisons?
Authors: Pingeot Lou
Published: October 2023

This chapter explores the rise of international penal peacebuilding, the practice of reinforcing the prison system in states that have experienced conflict. The chapter provides an overview of the UN’s adoption of this practice, its genealogy, and how it involves a network of international and non-governmental organizations, states, and lobby groups. It explores the effects of penal peacebuilding in Haiti, in particular the fact that rule of law reform has led to a dramatic increase in prison population, overcrowding, and high rates of pre-trial detention. The chapter develops a sociology of punishment approach, contrasting the UN discourse on the functions that the prison is supposed to serve with the role that it actually plays in Haiti. The promotion of the prison is divorced from its penal functions (such as the punishment and rehabilitation of criminals). Rather, the prison primarily fulfils a social ordering function that particularly targets marginalized urban populations.
Conclusion
Authors: Pingeot Lou
Published: October 2023

The concluding chapter recaps some of the payoffs of the theory of peace operations proposed in this book and what it helps uncover about the current global order. It identifies points of connection with other debates that could be further explored in the future, in particular dynamics of inclusion/exclusion in discourses and practices of protection. In light of the book’s findings, the chapter critically evaluates proposals to improve intervention by making it more culturally appropriate and argues that we should deemphasize questions of cultural appropriateness to emphasize questions of power and domination. The chapter reflects on whether there is such a thing as a logic of policing that can be recognized globally and reiterates the importance of Haiti as a site from which to understand global processes.
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac
Authors: Lyons John D.
Published: October 2023

Monsieur de Pourceaugnac is a three-act comedy with interludes of music and dance which, like George Dandin, mocks men who seek to use their wealth to induce a father to force a daughter into an unwanted marriage. The young woman and her lover try many amusing ways to frighten off the minor provincial nobleman Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, but the most original stratagem, within the context of all Molière’s comedies on the theme of the unwanted marriage, is the daughter’s paradoxical claim to be completely infatuated with Pourceaugnac. She makes sudden and hyperbolic claims to be unable to control her desire for this man she finds repellent and this paradoxical defence works. Pourceaugnac is terrified by her expressions of female sexual desire. Her insistence is ironic in that her outbursts express exactly the opposite of her feelings. Within the context of Molière’s society, this satire of male fear of excessive sexual interest on the part of women reflects contemporary diatribes against the figure of the ‘coquette’.
Les Précieuses ridicules
Authors: Lyons John D.
Published: October 2023

Les Précieuses ridicules (The Affected Ladies) represents two young women from the provinces who are avid readers of Madeleine de Scudéry’s romance novels. They yearn to have conversations with men whose manners and conversations reflect the refined and often flirtatious interactions of men and women depicted in Scudéry’s works. In the view of Magdelon and Cathos, a proposal of marriage should only come after a long and complex courtship, and they rebuff two wealthy suitors who have no time for such respectful niceties. Instead the resentful and vengeful suitors send their valets to impersonate the kind of suitor the women wish for. In their ignorance, the women take these pretend suitors for the real thing. Commentators on the play usually emphasize the women’s naïveté and see the comedy as Molière’s attack on Scudéry and her followers, often called précieuses by their adversaries. But the present study instead contends that the brutal suitors, who refuse to make any effort to please the women they hope to marry, represent the kind of male brutality that Molière so often criticizes.
Le Tartuffe
Authors: Lyons John D.
Published: October 2023

In Tartuffe Molière weaves together two plots concerning marriage. The first consists of a father’s demand that his daughter marry a man of his choosing, Tartuffe, rather than the suitor she loves and whom the father has previously approved. The second, related, plot consists of the father’s wife’s effort to come to the aid of her stepdaughter by preventing the coerced marriage. Orgon’s wife Elmire knows that the ostensibly devout Tartuffe is attracted to her, more than to her stepdaughter, and negotiates with him, holding forth the prospect of a sexual liaison on the condition that he renounce marriage with Orgon’s daughter. Readers, commentators, and stage directors interpret Elmire’s gesture in various ways. Most assume that her interaction with Tartuffe is solely aimed at preventing the marriage of her stepdaughter. But an argument can be made that she is actually attracted to Tartuffe, given her husband’s neglect of his wife.
Amphitryon
Authors: Lyons John D.
Published: October 2023

Molière’s adaptation of Plautus’s comedy Amphitryon makes the point that husbands should never stop courting their wives. In seventeenth-century France, marriages (particularly among the aristocracy) were arranged on the basis of political and economic advantage to families. The portrayal of passionate love between men and women was seen as a threat to marriage as an institution and to paternal power. The title of ‘husband’ could easily be seen as unrelated to (and even opposed to) the role of ‘lover’. In Amphitryon it is Jupiter himself who assumes the appearance of Alcmène’s husband Amphitryon and makes love to her. She notices no physical difference in her husband’s doppelgänger, though she is aware of his unusual tenderness and prowess as a lover. The disguised god insists that she perceive him as ‘lover’ and not as ‘husband’. When Amphitryon arrives and understands that someone had taken his place, his possessive behaviour only accentuates the difference between the two roles. One clear implication of the play is that married men should never forget to become and to remain lovers of their wives.
The World We Live In
Authors: Mohan Rajat
Published: October 2023

People worldwide have become more interconnected and interdependent than ever before. The lives of the eight billion human beings who inhabit the planet today are intertwined through trade, urbanization, the rise of the middle class, health, migration, the conflicts, the Internet and social media. Today, despite rising material well-being for most, many still suffer from significant human deprivations. They also increasingly face common concerns. Many of such concerns—rising inequality, unequal distribution of benefits of globalization, climate change, aging, protecting democracies and the rule of law, social justice—are common to both advanced and developing economies, though obviously more pressing in the latter. While there are still vast differences in per capita incomes and social indicators of people living in advanced countries and those of emerging economies, the earlier sharp differences between them are gradually coming down. Their shared challenges arise from newly widespread affluence and globalization; solutions to these challenges, also require global and regional cooperation, as well as much better governance (including stronger institutions) at the national level. At the same time, South Asia and Sub Saharan Africa need to do much to catch up with other parts of the world in most respects. These challenges may be potentially alleviated by two recent developments. One is the explosive growth in the use of social media and information technology worldwide. Secondly, the growing energy and influence of thousands of local civic society groups.
Institutions Matter
Authors: Mohan Rajat
Published: October 2023

Institutions are the rules—formal and informal—which define the framework within which human interactions takes place in a society. These various sets of rules place constraints on the behaviour of members in a society for the overall welfare of the community. Simultaneously, institutions also set out how society will enforce these rules. Such constraints and enforcement mechanisms can be formally codified through laws, rules, and regulations, or they can evolve informally as generally accepted norms and conventions of behaviour and self-imposed codes of conduct. Institutions are context-specific. Broadly, societies may be categorized as either limited- or open-access order. In the former, access to economic and political opportunities is limited to the elite rather than being open to all. Both economic and political institutions have a decisive influence on the state of governance and economic performance in a society. A society is deemed to have inclusive institutions if they create equal opportunities for all. Extractive institutions do not. Inclusive institutions are thus broad-based and pluralistic, while extractive institutions are captured by elites who can dictate the rules of the game. Further, inclusive institutions can exist only in societies which ensure the security of life and property. This in turn requires a degree of centralization of power to be vested in the State with its presumed ‘monopoly on violence’. Otherwise, chaos would reign. Since institutions are context-specific, institutional reforms cannot be readily transplanted.
The State, the MARKETS, and the Community
Authors: Mohan Rajat
Published: October 2023

Markets matter. A society needs well-functioning, competitive markets to enable it to efficiently produce, buy and sell, and consume goods and services. These in turn generate economic growth, expand opportunities for citizens and enhance prosperity. Markets are thus critically important in a society’s journey from Here to Denmark. However, free markets are far from perfect. Smith correctly foresaw that competition would drive down profits and producers would be tempted to form cartels rather than operate in a truly competitive manner. Thus, just as the Leviathan of the state has to be shackled, the behemoth of the monopoly enterprises has to be tamed as well. This is not to unduly constrain the markets but to ensure that they work better and efficiently without unduly inhibiting competition. In modern societies, many of the institutions established to do so are provided by the State, which usually does this through its political and judicial institutions. Just as the State must balance the markets, so must it work the other way around, too. Markets do so by their productive efficiency. A healthy, competitive private sector keeps the State’s possible authoritarian tendencies in check. History shows that the mutual constraint of the State and the markets has usually not been detrimental to either. Of course, there are limits to how well and how much the markets and the State can balance each other. This is where our third traveller, the community, comes in to complete the triad.
Fame, form, and function
Authors: Aston Nigel
Published: October 2023

Considers eighteenth-century Oxford’s reputation and public standing. The ‘fame’ component of the title argues for the University’s vitality as an educational foundation that, once Jacobitism had faded as a political choice, expounded loyalty creatively on behalf of the Anglo-Hanoverian state and the confessional regime of England and Wales. The section on ‘form’ merely glances at the student body, the curriculum, and its social life, and emphasises the connection with lay and clerical elites at large. In its physical format the University changed appreciably, reflecting an underlying confidence in its future, with improved accommodation and ceremonial spaces. The scale and quality of a building programme that transformed the physical form of Oxford had a national significance that has been insufficiently stressed. The chapter concludes with reflections on the University’s function as a necessarily politicised component of the British state and how far its intellectual life can be seen through the prism of Enlightenment.
Discourse Markers
Authors: Potowski Kim , Torres Lourdes
Published: October 2023

This chapter examines discourse markers in Chicago Spanish. It compares patterns of use of so and entonces among Mexican, Puerto Rican, and MexiRican speakers of different generational groups with varying Spanish proficiency levels. The chapter begins with a review of studies on discourse markers in bilingual communities and then describes the study’s methodology. It presents the overall frequency of so and entonces in the data and then considers whether speakers from different regional origin groups show different patterns of use and, if so, whether they become more like each other across generations, suggesting dialect contact. The chapter also considers whether generational group and Spanish proficiency are correlated with the use of particular features and, if so, whether one is more strongly correlated than the other. It offers an analysis of five functions to see if there is functional distribution of so and entonces.
Factors Underlying Spanish Development
Authors: Potowski Kim , Torres Lourdes
Published: October 2023

This chapter considers the underlying social conditions that lead to Spanish use and intergenerational transmission among Chicago Latino speakers. The goal of the chapter is to explore the factors that underlie the development of diverse Spanish proficiency levels within Latino Chicago. The chapter reviews previous studies on intergenerational Spanish transmission and loss in the U.S. and considers how factors such as input, attitudes, regional origin, and age of onset of English can affect the development of a minority language. The chapter then discusses factors that impacted Spanish proficiency across the life span in Chicago, including attitudes about Spanish, language use in the home and social networks, order of acquisition, bilingual education, and visits to Mexico or Puerto Rico. The chapter also discusses proficiency outliers—speakers whose Spanish proficiency was either higher or lower than the average for their generational group. It considers both high-proficiency outliers and low-proficiency outliers.
Patient perspectives on tapering biologic or targeted synthetic therapy in well-controlled rheumatoid arthritis and comparison with providers’ perspectives
Authors: Wiemer Nicholas , Webster Patrick , Attur Malavikalakshmi , Yin Yue , Sharma Tarun
Published: October 2023

Objective

We examined patient and providers’ perspectives on tapering biologic or targeted synthetic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARD or tsDMARD) in well-controlled RA to determine which factors influence their long-term treatment decisions.

Methods

A standardized phone survey was administered to patients with well-controlled RA based on electronic health record review. Providers were also surveyed. Univariate and multivariable regression analysis was performed with odds ratios (OR) and 95% CI.

Results

Sixty-two patients and 11 providers completed the survey. In total, 39 (63%) patients would consider a bDMARD/tsDMARD taper. Patients were more likely to consider a taper if they thought their RA was well-controlled (OR 8.02, 95% CI 2.15–29.99, P = 0.002) and of shorter duration (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.89–0.99, P = 0.02). Patients were less likely to consider a taper if older (OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.91–1.0, P = 0.05), if they were being treated with conventional synthetic DMARDs (OR 0.25, 95% CI 0.07–0.86, P = 0.0275) or daily glucocorticoids (OR 0.08, 95% CI 0.02–0.44, P = 0.0033). Patients’ and providers’ top concerns about long-term bDMARD/tsDMARD use were malignancy and infection. Their concerns about tapering were worsening pain, flare and loss of function. Patients were more likely to consider a bDMARD/tsDMARD taper than providers (63% vs 36%).

Conclusion

Patients who have had well-controlled RA are more likely to consider tapering bDMARD/tsDMARD when not being treated with csDMARDs or glucocorticoids. Patients and providers shared similar concerns regarding long-term use and tapering of bDMARD/tsDMARD, but patients were more likely to consider a taper.
Draft Genome Sequences of 11 Isolates of Ophiosphaerella spp., the Causal Agents of Several Turfgrass Diseases Including Spring Dead Spot of Bermudagrass and Necrotic Ring Spot of Kentucky Bluegrass
Authors: Proaño-Cuenca Fernanda , Graf-Grachet Nathalia , Garzon Carla , Wu Yanqi , Marek Stephen , Walker Nathan R.
Published: October 2023

Ophiosphaerella herpotricha, O. korrae, and O. narmari are the causal agents of spring dead spot of warm-season grasses worldwide, and O. korrae is the causal agent of necrotic ring spot of cool-season grasses that primarily occurs in North and South America. All three species are considered important pathogens of turfgrasses, and there is limited genomic information about these ectotrophic, root-infecting fungi. Herein are reported the draft genome sequences of three isolates of O. herpotricha, five O. korrae, and three O. narmari isolates, furthering the knowledge about these three important turfgrass disease-causing species.

[Formula: see text] Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license .
Grain Yield and Quality Losses Caused by Tan Spot in Wheat Cultivars in Australia
Authors: Cook Melissa J. , Edwards Jacqueline , Rodoni Brendan , McLean Mark S. , Santa Isabel Munoz , Hollaway Grant J.
Published: October 2023

Tan spot (TS), known in Australia as yellow leaf spot, is caused by the fungal pathogen Pyrenophora tritici-repentis, a major foliar disease of wheat. Four experiments were conducted between 2016 and 2017 in two different climatic zones of southeastern Australia to determine the impact of TS on grain yield and quality in six wheat cultivars with different resistance ratings. In each experiment, high and low TS disease scenarios were applied to each cultivar. Disease severity was assessed as either whole-plot percentage leaf area affected (%LAA) or top three leaf (flag to flag-2) %LAA. Whole-plot %LAA was analyzed using both repeated measurements and area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC). For whole-plot %LAA, the repeated measurements identified differences in epidemic progression at key growth stages not identified through AUDPC. Both AUDPC and end-of-season flag to flag-2 %LAA were negatively correlated with grain yield and screenings. Increased rainfall impacting disease development and number of rain days above 5 mm increased TS severity across both climatic zones. Cultivar resistance ratings influenced grain yield loss, with moderately resistant, moderately susceptible, and susceptible cultivars losing up to 6, 18, and 24% grain yield, respectively. High disease significantly increased screenings by up to 1, 3, and 5% for moderately resistant, moderately susceptible, and susceptible cultivars, respectively. This study demonstrated that TS can cause significant grain yield losses in southeastern Australia, and a minimum cultivar rating of moderate resistance to moderate susceptibility was required to prevent severe TS and associated grain yield and quality losses.

[Formula: see text] Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license .
Outcomes of Patients With Sepsis and Septic Shock Requiring Source Control: A Prospective Observational Single-Center Study
Authors: Naqvi Fatima , Jain Pranav , Umer Amna , Rana Bilal , Hadique Sarah
Published: October 2023

OBJECTIVES:

Source control is important in management of septic shock. We studied differences in outcomes of patients with sepsis and septic shock who required source control intervention compared with those who did not need such intervention and the effect of the timing of source control on various clinical outcomes.

DESIGN:

Prospective observational study from February 28, 2020, to March 31, 2021.

SETTING:

Medical ICU of academic quaternary medical center.

PATIENTS:

Two hundred five adult (≥18 yr) ICU patients.

INTERVENTIONS:

None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS:

Patients were divided into a medical treatment group and a source control group. Patients requiring source control were further divided into early (intervention performed < 24 hr) and late (≥ 24 hr) source control groups. The primary outcomes were 30-day and ICU mortality. Secondary outcomes were ICU and hospital length of stay (LOS), days on mechanical ventilation, and need for renal replacement therapy. A total of 45.9% patients underwent source control. Of these, early source control was performed in 44.7% and late source control in 55.3% of patients. There was no significant difference in 30-day mortality or ICU mortality in the medical versus source control groups or in early versus late source control groups. Compared with the medical group, mean hospital LOS (11.5 vs 17.4 d; p < 0.01) and ICU LOS (5.2 vs 7.7 d; p < 0.01) were longer in the source control group. The hospital LOS (12.5 vs 21.4 d; p < 0.01) and ICU LOS (5.2 vs 9.7 d; p < 0.01) were also longer in patients who had delayed source control than in patients who had early source control. There were no significant differences in other outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS:

Although mortality was similar, patients who had delayed source control had a longer ICU and hospital LOS. Early source control may improve health care utilization in septic shock patients.
Conjunctival Lesions Secondary to Systemic Varicella Zoster Virus Infection
Authors: Grassmeyer Justin J. , Bellsmith Kellyn N. , Bradee Allison R. , Pegany Roma B. , Redd Travis K.
Published: October 2023

Purpose:

To report and present images of a case in which discrete conjunctival lesions developed in the setting of primary varicella zoster virus infection (ie, chickenpox).

Methods:

Case report and literature review.

Results:

This report describes a young, unvaccinated male who developed an acutely painful, red eye in the setting of disseminated primary varicella zoster infection. The cutaneous rash was widespread and included lesions on both eyelids. The patient was found to have multiple discrete de-epithelialized lesions involving the palpebral and bulbar conjunctiva. Throughout the disease course, good visual function was maintained and there was no evidence of intraocular involvement. The ocular surface lesions resolved without sequelae after 1 week of treatment with topical antibiotic ointment.

Conclusions:

Primary varicella zoster infection is an increasingly rare phenomenon in the setting of widespread vaccination. However, unvaccinated or undervaccinated individuals and other at-risk populations remain susceptible to developing severe infections. This case of chickenpox involved discrete conjunctival lesions that resolved without sequelae after conservative treatment with topical antibiotic ointment. While serious ophthalmic complications are uncommon in primary varicella infection, clinicians should be aware of the potential for ocular morbidity in this increasingly rare condition.
Imaging rhegmatogenous retinal lesions and peripheral vitreo-retinal interface with wide-field optical coherence tomography
Authors: Govetto Andrea , Sebag J , Lucchini Sara , Ballabio Chiara , Matteucci Martina , Ranno Stefano , Carini Elisa , Virgili Gianni , Bacherini Daniela , Radice Paolo
Published: October 2023

Purpose:

Analyze the peripheral vitreo-retinal interface with widefield optical coherence tomography (WF-OCT).

Methods:

Retrospective chart analysis and WF-OCT in 120 consecutive cases of rhegmatogenous pathology.

Results:

There were 166 lesions in 120 eyes, including 106 horseshoe tears, 22 operculated (OH), 30 non-operculated (NOH) holes, 6 giant tears, and 2 peripheral lamellar defects followed for 6.1±1.2 months. Posterior vitreous detachment was present in all eyes (101/101, 100%) with tears and OHs, but only in 5/19 eyes (26.3%) with NOHs (p<0.001). Axial vitreous traction was evident at the anterior edge of horseshoe tears (106/106, 100%), but not the posterior border (18/106, 17%, p<0.001). OHs located posterior to the vitreous base were free from vitreous traction, displaying a morphology similar to macular hole. NOHs were farther anterior with signs of tangential traction in 23/30 (76.7%) cases. Peripheral vitreoschisis was more often associated with NOHs (25/30, 83.3%), than horseshoe tears (17/106, 16%; p<0.001). Horseshoe tears and NOHs were more often associated with retinal detachment (58/106 (54.7%) and 15/30 (50%), respectively) than OHs (5/22, 22.7%), p=0.023.

Conclusions:

Peripheral vitreo-retinal interactions are similar to vitreo-maculopathies, with axial and vitreoschisis-related tangential traction playing different roles in different rhegmatogenous pathologies. Peripheral OCT improves understanding of pathophysiology and risks of retinal detachment.
Comparing Outcomes of 45 Xen Implantation Ab Interno With Closed Conjunctiva to Ab Externo With Open Conjunctiva Approaches
Authors: El Helwe Hani , Ingram Zoë , Neeson Cameron E. , Falah Henisk , Trzcinski Jonathan , Lin Jonathan B. , Solá-Del Valle David A.
Published: October 2023

Précis:

Ab externo with open conjunctiva placement may lead to improved gelatin stent (XEN Gel Stent; Allergan) success rate compared with ab interno with closed conjunctiva because it conferred more favorable intraocular pressure (IOP) and medication burden reduction based on our complete and qualified success criteria.

Purpose:

To compare outcomes of a gelatin stent (XEN 45 Gel Stent; Allergan) placed either ab interno with closed conjunctiva (AIC) or ab externo with open conjunctiva (AEO) with or without cataract surgery in patients with glaucoma.

Design:

Retrospective, nonrandomized comparative study of 85 eyes from 85 glaucoma patients who received XEN 45 Gel Stent placed either AIC (N=32) or AEO (N=53) with or without cataract surgery between July 2018 and January 2022 at Massachusetts Eye and Ear. Patients were included if they were 18 years of age or above and had at least 30 days of follow-up without any disqualifying event.

Results:

Baseline demographics were similar between both groups, except for the glaucoma type. Both AIC and AEO procedures resulted in significant patterns of IOP and medication reduction from baseline up to 1 year. At postoperative year (POY)1, mean IOP was reduced to 11.34±4 mmHg on 1.29±1.34 medications after AEO and 13.70±3.32 mmHg on 2±1.81 medications after AIC. The average IOP reduction was significantly greater in the AEO group at all postoperative time points beyond postoperative week 2. There were significant differences in the survival curves of AEO and AIC groups under both the complete success criteria and the qualified success criteria. Under the complete success criteria, the cumulative probability of survival at POY1 was 28.5% in the AEO group and 3.8% in the AIC group. Under the qualified success criteria, the cumulative probability of survival at POY1 was 60.3% in the AEO group and 21.9% in the AIC group.

Conclusions:

In our study, we demonstrate that both placements reduce IOP and medication from baseline, with AEO placement having more favorable success rates compared with AIC placement.
Association of abdominal aortic calcification and lower back pain in patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis
Authors: Schönnagel Lukas , Muellner Maximilian , Suwalski Phillip , Guven Ali E. , Camino-Willhuber Gaston , Tani Soji , Caffard Thomas , Zhu Jiaqi , Haffer Henryk , Arzani Artine , Chiapparelli Erika , Amoroso Krizia , Shue Jennifer , Duculan Roland , Sama Andrew A. , Cammisa Frank P. , Girardi Federico P. , Mancuso Carol A. , Hughes Alexander P.
Published: October 2023

Abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) is hypothesized to lead to ischemic pain of the lower back. This retrospective study aims to identify the relationship between AAC and lower back pain (LBP) in patients with degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis. Lower back pain was assessed preoperatively and 2 years after surgery using the numeric analogue scale. Abdominal aortic calcification was assessed according to the Kauppila classification and was grouped into no, moderate, and severe. A multivariable regression, adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, hypertension, and smoking status, was used to assess the association between AAC and preoperative/postoperative LBP as well as change in LBP after surgery. A total of 262 patients were included in the final analysis. The multivariable logistic regression demonstrated an increased odds ratio (OR) for preoperative LBP ≥ 4 numeric analogue scale (OR = 9.49, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.71-40.59, P < 0.001) and postoperative LBP ≥ 4 (OR = 1.72, 95% CI: 0.92-3.21, P = 0.008) in patients with severe AAC compared with patients with no AAC. Both moderate and severe AAC were associated with reduced improvement in LBP after surgery (moderate AAC: OR = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.22-0.85, P = 0.016; severe AAC: OR = 0.41, 95% CI: 0.2-0.82, P = 0.012). This study demonstrates an independent association between AAC and LBP and reduced improvement after surgery. Evaluation of AAC could play a role in patient education and might be considered part of the differential diagnosis for LBP, although further prospective studies are needed.
Use of Human-Centered Design Methodology to Develop a Digital Toolkit to Optimize Heart Failure Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy
Authors: Spaulding Erin M. , Isakadze Nino , Molello Nancy , Khoury Shireen R. , Gao Yumin , Young Lisa , Antonsdottir Inga M. , Azizi Zahra , Dorsch Michael P. , Golbus Jessica R. , Ciminelli Ana , Brant Luisa C. C. , Himmelfarb Cheryl R. , Coresh Josef , Marvel Francoise A. , Longenecker Chris T. , Commodore-Mensah Yvonne , Gilotra Nisha A. , Sandhu Alexander , Nallamothu Brahmajee , Martin Seth S.
Published: October 2023

Background

Guideline-directed medical therapies (GDMTs) improve quality of life and health outcomes for patients with heart failure (HF). However, GDMT utilization is suboptimal among patients with HF.

Objective

The aims of this study were to engage key stakeholders in semistructured, virtual human-centered design sessions to identify challenges in GDMT optimization posthospitalization and inform the development of a digital toolkit aimed at optimizing HF GDMTs.

Methods

For the human-centered design sessions, we recruited (a) clinicians who care for patients with HF across 3 hospital systems, (b) patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (ejection fraction ≤ 40%) discharged from the hospital within 30 days of enrollment, and (c) caregivers. All participants were 18 years or older, English speaking, with Internet access.

Results

A total of 10 clinicians (median age, 37 years [interquartile range, 35–41], 12 years [interquartile range, 10–14] of experience caring for patients with HF, 80% women, 50% White, 50% nurse practitioners) and three patients and one caregiver (median age 57 years [IQR: 53–60], 75% men, 50% Black, 75% married) were included. Five themes emerged from the clinician sessions on challenges to GDMT optimization (eg, barriers to patient buy-in). Six themes on challenges (eg, managing medications), 4 themes on motivators (eg, regaining independence), and 3 themes on facilitators (eg, social support) to HF management arose from the patient and caregiver sessions.

Conclusions

The clinician, patient, and caregiver insights identified through human-centered design will inform a digital toolkit aimed at optimizing HF GDMTs, including a patient-facing smartphone application and clinician dashboard. This digital toolkit will be evaluated in a multicenter, clinical trial.
Cytokine Profiling of Cyst Fluid and Tumor-Associated Macrophages in Cystic Vestibular Schwannoma
Authors: Nisenbaum Eric , Wiefels Matthew , Telischi Julia , Marasigan Mikhail , Kanumuri Vivek , Pena Stefanie , Thielhelm Torin , Bracho Olena , Bhatia Rita , Scaglione Tricia , Telischi Fred , Fernandez-Valle Cristina , Liu Xue-Zhong , Luther Evan , Morcos Jacques , Ivan Michael , Dinh Christine T.
Published: October 2023

Background

The vestibular schwannoma (VS) secretome can initiate monocyte recruitment and macrophage polarization to M1 (proinflammatory) and/or M2 (protumorigenic) phenotypes, which in turn secrete additional cytokines that contribute to the tumor microenvironment. Profiling cyst fluid and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in cystic VS provides a unique opportunity to understand mechanisms that may contribute to tumor progression and cyst formation.

Hypothesis

Cystic VSs secrete high levels of cytokines into cyst fluid and express abundant M1 and M2 macrophages.

Methods

Tumor, CSF, and cyst fluid were prospectively collected from 10 cystic VS patients. Eighty cytokines were measured in fluid samples using cytokine arrays and compared with normal CSF from normal donors. Immunofluorescence was performed for CD80+ M1 and CD163+ M2 macrophage markers. Demographic, audiometric, and radiographic information was obtained through retrospective chart review.

Results

Cyst fluid expressed more osteopontin and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1; p < 0.0001), when compared with normal CSF. Cyst fluid also expressed more protein (p = 0.0020), particularly MCP-1 (p < 0.0001), than paired CSF from the same subjects. MCP-1 expression in cyst fluid correlated with CD80+ staining in VS tissue (r = 0.8852; p = 0.0015) but not CD163+ staining.

Conclusion

Cyst fluid from cystic VS harbored high levels of osteopontin and MCP-1, which are cytokines important in monocyte recruitment and macrophage polarization. MCP-1 may have a significant role in molding the tumor microenvironment, by polarizing monocytes to CD80+ M1 macrophages in cystic VS. Further investigations into the role of cytokines and macrophages in VS may lead to new avenues for therapeutic intervention.
Temporal Trends in Early Pediatric Cochlear Implantations in California from 2018 to 2020
Authors: Fujiwara Rance J. T. , Wong Emily C. , Ishiyama Gail , Ishiyama Akira
Published: October 2023

Objective

To characterize the demographics of children receiving cochlear implantations, identify factors associated with delayed implantations, and trend these factors over time.

Design

Retrospective cross-sectional study.

Setting

Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project California State Ambulatory Surgery Database for calendar years 2018–2020.

Patients

Children 5 years or younger undergoing cochlear implantation.

Interventions

Cochlear implantation.

Main Outcomes Measures

The population-controlled number of cochlear implantations was calculated and stratified by race and insurance. Early implantation was defined as implantation at age 2 years or younger. A mixed-effects logistic regression model was generated to identify factors associated with early implantation and how that association changed from 2018 to 2020.

Results

The final cohort included 467 children. The number of implantations increased from 141 to 175 implants from 2018 to 2020 (24.1% increase); 229 (49.0%) children were implanted at 2 years or younger. Medicaid insurance was associated with decreased odds of early implantation (odds ratio, 0.18 [95% confidence interval, 0.15–0.23], p < 0.001); this association with Medicaid insurance was significant when stratified across all racial groups. The percentage of children with Medicaid who were implanted at 2 years or younger increased from 20.9 to 62.0% from 2018 to 2020.

Conclusions and Relevance

Among children in California, socioeconomic factors, in particular public insurance, are correlated with age of cochlear implantation. These disparities improved significantly from 2018 to 2020. Further investigation into changes and initiatives in California during this time frame may aid in directing national efforts to improve pediatric cochlear implantation access.
Historical Review of Acute Pancreatitis Research Over the Last 80 Years
Authors: Han Chao , Dong Zhi-Qi , Li Zhao-Shen , Hu Liang-Hao
Published: October 2023

Objectives

Research on acute pancreatitis (AP) has been ongoing for a long time. It is necessary to summarize and investigate the history of AP research.

Methods

Publications related to AP research were retrieved from PubMed. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms, countries, journals, and publication dates were analyzed. Co-occurrence analysis was conducted to illustrate the holistic trend in AP research. A dynamic bar graph, heat maps, and line charts were created to illustrate change trends of MeSH terms.

Results

In total, 28,222 publications with 8558 MeSH terms were retrieved from 1941 to 2020. Among these, 16,575 publications with 7228 MeSH terms were from 2001 to 2020. The top 10 MeSH terms showed a considerable change from 1941 to 1970 but remained stable since the 1970s. Four clusters obtained from the co-occurrence analysis were “experiments on animals,” “diagnosis and treatment,” “prognosis and expectation,” and “protein and enzyme.” From 1941 to 2020, 33 MeSH terms with increasing trends (MH-I) and 15 MeSH terms with decreasing trends (MH-D) were selected to create a heat map (every decade). Meanwhile, 16 MH-I and 41 MH-D were selected to create the heat map from 2001 to 2020 (every 2 years).

Conclusion

Over the past 80 years, the pathogenesis, treatment, risk management, and experimental model were the main research highlights. Optimal supportive management, minimally invasive treatment, and prediction of prognosis are subjects of interest for clinical practitioners; signal transduction to identify a target for precise treatment is the focus of experimental research in AP.
Measurement of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Strain Using MR Deformable Image Registration
Authors: Dong Huiming , Leach Joseph R. , Kao Evan , Zhou Ang , Chitiboi Teodora , Zhu Chengcheng , Ballweber Megan , Jiang Fei , Lee Yoo Jin , Iannuzzi James , Gasper Warren , Saloner David , Hope Michael D. , Mitsouras Dimitrios
Published: October 2023

Background

Management of asymptomatic abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) based on maximum aneurysm diameter and growth rate fails to preempt many ruptures. Assessment of aortic wall biomechanical properties may improve assessment of progression and rupture risk. This study aimed to assess the accuracy of AAA wall strain measured by cine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) deformable image registration (MR strain) and investigate its relationship with recent AAA progression.

Methods

The MR strain accuracy was evaluated in silico against ground truth strain in 54 synthetic MRIs generated from a finite element model simulation of an AAA patient's abdomen for different aortic pulse pressures, tissue motions, signal intensity variations, and image noise. Evaluation included bias with 95% confidence interval (CI) and correlation analysis. Association of MR strain with AAA growth rate was assessed in 25 consecutive patients with >6 months of prior surveillance, for whom cine balanced steady-state free-precession imaging was acquired at the level of the AAA as well as the proximal, normal-caliber aorta. Univariate and multivariate regressions were used to associate growth rate with clinical variables, maximum AAA diameter (Dmax), and peak circumferential MR strain through the cardiac cycle. The MR strain interoperator variability was assessed using bias with 95% CI, intraclass correlation coefficient, and coefficient of variation.

Results

In silico experiments revealed an MR strain bias of 0.48% ± 0.42% and a slope of correlation to ground truth strain of 0.963. In vivo, AAA MR strain (1.2% ± 0.6%) was highly reproducible (bias ± 95% CI, 0.03% ± 0.31%; intraclass correlation coefficient, 97.8%; coefficient of variation, 7.14%) and was lower than in the nonaneurysmal aorta (2.4% ± 1.7%). Dmax (β = 0.087) and MR strain (β= −1.563) were both associated with AAA growth rate. The MR strain remained an independent factor associated with growth rate (β= −0.904) after controlling for Dmax.

Conclusions

Deformable image registration analysis can accurately measure the circumferential strain of the AAA wall from standard cine MRI and may offer patient-specific insight regarding AAA progression.
Haxe as a Swiss knife for bioinformatic applications: the SeqPHASE case story
Authors: Spöri Yann , Flot Jean-François
Published: October 2023

1

Haxe is a general purpose, object-oriented programming language supporting syntactic macros. The Haxe compiler is well known for its ability to translate the source code of Haxe programs into the source code of a variety of other programming languages including Java, C++, JavaScript and Python. Although Haxe is becoming more and more used for a variety of purposes, including games, it has not yet attracted much attention from bioinformaticians. This is surprising, as Haxe allows generating different versions of the same program (e.g. a graphical user interface version in JavaScript running in a web browser for beginners and a command-line version in C++ or Python for increased performance) while maintaining a single code, a feature that should be of interest for many bioinformatic applications. To demonstrate the usefulness of Haxe in bioinformatics, we present here the case story of the program SeqPHASE, written originally in Perl (with a CGI version running on a server) and published in 2010. As Perl+CGI is not desirable anymore for security purposes, we decided to rewrite the SeqPHASE program in Haxe and to host it at Github Pages (https://eeg-ebe.github.io/SeqPHASE), thereby alleviating the need to configure and maintain a dedicated server. Using SeqPHASE as an example, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Haxe’s source code conversion functionality when it comes to implementing bioinformatic software.