bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Democratic Linkage and the Party Decline Debate
Authors: Kumlin Staffan , Goerres Achim 
Published: September 2022

AbstractThe democratic linkage model sees political parties presenting distinct policy platforms, addressing which societal problems deserve attention as well as proposing policy solutions. Citizens use this information to develop ‘informed’ perceptions of party differences and policy preferences. This allows them to vote for the party offering the best match. After the election, governing parties let the policy ‘mandates’ they asked for in the campaign translate into actual policy. An implication of the linkage model is that campaigns in general, and political parties in particular, have increasingly put reform pressures on the agenda as these have grown more severe and consequential. Moreover, parties have told citizens which policy solutions are meant to ease growing challenges. Equally importantly, the problem/solution packages offered by parties are distinct, thus allowing meaningful democratic choice also in the face of outstanding challenges. Citizens, finally, have the ability to use the information they receive to form perceptions about reform pressures and—crucially under the linkage model—adjust policy preferences. This chapter builds on a debate over whether parties have lost their ability to provide democratic linkage. We note dramatically different views on the extent of such ‘party decline’. Against this background, the book analyses how ‘systematically salient’ welfare state issues and pressures are; the extent and nature of party differences communicated to citizens concerning reform pressures and policy solutions; and how exposure to such information affects citizens.
Democratic Leadership and the Changing Study of Changing Welfare States
Authors: Kumlin Staffan , Goerres Achim 
Published: September 2022

AbstractDemocratic leadership requires politicians who sometimes dare publicly to argue that big challenges necessitate unpopular policies. This democratic vision also places demands on citizens who, at least in principle and on occasion, are willing and able to listen to such messages. Older welfare state scholarship, however, assigned a limited role to public communication and democratic leadership. Policymakers were found to engage in ‘blame avoidance’ while citizens have been seen as unable to let go of the status quo. A more recent body of work suggests that leaders and citizens may communicate to a greater and more consequential extent than older theories imply. A number of communication-oriented concepts such as ‘ideational leadership’ have gained currency. The extent, nature, and consequences of this imagined leadership, however, are currently unclear but the book’s empirics address these issues in multiple ways. A particular point made in recent work is that welfare state politics is no longer a unidimensional struggle over destructive retrenchment. Scholars have documented an ideational shift towards a ‘social investment’ and ‘activation’ oriented welfare state. As a result, the menu of policy responses becomes less exclusively destructive—and unpopular—than older theories implied. This generates further questions analysed in the book. Perhaps the social investment turn has permeated public debate to the extent that it masks more unpopular policy in public settings? If so, the social investment/activation paradigm may function as a vehicle for blame avoidance and an obstacle for democratic leadership.
What Makes People Worry about the Welfare State?
Authors: Kumlin Staffan , Goerres Achim 
Published: September 2022

AbstractThis chapter develops the notion of reform pressure framing and studies its effects on perceptions of the financial viability of the welfare state. Pressure framing refers to different ways of emphasizing and presenting information about pressures that challenge welfare state sustainability. The chapter presents a comparative survey experiment fielded in Germany, Norway, and Sweden with respondents randomly provided with varying information types veiled inside a survey question about reform pressures. This experiment allows us to compare the impact of different reform pressures (including population ageing, low employment rates, EU and non-western immigration, and international economic crisis). Moreover, the comparative component gives a handle on country variation, such as whether effects are different in economically exceptional Norway. Finally, the chapter draws on a number of studies showing the importance of how deserving welfare recipients are. The concept of deservingness helps us to specify with greater precision a plausible ‘normative’ component of successful ideational leadership narratives.
How Nature Matters
Authors: James Simon P. 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
How Nature Matters presents an original theory of nature’s value based on part–whole relations. In so doing, it solves the difficult problem of how we should conceptualize nature’s cultural values. The standard practice of framing them in terms of the provision of cultural ecosystem services is shown to be inadequate. When natural things have cultural value, they typically do not have it as service providers—that is, as means to valuable ends. They have it as parts of valuable and meaningful wholes—as parts of traditions, narratives, and cultural identities. These conclusions are developed and defended through twelve case studies, concerning, amongst other things, the contentious practice of dugong hunting and the religious significance of the site where the Buddha is said to have become enlightened. The author also analyses some cutting-edge policy-related topics, such as the debate surrounding the concept of relational value, and takes a stand on various foundational issues in environmental philosophy, including the question of whether anything on earth qualifies as natural.
Instrumentality and Causation
Authors: James Simon P. 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
It is typically assumed that if some natural entity has value for us, then it must be of instrumental value to certain humans on account of its causal relations to them. This means–end model provides a good account of many cases in which natural entities have value for humans. For instance, when a tree supplies Siobhan with shade from the fierce midday sun, then it is of instrumental value for her on account of its causal relations to her. More generally, when nature provides us with supporting, provisioning, or regulating ecosystem services, the means–end model gives a good account of the value the relevant service-providers have for us. The connections between the ecosystem services approach and nature conservation are explored in Mayotte, the first of the book’s case studies.
The Meanings of Things
Authors: James Simon P. 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
Nature is shot through with meaning. The sweeping dunes of a desert can symbolize God’s ontological simplicity and lofty indifference. Buddleia, the ‘butterfly bush’, can serve as a wonderfully non-indigenous emblem of wildness for post-Brexit Britain. The bamboo’s hollow core can allude to what Buddhists regard as the essenceless nature of all things. In this sense of ‘meaning’, all manner of natural entities, from hedgerows to the changing of the seasons, can be said to have meaning. Meaning typically depends on context. A word has whatever meaning it has in the context of the sentence in which it occurs; a musical phrase acquires its meaning from its place in a particular musical piece; a particular sacred grove owes its meaning to some wider constellation of religious beliefs and practices—and so forth. In short: when x has meaning, it typically has meaning in relation to some whole, y. This chapter includes the book’s fourth case study, The Mahabodhi tree.
Why Nature?
Authors: James Simon P. 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
The arguments developed in chapters 1 to 7 might be used to support the conclusion that not just some natural entities but also some non-natural ones have constitutive value for people on account of the meanings they bear. What is more, even when a certain natural entity has constitutive value, it is a further question whether it has that value precisely because it is (or is taken to be) natural. To assess whether any entities have constitutive value precisely because they are (or are taken to be) natural, one must specify what one means by ‘natural’. In the present context, that word may be taken to mean something like largely unshaped by human intentional actions. That concept of naturalness has not made sense to all people in all times. Still, the fact remains that many people in modern Western societies do distinguish between what is natural and what is human in this way. For some of them, moreover, natural entities are of constitutive value precisely because they seem to be natural. One such case is presented in Robert Pogue Harrison’s Forests: The Shadow of Civilization. If Harrison is correct, then wild nature has constitutive value for us precisely because it evokes a radically non-human—and, in this sense, natural—realm.
Introduction
Authors: Zellentin Holger M. 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
The Introduction summarizes this study’s broad scope in the most succinct way and on its own terms; the most relevant existing scholarship—to which this study is deeply indebted—will only be discussed in the volume’s main text. After a few opening considerations on the value and limits of the notion of “gentiles,” from the Bible to the Qur’an, the four-partite Introduction will first point to the value of the study of “Law as Literature,” the methodological approach pursued in much of the volume. It will then condense the arguments of this volume into “Ten Propositions on Gentile Law,” and present a historical overview of the legal prerogatives of key texts, “From the Bible to the Qur’an,” to be considered in this study. Finally, a brief “Chapter Overview” will restate the content of this volume once more in a linear way. The partial overlaps between the summary and the overview may be justified in as far as this volume is geared towards readers from a broad variety of backgrounds—I beg those intimately familiar with parts of the material to indulge the redundancy that may add clarity to those coming from other fields.
Becoming One or Many
Authors: Joyce Rosemary A. , Sheptak Russell N. 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
This chapter considers colonial encounters in the vicinity of the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries and argues that ‘cultural contact’ lacks the sophistication required to grasp the tone of inequality that flows through contexts of imposition. Drawing upon De Certeau’s notion of ‘tactics’ as a means to occupy and navigate landscapes not under one’s control, the experience of colonial survival is approached as a shared project in which identities fluctuate, particularly in contexts of sexual reproduction. Emphasis on local and traceable ancestry as opposed to identity formation through migrant arrival is noted to be manifest in the materiality of everyday practice.
The Biographies of Resistant Material Culture in Occupied Landscapes
Authors: Carr Gilly 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
This chapter is on resistance to contact encounters via repositioning of symbolic content on the Channel Islands throughout World War II. During 1940–5, the islands’ locals were subject to occupation by German military forces and were also brought into contact with foreign labourers. An interchange of material signifiers ensued under acts of subjugation, resistance, and defiance. A most potent symbol was the ‘V’ sign, reproduced in various material forms and registered in competing readings as a prism of multi-sensory communication. The author argues that these present a cautionary note to identifications of material hybridity, and instead illustrate direct appropriation of a sign in unique material items that, ultimately, were few in a context of mass production and limited to a short and closed timespan of manufacture. Moreover, understanding of the significance of such objects emerges only within a broader assemblage of relatability.
Social media sharing of low-quality news sources by political elites
Authors: Lasser Jana , Aroyehun Segun Taofeek , Simchon Almog , Carrella Fabio , Garcia David , Lewandowsky Stephan 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
Increased sharing of untrustworthy information on social media platforms is one of the main challenges of our modern information society. Because information disseminated by political elites is known to shape citizen and media discourse, it is particularly important to examine the quality of information shared by politicians. Here, we show that from 2016 onward, members of the Republican Party in the US Congress have been increasingly sharing links to untrustworthy sources. The proportion of untrustworthy information posted by Republicans versus Democrats is diverging at an accelerating rate, and this divergence has worsened since President Biden was elected. This divergence between parties seems to be unique to the United States as it cannot be observed in other western democracies such as Germany and the United Kingdom, where left–right disparities are smaller and have remained largely constant.
Keep It Simple: A Field Experiment on Information Sharing among Strangers
Authors: Batista Cátia , Fafchamps Marcel , Vicente Pedro C 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
SMS information campaigns are increasingly used for policy. A field experiment is conducted to study information sharing through mobile phone messages. Subjects are rural households in Mozambique who have access to mobile money. In the baseline intervention, subjects receive an SMS containing simple instructions on how to redeem a voucher for mobile money. They can share this non-rival information with other exogenously assigned subjects unknown to them. Few participants redeem the voucher. They nonetheless share it with others and many share information about the voucher they do not use themselves. The voucher is shared more when no information is provided on the receiver. When partial information is provided, no evidence is found of more sharing with subjects who have similar characteristics. Treatments are introduced to increase the cost of sending a message, shame those who do not send the voucher to others, or allow subjects to appropriate the value of the voucher. All these treatments decrease information sharing. To encourage information diffusion among strangers, the best is to “keep it simple.”
Increased Clinical Pain Locations and Pain Sensitivity in Women After Breast Cancer Surgery
Authors: Zhu Yehui , Loggia Marco L. , Edwards Robert R. , Flowers Kelsey M. , Muñoz-Vergara Dennis W. , Partridge Ann H. , Schreiber Kristin L. 
Published: September 2022

Objectives:
Aromatase inhibitors (AIs), which potently inhibit estrogen biosynthesis, are a standard treatment for hormone sensitive early-stage breast cancer. AIs have been associated with substantial joint pain and muscle stiffness (aromatase inhibitor-associated musculoskeletal syndrome). However, the link between AIs and number of clinical pain locations and pain sensitivity are less well understood. The aim of this study was to compare longitudinal changes in clinical pain and quantitative pain sensitivity between women who did or did not receive AI therapy.

Methods:
Women with early-stage breast cancer were prospectively enrolled and assessed for clinical pain in surgical and nonsurgical body areas using the Brief Pain Inventory and Breast Cancer Pain Questionnaire, and for pain sensitivity using quantitative sensory testing preoperatively and at 1 year postoperatively. Pain outcomes between participants who did and did not begin adjuvant AI therapy were compared using Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks and generalized estimating equation linear regression analyses.

Results:
Clinical pain and pain sensitivity were comparable between AI (n=49) and no-AI (n=106) groups preoperatively. After adjusting for body mass index, AI therapy was associated with a greater increase in the number of painful nonsurgical body sites (significant time by treatment interaction, P=0.024). Pain location was most frequent in knees (28%), lower back (26%), and ankles/feet (17%). Quantitative sensory testing revealed a significant decrease in pain sensitivity (increased pressure pain threshold) in the no-AI group over time, but not in the AI group.

Conclusions:
AI therapy was associated with increased diffuse joint-related pain and greater post-treatment pain sensitivity, potentially implicating central sensitization as a contributing pain mechanism of aromatase inhibitor-associated musculoskeletal syndrome worthy of future investigation.
Efficacy of Oral Psyllium in Pediatric Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Authors: Menon Jagadeesh , Thapa Babu Ram , Kumari Rajni , Puttaiah Kadyada Srikanth , Rana Satyavati , Lal Sadhna B. 
Published: September 2022

Objective:Pediatric irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder with variable response to various therapeutic agents. Psyllium has been proven to be effective in adults; however, there is no study in children. The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of psyllium husk as compared to placebo in pediatric IBS patients.Methods:In this double‐blind randomized controlled trial, 43 children were assigned to psyllium arm (Group A) and 38 into placebo arm (Group B). Severity is assessed at baseline and after 4 weeks of treatment using IBS severity scoring scale (IBS‐SSS) and classified into mild, moderate, and severe categories. Categorical data was compared with chi‐square test and paired categorical variable was compared with McNemer test.Results:Mean ages (±SD; in years) of Groups A and B were 9.87 (2.7) and 9.82 (3.17), respectively, with median duration of illness of 12 months. At baseline, type, severity, and parameters (IBS‐SSS) of IBS were equally distributed in 2 groups. There was a significant reduction in median interquartile range (IQR) of total IBS‐SSS in psyllium versus placebo [75 (42.5–140) vs 225 (185–270); P < 0.001] at 4 weeks. Similarly 43.9% in Group A versus 9.7% in Group B attained remission [IBS‐SSS < 75 (P < 0.0001)]. The mean difference in IBS‐SSS between Group A and Group B was −122.85 with risk ratio of 0.64 (95% CI; 0.42–0.83; P= 0.001) and absolute risk reduction of 32% (NNT = 3).Conclusions:Psyllium husk is effective for the therapy of pediatric IBS when compared with placebo in short term.
Changes in human sperm motility and DNA fragmentation index after incubation at different temperatures following density gradient centrifugation and swim-up procedures
Authors: Yang Yan-Nan , Wang Ling , Liu Yu-Bing , Xue Yun-Jing , Liu Chen-Chen , Shi Fei , Dai Xue , Chian Ri-Cheng 
Published: September 2022

Objective:
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sperm motility and DNA integrity at different temperatures to analyze whether the sperms are suitable on the second day for insemination of in vitro matured oocytes by intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) following density gradient centrifugation (DGC) and swim-up (SU) procedures.

Methods:
Semen samples were collected from 30 outpatients who visited the Center for Reproductive Medicine for semen analyses. Following sperm selection by DGC and SU procedures, the liquified semen samples were divided into three groups and incubated at 4, 25, and 37°C, respectively. Following incubation for 24, 48, and 72 hours, the sperm motility and sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) were analyzed.

Results:
Following the combination of DGC and SU procedures, the sperm motility (91.8% ± 8.6% vs. 50.8% ± 13.1%) and DFI (5.1% ± 7.9% vs. 13.0% ± 11.6%) were significantly improved (P <0.01) compared to those without any treatment. The sperm motility of the 3 groups significantly declined (P <0.05) post-incubation compared to that of the groups prior incubation. However, sperm motility significantly increased (76.9% ± 10.4%) (P <0.05) at 25°C compared to that of the other 2 groups (53.5% ± 11.0% and 47.6% ± 10.2%). Sperm DFI significantly increased (P <0.05) at 37°C following incubation for 24 and 72 hours in comparison to that of the other 2 groups. However, the sperm DFI did not significantly increase when the sperm samples were incubated at 4 (5.7% ± 5.9%) and 25°C (6.8% ± 5.6%) for 24 hours compared to that before incubation (5.1% ± 7.9%).

Conclusions:
These results indicate that the sperm quality, in terms of motility and DFI, can be efficiently improved by DGC in combination with SU. Following which, the sperm samples can be incubated at 25°C and be used on the second day for insemination of in vitro matured oocytes by ICSI.
Preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy improves clinical outcomes in patients with repeated implantation failure
Authors: Gu Rui-Huan , Fu Jing , Ge Nai-Dong , Li Zhi-Chao , Huang Bin , Xu Yan , Zou Yao-Yu , Li Lu , Sun Yi-Juan , Sun Xiao-Xi 
Published: September 2022

Objective:
The objective of this study is to study whether preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) improves the clinical outcomes of infertile patients with repeated implantation failure (RIF) undergoing frozen-thawed embryo transfer.

Methods:
This is a retrospective analysis of clinical pregnancy, live birth, miscarriage rates, and obstetric and perinatal outcomes of women with RIF with or without PGT-A. Statistical analyses of categorical data were performed using propensity score matching (PSM), χ2 test, and Student’s t test.

Results:
We enrolled 466 patients with RIF, of which, 209 were in the RIF-PGT-A group. The rate of euploid blastocysts was significantly associated with age and day 5 or 6 blastocysts. There were significant differences between the RIF-PGT-A group and the RIF-non-PGT-A group across several parameters. After PSM, positive serum human chorionic gonadotropin (56.9% and 33.9%, P <0.01), clinical pregnancy (49.5% and 31.2%, P <0.01), live birth (43.1% and 25.7%, P <0.01), and fetal heart rates (50.0% and 29.8%, P <0.01) per transfer were significantly higher in the RIF-PGT-A group.

Conclusion:
Elective single-embryo transfer PGT-A can minimize the risk of obstetric and perinatal outcomes, especially fetal body weight, in women with RIF. Additionally, PGT-A can significantly improve pregnancy and live birth rates.
Recommendations From the International Consensus Conference on Anemia Management in Surgical Patients (ICCAMS)
Authors: Shander Aryeh , Corwin Howard L. , Meier Jens , Auerbach Michael , Bisbe Elvira , Blitz Jeanna , Erhard Jochen , Faraoni David , Farmer Shannon L. , Frank Steven M. , Girelli Domenico , Hall Tiffany , Hardy Jean-François , Hofmann Axel , Lee Cheuk-Kwong , Leung Tsin W. , Ozawa Sherri , Sathar Jameela , Spahn Donat R. , Torres Rosalio , Warner Matthew A. , Muñoz Manuel 
Published: September 2022

Background:
Perioperative anemia has been associated with increased risk of red blood cell transfusion and increased morbidity and mortality after surgery. The optimal approach to the diagnosis and management of perioperative anemia is not fully established.

Objective:
To develop consensus recommendations for anemia management in surgical patients.

Methods:
An international expert panel reviewed the current evidence and developed recommendations using modified RAND Delphi methodology.

Results:
The panel recommends that all patients except those undergoing minor procedures be screened for anemia before surgery. Appropriate therapy for anemia should be guided by an accurate diagnosis of the etiology. The need to proceed with surgery in some patients with anemia is expected to persist. However, early identification and effective treatment of anemia has the potential to reduce the risks associated with surgery and improve clinical outcomes. As with preoperative anemia, postoperative anemia should be treated in the perioperative period.

Conclusions:
Early identification and effective treatment of anemia has the potential to improve clinical outcomes in surgical patients.