bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Clinical and molecular characteristics of Thai patients withELANE-related neutropaenia
Authors: Ittiwut Rungnapa , Sengpanich Kunlapat , Lauhasurayotin Supanun , Ittiwut Chupong , Shotelersuk Vorasuk , Sosothikul Darintr , Suphapeetiporn Kanya 
Published: December 2020

AimsCongenital neutropaenia is a rare inherited disorder that mainly affects neutrophils causing severe infection. Mutations in several genes have been implicated in the disease pathogenesis. The genetic defects may vary in different populations, influenced by ethnicity and geographical location. Here we describe the clinical and genotypic characteristics of seven unrelated Thai cases with congenital neutropaenia.MethodsSeven unrelated patients with congenital neutropaenia were enrolled (5 female and 2 male) at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand. Clinical and laboratory data were collected. Whole exome sequencing (WES) analysis was performed in all cases.ResultsWES successfully identified disease-causing mutations in theELANEgene in all cases, including two novel ones: a heterozygous 12 base pair (bp) inframe insertion (c.289_300dupCAGGTGTTCGCC; p.Q97_A100dup) and a heterozygous 18 bp inframe deletion (c.698_715delCCCCGGTGGCACAGTTTG; p.A233_F238delAPVAQF). Five other previously describedELANEmutations (p.Arg103Pro, p.Gly214Arg, p.Trp241X, p.Ser126Leu and p.Leu47Arg) were also detected.ConclusionsAll Thai patients with congenital neutropaenia in this study harboured causative mutations in theELANEgene, suggesting it the most common associated with the disease. Two novel mutations were also identified, expanding the genotypic spectrum ofELANE.
Neural Progenitor Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Enhance Blood-Brain Barrier Integrity by NF-κB (Nuclear Factor-κB)-Dependent Regulation of ABCB1 (ATP-Binding Cassette Transporter B1) in Stroke Mice
Authors: Zhang Lin , Graf Irina , Kuang Yaoyun , Zheng Xuan , Haupt Matteo , Majid Arshad , Kilic Ertugrul , Hermann Dirk M. , Psychogios Marios-Nikos , Weber Martin S. , Ochs Jasmin , Bähr Mathias , Doeppner Thorsten R. 
Published: December 2020

Objective:
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from neural progenitor cells enhance poststroke neurological recovery, albeit the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Since previous research described an enhanced poststroke integrity of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) upon systemic transplantation of neural progenitor cells, we examined if neural progenitor cell-derived EVs affect BBB integrity and which cellular mechanisms are involved in the process.

Approach and Results:
Using in vitro models of primary brain endothelial cell (EC) cultures as well as co-cultures of brain ECs (ECs) and astrocytes exposed to oxygen glucose deprivation, we examined the effects of EVs or vehicle on microvascular integrity. In vitro data were confirmed using a mouse transient middle cerebral artery occlusion model. Cultured ECs displayed increased ABCB1 (ATP-binding cassette transporter B1) levels when exposed to oxygen glucose deprivation, which was reversed by treatment with EVs. The latter was due to an EV-induced inhibition of the NF-κB (nuclear factor-κB) pathway. Using a BBB co-culture model of ECs and astrocytes exposed to oxygen glucose deprivation, EVs stabilized the BBB and ABCB1 levels without affecting the transcellular electrical resistance of ECs. Likewise, EVs yielded reduced Evans blue extravasation, decreased ABCB1 expression as well as an inhibition of the NF-κB pathway, and downstream matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) activity in stroke mice. The EV-induced inhibition of the NF-κB pathway resulted in a poststroke modulation of immune responses.

Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that EVs enhance poststroke BBB integrity via ABCB1 and MMP-9 regulation, attenuating inflammatory cell recruitment by inhibition of the NF-κB pathway.

Graphic Abstract:
A graphic abstract is available for this article.
The Face of the Nonhuman: Human-Animal Encounters in Pu Songling’s Liaozhai Zhiyi
Authors: Whyke Thomas William , Brown Melissa Shani 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
In this article, we expand the scholarly investigation of the representation of nonhuman animals (henceforth, “animals”) in historic literature, specifically focusing upon Pu Songling’s Liaozhai Zhiyi [Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio]. This is partially a response to other scholars who argue that blurred boundaries between human and nonhuman in this genre challenge anthropocentrism by rendering humans and animals as basically the same. This point is often contextualized with reference to traditional Chinese philosophies including Daoism. Drawing upon various tales within Liaozhai, we explore the forms of ethical reciprocity that are enabled through shapeshifting; however, we trouble the assertion that blurred physical boundaries necessarily de-center the human. We argue that despite the fact that animals can become human and vice versa, Liaozhai depicts a natural world which privileges “becoming-human” and naturalizes “human virtues.”
A l’envers: Setting the Stage for a Protective Environment to Deal with ‘Climate Refugees’ in Europe
Authors: Fornalé Elisa 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
The inventory of climate-related disasters is emblematic of the increasing impact of climate change and the concomitant rise in climate migration risk. It is becoming clear that, in the words of Ban Ki-moon, “no country or city—rich or poor—is immune”. At the same time, the design of normative measures is undergoing a radical redefinition, towards assuming a “preventive” role dictated by the imminent need to give a legal meaning to the uncertainty of this new epoch. The article starts from the recent adoption by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe of a resolution on “A legal status for ‘climate refugees’” to explore the potential role an anticipatory approach may play in shaping disaster-affected mobility regimes. It is timely to reflect on its legal implications by discussing emerging practices and the challenges of a normative evolution, that even if fragile, can be understood as part of an effort to reframe the international legal order towards balancing sovereign and common concerns. By considering Italy’s contribution to the debate, the article sheds light on the role of domestic actors, such as courts and local authorities, as agents for legal development in multilevel environmental migration governance.
The Currency of Innocence: Children’s ‘Emotional Capital’ in the Japanese Empire
Authors: Frühstück Sabine 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
In early twentieth-century Japan, a large body of pictures and narratives connected children with soldiers and war-making, producing a multi-sensory emotional register. An operationalised ‘emotional capital’ was employed primarily through the unapologetic insinuation of sentiments, such as Japanese children’s admiration for and affinity with soldiers, those children’s empathy for other children in Japanese-occupied territory, and ‘occupied’ children’s gratitude for the protection soldiers supposedly provided. Altogether, children’s supposed vulnerability and innocence were enlisted, until 1945, to legitimise Japan’s imperialist war – offering a sense of redemption in the wake of extreme mass violence; and, after the defeat, to embody peace as ‘icons of humanitarianism’.
Friendship and Trust between Medieval Princes: Affective Strategies for Navigating Intercultural Difference across the Mediterranean
Authors: Colwell Tania M. 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
This essay analyses the rhetoric of friendship in John of Sulṭāniyya’s translation of a Persian letter from the Mongol-Turkic leader Temür (Tamerlaine) to the French king Charles VI in 1402/3. It examines how the discourse of political friendship was an effective strategy for navigating intercultural difference between princely rulers across the Mediterranean in the later Middle Ages. Friendship language and practices functioned as a diplomatic paradigm for cultivating an affective attitude of trust between secular and spiritual leaders. Central to eliciting trust were performances of goodwill and the demonstrable commitment of individual parties to engage in a reciprocal exchange of benefits and obligations. Negotiating intercultural friendships enabled European elites to effect political change while adopting models of masculine authority independent of the hegemonic warrior tradition of medieval leadership.
Halal Industry of Ukraine in the Period of Independence
Authors: Brylov Denys 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
This article analyzes how the halal industry in Ukraine began. One of the characteristic features in the development of Ukraine’s halal industry is a confrontation between the main halal market players. These represent the transnational Sufi network al-Ahbash and the global Muslim Brotherhood, respectively. The first part of this article discusses the history of the halal industry in Ukraine and of the organizations that carry out halal certification. The second part is dedicated to one of the oldest halal certification centers – the Religious Administration of Muslims of Ukraine (dumu – Dukhovne upravlinnia musul’man Ukraïny), associated with al-Ahbash. I reveal that for dumu, the development of halal certification is primarily considered a part of the discourse on orthodoxy (i.e. practices of ‘traditional’ Islam) and how certification is undertaken is considered to bear on the religious status of dumu in the eyes of Muslims. The economic aspect of halal is considered of secondary importance. In a third part of the article, I consider another halal operator, the Alraid Association, which is associated with the global Muslim Brotherhood. For this organization, halal certification is an important tool to promote the association’s influence in business and the public sphere. In conclusion, I show that the halal industry in Ukraine is present and promising, but at present it aims mainly at large producers. Ordinary Muslims face certain troubles due to the underdevelopment of this sphere.
Catholic Slaveowners and the Development of Georgetown University’s Slave Hiring System, 1792–1862
Authors: Mendoza Elsa Barraza 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
This article examines the place of enslaved laborers in the founding and operations of Georgetown University. It draws evidence from the school’s administrative and financial records; the archives of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus; and manuscript collections in Maryland and Washington, DC. The school generally rented rather than bought and owned enslaved people to work on campus. The school used its position as a provider of education and religious services to obtain enslaved laborers from two types of Catholic slaveowners: priests and parents—women in particular—who sent their children to Georgetown. Enslaved laborers worked at the school from its earliest days until the abolition of slavery in Washington, DC, in 1862. Indeed, the school’s last enslaved worker, Aaron Edmonson, left campus in March of 1862, only a month before the passage of the Compensated Emancipation Act of the District of Columbia.
Science and Language Instructional Shifts with Second-Language Learners
Authors: Lee Okhee 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
In the United States, A Framework for K-12 Science Education (National Research Council, 2012) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) offer a vision of rigorous science standards for all students across K-12 classrooms. As science and engineering practices (e.g., develop models, argue from evidence, construct explanations) are language intensive, engagement in these practices presents both language learning opportunities and demands to all students, especially second language learners. The purpose of this article is to describe science instructional shifts, spurred by the Framework and the NGSS, and language instructional shifts, informed by contemporary views in second language acquisition described in English Learners in STEM Subjects (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018). The article describes a yearlong fifth-grade science curriculum to illustrate how science and language instructional shifts are mutually supportive of each other to promote rigorous science learning and rich language use with a focus on second language learners.
Teacher Competency in Competency-Focused Science Teaching in the South Korean Context: Teacher Self-Assessment Instrument Development and Application
Authors: Kang Nam-Hwa , Kang Hunsik , Maeng Seungho , Park Jongwon , Jeong Eunyoung 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine teachers’ competency in teaching for student competence in science. Drawing on literature on competence and science teacher education, we identified 44 indicators of science teaching competence in relation to the current Korean National Science Curriculum, from which 54 items for teachers’ self-assessment were developed and validated. Through online administration of the self-assessment instrument, responses from 210 primary and secondary teachers were collected. Factor analysis resulted in nine factors across three competence areas. Teacher competence differed across factors. One-way ANOVA analysis revealed that primary teachers indicated significantly higher competence in most aspects of teaching than secondary teachers and that years of teaching was related to professional development methods utilized by teachers. Suggestions for professional development program design and further research topics were discussed.
Al-Ghazālī’s Heart as a Medium of Light: Illumination and the Soteriological Process
Authors: Ferhat Loumia 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
This article focuses on the centrality of the heart in al-Ghazālī’s (d. 505/1111) thought. More specifically, it shifts the focus from al-Ghazālī’s doctrinal position, at stake when he defines the heart—which has already received much attention—to the practical aspect of the heart, namely its role within al-Ghazālī’s reformative project. In doing so, it brings to the fore the entanglement between knowledge acquisition, character refinement, and illumination at the end of the soteriological path, that is, the path leading to the soul’s salvation. Paying particular attention to the heart as a medium of light, this article seeks to extend the recent interrogation of philosophy as a way of life, expanding philosophy’s perceived boundaries in contemporary thought. In al-Ghazālī’s writings, the heart serves not only as the essence of man, but also as a synecdoche for the individual, that is, for the very essence of human subjectivity. As a medium of light, through proper training and spiritual practices, the heart becomes the locus of knowledge acquisition, character refinement, and the final conversion of the gaze. Al-Ghazālī’s conception of the heart, then, stands at the crossroads of Sufism and philosophy, where a conception of knowledge that is inseparable from ethics and aesthetics emerges. By examining this merging of ethics and aesthetics in al-Ghazālī’s thought, this article argues for the significance of aesthetics to al-Ghazālī, despite his ambivalence towards analogies and sense-perception.
Testing Passive Microwave-Based Hail Retrievals Using GPM DPR Ku-Band Radar
Authors: Bang Sarah D. , Cecil Daniel J. 
Published: December 2020

AbstractSeveral studies in the literature have developed approaches to diagnose hail storms from satellite-borne passive microwave imagery and build nearly global climatologies of hail. This paper uses spaceborne Ku-band radar measurements from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) to validate several passive microwave approaches. We assess the retrievals on the basis of how tightly they constrain the radar reflectivity at −20°C and how this measured radar reflectivity aloft varies geographically. The algorithm that combines minimum 19-GHz polarization corrected temperature (PCT) with a 37-GHz PCT depression normalized by tropopause height constrains the radar reflectivity most tightly and gives the least appearance of regional biases. A retrieval that is based on a 19-GHz PCT threshold of 261K also produces tightly clustered profiles of radar reflectivity, with little regional bias. An approach using regionally adjusted minimum 37-GHz PCT performs relatively well, but our results indicate it may overestimate hail in some subtropical and midlatitude regions. A threshold applied to the minimum 37-GHz PCT (≤230 K), without any scaling by region or probability of hail, overestimates hail in the tropics and underestimates beyond the tropics. For all retrieval approaches, storms identified as having hail tended to have radar reflectivity profiles that are consistent with general expectations for hailstorms (reflectivity > 50 dBZ below the 0°C level, and > 40 dBZ extending far above 0°C). Profiles from oceanic regions tended to have more rapidly decreasing reflectivity with height than profiles from other regions. Subtropical, high-latitude, and high-terrain land profiles had the slowest decreases of reflectivity with height.
Kenyan Long Rains: A Subseasonal Approach to Process-Based Diagnostics
Authors: Dyer Ellen , Washington Richard 
Published: December 2020

AbstractThe interannual variability, trends, and the mean climatology of East African long rains are difficult for models to simulate. This is in part because long rains do not respond in a simple way to large-scale modes of variability such as ENSO and because of interactions with complex topography. Here we focus on the Kenyan regional climate in the ERA-Interim dataset during the long rains to create a set of atmospheric diagnostics that can be applied to the evaluation of climate models. Subseasonal observed rainfall and reanalysis reveal that very wet seasons and very dry seasons develop differently at the beginning of the season. Subseasonal aggregation periods (days 60–80, 80–100, 90–120, 120–150) highlight local (e.g., midtropospheric ascent, moisture flux convergence in the lower to midtroposphere, and midtropospheric moisture) and large-scale (e.g., midtropospheric zonal winds over central Africa, upper-tropospheric velocity potential) diagnostics that are useful to evaluate model atmospheric circulation affecting Kenyan rainfall in mean and wet or dry extremes.
An Automated Python Algorithm to Quantify ZDR Arc and KDP–ZDR Separation Signatures in Supercells
Authors: Wilson Matthew B. , Van Den Broeke Matthew S. 
Published: December 2020

AbstractSupercell thunderstorms often have pronounced signatures of hydrometeor size sorting within their forward-flank regions, including an arc-shaped region of high differential reflectivity (ZDR) along the inflow edge of the forward flank known as the ZDR arc and a clear horizontal separation between this area of high ZDR values and an area of enhanced KDP values deeper into the storm core. Recent work has indicated that ZDR arc and KDP–ZDR separation signatures in supercell storms may be related to environmental storm-relative helicity and low-level shear. Thus, characteristics of these signatures may be helpful to indicate whether a given storm is likely to produce a tornado. Although ZDR arc and KDP–ZDR separation signatures are typically easy to qualitatively identify in dual-polarization radar fields, quantifying their characteristics can be time-consuming and makes research into these signatures and their potential operational applications challenging. To address this problem, this paper introduces an automated Python algorithm to objectively identify and track these signatures in Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) data and quantify their characteristics. This paper will discuss the development of the algorithm, demonstrate its performance through comparisons with manually generated time series of ZDR arc and KDP–ZDR separation signature characteristics, and briefly explore potential uses of this algorithm in research and operations.
Inferring time-dependent population growth rates in cell cultures undergoing adaptation
Authors: Lindström H. Jonathan G. , Friedman Ran 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Background
The population growth rate is an important characteristic of any cell culture. During sustained experiments, the growth rate may vary due to competition or adaptation. For instance, in presence of a toxin or a drug, an increasing growth rate indicates that the cells adapt and become resistant. Consequently, time-dependent growth rates are fundamental to follow on the adaptation of cells to a changing evolutionary landscape. However, as there are no tools to calculate the time-dependent growth rate directly by cell counting, it is common to use only end point measurements of growth rather than tracking the growth rate continuously.

Results
We present a computer program for inferring the growth rate over time in suspension cells using nothing but cell counts, which can be measured non-destructively. The program was tested on simulated and experimental data. Changes were observed in the initial and absolute growth rates, betraying resistance and adaptation.

Conclusions
For experiments where adaptation is expected to occur over a longer time, our method provides a means of tracking growth rates using data that is normally collected anyhow for monitoring purposes. The program and its documentation are freely available at https://github.com/Sandalmoth/ratrack under the permissive zlib license.
Improving CLIP-seq data analysis by incorporating transcript information
Authors: Uhl Michael , Tran Van Dinh , Backofen Rolf 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Background
Current peak callers for identifying RNA-binding protein (RBP) binding sites from CLIP-seq data take into account genomic read profiles, but they ignore the underlying transcript information, that is information regarding splicing events. So far, there are no studies available that closer observe this issue.

Results
Here we show that current peak callers are susceptible to false peak calling near exon borders. We quantify its extent in publicly available datasets, which turns out to be substantial. By providing a tool called CLIPcontext for automatic transcript and genomic context sequence extraction, we further demonstrate that context choice affects the performances of RBP binding site prediction tools. Moreover, we show that known motifs of exon-binding RBPs are often enriched in transcript context sites, which should enable the recovery of more authentic binding sites. Finally, we discuss possible strategies on how to integrate transcript information into future workflows.

Conclusions
Our results demonstrate the importance of incorporating transcript information in CLIP-seq data analysis. Taking advantage of the underlying transcript information should therefore become an integral part of future peak calling and downstream analysis tools.