bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
BRD9 Is a Critical Regulator of Androgen Receptor Signaling and Prostate Cancer Progression
Authors: Alpsoy Aktan , Utturkar Sagar M. , Carter Benjamin C. , Dhiman Alisha , Torregrosa-Allen Sandra E. , Currie Melanie P. , Elzey Bennett D. , Dykhuizen Emily C. 
Published: December 2020

Abstract

Switch/sucrose-nonfermentable (SWI/SNF) chromatin-remodeling complexes are critical regulators of chromatin dynamics during transcription, DNA replication, and DNA repair. A recently identified SWI/SNF subcomplex termed GLTSCR1/1L-BAF (GBAF; or “noncanonical BAF”, ncBAF) uniquely contains bromodomain-containing protein BRD9 and glioma tumor suppressor candidate region 1 (GLTSCR1) or its paralog GLTSCR1-like (GLTSCR1L). Recent studies have identified a unique dependency on GBAF (ncBAF) complexes in synovial sarcoma and malignant rhabdoid tumors, both of which possess aberrations in canonical BAF (cBAF) and Polybromo-BAF (PBAF) complexes. Dependencies on GBAF in malignancies without SWI/SNF aberrations, however, are less defined. Here, we show that GBAF, particularly its BRD9 subunit, is required for the viability of prostate cancer cell lines in vitro and for optimal xenograft tumor growth in vivo. BRD9 interacts with androgen receptor (AR) and CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF), and modulates AR-dependent gene expression. The GBAF complex exhibits overlapping genome localization and transcriptional targets as bromodomain and extraterminal domain–containing (BET) proteins, which are established AR coregulators. Our results demonstrate that GBAF is critical for coordinating SWI/SNF–BET cooperation and uncover a new druggable target for AR-positive prostate cancers, including those resistant to androgen deprivation or antiandrogen therapies.

Significance:
Advanced prostate cancers resistant to androgen receptor antagonists are still susceptible to nontoxic BRD9 inhibitors, making them a promising alternative for halting AR signaling in progressed disease.
Cancer-Associated Neurogenesis and Nerve-Cancer Cross-talk
Authors: Silverman Deborah A. , Martinez Vena K. , Dougherty Patrick M. , Myers Jeffrey N. , Calin George A. , Amit Moran 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
In this review, we highlight recent discoveries regarding mechanisms contributing to nerve-cancer cross-talk and the effects of nerve-cancer cross-talk on tumor progression and dissemination. High intratumoral nerve density correlates with poor prognosis and high recurrence across multiple solid tumor types. Recent research has shown that cancer cells express neurotrophic markers such as nerve growth factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and glial cell–derived neurotrophic factor and release axon-guidance molecules such as ephrin B1 to promote axonogenesis. Tumor cells recruit new neural progenitors to the tumor milieu and facilitate their maturation into adrenergic infiltrating nerves. Tumors also rewire established nerves to adrenergic phenotypes via exosome-induced neural reprogramming by p53-deficient tumors. In turn, infiltrating sympathetic nerves facilitate cancer progression. Intratumoral adrenergic nerves release noradrenaline to stimulate angiogenesis via VEGF signaling and enhance the rate of tumor growth. Intratumoral parasympathetic nerves may have a dichotomous role in cancer progression and may induce Wnt–β-catenin signals that expand cancer stem cells. Importantly, infiltrating nerves not only influence the tumor cells themselves but also impact other cells of the tumor stroma. This leads to enhanced sympathetic signaling and glucocorticoid production, which influences neutrophil and macrophage differentiation, lymphocyte phenotype, and potentially lymphocyte function. Although much remains unexplored within this field, fundamental discoveries underscore the importance of nerve-cancer cross-talk to tumor progression and may provide the foundation for developing effective targets for the inhibition of tumor-induced neurogenesis and tumor progression.
Phosphodiesterase 5 Inhibitor Use and Risk of Conventional and Serrated Precursors of Colorectal Cancer
Authors: Zhang Yiwen , Lo Chun-Han , Giovannucci Edward L. 
Published: December 2020

Abstract

Background:
Phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitors have been hypothesized to have chemoprotective effects in colorectal cancer. Current population-based epidemiologic evidence is, however, limited and inconsistent.

Methods:
Among 18,123 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study who had at least one lower gastrointestinal endoscopy, we evaluated the association between PDE5 inhibitor use and risk of conventional adenoma and serrated lesion between 2000 and 2010, adjusted for repeated observations and multiple risk factors. We stratified by erectile dysfunction to account for potential “confounding by indication.”

Results:
We documented 2,595 conventional adenomas and 1,395 serrated lesion polyps during the follow-up period. Using people without erectile dysfunction as reference group, recent PDE5 inhibitor use at baseline was not associated with lower risk of conventional adenoma [erectile dysfunction with PDE5 inhibitors: OR = 1.08; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.92–1.26; erectile dysfunction without PDE5 inhibitors: OR = 0.95; 95% CI, 0.85–1.06], serrated lesions (erectile dysfunction with PDE5 inhibitors: OR = 1.19; 95% CI = 0.97–1.45; erectile dysfunction without PDE5 inhibitors: OR = 1.03; 95% CI = 0.89–1.19), or advanced conventional adenomas (erectile dysfunction with PDE5 inhibitors: OR = 1.20; 95% CI = 0.94–1.53; erectile dysfunction without PDE5 inhibitors: OR = 0.95; 95% CI = 0.79–1.14). No association was found for PDE5 inhibitor use ever before as well.

Conclusions:
We found no evidence of an association between PDE5 inhibitor use and risk of conventional and serrated precursors of colorectal cancer.

Impact:
We show that PDE5 inhibitor use is not associated with precursors of colorectal cancer adjusted for medical and lifestyle risk factors among a large population of men with 10 years of follow-up.
VLA4-Targeted Nanoparticles Hijack Cell Adhesion–Mediated Drug Resistance to Target Refractory Myeloma Cells and Prolong Survival
Authors: Fontana Francesca , Scott Michael J. , Allen John S. , Yang Xiaoxia , Cui Grace , Pan Dipanjan , Yanaba Noriko , Fiala Mark A. , O'Neal Julie , Schmieder-Atteberry Anne H. , Ritchey Julie , Rettig Michael , Simons Kathleen , Fletcher Steven , Vij Ravi , DiPersio John F. , Lanza Gregory M. 
Published: December 2020

Abstract

Purpose:
In multiple myeloma, drug-resistant cells underlie relapse or progression following chemotherapy. Cell adhesion–mediated drug resistance (CAM-DR) is an established mechanism used by myeloma cells (MMC) to survive chemotherapy and its markers are upregulated in residual disease. The integrin very late antigen 4 (VLA4; α4β1) is a key mediator of CAM-DR and its expression affects drug sensitivity of MMCs. Rather than trying to inhibit its function, here, we hypothesized that upregulation of VLA4 by resistant MMCs could be exploited for targeted delivery of drugs, which would improve safety and efficacy of treatments.

Experimental Design:
We synthetized 20 nm VLA4-targeted micellar nanoparticles (V-NP) carrying DiI for tracing or a novel camptothecin prodrug (V-CP). Human or murine MMCs, alone or with stroma, and immunocompetent mice with orthotopic multiple myeloma were used to track delivery of NPs and response to treatments.

Results:
V-NPs selectively delivered their payload to MMCs in vitro and in vivo, and chemotherapy increased their uptake by surviving MMCs. V-CP, alone or in combination with melphalan, was well tolerated and prolonged survival in myeloma-bearing mice. V-CP also reduced the dose requirement for melphalan, reducing tumor burden in association with suboptimal dosing without increasing overall toxicity.

Conclusions:
V-CP may be a safe and effective strategy to prevent or treat relapsing or refractory myeloma. V-NP targeting of resistant cells may suggest a new approach to environment-induced resistance in cancer.
Iterated Local Search and Other Algorithms for Buffered Two-Machine Permutation Flow Shops with Constant Processing Times on One Machine
Authors: Le Hoang Thanh , Geser Philine , Middendorf Martin 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
The two-machine permutation flow shop scheduling problem with buffer is studied for the special case that all processing times on one of the two machines are equal to a constant c. This case is interesting because it occurs in various applications, for example, when one machine is a packing machine or when materials have to be transported. Different types of buffers and buffer usage are considered. It is shown that all considered buffer flow shop problems remain NP-hard for the makespan criterion even with the restriction to equal processing times on one machine. However, the special case where the constant c is larger or smaller than all processing times on the other machine is shown to be polynomially solvable by presenting an algorithm (2BF-OPT) that calculates optimal schedules in O(nlogn) steps. Two heuristics for solving the NP-hard flow shop problems are proposed: (i) a modification of the commonly used NEH heuristic (mNEH) and (ii) an Iterated Local Search heuristic (2BF-ILS) that uses the mNEH heuristic for computing its initial solution. It is shown experimentally that the proposed 2BF-ILS heuristic obtains better results than two state-of-the-art algorithms for buffered flow shop problems from the literature and an Ant Colony Optimization algorithm. In addition, it is shown experimentally that 2BF-ILS obtains the same solution quality as the standard NEH heuristic, however, with a smaller number of function evaluations.
Middle Bronze Age Long Distance Exchange through Europe and Beyond
Authors: Kaul Flemming 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
The introduction of the folding stool and the single-edged razor into Southern Scandinavia, as well as the testimony of chariot use during the Nordic Bronze Age Period II (1500-1300 BC), give evidence of the transfer of ideas from the Mediterranean to the North. Recent analyses of the chemical composition of blue glass beads from well-dated Danish Bronze Age burials have revealed evidence for the opening of long distance exchange routes around 1400 BC between Egypt, Mesopotamia and South Scandinavia. When including comparative material from glass workshops in Egypt and finds of glass from Mesopotamia, it becomes clear that glass from those distant lands reached Scandinavia. The routes of exchange can be traced through Europe based on finds of amber from the North and glass from the South.
Sarmatians on the Borders of the Roman Empire
Authors: Istvánovits Eszter , Kulcsár Valéria 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
The Jazygi, the westernmost tribe of the steppe Sarmatian coalition, migrated to the Great Hungarian Plain in the 1st century AD followed by several later waves. Their material culture changed in some generations, for they arrived into a completely new political and geographical environment and were separated from their steppe relatives. For several generations Hungarian scholarship has been dealing with a search for the eastern roots of the Alföld Sarmatians. Our study summarises this research, dealing also with some cultural phenomena imported from the Romans and with the possible ways of re-interpretation of the foreign ideas.
Self-Study, Obtaining or Viewing Terrorist Material Over the Internet: A Legitimacy Test of Consumer-Oriented Criminal Law Provisions in Four Western-European Countries
Authors: De Coensel Stéphanie 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
The internet is a key source of information, communication and propaganda in the context of terrorism. Policymakers increasingly resort to measures that monitor, control and punish internet-related activity. One type of measures concerns the criminalisation of consumers of certain terrorist material over the internet, ranging from self-study over more specific autonomous provisions. This contribution aims to subject this criminal law approach to a legitimacy test, studying the minimum standards of the European Union, as well as the legal framework of four Western-European countries (i.e. Belgium, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom). This critical-legal analysis consists of a remote harm analysis, a human rights assessment and a necessity argument. It is argued that the expansion of the scope of criminal liability to a pre-crime era conflicts with certain premises of criminal law and human rights law.
Wounded Words in a Wounded World: Opportunities for Mission in Central and Eastern Europe Today
Authors: Máté-Tóth András 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
The goal of this paper is both descriptive and prescriptive. The European sub-region called Central and Eastern Europe is understood and analyzed mostly through social scientific theories and models which have a Western European or North American origin. The region is often observed from the outside, and many interpretations of regional transformation are based on codes and categories of these external perspectives, which I will call heteropoiesis. I try to argue for an autopoietic approach from the opposite direction: from the inside. In my approach, I focus, first of all, on the historical and contemporary social experiences of the societies of the region. After authoring many theoretical and analytical works on it, I have come to believe that the key characteristic of the region is its wounded collective identity. The main narrative in the region is backward-looking and nostalgic, and also characterized by feelings of victimhood and revenge. Nationalism and xenophobia in the region are consequences of this traumatized self-understanding. To understand Central and Eastern Europe one must understand the wounds of history and the role of the trauma-centered narratives of today.
The Impact of American Involvement on National Liberation: Polarization and Repression in Palestine and Iraqi Kurdistan
Authors: El Kurd Dana 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
What is the effect of international involvement on national liberation movements? In the last few decades, movements transforming into states have increasingly operated in a globalized context and have had to contend with international pressures. However, the effects of international involvement on the internal dynamics of these movements should be more centrally considered. This paper thus examines the role of international involvement in the Kurdish national liberation movement in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Palestinian national liberation movement within the Palestinian territories. Specifically, I look at the role of the United States as the most powerful actor in the Middle East region. This paper argues that international involvement leads to authoritarian conditions within these state-building projects as well as paralyzes the efficacy and coherence of these movements. Specifically, international involvement creates polarization among political elites and a divergence between elite and public preferences, which creates authoritarian conditions.
Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will after the 17 October Protests in Lebanon
Authors: Halawi Ibrahim , Salloukh Bassel F. 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
This field note reflects on a persistent Gramscian dilemma that has haunted non- and anti-sectarian postwar protests in Lebanon on the road to 17 October 2019: how can genuine political transformation be brought about absent its meaningful, context-sensitive, and creative organizational forms and preconditions? We situate the 17 October protests in a long line of anti-sectarian protests that have overlooked the necessity of political organization in the pursuit of political change. In so doing, however, they have missed yet another strategic opportunity to sabotage the range of clientelist, institutional, and discursive practices reproducing sectarian modes of mobilization and identification in postwar Lebanon. We then magnify this omission by presenting the experience of Mouwatinoun wa Mouwatinat Fi Dawla (Citizens in a State): a political party that explicitly departs from the civil society handbook by politicizing opposition to the sectarian system.
‘We Don’t Drown our Partners in a Sea of Debt’: U.S. Policy Responses to China’s Belt and Road Initiative
Authors: Ashbee Edward 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Whereas the Obama administration had equivocated, the Trump White House declared its vehement opposition to the Belt and Road Initiative (bri). This shift went together with the Trump administration’s designation of the People’s Republic of China (prc) as a strategic competitor and a broader deterioration in bilateral relations. However, as it began to posit alternatives to the bri, the Trump administration fell back on the policy thinking of the established foreign policy community. In doing this, it tacitly accepted the importance of soft power and the adoption of strategies requiring close cooperation with allies and partners so as to develop regional infrastructural “connectivity” projects. The White House thereby stepped back from the unilateralism, “principled realism,” and reliance upon hard power that had defined Donald J. Trump’s 2015–2016 presidential campaign. Nonetheless, U.S. efforts to develop policy alternatives to the bri were limited, unstable, and variegated. The Trump administration’s actions in other policy arenas often stymied efforts to counter the prc and initiatives such as the build Act and “Prosper Africa” received scant resources. On the basis of this policy pattern, the article argues that policy communities at times can “harness” other counter-positioned, political currents, but ongoing ideational stresses and abrasion will inevitably characterize the process.
Sociolinguistic Aspects and Language Contact: Evidence from Francoprovençal of Apulia
Authors: Perta Carmela 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
The aim of this paper is to investigate two Francoprovençal speaking communities in the Italian region of Apulia, Faeto and Celle di St. Vito. Despite the regional neighborhood of the two towns, and their common isolation from other Francoprovençal speaking communities, their sociolinguistic conditions are deeply different. They differ in reference to the functional distribution of the languages of the repertoire and speakers’ language uses, and in reference to the degree of ‘permeability’ of Francoprovençal varieties towards Italian and its dialects. The repertoire composition and the relationship between the codes have a key role both for minority language maintenance and for language contact processes. In this perspective, I analyse some language contact phenomena in a sample of speakers discourse. I report correlations between the choice of different code-mixing strategies and three sociolinguistic variables (age, sex and village), but not with occupation.
The Relationship of Nigerian English and Nigerian Pidgin in Nigeria: Evidence from Copula Constructions in Ice-Nigeria
Authors: Florence Agbo Ogechi , Plag Ingo 
Published: December 2020

Abstract

Deuber (2006) investigated variation in spoken Nigerian Pidgin data by educated speakers and found no evidence for a continuum of lects between Nigerian Pidgin and English. Many speakers, however, speak both languages, and both are in close contact with each other, which keeps the question of the nature of their relationship on the agenda. This paper investigates 67 conversations in Nigerian English by educated speakers as they occur in the International Corpus of English, Nigeria (ice-Nigeria, Wunder et al., 2010), using the variability in copula usage as a test bed. Implicational scaling, network analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis reveal that the use of variants is not randomly distributed over speakers. Particular clusters of speakers use particular constellations of variants. A qualitative investigation reveals this complex situation as a continuum of style, with code-switching as one of the stylistic devices, motivated by such social factors as formality, setting, participants and interpersonal relationships.
Fighting Fascism with ‘Verbal Bullets’: Kaji Wataru and the Antifascist Struggle in Wartime East Asia
Authors: Michielsen Edwin 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
This article examines the cultural production of Kaji Wataru, founder of the Zaika Nihonjinmin hansen dōmei [Japanese People’s Antiwar League in China] to illuminate what strategies Kaji used to train prisoners-of-war and to convert Japanese soldiers as a way to counter fascism during the second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). Scholars have tended to focus on unravelling the history surrounding Kaji Wataru and the Antiwar League. In doing so, they have often overlooked the constructive role his cultural works played in that history and in his antiwar thought. The author aims to show how Kaji’s reportage works, and plays, were the very media he used to develop and execute his antifascist visions and activities. The focus is on three reportage works and one play that best reflect Kaji’s antifascist strategies. Analyzing the texts, the author highlights descriptions dealing with the organization and activities of the Antiwar League as well as the cooperation with the Chinese resistance as part of the popular front in East Asia.
A Tactical Ecumenism of Shared Eucharistic Fasting?
Authors: Hallonsten Simon 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Inspired by autoethnography, the article discusses experiences of joint worship between Lutherans and Catholics. Engaging the work of Michel de Certeau, I argue that both ecumenical strategies and ecumenical tactics are ways towards greater unity. Seeing the importance of ecumenical tactics in navigating the liturgy, I suggest that Durheim and Turnboolm’s concept of tactical ecumenism should be expanded to include a critical discussion of ecumenical tactics. Through a short personal narrative, I explore three ecumenical tactics that create spaces of unity. The article concludes with a discussion of possible tactical responses to the question of joint worship and Eucharistic sharing. I especially look at the ecumenical tactic of Eucharistic fasting and a possible sharing of the Eucharistic fast. Through these tactics Catholics and Lutherans can jointly acknowledge the existing division in hope of greater visible unity to come.
South Korea Boundary Disputes in the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea
Authors: Becker-Weinberg Vasco 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
South Korea faces a complex situation of overlapping claims in the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea, in addition to those in the East Sea (or Sea of Japan). The boundary disputes in the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea raise two distinctive challenges. The first concerns the joint development agreement signed with Japan almost four decades ago. This agreement is at a stalemate and its initial term of fifty years is fast approaching. There are also reports that the dormancy of the agreement might be partly attributed to an alleged material breach by Japan. Therefore, South Korea should consider the available alternatives, particularly if Japan does not intend to renew the joint development agreement, but instead proceed with its termination. The second challenge concerns the inter-Korean relations and the legal relevance of the Northern Limit Line as a maritime boundary. Although there is no foreseeable timeline for North and South Korea to address the matter, mainly as there are no on-going negotiations, this will ultimately be a key aspect of a future settlement. This article examines these two challenges and attempts to put forward some tentative conclusions regarding the available options for South Korea in both situations.