bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Politics as Social Work: A Qualitative Study of Emplaced Empathy and Risk Work by British Members of Parliament
Authors: Warner Jo 
Published: September 2020

Abstract
The constituency work of British Members of Parliament (MPs) has long been referred to in political circles as a form of social work. This article reports on a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with thirteen MPs. The aim of the research was to find out what characterises their constituency work to understand why it apparently bears comparison with social work. The article draws on the concepts of proximity and place from the mobilities paradigm to articulate the idea of ‘politics as social work’. MPs in the study engaged in face-to-face emotional labour in which they formed and sustained empathic relationships with people and places to represent them. They practised judgement under uncertainty and risk work, and they were embedded in local organisational networks of risk and trust with local authorities and other agencies. The article argues that this analysis of politics as social work provides a deeper understanding of the politics of social work. In the era of the COVID-19 pandemic and its severe socio-economic impact, the importance for social work of the concept of emplaced empathy and the need for our reorientation to place is thrown into particularly sharp focus.
Non-invasive measurement of fasciculation frequency demonstrates diagnostic accuracy in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Authors: Tamborska Arina , Bashford James , Wickham Aidan , Iniesta Raquel , Masood Urooba , Cabassi Cristina , Planinc Domen , Hodson-Tole Emma , Drakakis Emmanuel , Boutelle Martyn , Mills Kerry , Shaw Chris 
Published: September 2020

Abstract
Delayed diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis prevents early entry into clinical trials at a time when neuroprotective therapies would be most effective. Fasciculations are an early hallmark of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, preceding muscle weakness and atrophy. To assess the potential diagnostic utility of fasciculations measured by high-density surface electromyography, we carried out 30-min biceps brachii recordings in 39 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, 7 patients with benign fasciculation syndrome, 1 patient with multifocal motor neuropathy and 17 healthy individuals. We employed the surface potential quantification engine to compute fasciculation frequency, fasciculation amplitude and inter-fasciculation interval. Inter-group comparison was assessed by Welch’s analysis of variance. Logistic regression, receiver operating characteristic curves and decision trees discerned the diagnostic performance of these measures. Fasciculation frequency, median fasciculation amplitude and proportion of inter-fasciculation intervals &lt;100 ms showed significant differences between the groups. In the best-fit regression model, increasing fasciculation frequency and median fasciculation amplitude were independently associated with the diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Fasciculation frequency was the single best measure predictive of the disease, with an area under the curve of 0.89 (95% confidence interval 0.81–0.98). The cut-off of more than 14 fasciculation potentials per minute achieved 80% sensitivity (95% confidence interval 63–90%) and 96% specificity (95% confidence interval 78–100%). In conclusion, non-invasive measurement of fasciculation frequency at a single time-point reliably distinguished amyotrophic lateral sclerosis from its mimicking conditions and healthy individuals, warranting further research into its diagnostic applications.
Jiehebuor suburb? Towards a translational turn in urban studies
Authors: Zhao Yimin 
Published: September 2020

AbstractEngaging with reflections on improper urban vocabularies, this article proposes a translational turn to foreground dialogues—rather than equivalences—between languages. Drawing on the philosophies of language and hermeneutics, I adopt ‘the fusion of horizons’ as an alternative perspective to redefine translation where different languages encounter each other. To better capture global urban experiences, we should recognise the role of translation that exposes us to strangeness and alterity. This point is elaborated with heterogeneous names of the urban frontier, which inform us how and how far appropriating gaps/distances can initiate creative and unexpected dialogues for more global urban studies.
Impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the Italian congenital cardiac surgery system: a national survey
Authors: Giamberti Alessandro , Varrica Alessandro , Agati Salvatore , Gargiulo Gaetano , Luciani Giovanni Battista , Marianeschi Stefano Maria , Pace Napoleone Carlo , Oppido Guido , Brunelli Federico , Palma Gaetano , Pak Vitali , Arcieri Luigi , Scalzo Gabriele , Padalino Massimo , Galletti Lorenzo ,   the Congenital Domain of the Italian Society of Cardiac Surgery
Published: September 2020

Abstract

OBJECTIVES

Italy has been one of the countries most severely affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The Italian government was forced to introduce quarantine measures quickly, and all elective health services were stopped or postponed. This emergency has dramatically changed the management of paediatric and adult patients with congenital heart disease. We analysed data from 14 Italian congenital cardiac surgery centres during lockdown, focusing on the impact of the pandemic on surgical activity, patients and healthcare providers and resource allocation.

METHODS
Fourteen centres participated in this study. The period analysed was from 9 March to 4 May. We collected data on the involvement of the hospitals in the treatment of patients with COVID-19 and on limitations on regular activity and on the contagion among patients and healthcare providers.

RESULTS
Four hospitals (29%) remained COVID-19 free, whereas 10 had a 39% reduction in the number of beds for surgical patients, especially in the northern area. Two hundred sixty-three surgical procedures were performed: 20% elective, 62% urgent, 10% emergency and 3% life-saving. Hospital mortality was 0.4%. Compared to 2019, the reduction in surgical activity was 52%. No patients operated on had positive test results before surgery for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. Three patients were infected during the postoperative period. Twenty-nine nurses and 12 doctors were infected. Overall, 80% of our infected healthcare providers were in northern centres.

CONCLUSIONS
Our study shows that the pandemic had a different impact on the various Italian congenital cardiac surgery centres based on the different patterns of spread of the virus across the country. During the lockdown, the system was able to satisfy all emergency clinical needs with excellent results.
Clinical features and prognostic impact of coexisting autoimmune disease other than myasthenia gravis in resected thymomas: analysis of a Japanese multi-institutional retrospective database
Authors: Hishida Tomoyuki , Asamura Hisao , Yoshida Kazuo , Tsuboi Masahiro , Yokoi Kohei , Toyooka Shinichi , Matsumura Akihide , Tagawa Tetsuzo , Okumura Meinoshin 
Published: September 2020

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study was to clarify the prevalence, clinical features and survival of patients with thymoma and non-myasthenia gravis autoimmune disease (NMAD) using a nationwide cohort.

METHODS
The Japanese Association for Research on the Thymus nationwide database, which includes data from 32 institutions, was examined to clarify the prevalence and characteristics of NMAD associated with thymomas and elucidate the prognostic impact of NMAD for thymoma patients.

RESULTS
Among the 2423 patients with thymomas who were surgically treated between 1991 and 2010, 114 (4.7%) were identified with NMAD. The most frequently observed NMAD was pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) in 44 (1.8%), followed by hypogammaglobulinaemia (0.5%) and rheumatic arthritis (0.5%). Twenty-eight percent of patients with NMAD had concomitant myasthenia gravis. The presence of NMAD was not an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (OS) irrespective of the type of NMAD [PRCA+: hazard ratio (HR) 1.99, 95% confidence interval 0.74–4.47; PRCA− NMAD: HR 1.28, 0.30–3.56]; however, there were more cases with advanced age and disease of the thymoma amongst PRCA+ patients and these showed a worse OS than patients with PRCA− NMAD (P &lt; 0.001), who had an OS similar to those without NMAD (P = 0.489). The 10-year OS rates in PRCA+, PRCA− NMAD and NMAD− groups were 45.5%, 97.4% and 89.5%, respectively. The main causes of death in PRCA+ patients were the progression of thymoma and other diseases including pneumonia.

CONCLUSIONS
Although the presence of NMAD itself did not significantly affect survival after surgery for thymoma, the type of NMAD was associated with different clinical features and prognosis. The NMAD+ thymomas should be separately categorized according to the presence or absence of PRCA.
Moving between Politics and Aesthetics in Zadie Smith’s Shorter Forms
Authors: Eagleton Mary 
Published: September 2020

Abstract
Zadie Smith’s shorter forms – the short story and the essay – have received much less critical attention than her five novels. As an approach to these shorter forms and, specifically, to Smith’s interest in politics and aesthetics, I consider, in various ways, the notion of ‘moving between’. In the introductory section, I discuss Smith’s comments on the characteristics of the two forms, namely the association of the short story with feeling and the essay with the intellectual or analytic, and Smith’s repeated claim that she fails in both forms. In each of the following two sections, a short story and an essay are paired. The context is the period from 2016 to 2018 in the USA and the UK. In the first pairing, the essay, ‘Getting In and Out’ (2017), and the story, ‘Now More Than Ever’ (2018), the focus is the fevered debate around identity politics and political correctness, and a punitive use of social media. The second pairing, ‘Fences: A Brexit Diary (2016) and the story, ‘The Lazy River’, is, self-evidently, about Brexit. In these texts, we see how a sense of aesthetic possibility and intellectual freedom confronts a prescriptive politics; how Smith draws the reader’s attention to problems of political divisiveness in her use of pronouns, figures of speech, and catchphrases; and how, sometimes, her aesthetic response can sit awkwardly alongside her political principles. In the range, interest, and provocativeness of Smith’s short stories and essays, the reader is led to question her claims of incompetence.
1970–2020: 50 years of research on the long QT syndrome—from almost zero knowledge to precision medicine
Authors: Schwartz Peter J 
Published: September 2020

Abstract
To those of us involved in clinical research it seldom happens to begin working on a rather obscure disease, still largely unexplored, and to follow its ripening into a medical entity of large interest to clinicians and basic scientists alike, and moreover to do so for exactly 50 years. This is what has been my privilege in the relentless pursuit of the intriguing disease known as the long QT syndrome (LQTS). This essay begins with the encounter with my first patient affected by LQTS when just a handful of cardiologists had seen similar cases and continues with the series of efforts, some sound some amateurish, which eventually led—together with many brilliant partners and associates—to describe and understand the natural history of the disease and the most effective therapies. It then touches on how our International Registry for LQTS, with its well-documented family trees, constituted the necessary springboard for the major genetic discoveries of the 1990s. From the explosion of genetic data, my own interest focused first on the intriguing genotype–phenotype correlation and then on ‘modifier genes’, in the attempt of understanding why family members with the same disease-causing mutation could have an opposite clinical history. And from there on to iPS-derived cardiomyocytes, used to unravelling the specific mechanisms of action of modifier genes and to exploring novel therapeutic strategies. This long, and highly rewarding, journey continues because the fascination and the attraction of the unknown are irresistible.
A retrospective cohort study examining STI testing and perinatal records demonstrates reproductive health burden of chlamydia and gonorrhea
Authors: Callan Torrington , Debattista Joseph , Berry Brooke , Brown James , Woodcock Stephen , Hocking Jane S , Huston Wilhelmina M 
Published: September 2020

ABSTRACT
Adverse reproductive health outcomes, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and tubal factor infertility, have been associated with Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoea infections. These reproductive health outcomes could be complemented by measuring subsequent pregnancies to assess impact on fertility. The study design was a cohort study of women in Queensland (QLD), Australia, using data linkage methods to link chlamydia and/or gonorrhea testing records (including an unexposed group undergoing full blood count tests; 2000 and 2005) with the QLD Perinatal Registry (2000–2013). The cohort included 132 962 women, with 69 533 records of pregnancies. Women in the exposed group, with no prior pregnancy, had a reduced odds of a pregnancy during the follow up of the study (20-year-old (at 2005) aOR 0.91 95% CI 0.87–0.95, and 25-year-old aOR 0.71 95% CI 0.68–0.75). Women in the exposed group with a prior pregnancy had increased odds of pregnancy during the follow up of the study (20-year-old (at 2005) aOR 1.72 95% CI 1.59–1.86, and 25-year-old aOR 1.35 95% CI 1.26–1.45). Our data provides further evidence at a population level of the significant impact on reproductive outcomes associated with chlamydia and gonorrhea.
Telomere Length in Healthy Adults Is Positively Associated With Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, Including Arachidonic Acid, and Negatively With Saturated Fatty Acids
Authors: Dhillon Varinderpal S , Deo Permal , Chua Ann , Thomas Phil , Fenech Michael 
Published: September 2020

Abstract
Lymphocyte telomere length (LTL) is a biomarker of aging that may be modified by dietary factors including fat. Red blood cell fatty acid status is a well-validated indicator of long-term dietary intake of fat from various sources. Recent findings from epidemiological studies of LTL in relation to fatty acids in red blood cells are not conclusive. The present study was carried out to investigate if red blood cell fatty acid status in 174 healthy older South Australians is associated with LTL. Lymphocyte telomere length was measured by real-time qPCR and fatty acid content in red blood cells was measured by gas chromatography. Our results indicate that the majority of saturated fatty acids and monounsaturated fatty acids are negatively associated with LTL, whereas polyunsaturated fatty acids are positively associated with LTL. Multiple regression analysis revealed that arachidonic acid (C20:4n-6) is significantly, independently, positively correlated with LTL (β = 0.262; p = .000). The significant association of fatty acids, particularly C20:4n-6, with telomere length warrants further research.
Association Between Variation in Red Cell Size and Multiple Aging-Related Outcomes
Authors: Kim Kyoung Min , Lui Li-Yung , Browner Warren S , Cauley Jane A , Ensrud Kristine E , Kado Deborah M , Orwoll Eric S , Schousboe John T , Cummings Steven R 
Published: September 2020

Abstract

Background
We tested whether greater variation in red blood cell size, measured by red cell distribution width (RDW), may predict aging-related degenerative conditions and therefore, serve as a marker of biological aging.

Methods
Three thousand six hundred and thirty-five community-dwelling older men were enrolled in the prospective Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study. RDW was categorized into 4 groups (≤13.0%, 13.1%–14.0%, 14.1%–15.0%, and ≥15.1%). Functional limitations, frailty, strength, physical performance, and cognitive function were measured at baseline and 7.4 years later. Falls were recorded in the year after baseline; hospitalizations were obtained for 2 years after baseline. Mortality was assessed during a mean of 8.3 years of follow-up.

Results
Participants with greater variability in red cell size were weaker, walked more slowly, and had a worse cognitive function. They were more likely to have functional limitations (35.2% in the highest RDW category vs 16.0% in the lowest, p &lt; .001) and frailty (30.3% vs 11.3%, p &lt; .001). Those with greater variability in red cell size were more likely to develop new functional limitations and to become frail. The risk of having 2 or more falls was also greater (highest 19.2% vs lowest 10.3%, p &lt; .001). The risk of hospitalization was higher in those with the highest variability (odds ratio [95% confidence interval], 1.8 [1.3–2.5]) compared with the lowest. Variability in red cell size was related to total and cause-specific mortality.

Conclusion
Greater variability in red cell size is associated with diverse aging-related outcomes, suggesting that it may have potential value as a marker for biological aging.
TGS-GapCloser: A fast and accurate gap closer for large genomes with low coverage of error-prone long reads
Authors: Xu Mengyang , Guo Lidong , Gu Shengqiang , Wang Ou , Zhang Rui , Peters Brock A , Fan Guangyi , Liu Xin , Xu Xun , Deng Li , Zhang Yongwei 
Published: September 2020

Abstract

Background
Analyses that use genome assemblies are critically affected by the contiguity, completeness, and accuracy of those assemblies. In recent years single-molecule sequencing techniques generating long-read information have become available and enabled substantial improvement in contig length and genome completeness, especially for large genomes (&gt;100 Mb), although bioinformatic tools for these applications are still limited.

Findings
We developed a software tool to close sequence gaps in genome assemblies, TGS-GapCloser, that uses low-depth (~10×) long single-molecule reads. The algorithm extracts reads that bridge gap regions between 2 contigs within a scaffold, error corrects only the candidate reads, and assigns the best sequence data to each gap. As a demonstration, we used TGS-GapCloser to improve the scaftig NG50 value of 3 human genome assemblies by 24-fold on average with only ~10× coverage of Oxford Nanopore or Pacific Biosciences reads, covering with sequence data up to 94.8% gaps with 97.7% positive predictive value. These improved assemblies achieve 99.998% (Q46) single-base accuracy with final inserted sequences having 99.97% (Q35) accuracy, despite the high raw error rate of single-molecule reads, enabling high-quality downstream analyses, including up to a 31-fold increase in the scaftig NGA50 and up to 13.1% more complete BUSCO genes. Additionally, we show that even in ultra-large genome assemblies, such as the ginkgo (~12 Gb), TGS-GapCloser can cover 71.6% of gaps with sequence data.

Conclusions
TGS-GapCloser can close gaps in large genome assemblies using raw long reads quickly and cost-effectively. The final assemblies generated by TGS-GapCloser have improved contiguity and completeness while maintaining high accuracy. The software is available at https://github.com/BGI-Qingdao/TGS-GapCloser.
Slowness vector estimation over large-aperture sparse arrays with the Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT): application to Ocean Bottom Seismometers
Authors: Cabieces Roberto , Krüger Frank , Garcia-Yeguas Araceli , Villaseñor Antonio , Buforn Elisa , Pazos Antonio , Olivar-Castaño Andrés , Barco Jaime 
Published: September 2020

SUMMARYThis work presents a new methodology designed to estimate the slowness vector in large-aperture sparse Ocean Bottom Seismometer (OBS) arrays. The Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) is used to convert the original incoherent traces that span a large array, into coherent impulse functions adapted to the array aperture. Subsequently, these impulse functions are beamformed in the frequency domain to estimate the slowness vector. We compare the performance of this new method with that of an alternative solution, based on the Short-/Long-Term Average algorithm and with a method based on the trace envelope, with the ability to derive a very fast detection and slowness vector estimation of seismic signal arrivals. The new array methodology has been applied to data from an OBS deployment with an aperture of 80 km and an interstation distance of about 40 km, in the vicinity of Cape Saint Vincent (SW Iberia). A set of 17 regional earthquakes with magnitudes 2 &lt; mbLg &lt; 5, has been selected to test the capabilities of detecting and locating regional seismic events with the Cape Saint Vincent OBS Array. We have found that there is a good agreement between the epicentral locations obtained previously by direct search methods and those calculated using the slowness vector estimations resulting from application of the CWT technique. We show that the proposed CWT method can detect seismic signals and estimate the slowness vector from regional earthquakes with high accuracy and robustness under low signal-to-noise ratio conditions. Differences in epicentral distances applying direct search methods and the CWT technique are between 1 and 21 km with an average value of 12 km. The backazimuth differences range from 1° to 7° with an average of 1.5° for the Pwave and ranging from 1° to 10° with an average of 3° for the Swave.
Is COVID-19 the end of US hegemony? Public bads, leadership failures and monetary hegemony
Authors: Norrlöf Carla 
Published: September 2020

Abstract
COVID-19 is the most invasive global crisis in the postwar era, jeopardizing all dimensions of human activity. By theorizing COVID-19 as a public bad, I shed light on one of the great debates of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries regarding the relationship between the United States and liberal international order (LIO). Conceptualizing the pandemic as a public bad, I analyze its consequences for US hegemony. Unlike other international public bads and many of the most important public goods that make up the LIO, the COVID-19 public bad not only has some degree of rivalry but can be made partially excludable, transforming it into more of a club good. Domestically, I demonstrate how the failure to effectively manage the COVID-19 public bad has compromised America's ability to secure the health of its citizens and the domestic economy, the very foundations for its international leadership. These failures jeopardize US provision of other global public goods. Internationally, I show how the US has already used the crisis strategically to reinforce its opposition to free international movement while abandoning the primary international institution tasked with fighting the public bad, the World Health Organization (WHO). While the only area where the United States has exercised leadership is in the monetary sphere, I argue this feat is more consequential for maintaining hegemony. However, even monetary hegemony could be at risk if the pandemic continues to be mismanaged.