bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The reputational basis of policy success in comparative perspective: Evidence from the education sector in Peru and Bolivia
Authors: Salazar‐Morales Diego Alonso 
Published: January 2021

AbstractThis article, building on the emerging theoretical corpus of “reputation theory” provides an alternative explanation about how successful policies are obtained in contexts of bureaucratic weakness and volatile politics. The argument is that politicians choose to intervene in delivering successful policies based on how contributable such policies are to construct their political reputations. The findings suggest that in both countries, less tenured politicians face higher incentives to build their reputations, so they choose to deliver better policies to accumulate “successful experiences” as vitae for electoral purposes. Tenured politicians, in turn, opt for inaction or strategic delivery, to preserve their already won political reputations. The present article brings evidence from the education sector of Peru and Bolivia, a sector that has been at the core of these countries' priorities for decades. Through a mixed methods approach involving a panel regression and in‐depth interviews, results obtained largely confirm this article's claims.
Corruption experiences and attitudes to political, interpersonal, and domestic violence
Authors: Gillanders Robert , van der Werff Lisa 
Published: January 2021

AbstractIt is understood that corruption can change the incentives to engage in political violence. However, the scope for corruption to change attitudes toward the permissibility of violence has received less attention. Drawing on Moral Foundations Theory, we argue that experiences of corruption in the social environment are likely to shape individual attitudes toward violent behavior. Using Afrobarometer data, we document a statistically significant and sizable relationship between an individual's experience of paying bribes and their attitudes to political, interpersonal, and domestic violence. These relationships are evident, and not significantly different, for men and women and are robust to the inclusion of variables capturing the local incidence of corruption, local norms regarding violence, and a proxy for the local incidence of violence with the community. Corruption is associated with permissive attitudes to violence even after controlling for the perceived legitimacy of the police and courts.
Research of both γ‐irradiation and La2O3 addition on structural and magnetoresistivity of Bi‐2223 bulk superconductors
Authors: Ağıl Hasan , Ozoglu Sevgi 
Published: January 2021

AbstractIn this study, we investigate the effects of both gamma irradiation and the addition of lanthanum oxide (La2O3) on the Bi1.85Pb0.35Sr2Ca2Cu3Oy (Bi‐2223) bulk superconductors. Pure and lanthanum‐added samples prepared by the solid‐state reaction method were analyzed before and after gamma irradiation using various methods such as X‐ray powder diffraction (XRD), the temperature dependence of resistivity under magnetic field (ρ‐T). Bi‐2223 + x La2O3 samples with x = 0.0, 1.0 and 5.0 wt% were fabricated. The synthesized samples were then subjected to gamma irradiation at different intensities, and the effects of radiation on the structural, electrical, and magnetic properties of the materials were examined. For this purpose, Bi‐2223 superconductors in the form of discs were produced and cut into two pieces. One piece was exposed to gamma radiation under high vacuum conditions. The phase analyzes of the materials were carried out by XRD. Then, electrical analysis of the materials was made by measuring resistance under a magnetic field.
Per aspera ad astra: The big challenge of consumers' insurance literacy
Authors: Cucinelli Doriana , Lippi Andrea , Soana Maria Gaia 
Published: January 2021

AbstractThis paper is a pioneering study on the determinants of customers' insurance knowledge in the Italian market. The analysis considers differences between life and non‐life insurance. Our findings show that socio‐economic variables (specifically family income and financial fragility) and financial literacy play a fundamental role in explaining consumers' insurance knowledge. This result is confirmed for both life and non‐life insurance. Among socio‐demographic factors, gender, the number of children under 18 and the level of education are determinants of global insurance knowledge. However, distinguishing between life and non‐life insurance knowledge, we find the level of education affects the former, while gender and age influence the latter.
Trimester‐specific thromboelastic values and coagulation activation markers in pregnancy compared across trimesters and compared to the nonpregnant state
Authors: Shamshirsaz Amir A. , Fox Karin A. , Erfani Hadi , Bruzdoski Karen , Kostousov Vadim , Clark Steven L. , Hensch Lisa , Hui Shiu‐Ki (Rocky) , Teruya Jun 
Published: January 2021

AbstractIntroductionRotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM) rapidly identifies deficits underlying coagulopathy during massive hemorrhage. Prompt coagulopathy correction is balanced with the risk of blood product overutilization, making the ability to quickly target therapy highly desirable. However, data about ROTEM reference ranges in pregnancy are limited. We hypothesized that ROTEM parameters change across trimesters of pregnancy and differ from the nonpregnant state. Also, we sought to identify which hemostatic test best predicts coagulation activation during pregnancy.MethodsA prospective cohort study in healthy pregnant patients in the first (n = 34), second (n = 34), and third trimesters (n = 41) against healthy, nonpregnant controls (n = 33) was performed. Citrated blood was collected, and ROTEM, complete blood count, and plasma‐based assays of coagulation were performed. Mean ± SD or median [IQR] were compared across trimesters and between each trimester against the nonpregnant state. ROTEM parameters vs. plasma‐based assays were also compared.ResultsMaximum clot firmness and A10 in FIBTEM correlated strongly with fibrinogen level. INTEM and EXTEM values demonstrated only weak to modest correlation with corresponding tests using plasma assays. Thrombin antithrombin complex (TAT) increased from the first trimester onward, whereas other coagulation activation markers did not show difference compared with control group.ConclusionRotational thromboelastometry parameters differ variably across trimesters of pregnancy and compared with the nonpregnant state. The development and use of pregnancy‐specific values are critical to the proper clinical interpretation of ROTEM in women with serious hemorrhage during different stages in pregnancy. TAT was the earliest laboratory marker for coagulation activation among others.
Gestational weight gain and childhood body mass index across three generations: Results from the 1993 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort
Authors: Schneider Bruna C. , Menezes Ana M. B. , Wehrmeister Fernando C. , Gonçalves Helen 
Published: January 2021

SummaryBackgroundGestational weight gain (GWG) has been associated with the accumulation of body fat in offspring, but little is known about the intergenerational relationship.ObjectiveTo assess the effect of GWG in grandmothers and mothers on the child's body mass index (BMI).MethodsThis is a sub‐study nested in the 1993 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort at 22 years follow‐up visit. We calculated the BMI‐for‐age z‐score (BAZ) and evaluated overweight (>2 SD in ≤5 years of age and >1 SD for >5 years of age for BAZ). Grandmothers' and mothers' GWG were calculated as the difference between weight in the beginning of pregnancy and the last recorded weight before delivery. We standardized the GWG by adjusting for pre‐gestational BMI. We also categorized GWG as adequate, excessive, or insufficient, in accordance with the Institute of Medicine (2009). Linear and logistic regressions stratified by child's age (≤2 years; 2.01‐5 years; >5 years) were used. Structural equations were modelled to calculate the total, indirect, and direct effects of grandmothers' and mothers' GWG on children's BAZ.ResultsNine hundred and forty‐six out of 1113 children evaluated were 5 years of age or under. There was an indirect effect (through maternal birthweight, maternal pre‐gestational BMI, maternal GWG, and child birthweight) of grandmother GWG on grandchild BAZ, from 2.01 to 5 years of age [β = 0.12 95%CI: 0.04‐0.20 (P < 0.01)]. Maternal GWG directly increased the child's BAZ at >5 years of age [β = 0.34 95%CI: 0.15‐0.53 (P < 0.001)].ConclusionsGWG's effect on BMI does seem to be transmitted across three generations. Managing this will require health education during the gestational period for women and their families.
PACT: A protocol for assessment, mechanism‐based case formulation and treatment planning
Authors: Hagmayer York , Witteman Cilia , Claes Laurence 
Published: January 2021

AbstractBackgroundProponents of clinical case formulations argue that the causes and mechanisms contributing to and maintaining a patient's problems should be analysed and integrated into a case conceptualization, on which treatment planning ought to be based. Empirical evidence shows that an individualized treatment based on a case formulation is at least sometimes better than a standardized evidence‐based treatment.MethodsWe argue that it is likely to improve decisions when two conditions hold: (a) knowing about the mechanisms underlying the patient's problems makes a difference for treatment, and (b) the case formulation is based on valid knowledge about mechanisms of psychopathology.ResultsWe propose a protocol for assessment, case formulation and treatment planning (PACT), which incorporates transdiagnostic accounts of psychopathology. PACT describes a 5‐step decision making process, which aims to help clinicians to decide when to resort to evidence‐based treatments and when to construct a case formulation to individualize the treatment.ConclusionWe show how PACT works in practice by discussing treatment planning for a clinical case involving symptoms of social anxiety, depression and post‐traumatic stress disorder.
Envisioning a community‐centric approach to impact assessments in subsistence marketplaces
Authors: Venugopal Srinivas 
Published: January 2021

AbstractWhat does a community‐centric approach to impact assessment look like? That is the central question addressed in this article. Our community‐centric perspective provides an alternative to discipline‐centric approaches to impact assessment that emphasize specific methodological gold‐standards (e.g., randomized controlled trials [RCTs] in development economics). Disciplinary approaches to impact assessment owe their principal allegiance to the discipline's knowledge‐creation norms. Consequently, the concerns, interests, and voices of community members are not fully captured in the impact assessment process. In this article, we flip the conventional perspective to offer a community‐centric view of impact assessment that places the concerns, interests and voices of community members front and center. We present the case for why we need a community‐centric approach to impact assessment and clarify its axiological content, theoretical perspective, and methodological stance. Specifically, we advocate for a relational axiology, a system‐theoretic perspective, and a phenomenological methodology.
Outcomes of a walking exercise intervention in postpartum women with disordered sleep
Authors: Liu Yu‐Hsiang , Chang Ching‐Feng , Hung Hsuan‐Man , Chen Chung‐Hey 
Published: January 2021

AbstractAimGood sleep quality is essential to physical and mental‐health‐related quality of life. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a walking exercise in relieving sleep quality, fatigue, and depression in new mothers during the postpartum period.MethodsThis quasi‐experimental study was conducted at a teaching hospital in southern Taiwan. One hundred and four eligible postpartum women with poor sleep quality (Postpartum Sleep Quality Scale; PSQS score ≧16) were assigned to either the experimental group (n= 50) or the control group (n= 54) according to their individual preferences. The participants in the experimental group participated in a 12‐week stride walking exercise intervention. The control group did not receive any exercise intervention. The PSQS, Postpartum Fatigue Scale, and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale were used to assess outcomes.ResultsRepeated measures ANOVA demonstrated that the experimental group participants perceived milder physical symptoms associated with sleep inefficiency at 4‐week posttest (F= 7.25,p < 0.01) than their control group peers. However, no significant differences were found between two groups in terms of either fatigue or depression at 4‐week and 12‐week posttest.ConclusionSignificant improvement in the physical symptoms associated with sleep inefficiency was observed. The findings may be used to encourage postpartum women with disordered sleep to incorporate 20–30 min of stride walking into their regular routine to improve sleep quality.
Cost analysis of four types of surgeries for pelvic organ prolapse in a Japanese population
Authors: Myoga Mai , Sho Tomoko , Aoki Hitomi , Ishizuka Takaki , Nakajima Daisuke , Yoshimura Kazuaki 
Published: January 2021

AbstractIntroduction and HypothesisTo compare the perioperative costs analysis between laparoscopic/transvaginal and the mesh/non–mesh surgeries for pelvic organ prolapse (POP) in Japan.Materials and MethodsFrom April 2013 to April 2017, 890 patients who underwent POP surgeries were enrolled in this study. Regarding transvaginal native tissue repair (TV‐NTR: transvaginal hysterectomy with colpocleisis), transvaginal mesh surgery (TVM), laparoscopic native tissue repair (L‐NTR: laparoscopic hysterectomy and uterosacral ligament colposuspension), and laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy (LSC), a retrospective observational study was performed. Patients' age, operation time, blood loss, perioperative complications, length of hospital stay, pre‐/postoperative quality of life (QOL) scores, were reviewed from the medical records. The net income, which was calculated by using the income (the operation/anesthesia fee) and the costs (the labor and consumables costs for operation/anesthesia), was evaluated.ResultsThe operation fees of the L‐NTR ($4250) and the LSC ($4833) groups were higher than that of the TV‐NTR ($2652) and the TVM ($2913) groups. The labor costs and consumables costs of operation were higher in the LSC ($1589) and the L‐NTR ($1500) groups than the TV‐NTR ($180) and the TVM ($178) groups. The consumables costs for anesthesia in the four groups were equal. The operation hours were significantly shorter in the TV‐NTR and the TVM groups than the L‐NTR and the LSC groups.ConclusionsWe found that TVM operation was an economically excellent and the most efficient POP operation with shorter operation time and less consumables.
Red light imaging for programmed cell death visualization and quantification in plant–pathogen interactions
Authors: Landeo Villanueva Sergio , Malvestiti Michele C. , van Ieperen Wim , Joosten Matthieu H. A. J. , van Kan Jan A. L. 
Published: January 2021

AbstractStudies on plant–pathogen interactions often involve monitoring disease symptoms or responses of the host plant to pathogen‐derived immunogenic patterns, either visually or by staining the plant tissue. Both these methods have limitations with respect to resolution, reproducibility, and the ability to quantify the results. In this study we show that red light detection by the red fluorescent protein (RFP) channel of a multipurpose fluorescence imaging system that is probably available in many laboratories can be used to visualize plant tissue undergoing cell death. Red light emission is the result of chlorophyll fluorescence on thylakoid membrane disassembly during the development of a programmed cell death process. The activation of programmed cell death can occur during either a hypersensitive response to a biotrophic pathogen or an apoptotic cell death triggered by a necrotrophic pathogen. Quantifying the intensity of the red light signal enables the magnitude of programmed cell death to be evaluated and provides a readout of the plant immune response in a faster, safer, and nondestructive manner when compared to previously developed chemical staining methodologies. This application can be implemented to screen for differences in symptom severity in plant–pathogen interactions, and to visualize and quantify in a more sensitive and objective manner the intensity of the plant response on perception of a given immunological pattern. We illustrate the utility and versatility of the method using diverse immunogenic patterns and pathogens.
Aquinas, Contemplation, and Theology
Authors: Bauerschmidt Frederick Christian 
Published: January 2021

AbstractJonathan Lear's account of Aristotle and the human person as a systematic understander can shed light on how Thomas Aquinas sees the passage from contemplation of worldly things to the contemplation of the divine essence. In grasping the essences of mundane particulars, the systematic understander ‘spiritualizes’ them, and simultaneously comes to grasp both self and God. This account of contemplation can further help illuminate Aquinas's understanding of the nature of the theological task as an exercise of systematic understanding of the particulars from which the scriptural narrative of signs and examples is constructed. Finally, the theologian's own path as a systematic understander is retraced for his or her students in sharing the fruits of contemplation through teaching.
Tight junction proteins in the small intestine and prefrontal cortex of female rats exposed to stress of chronic isolation starting early in life
Authors: Karailiev Peter , Hlavacova Natasa , Chmelova Magdalena , Homer Natalie Z. M. , Jezova Daniela 
Published: January 2021

AbstractBackgroundSimultaneous evaluation of barrier protein expression in the gut and the brain and their modulation under stress conditions have not been studied before now. As the permeability and function of the gut and blood‐brain barrier are different and both express the MRs, we hypothesized that stress of post‐weaning social isolation induces changes in tight junction protein expression in the gut which are (1) independent of changes in the brain and (2) are mediated via the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR).MethodsFirst, using UPLC‐MS/MS we have successfully validated and selected a dose (1.2 mg/rat/day) of the MR antagonist spironolactone to treat female rats exposed to stress of chronic isolation or control conditions from postnatal day 21 for 9 weeks.Key ResultsIsolation stress caused an enhancement of gene expression of occludin and ZO‐1 and a decrease in claudin‐5 and MR expression in both the small intestine and prefrontal cortex. Isolation stress failed to decrease claudin‐5 (small intestine) and MR (prefrontal cortex) gene expression in spironolactone‐treated rats. MR blockade resulted in a decrease in claudin‐15 expression in the small intestine. Anxiogenic effect of chronic stress, measured in elevated plus‐maze test, was partly prevented by spironolactone treatment.Conclusions & InferencesClaudins, the main regulators of intestinal barrier permeability responded to chronic stress of social isolation and/or simultaneous blockade of MR in female rats by alterations independent of changes in the brain cortex. The results suggest a physiological role of MR in the control of claudin expression in the small intestine, but not in the brain cortex.
The impact of multifactorial stress combination on plant growth and survival
Authors: Zandalinas Sara I. , Sengupta Soham , Fritschi Felix B. , Azad Rajeev K. , Nechushtai Rachel , Mittler Ron 
Published: January 2021

Summary

Climate change‐driven extreme weather events, combined with increasing temperatures, harsh soil conditions, low water availability and quality, and the introduction of many man‐made pollutants, pose a unique challenge to plants. Although our knowledge of the response of plants to each of these individual conditions is vast, we know very little about how a combination of many of these factors, occurring simultaneously, that is multifactorial stress combination, impacts plants.

Seedlings of wild‐type and different mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana plants were subjected to a multifactorial stress combination of six different stresses, each applied at a low level, and their survival, physiological and molecular responses determined.

Our findings reveal that, while each of the different stresses, applied individually, had a negligible effect on plant growth and survival, the accumulated impact of multifactorial stress combination on plants was detrimental. We further show that the response of plants to multifactorial stress combination is unique and that specific pathways and processes play a critical role in the acclimation of plants to multifactorial stress combination.

Taken together our findings reveal that further polluting our environment could result in higher complexities of multifactorial stress combinations that in turn could drive a critical decline in plant growth and survival.
Drought by CO2interactions in trees: a test of the water savings mechanism
Authors: Jiang Mingkai , Kelly Jeff W.G. , Atwell Brian J. , Tissue David T. , Medlyn Belinda E. 
Published: January 2021

SummaryElevated atmospheric CO2(eCa) may benefit plants during drought by reducing stomatal conductance (gs) but any ‘water savings effect’ could be neutralized by concurrent stimulation of leaf area. We investigated whether eCaenhanced water savings, thereby ameliorating the impact of drought on carbon and water relations in trees.We report leaf‐level gas exchange and whole‐plant and soil water relations during a short‐term dry‐down in twoEucalyptusspecies with contrasting drought tolerance. Plants had previously been established for 9 to 11 months in steady‐state conditions of ambient atmospheric CO2(aCa) and eCa, with half of each treatment group exposed to sustained drought for 5 to 7 months.The lower stomatal conductance under eCadid not lead to soil moisture savings during the dry‐down due to the counteractive effect of increased whole‐plant leaf area. Nonetheless, eCa‐grown plants maintained higher photosynthetic rates and leaf water potentials, making them less stressed during the dry‐down, despite being larger. These effects were more pronounced in the xeric species than the mesic species, and in previously water‐stressed plants.Our findings indicate that eCamay enhance plant performance during drought despite a lack of soil water savings, especially in species with more conservative growth and water‐use strategies.