Short-term Reactions Research Articles

How to build the future of teaching and learning while growing from the changes and challenges of 2020–21

The challenges of the last two years that the COVID-19 pandemic directly caused or exacerbated will have long-lasting impacts on teaching and learning in higher education. The need now is to thoughtfully evaluate lessons learned and areas of growth to apply in the move forward instead of succumbing to the pressures to return to old systems. Will administrators, instructors and students choose productive and effective paths forward that will enhance learning for all? Or will they slide back into old norms out of comfort or fatigue? How do we extract positive changes from these events? There have been many conversations related to this reflection within higher education. This paper presents the early and hypothesised lasting impacts of the past two years’ events on teaching and learning organised across seven themes: course logistics, tools, activities and assessment for learning, student services and programmes, work culture, attitudes, and relationships. Each theme includes the relevant challenges, the short-term reactions and solutions and examples of continuing positive practices. The process to develop the future of teaching and learning in higher education requires reflection on the past two years and deliberate action to grow from the lessons learned to avoid the pullback to fully pre-pandemic practices.

Twenty-First Century Global ADR Management: A Need for Clarification, Redesign, and Coordinated Action.

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are estimated to be between the fourth and sixth most common cause of death worldwide, taking their place among other prevalent causes of mortality such as heart disease, cancer, and stroke. ADRs impact a broad range of populations across a wide variety of global geography and demographics, with significant mortality and morbidity burden in vulnerable groups such as older people, pediatric populations, and individuals in low-income settings. Too large a share of medicines risk management remains limited to signal detection in big ADR databases (USFDA, EMA, WHO, etc.) This resource allocation is antiquated and applied statistical signal detection methodologies have reached their limits of usefulness. In addition, existing databases are designed for short-term reactions, closely related to medication use and, thus, can only partially assess important broader consequences across geography, time, and clinical relevance. There is an urgent need change the dynamic. We need to identify (earlier and more regularly) many of the important but often overlooked or missed ADRs. Rather than assigning blame, we need to identify the root causes of the problem so they can be clearly addressed and fixed. The public health implications are profound—particularly as we recognize the importance of predicting and mitigating the next pandemic. Consequently, medicines risk management must be integrated within a broader global public health vision. To accomplish this, we need to develop the new tools and methodologies critical to assessing these public health imperatives.

Effect of lime source, fineness and granulation on neutralisation of soil pH

Little information is available regarding the liming efficiency of various local lime sources and products currently available in South Africa. Recently, granulated micro-fine limes are being widely marketed as being superior to class A limes. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of various local, commercially available hydrated, calcitic and dolomitic lime sources (i.e., from different quarries) and forms (class A, micro-fine and granulated micro-fine) at increasing soil pH over time (365 days) under controlled conditions in two contrasting acid soils (sand and loam). Liming materials were applied adjusted for calcium carbonate equivalence (CCE) to achieve a target pHKCl of 5.5 and incubated at 85% field capacity. Micro-fine calcitic limes and hydrated limes increased pH the fastest (first 30–60 days), but the difference between these materials and class A limes attenuated over time. The difference in performance between class A limes was relatively minor (0.5 pH units), if applied based on CCE. Chemical purity (Ca%, CCE) was the main factor controlling liming effectiveness and particle fineness only related to the short-term reaction (4–7 days). Granulated limes showed the poorest performance in terms of pH correction attributed to poor solubility and spatial zonation of liming effects.

Efficacy of Bevacizumab Combined with Pemetrexed in the Treatment of Recurrent and Metastatic Cervical Cancer.

BackgroundTo investigate the efficacy and safety of bevacizumab combined with pemetrexed in the treatment of recurrent and metastatic cervical cancer.MethodsClinical data of 65 patients with recurrent and metastatic cervical cancer who were admitted to our hospital were collected for retrospective analysis. All patients were administered with bevacizumab combined with pemetrexed for 4–6 cycles (21 days as 1 cycle). The short-term clinical efficacy and adverse reactions were compared between the two groups. In addition, the survival status of patients was followed up and recorded.ResultsAt least 4 cycles of chemotherapy were given to the 65 patients. There were 0 cases of complete response (CR), 14 cases of partial response (PR), 36 cases of stable disease (SD) and 15 cases of progressive disease (PD). The objective response rate (ORR) and the disease control rate (DCR) were 21.5% (14/65) and 76.9% (50/65), respectively. DCR was superior in patients with squamous cell carcinoma to that in those with adenocarcinoma (p = 0.039), but no statistically significant difference was found in ORR. Patients with extra-pelvic metastatic lesions had a better efficacy than those with intra-pelvic metastatic lesions, but the difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The post-treatment adverse reactions mainly involved fatigue, nausea and vomiting, bleeding, leukopenia, anemia, thrombocytopenia, transaminase elevation, hypertension, proteinuria and neurotoxicity, most of which were grade I–II that ameliorated after symptomatic therapy. Grade III adverse reactions mainly included pain in 5 cases (7.7%), leukopenia in 17 cases (26.2%), anemia in 22 cases (33.8%), thrombocytopenia in 6 cases (9.2%), hypertension in 5 cases (7.7%) and neurotoxicity in 7 cases (10.8%). The follow-up results manifested that median overall survival (OS) and median progression-free survival (PFS) were 10.6 months and 6.6 months, respectively.ConclusionBevacizumab combined with pemetrexed exhibits certain efficacy in the treatment of recurrent and metastatic cervical cancer, with tolerable adverse reactions. Therefore, this therapeutic option deserves clinical popularization and application.

Rare Earth Element Geochemistry of Late Cenozoic Island Carbonates in the South China Sea

Marine carbonates, precipitating from seawater through inorganic geochemical and biogeochemical processes, are considered to have recorded the seawater geochemical signatures reflecting the marine environmental conditions during their formation. However, they are susceptible to post-depositional diagenetic alteration. The redox conditions and chemical composition of the diagenetic fluid may be different from those of the overlying seawater. Therefore, assessing whether carbonate rocks that have experienced variable diagenesis could still preserve primary seawater geochemistry is a prerequisite before inferring ancient marine environments using geochemical tracers such as the cerium anomaly (Ce/Ce*). Here, we investigate rare earth elements plus yttrium (REY) geochemical features of reefal carbonates from the XK-1 core in the Xisha Islands of the South China Sea. We aim to evaluate whether island carbonates have the potential to preserve reliable primary seawater REY geochemical characteristics after experiencing meteoric diagenesis, marine burial diagenesis, or dolomitization. The results show that even after variable diagenetic alteration, all carbonate samples exhibit seawater-like REY patterns, which are characterized by negative Ce anomalies (Ce/Ce* < 1), distinctively high Y/Ho ratios (>44), and uniform depletion of light rare earth elements (LREE) relative to heavy rare earth elements (HREE) ((Pr/Yb)N < 1). This suggests that the original seawater REY signatures are retained, regardless of varying degrees of changes in the mineralogical composition, diagenetic fluid composition, and redox state. The unmodifiable REY characteristics in carbonates during diagenesis can be attributed to three aspects: (1) during meteoric diagenesis, the low REY content of meteoric fluids and the short-term reactions between fluids and carbonates make it difficult to significantly alter the REY composition of carbonates; (2) during marine burial diagenesis, the ubiquitous cementation creates a relatively closed environment that facilitates the inheritance of REY signatures from primary carbonates; (3) during dolomitization, the dolomitizing fluids derived from penecontemporaneous seawater would not destroy but rather promote the preservation of the original seawater REY signatures in dolostones. The Ce/Ce* variations indicate that the Xisha carbonates have been deposited under constantly oxic conditions since the Neogene, consistent with paleontological and redox-sensitive element geochemical evidence.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy during the Perinatal Period: Understanding Psychological and Cultural Factors to Improve Care and Address Racial/Ethnic Health Inequities.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy during the Perinatal Period: Understanding Psychological and Cultural Factors to Improve Care and Address Racial/Ethnic Health Inequities.

Online Monitoring of Small Volume Reactions Using Compact Liquid Chromatography Instrumentation.

A wide variety of analytical techniques have been employed for monitoring chemical reactions, with online instrumentation providing additional benefits compared to offline analysis. A challenge in the past for online monitoring has been placement of the monitoring instrumentation as close as possible to the reaction vessel to maximize sampling temporal resolution and preserve sample composition integrity. Furthermore, the ability to sample very small volumes from bench-scale reactions allows the use of small reaction vessels and conservation of expensive reagents. In this study, a compact capillary LC instrument was used for online monitoring of as small as 1 mL total volume of a chemical reaction mixture, with automated sampling of nL-scale volumes directly from the reaction vessel used for analysis. Analyses to demonstrate short term (~2 h) and long term (~ 50 h) reactions were conducted using tandem on-capillary ultraviolet absorbance followed by in-line MS detection or ultraviolet absorbance detection alone, respectively. For both short term and long term reactions (10 and 250 injections, respectively), sampling approaches using syringe pumps minimized the overall sample loss to ~0.2% of the total reaction volume.

Neuropsychological Fundamentals of Envy

The article deals with psychogenetic and neuropsychological principles of envy. Its originality lies in the fact that envy is seen as an unpleasant emotion and feeling, and a negative attitude, projected onto another person who, compared to the object of envy, has certain advantages, opportunities, or is in a more favourable position (social, psychological, physical, financial). Besides, the article analyzes theoretical-empirical and experimental studies on envy, its neuropsychological aspects and influence on the functioning of the brain. It shows prerequisites (genetic and social) for envy as an emotional experience and analyzes the role of social comparison in generating and consolidating envy. The article discusses describes the neuropsychological localization of envy in brain structures and the role of mirror neurons in the formation of envious impulses. It also theoretically proves that envy as a mental reaction is a situational and short-term feeling of dissatisfaction aroused by someone else’s possessions, qualities or luck, which is manifested in a strong desire to have them for oneself right away. Social comparison (not in one’s favour) causes a profound drop in self-esteem, which the brain perceives as physical pain. This triggers specific mechanisms of imaginary psychological compensation when someone else’s defeat is perceived as one’s victory. Short-term envious reactions are based on the natural action mechanism of mirror neurons in the brain that come from “imitative desire”, important for survival. Neuropsychologists have traced the overactivation of mirror neurons responsible for assessment and motivation in those people whose experience of envy is frequent and long-term. The article suggests possible ways of envy psychocorrection based on the neuropsychological mechanisms of its formation.

The impact of COVID-19 on house prices in Northern Ireland: price persistence, yet divergent?

ABSTRACT The recent onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a pervasive impact on all economies and indeed housing markets. This research investigates the regional impact of the pandemic on the Northern Ireland housing market and provides a unique opportunity to measure short-term reactions to epidemic shocks. Applying a unique dataset, the research measures whether price switching effects are evident as a consequence of the epidemic, and to what extent. In order to achieve this, the research applies spatial lag models to account for the effect of COVID-19 on housing market pricing behaviour. The findings show that the autocorrelation of house prices increased after COVID-19, revealing price persistence driven by behavioural changes. The results further show that a price divergent effect is observable, with the detached sector ‘leading’ the price changes. This price divergence is also apparent for rural dwellings and for neighbourhoods with higher socio-economic standing making them more resistant to the outbreak of COVID-19. This is an important finding as it reveals that epidemics of this nature impact upon housing markets in a heterogeneous way in the short-term, with a clear premium observed for larger housing in healthier and wealthier areas, which may serve to reinforce housing market inequalities.

PEPP and NGEU: Short-term Reactions to the Monetary and Fiscal Policy Paradigm Shift in Light of the Lagarde Gaffe

PEPP and NGEU: Short-term Reactions to the Monetary and Fiscal Policy Paradigm Shift in Light of the Lagarde Gaffe

A broad analysis of short-term overreactions in the market for cryptocurrencies

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to analyze market inefficiencies in the market for cryptocurrencies by providing a comprehensive analysis of short-term (over)reactions that follow significant price changes of such currencies.Design/methodology/approachThis study identifies and analyzes overreactions and mispricing in markets for cryptocurrencies by applying a broad set of thresholds that depend on market-specific dynamics and volatilities. This study also analyzes the returns on days following abnormal returns and identifies significant differences from normal returns using the t-test and the Mann–Whitney U-test. The researchers further complement the literature by using end-of-the-day returns in addition to high-low returns. Additionally, this study considers a broad sample of 50 cryptocurrencies for an expanded time span (2015–2020) that includes the big currencies as well as smaller currencies.FindingsFindings detect the existence of overreactions and, thus, market inefficiencies in crypto markets. The findings for different methodological approaches are similar, which underpins the robustness of the findings. By considering a broad sample that includes small and big currencies, we can show the existence of a market size effect. By considering a broad set of thresholds, the authors further found evidence for a magnitude effect, which means that higher initial abnormal returns are related to higher inefficiencies.Practical implicationsThis paper has practical implications. Market inefficiencies were detected, which can be used in practical trading to obtain excess returns. In fact, methodological approach of this study and its results can be used to derive a strategy for trading in cryptocurrencies that can be easily implemented. Based on the study’s findings, the authors can expect positive access returns by applying this trading strategy.Originality/valueThe authors complement the literature on market inefficiencies and mispricing in crypto markets by analyzing price patterns after initial abnormal returns. Researchers contribute by applying different methodological approaches in addition to the approaches used so far, by considering a set of different thresholds and by applying a much broader data set that enables the study to analyze additional aspects.

Microwave-Assisted Beckman Rearrangement by Cu(II)/Triazine-Based Dendrimer as an Efficacious Recoverable Nano-Catalyst Under Solvent-Free Conditions

An efficient solvent-less procedure has been expanded to synthesis primary amides through Beckman rearrangement using Cu(II)/hydroxyl terminated triazine-based dendrimer (Cu(II)/TD) as a proficient heterogeneous nano-catalyst. The Cu(II)/TD nano-catalyst was recognized using TEM, FT-IR, TGA, SEM, EDS, XRD and ICP techniques. The deploying of this new nano-catalyst provides the synthesis of assorted primary amides in outstanding yields through a simple working-up method in a short-term reaction under green conditions in the absence of dangerous and poisonous organic solvents. The Cu(II)/TD catalyst was able to reprocessed and recovered many times without considerable failure of its performance.

Assessing the Commodity Market Price and Terms of Trade Exposures of Macroeconomy in Emerging and Developing Countries

ABSTRACT This paper provides novel evidence on commodity market exposure, i.e., the impacts of commodity price and terms of trade fluctuations on macro performance amongst 46 emerging and developing countries (EMDCs) in Africa, Asia and the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region. We estimate the exposure of six macroeconomic variables to the commodity prices and terms of trade. Our results indicate that in overall terms, there is a strong and statistically significant long-run relationship between the vector of analyzed world trade prices and macro variables in all EMDCs. However, based on the short-term reactions, only about 10% of the macroeconomic variation amongst the EMDCs is due to commodity market-related exposures. Our results also indicate that the commodity market exposure is not unanimous across countries, amongst regions, or especially between measures of exposure.

Short-Term Event-Driven Analysis of the South-East Asia Financial Crisis: A Stock Market Approach

A systematic short-term event review of the major events in the South-East Asia Financial crisis is presented in this article. This analysis adds to the existing literature by focusing on the equity market, rather than on the foreign exchange market where there is already abundant literature, as well as going to a granular level with the hope that the analysis of the short-term market reactions can help policy-maker make appropriate decisions understanding the likely implications on the stock market. Short-term movements in the equity market might have very substantial economic impacts on investors and on the broad economy. The existing literature tends to focus on longer time horizons but from an equity investor point of view short-term fluctuations might be equally important or even more. When analyzing longer time horizons these short-term fluctuations, which might cause investors to fully unwind their positions or even bankruptcies, might be average out, underestimating the potential impact on the investor. Given these practical considerations it seems important to carry out a short-term event driven analysis of this crisis.

Short-term Reactions Among Pregnant and Lactating Individuals in the First Wave of the COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout

Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 are highly effective in preventing COVID-19 illness.1,2 Research has found that COVID-19 is associated with adverse events in pregnancy,3 and recommendations therefore include offering SARS-CoV-2 vaccines to pregnant and lactating individuals, despite their lack of inclusion in initial clinical trials.4,5 To date, limited data on vaccine and pregnancy outcomes exist for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in pregnancy and lactation.6 The objective of this study was to investigate experiences of pregnant and lactating individuals after receiving COVID-19 vaccines.

Immediate effects of Ukrainian phytocomposition on biophotonics (GDV), EEG and HRV parameters

Background. Back in 2015, we registered short-term reactions to the Ukrainian phytocomposition of electroencephalogram and heart rate variability parameters. At the same time, we also recorded the reactions of biophotonics (GDV) parameters, but due to the skepticism of Ukrainian academic science regarding this method, we did not dare to include the results in the article. Materials and methods. The object of observation were 12 women (44±13 years) and 62 men (44±12 years) with dysfunction of neuro-endocrine-immune complex. GDV, HRV and EEG parameters were recorded in the morning in basal conditions. Then the members of the main group used 5 ml of phytocomposition dissolved in 45 ml of tap water, instead in the control group used 50 ml of the latter. After 1,5 hours, the test was repeated. Results. Discriminant analysis revealed 26 EEG, 6 HRV and 7 GDV parameters characteristic of the initial state and after consumption of phytocomposition or tap water. The use of balm causes the normalizing decrease of increased sympathotonic markers and the increase of decreased vagotonic markers. Physiologically favorable vegetotropic effects of the balm are accompanied by a further increase in the initially increased activity of β-rhythm-generating cortical and subcortical structures as well as activation of θ-rhythm-generating and inhibition of α- and δ-rhythm-generating nuclei whose initial activity was within normal limits. Neurotropic effects are accompanied by a decrease in fractality and entropy and an increase in the area of GDI, as well as the energy of the first, fourth, fifth and seventh chakras (virtual). Conclusion. Ukrainian phytocomposition “Balm Truskavets’” causes favorable immediate neurotropic and biophysic changes at patients with dysfunction of neuro-endocrine-immune complex.

Nano particles graphene oxid: A green and effective catalyst for synthesis of pyrazoles

In this work, a green and effective method for the synthesis of pyrazole derivatives by the reaction of a pot of various 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds with hydrazine is proposed using graphene oxide nanoparticles as the Lewis base catalyst. Advantages this methods are high yields, perform quick reactions, easy customization, and short-term reaction. The catalyst was recycled several times. The recycled catalyst was reused without any apparent performance drop in subsequent reactions. This process provided not only self-condensation but also cross-condensation by using the hydra-friendly nuclear reaction of hydrazines and high-efficiency, multisubstituted pyrazoles were formed under good and easy conditions.

Laboratory Study on Improvement of Expansive Soil by Chemically Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation

This paper proposes the use of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) precipitation induced by the addition of calcium chloride (CaCl2) and sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) solutions as a procedure to stabilize and improve expansive soil. A set of laboratory tests, including the free swell test, unloaded swelling ratio test, unconfined compression test, direct shear test, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) test, cyclic wetting–drying test and laboratory-scale precipitation model test, were performed under various curing periods to evaluate the performance of the CaCO3 stabilization. It is concluded from the free swell tests and unloaded swelling ratio tests that the addition of CaCl2 and Na2CO3 can profoundly decrease soil expansion potential. The reduction in expansion parameters is primarily attributed to the strong short-term reactions between clay and stabilizers. In addition, the formed cementation precipitation can decrease the water adsorption capacity of the clay surface and then consequently reduce the expansion potential. The results of unconfined compression tests and direct shear strength tests indicated that the addition of CaCl2 and Na2CO3 has a major effect on geotechnical behavior of expansive soils. Based on the SEM analyses, new cementing crystalline phases formatted by sequentially mixing CaCl2 and Na2CO3 solutions into expansive soil were found to appear in the pore space, which results in a much denser microstructure. A laboratory-scale model test was conducted, and results demonstrate the effectiveness of the CaCO3 precipitation technique in stabilizing the expansive soil procedure. The test results indicated that the concentration of CaCl2 higher than 22.0% and Na2CO3 higher than 21.2% are needed to satisfactorily stabilize expansive soil. It is proposed to implement the precipitation technique in the field by the sequential permeation of CaCl2 and Na2CO3 solutions into soils in situ.

Permeability of Expansive Soils Modified/Stabilized with lime (Review Paper)

The aim of this paper was to review the mechanism of the expansive soil-lime reactions: short term and long-term reactions in both lime modification and lime stabilization. The focus of the study was the effect of curing time for a certain centigrade 25C curing temperature in both lime modification / stabilization-expansive soils on the coefficient of permeability. Peer reviewed articles published between 2000- and 2019 were collected and relevant data were extracted. Results of this review study showed that the coefficient of permeability of expansive soils modified with lime increased during the first 7 days of curing time at curing temperature 25C and it remains constant or slightly decreased for longer curing time periods. However, for expansive soils stabilized with lime, it was found that the coefficient of permeability increased during the first 7-day curing time at curing temperature 25C, then decreased during the longer curing time periods (pozzolanic reaction). It is also noted that even though the coefficient of permeability decreased during pozzolanic reaction, it remains higher than that of the untreated soils

PHARMACOVIGILANCE IN THE ERA OF COVID-19: A CONCISE REVIEW OF THE CURRENT SCENARIO, IMPLICATIONS, AND CHALLENGES

The pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has now affected the entire globe which was first surfaced in China in December 2019. In absence of effective therapy to manage COVID-19, repurposed therapies were being used to manage the condition. In view of an urgent need for definitive therapy, multiple repurposed drugs, and investigational drug candidates are being tried in clinical trials which may lead to the emergence of unknown short term and long term adverse drug reactions (ADRs), and hence it is crucial to assess the safety of the tried therapeutic interventions. The lag in the pharmacovigilance activities in the midst of this pandemic fosters under-reporting of ADRs. Difficulty in causality assessment due to factors like wide variations in clinical presentation, concomitant use of multiple drugs, associated comorbidities, drug-drug and drug-disease interaction which forestalls the appropriate causality assessment. Hydroxychloroquine, a repurposed antimalarial drug has been a part of hue and cry at present because of its in-question safety in patients with cardiac disorders. National and International Drug monitoring centers have stressed upon reporting of ADRs and to boost up the process and come up with various recommendations. We can overcome these issues by working cohesively, motivating HCPs and patients to report ADRs electronically, and by setting up dedicated pharmacovigilance rapid response team to tackle the issues at the earliest.