How Digital Are the Digital Humanities? An Analysis of Two Scholarly Blogging Platforms

In this paper we compare two academic networking platforms, HASTAC and Hypotheses, to show the distinct ways in which they serve specific communities in the Digital Humanities (DH) in different national and disciplinary contexts. After providing background information on both platforms, we apply co-word analysis and topic modeling to show thematic similarities and differences between the two sites, focusing particularly on how they frame DH as a new paradigm in humanities research. We encounter a much higher ratio of posts using humanities-related terms compared to their digital counterparts, suggesting a one-way dependency of digital humanities-related terms on the corresponding unprefixed labels. The results also show that the terms digital archive, digital literacy, and digital pedagogy are relatively independent from the respective unprefixed terms, and that digital publishing, digital libraries, and digital media show considerable cross-pollination between the specialization and the general noun. The topic modeling reproduces these findings and reveals further differences between the two platforms. Our findings also indicate local differences in how the emerging field of DH is conceptualized and show dynamic topical shifts inside these respective contexts

African Americans, Gentrification, and Neoliberal Urbanization: the Case of Fort Greene, Brooklyn

This article examines the gentrification of Fort Greene, which is located in the western part of black Brooklyn, one of the largest contiguous black urban areas in the USA. Between the late 1960s and 2003, gentrification in Fort Greene followed the patterns discovered by scholars of black neighborhoods; the gentrifying agents were almost exclusively black and gentrification as a process was largely bottom-up because entities interested in the production of space were mostly not involved. Since 2003, this has changed. Whites have been moving to Fort Greene in large numbers and will soon represent the numerical majority. Public and private interventions in and around Fort Greene have created a new top-down version of gentrification, which is facilitating this white influx. Existing black residential and commercial tenants are replaced and displaced in the name of urban economic development

Nonlinear complexity analysis of brain fMRI signals in schizophrenia

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Delayed nephrectomy has comparable long-term overall survival to immediate nephrectomy for cT1a renal cell carcinoma: A population-based analysis

Objectives: Early surgical resection remains the recommended treatment option for most small renal mass (≤4 cm). We examined the long-term overall survival (OS) of patients managed with delayed and immediate nephrectomy of cT1a renal cancer. / Patient and methods: We utilized the National Cancer Database (2005–2010) to identify 14,677 patients (immediate nephrectomy: 14,050 patients vs. late nephrectomy: 627 patients) aged 180 days from diagnosis, respectively. Inverse probability of treatment weighting–adjusted Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were used to compare OS of patients in the 2 treatment arms. Influence of patient age and Charlson Comorbidity Index on treatment effect was tested by interactions. Sensitivity analysis was performed to explore the outcome of delaying nephrectomy for >12 months. / Results: Median patient age was 55 years with a median follow-up of 82.5 months. Inverse probability of treatment weighting-adjusted Kaplan-Meier curves suggest no significant difference between treatment arms (immediate nephrectomy [180 days]) (Hazard ratio 0.96; 95% confidence interval 0.73–1.26; P = 0.77). This outcome was consistent between all patients regardless of age (P = 0.48). Sensitivity analysis reports no difference in OS even if nephrectomy was delayed by >12 months (P = 0.60). / Conclusions: We report that delayed and immediate nephrectomy for cT1a renal cell carcinoma confers comparable long-term OS. These findings suggest that a period of observation of between 6 and 12 months is safe to allow identification of renal masses, which will benefit from surgical resection

Racial differences in patient-reported outcomes among men treated with radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer

Background: Real-world data on racial differences in the side effects of radical prostatectomy on quality of life (QoL) are lacking. We aimed to evaluate differences in patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) among non-Hispanic Black (NHB) and non-Hispanic White (NHW) men using the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite for Clinical Practice (EPIC-CP) questionnaire to measure health-related QoL after radical prostatectomy. // Methods: We retrospectively assessed prospectively collected PROMs using EPIC-CP scores at a tertiary care center between 2015 and 2021 for men with prostate cancer undergoing radical prostatectomy. The primary endpoint was the overall QoL score for NHB and NHW men, with a total score of 60 and higher scores indicating worse QoL. An imputed mixed linear regression model was used to examine the effect of covariates on the change in overall QoL score following surgery. A pairwise comparison was used to estimate the mean QoL scores before surgery as well as up to 24 months after surgery. // Results: Our cohort consisted of 2229 men who answered at least one EPIC-CP questionnaire before or after surgery, of which 110 (4.94%) were NHB and 2119 (95.07%) were NHW men. The QoL scores differed for NHB and NHW at baseline (2.34, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.36–4.31, p = 0.02), 3 months (4.36, 95% CI 2.29–6.42, p < 0.01), 6 months (3.26, 95% CI 1.10–5.43, p < 0.01), and 12 months after surgery (2.48, 95% CI 0.19–4.77, p = 0.03) with NHB having worse scores. There was no difference in QoL between NHB and NHW men 24 months after surgery. // Conclusions: A significant difference in QoL between NHB and NHW men was reported before surgery, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery, with NHB having worse QoL scores. However, there was no long-term difference in reported QoL. Our findings inform strategies that can be implemented to mitigate racial differences in short-term outcomes

Gait disorders are associated with non-cardiovascular falls in elderly people: a preliminary study

BACKGROUND: The association between unexplained falls and cardiovascular causes is increasingly recognized. Neurally mediated cardiovascular disorders and hypotensive syndromes are found in almost 20 percent of the patients with unexplained falls. However, the approach to these patients remains unclear. Gait assessment might be an interesting approach to these patients as clinical observations suggests that those with cardiovascular or hypotensive causes may not manifest obvious gait alterations. Our primary objective is to analyze the association between gait disorders and a non-cardiovascular cause of falls in patients with unexplained falls. A second objective is to test the sensitivity and specificity of a gait assessment approach for detecting non-cardiovascular causes when compared with intrinsic-extrinsic classification. METHODS: Cross-sectional study performed in a falls clinic at a university hospital in 41 ambulatory elderly participants with unexplained falls. Neurally mediated cardiovascular conditions, neurological diseases, gait and balance problems were assessed. Gait disorder was defined as a gait velocity < 0.8 m/s or Tinetti Gait Score <9. An attributable etiology of the fall was determined in each participant. Comparisons between the gait assessment approach and the attributable etiology regarding a neurally mediated cardiovascular cause were performed. Fisher exact test was used to test the association hypothesis. Sensitivity and specificity of gait assessment approach and intrinsic-extrinsic classification to detect a non-cardiovascular mediated fall was calculated with 95% confidence intervals (CI95%). RESULTS: A cardiovascular etiology (orthostatic and postprandial hypotension, vasovagal syndrome and carotid sinus hypersensitivity) was identified in 14% of participants (6/41). Of 35 patients with a gait disorder, 34 had a non-cardiovascular etiology of fall; whereas in 5 out of 6 patients without a gait disorder, a cardiovascular diagnosis was identified (p < 0.001). Sensitivity and specificity of the presence of gait disorder for identifying a non-cardiovascular mediated cause was 97.1% (CI95% = 85–99) and 83% (CI95% = 36–99), respectively. CONCLUSION: In community dwelling older persons with unexplained falls, gait disorders were associated with non-cardiovascular diagnosis of falls. Gait assessment was a useful approach for the detection of a non-cardiovascular mediated cause of falls, providing additional value to this assessment

School Effects on the Wellbeing of Children and Adolescents

Well-being is a multidimensional construct, with psychological, physical and social components. As theoretical basis to help understand this concept and how it relates to school, we propose the Self-Determination Theory, which contends that self-determined motivation and personality integration, growth and well-being are dependent on a healthy balance of three innate psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness and competence. Thus, current indicators involve school effects on children’s well-being, in many diverse modalities which have been explored. Some are described in this chapter, mainly: the importance of peer relationships; the benefits of friendship; the effects of schools in conjunction with some forms of family influence; the school climate in terms of safety and physical ecology; the relevance of the teacher input; the school goal structure and the implementation of cooperative learning. All these parameters have an influence in promoting optimal functioning among children and increasing their well-being by meeting the above mentioned needs. The empirical support for the importance of schools indicates significant small effects, which often translate into important real-life effects as it is admitted at present. The conclusion is that schools do make a difference in children’s peer relationships and well-being

Modeling repeated ordinal responses using a family of power transformations: application to neonatal hypothermia data

BACKGROUND: For analyzing a repeated ordinal response, it is common to use a multivariate cumulative logit model. This model may fit poorly, especially when a nonsymmetric response is available. In these cases, alternative strategies should be utilized. METHODS: In this paper, we present a family of power transformations for the cumulative probabilities to model asymmetric departures from the random-intercept cumulative logit model. To illustrate this method, we analyze the data from an epidemiologic study to identify risk factors of hypothermia among newly born infants in some referral university hospitals in Tehran, Iran. RESULTS: For hypothermia data, using this family of transformations and comparing the goodness-of-fit statistics showed that a model with the cumulative complementary log-log link gives us a better fit compared to a model with the cumulative logit link. CONCLUSION: In some areas, using the ordinary cumulative logit link function does not lead to the best fit. So, other link functions should be evaluated to discover the best transformation for the cumulative probabilities

Comparison of performance-based measures among native Japanese, Japanese-Americans in Hawaii and Caucasian women in the United States, ages 65 years and over: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Japanese (both in Japan and Hawaii) have a lower incidence of falls and of hip fracture than North American and European Caucasians, but the reasons for these differences are not clear. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study. We compared neuromuscular risk factors for falls using performance-based measures (chair stand time, usual and rapid walking speed, and grip strength) among 163 Japanese women in Japan, 681 Japanese-American women in Hawaii and 9403 Caucasian women in the United States aged 65 years and over. RESULTS: After adjusting for age, the Caucasian women required about 40% more time to complete 5 chair stands than either group of Japanese. Walking speed was about 10% slower among Caucasians than native Japanese, whereas Japanese-American women in Hawaii walked about 11% faster than native Japanese. Grip strength was greatest in Japan, which may reflect the rural farming district that this sample was drawn from. Additional adjustment for height, weight or body mass index increased the adjusted means of chair stand time and grip strength among Japanese, but the differences remained significant. CONCLUSIONS: Both native Japanese and Japanese-American women in Hawaii performed better than Caucasians on chair stand time and walking speed tests, and native Japanese had greater grip strength than Japanese in Hawaii and Caucasians. The biological implications of these differences in performance are uncertain, but may be useful in planning future comparisons between populations