Early 1990s Research Articles

Genetic diversity and evolution of G12P[6] DS-1-like and G12P[9] AU-1-like Rotavirus strains in Brazil.

In the early 2000s, the global emergence of rotavirus (RVA) G12P[8] genotype was noted, while G12P[6] and G12P[9] combinations remained rare in humans. This study aimed to characterize and phylogenetically analyze three Brazilian G12P[9] and four G12P[6] RVA strains from 2011 to 2020, through RT-PCR and sequencing, in order to enhance our understanding of the genetic relationship between human and animal-origin RVA strains. G12P[6] strains displayed a DS-1-like backbone, showing a distinct genetic clustering. G12P[6] IAL-R52/2020, IAL-R95/2020 and IAL-R465/2019 strains clustered with 2019 Northeastern G12P[6] Brazilian strains and a 2018 Benin strain, whereas IAL-R86/2011 strain grouped with 2010 Northern G12P[6] Brazilian strains and G2P[4] strains from the United States and Belgium. These findings suggest an African genetic ancestry and reassortments with co-circulating American strains sharing the same DS-1-like constellation. No recent zoonotic reassortment was observed, and the DS-1-like constellation detected in Brazilian G12P[6] strains does not seem to be genetically linked to globally reported intergenogroup G1/G3/G9/G8P[8] DS-1-like human strains. G12P[9] strains exhibited an AU-1-like backbone with two different genotype-lineage constellations: IAL-R566/2011 and IAL-R1151/2012 belonged to a VP3/M3.V Lineage, and IAL-R870/2013 to a VP3/M3.II Lineage, suggesting two co-circulating strains in Brazil. This genetic diversity is not observed elsewhere, and the VP3/M3.II Lineage in G12P[9] strains seems to be exclusive to Brazil, indicating its evolution within the country. All three G12P[9] AU-1-like strains were closely relate to G12P[9] strains from Paraguay (2006-2007) and Brazil (2010). Phylogenetic analysis also highlighted that all South American G12P[9] AU-1-like strains had a common origin and supports the hypothesis of their importation from Asia, with no recent introduction from globally circulating G12P[9] strains or reassortments with local G12 strains P[8] or P[6]. Notably, certain genes in the Brazilian G12P[9] AU-1-like strains share ancestry with feline/canine RVAs (VP3/M3.II, NSP4/E3.IV and NSP2/N3.II), whereas NSP1/A3.VI likely originated from artiodactyls, suggesting a history of zoonotic transmission with human strains. This genomic data adds understanding to the molecular epidemiology of G12P[6] and G12P[9] RVA strains in Brazil, offering insights into their genetic diversity and evolution.

The De-Europeanization of the Kurdish Question in Turkey and the EU

ABSTRACT Using an in-depth interview method, this study examined HDP deputies’ thoughts concerning Turkey–EU relations, its effect on Kurdish issues, and the HDP’s expectations of the EU, showing that the high expectations of the EU during the 1990s and early 2000s have faded and that the EU accession process no longer generates enthusiasm among the HDP deputies interviewed. The most notable finding of the interviews was the consensus that the EU has now lost its role as the driving force for Turkey’s democratization and, moreover, that the EU has ignored Turkey’s authoritarianism by remaining silent on AKP’s disobedience of the Copenhagen criteria and non-compliance with international agreements. The interviewees believed that the EU has become an accomplice of the AKP regime by indirectly supporting Erdoğan’s authoritarianism. Both the EU and Turkey’s loss of faith in Turkey’s full membership have caused the EU to lose its transformative power, encouraging the AKP government to more confidently jettison the values of democracy and human rights. Moreover, the recent developments in the Middle East, particularly the emergence of a Kurdish entity in Syria and Iraq, have resulted in a redirection of Kurdish attention towards the Middle East.

Cold War Austria and Migration from Eastern Europe: Refugees and Labor Migrants

Abstract This article revisits Austria's migration history from the end of World War II until the end of the Cold War. Recent research has challenged the persistently commemorated welcoming Austrian attitude toward refugees who had been living under communism. The initial humanitarian efforts in 1956 and 1968, respectively, were remarkable. However, an analysis beyond the first weeks of both events reveals that (though to different degrees) public and political attitudes toward refugees took a negative turn. Throughout the 1970s, asylum for dissidents was portrayed as a continuation of the country's humanitarian tradition. However, in 1981, refugees from Poland were immediately perceived as unwanted labor migrants. In 1989/90, the scenario was similar: while the transiting East German refugees were welcomed, migrants from other countries (like Romania) were not. In the early 1990s, Austria decided on a reform of its asylum and foreigner policies. But when and why did the (supposedly welcome) refugees from countries under communist rule turn into unwelcome labor migrants? The analysis in this article explores the potential impact of the age of détente and the repercussions of the 1970s economic crises and the resulting end to active recruitment of foreign workers.

AcSac, SacSac, and SacNac, the Forgotten Sulfur‐Based Ligands and their Reactivity in the Formation of Main and Transition Metal Complexes

AcAc (β‐acetylacetonate) are among the first ligands ever, to be studied. They all form stable complexes with most metals. During the 1960s, their sulfur derivatives were introduced; AcSac (β‐thioketonate), SacSac (β‐dithioketonate) and SacNac (β‐thioketoiminate). These derivatives were conferred contrasting reactivity, stereochemical, magnetic and spectral properties to their formed complexes. Later, sulfur‐ligands were at their pinnacle in the early 1970s, but their fall into disuse was due to the lack of methodologies for obtaining them and the lack of synthetic tools for their structural modification. As an effort to promote the study and application of these sulfur‐ligands; this review will address its history, the properties they bring to the metal centers and their potential applications.

Spatial–temporal transmission dynamics of HIV-1 CRF01_AE in Indonesia

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) remains a serious health threat in Indonesia. In particular, the CRF01_AE viruses were the predominant HIV-1 strains in various cities in Indonesia. However, information on the dynamic transmission characteristics and spatial–temporal transmission of HIV-1 CRF01_AE in Indonesia is limited. Therefore, the present study examined the spatial–temporal transmission networks and evolutionary characteristics of HIV-1 CRF01_AE in Indonesia. To clarify the epidemiological connection between CRF01_AE outbreaks in Indonesia and the rest of the world, we performed phylogenetic studies on nearly full genomes of CRF01_AE viruses isolated in Indonesia. Our results showed that five epidemic clades, namely, IDN clades 1–5, of CRF01_AE were found in Indonesia. To determine the potential source and mode of transmission of CRF01_AE, we performed Bayesian analysis and built maximum clade credibility trees for each clade. Our study revealed that CRF01_AE viruses were commonly introduced into Indonesia from Southeast Asia, particularly Thailand. The CRF01_AE viruses might have spread through major pandemics in Asian countries, such as China, Vietnam, and Laos, rather than being introduced directly from Africa in the early 1980s. This study has major implications for public health practice and policy development in Indonesia. The contributions of this study include understanding the dynamics of HIV-1 transmission that is important for the implementation of HIV disease control and prevention strategies in Indonesia.

Understanding the intrinsic biology of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: recent advances and future prospects.

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common type of lymphoid tumor, and accounts for approximately 30-40% of non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Although the prognosis has significantly improved with the advent of rituximab combination chemotherapy in the early 2000s, recurrence still occurs in about 40% of cases. Even though chemotherapy with increased dose-intensity is used in recurrent cases, the prognosis of such patients remains poor. Thus, the development of personalized medicine, including molecular-targeted drugs, is required to improve the prognosis of DLBCL patients, and further understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of DLBCL is essential for this purpose. With recent advances in genetic analysis technology, unknown genetic abnormalities and gene expression patterns have been discovered, and based on these discoveries, progress is being made in elucidating and subdividing molecular pathologies. This article summarizes recent findings regarding molecular pathogenesis in DLBCL using transcriptome and genomics technologies, and outlines the path to personalized medicine.

The global development of value orientations, political support and democracy since the 1990s

This article analyzes the global development of democracy since the 1990s. The theoretical introduction is followed by a descriptive analysis of several indices of political support based on survey results for 89 countries that participated at least twice in the World Values Survey (WVS) or the European Values Study (EVS). The analysis focuses on emancipative value orientations measured by Welzel's Choice Index and several indicators of political support. The scores of these indicators are broken down by five regime types and seven world regions. The results confirm that the global decline of democratic quality since the mid-2000s has not been as dramatic as the pessimistic analyses of Freedom House and the V-Dem project have claimed. It has primarily taken place in a limited number of populous countries on which these publications have focused. When countries are treated equally, the quality of democracy has remained remarkably stable since the early 1990s. Emancipative values are globally on the rise, but their increase has been considerably higher in the established democracies. This supports the skeptical argument that they cannot be considered as the major cause of the third wave of democratization. The descriptive analysis is complemented by regression analyses for confidence in regime institutions and support for democracy as dependent variables. The evaluation of democratic regime performance is the strongest predictor of confidence in regime institutions. An intrinsic conception of democracy and the importance assigned to living in a democracy have the strongest influence on support for democracy. Emancipative value orientations have a minor influence on political support even in consolidated democracies. Finally, the analysis does not confirm the suspected relationship between the different levels of political support. Easton's theory of political support assumed that they mutually influence each other via a generalization of experiences or an overflow of values. Instead, it seems that confidence in regime institutions and support for democracy follow different cognitive logics.

A systematic literature review on women’s daily mobility in the Global North

ABSTRACT Since the early 1980s, the differences between the daily mobility patterns of men and women have attracted increasing interest from scholars and policymakers. Academic literature has revealed that women in advanced countries tend to travel shorter distances, make more daily trips, use cars less frequently, and are more willing to adopt sustainable travel behaviours than men. However, with changing family and labour market conditions, new trends are emerging, which open avenues for further investigation. Based on these premises, this study systematically reviews recent studies on women’s daily mobility across urban and peri-urban areas of the Global North. The studies published in the last ten years are systematized by developing an analytical framework that facilitates synthesising research findings, identifying research gaps, outlining directions for further studies in the field, and providing insights to policymakers to design initiatives for fair and inclusive mobility.

Emerging Influence of Enhanced Greenland Melting on Boundary Currents and Deep Convection Regimes in the Labrador and Irminger Seas

AbstractFreshwater input from Greenland ice sheet melt has been increasing in the past decades from warming temperatures. To identify the impacts from enhanced meltwater input into the subpolar North Atlantic from 1997 to 2021, we use output from two nearly identical simulations in the eddy‐rich model VIKING20X (1/20°) only differing in the freshwater input from Greenland: one with realistic interannually varying runoff increasing in the early 2000s and the other with climatologically (1961–2000) continued runoff. The majority of the additional freshwater remains within the boundary current enhancing the density gradient toward the warm and salty interior waters yielding increased current velocities. The accelerated boundary current shows a tendency to enhanced, upstream shifted eddy shedding into the Labrador Sea interior. Further, the experiments allow to attribute higher stratification and shallower mixed layers southwest of Greenland and deeper mixed layers in the Irminger Sea, particularly in 2015–2018, to the runoff increase in the early 2000s.

A real-time virtual outing using virtual reality for a hospitalized terminal cancer patient who has difficulty going out: a case report

Objective: Even if hospitalized terminal cancer patients wish to go out, it is sometimes difficult for them to realize this because of various symptoms. We have been providing a virtual outing experience using virtual reality (VR) for terminal cancer patients who have difficulty going out, and have often received requests to “talk with people in the virtual outing,” but there is a problem that a large time lag occurs in conversation in a VR space under the general Internet environment. However, with the advent of systems that enable high-speed, low-latency communications, real-time communication is now possible even in VR spaces. Thus, we aimed to explore the feasibility of implementing the real-time virtual outing.Methods: The patient’s preferred virtual outing was to his daughter’s new home. The study operator used a 360° video real-time sharing system to broadcast the view of the daughter’s home. The patient experienced the images using a VR head-mounted display in his room. The patient’s wife, son, daughter, and grandson participated in this delivery using a laptop computer from a dayroom in the hospital, and his daughter’s husband participated using the 360° video real-time sharing system from the daughter’s home with the researcher. Before and after the virtual outing, changes in symptoms and emotions were assessed using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System Revised Japanese version and the Numerical Rating Scale for headache, dizziness, pleasure, and satisfaction. In addition, we collected the patients’ impressions of the virtual outing.Results: The patient was a male in his early 70s. After approximately 30 min of real-time virtual outings, “tiredness, drowsiness, depression, and wellbeing” were improved and “pleasure, and satisfaction” were increased, while no side effects or worsening of symptoms were observed. In addition, it was observed from the patient’s comments that he felt a sense of presence, as if he were her home.Discussion: The patient and his family could enjoy smooth conversation without time lag even in the VR space. Therefore, it was suggested that real-time virtual outings using VR could help realize the wishes of hospitalized terminal cancer patients who have difficulty going out as a new approach.

Christopher Tam: Brief history and accomplishments

This introduction provides a brief personal background and highlights the scientific accomplishments of Professor Christopher Tam. He has maintained extremely high standards of research and an enviable track record for productivity, spanning more than five decades. The depth and breadth of his technical output are truly breathtaking, and he has inspired scores of researchers and graduate students. When the first author was an Acoustics Engineer at Lockheed, Georgia, he started collaborating with Chris in the early 1990s. There were several joint projects when the author moved to Boeing, which encompassed both fundamental research and applications. The second author has an even longer association with Chris, initially as a PhD advisee in the late 1980s and then as a co-researcher. In this special volume we pay tribute to Chris’s many achievements, an endeavor that provides us with great satisfaction and which is long overdue.

Cultural globalization at sea: the rise of the modern Caribbean cruise industry

ABSTRACT Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian—the largest cruise lines today—emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s, advertising their packaged vacations to a growing audience of middle-class Americans interested in encountering cultural difference. This article argues that, beginning in the late 1970s and continuing into the following decade, the cultural representations that these mass-market companies leveraged drew on Eurocentric understandings of Caribbean societies, homogenizing those countries despite attempts to showcase difference. These companies also reimagined global cultures Eurocentrically in onboard themed experiences. As both a product and agent of globalization, the mass-market cruise industry selectively deployed referents in ways that increased the appeal of cruising as escapism while reducing the likelihood of cultural confusion and reassuring passengers of their comfort. Through these processes, companies produced cruise ships as metaspaces while simultaneously expanding the construction of metaspaces to ports as they gained economic and political power in the Caribbean. This process resulted in the erasure of cultural difference.

Cognitive linguistics-inspired language instruction

Second language acquisition (SLA) or second/foreign language teaching has been influenced to various degrees by key linguistic theories, including structural linguistics (Bloomfield, 1933; Saussure, 1959), generative linguistics (Chomsky, 1957, 1965), systemic functional linguistics (Halliday, 1973), and, more recently, contemporary Cognitive Linguistics (CL; Goldberg, 1995; Lakoff, 1987, 1993; Langacker, 1987, 1991; Talmy, 1988, 2000), a theory composed of several related linguistic approaches often viewed as a response or complement to generative linguistics. While structural linguistics, generative linguistics, and systemic functional linguistics have each provided a theoretical impetus for one or more of the prominent language teaching methods or approaches over the past century (such as the Audiolingual method, the Natural method, and the Communicative Language Teaching method), CL, as a newcomer, has begun to exert a growing influence since the early 1990s. Given that the purpose of this research timeline article is to present a historical overview of the key thoughts and studies on CL-inspired approaches to instructed second language acquisition (ISLA),1 a brief discussion of CL's main differences from the other linguistic theories and its key theoretical tenets is in order.

Genomic Analysis of Aedes aegypti in the Northern Chihuahuan Desert of Texas and Mexico.

Background: Aedes aegypti, is the primary vector of dengue, Chikungunya, Zika, and yellow fever viruses. Both natural and human-impacted landscapes have selective pressures on Ae. aegypti, resulting in strong genomic structure even within close geographical distances. Materials and Methods: We assess the genetic structure of this medically important mosquito species at the northern leading edge of their distribution in Southwestern USA. Ae. aegypti were collected during 2017 in the urban communities of El Paso and Sparks, Texas (USA) and in the city of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Results: Thousands of nuclear loci were sequenced across 260 captured Ae. aegypti. First, we recovered the genetic structure of Ae. aegypti following geography, with all four major collection communities being genetically distinct. Importantly, we found population structure and genetic diversity that suggest rapid expansion through active-short distance dispersals, with Anapra being the likely source for the others. Next, tests of selection recovered eight functional genes across six outliers: calmodulin with olfactory receptor function; the protein superfamily C-type lectin with function in mosquito immune system and development; and TATA box binding protein with function in gene regulation. Conclusion: Despite these populations being documented in the early 2000s, we find that selective pressures on specific genes have already occurred and likely facilitate Ae. aegypti range expansion.

Complex Transitions of the Bounded Confidence Model from an Odd Number of Clusters to the Next

The bounded confidence model assumes simple continuous opinion dynamics in which agents ignore opinions which are too far from their own. The two initial variants—Hegselmann–Krause (HK) and Deffuant–Weisbuch (DW)—of the model have attracted significant attention since the early 2000s. This paper revisits the version of the HK model applied to a probability distribution, earlier studied by Jan Lorenz. It shows that the bifurcation diagram depends on the parity of the size of the discretisation and that adding a small noise to the initial conditions leads to complex transitions involving several phases.

Chalk and Cheese? A comparative study of Bessie Head (1937–1986) and Lewis Nkosi (1936–2010)

This article brings together two giants of Southern African literature and criticism for the purposes of comparison, particularly of their experience of the Drum and Golden City Post era, and the immediate aftermath. Bessie Head and Lewis Nkosi, both journalists, first crossed paths in the Johannesburg of what Nkosi called ‘The Fabulous Decade’ of the 1950s; both, in the early 1960s, went into exile – Nkosi to America to take up a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University; and Head to Serowe in Botswana to become a teacher. Both left, after having passports refused, on one-way exit permits which meant they couldn’t return, for the duration of apartheid rule at least. There were, of course, significant differences as well: though both had difficult childhoods, Head’s struggles as a disowned illegitimate foster child were harder than Nkosi’s who at least had some family to support him in his early years; Head’s battle with mental health was not shared by Nkosi, though her dependence on alcohol was. In terms of their long-term reputations, Head was the more acclaimed novelist, while Nkosi’s acclaim was for his critical writings. This article is a preliminary step towards comparatively discussing these two exiled writers whose paths crossed briefly in turbulent personal and political times in South Africa.

Revealing the three-dimensional arrangement of polar topology in nanoparticles

In the early 2000s, low dimensional ferroelectric systems were predicted to have topologically nontrivial polar structures, such as vortices or skyrmions, depending on mechanical or electrical boundary conditions. A few variants of these structures have been experimentally observed in thin film model systems, where they are engineered by balancing electrostatic charge and elastic distortion energies. However, the measurement and classification of topological textures for general ferroelectric nanostructures have remained elusive, as it requires mapping the local polarization at the atomic scale in three dimensions. Here we unveil topological polar structures in ferroelectric BaTiO3 nanoparticles via atomic electron tomography, which enables us to reconstruct the full three-dimensional arrangement of cation atoms at an individual atom level. Our three-dimensional polarization maps reveal clear topological orderings, along with evidence of size-dependent topological transitions from a single vortex structure to multiple vortices, consistent with theoretical predictions. The discovery of the predicted topological polar ordering in nanoscale ferroelectrics, independent of epitaxial strain, widens the research perspective and offers potential for practical applications utilizing contact-free switchable toroidal moments.

Trends in incidence, treatment, and relative survival of colorectal cancer in the Netherlands between 2000 and 2021

BackgroundThe epidemiology of colorectal cancer (CRC) has changed rapidly over the years. The aim of this study was to assess the trends in incidence, treatment, and relative survival (RS) of patients diagnosed with CRC in the Netherlands between 2000 and 2021. Patients and methods2 75667 patients diagnosed with CRC between 2000 and 2021 were included from the Netherlands Cancer Registry. Analyses were stratified for disease extent (localised: T1-3N0M0; regional: T4N0M0/T1-4N1-2M0; distant: T1-4N0-2M1) and localisation (colon; rectum). Trends were assessed with joinpoint regression. ResultsCRC incidence increased until the mid-2010s but decreased strongly thereafter to rates comparable with the early 2000s. Amongst other trend changes, local excision rates increased for patients with localised colon (2021: 13.6 %) and rectal cancer (2021: 34.9 %). Moreover, primary tumour resection became less common in patients with distant colon (2000–2021: 60.9–12.5 %) or rectal cancer (2000–2021: 47.8–6.9 %), while local treatment of metastases rates increased. Five-year RS improved continuously for localised and regional colon (97.7 % and 72.0 % in 2017, respectively) and rectal cancer (95.2 % and 76.3 % in 2017, respectively). The rate of anti-cancer treatments decreased in distant colon (2010–2021: 80.3 % to 67.2 %; p < 0.001) and rectal cancer (2011–2021: 86.0 % to 77.0 %; p < 0.001). The improvement of five-year RS stagnated for distant colon (2010–2017: 11.2 % to 11.9 %; average percentage of change [APC]: 2.1, 95 % confidence interval [CI]: −7.6, 4.7) and rectal cancer (2009–2017: 12.7 % to 15.6 %; APC: 1.4, 95 % CI: −19.1, 5.5). ConclusionsMajor changes in the incidence and treatment of CRC between 2000 and 2021 were identified and quantified. Five-year RS increased continuously for patients with localised and regional CRC, but stagnated for patients with distant CRC, likely caused by decreased rates of anti-cancer treatment in this group.

Confinia Cephalalgica: a new start

In the early 1950s, Federigo Sicuteri, professor of clinical pharmacology, following the indication of his mentor, Enrico Greppi, professor of internal medicine, started a modern Italian investigation and clinical unit exclusively dedicated to headache medicine at the Careggi Hospital of the University of Florence. Soon, other colleagues – mostly but not exclusively neurologists – joined these pioneers and founded in 1976 the Italian Society for the Study of Headaches [...].

Vitamin D: Analytical Advances, Clinical Impact, and Ongoing Debates on Health Perspectives.

Vitamin D, acknowledged since the 1930s for its role in preventing rickets, gained additional prominence in relation to fragility fracture prevention in the late 1980s. From the early 2000s, connections between vitamin D deficiency and extra-skeletal pathologies emerged, alongside increased awareness of widespread deficits. This prompted crucial debates on optimal serum concentrations, expected to conclude when the outcomes of high-dose supplementation randomized controlled trials were available. Skepticism arose with inconclusive results from these trials. This review begins with an exploration of vitamin D metabolism, followed by a detailed description of the measurement of vitamin D metabolites and the crucial role of standardization. Subsequent sections focus on the association of vitamin D with bone health and explore the extra-skeletal effects. The review concludes with a comprehensive discussion on the definition of vitamin D status and its implications for supplementation. Despite standardization efforts, assay variations and challenges still exist, especially in specific patient groups. Vitamin D supplementation has a significant impact on bone metabolism and optimal vitamin D status improves the efficacy of antiresorptive drugs such as bisphosphonates. The extra-skeletal effects of vitamin D remain debated, but may include potential benefits in conditions such as respiratory infections and cancer mortality, particularly in deficient individuals. The definition of vitamin D sufficiency is nuanced, especially when variations in population groups and analytical methods are taken into account. Despite ongoing debates and recent mega-trials tempering enthusiasm, vitamin D remains a complex and essential element in human health. Further research is needed to clarify its role in various health outcomes and guide supplementation strategies.