bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Analysis of the Explanatory Variables of the Differences in Perceptions of Cyberbullying: A Role-Based-Model Approach
Authors: Fernández-Antelo Inmaculada , Cuadrado-Gordillo Isabel
Published: April 2018

The controversies that exist regarding the delimitation of the cyberbullying construct demonstrate the need for further research focused on determining the criteria that shape the structure of the perceptions that adolescents have of this phenomenon and on seeking explanations of this behavior. The objectives of this study were to (a) construct possible explanatory models of the perception of cyberbullying from identifying and relating the criteria that form this construct and (b) analyze the influence of previous cyber victimization and cyber aggression experiences in the construction of explanatory models of the perception of cyberbullying. The sample consisted of 2,148 adolescents (49.1% girls; SD = 0.5) aged from 12 to 16 years ( M = 13.9 years; SD = 1.2). The results have shown that previous cyber victimization and cyber aggression experiences lead to major differences in the explanatory models to interpret cyber-abusive behavior as cyberbullying episodes, or as social relationship mechanisms, or as a revenge reaction. We note that the aggressors’ explanatory model is based primarily on a strong reciprocal relationship between the imbalance of power and intentionality, that it functions as a link promoting indirect causal relationships of the anonymity and repetition factors with the cyberbullying construct. The victims’ perceptual structure is based on three criteria—imbalance of power, intentionality, and publicity—where the key factor in this structure is the intention to harm. These results allow to design more effective measures of prevention and intervention closely tailored to addressing directly the factors that are considered to be predictors of risk.
Two Major Antecedents of Salesforce Motivation: Salesforce Control Systems and Compensation Plans
Authors: Fatima Zoha
Published: April 2018

Salesforce motivation is important for the success of the organization. Unless and until the salesforce is motivated, the organization will not be able to prosper. There are various factors that are responsible for salesforce motivation. It has been found that out of these many factors, the impact of salesforce control system and salesforce compensation plans is inevitable. Therefore, this study makes an attempt to analyze the impact of these two factors on salesforce motivation by following a review of selected studies from the year 1977 to 2014. Till now, none of the previous studies have analyzed the impact of these two factors on motivation. The review of studies reveals that salesforce control systems and compensation plans should be taken into consideration when motivation of salespeople is talked about as they have an impact on intrinsic as well as extrinsic motivation of salespeople. Based on the findings of the review, a framework is designed and implications and directions for future research are stated.
Development and Validation of the Subjective Occupational Aspiration Scale Using a Rasch Model Approach
Authors: Han Hyojung , Rojewski Jay W. , Kwak Minho
Published: April 2018

This study proposes and measures a new construct, subjective occupational aspiration, that refers to individuals’ preferences for selected aspects of occupations—economic rewards, authority, freedom, education required, and ability required—that, collectively, support the expression of those occupations. Using a four-step approach to constructing psychometric instruments based on the Rasch model, this study developed and validated the Subjective Occupational Aspiration Scale (SOAS). The SOAS consists of 24 4-point Likert-type items. Both infit and outfit statistics indicated that the Rasch model predicted both items and persons within a reasonable error bound, validating all initial 24 items of the SOAS. However, two sets of items showed reversed difficulties. The final instrument that reflects the corrected difficulty order of items is provided. Suggestions and implications for using the SOAS in practice are also discussed.
Care Work in Transition: Transnational Circuits of Gender, Migration, and Care
Authors: Gottfried Heidi , Chun Jennifer Jihye
Published: April 2018

This article presents a broad overview of the emerging field of scholarship on gender, migration and care work. The first section provides a rationale for linking the embodied intimate labor of sex workers and surrogate mothers to more traditional caregiving among nannies, nurses and eldercare aids. Through an intersectional optic on power and domination in care workers’ everyday lives, we highlight the ways in which love’s labor is lost and devalued in the sphere of the home as workplace, the family and community as employer, the state as labor recruiter, and the labor market as a site of ethnic boundaries and exclusions. Distinguishing different types of care and its institutional and geographic location matters in explaining current care in transition. Care work, in many domains, has become appropriated by markets. We consider how political, institutional, and cultural factors have shaped, and are reshaping, the ideas and norms of care in the context of transnational care worker migration. Too often, studies of gendered care migration fail to account for the differential impacts of state migration and care policies for women across class and social status within single country contexts. Care workers are beginning to challenge new forms of commodified care work. The final section explores how grassroots efforts to organize and advocate for the rights of domestic workers have evolved in countries in both the Global North and South.
Efficacy and Safety of Atypical Antipsychotics for Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia Among Community Dwelling Adults
Authors: Trinkley Katy E. , Sturm Allison M. , Porter Kyle , Nahata Milap C.
Published: April 2018

Introduction:

Options for the treatment of the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are limited. Atypical antipsychotics are often used but have questionable efficacy and are generally considered high risk. Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of using any atypical antipsychotic for the treatment of BPSD among outpatients.

Methods:

Retrospective observational study of an academic outpatient memory disorders clinic. Participants included any community-dwelling patient with a diagnosis of dementia, not trauma induced, with documented BPSD treated with an atypical antipsychotic for at least 2 weeks. Medical records were reviewed from January 1, 1990 to March 23, 2010. Safety outcomes were documented from the time of antipsychotic initiation, and behavioral/psychological efficacy outcomes were documented beginning 2 weeks after antipsychotic therapy was initiated, until the last documentation available.

Results:

A total of 87 distinct antipsychotic treatment periods for 81 unique patients were included. Antipsychotic treatment was continued for more than a year in 33% of patients and only 17% of patients discontinued antipsychotic treatment over the entire period. The behavioral/psychological outcomes improved for 24 (28%) treatments, remained stable for 17 (20%) treatments, and worsened for 46 (53%) treatments. Adverse events were reported by 53% of patients, with the most common adverse events being metabolic, fall related, type, and vascular. Few adverse events were severe. The odds ratio of adverse events per every 90-day increase in duration of treatment was 1.20 ( P = 0.02).

Conclusion:

Antipsychotic treatment improved behavioral/psychological symptoms for less than one-third of patients and increased the potential risk of adverse events for more than half of patients.
Extremist propaganda and Qur’anic scripture: A ‘radical’ corpus-based study of the Dabiq
Authors: Spier Troy E
Published: April 2018

Since the establishment of the Islamic State, Da’esh has been extremely successful in producing English-language propaganda for the purposes of recruiting extremists and radicalizing the disenfranchised. This study utilizes Spier’s 500,000+ word corpus of Da’esh extremist periodicals and specifically examines the extent to which particular verses from Qur’anic scripture are utilized in the first 14 issues of Dabiq, which were published during a period of 22 months (July 2014 to April 2016). Almost three-quarters of the 624 quoted or referenced verses are cited only once or twice, and approximately 70% of these are unique. The six most frequently attested verses come from five books of the Qur’an ( Al-Ma ’idah, Al-Anfal, Al-Hashr, At-Tawbah and Al-Imran) and account for 8.17% of all the cited scripture. This study considers the translations and content of each verse and the manner in which they are included in the periodicals as reflective of their significance.
Effect of complexing agents on desulphurization and deashing of coal by H2O2/H2SO4 leaching
Authors: Sana Hafiza , Haider Rizwan , Rahim Muhammad Usman , Munir Shahid
Published: April 2018

The present study was aimed at investigating the effect of the addition of complexing agents on the removal efficiency of sulphur and ash contents during chemical leaching by acidified hydrogen peroxide. Representative coal sample from Lakhra was subjected to chemical leaching under various conditions of the parameters including time (60 and 120 min), temperature (25 and 50°C), complexing agents (citric acid and phosphoric acid) and the concentration of complexing agents (100 and 1000 ppm). The addition of complexing agents, i.e. citric acid and phosphoric acid imparted significant effects on improving the removal efficiency of sulphur and ash contents. Under optimized conditions, it was found out that the addition of citric acid improved the removal efficiency for sulphur from 63.88 to 83.47% and from 33.12 to 66.25% for ash. In case of phosphoric acid, the removal in sulphur and ash contents was increased from 63.77 to 80.77% and from 33.12 to 59.18%, respectively. Apparently, citric acid happened to be the most effective complexing agent, as compared to phosphoric acid. These results warrant subsequent detailed studies for further optimization of the process, including the use of some other complexing agents, as well.
Investigation and enhancement on fuel stability characteristics of biodiesel dosed with various synthetic antioxidants
Authors: Mohamed Shameer P , Nishath P Mohamed
Published: April 2018

Nearly 350 species of biodiesel feedstocks have been identified by many researchers for the past few decades. Unlike petroleum diesel, the biodiesel degrades rapidly and deterioration of its quality occurred while contacting with atmospheric oxygen. This main drawback of instability of fuel properties limited the commercial use of biodiesel in the global fuel market. To inhibit this oxidative degradation of biodiesel, the antioxidants are used. Comparing to other antioxidants, the synthetic antioxidants (phenolic) are more efficient. This study investigates the effects of commercially available and cheap synthetic antioxidants (TBHQ – tert-butylhydroxyquinone, PY – pyrogallol, PG – propyl gallate, BHT – butylated hydroxytoluene, and BHA – butylated hydroxyanisole) at 1000 ppm concentration on the fuel stability of Calophyllum inophyllum biodiesel. The discrepancy in antioxidant activity has been characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy by analyzing the O–H and C–H molecular chains prevalence in the infrared spectrum region of 3000–3700 cm−1 and 2800–3000 cm−1. TBHQ at 1000 ppm dosed with C. inophyllum biodiesel improves the oxidation stability by 42.56%, storage stability by 36.57%, and thermal stability by 41.02% when compared to those of pure biodiesel (B100) without any antioxidant. The rank of antioxidants effectiveness with pure biodiesel is obtained as TBHQ > PG > PY > BHT > BHA.
Policy constructions, immigrants’ social rights and gender: The case of Swedish childcare policies
Authors: Sainsbury Diane
Published: April 2018

This article explores how policy constructions shape policy outcomes for immigrant women and men, focusing on two Swedish childcare policies: (1) parental leave and (2) childcare services. It sheds light on the dynamics between policy constructions and (1) the gender differentiation in immigrants’ social entitlements, (2) the gender differentiation in social entitlements of the Swedish-born population and (3) differences and similarities between the two. Among the major findings is that the universal construction of childcare services and parental insurance promotes parity in immigrant and Swedish-born parents’ utilization. Immigrant families have high enrolment rates in childcare programmes and their rates approach or equal those of non-immigrant families. In the case of parental benefits, over 40 percent of immigrant mothers would be ineligible without the universal construction, and a huge immigrant/ethnic divide in entitlement would exist. Second, a gender differentiation characterizes the claiming of parental benefits, and the differentiation is sharper for immigrant parents. Third, the ethnicity benefit differential is much wider for mothers’ parental leave benefits than for fathers’ benefits. Fourth, despite universal policy constructions, immigrants’ weaker attachment to the labour market affects their social rights, and the effect is greater for immigrant women.
A new welfare regime in the making? Paternalistic welfare pragmatism in China
Authors: Mok Ka Ho , Qian Jiwei
Published: April 2018

Since 2003, the Chinese government has been increasing its social expenditure and initiated new social welfare programmes to provide universal social protection and meet citizens’ welfare needs. This article uses the wider socio-economic and socio-political contexts to critically examine whether there is a new welfare regime on the rise in China, with a particular reference to whether the increase in social expenditure has really marked a new welfare philosophy or prompted the transformation of China into a protective welfare regime. By analysing prefecture-level data for government expenditures in education, health, social security and assistance programmes between 2003 and 2012, we show a continuation of the Chinese welfare regime in ‘paternalistic welfare pragmatism’ for two reasons. First, government social expenditures are set on the basis of the prefecture-level government’s fiscal capacity. Second, variations of welfare programmes are associated with the dichotomy between the urban formal and informal sectors.
Heart rate variability in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: a systematic review and methodological considerations
Authors: Matusik P S , Matusik P T , Stein P K
Published: April 2018

Aim

The aim of this review was to summarize current knowledge about the scientific findings and potential clinical utility of heart rate variability measures in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Methods

PubMed, Embase and Scopus databases were searched for the terms associated with systemic lupus erythematosus and heart rate variability, including controlled vocabulary, when appropriate. Articles published in English and available in full text were considered. Finally, 11 publications were selected, according to the systematic review protocol and were analyzed.

Results

In general, heart rate variability, measured in the time and frequency domains, was reported to be decreased in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus compared with controls. In some systemic lupus erythematosus studies, heart rate variability was found to correlate with inflammatory markers and albumin levels. A novel heart rate variability measure, heart rate turbulence onset, was shown to be increased, while heart rate turbulence slope was decreased in systemic lupus erythematosus patients. Reports of associations of changes in heart rate variability parameters with increasing systemic lupus erythematosus activity were inconsistent, showing decreasing heart rate variability or no relationship. However, the low/high frequency ratio was, in some studies, reported to increase with increasing disease activity or to be inversely correlated with albumin levels.

Conclusions

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus have abnormal heart rate variability, which reflects cardiac autonomic dysfunction and may be related to inflammatory cytokines but not necessarily to disease activity. Thus measurement of heart rate variability could be a useful clinical tool for monitoring autonomic dysfunction in systemic lupus erythematosus, and may potentially provide prognostic information.
Effect of moral empowerment program on moral distress in intensive care unit nurses
Authors: Abbasi Safura , Ghafari Somayeh , Shahriari Mohsen , Shahgholian Nahid
Published: April 2018

Background:

Moral distress has been experienced by about 67% of critical care nurses which causes many complications such as job dissatisfaction, loss of capacity for caring, and turnover for nurses and poor quality of care for patients as well as health system.

Objective:

The purpose of this research was to provide a moral empowerment program to nursing directors, school of nursing, and the heads of hospitals to reduce moral distress in nurses and improve the quality of care.

Methods:

This research was a randomized clinical trial conducted in two groups and three stages before, after 2 weeks, and 1 month after the intervention in order to evaluate the changes in moral distress of 60 nurses working in adults’ intensive care unit wards of Al-Zahra teaching hospital of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Data were collected using the standard Hamric’s Moral Distress Scale (2012) and analyzed using SPSS software version 22.

Ethical considerations:

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.

Results:

Results showed that in the three stages, there was no significant difference between the mean score of moral distress before (4.12 ± 2.70), 2 weeks after (4.23 ± 2.70), and 1 month after the intervention (4.04 ± 2.54) in the control group (p > 0.05), while in the experimental group, there was a significant difference between the three stages (p < 0.05). The mean score of moral distress in the experimental group before intervention (4.05 ± 2.26) and 2 weeks after the intervention (3.38 ± 2.11) was not significant (p > 0.05). However, this score significantly decreased 1 month after the intervention (2.64 ± 2.23; p < 0.05).

Conclusion:

In this research, it was observed that moral empowerment program has been effective in reducing the mean score of moral distress. Therefore, it is recommended that nursing managers and hospital directors implement empowerment program, in order to reduce the moral distress of nurses and improve the quality of care.
The paradoxical body: A glimpse of a deeper truth through relatives’ stories
Authors: Lorentsen Vibeke Bruun , Nåden Dagfinn , Sæteren Berit
Published: April 2018

Background:

People with progressive cancer experience that their bodies change due to disease and/or treatment. The body is integral to the unity of the human being, a unity that must be perceived as whole if dignity shall be experienced. Relatives are in touch with the suffering bodies of their dear ones, physically, socially, mentally, and existentially, and thus the relatives’ experiences of the bodies of their dear ones might yield insight into the concept of dignity.

Aim:

The aim of this study is to explore relatives’ experiences of the patients’ bodily changes from a perspective of dignity.

Research design and method:

A total of 12 relatives from a hospice in Norway were interviewed. Gadamer’s ontological hermeneutics inspired the interpretation.

Ethical considerations:

The principles of voluntariness, confidentiality, withdrawal, and anonymity were respected during the whole research process. The Norwegian Social Science Data Services approved the study.

Results and conclusion:

The conversations about the body were conversations about ambivalent or paradoxical matters that shed light on the concept of dignity. The results show that the relatives got in touch with elements that otherwise would have remained tacit and unspoken, and which gave glimpses of a deeper truth, which might reveal the core of dignity. Furthermore, the relatives’ confirmation of the ambivalence might be understood as a strong ethical obligation to treat the other with dignity. The confirmation may also reveal the relatives’ unselfish love of the other, which can be understood as the core of ethics and ethos. Finally, the results reveal the relatives’ limited insight into their dear ones’ bodily changes, and we discuss the challenges of truly seeing the other. Body knowledge and the relationship between body and dignity as phenomena cannot be ignored and needs more attention and articulation in clinical nursing practice and in nursing research.
Relationship Between Metabolic Syndrome Severity and Kidney Function as Related to Gender: A Population-Based Longitudinal Study
Authors: Chen Sheng-Pyng , Li Chi-Rong , Chang Huan-Cheng , Li Yu-Ling , Pai Hsiang-Chu
Published: April 2018

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between the metabolic syndrome severity Z-score and kidney function by gender. We also examined the estimated glomerular filtration rate in relation to other known risk factors. The study used was a population-based prospective longitudinal research design. A total of 4,838 participants (2,683 females and 2,155 males) included individuals aged >30 years who were undergoing a health examination from 2006 to 2014 in Pingzhen City, Taiwan. In the initial generalized estimated equation model analysis, which included the covariates of age of first visit, period between the first and current visit, and metabolic syndrome severity Z-score, the results indicated that the interaction between age and metabolic syndrome severity Z-score is significantly related to the estimated glomerular filtration rate for males ( p = .040). For females, the interaction between age and metabolic syndrome severity Z-score was not significant, but a higher metabolic syndrome severity Z-score was significantly associated with lower estimated glomerular filtration rate ( p = .001). After controlling for the confounders, unhealthy behaviors, and comorbidities, the metabolic syndrome severity Z-score was still a negative predictor of estimated glomerular filtration rate in both the male ( p = .005) and female ( p = .023) models.
Three-Dimensional Soft Tissue Nasal Changes After Nasoalveolar Molding and Primary Cheilorhinoplasty in Infants With Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate
Authors: Mancini Laura , Gibson Travis L. , Grayson Barry H. , Flores Roberto L. , Staffenberg David , Shetye Pradip R.
Published: April 2018

Objective:

To quantify 3-dimensional (3D) nasal changes in infants with unilateral cleft lip with or without cleft palate (UCL±P) treated by nasoalveolar molding (NAM) and cheilorhinoplasty and compare to noncleft controls.

Design:

Retrospective case series of infants treated with NAM and primary cheilorhinoplasty between September, 2012 and July, 2016. Infants were included if they had digital stereophotogrammetric records at initial presentation (T1), completion of NAM (T2), and following primary cheilorhinoplasty (T3). Images were oriented in 3dMD Vultus software, and 16 nasolabial points identified.

Patients:

Twenty consecutively treated infants with UCL±P.

Interventions:

Nasoalveolar molding and primary cheilorhinoplasty.

Main Outcome Measures:

Anthropometric measures of nasal symmetry and morphology were compared in the treatment group between time points using paired Student t tests. Postsurgical nasal morphology was compared to noncleft controls.

Results:

Nasal tip protrusion increased, and at T3 was 2.64 mm greater than noncleft controls. Nasal base width decreased on the cleft side by 4.01 mm after NAM and by 6.73 mm after cheilorhinoplasty. Columellar length of the noncleft to cleft side decreased from 2:1 to 1:1 following NAM. Significant improvements in subnasale, columella, and nasal tip deviations from midsagittal plane were observed. Treatment improved symmetry of the alar morphology angle and the nasal base–columella angle between cleft and noncleft sides.

Conclusions:

Three-dimensional analysis of UCL±P patients demonstrated significant improvements in nasal projection, columella length, nasal symmetry, and nasal width. Compared to noncleft controls, nasal form was generally corrected, with overcorrection of nasal tip projection, columella angle, and outer nasal widths.
Are the Politics of the Christian Right Linked to State Rates of the Nonreligious? The Importance of Salient Controversy
Authors: Djupe Paul A. , Neiheisel Jacob R. , Conger Kimberly H.
Published: April 2018

Hout and Fischer have made the repeated, controversial claim that the dramatic rise of “religious nones” in the United States is due to the prominence of the politics of the Christian Right. As the argument goes, the movement’s extreme stands on gay rights and abortion make religion inhospitable to those who take more moderate and liberal positions. We take another look at this proposition with novel data drawing on expert reports and interest group counts that capture the prominence of the movement in each American state from 2000 to 2010. We attach these data to decennial religious census data on the unchurched, as well as estimates of the nones from Cooperative Congressional Election Study data. At stake is whether religion is independent of political influence and whether American religion is sowing its own fate by failing to limit taking extreme stands. Rising none rates are more common in Republican states in this period. Moreover, when the Christian Right comes into more public conflict, such as over same-sex marriage bans, the rate of religious nones climbs.
Pressure Distribution in the Ankle and Subtalar Joint With Routine and Oversized Foot Orthoses
Authors: Williamson Patrick , Lechtig Aron , Hanna Philip , Okajima Stephen , Biggane Peter , Nasr Michael , Zurakowski David , Duggal Naven , Nazarian Ara
Published: April 2018

Background:

Foot orthoses are used to treat many disorders that affect the lower limb. These assistive devices have the potential to alter the forces, load distribution, and orientation within various joints in the foot and ankle. This study attempts to quantify the effects of orthoses on the intra-articular force distribution of the ankle and subtalar joint using a cadaveric testing jig to simulate weight bearing.

Methods:

Five lower-limb cadaveric specimens were placed on a custom jig, where a 334-N (75-lb) load was applied at the femoral head, and the foot was supported against a plate to simulate double-leg stance. Pressure-mapping sensors were inserted into the ankle and subtalar joint. Mean pressure, peak pressure, contact area, and center of force were measured in both the ankle and subtalar joints for barefoot and 2 medial foot orthosis conditions. The 2 orthosis conditions were performed using (1) a 1.5-cm-height wedge to simulate normal orthoses and (2) a 3-cm-height wedge to simulate oversized orthoses.

Results:

The contact area experienced in the subtalar joint significantly decreased during 3-cm orthotic posting of the medial arch, but neither orthosis had a significant effect on the spatial mean pressure or peak pressure experienced in either joint.

Conclusion:

The use of an oversized orthosis could lead to a decrease in the contact area and alterations in the distribution of pressure within the subtalar joint.

Clinical Relevance:

The use of inappropriate orthoses could negatively impact the force distribution in the lower limb.
Markers of Thrombin Generation Are Associated With Long-Term Clinical Outcome in Patients With ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction
Authors: Hansen Charlotte Holst , Ritschel Vibeke , Andersen Geir Øystein , Halvorsen Sigrun , Eritsland Jan , Arnesen Harald , Seljeflot Ingebjørg
Published: April 2018

Hypercoagulability in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) as related to long-term clinical outcome is not clarified. We aimed to investigate whether prothrombin fragment 1+2 (F1+2), d-dimer, and endogenous thrombin potential (ETP) measured in the acute phase of STEMI were associated with outcome. Blood samples were drawn median 24 hours after symptom onset in 987 patients with STEMI. Median follow-up time was 4.6 years. Primary outcome was a composite of all-cause mortality, reinfarction, stroke, unscheduled revascularization, or rehospitalization for heart failure; secondary outcome was total mortality. The number of combined end points/total mortality was 195/79. Higher levels of d-dimer and F1+2 were observed with both end points (all P < .005), whereas ETP was significantly lower ( P < .01). Dichotomized at medians, increased risk was observed for levels above median for F1+2 and d-dimer (combined end point P = .020 and P = .010 and total mortality P < .001, both), while an inverse pattern was observed for ETP ( P < .02, both). Adjusting for covariates, d-dimer was still associated with reduced risk of total mortality ( P = .034) and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses showed area under the curve of 0.700 (95% confidence interval, 0.640-0.758). The hypercoagulable state in acute STEMI seems to be of importance for clinical outcome.
Clinical Manifestation of Patients With Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome With the C3 p.I1157T Variation in the Kinki Region of Japan
Authors: Matsumoto Takeshi , Toyoda Hidemi , Amano Keishirou , Hirayama Masahiro , Ishikawa Eiji , Fujimoto Mika , Ito Masaaki , Ohishi Kohshi , Katayama Naoyuki , Yoshida Yoko , Matsumoto Masanori , Kawamura Naohisa , Ikejiri Makoto , Kawakami Keiki , Miyata Toshiyuki , Wada Hideo
Published: April 2018

The gain-of-function variation p.I1157T in C3 was previously identified in 8 patients with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) at Mie University Hospital. In the present study, we identified another 11 patients with aHUS with this variation, including 10 pediatric patients (onset age: 1-16 years). The variation seems to be geographically concentrated around Mie Prefecture in Japan. Fifteen of the 19 patients with aHUS experienced infection as probable triggering events. All 19 patients had renal dysfunction. Seven patients, including 2 from the previous study and 5 from the present study, were treated with eculizumab, with all showing a good response with hematological normalization. Among the 5 eculizumab-treated patients in the present study, 3 had an ambiguous diagnosis of aHUS due to low-grade hemolysis even with elevated levels of lactate dehydrogenase and bilirubin. In those cases, in-house targeted DNA sequencing identified the C3 p.I1157T variation carriers, which enabled the early initiation of treatment with eculizumab. The present study supports the early introduction of eculizumab in patients with aHUS, especially pediatric patients.
Comparison of ranibizumab and subthreshold micropulse laser in treatment of macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion
Authors: Buyru Özkurt Yelda , Akkaya Sezen , Aksoy Sibel , Şimşek Mert Hakan
Published: April 2018

Purpose:

To compare the effects of intravitreal ranibizumab injection and yellow (577 nm) subthreshold micropulse laser treatment in patients with macular edema following non-ischemic branch retinal vein occlusion.

Methods:

The medical records of 51 patients who underwent intravitreal ranibizumab (0.5 mg) injection or subthreshold micropulse laser for the treatment of macular edema due to branch retinal vein occlusion were retrospectively reviewed. Subthreshold micropulse laser was administered with a 10% duty cycle, 100 μm spot diameter, 200 ms exposure time. The patients received an injection or laser treatment at baseline and were, then, retreated as needed and were followed for 12 months. The mean best corrected visual acuity changes over the follow-up and the decrease in the mean central macular thickness were evaluated.

Results:

A total of 27 and 24 patients were assigned to intravitreal ranibizumab and subthreshold micropulse laser subgroups, respectively. The mean number of treatment was 3.81 of intravitreal ranibizumab group and 1.5 of subthreshold micropulse laser group (p < 0.05). The subgroups were similar with regard to the mean score of best corrected visual acuity at baseline, at 1, 6, and 12 months (p > 0.05). The decrease in the mean central macular thickness was significant in both intravitreal ranibizumab and subthreshold micropulse laser groups at 1, 6, and 12 months than that of values at baseline (p < 0.05). No new ocular or systemic adverse events were observed.

Conclusion:

Our study results showed that intravitreal ranibizumab or yellow subthreshold micropulse laser treatment for macular edema due to branch retinal vein occlusion was not found to be superior to each other for reducing macular thickness and increasing visual acuity for 1-year period. Based on these results, subthreshold micropulse laser may be a useful alternative approach in the treatment of macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion.
In Vivo MR Imaging of Tumor-Associated Macrophages: The Next Frontier in Cancer Imaging
Authors: Yang Runze , Sarkar Susobhan , Yong V Wee , Dunn Jeff F
Published: April 2018

There is a complex interaction between cancer and the immune system. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) can be subverted by the cancer to adopt a pro-tumor phenotype to aid tumor growth. These anti-inflammatory, pro-tumor TAMs have been shown to contribute to a worsened outcome in several different types of cancer. Various strategies aimed at combating the pro-tumor TAMs have been developed. Several therapies, such as oncolytic viral therapy and high-intensity focused ultrasound, have been shown to stimulate TAMs and suppress tumor growth. Targeting TAMs is a promising way to combat cancer, but sensitive imaging methods that are capable of detecting these therapeutic responses are needed. A promising idea is to use imaging contrast agents to label TAMs to determine their relative number and location within, and around the tumor. This can provide information about the efficacy of TAM depletion therapies, as well as macrophage-stimulating therapies. In this review, we describe various in vivo MRI methods capable of tracking TAMs, and conclude with a short section on tracking TAMs in patients.
‘Skin Portraiture’ in the Age of Bio Art
Authors: Kellett Heidi
Published: April 2018

In this article, I consider ‘skin portraiture’: a mode of representation that privileges quasi-anonymous, fragmented, magnified and anatomized images of skin. I argue that this mode of representation permits a heightened awareness of embodied experiences such as reflexivity, empathy and relationality. Expanding understandings of difference through its engagement with haptic imagery and visuality, skin portraiture reorients the boundaries between ‘I’/‘not I’ and subject/object – often through touch – and challenges the cultural commitment to traditional notions of bodily autonomy. By doing so, skin portraiture functions as an antagonistic form of portraiture; that is, as a kind of anti-portraiture that pushes the genre into an expanded visual field and, at times, beyond representation. Exploring the skin-as-technology metaphor, I show that bio art skin portraiture creates chimeric skins through tissue culturing practices, permitting bodies to become radically relational. Bio art skin portraits celebrate the genetic and cellular differences between bodies through a visible collapse of epidermal boundaries, which engenders a hyper-haptic mode of seeing beyond the subject and her or his skin. Analysing the bio art of Jalia Essaïdi, ORLAN and Julia Reodica, and drawing on the work of Laura Marks and Erin Manning, this article explores the skin-as-technology metaphor in order to offer the arts and humanities an innovative understanding of contemporary embodiment.
Understanding body image among adults in mid-late life: Considering romantic partners and depressive symptoms in the context of diabetes
Authors: Markey Charlotte H , August Kristin J , Dunaev Jamie L
Published: April 2018

Although our bodies change as we age, there is limited research exploring body image among middle-aged and older adults. This study considered 70 adults with diabetes’ ( Mage = 60.01 years) body image and revealed relatively high levels of body dissatisfaction in this sample. Furthermore, participants’ own and perceptions of their partners’ dissatisfaction with their bodies were moderately associated, and participants’ body dissatisfaction was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the need for further research, exploring the social and psychological correlates of body image among men and women in mid-late adulthood.
Digital traces of distinction? Popular orientation and user-engagement with status hierarchies in TripAdvisor reviews of cultural organizations
Authors: Alexander Victoria D , Blank Grant , Hale Scott A
Published: April 2018

Cultural organizations are categorized by cultural products (high or popular culture) and by organizational form (nonprofit or commercial). In sociology, these classifications are understood predominantly through a Bourdieusian lens, which links cultural consumption to habitus and a class-based struggle for distinction. However, people’s engagement with institutionalized cultural classifications may be expressed differently on the Internet, where a culture of hierarchy-free equality is (sometimes) idealized. Using digital trace data from a representative sample of 280 user-generated reviews of four London cultural organizations, we find that reviewers are concerned with practical issues over cultural content, displaying a popular orientation to cultural consumption (an “audience-focus” or an “embodied” approach). A very small minority of reviewers claim status honor on a variety of bases, including symbolic mastery of traditional cultural capital. Overall, we find an online space in the cultural sphere in which cultural hierarchies are not relevant.
Images of protest in social media: Struggle over visibility and visual narratives
Authors: Neumayer Christina , Rossi Luca
Published: April 2018

While political protest is essentially a visual expression of dissent, both social movement research and media studies have thus far been hesitant to focus on visual social media data from protest events. This research explores the visual dimension (photos and videos) of Twitter communication in the Blockupy protests against the opening of the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt am Main on 18 March 2015. It does so through a novel combination of quantitative analysis, content analysis of images, and identification of narratives. The article concludes by arguing that the visual in political protest in social media reproduces existing visualities and hierarchies rather than challenges them. This research enhances our conceptual understanding of how activists’ struggles play out in the visual and contributes to developing methods for empirical inquiry into visual social media content.
Democratic discontent and support for mainstream and challenger parties: Democratic protest voting
Authors: Hernández Enrique
Published: April 2018

The literature disagrees over the extent to which defection from mainstream parties and support for challenger parties are related to individuals’ discontent with the functioning of democratic political systems. This article develops the democratic protest voting model, a theoretical framework to analyze how different forms of democratic discontent relate to the chance of defecting from mainstream parties and supporting left- and right-wing challenger parties. The empirical results reveal that voters tend to support parties that are aligned with the specific nature of their democratic discontent. These results imply that voting for challenger parties should not be conceptualized as a mere expression of protest decoupled from political preferences, but as a process of democratic protest voting that is informed by normative democratic preferences.
Family-Only Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence: A Systematic Review
Authors: Petersson Joakim , Strand Susanne J. M.
Published: April 2018

This article presents the first systematic review of family-only intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators (as originally proposed by Holtzworth-Munroe & Stuart). The aims of the present review were to summarize and describe the prevalence of the family-only perpetrator subtype, as well as to investigate what characteristics were associated with perpetrators within this subtype. Electronic literature searches in several databases (e.g., PsychINFO, Web of Science, and PubMed) were carried out. Of the 3,434 studies identified, 30 studies met the inclusion criteria as well as the methodological quality criteria. Thematic analyses were conducted, where several themes and subthemes were identified. The proportion of family-only perpetrators, averaged across sample types, was 47.5%. Drawing on the thematic analyses of the reviewed studies, family-only perpetrators presented as a less violent subtype, displaying several pro-social personality traits, as well as a lower degree of psychopathology. The findings were in line with Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart’s predictions. The findings also demonstrated the utility of a 2-fold typology, consisting of a family-only and a generally violent (GV) subtype, as well as the need to reconsider the one-size-fits-all approach to IPV treatment. We also included a discussion of the terminology of the subtypes and propose an adoption of the terms “partner only violent” and “generally violent” subtypes.
Intraluminal Brachytherapy Using a Self-Expandable Stent Loaded With Linear Iodine-125 Seeds in a Patient With Reiterative Recurrence of Cancer-Associated Vein Obstruction: A Case Report With 3 Months of Follow-Up
Authors: Gong Maofeng , Song Jinhua , He Xu , Zhao Boxiang , Gu Jianping
Published: April 2018

Cancer-associated vein obstruction (CAVO) is a common complication in oncological patients, but the effective therapeutic options are scant. We report a patient with reiterative recurrent CAVO who was successfully treated with intraluminal brachytherapy using a self-expandable stent loaded with linear radioactive iodine-125 seeds (RIS) strand. During follow-up, her clinical symptoms were well improved. Three-month imaging follow-up revealed satisfactory patency of the iliofemoral vein, and the stents combined with RIS strands performed well. No serious complications associated with the implantation of stent and RIS strands were documented in any of the sessions. Intraluminal brachytherapy using a self-expandable stent loaded with linear RIS may be a safe and effective option for CAVO as long as it includes not only blood flow restoration but also brachytherapy administration for cancer.
Enhanced group communication in constrained application protocol–based Internet-of-things networks
Authors: Kang Hyung-Woo , Koh Seok-Joo
Published: April 2018

As a lot of sensors are connected to the Internet, many works have been made to support group communication for constrained application protocol. The existing multicast-based group communication may be efficient, but not reliable in wireless sensor networks. The existing unicast-based group communication is reliable, but it tends to give low performance. Recently, an observe-based group communication scheme was proposed, which uses the constrained application protocol–observe option. This is very effective, but tends to generate too many notification messages in the network. In this article, we thus propose an enhanced scheme of the observe-based group communication. In the proposed scheme, a broker is employed to monitor the status information of resources for a group of sensors. Each sensor will update its resource status to the broker using the constrained application protocol–observe option, and the broker sends the aggregate updated information to the constrained application protocol client, as done in the existing observe-based scheme. To reduce the number of notifications between the broker and the client, in the proposed scheme, the broker sends an aggregated notification to the client only when the client requests the information on resource status. In addition, the proposed scheme uses a hash function and the max-age timer of constrained application protocol in order to reduce unnecessary notification messages from the sensors to the broker. For performance analysis, we compare the existing and proposed schemes in terms of total delay and the amount of generated packets. From the results, we can see that the existing and proposed observe-based schemes improve total delay by almost 60%–80%, compared to the existing multicast-based and unicast-based schemes. In terms of the number of generated packets, the proposed scheme improves the existing observed-based scheme by almost 30%. We also performed the testbed experimentation of the proposed scheme for validation in the real-world network.
Consumer preference–enabled intelligent energy management for smart cities using game theoretic social tie
Authors: Wang Shen , Wu Jun , Zhang Yutao
Published: April 2018

In smart cities, balanced energy usage is a classic scheduling target in decision-making of power systems. To handle multiple energy consumers, energy management is usually built based on game theory. Despite their effectiveness, they do not consider consumer preferences, which are however important in developing salient scheduling frameworks. For the first time, this work explores consumer preference–based social networking in computing-optimized schedules to facilitate the incorporation in energy management. We propose the consumer preference driven intelligent energy management technique for smart cities using game theoretic social tie. In our technique, social communities are constructed based on the preference of electricity usage. To support dynamic decisions in the consumer preference–induced game, community pricing strategy is adjusted during each time period through leveraging cooperative game theory. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed intelligent energy management technique.
The Impact of Musical Training on Hand Biomechanics in String Musicians
Authors: Gorniak Stacey L. , Collins Evan D. , Goldie Staines Kimberly , Brooks Forrest A. , Young Ricardo V.
Published: April 2018

Background: The effects of musical training on the body in professional musicians remain an understudied area, particularly in reference to understanding and managing orthopedic/neuromuscular deviations and injuries in this population. The purpose of this study was to evaluate hand/finger fine motor function in musicians via physical examination as well as laboratory-based evaluations. Methods: Thirteen healthy noninjured young elite string musicians participated in this study. Performance of musicians was compared with healthy age-matched, sex-matched, and handedness-matched nonmusician controls. Results: Musicians exhibited decreased intrinsic muscle strength compared with controls; however, no change in extrinsic muscle strength was found between groups. No between-group differences in overall force control were found; however, Group × Hand (right vs left) interactions were found in force control. Conclusions: These data suggest that musicians are a unique population with respect to: (1) fine motor control of the hand; and (2) exhibit changes in differential hand use. This suggests cortical reorganization of string musicians, such that this population should be studied separately from typical healthy controls with respect to hand function.