bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Practice of spinal anesthesia among anesthetists in the operation room of referral hospital: Cross-sectional study
Authors: Ferede Yonas Admasu , Nigatu Yonas Addisu , Agegnehu Abatneh Feleke , Mustofa Salh Yalew 
Published: November 2020

ABSTRACT

Background:
spinal anesthesia is easy to access, cheap safe for surgery done below umbilicus but it has a lot of complications like total spinal, high spinal, hypotension and sever neurological abnormality due to in adequate preparation and poor practice while administration spinal anesthesia in the operation theatres. This audit was aimed to improve practice of spinal anesthesia in our theatre meet the audit standards or not.

Methods:
This audit was conducted from January 01/2019 to February 01/2019. Anesthetists who administers spinal anesthesia in surgical and obstetric operation rooms were included. Data were collected by direct observation using standardized checklist prepared from recommendations of Ney work Society of Regional Anesthesia (NYSORA). Data were collected prospectively before, during and after administer spinal anesthesia.

Results:
Total of 50 anesthetists were observed before, during and after they deliver spinal anesthesia. From those audit standards only communication with patients during spinal injection to end of surgery was fully practiced. However, anesthetist should wash their hands, wear sterile gown and the area should be draped with fenestrated drapes in a sterile fashion were not practice.

Conclusions:
Practice of spinal anesthesia in our operation theatre was satisfactory. But still it needs some improvement that scored below the average and those audit standards that were not practiced at all.

Highlights:
The acquisition of English articles among L1 Dagbani L2 English learners
Authors: Kwame Abukari , Westergaard Marit 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThis study investigates the acquisition of articles in L2 English by L1 speakers of Dagbani, a Gur language spoken in Ghana. Dagbani differs from English in that it has two definite articles, no indefinite article, and a zero-article which may express definiteness, indefiniteness as well as genericity. The study consisted of a Forced-choice task (FCT) and an Acceptability judgement task (AJT) which were administered to Dagbani teenagers with an intermediate proficiency in English (n = 45) and a group of native English speakers as controls (n = 8). The results showed that the learners’ article choice was based on definiteness, not specificity (i.e., no fluctuation between the two) and that they had slightly more problems with indefinite than definite contexts, while generic contexts were the most problematic. Except for a certain task effect as well as a possible interference of instruction (in the FCT), the results can be argued to generally be due to influence from the L1 and to the difficulty of feature reassembly.
When East Met East: Dutch East Indies Planters and the Ukraine Project (1942–1944)
Authors: Miller Michael B. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractHistorians divide over the question of how far “classic” European colonial experience in overseas empires provided the model for the Nazi empire in eastern Europe. Missing from arguments on either side of the debate have been the colonialists themselves. The Ukraine Project to enlist Dutch plantation companies for occupied Ukraine shows what happened when efforts were made to transfer traditional colonial expertise into the Nazi East. From the perspective of the project's proponents, there was indeed continuity between the two imperialisms. However, the company at the center of the project, the Deli Maatschappij, the ruling and tone-setting firm on Sumatra, saw no connection with its East Indies history and spurned all efforts to take it into Ukraine. Thus the Ukraine Project, despite its short-lived and failed history, complicates arguments from both perspectives and offers a trans-imperial history of a different sort than we are accustomed to encountering.
PHILOSOPHY AND POLITICAL AGENCY IN THE WRITINGS OF FREDERICK II OF PRUSSIA
Authors: LIFSCHITZ AVI 
Published: November 2020

AbstractFrederick II's writings have conventionally been viewed either as political tools or as means of public self-fashioning – part of his campaign to raise the status of Prussia from middling principality to great power. This article, by contrast, argues that Frederick's works must also be taken seriously on their own terms, and interpreted against the background of Enlightenment philosophy. Frederick's notions of kingship and state service were not governed mostly by a principle of pure morality or ‘humanitarianism’, as argued influentially by Friedrich Meinecke. On the contrary, the king's views were part and parcel of an eighteenth-century vision of modern kingship in commercial society, based on the benign pursuit of self-love and luxury. A close analysis of Frederick's writings demonstrates that authorial labour was integral to his political agency, publicly placing constraints on what could be perceived as legitimate conduct, rather than mere intellectual window-dressing or an Enlightened pastime in irresolvable tension with his politics.
The Definition of Member / Shareholder in the South African Companies Act: A Brief Comparison with Australian Legislation
Authors: Kilian Neels 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThis article discusses relevant Australian case law with reference to the oppressive remedy in company law. In South Africa, only shareholders who are entered in the shareholders’ register can make use of the remedy, contrary to the Australian application. The Australian case law explains thelocus standiof shareholders who are not entered in the register. Reference is also made to South Africa's previous Companies Act 1973 due to theSmyth v Investecappeal court case, where the court applied the principles, relevant to an oppressive remedy under the 1973 act. In this regard, the appeal court's reasoning is compared to that of the Australian court; possible new perspectives relevant to South Africa's new Companies Act 2008 are also discussed. The Australian perspective is included to facilitate investigation of a South African court's approach to oppressive conduct concerning the narrow interpretation of “shareholder”. It is concluded that “shareholder” should also be interpreted to include a beneficial shareholder.
The Normative Nature of the Ecosystem Approach: A Mediterranean Case Study
Authors: Futhazar Guillaume 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to explore the normative nature of the Ecosystem Approach in international environmental law. To do so, the article examines the implementation of this approach in two Mediterranean regimes: the Barcelona Convention and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean. As these two regimes have implemented the Ecosystem Approach by taking into account the experiences of other international regimes, they are representative of broader trends in relation to this concept. The examination reveals that the Ecosystem Approach operates as an interstitial principle: a norm that fulfils the functions of a principle with regard to other rules, but is devoid of normative autonomy. This understanding of the Ecosystem Approach brings clarity to a concept that is ambiguous yet is widely disseminated in environmental governance. It may also further the progressive emergence of the Ecosystem Approach as a general principle of international environmental law.
Boulder Fall Activity in the Jezero Crater, Mars
Authors: Sinha R. K. , Rani A. , Conway S. J. , Vijayan S. , Basu Sarbadhikari A. , Massé M. , Mangold N. , Bhardwaj Anil 
Published: November 2020

AbstractJezero crater is the landing site for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. We report 63 boulder fall tracks within the crater using High‐Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images. The boulder tracks have both fresh and faded morphologies similar to those reported elsewhere on Mars, but reported for the first time in Jezero crater. We combine observations from 16 boulder‐tracks on the western delta deposit with 47 in the surrounding regions to infer possible process(es) of boulder destabilization, which can be tested with rover observations. This newly found hazard should be taken into account for rover operations. Boulders associated with tracks are geologically “recent falls,” so it is possible that the surfaces of these boulders may provide an opportunity to sample material less exposed to radiation than other rocks at the martian surface and could be ideal targets to analyze for organics.
Linear Relation Between Shifting ITCZ and Dust Hemispheric Asymmetry
Authors: Evans Stuart , Dawson Eliza , Ginoux Paul 
Published: November 2020

AbstractMineral dust is emitted primarily from arid regions, which may shrink or expand in one or both hemispheres, producing a complex and asymmetric pattern of radiative forcing that varies on interannual to millennial timescales. We assess the impact of hemispheric dust asymmetry on tropical precipitation. Using the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) coupled climate model CM3 to simulate dust emission, we vary source strength in each hemisphere individually. Hemispherically asymmetric dust emission produces asymmetric dust load and radiative forcing. We find that the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) shifts away from the hemisphere with enhanced dust load in response to the forcing asymmetry. We find significant linear relationships between the hemispheric imbalance and the latitude of tropical precipitation globally, in the Pacific, and especially in the Atlantic basin. This relationship offers a first‐order estimation of dust effects on the hydrological cycle when investigating records of paleodust and for accurately predicting dust effects and feedbacks on future climate.
Measured and Predicted Turbulent Kinetic Energy in Flow Through Emergent Vegetation With Real Plant Morphology
Authors: Xu Yuan , Nepf Heidi 
Published: November 2020

AbstractVelocity and forces on individual plants were measured within an emergent canopy with real plant morphology and used to develop predictions for the vertical profiles of velocity and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE). Two common plant species, Typha latifolia and Rotala indica, with distinctive morphology, were considered. Typha has leaves bundled at the base, and Rotala has leaves distributed over the length of the central stem. Compared to conditions with a bare bed and the same velocity, the TKE within both canopies was enhanced. For the Typha canopy, for which the frontal area increased with distance from the bed, the velocity, integral length‐scale, and TKE all decreased with distance from the bed. For the Rotala, which had a vertically uniform distribution of biomass, the velocity, integral length‐scale, and TKE were also vertically uniform. A turbulence model previously developed for random arrays of rigid cylinders was modified to predict both the vertical distribution and the channel‐average of TKE by defining the relationship between the integral length‐scale and plant morphology. The velocity profile can also be predicted from the plant morphology. Combining with the new turbulence model, the TKE profile was predicted from the channel‐average velocity and plant frontal area.
Rapid response to the alpha-1 adrenergic agent phenylephrine in the perioperative period is impacted by genomics and ancestry
Authors: Wenric Stephane , Jeff Janina M. , Joseph Thomas , Yee Muh-Ching , Belbin Gillian M. , Owusu Obeng Aniwaa , Ellis Stephen B. , Bottinger Erwin P. , Gottesman Omri , Levin Matthew A. , Kenny Eimear E. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThe emergence of genomic data in biobanks and health systems offers new ways to derive medically important phenotypes, including acute phenotypes occurring during inpatient clinical care. Here we study the genetic underpinnings of the rapid response to phenylephrine, an α1-adrenergic receptor agonist commonly used to treat hypotension during anesthesia and surgery. We quantified this response by extracting blood pressure (BP) measurements 5 min before and after the administration of phenylephrine. Based on this derived phenotype, we show that systematic differences exist between self-reported ancestry groups: European-Americans (EA;n = 1387) have a significantly higher systolic response to phenylephrine than African-Americans (AA;n = 1217) and Hispanic/Latinos (HA;n = 1713) (31.3% increase,pvalue < 6e−08 and 22.9% increase,pvalue < 5e−05 respectively), after adjusting for genetic ancestry, demographics, and relevant clinical covariates. We performed a genome-wide association study to investigate genetic factors underlying individual differences in this derived phenotype. We discovered genome-wide significant association signals in loci and genes previously associated with BP measured in ambulatory settings, and a general enrichment of association in these genes. Finally, we discovered two low frequency variants, present at ~1% in EAs and AAs, respectively, where patients carrying one copy of these variants show no phenylephrine response. This work demonstrates our ability to derive a quantitative phenotype suited for comparative statistics and genome-wide association studies from dense clinical and physiological measures captured for managing patients during surgery. We identify genetic variants underlying non response to phenylephrine, with implications for preemptive pharmacogenomic screening to improve safety during surgery.
Rare single-nucleotide DAB1 variants and their contribution to Schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder susceptibility
Authors: Nawa Yoshihiro , Kimura Hiroki , Mori Daisuke , Kato Hidekazu , Toyama Miho , Furuta Sho , Yu Yanjie , Ishizuka Kanako , Kushima Itaru , Aleksic Branko , Arioka Yuko , Morikawa Mako , Okada Takashi , Inada Toshiya , Kaibuchi Kozo , Ikeda Masashi , Iwata Nakao , Suzuki Michio , Okahisa Yuko , Egawa Jun , Someya Toshiyuki , Nishimura Fumichika , Sasaki Tsukasa , Ozaki Norio 
Published: November 2020

AbstractDisabled 1 (DAB1) is an intracellular adaptor protein in the Reelin signaling pathway and plays an essential role in correct neuronal migration and layer formation in the developing brain. DAB1 has been repeatedly reported to be associated with neurodevelopmental disorders including schizophrenia (SCZ) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in genetic, animal, and postmortem studies. Recently, increasing attention has been given to rare single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) found by deep sequencing of candidate genes. In this study, we performed exon-targeted resequencing of DAB1 in 370 SCZ and 192 ASD patients using next-generation sequencing technology to identify rare SNVs with a minor allele frequency <1%. We detected two rare missense mutations (G382C, V129I) and then performed a genetic association study in a sample comprising 1763 SCZ, 380 ASD, and 2190 healthy control subjects. Although no statistically significant association with the detected mutations was observed for either SCZ or ASD, G382C was found only in the case group, and in silico analyses and in vitro functional assays suggested that G382C alters the function of the DAB1 protein. The rare variants of DAB1 found in the present study should be studied further to elucidate their potential functional relevance to the pathophysiology of SCZ and ASD.
An endoribonuclease-based feedforward controller for decoupling resource-limited genetic modules in mammalian cells
Authors: Jones Ross D. , Qian Yili , Siciliano Velia , DiAndreth Breanna , Huh Jin , Weiss Ron , Del Vecchio Domitilla 
Published: November 2020

AbstractSynthetic biology has the potential to bring forth advanced genetic devices for applications in healthcare and biotechnology. However, accurately predicting the behavior of engineered genetic devices remains difficult due to lack of modularity, wherein a device’s output does not depend only on its intended inputs but also on its context. One contributor to lack of modularity is loading of transcriptional and translational resources, which can induce coupling among otherwise independently-regulated genes. Here, we quantify the effects of resource loading in engineered mammalian genetic systems and develop an endoribonuclease-based feedforward controller that can adapt the expression level of a gene of interest to significant resource loading in mammalian cells. Near-perfect adaptation to resource loads is facilitated by high production and catalytic rates of the endoribonuclease. Our design is portable across cell lines and enables predictable tuning of controller function. Ultimately, our controller is a general-purpose device for predictable, robust, and context-independent control of gene expression.
Systemic brain tumor delivery of synthetic protein nanoparticles for glioblastoma therapy
Authors: Gregory Jason V. , Kadiyala Padma , Doherty Robert , Cadena Melissa , Habeel Samer , Ruoslahti Erkki , Lowenstein Pedro R. , Castro Maria G. , Lahann Joerg 
Published: November 2020

AbstractGlioblastoma (GBM), the most aggressive form of brain cancer, has witnessed very little clinical progress over the last decades, in part, due to the absence of effective drug delivery strategies. Intravenous injection is the least invasive drug delivery route to the brain, but has been severely limited by the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Inspired by the capacity of natural proteins and viral particulates to cross the BBB, we engineered a synthetic protein nanoparticle (SPNP) based on polymerized human serum albumin (HSA) equipped with the cell-penetrating peptide iRGD. SPNPs containing siRNA against Signal Transducer and Activation of Transcription 3 factor (STAT3i) result in in vitro and in vivo downregulation of STAT3, a central hub associated with GBM progression. When combined with the standard of care, ionized radiation, STAT3i SPNPs result in tumor regression and long-term survival in 87.5% of GBM-bearing mice and prime the immune system to develop anti-GBM immunological memory.
Direct conversion of methane to formaldehyde and CO on B2O3 catalysts
Authors: Tian Jinshu , Tan Jiangqiao , Zhang Zhaoxia , Han Peijie , Yin Min , Wan Shaolong , Lin Jingdong , Wang Shuai , Wang Yong 
Published: November 2020

AbstractDirect oxidation of methane to value-added C1 chemicals (e.g. HCHO and CO) provides a promising way to utilize natural gas sources under relatively mild conditions. Such conversions remain, however, a key selectivity challenge, resulting from the facile formation of undesired fully-oxidized CO2. Here we show that B2O3-based catalysts are selective in the direct conversion of methane to HCHO and CO (~94% selectivity with a HCHO/CO ratio of ~1 at 6% conversion) and highly stable (over 100 hour time-on-stream operation) conducted in a fixed-bed reactor (550 °C, 100 kPa, space velocity 4650 mL gcat−1 h−1). Combined catalyst characterization, kinetic studies, and isotopic labeling experiments unveil that molecular O2 bonded to tri-coordinated BO3 centers on B2O3 surfaces acts as a judicious oxidant for methane activation with mitigated CO2 formation, even at high O2/CH4 ratios of the feed. These findings shed light on the great potential of designing innovative catalytic processes for the direct conversion of alkanes to fuels/chemicals.
Using the president’s tweets to understand political diversion in the age of social media
Authors: Lewandowsky Stephan , Jetter Michael , Ecker Ullrich K. H. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractSocial media has arguably shifted political agenda-setting power away from mainstream media onto politicians. Current U.S. President Trump’s reliance on Twitter is unprecedented, but the underlying implications for agenda setting are poorly understood. Using the president as a case study, we present evidence suggesting that President Trump’s use of Twitter diverts crucial media (The New York Times and ABC News) from topics that are potentially harmful to him. We find that increased media coverage of the Mueller investigation is immediately followed by Trump tweeting increasingly about unrelated issues. This increased activity, in turn, is followed by a reduction in coverage of the Mueller investigation—a finding that is consistent with the hypothesis that President Trump’s tweets may also successfully divert the media from topics that he considers threatening. The pattern is absent in placebo analyses involving Brexit coverage and several other topics that do not present a political risk to the president. Our results are robust to the inclusion of numerous control variables and examination of several alternative explanations, although the generality of the successful diversion must be established by further investigation.
Characterization of brown adipose tissue thermogenesis in the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber), a heterothermic mammal
Authors: Oiwa Yuki , Oka Kaori , Yasui Hironobu , Higashikawa Kei , Bono Hidemasa , Kawamura Yoshimi , Miyawaki Shingo , Watarai Akiyuki , Kikusui Takefumi , Shimizu Atsushi , Okano Hideyuki , Kuge Yuji , Kimura Kazuhiro , Okamatsu-Ogura Yuko , Miura Kyoko 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThe naked mole-rat (NMR) is a heterothermic mammal that forms eusocial colonies consisting of one reproductive female (queen), several reproductive males, and subordinates. Despite their heterothermy, NMRs possess brown adipose tissue (BAT), which generally induces thermogenesis in cold and some non-cold environments. Previous studies suggest that NMR-BAT induces thermogenesis by cold exposure. However, detailed NMR-BAT characteristics and whether NMR-BAT thermogenesis occurs in non-cold environments are unknown. Here, we show beta-3 adrenergic receptor (ADRB3)-dependent thermogenic potential of NMR-BAT, which contributes to thermogenesis in the isolated queen in non-cold environments (30 °C). NMR-BAT expressed several brown adipocyte marker genes and showed noradrenaline-dependent thermogenic activity in vitro and in vivo. Although our ADRB3 inhibition experiments revealed that NMR-BAT thermogenesis slightly delays the decrease in body temperature in a cold environment (20 °C), it was insufficient to prevent the decrease in the body temperatures. Even at 30 °C, NMRs are known to prevent the decrease of and maintain their body temperature by heat-sharing behaviors within the colony. However, isolated NMRs maintained their body temperature at the same level as when they are in the colony. Interestingly, we found that queens, but not subordinates, induce BAT thermogenesis in this condition. Our research provides novel insights into NMR thermoregulation.