bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Genetic analysis of growth curve in Moghani Sheep using Bayesian and restricted maximum likelihood
Authors: Rashedi Dehsahraei Azar , Ghaderi-Zefrehei Mostafa , Rafeie Farjad , Zakizadeh Sonia , Shirani Shamsabadi Javad , Elahi Torshizi Mahdi , Neysi Saied , Rahmatalla Siham A 
Published: June 2023

AbstractThis study was conducted to predict the genetic (co)variance components of growth curve parameters of Moghani sheep breed using the following information: birth weight (N = 7278), 3-mo-old weight (N = 5881), 6-mo-old weight (N = 5013), 9-mo-old weigh (N = 2819], and 12-mo-old weight (N = 2883). The growth parameters (A: maturity weight, B: growth rate, and K: maturity rate) were calculated using Gompertz, Logistic, Brody, and Von Bertalanffy nonlinear models via NLIN procedure of SAS software. The aforementioned models were compared using Akaike information criterion, root mean square error, adjusted co-efficient of determination. Also, both Bayesian (using MTGSAM) and RMEL (using WOMBAT) paradigms were adapted to predict the genetic (co)variance components of growth parameters (A, B, K) due to the best fitted growth models. It was turned out that Von Bertalanffy best fitted to the data in this study. The year of birth and lamb gender had a significant effect on maturity rate (P &lt; 0.01). Also it turned out that within the growth parameter, with increasing (co)variance matrix complexity, the Bayesian paradigm fitted well to the data than the restricted maximum likelihood (REML) one. However, for simple animal model and across all growth parameters, REML outperformed Bayesian. In this way, the h2a predicted (0.15 ± 0.05), (0.11±.05), and (0.04 ± 0.03) for A, B, and K parameters, respectively. Practically, in terms of breeding plan, we could see that genetic improvement of growth parameters in this study is not a tractable strategy to follow up and improvement of the management and environment should be thoroughly considered. In terms of paradigm comparison, REML’s bias correction bears up an advantageous approach as far as we are concerned with small sample size. To this end, REML predictions are fairly accurate but the mode of posterior distributions could be overestimated. Finally, the differences between REML and Bayesian estimates were found for all parameter data in this study. We conclude that simulation studies are necessary in order to trade off these parading in the complex random effects scenarios of genetic individual model.
Perianal extramammary Paget’s disease with adenocarcinoma of perianal skin area, a case report
Authors: Alhebshi Alhasan H , Aldekhail Mohammed , Abduljabbar Alaa 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
Extramammary Paget disease (EMPD) is an uncommon slow-growing skin adenocarcinoma originating in the anogenital region and axilla outside the mammary glands, often in regions with apocrine glands. The most common location is the vulva, followed by perineal, perianal, scrotal and penile skin. Here, we report a case of a 63-year-old male with EMPD in the perianal region. He reported 4 years of pain associated with an increasing region of skin irritation and bleeding on defecation that did not improve with topical agents. A biopsy sample revealed poorly differentiated carcinoma consistent with adenocarcinoma and associated with Paget disease. Workup was done. The patient tolerated local excision of the region well with no complications. A rare disease, EMPT, is challenging to diagnose and manage. Histopathological findings can, however, differentiate it from a wide array of similar skin conditions. Thorough investigations should be undertaken before initiating treatment to ensure the best outcomes.
Xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis: diagnostic complexity and review of the literature
Authors: Arnott William , Hutchins Jemima , Malhotra Tanishk , Ketheesan Yathurshika , Steinberg Lilly , Carter Lucy , Diab Jason , Wong King 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
We report the case of a 39-year-old male presenting with acute onset vomiting and diarrhoea. Initially treated empirically for gastroenteritis, imaging later confirmed a complicated episode of cholecystitis with fistular formation and intra-abdominal cyst. Following cholecystectomy, histology confirmed a case of xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis (XGC). This paper presents a detailed summary of the condition alongside a literature review of all available episodes of XGC since 2017 with the aim of highlighting diagnostic conclusions regarding the nature of the disease and its clinical manifestations.
A dahlia flower extract has antidiabetic properties by improving insulin function in the brain
Authors: Pretz Dominik , Heyward Philip M , Krebs Jeremy , Gruchot Joel , Barter Charles , Silcock Pat , Downes Nerida , Rizwan Mohammed Zubair , Boucsein Alisa , Bender Julia , Burgess Elaine J , Boer Geke Aline , Keerthisinghe Pramuk , Perry Nigel B , Tups Alexander 
Published: June 2023

AbstractButein, a rare chalcone found in the toxic plant Toxicodendron vernicifluum, has been shown to regulate glucose homeostasis via inhibition of the nuclear factor kappa-B kinase subunit beta (IKKβ)/nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) pathway in the brain. Here, we investigated whether the nonpoisonous plant Dahlia pinnata could be a source of butein as a potential treatment for type 2 diabetes (T2D). In mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) to induce glucose intolerance, an oral D. pinnata petal extract improved glucose tolerance at doses of 3.3 mg/kg body weight and 10 mg/kg body weight. Surprisingly, this effect was not mediated by butein alone but by butein combined with the closely related flavonoids, sulfuretin and/or isoliquiritigenin. Mechanistically, the extract improved systemic insulin tolerance. Inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase to block insulin signaling in the brain abrogated the glucoregulatory effect of the orally administered extract. The extract reinstated central insulin signaling and normalized astrogliosis in the hypothalamus of HFD-fed mice. Using NF-κB reporter zebrafish to determine IKKβ/NF-κB activity, a potent anti-inflammatory action of the extract was found. A randomized controlled crossover clinical trial on participants with prediabetes or T2D confirmed the safety and efficacy of the extract in humans. In conclusion, we identified an extract from the flower petals of D. pinnata as a novel treatment option for T2D, potentially targeting the central regulation of glucose homeostasis as a root cause of the disease.
Does obesity affect treatment response to secukinumab and survival in ankylosing spondylitis? Real-life data from the TURKBIO Registry
Authors: Karakaş Ali , Gulle Semih , Can Gerçek , Dalkılıc Ediz , Akar Servet , Koca Suleyman Serdar , Pehlivan Yavuz , Senel Soner , Tufan Abdurrahman , Ozturk Mehmet Akif , Yilmaz Sema , Yazici Ayten , Cefle Ayse , Yüce İnel Tuba , Erez Yesim , Sari Ismail , Birlik Merih , Direskeneli Haner , Akkoc Nurullah , Onen Fatos 
Published: June 2023

ABSTRACT

Objectives
The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of obesity on the treatment response to secukinumab and drug survival rate in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS).

Methods
We performed an observational cohort study that included AS patients based on the biological drug database in Turkey (TURKBIO) Registry between 2018 and 2021. The patients were divided into three groups: normal [body mass index (BMI) &lt; 25 kg/m2], overweight (BMI: 25–30 kg/m2), and obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2). Disease activity was evaluated at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months. Drug retention rates at 12 months were also investigated.

Results
There were 166 AS patients using secukinumab (56.6% male, mean age: 44.9 ± 11.6 years). The median follow-up time was 17.2 (3–33.2) months. Forty-eight (28.9%) patients were obese. The mean age was higher in the obese group than in others (P = .003). There was no statistically significant difference in Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index 50, Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society 20 (ASAS20), ASAS40, Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score (ASDAS) low disease activity, and ASDAS clinically important improvement responses between the three groups at 3, 6, and 12 months, although they were numerically lower in obese patients. Drug retention rates at 12 months were similar in all groups (P &gt; .05).

Conclusions
This study suggested that obesity did not affect secukinumab treatment response and drug retention in AS patients.
Ethnicity, Coronavirus Disease-Related Stress, and E-cigarette Use and Cigarette Smoking Among Young Adults: A Longitudinal Study
Authors: Pokhrel Pallav , Lipperman-Kreda Sharon , Wills Thomas A , Keaweʻaimoku Kaholokula Joseph , Kawamoto Crissy T , Amin Samia , Herzog Thaddeus A 
Published: June 2023

Abstract

Introduction
Research has rarely examined ethnic differences in exposure to coronavirus disease (COVID)-related stress in relation to smoking and e-cigarette use.

Aims and Methods
Using pre- and post-COVID data from a sample of predominantly Asian American (AA) and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) young adults, this study aimed to test the effects of ethnicity on cigarette smoking and e-cigarette use through exposure to COVID-related stress. Young adults from Hawaii who provided pre-COVID data in or before January 2020 were followed up with in March–May 2021. N = 1907 (mean age = 24.9 [SD = 2.9], 56% women) provided complete data relevant to the current analysis at both waves of data collection. Structural equation modeling was used to test the effects of ethnicity (white, Asian [eg, Japanese, Chinese], Filipino, NHPI, and other) on pre- to post-COVID changes in cigarette and e-cigarette use via effects on COVID-related stress.

Results
Relative to Asian young adults, members of all other ethnic groups (NHPI, Filipino, white, and other) indicated greater exposure to COVID-related stress. Higher levels of COVID-related stress were associated with increased dual-use status and increased current e-cigarette and cigarette use frequencies. Higher COVID-related stress mediated the effects of NHPI, Filipino, and other ethnicity on increased dual-use status.

Conclusions
The current data indicate that young adults of vulnerable ethnic groups who experience higher COVID-related stress are at increased risk for dual use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes.

Implications
The findings imply that tobacco use prevention and treatment efforts may need to pay increased attention to racial or ethnic groups that have experienced greater adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prevalence and determinants of adult consumer use and comprehension of food labels in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Nkhoma Dumisani E , Mumba Wongani K , Banda Kondwani J , Sakala Melody , Panyani David , Muwalo Blessings , Mbeye Nyanyiwe Masingi 
Published: June 2023

Abstract

Context
Food labelling is a global strategy recommended to reduce noncommunicable diseases. Few reviews, however, have focused on food label use in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Objective
To determine the prevalence of food label use and describe determinants of food label use and purchasing decisions of adult consumers in SSA.

Data source
PubMed (Medline), Web of Science, Cochrane Central, and Google Scholar databases.

Data extraction
Search criteria included adults (aged ≥18 years), conducted in SSA, focusing on food label use or understanding and their determinants or determinants of food-purchasing decisions, and articles published in English.

Study quality and data analysis
Risk-of-bias assessment of included studies was done using the Joann Briggs Institute checklist for prevalence studies. Publication bias was assessed using funnel plots and Egger’s test. Analysis included narrative synthesis and moderator and meta-analyses of food label use.

Results
A total of 124 articles were found, of which 21 were included in the review. Of participants in the selected studies, 58% were female. About 80% reported food label use (either used sometimes or always) (70%–88%) (I2 = 97%; n = 6223), and regular use was estimated at 36% (28%–45%) (I2 = 97%; n = 5147). Food label use was influenced by level of income, education, employment status, and household size. Food-purchasing decisions were influenced by attributes such as expiry dates, price, and taste. Major recommendations reported were tailored education campaigns and reducing barriers to food label use.

Conclusion
Most (80%) of adults in SSA reported using food labels; however, only about one-third used them consistently. Demographic and situation factors determined patterns in food label use, whereas product attributes influenced food purchasing decisions. Complexity of these determinants requires adopting tailored, multisectoral, theory-driven programs to improve food label use.

Systematic Review Registration
Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/kc562)
How to Evaluate the Effects of IMF Conditionality
Authors: Kentikelenis Alexandros , Stubbs Thomas 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
Given the marked increase in the range and detail of data on International Monetary Fund (IMF) policy reforms, the stage is set to undertake fine-grained quantitative analyses of the impact of conditionality. In attempting to analyze the effects of conditionality, a number of methodological difficulties must be overcome. Countries select into IMF programs and receive conditions based on an array of domestic and global economic, political, and social characteristics, some of which cannot be directly observed or measured. These characteristics may in turn influence the outcome of interest. This chapter surveys the main strategies for studying the effects of IMF intervention. It then advances a compound instrumental variable design over a system of three equations to address the multiple sources of statistical bias.
Conditionality and Income Inequality
Authors: Kentikelenis Alexandros , Stubbs Thomas 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
In recent years, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has styled itself as a champion of meeting Sustainable Development Goals pertaining to reducing inequalities. This rebranding of the IMF as an inequality-combating champion was a sharp departure from the reputation of the organization across developing countries. This chapter evaluates statistically the impact of IMF conditionality on the Gini coefficient of disposable income, and then leverages new data on the extent of IMF-mandated fiscal austerity to investigate how it affects the concentration of income into deciles. The chapter finds that the IMF’s policy prescriptions increase income inequality. Trade liberalization and changes to exchange rates are the key conditions driving these results, plausibly linked to social dislocations in the transition period and removed protections for workers in order to attract foreign direct investment. Furthermore, low-income groups are particularly adversely affected by the implementation of austerity policies, whereas top earners experience increases in their incomes, thereby exacerbating inequalities.
Introduction
Authors: Mwambari David 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
This book maps and examines to the extent to which, and under what conditions, the master narrative of the genocide against the Tutsi has emerged, evolved, and been enforced as a hegemonic master narrative in Rwanda and worldwide. It also explores the plurality of responses to the postgenocide official memory and investigates the implications of these specific commemorations for larger questions about memory politics globally. The introduction locates the book in broader debates on master narrative and hegemonic memory literature and memory politics in postgenocide Rwanda. The methodology section includes an analysis of the author’s positionality as a Rwandan academic and complexities of researching such a sensitive topic that remains emotionally difficult for many Rwandans to discuss and analyze.
Specificity and Resolution in the Communicative Use of Singular Terms
Authors: Dickie Imogen 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
This chapter argues for an alternative to what I call the ‘standard view’ of communicative use of singular terms. On this view, communication using a singular term requires that speaker and hearer treat it as standing for the same object, and that their doing so be secured in an appropriately non-lucky way. The first part of the paper uses cases involving ‘felicitous non-specificity’, where communication using a singular term runs smoothly even though participants in the conversation do not have a specific object in mind, to raise an initial challenge to the standard view. The rest of the paper motivates an alternative account of what must go non-luckily right in communicative uses of singular terms, and shows how this account solves the initial puzzle. According to the alternative account, ordinary thinking about ordinary things involves sustaining relations of cognitive focus upon them, and communicative use of singular terms involves engagement in joint cognitive-focus-sustaining activity. But a focus relation has a degree of resolution. So cases of felicitous non-specificity are predicted by the proposal: they are cases where speaker and hearer are engaged in a joint focus-sustaining activity at a degree of resolution too coarse to distinguish one potential referent from another.
Luck-Reducing Features of Lexical Innovation
Authors: Hesni Samia 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
Donald Davidson challenges David Lewis’s view of conventionalized language by appealing to lexical innovation. According to the Davidsonian critique, we can and do often use completely novel and made-up expressions to communicate successfully. For example, when Busta Rhymes (2001) says “I’m about to Picasso a new picture for you,” we understand that he is promising to do something interesting and unusual. So, according to Davidson, linguistic communication can’t be fully or fundamentally conventional. This chapter explores the difference between two kinds of lexical innovation: (i) lexical innovation as it pertains to lexical items that are already in use in a given linguistic community (for example, the evolution of the term “unicorn” to indicate a special person or thing; or using “Picasso” as a verb); and (ii) lexical innovation that involves the creation of new linguistic items (like ‘mansplain’ and ‘bromance’). I evaluate whether there is a tension between treating the two the same way. My view leaves open the possibility that lexical innovation itself is not entirely conventionalized. The chapter ends by considering the question: if lexical innovation is not conventional, then can it avoid being entirely luck-dependent? And if so, how?
We Forge the Conditions of Love
Authors: Gardiner Georgi 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
This essay is not about what love is. It is about what self-ascriptions of love do. People typically self-ascribe romantic love when a nexus of feelings, beliefs, attitudes, values, commitments, experiences, and personal histories matches their conception of romantic love. But what shapes this conception? And (how) can we adjudicate amongst conflicting conceptions? Self-ascriptions of love do not merely describe the underlying nexus of attitudes and beliefs. They also change it. This essay describes how conceptions of love affect romantic experience. It limns distinctions between love and obsessive infatuation and explore ways language can cultivate queer romantic preferences. Since conceptions of love are shaped, often implicitly, by terms available in one’s linguistic community, the resulting nexus of concepts and conceptions manifests linguistic luck. This chapter suggests ways we might sculpt the language of love to better understand—and change—ourselves. Love can help us flourish and so can our “love” language.
The Politics of Evaluation in International Organizations
Authors: Jankauskas Vytautas , Eckhard Steffen 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
Evaluation is a key tool for assessing the performance of international organizations (IOs) to foster learning and to demonstrate accountability. Within the United Nations (UN) system, hundreds of evaluators and consultants produce evaluation reports every year. But does evaluation deliver on its promise of objective evidence and functional use? By unravelling the internal machinery of evaluation systems, this book challenges the understanding of evaluation as a value-free activity. It shows how a seemingly neutral technocratic tool can serve as an instrument for power in global governance and explains how deeply politics are entrenched in the interests of evaluation stakeholders, the design of IO evaluation systems, and the content of evaluation reports. It draws on 120 research interviews with evaluators, member state representatives, and secretariat officials, as well as on analysis of reports themselves. Twenty-one UN system organizations are investigated, including the International Labour Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, UN Women, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Shedding light on the (in-)effectiveness of evidence-based policymaking, the authors propose options how to better reconcile the observed evaluation politics with the need to gather reliable evidence to improve the functioning of the UN. The key to evaluation politics is not to abandon evaluation or to isolate it from the stakeholders but to acknowledge surrounding political interests and design evaluation systems accordingly.
Just Wars, Just Combatants, Just Killings?
Authors: Rudolphy Marcela Prieto 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
This chapter examines the revisionist morality of war and argues that revisionism cannot provide a complete account of killing in war without abandoning its methodological commitments or becoming an implausible theory of killing in war. In its most plausible version, revisionism fails to make many unjust combatants liable to lethal or substantial harm. The chapter begins by explaining revisionism, both in its substantive and methodological versions. It then argues that a self-defence view committed to reductivist individualism fails to account for most killing in war by focusing on (1) the differences between combatants and the paradigmatic case of self-defence known as the ‘villainous aggressor’, and (2) the problem that the number of aggressors poses for the theory.
“Galaxies of Women”
Authors: Greaves Margaret 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
Chapter 2 considers the impact of space exploration on mid-century lyric poetry, drawing connections between space science and the confessional movement. Two poets on the outskirts of confessional verse—Elizabeth Bishop and Adrienne Rich—turn to extraterrestrial vistas to develop queer lyric voices, challenging tenets of confessionalism in the process. Both Bishop and Rich use astronomy to subvert Cold War surveillance as they wrote in a period that equated homosexuality with treason. Attending to how the foreign policy of containment impacted American domestic life reveals how Cold War culture operated through a central paradox of “containing” and “expanding,” with far-flung extraterrestrial exploration at once the antithesis of and the fullest realization of containment. Containment also spoke to formal debates in mid-century poetry about “breaking out” of restrictive poetic forms to embrace the authentic self in the confessional mode. Bishop’s and Rich’s astronomical lyrics, which abound with optical metaphors and techniques, channel Cold War surveillance into strategies of opacity as they develop queer poetics in a cultural moment that actively dehumanized queer people in the service of American foreign interests.