bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An Investigation into the Load Transfer in Interlocking Intramedullary Nails during Simulated Healing of a Femoral Fracture
Authors: Miles A W , Eveleigh R J , Wight B J , Goodwin M I
Published: December 2012

Interlocked intramedullary nailing is widely used for the fixation of fractures in long bones. This study investigated the biomechanical aspects of load sharing between the implant and bone for two different types of nails—a fully slotted AO/ASIF nail and a non-slotted Russell-Taylor nail—in a simulated bone healing model using composite model femora. The results demonstrated the different load-sharing characteristics of the two nail types in torsion but similar behaviour in bending. The techniques applied provided a useful basis on which to evaluate these types of implants.
Return to where? The geography of elderly return migration in Sweden
Authors: Lundholm Emma
Published: December 2012

There are considerable regional differences when it comes to age composition, as rural areas are ageing more rapidly as a result of age-selective migration. Eras of urbanization and counter-urbanization are also making their mark on migration patterns from a long-term perspective. The current generation approaching retirement age in Sweden is a generation of urbanization, thereby constituting a potential for return migration, especially to some rural regions many people of this generation left decades ago. The aim of this paper is to compare rates of return migration in municipalities in Sweden in order to identify regions where return migration is particularly important, and also to identify which regions are the most attractive for return migration. The empirical study is based on Swedish register data, and the results indicate that the rate of return migration varies considerably between regions; some are more attractive for return migration, yet return migrants might be most significant in the regions that attract few other migrants. Another conclusion is that the regions that lost a greater share of this generation on account of previous migration often fail to attract return migrants.
A nosological review of depressive disorders based on observations in clinical practice, Part 2: a working typology for clinicians
Authors: Restifo Sam
Published: December 2012

Objective:

The purpose of this paper is to examine the essential nosological differentiation between melancholic and non-melancholic forms of depression with a view to promoting a meaningful, working typology for clinicians. The paper primarily comprises observations and reflections drawn from clinical practice.

Conclusions:

The most specific symptoms of melancholic depression are described, as are the main varieties of non-melancholic ‘depression’, including demoralisation, grief, loneliness, existential depression and depressive personality.
The Incidence of Deathbed Communications and Their Impact on the Dying Process
Authors: Lawrence Madelaine , Repede Elizabeth
Published: December 2012

The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of deathbed communications (DBCs) during the 30 days before death and their impact on the dying process. A total of 60 hospice chart audits and 75 survey responses by hospice nurses across the United States were analyzed. Chart audits revealed 5 (8.33%) of the 60 included descriptions of DBCs. The survey of 75 hospice nurses identified 363 incidences of DBCs, with an average of 4.8 patient occurrences per nurse per 30 days. In all, 89% of the hospice nurses reported patients who experienced a DBC had a peaceful and calm death, with only 40.5% reporting a peaceful and calm death without the DBC. These DBCs have a positive impact on the dying process but are underreported in patient records and under described in textbooks.
Forced vibrations of non-homogeneous rectangular plate of linearly varying thickness
Authors: Gupta Arun Kumar , Saini Manisha , Singh Shiv , Kumar Rajendar
Published: December 2012

An analysis is presented of the forced vibrations of non-homogeneous rectangular plate of variable thickness on the basis of classical plate theory. The non-homogeneity of the plate material is assumed to arise due to the variation in density which is assumed to vary linearly. The thickness of the plate also varies linearly. Approximate formulae are proposed for estimating the maximum deflection of a rectangular plate subject to a uniformly distributed harmonic lateral load. Maximum deflection for the different values of the fundamental frequency of vibration is computed for a simply supported-free-simply supported-free plate for various values of taper constant, non-homogeneity constant and aspect ratios. Results are presented in graphical form.
Introduction: Youth Studies in Latin America—On Social Actors, Public Policies and New Citizenships
Authors: Oliart Patricia , Feixa Carles
Published: December 2012

Youth Studies in Latin America is a field that combines different traditions and approaches developed throughout almost a century. These traditions can be roughly grouped as political and social commentary and analysis, the development of ‘expert’ knowledge to inform the design of social policies or interventions on the situation of vulnerable and disadvantaged youth and critical/cultural studies in search of new social arrangements, where new politics of recognition, dialogue, democracy and citizenship can take place. We present this text as a wider context for the articles that comprise this special issue on youth studies with contributions from Argentina, Chile, Colombia and México.
Memories of the Future: The Mara—Contingency and Affiliation with Excess
Authors: Reguillo Rossana
Published: December 2012

The commitment to analyze, interrogate and articulate the meaning of youth violence in a geopolitical arena, that is reorganizing global relations through appeals to fear and diverse rhetoric of security, acquires a crucial importance. This is particularly the case as certain categories of young people are demonized a priori and as the violent acts attributed to them are presented in an extremely simplified version. The immediate effect is the fuelled anger of the so-called public opinion and the emergence of the propitious environment for the implementation of authoritarian solutions that are detrimental to democracy and human rights. The mara represents the perfect portrait of an extreme threat and unfortunately, its members actively participate in the dissemination of their own myth, in which fiction and reality intermingle to certify that post-apocalyptic prophesies do take place on those meaning-inscribed bodies that advance ominously upon both real and symbolic territories as living testaments to the fragility of the social order that we have created.
Youth Studies in Colombia: State of the Art
Authors: González Germán Muñoz , Pinilla Victoria Eugenia
Published: December 2012

This study is based on the most recent state of the art report about Youth in Colombia; the article summarizes the process of construction of youth as a specialized field of knowledge in Colombia. It reviews the researches and studies carried out during a period of 20 years (1985–2003) in 18 Colombian cities. This state of the art is a model that aims at transcending the cataloguing and abstract-type synthesis of research studies, in order to consolidate a more profound analysis that will account for the thematic treatment and the underlying notions of young subjects. The project has been produced on the basis of the following questions: What knowledge of male and female Colombian youth has been produced? Who has produced it? How has it been produced and what kind of subject is being constructed? After 2003, there is a sustained production of bibliography concerning the main topics of the youth condition, with progressively qualified contributions. By contrast, the State since 2006 has practically abandoned the institutionality that had been created for designing and managing public policies on youth.
Evolution of education for international mindedness
Authors: Hill Ian
Published: December 2012

This article attempts to trace the evolution of the concept of international mindedness from the 17th century until the present, using four aspects to focus the discussion: education and other trends, ease of interaction across frontiers, determinants of international mindedness, and international mindedness in practice. Education trends start with the lack of any reading and writing instruction for the masses in the 17th century through compulsory schooling much later – based principally on the drilling of facts and memorization – and then progressive education ideas including critical thinking skills and intercultural understanding. Trade/slave routes and discovery voyages by land and sea were the initial impetus for crossing frontiers, and it was not until the latter half of the 20th century that international telephone calls and airline travel started to be within the reach of larger parts of the world’s populations. From the beginning of the 21st century, the Internet and free international communication by word and voice became a reality for many. Early determinants of international mindedness focused on students moving to similar schools in different countries at different stages of their secondary education. This later progressed in the mid 20th century to concepts of intercultural understanding, language learning and human rights, and in the late 20th century and 21st century to principles related to sustainable development, awareness of global issues, and international cooperation as conflicts continued to arise around the globe. The practice of international mindedness was rarely associated with developing a curriculum and pedagogical approaches that favoured intercultural dialogue, the realization of the inter-dependence of nations, and critical analysis skills. It manifested itself via student exchanges across frontiers, until the rise of international schools during the first half of the 20th century, which was the catalyst, during the 1960s, for the development of the first internationally minded programme to assist those schools: the International Baccalaureate Diploma. The article concludes with a list of components of international mindedness which have changed over time.
Perspectives on the EdD from academics at English universities
Authors: Poole Brian
Published: December 2012

Since first appearing in British universities during the early 1990s, the Doctor of Education (EdD) degree has spread rapidly through the UK higher education sector. However, despite the existence of a single set of Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) descriptors for doctoral-level achievement, some in academia have always been willing to describe the EdD, either openly or in private, as inferior to the PhD. This thesis endeavours (through a wide-ranging questionnaire completed anonymously by 27 academics from a total of 16 English universities, and follow-up interviews with seven individuals selected from the original sample) to discover how a sample of those who teach on such programmes (EdD academics) view the EdD, in general terms. For instance, it seeks to ascertain how widespread among EdD academics is the notion that the EdD does not reach the ‘gold standard’ represented by the PhD in Education.

As data collection proceeds from the questionnaire to the interviews, the focus narrows to three key topics: specific characteristics of the EdD as compared with the PhD in Education (in terms, for example, of learning experience, programme aims, and modes of assessment); strengths, weaknesses and purposes of the EdD viva voce examination; and the concept of ‘originality’ as operationalized by EdD academics/examiners in deciding whether or not an EdD candidate/thesis displays ‘doctorateness’. A range of informed and sometimes forthright views from EdD academics on these matters is recorded. On the basis of data analysis and interpretation, the thesis concludes with proposals for further, more extensive research, and a call for one of two courses of action: either the abolition of the EdD, or the appointment of a committee to review EdD practices nationally, and to recommend ways of strengthening EdD rigour and reputation.
Investigation into energy absorption capacity of composites reinforced by three-dimensional-weft knitted fabrics
Authors: Hasani Hossein , Ajeli Saeed , Hessami Reza , Zadhoush Ali
Published: December 2012

Energy absorption capacity is of great importance in engineering applications such as bumpers, helmets and packaging. Textile-made composites have attracted world's attention due to their high energy absorption and lightweight. This study aims at evaluating energy absorption capability of composites reinforced by three-dimensional-weft knitted fabrics. To achieve this purpose, weft knitted fabrics with different structures and surface densities were prepared from nylon yarns. Having washed the fabrics, their shapes have changed to three-dimensional ones using a thermoforming process and specific casting. Three-dimensional fabrics were first covered by epoxy resin and then laid in a bed of poly vinyl chloride foam in order to improve their energy absorption capacities. Quasi-static pressure and dynamic pendulum impact tests were carried out for samples. The results were analyzed by the Minitab software and optimal sample was determined.
Leadership, Commitment, and Culture
Authors: Jackson Timothy A. , Meyer John P. , Wang Xiao-Hua (Frank)
Published: December 2012

The two purposes of this article were to examine the meta-analytic relationships between several well-studied forms of leadership and employee commitment and to test if some of these relationships vary due to societal culture. Transformational/charismatic leadership was shown to be positively related to affective (AC; ρ = .451, k = 116) and normative commitment (NC; ρ = .337, k = 30), while contingent reward and management-by-exception (active) were positively related to AC (ρ = .369, k = 51 and ρ = .083, k = 25, respectively). Laissez faire leadership was negatively related to AC (ρ = −.296, k = 15). In terms of culture, societal individualism-collectivism did not affect the relationship between transformational/charismatic leadership and AC. In contrast, the relationship between transformational/charismatic leadership and both NC and continuance commitment was stronger in countries that value collectivism. We also found evidence that the relationship between contingent reward and AC was stronger in societies with higher rather than lower levels of power distance/hierarchy. Implications of these findings on the study of leadership, culture, and commitment are discussed.
Missing the story? Changes in foreign news reporting and their implications for conflict prevention
Authors: Otto Florian , Meyer Christoph O
Published: December 2012

One consequence of the eroding business model of quality newspapers in Western countries is the reduction in the number of permanent correspondents and regional bureaus. It has been argued that the importance of foreign correspondents has been overstated and that news agencies, social networks and citizen-journalism can fill the gap. In contrast, the authors argue that the loss of presence in foreign countries has harmed the news media’s ability to uncover evolving crises and provide in-depth and reliable background reporting. This is particularly problematic for conflict prevention because decision-makers use quality news media alongside intelligence reports for identifying and prioritizing threats. Cost-considerations stand in the way of re-opening foreign bureaus, but quality news providers need to become more inventive in how they can preserve the early warning function of quality news coverage. One way forward is to cultivate links with country and area specialists from academia, NGOs and the non-profit media.
A comparison of the accuracy of two sets of diagnostic criteria in the early detection of complex regional pain syndrome following surgical treatment of distal radial fractures
Authors: Żyluk A. , Mosiejczuk H.
Published: December 2012

A total of 120 patients were examined for the presence of symptoms of complex regional pain syndrome after surgical treatment of a distal radial fracture. The patients were assessed at six weeks and 71 of them were also assessed at 12 weeks. The International Association for the Study of Pain criteria and the complex regional pain syndrome severity score were used to make the diagnosis. At six weeks, ten patients (8.3%) met the criteria of complex regional pain syndrome in both the International Association for the Study of Pain and complex regional pain syndrome scores. At 12 weeks six patients (8.4%) met International Association for the Study of Pain and two (2.8%) patients the complex regional pain syndrome severity score criteria. Only one of the patients diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome required treatment for the complex regional pain syndrome. In all the other patients the features of complex regional pain syndrome settled spontaneously. Our results suggest that complex regional pain syndrome after distal radius fractures occurs less frequently than was previously reported. The International Association for the Study of Pain criteria and the complex regional pain syndrome severity scores showed similar sensitivity in early diagnosis of complex regional pain syndrome, but both are poor indicators of the need for treatment.
The economic impact of failed back surgery syndrome
Authors: Taylor Rod S , Taylor Rebecca J
Published: December 2012

Failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) is a generalised disorder that is characterised by chronic pain in the lower back and/or legs that persists or recurs following anatomically successful spinal surgery. This paper aims to (1) assess the burden of failed back surgery in terms of its epidemiology, impact on health outcomes and costs and (2) summarise the evidence base for the cost-effectiveness of interventions for the management of FBSS. A narrative review based on a search of MEDLINE (PubMed) up to August 2012 was undertaken. Despite advances in technology and surgical techniques and increasing rates of spine surgery, a proportion of individuals continue to suffer from FBSS. Estimates from randomised controlled trials indicate that 5–50% of patients may have an unsuccessful outcome following lumbar spinal surgery. The understanding of the epidemiology and burden of FBSS remains poor and further research is needed in this area. The impact of FBSS on an individual’s health-related quality of life and its economic cost to society are considerable and more disabling than other common chronic pain and chronic medical conditions, such as heart failure and motor neuron disease. There is a substantive body of evidence in FBSS patients showing spinal cord stimulation (SCS) to be cost-effective (<£10,000 per quality-adjusted life year). In 2008, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommended SCS as a treatment option for FBSS, either as an alternative to further lumbar surgery or as an adjunct to conservative medical management. The clinical and cost-effectiveness of SCS in the subgroup of those with FBSS receiving workers’ compensation remains less clear. Intrathecal morphine pumps may also be a potentially cost-effective strategy for FBSS. The findings of this review emphasise the importance of identifying strategies to prevent the development of FBSS and effective guidelines for the management of established FBSS. The continued development and application of new neuromodulation therapies and technological innovations in the field of FBSS need to be accompanied by the collection of clinical and economic data in order to demonstrate to healthcare policy makers and payers that such innovations provide benefit to the patient at good value for money.
Reflections on Communication and Sport
Authors: Rowe David
Published: December 2012

In this essay, David Rowe reflects on how the nexus of sport and communication has affected national and global sensibilities. Sport contests take place at particular times in specific places, usually in a stadium setting, but not all who desire to watch can be present in the stadium. Without mediated communication, the vast edifice of contemporary sport would have remained largely localized, segmented activities. Progressively under modernity, print media could discuss and interpret sport for those who were far distant; electronic media brought the sights and sounds of the unique event to them in real time, and much else besides; and now online media enable people all over the world to communicate with each other about sport. Communication and sport are, then, demonstrably indissoluble and of intrinsic importance as a focus of sociocultural organization, activity, identity, and affect as well as of capital accumulation. Mediated sport is thereby carried into virtually every other sociocultural domain. Understanding the dynamics of communication and sport is, therefore, an essential capability for anyone who wishes to function as an engaged, knowledgeable citizen of a sport-saturated world that they may not have made but must nonetheless inhabit.
Reflections on Communication and Sport
Authors: Wenner Lawrence A.
Published: December 2012

In this essay, Lawrence Wenner reflects on the social and cultural importance of communication about sport. He considers the major influences on his research agenda and how the evolution of his research program came to change over time from one centered on empirical audience study to one anchored in critical and cultural studies. In a focus section on reading sport and narrative ethics, the constituent parts of a “dirt theory of narrative ethics” are framed and contextualized as a response to the increasing presses of commodification on sport-referential narratives. The essay closes with a look ahead for communication and sport research that encourages researchers to turn increasing attention to both institutional/organizational studies and audience studies in order to supplement our critical understandings of sport media texts and narratives.
Multiplexed mAbs: a new strategy in preclinical time-domain imaging of acute myeloid leukemia
Authors: McCormack Emmet , Mujić Maja , Osdal Tereza , Bruserud Øystein , Gjertsen Bjørn Tore
Published: December 2012

Key Points

Multiplexing antibodies against common human epitopes all labeled with the same fluorophore facilitates optical imaging of heterogenous AML. Multiplexing fluorescently labeled monoclonal antibodies permits optical imaging of primary patient xenograft pathology/therapy response.
Prediction of novel long non-coding RNAs based on RNA-Seq data of mouse Klf1 knockout study
Authors: Sun Lei , Zhang Zhihua , Bailey Timothy L , Perkins Andrew C , Tallack Michael R , Xu Zhao , Liu Hui
Published: December 2012

Background

Study on long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) has been promoted by high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq). However, it is still not trivial to identify lncRNAs from the RNA-Seq data and it remains a challenge to uncover their functions.

Results

We present a computational pipeline for detecting novel lncRNAs from the RNA-Seq data. First, the genome-guided transcriptome reconstruction is used to generate initially assembled transcripts. The possible partial transcripts and artefacts are filtered according to the quantified expression level. After that, novel lncRNAs are detected by further filtering known transcripts and those with high protein coding potential, using a newly developed program called lncRScan. We applied our pipeline to a mouseKlf1knockout dataset, and discussed the plausible functions of the novel lncRNAs we detected by differential expression analysis. We identified 308 novel lncRNA candidates, which have shorter transcript length, fewer exons, shorter putative open reading frame, compared with known protein-coding transcripts. Of the lncRNAs, 52 large intergenic ncRNAs (lincRNAs) show lower expression level than the protein-coding ones and 13 lncRNAs represent significant differential expression between the wild-type andKlf1knockout conditions.

Conclusions

Our method can predict a set of novel lncRNAs from the RNA-Seq data. Some of the lncRNAs are showed differentially expressed between the wild-type andKlf1knockout strains, suggested that those novel lncRNAs can be given high priority in further functional studies.
A linear-time algorithm for reconstructing zero-recombinant haplotype configuration on a pedigree
Authors: Lai En-Yu , Wang Wei-Bung , Jiang Tao , Wu Kun-Pin
Published: December 2012

Background

When studying genetic diseases in which genetic variations are passed on to offspring, the ability to distinguish between paternal and maternal alleles is essential. Determining haplotypes from genotype data is called haplotype inference. Most existing computational algorithms for haplotype inference have been designed to use genotype data collected from individuals in the form of a pedigree. A haplotype is regarded as a hereditary unit and therefore input pedigrees are preferred that are free of mutational events and have a minimum number of genetic recombinational events. These ideas motivated the zero-recombinant haplotype configuration (ZRHC) problem, which strictly follows the Mendelian law of inheritance, namely that one haplotype of each child is inherited from the father and the other haplotype is inherited from the mother, both without any mutation. So far no linear-time algorithm for ZRHC has been proposed for general pedigrees, even though the number of mating loops in a human pedigree is usually very small and can be regarded as constant.

Results

Given a pedigree with n individuals, m marker loci, and k mating loops, we proposed an algorithm that can provide a general solution to the zero-recombinant haplotype configuration problem in O(kmn + k
2
m) time. In addition, this algorithm can be modified to detect inconsistencies within the genotype data without loss of efficiency. The proposed algorithm was subject to 12000 experiments to verify its performance using different (n, m) combinations. The value of k was uniformly distributed between zero and six throughout all experiments. The experimental results show a great linearity in terms of execution time in relation to input size when both n and m are larger than 100. For those experiments where n or m are less than 100, the proposed algorithm runs very fast, in thousandth to hundredth of a second, on a personal desktop computer.

Conclusions

We have developed the first deterministic linear-time algorithm for the zero-recombinant haplotype configuration problem. Our experimental results demonstrated the linearity of its execution time in relation to the input size. The proposed algorithm can be modified to detect inconsistency within the genotype data without loss of efficiency and is expected to be able to handle recombinant and missing data with further extension.
Space-related pharma-motifs for fast search of protein binding motifs and polypharmacological targets
Authors: Chiu Yi-Yuan , Lin Chun-Yu , Lin Chih-Ta , Hsu Kai-Cheng , Chang Li-Zen , Yang Jinn-Moon
Published: December 2012

Background

To discover a compound inhibiting multiple proteins (i.e. polypharmacological targets) is a new paradigm for the complex diseases (e.g. cancers and diabetes). In general, the polypharmacological proteins often share similar local binding environments and motifs. As the exponential growth of the number of protein structures, to find the similar structural binding motifs (pharma-motifs) is an emergency task for drug discovery (e.g. side effects and new uses for old drugs) and protein functions.

Results

We have developed a Space-Related Pharmamotifs (called SRPmotif) method to recognize the binding motifs by searching against protein structure database. SRPmotif is able to recognize conserved binding environments containing spatially discontinuous pharma-motifs which are often short conserved peptides with specific physico-chemical properties for protein functions. Among 356 pharma-motifs, 56.5% interacting residues are highly conserved. Experimental results indicate that 81.1% and 92.7% polypharmacological targets of each protein-ligand complex are annotated with same biological process (BP) and molecular function (MF) terms, respectively, based on Gene Ontology (GO). Our experimental results show that the identified pharma-motifs often consist of key residues in functional (active) sites and play the key roles for protein functions. The SRPmotif is available at http://gemdock.life.nctu.edu.tw/SRP/.

Conclusions

SRPmotif is able to identify similar pharma-interfaces and pharma-motifs sharing similar binding environments for polypharmacological targets by rapidly searching against the protein structure database. Pharma-motifs describe the conservations of binding environments for drug discovery and protein functions. Additionally, these pharma-motifs provide the clues for discovering new sequence-based motifs to predict protein functions from protein sequence databases. We believe that SRPmotif is useful for elucidating protein functions and drug discovery.
In silico engineering of aggregation-prone recombinant proteins for substrate recognition by the chaperonin GroEL
Authors: Kumar Vipul , Punetha Ankita , Sundar Durai , Chaudhuri Tapan K
Published: December 2012

Background

Molecular chaperones appear to have been evolved to facilitate protein folding in the cell through entrapment of folding intermediates on the interior of a large cavity formed between GroEL and its co-chaperonin GroES. They bind newly synthesized or non-native polypeptides through hydrophobic interactions and prevent their aggregation. Some proteins do not interact with GroEL, hence even though they are aggregation prone, cannot be assisted by GroEL for their folding.

Results

In this study, we have attempted to engineer these non-substrate proteins to convert them as the substrate for GroEL, without compromising on their function. We have used a computational biology approach to generate mutants of the selected proteins by selectively mutating residues in the hydrophobic patch, similar to GroES mobile loop region that are responsible for interaction with GroEL, and compared with the wild counterparts for calculation of their instability and aggregation propensities. The energies of the newly designed mutants were computed through molecular dynamics simulations. We observed increased aggregation propensity of some of the mutants formed after replacing charged amino acid residues with hydrophobic ones in the well defined hydrophobic patch, raising the possibility of their binding ability to GroEL.

Conclusions

The newly generated mutants may provide potential substrates for Chaperonin GroEL, which can be experimentally generated and tested for their tendency of aggregation, interactions with GroEL and the possibility of chaperone-assisted folding to produce functional proteins.
The influence of carbapenem resistance on mortality in solid organ transplant recipients with Acinetobacter baumanniiinfection
Authors: de Gouvêa Erika Ferraz , Martins Ianick Souto , Halpern Marcia , Ferreira Adriana Lúcia Pires , Basto Samanta Teixeira , Gonçalves Renato Torres , Moreira Beatriz Meurer , Santoro-Lopes Guilherme
Published: December 2012

Background

Infection with carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii has been associated with high morbidity and mortality in solid organ transplant recipients. The main objective of this study was to assess the influence of carbapenem resistance and other potential risk factors on the outcome of A. baumannii infection after kidney and liver transplantation.

Methods

Retrospective study of a case series of A. baumannii infection among liver and renal transplant recipients. The primary outcome was death associated with A. baumannii infection. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the influence of carbapenem resistance and other covariates on the outcome.

Results

Forty-nine cases of A. baumannii infection affecting 24 kidney and 25 liver transplant recipients were studied. Eighteen cases (37%) were caused by carbapenem-resistant isolates. There were 17 (35%) deaths associated with A. baumannii infection. In unadjusted analysis, liver transplantation (p = 0.003), acquisition in intensive care unit (p = 0.001), extra-urinary site of infection (p < 0.001), mechanical ventilation (p = 0.001), use of central venous catheter (p = 0.008) and presentation with septic shock (p = 0.02) were significantly related to a higher risk of mortality associated with A. baumannii infection. The number of deaths associated with A. baumannii infection was higher among patients infected with carbapenem-resistant isolates, but the difference was not significant (p = 0.28). In multivariate analysis, the risk of A. baumannii-associated mortality was higher in patients with infection acquired in the intensive care unit (odds ratio [OR] = 34.8, p = 0.01) and on mechanical ventilation (OR = 15.2, p = 0.04). Appropriate empiric antimicrobial therapy was associated with significantly lower mortality (OR = 0.04, p = 0.03), but carbapenem resistance had no impact on it (OR = 0.73, p = 0.70).

Conclusion

These findings suggest that A. baumannii-associated mortality among liver and kidney transplant recipients is influenced by baseline clinical severity and by the early start of appropriate therapy, but not by carbapenem resistance.
Overexpression of SERBP1 (Plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 RNA binding protein) in human breast cancer is correlated with favourable prognosis
Authors: Serce Nuran Bektas , Boesl Andreas , Klaman Irina , von Serényi Sonja , Noetzel Erik , Press Michael F , Dimmler Arno , Hartmann Arndt , Sehouli Jalid , Knuechel Ruth , Beckmann Matthias W , Fasching Peter A , Dahl Edgar
Published: December 2012

Background

Plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) overexpression is an important prognostic and predictive biomarker in human breast cancer. SERBP1, a protein that is supposed to regulate the stability of PAI-1 mRNA, may play a role in gynaecological cancers as well, since upregulation of SERBP1 was described in ovarian cancer recently. This is the first study to present a systematic characterisation of SERBP1 expression in human breast cancer and normal breast tissue at both the mRNA and the protein level.

Methods

Using semiquantitative realtime PCR we analysed SERBP1 expression in different normal human tissues (n = 25), and in matched pairs of normal (n = 7) and cancerous breast tissues (n = 7). SERBP1 protein expression was analysed in two independent cohorts on tissue microarrays (TMAs), an initial evaluation set, consisting of 193 breast carcinomas and 48 normal breast tissues, and a second large validation set, consisting of 605 breast carcinomas. In addition, a collection of benign (n = 2) and malignant (n = 6) mammary cell lines as well as breast carcinoma lysates (n = 16) were investigated for SERBP1 expression by Western blot analysis. Furthermore, applying non-radioisotopic in situ hybridisation a subset of normal (n = 10) and cancerous (n = 10) breast tissue specimens from the initial TMA were analysed for SERBP1 mRNA expression.

Results

SERBP1 is not differentially expressed in breast carcinoma compared to normal breast tissue, both at the RNA and protein level. However, recurrence-free survival analysis showed a significant correlation (P = 0.008) between abundant SERBP1 expression in breast carcinoma and favourable prognosis. Interestingly, overall survival analysis also displayed a tendency (P = 0.09) towards favourable prognosis when SERBP1 was overexpressed in breast cancer.

Conclusions

The RNA-binding protein SERBP1 is abundantly expressed in human breast cancer and may represent a novel breast tumour marker with prognostic significance. Its potential involvement in the plasminogen activator protease cascade warrants further investigation.
Household food access and child malnutrition: results from the eight-country MAL-ED study
Authors: Psaki Stephanie , Bhutta Zulfiqar A , Ahmed Tahmeed , Ahmed Shamsir , Bessong Pascal , Islam Munirul , John Sushil , Kosek Margaret , Lima Aldo , Nesamvuni Cebisa , Shrestha Prakash , Svensen Erling , McGrath Monica , Richard Stephanie , Seidman Jessica , Caulfield Laura , Miller Mark , Checkley William ,   and MALED Network Investigators
Published: December 2012

Background

Stunting results from decreased food intake, poor diet quality, and a high burden of early childhood infections, and contributes to significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although food insecurity is an important determinant of child nutrition, including stunting, development of universal measures has been challenging due to cumbersome nutritional questionnaires and concerns about lack of comparability across populations. We investigate the relationship between household food access, one component of food security, and indicators of nutritional status in early childhood across eight country sites.

Methods

We administered a socioeconomic survey to 800 households in research sites in eight countries, including a recently validated nine-item food access insecurity questionnaire, and obtained anthropometric measurements from children aged 24 to 60 months. We used multivariable regression models to assess the relationship between household food access insecurity and anthropometry in children, and we assessed the invariance of that relationship across country sites.

Results

Average age of study children was 41 months. Mean food access insecurity score (range: 0–27) was 5.8, and varied from 2.4 in Nepal to 8.3 in Pakistan. Across sites, the prevalence of stunting (42%) was much higher than the prevalence of wasting (6%). In pooled regression analyses, a 10-point increase in food access insecurity score was associated with a 0.20 SD decrease in height-for-age Z score (95% CI 0.05 to 0.34 SD; p = 0.008). A likelihood ratio test for heterogeneity revealed that this relationship was consistent across countries (p = 0.17).

Conclusions

Our study provides evidence of the validity of using a simple household food access insecurity score to investigate the etiology of childhood growth faltering across diverse geographic settings. Such a measure could be used to direct interventions by identifying children at risk of illness and death related to malnutrition.
Vermicomposting of food waste: assessing the stability and maturity
Authors: Majlessi Monireh , Eslami Akbar , Najafi Saleh Hossein , Mirshafieean Simin , Babaii Sara
Published: December 2012

The vermicompost using earthworms (Eisenia Fetida) was produced from food waste and chemical parameters (EC, pH, carbon to nitrogen contents (C/N)) and germination bioassay was examined in order to assess the stability and maturity indicators during the vermicomposting process. The seed used in the germination bioassay was cress. The ranges of EC, pH, C/N and germination index were 7.5-4.9 mS/cm, 5.6-7.53, 30.13-14.32% and 12.8-58.4%, respectively. The germination index (GI) value revealed that vermicompost rendered as moderate phytotoxic to cress seed. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the relationship between the parameters. High statistically significant correlation coefficient was calculated between the GI value and EC in the vermicompost at the 99% confidence level. The C/N value showed that the vermicompost was stable. As a result of these observations, stability test alone, was not able to ensure high vermicompost quality. Therefore, it appears that determining vermicompost quality requires a simultaneous use of maturity and stability tests.
Anti-infectious and anti-inflammatory effects of peptide fragments sequentially derived from the antimicrobial peptide centrocin 1 isolated from the green sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis
Authors: Björn Camilla , Håkansson Joakim , Myhrman Emma , Sjöstrand Veronika , Haug Tor , Lindgren Kerstin , Blencke Hans-Matti , Stensvåg Klara , Mahlapuu Margit
Published: December 2012

Bacterial resistance against antibiotic treatment has become a major threat to public health. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have emerged as promising alternative agents for treatment of infectious diseases. This study characterizes novel synthetic peptides sequentially derived from the AMP centrocin 1, isolated from the green sea urchin, for their applicability as anti-infective agents.

The microbicidal effect of centrocin 1 heavy chain (CEN1 HC-Br), its debrominated analogue (CEN1 HC), the C-terminal truncated variants of both peptides, i.e. CEN1 HC-Br (1–20) and CEN1 HC (1–20), as well as the cysteine to serine substituted equivalent CEN1 HC (Ser) was evaluated using minimal microbicidal concentration assay. The anti-inflammatory properties were assessed by measuring the inhibition of secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. All the peptides tested exhibited marked microbicidal and anti-inflammatory properties. No difference in efficacy was seen comparing CEN1 HC-Br and CEN1 HC, while the brominated variant had higher cytotoxicity. C-terminal truncation of both peptides reduced salt-tolerability of the microbicidal effect as well as anti-inflammatory actions. Also, serine substitution of cysteine residue decreased the microbicidal effect. Thus, from the peptide variants tested, CEN1 HC showed the best efficacy and safety profile. Further, CEN1 HC significantly reduced bacterial counts in two different animal models of infected wounds, while Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) failed to develop resistance against this peptide under continued selection pressure. In summary, CEN1 HC appears a promising new antimicrobial agent, and clinical studies are warranted to evaluate the applicability of this AMP for local treatment of infections in man.
Complement anaphylatoxins C3a and C5a induce a failing regenerative program in cardiac resident cells. Evidence of a role for cardiac resident stem cells other than cardiomyocyte renewal
Authors: Lara-Astiaso David , Izarra Alberto , Estrada Juan Camilo , Albo Carmen , Moscoso Isabel , Samper Enrique , Moncayo Javier , Solano Abelardo , Bernad Antonio , Díez-Juan Antonio
Published: December 2012

Cardiac healing, which follows myocardial infarction, is a complex process guided by intricate interactions among different components. Some resident cell populations with a potential role in cardiac healing have already been described in cardiac tissues. These non-cardiomyocyte cell subsets, globally described as cardiac pluripotent/progenitor cells (CPCs), are able to differentiate into all three major cardiac cell lineages (endothelial, smooth muscle and cardiomyocyte cells) in experimental settings. Nevertheless, physiological cardiac healing results in a fibrous scar, which remains to be fully modelled experimentally. Since a role for complement anaphylatoxins (C3a and C5a) has been described in several regeneration/repair processes, we examined the effects that C3a and C5a exert on a defined population of CPCs. We found that C3a and C5a are able to enhance CPC migration and proliferation. In vitro studies showed that this effect is linked to activation of telomerase mRNA and partial preservation of telomere length, in an NFκB-dependent manner. In addition, anaphylatoxin signalling modulates the CPC phenotype, increasing myofibroblast differentiation and reducing endothelial and cardiac gene expression. These findings may denote that C3a and C5a are able to maintain/increase the cardiac stem cell pool within the heart, whilst simultaneously facilitating and modulating resident cell differentiation. We found that this modulation was directed towards scar forming cells, which increased fibroblast/myofibroblast generation and suggests that both these anaphylatoxins could play a relevant role in the damage-coupled activation of resident cells, and regulation of the cardiac healing process after injury.
Robust estimation of instantaneous phase using a time-frequency adaptive filter
Authors: Lu Wen-kai , Zhang Chang-Kai
Published: December 2012

The instantaneous phase estimated by the Hilbert transform (HT) is susceptible to noise; we propose a robust approach for the estimation of instantaneous phase in noisy situations. The main procedure of the proposed method is applying an adaptive filter in time-frequency domain and calculating the analytic signal. By supposing that one frequency component with higher amplitude has higher signal-to-noise ratio, a zero-phase adaptive filter, which is constructed by using the time-frequency amplitude spectrum, enhances the frequency components with higher amplitudes and suppresses those with lower amplitudes. The estimation of instantaneous frequency, which is defined as the derivative of instantaneous phase, is also improved by the proposed robust instantaneous phase estimation method. Synthetic and field data sets are used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method for the estimation of instantaneous phase and frequency, compared by the HT and short-time-Fourier-transform methods.
SEAM Update
Authors: Fehler Michael
Published: December 2012

SEAM Phase I RPSEA is progressing on schedule toward a completion date of the end of June 2013. Several activities are ongoing as multiple data sets are simulated, compiled, or contracted for simulation. This report is an update on the status of the simulations being conducted on the SEAM Phase I Deepwater Model. A complete listing of the parameters for all simulations on the SEAM Phase I Deepwater model was given in the May 2012 issue of The Leading Edge. Funding for the expanded simulations is provided by the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA subcontract No. 07121–2001).
Analysis of passive surface waves from ambient-noise recordings
Authors: Panea I. , Mocanu V. , Iacob C.
Published: December 2012

Surface waves, considered to be the most difficult type of coherent noise present on land seismic reflection data, carry useful information regarding S-wave velocities. The advantage of analyzing surface waves is that they are recorded using vertical component geophones but provide information that is usually obtained from seismic data recorded with three-component geophones. Nowadays, active and passive surface waves are analyzed to determine the distribution of the S-wave velocities in the near surface. One application of near-surface velocities is for determining microseismic event locations, especially for surface and shallow well geophone arrays.
Outstanding reviewers
Authors: Nemeth Tamas
Published: December 2012

This year the number of manuscripts submitted to Geophysics will again exceed 500. The large number of submissions is putting a strain in the peer-review system to find qualified and available reviewers. It is not uncommon these days to have manuscripts with five or more potential reviewers declining the opportunity to participate in the peer-review process. Fortunately, there are many dedicated colleagues who carve out some time in their busy schedules to provide constructive and timely reviews to the authors. Below, we recognize some of these reviewers nominated by associate editors (AE).
Digital Library transitions to new platform
Authors: King Edward
Published: December 2012

As I sit and write the State of the Net for December 2012, I realize it is the eve of the cutover for the new SEG Digital Library. The event, as with any major transition, brings with it feelings of excitement, concern, and relief. Excitement because of the new abilities and control that the new system provides for SEG to manage the Digital Library and membership access independently. Concern from the standpoint of what a project of this scale entails: making sure every requirement is accounted for; ensuring that the corpus of now more than 35,000 articles, abstracts, and books are converted and available; and verifying access capabilities for members and institutions. Finally, relief, from knowing that the team assigned to the project has done everything possible to ensure the success of the transition and provide the best support possible to our membership.