bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of the Clinico-laboratory Manifestations of Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma
Authors: Ugwu Angela Ogechukwu 
Published: March 2022

Background:
Multiple myeloma (MM) is a very common hematological malignancy and constitutes about 10% of hematological malignancies. Laboratory investigations including haematological, biochemical, and molecular studies play an important role in the diagnosis, monitoring of response, and relapse in patients with MM.

Objectives:
The objectives of this article were to assess the initial clinical features, hematological profile, and biochemical parameters of newly diagnosed patients with MM.

Materials and Methods:
This was a retrospective study of MM patients seen from February 2010 to January 2020 at a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. A total of 51 patients’ case notes were retrieved from the Medical Records Department of the hospital. The socio-demographic data were collected using a Microsoft Excel Sheet. Data on age, sex, hematological parameters, presence of bone lesions (fractures, and osteolytic findings from radiographs), and biochemical parameters were extracted and analyzed.

Results:
The median age was 60.5 years, and the mean age was 59.6 ± 9.3 with a range of 35–89 years and a male-to-female ratio of 1.7:1. Only 1 (2.0%) patient was aged below 40 years, and the rest 50 (98.0%) were above 40 years of age. The 61–70 age group had the highest number of cases, 31 (60.8%). The mean hemoglobin, white cell count, and platelet count were 7.96 ± 2.2; 6.76 ± 0.6; and 213.50 ± 98 respectively. Serum protein was >80 g/L in 33 (64.7%) and <80 g/L in 18 (35.3%) patients. Two-thirds of the patients, 34 (66.7%) had albumin level <35 g/L. The mean albumin and globulin levels were 36.2 ± 10.9 and 59.2 ± 1.9 respectively, giving an albumin–globulin ratio (AGR) of 0.611. The mean calcium level was 2.6 ± 0.29 mmol/L. The overall mean urea and creatinine levels were 8.02 ± 3.2 (mmol/L) and 169.5 ± 89.4 (μmol/L), respectively. The most common clinical presentations were weakness, pallor, and bone pains with a proportion of 49 (96.1%), 47 (92.2%), and 45 (88.3%), respectively.

Conclusion:
The physicians should be alerted on the possibility of MM when an elderly patient presents with weakness and bone pains. The AGR is commonly low, connoting a poor prognosis.
Effect of sertraline and fluvoxamine on quality of life in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder
Authors: Brar Jasmine , Sidana Ajeet , Chauhan Nidhi , Bajaj Manoj Kumar 
Published: March 2022

Background:
Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with poor quality of life (QoL) and functionality. Treatment leads to improvement in QoL and better functioning.

Aim:
To assess the effect of treatment with SSRIs on QoL and disability in first-episode, drug-naïve patients with OCD.

Materials and Methods:
Fifty first-episode, drug-naïve patients with a diagnosis of OCD according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5 were assessed for severity of illness (Y-BOCS), World Health Organization QoL (WHO-QoL Bref), and disability (WHODAS 2.0) at baseline and at 12 weeks after receiving treatment with either sertraline or fluvoxamine.

Results:
The scores for QoL were low and for disability were high at baseline, and the scores for WHO-QoL-Bref and WHODAS 2.0 improved significantly after 12 weeks of treatment compared to baseline. This improvement correlated with reduction in the illness severity scores on Yale-Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale. The responders to treatment had better QoL and lower disability compared to nonresponders.

Conclusion:
There is an impairment in QoL and disability in first-episode, drug-naïve patients with OCD, and QoL improves and disability decreases with adequate treatment with SSRIs, and this improvement correlates with improvement in the illness severity.
Impact of Treatment with Metformin in Comparison with Insulin in Gestational Diabetes in Libyan Population a Randomized Controlled Study
Authors: Busarira Musa O. , Getlawi Omaima H. , Hawda Salima M. , Falgosh Salha A. , Peela Jagannadha Rao 
Published: March 2022

Background:
The aim of this study was the comparison of the glycemic control and maternal outcomes in women affected with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) managed with metformin versus insulin.

Materials and Methods:
The participants included in this study were 140 women diagnosed with GDM. They were randomized into two groups, women included in the first group were treated with metformin and the women of the second group were managed with insulin.

Results:
The glycemic control was similar in both the treatment arms and the only noteworthy difference was found in the mean fasting blood glucose, which was significantly higher in the women receiving insulin as compared to the women receiving metformin. There were no substantial differences in the maternal outcome with the use of metformin compared to insulin in women with GDM.

Conclusion:
The incidence of operative delivery was higher in metformin-treated group, whereas the hospital admission rate was considerably elevated in insulin-treated group.
An In vitro Study of Orthosiphon stamineus (Misai Kucing) Standardized Water Extract as a Chemolytic Agent in Urolithiasis
Authors: Ambursa Muhammad Bala , Rahman Mohd Nor Gohar , Sulaiman Siti Amrah , Zakaria Andee Dzulkarnaen , Mohamed Daud Mohamed Ashraf , Zakaria Zaidi , Zahari Zalina , Wong Michael Pak-Kai 
Published: March 2022

Background:

Orthosiphon stamineus was reported to have diuretic effects in experimental rats, and this leads to inhibition of kidney stones through the abundant levels of minerals and flavonoids in it. This study aimed to determine the in vitro effects of O. stamineus water extract as a potential chemolytic agent in urolithiasis.

Materials and Methods:
In this prospective experiment, a total of 15 stone samples collected from patients who underwent stone extraction were used in each concentration (4 mg/ml, 2 mg/ml, and 1 mg/ml) of the O. stamineus extract and control solution. The effects of pH change in the chemolysis of the stones were assessed using the O. stamineus extract 4 mg/ml under pH 7 and 8.

Results:
The percentage weight reduction of calcium oxalate stone was highest in the 4 mg/ml concentration. O. stamineus extract 4 mg/ml showed a better effect in terms of chemolytic action on calcium oxalate stone than the potassium citrate solution (70% vs. 41%). Regarding the calcium oxalate stone, the percentage weight reduction has shown about 70% in the pH 5, 48% in pH 7, and <10% in pH 8. The percentage weight reduction of uric acid stone was determined as 47%, 11%, and 14% for pH 5, 7, and 8, respectively. The percentage weight reduction of combination stone was 40%, 60%, and 80% in the pH 5, pH 7, and pH 8, respectively. Data analysis showed that the percentage weight reduction of combination stone was significantly different between acidic, neutral, and alkaline conditions (P = 0.027).

Conclusions:
In this in vitro study, we are able to show that O. stamineus water extract do have some dissolving capability of urinary stones.
Analytical Quality by Design Based Systematic Development and Optimization of a Sensitive Bioanalytical Method for Estimation Cinacalcet HCl in Rabbit Serum
Authors: Routray Sudhanshu Bhusan , Patra Chinam Niranjan , Swain Suryakanta , Jena Bikash Ranjan 
Published: March 2022

Context:
There is no straightforward method for estimating cinacalcet HCl in biological materials such as serum exists. As a result, the goal of this research is to develop a simple quality by design (QbD) enabled reverse phase-Ultra-Fast Liquid Chromatography (RP-UFLC) model for analyzing cinacalcet HCl in serum.

Aim:
The current study envisages the development and validation of an isocratic simple, precise, and rapid QbD enabled RP-UFLC method for the quantification of cinacalcet HCl in both solution form and blood samples.

Subjects and Methods:
The optimum conditions were outlined, selecting three influential factors (CMPs) i.e., mobile phase composition, flow rate, and injection volume. Systematic optimization was performed by 32-Box Benkhen experimental design using response surface methodology. The selected variables are further assessed for observed responses Critical Analytical attributes, i.e., peak area, retention time (Rt), USP Plate count. The optimized method used a chromatographic C18 (100 mm × 4.6 mm i.d) column with mobile phase (acetonitrile and Tetrabutyl Ammonium Hydrogen Sulphate [TBSH]) in the ratio of 1:1, with a flow rate of 1 mL/min with UV at λmax 223 nm. The developed method was found to be specific for cinacalcet HCl, enduring no interference of peaks with an overall analytical Rt of 4.3 min.

Results:
The Accuracy reported as % recovery was found to be 96.83%–101.32% and 95.18%–102.49% respectively. Inter-day precision (reproducibility) and intra-day precision (repeatability) were found to be 0.22–1.19 standard deviation (SD) and 0.14–2.12 SD respectively. The calibration curve was found to be linear with a regression equation Y = 195.8x + 21852, with R
2 0.999 over a concentration range from 100 to 100,000 ng/mL.

Conclusion:
The required detection and quantitation limits (Limit of Detection and Limit of Quantitation) values were obtained within the acceptance limit based on S/N ratio which indicates the method was sensitive and rapidity of the method. Further, the developed QbD enabled UFLC method was approved and effectively entreated the blood tests to study the pharmacokinetic parameters which indicate a robust, accurate cost-effective method intended for quality control tool for routine systematic analysis in research labs.
Thyroid Function Assessment in Saudi Males with Metabolic Syndrome
Authors: Aldhafiri Fahad Khalid , Abdelgawad Fathy Elsayed , Bakri Gihan Mohamed Mohamed , Saber Tamer 
Published: March 2022

Background:
Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) is a multifactor condition associated with cardiovascular risk. Thyroid hormones regulate MetS components via controlling energy homeostasis, lipids, and glucose metabolism. The risk ratio for MetS and related disorders changes between males and females. Aim and Objectives: Study aim to access thyroid functions in Saudi population with metabolic syndrome.

Materials and Methods:
The current study sought to evaluate the impact of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free triiodothyronine (FT3), and free thyroxine (FT4) in predicting the risk of MetS. A total of 200 (MetS 100 and control 100) Saudi Arabian males were enrolled for the study, and after applying eligibility criteria, the eligible study size was examined for the physical test (chest, abdominal, and general examination with stress on blood pressure measurement) and anthropometric parameters (bodyweight, body mass index, and waist circumference).

Results:
In the present study, the biochemical parameters, such as TSH, FT3, FT4, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), high-density lipoprotein (LDL), fasting glucose, and fasting insulin were measured in the study group, and statistical analysis was also performed. The results revealed that the MetS and control differ in terms of physical, anthropometric, and biochemical markers. The study showed that thyroid dysfunction (TD) and MetS are closely associated with the difference in physical, anthropometric, and metabolic characteristics.

Conclusion:
The result demonstrated hypothyroidism major risk factor due to TD in MetS. These findings provide a scientific basis for diagnosis and the management of TD, associated MetS, and cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Willem Anker’s Red Dog, Cormac McCarthy, and the Enigma of Coenraad de Buys
Authors: Cornwell Gareth 
Published: March 2022

Willem Anker has been accused of stealing from Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian (1985) in his novel Red Dog (2018), the English translation of his award-winning Buys (2014). I defend Anker on the charge of plagiarism, while conceding that his novel could not have been the book that it is without the precedent of Blood Meridian. I go on to voice other reservations about Red Dog via discussion, inter alia, of Anker’s characterisation of Coenraad Buys and the rendering in English of his Afrikaans original. I conclude that the historical Coenraad Buys appears intractable to novelistic treatment, and that Anker signals his awareness of this while at the same time making a valiant attempt to bring the character to life.
Keywords: Willem Anker, Red Dog, Buys, Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian, Sarah Gertrude Millin, King of the Bastards
The ‘Staffrider’ figure and the Reading of South African Poetry
Authors: Espin Mark 
Published: March 2022

This article revisits the figure of the ‘staffrider’ which inspired the title of the literary journal more than forty years ago. It considers how the disruptive, radical nature of this figure regains a measure of relevance in the aftermath of developments in literary theory, in particular, what is understood as the ‘linguistic turn’ with regard to language and meaning. The discussion here follows the premise that if a white aesthetic practice as a discursive construction is susceptible to a process of dismantling, then it must follow that the same can be applied to the constructed nature of a black aesthetic. These critiques must, simultaneously, trouble the claims that what has been circumscribed as a black aesthetics in poetry constitutes a homogenous counter aesthetic and, thus, a poetic tradition inspired almost exclusively by the terms of a fixed subjectivity. As a consequence, a revision of the antithesis between a black and white aesthetic is required, one which must explode the conventional schematic of South African poetry which has remained prevalent in critical scholarship up to this point. In doing so, I suggest it may be valuable to evoke the figure of the ‘staffrider’ as a productive symbol of the troubling yet always equally dynamic nature of the literary text.
Keywords: Aesthetics, deconstruction, South African poetry, Staffrider, subjectivity
Sharing Life on Earth: Material and Immaterial Needs in The Whale Caller
Authors: Iannaccaro Giuliana 
Published: March 2022

The present reading of Zakes Mda’s fifth book, The Whale Caller, aims at capturing the peculiarity of a novel which, besides bringing to the fore the basic material necessities of its characters, is also able to suggest that living beings harbour deep, less tangible and less palpable needs, which make life worth living and must, therefore, be perceived and acknowledged. Within this framework, I also suggest that the novel deals with distinctly human concerns without universalising the human perspective. I argue that The Whale Caller is too firmly anthropocentric to engage, as some scholars have maintained, with the crossing of interspecies boundaries, and at the same time that, revolving primarily around the human sphere, the novel does adopt a slanted, ‘anthropoeccentric’ outlook. The attention paid throughout the narrative to the spiritual dimension of life, one that concerns both human and non-human animals, prompts the reader to recognise the importance of taking into account both the material and the intangible aspects of existence. Besides, suggestions of a deep interconnectedness, not only among living beings, but also between them and traditionally considered non-living entities, are disseminated in the book. Accordingly, the present contribution seeks to counterbalance recent readings of the novel that – albeit particularly insightful in their analyses of eco-social global/local concerns – tend to disregard the spiritual dimension of the novel, which is shared among various characters and apparently pervades both human and non-human experience.
Keywords: Zakes Mda, The Whale Caller, postcolonial ecocriticism, anthropocentrism, eccentricity, immaterial needs
Interview with Nadia Nurhussein Black Land: Imperial Ethiopianism in African America
Authors: Adom Getachew  
Published: March 2022

In October 2020, Adom Getachew interviewed Nadia Nurhussein about her recent book “Black Land: Imperial Ethiopianism and African America” published by Princeton University Press in 2019. Black Land delves into nineteenth- and twentieth-century African American artistic and journalistic depictions of Ethiopia, illuminating the increasing tensions and ironies behind cultural celebrations of an African country asserting itself as an imperial power. Nurhussein navigates texts by Walt Whitman, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Pauline Hopkins, Harry Dean, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, George Schuyler, and others, alongside images and performances that show the intersection of African America with Ethiopia during historic political shifts. From a description of a notorious 1920 Star Order of Ethiopia flag-burning demonstration in Chicago to a discussion of the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie as Time magazine’s Man of the Year for 1935, Nurhussein illuminates the growing complications that modern Ethiopia posed for American writers and activists who wrestled with Pan-African ideal and the reality of Ethiopia as an imperialist state. Black Land was Winner of the MSA Book Prize, from the Modernist Studies Association, finalist for the Pauli Murray Book Prize from the African American Intellectual History Society and shortlisted for the MAAH Stone Book Award from the Museum of African American History.
Russian Colonialism in Central Asia: to Determine Time and Place
Authors: Vasilyev Dmitry V. 
Published: March 2022

The article is a brief overview of Russian legislative practices in the Central Asian region. Kazakh, Turkestan and Transcaspian lands are considered as a single region, as it was understood by the Russian imperial administration. The administration models implemented in it had a different nature and their own specifics. In this case, the time factor was of paramount importance. Russia had not yet formulated its agenda in relation to its southeastern periphery at the beginning of the 18th century. At that time, St. Petersburg perceived the Kazakh steppe as the outer territory of the empire (colony) and consistently implemented methods of indirect and direct control towards it. The situation changed in the middle of the 19th century. The complication of the foreign policy situation in Europe provoked the intensification of Russia in Central Asia. Active advancement towards the Afghan border entailed the transformation of the Kazakh lands into the inner territory of the empire wanting administrative assimilation with the rest of the state. At the same time, a “non‑colonial” view of the empire’s national outskirts prevailed in the Russian capital. The trend towards the spread of general imperial administrative-political and socio-economic norms and approaches to Central Asian possessions has become the leitmotif of the state policy. The system of military-public administration became manifestation of this policy, introduced in the Kazakh steppe, Russian Turkestan and the Transcaspian province in the second half of the 19th century.
Russian-Ottoman Border in the East Transcaucasia in the 20s-30s of the 18th century: Problems of Demarcation, Reaction of Frontier Communities
Authors: Magaramov Sharafetdin A. 
Published: March 2022

The paper analyses one of the issues of the eastern policy of Russia of the Peter’s era, related to the creation of the Russian-Ottoman frontier on the territory west to the Caspian Sea. The difficulties in the process of carrying out demarcation in the border zone caused by the negative reaction of various actors in the border life are discussed. The author introduces a new source – a historical map of the Caspian territories, on which the border between the Russian and Ottoman Empire is drawn; demarcation work, conducted by the committee, is shown. The study reveals that the Russian-Ottoman border line divided the communities of the East Transcaucasia without consideration of historical traditions of conducting economic activity and ethnocultural contacts, thus certain difficulties and unsteadiness occurred in the border zone. The reaction of the frontier participants make it possible, in general, to determine the attitude of the Caucasian and Persian political elites to the emergence of the Russian and Ottoman Empires in the Caucasus-Caspian region. The obtained scientific results are unique from the point of view of humanitarian knowledge, and they can be used for further development of various issues of the Caucasian foreign policy of the Russian and Ottoman Empires of the 18th century by Russian and foreign researchers.
The Implementation of Peter the Great’s Church Policy in the Eastern Outskirts of the Russian Empire
Authors: Dameshek Irina L. , Sannikov Alexandr P. 
Published: March 2022

The church reform of Peter the Great was meant to exercise strict control over the church revenues and expenditures, as well as to heavily regulate parish life. In the outskirts of the empire this is clearly visible in the records of Eastern Siberia which was part of the Irkutsk diocese. Church construction was restricted. The government hoped that a decreasing number of churches would result in less spending by believers and a lessening of the parish clergy. In 1723 the Synod allowed to build new churches, without any special order, only in place of the burned and dilapidated ones, which was followed by a widespread ban on the construction of chapels. Peter the 1st limited the number of the non-pecuniary population, which included the clergy. Censorial (literacy, age) and staff (determined by the number of households in the parish) restrictions were introduced, as well as the system of control over the number of clergy (limiting access to its composition of the pecuniary population). Parish life was also regulated. Parishioners were required to attend temples regularly, to confess and commune, to partake in the Christian sacraments, to attend solemn services announced on various occasions, and to participate in public celebrations requiring attendance in church. In general, the church policy of Peter the Great was clearly aimed at gaining control over the process of church building, restraining the growth of the parish clergy, and formalizing parish life. The Synod became the organizer of this policy, and the episcopate became the guide.
Genealogías performáticas y sujetos populares. Experiencias de danzas folklóricas y populares en Brasil y Argentina.
Authors: Greco Lucrecia Raquel , Hirose María Belén 
Published: March 2022

O trabalho analisa comparativamente duas etnografias sobre danças folclóricas e populares na Argentina e no Brasil. Propõe estudar os modos em que as características, genealogias e contextos de práticas dos gêneros performáticos afetam a forma em que os sujeitos devêm performers do gênero que praticam. O artigo procura dar conta de diferenças e semelhanças na pratica de danças entre setores populares em dois casos específicos: as danças folclóricas num balé na Argentina e o jongo em um projeto social no Brasil.
Guyraroká, Panambizinho e Te’Yikue: Uma experiência com cinema e novas mídias
Authors: Guimarães Foscaches Nataly , Aguilera Urquiza Antonio Hilario 
Published: March 2022

Com base em estudo etnográfico, este artigo pretende retratar os primeiros passos em favor do empoderamento dos jovens Kaiowá e Guarani das Terras Indígenas Guyraroká, Panambizinho e Te’Yikue, de MS, por meio do cinema e das novas tecnologias, bem como a finalidade e expectativas em relação ao uso destes meios. Resultados parciais mostram que o uso destas tecnologias contribui com a melhoria da autoestima do grupo e fomenta o sentido de pertencimento destes jovens a suas comunidades. Porém, a falta de incentivo impossibilita a concretização deste processo. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Kaiowá e Guarani, cinema, novas mídias, empoderamento.