bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
G-Protein Estrogen Receptor as a Regulator of Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Metabolism
Authors: Hussain Yasin , Ding Qingming , Connelly Philip W. , Brunt J. Howard , Ban Matthew R. , McIntyre Adam D. , Huff Murray W. , Gros Robert , Hegele Robert A. , Feldman Ross D.
Published: November 2014

Objective—

Estrogen deficiency is linked with increased low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. The hormone receptor mediating this effect is unknown. G-protein estrogen receptor (GPER) is a recently recognized G-protein–coupled receptor that is activated by estrogens. We recently identified a common hypofunctional missense variant of GPER, namely P16L. However, the role of GPER in LDL metabolism is unknown. Therefore, we examined the association of the P16L genotype with plasma LDL cholesterol level. Furthermore, we studied the role of GPER in regulating expression of the LDL receptor and proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin type 9.

Approach and Results—

Our discovery cohort was a genetically isolated population of Northern European descent, and our validation cohort consisted of normal, healthy women aged 18 to 56 years from London, Ontario. In addition, we examined the effect of GPER on the regulation of proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin type 9 and LDL receptor expression by the treatment with the GPER agonist, G1. In the discovery cohort, GPER P16L genotype was associated with a significant increase in LDL cholesterol (mean±SEM): 3.18±0.05, 3.25±0.08, and 4.25±0.33 mmol/L, respectively, in subjects with CC (homozygous for P16), CT (heterozygotes), and TT (homozygous for L16) genotypes (
P
<0.05). In the validation cohort (n=339), the GPER P16L genotype was associated with a similar increase in LDL cholesterol: 2.17±0.05, 2.34±0.06, and 2.42±0.16 mmol/L, respectively, in subjects with CC, CT, and TT genotypes (
P
<0.05). In the human hepatic carcinoma cell line, the GPER agonist, G1, mediated a concentration-dependent increase in LDL receptor expression, blocked by either pretreatment with the GPER antagonist G15 or by shRNA-mediated GPER downregulation. G1 also mediated a GPER- and concentration-dependent decrease in proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin type 9 expression.

Conclusions—

GPER activation upregulates LDL receptor expression, probably at least, in part, via proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin type 9 downregulation. Furthermore, humans carrying the hypofunctional P16L genetic variant of GPER have increased plasma LDL cholesterol. In aggregate, these data suggest an important role of GPER in the regulation of LDL receptor expression and consequently LDL metabolism.
In Vivo Nanoparticle Assessment of Pathological Endothelium Predicts the Development of Inflow Stenosis in Murine Arteriovenous Fistula
Authors: Cui Jie , Kessinger Chase W. , McCarthy Jason R. , Sosnovik David E. , Libby Peter , Thadhani Ravi I. , Jaffer Farouc A.
Published: November 2014

Objective—

In vivo assessment of pathological endothelium within arteriovenous fistula (AVF) could provide new insights into inflow stenosis, a common cause of AVF primary failure in end-stage renal disease patients. Here we developed nanoparticle-based imaging strategies to assess pathological endothelium in vivo and elucidate its relationship to neointimal hyperplasia formation in AVF.

Approach and Results—

Jugular-carotid AVFs were created in C57BL/6 mice (n=38). Pathological endothelium in the AVF was visualized and quantified in vivo using dextranated magnetofluorescent nanoparticles (CLIO-VT680 [cross-linked iron oxide-VivoTag680]). At day 14, CLIO-VT680 was deposited in AVF, but only minimally in sham-operated arteries. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that CLIO-VT680 resided within endothelial cells and in the intimal extracellular space. Endothelial cells of AVF, but not control arteries, expressed vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 and showed augmented endothelial permeability near the anastomosis. Intravital microscopy demonstrated that CLIO-VT680 deposited most intensely near the AVF anastomosis (
P
<0.0001). The day 14 intravital microscopy CLIO-VT680 signal predicted the subsequent site and magnitude of AVF neointimal hyperplasia at day 42 (
r
=0.58,
P
<0.05). CLIO-VT680 deposition in AVF was further visualized by ex vivo MRI.

Conclusions—

AVF develop a pathological endothelial response that can be assessed in vivo via nanoparticle-enhanced imaging. AVF endothelium is activated and exhibits augmented permeability, offering a targeting mechanism for nanoparticle deposition and retention in pathological endothelium. The in vivo AVF nanoparticle signal identified and predicted subsequent inflow neointimal hyperplasia. This approach could be used to test therapeutic interventions aiming to restore endothelial health and to decrease early AVF failure caused by inflow stenosis.
Cysteinyl Leukotriene 1 Receptors as Novel Mechanosensors Mediating Myogenic Tone Together With Angiotensin II Type 1 Receptors—Brief Report
Authors: Storch Ursula , Blodow Stephanie , Gudermann Thomas , Mederos y Schnitzler Michael
Published: November 2014

Objective—

Myogenic vasoconstriction is mediated by vascular smooth muscle cells of resistance arteries sensing mechanical stretch. Angiotensin II AT
1
receptors and in particular AT
1B
Rs in murine vascular smooth muscle cells have been characterized as mechanosensors that cannot fully account for myogenic vasoconstriction observed. Therefore, we aimed at uncovering novel vascular mechanosensors by expression profiling and functional characterization of candidate proteins.

Approach and Results—

Analyzing myogenic tone of isolated murine mesenteric arteries of AT
1A
and AT
1B
receptor double gene-deficient (AT
1A/1B
−/−
) mice ex vivo, we observed a decreased myogenic tone at high intraluminal pressures and an unexpected hyper-reactivity at low intraluminal pressures because of upregulation of cysteinyl leukotriene 1 receptors (CysLT
1
Rs). Pharmacological blockade of CysLT
1
Rs with pranlukast significantly reduced myogenic tone not only in AT
1A/1B
−/−
but also in wild-type arteries. In wild-type arteries, additional blockade of angiotensin II AT
1
receptors with candesartan resulted in an additive reduction of myogenic tone. Furthermore, calcium imaging experiments were performed with fura-2–loaded human embryonic kidney 293 cells overexpressing CysLT
1
Rs and with isolated mesenteric vascular smooth muscle cells. Hypo-osmotically induced membrane stretch provoked calcium transients that were significantly reduced by pranlukast. Incubations of isolated mesenteric vascular smooth muscle cells with the 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor zileuton had no effect. Furthermore, the G
q/11
-protein inhibitor YM 254890 profoundly reduced myogenic tone to the same extent as induced by the application of pranlukast plus candesartan.

Conclusions—

Here, we identify a novel, hitherto unappreciated role of CysLT
1
Rs in vascular regulation. We identified CysLT
1
Rs as novel mechanosensors in the vasculature involved in myogenic vasoconstriction. Moreover, our findings suggest that myogenic tone is determined by AT
1
and CysLT
1
receptors acting together as mechanosensors via G
q/11
-protein activation.
Misery Perfusion, Blood Pressure Control, and 5-Year Stroke Risk in Symptomatic Major Cerebral Artery Disease
Authors: Yamauchi Hiroshi , Kagawa Shinya , Kishibe Yoshihiko , Takahashi Masaaki , Higashi Tatsuya
Published: November 2014

Background and Purpose—

The benefit of strict blood pressure (BP) control in high-risk patients with symptomatic major cerebral artery disease and misery perfusion (MP) is controversial. Our purposes were (1) to determine whether MP is a predictor of a 5-year risk of subsequent stroke and (2) to investigate the relationships among BP during follow-up, MP, and the stroke risk.

Methods—

We studied 130 nondisabled patients with symptomatic major cerebral artery disease. Baseline hemodynamic measurements were obtained from
15
O-gas positron emission tomography, and patients received medical treatment and they were followed for 5 years or until stroke recurrence or death.

Results—

During 5 years, strokes occurred in 6 of 16 patients with MP and in 15 of 114 without MP (log-rank test;
P
<0.01). There were 4 (25%) ipsilateral ischemic strokes in patients with MP and 4 in those without MP (
P
<0.001). The risk of ipsilateral ischemic stroke declined markedly after 2 years, and there was only 1 ipsilateral ischemic stroke in a patient without MP. Normal systolic BP (<130 mm Hg) was associated with an increased risk of ipsilateral ischemic strokes in patients with impaired perfusion (including MP), whereas systolic BP outside the 130 to 149 mm Hg range was associated with an increased risk of all strokes in patients without MP.

Conclusion—

Patients with MP showed a high-5-year stroke recurrence, but a large part of the 5-year stroke risk disappeared after 2 years. Aggressive BP control may be hazardous in patients with impaired perfusion, including MP.
Does Failing a Placement Exam Discourage Underprepared Students from Going to College?
Authors: Martorell Paco , McFarlin Isaac , Xue Yu
Published: November 2014

About one third of college students are required to take remedial courses. Assignment to remediation is generally made on the basis of performance on a placement exam. When students are required to take a placement exam prior to enrolling in college-level courses, assignment to remediation may dissuade students from actually going to college. This is because remediation could increase the time required to complete a degree (because remedial courses do not count toward academic degrees), and also because being identified as needing remediation might have stigma effects or provide students with new information about their unsuitability for college. This paper examines this issue empirically using administrative data from Texas. Using regression discontinuity methods, we find that students whose placement exam scores would require them to be in remediation are no less likely to enroll in college than are students who score just above the remediation placement cutoff.
Can Value-Added Measures of Teacher Performance Be Trusted?
Authors: Guarino Cassandra M. , Reckase Mark D. , Wooldridge Jeffrey M.
Published: November 2014

We investigate whether commonly used value-added estimation strategies produce accurate estimates of teacher effects under a variety of scenarios. We estimate teacher effects in simulated student achievement data sets that mimic plausible types of student grouping and teacher assignment scenarios. We find that no one method accurately captures true teacher effects in all scenarios, and the potential for misclassifying teachers as high- or low-performing can be substantial. A dynamic ordinary least squares estimator is more robust across scenarios than other estimators. Misspecifying dynamic relationships can exacerbate estimation problems.
The Tobacco Protest in Nineteenth-Century Iran: The View from a Provincial Town
Authors: Kazemi Ranin
Published: November 2014

This article adopts a microhistorical lens to study the social dynamics that accompanied the eruption of the 1891 protest in Qajar Iran. Utilizing spatial and temporal limits, and a historical narrative technique, it disentangles the often overlooked or confounding aspects of popular claim-making practices in what came to be known as the Tobacco Movement in Iranian and Middle Eastern historiography. In using a bottom-up approach, the article provides ample evidence for the historical agency of the local actors on the ground and several historiographical interventions in areas such as the key social groups that partook in the protest, the tactics and strategies used throughout the agitations, and the dynamics of the Iranian public sphere at this point in time. In showing how the southern city of Shiraz experienced the earliest popular unrest in the country, the paper makes use of new archival evidence to contend that it also articulated the Tobacco Movement’s principal strategy (that of collective strikes and embargoes). The protest leaders in Shiraz never operated in isolation. They were in regular contact with fellow agitators in other parts of the country and in the neighboring Ottoman Empire. In explaining these national and transnational connections, the article makes the case that the Tobacco Protest marks an important phase in the development and maturation of what eventually came to be known as activist or political Islam.
The Process of Distal Attribution Illuminated Through Studies of Sensory Substitution
Authors: Hartcher-O’Brien Jess , Auvray Malika
Published: November 2014

When we interact with objects in our environment, as a general rule we are not aware of the proximal stimulation they provide, but we directly experience the external object. This process of assigning an external cause is known as distal attribution. It is extremely difficult to measure how distal attribution emerges because it arises so early in life and appears to be automatic. Sensory substitution systems give us the possibility to measure the process as it occurs online. With these devices, objects in our environment produce novel proximal stimulation patterns and individuals have to establish the link between the proximal stimulation and the distal object. This review disentangles the contributing factors that allow the nervous system to assign a distal cause, thereby creating the experience of an external world. In particular, it highlights the role of the assumption of a stable world, the role of movement, and finally that of calibration. From the existing sensory substitution literature it appears that distal attribution breaks down when one of these principles is violated and as such the review provides an important piece to the puzzle of distal attribution.
Description of the final instar larva of Rhionaeschna vigintipunctata (Ris, 1918) (Odonata: Aeshnidae)
Authors: RODRÍGUEZ JOSÉ SEBASTIÁN , MOLINERI CARLOS
Published: November 2014

The final instar larva of Rhionaeschna vigintipunctata (Ris) (Odonata, Aeshnidae) is described for the first time. The description is based on a series of mature female larvae collected in Tucumán (NW Argentina) and reared to imago. It shares the U-shaped distal excision of epiproct with other larvae of the Marmaraeschna group (only R. pallipes and R. brevicercia known from this stage); but the minute tubercle at each side of the cleft of ligula is absent. Other characters unique to R. vigintipunctata include: open ligula (vs. closed in other "Marmaraeschna"), and mandibular formula. A table to distinguish the larvae of the three species of "Marmaraeschna" and biological and distributional data of R. vigintipunctata are included.
New species of Elaphidiini (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) from Bolivia
Authors: GALILEO MARIA HELENA M. , MARTINS UBIRAJARA R. , SANTOS-SILVA ANTONIO
Published: November 2014

Five new Elaphidiini species are described from Bolivia including Anelaphus maculatus sp. nov. from Tarija and Mephritus bonasoi sp. nov., M. meyeri, sp. nov., M. punctulatus sp. nov. and M. eleandroi sp. nov. from Santa Cruz. A revised key to all 22 South American Mephritus species is provided.
Networked Entrepreneurs
Authors: Yetis-Larsson Zeynep , Teigland Robin , Dovbysh Olga
Published: November 2014

In the contemporary economy, work is increasingly becoming freelance-based while moving online. Open source software communities are rapidly becoming arenas in which individuals identify, cocreate, and realize opportunities through shared resources and expertise. Operating in a communal setting, these individuals, who we label open entrepreneurs, work and collaborate with members of their own open source community. In this article, we investigate how networked work benefits open entrepreneurs, and in particular, we focus on how open entrepreneurs are connected to other community members and how these networks affect entrepreneurial processes. Our results suggest that through different aspects of networked work, open entrepreneurs fulfill their profit motives not only in the short term but also in the long term as their networking activities facilitate the overall functioning and sustainability of the community.
Sequential In-Vehicle Glance Distributions
Authors: Yamani Yusuke , Horrey William J. , Liang Yulan , Fisher Donald L.
Published: November 2014

Objective:

The aim of this study was to illustrate how a consideration of glance sequences to in-vehicle tasks and their associated distributions can be informative.

Background:

The rapid growth in the number of nomadic technologies and in-vehicle devices has the potential to create complex, visually intensive tasks for drivers that may incur long in-vehicle glances. Such glances place drivers at increased risk of a motor vehicle crash.

Method:

We used eye-glance data from a study of distraction training programs to examine the change in glance duration distributions across consecutive glances during the performance of various in-vehicle tasks.

Results:

The sequential analysis across trained and untrained drivers showed that the proportion of late-sequence glances longer than a 2-s threshold among untrained drivers was almost double the number of such glances for the trained drivers, that the third and later glances were particularly problematic, and that training reduced the proportion of early- and later-sequence glances.

Conclusion:

Examining how the duration of off-road glances varies as a function of their order in a sequence of glances and the visual demands of the task can offer important insights into the change in the distracting potential of in-vehicle tasks across glances and the effects of training.

Application:

The sequential analysis of in-vehicle glance data can be useful for researchers and practitioners and has implications for the development and evaluation of training programs as well as for task and interface design.
Acetylsalicylic Acid Treatment Improves Differentiation and Immunomodulation of SHED
Authors: Liu Y. , Chen C. , Liu S. , Liu D. , Xu X. , Chen X. , Shi S.
Published: November 2014

Stem cells from exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED) possess multipotent differentiation and immunomodulatory properties. They have been used for orofacial bone regeneration and autoimmune disease treatment. In this study, we show that acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) treatment is able to significantly improve SHED-mediated osteogenic differentiation and immunomodulation. Mechanistically, ASA treatment upregulates the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT)/Wnt/β-catenin cascade, leading to improvement of SHED-mediated bone regeneration, and also upregulates TERT/FASL signaling, leading to improvement of SHED-mediated T-cell apoptosis and ameliorating disease phenotypes in dextran sodium sulfate–induced colitis mice. These data indicate that ASA treatment is a practical approach to improving SHED-based cell therapy.
Accommodation Decision Making for Postsecondary Students With Learning Disabilities
Authors: Weis Robert , Dean Emily L. , Osborne Karen J.
Published: November 2014

Clinicians uniformly recommend accommodations for college students with learning disabilities; however, we know very little about which accommodations they select and the validity of their recommendations. We examined the assessment documentation of a large sample of community college students receiving academic accommodations for learning disabilities to determine (a) which accommodations their clinicians recommended and (b) whether clinicians’ recommendations were supported by objective data gathered during the assessment process. In addition to test and instructional accommodations, many clinicians recommended that students with learning disabilities should have different educational expectations, standards, and methods of evaluation (i.e., grading) than their nondisabled classmates. Many of their recommendations for accommodations were not supported by objective evidence from students’ history, diagnosis, test data, and current functioning. Furthermore, clinicians often recommended accommodations that were not specific to the student’s diagnosis or area of disability. Our findings highlight the need for individually selected accommodations matched to students’ needs and academic contexts.
How Laypeople Understand the Tentativeness of Medical Research News in the Media
Authors: Kimmerle Joachim , Flemming Danny , Feinkohl Insa , Cress Ulrike
Published: November 2014

Medical research findings are often tentative, and people should be able to perceive this. However, the psychological processes underlying this ability are largely unclear. In a laboratory experiment, we found that the following factors had an impact on perception of tentativeness of research findings reported in a newspaper article: (a) the framing of findings, (b) emphasis on the limited reliability of the findings in the article, (c) people’s provisional opinion on the topic, and (d) their medicine-related epistemological beliefs. We make recommendations to science journalists to help promote the public understanding of health research and provide suggestions for future studies.
A two-step approach for damage Identification in plates
Authors: Fu YZ , Liu JK , Wei ZT , Lu ZR
Published: November 2014

This paper presents a two-step approach based on modal strain energy and response sensitivity analysis to identify the local damages in isotropic plates with moderate thickness. The first step focuses on detection of damage location. The local damage is simulated by a reduction in the elemental Young’s modulus of the plate. It is determined from the modal strain energy change ratio approach. A method to weaken the “vicinity effect” is proposed to reduce the false alarms in the localization of damage. In the second step, an approach based on response sensitivity-based finite element model updating is used to further identify the locations and extents of the local damages in time domain. The identified results are obtained iteratively with Tikhonov regularization using the measured structural dynamic responses. Two numerical examples are investigated to illustrate the correctness and efficiency of the proposed method. Both single and multiple damages can be identified successfully and the effect of measurement noise on the identification results is investigated. Good identified results can be obtained from the short time histories of a few number of measurement points.
The Child Adoption Marketplace
Authors: Skidmore Mark , Anderson Gary , Eiswerth Mark
Published: November 2014

In the United States, child adoption costs vary considerably, ranging from no out-of-pocket expense to US$50,000 or more. What are the causes for the variability in adoption expenses? We administered a survey to a sample of Michigan adoptive families to link adoptive parent characteristics, child characteristics, and adoption-related expenses and subsidies. We then estimated “hedonic” regressions in which adoption cost is a function of child characteristics. The analysis shows that up to 74 percent of the variation in adoption costs is explained by child characteristics. In particular, costs are lower for older children, children of African descent, and special needs children. Findings inform policies regarding the transition of children from foster care to adoptive families.
Contingencies of the will: Uses of harm reduction and the disease model of addiction among health care practitioners
Authors: Szott Kelly
Published: November 2014

The concept of addiction as a disease is becoming firmly established in medical knowledge and practice at the same time as the logics of the harm reduction approach are gaining broader acceptance. How health care practitioners understand and intervene upon drug use among their patients is complicated by these two models. While harm reduction can be understood as a form of governmentality wherein drug-taking individuals express their regulated autonomy through self-governance, the notion of addiction as a disease removes the option of self-governance through negating the will of the individual. Through analysis of qualitative interviews conducted with 13 health care practitioners who provide care for economically marginalized people who use drugs in New York City, it was found that the absence of will articulated in constructions of addiction as disease offered a gateway through which health care practitioners could bring in ideological commitments associated with harm reduction, such as the de-stigmatization of drug use. Despite differences in the attribution of agency, sewing together these two approaches allowed health care practitioners to work with drug-using patients in practical and compassionate ways. This resembles the strategic deployment of diverse subjectivities found in feminist, post-structural liberatory projects wherein differential subjectification proves tactical and productive. Although drug-using patients may enjoy the benefits of practical and compassionate health care, the conjoint facilitation and denouncement of their will occasioned by the use of both harm reduction and the disease model of addiction imply their management by both pastoral and disciplinary technologies of power.
Journalism after all: Professionalism, content and performance – A comparison between alternative news websites and websites of traditional newspapers in German local media markets
Authors: Harnischmacher Michael
Published: November 2014

In light of the problems traditional news organizations are facing in many countries, it has been suggested that journalism’s relevance as the sole provider of news in an increasingly networked society is decreasing and that the Internet has given rise to new kinds of amateur, citizen, and participatory forms of content production, changing the nature of traditional journalism and threatening its institutions. The study presented here suggests otherwise. Taking a look at the German local news market and presenting a survey of the alternative news websites that have entered this market in recent years, it suggests that it is not so much journalism’s standards and practices – its institutional characteristics – that are changing, but its organizational framework.
An analytical method for reducing combustion instability in homogeneous charge compression ignition engines through cycle-to-cycle control
Authors: Jungkunz Adam F , Ravi Nikhil , Liao Hsien-Hsin , Erlien Stephen M , Gerdes J Christian
Published: November 2014

Late-phasing homogeneous charge compression ignition operating conditions have the potential to expand the useful operating range of homogeneous charge compression ignition in internal combustion engines. However, significant combustion instabilities can occur at late-phasing operating conditions. Combustion phasing and work output variations at these conditions are characterized by a pattern in which the combustion phasing alternates between being earlier than the desired timing and later than the desired timing. This characteristic can be traced to a negative eigenvalue in a simplified, discrete-time analytical model of homogeneous charge compression ignition dynamics. The model forms the basis for the design of a simple controller that is shown to reduce combustion timing variations in simulation. Experimental results illustrate the controller successfully reduces the cyclic variations in combustion by altering the exhaust valve timing, resulting in stable combustion and an expanded operating range.
Methodological puzzles of surveying Roma/Gypsy populations
Authors: Messing Vera
Published: November 2014

European countries as well as the European Union are continually striving for comparable and reliable statistics about Roma, which is a precondition to efficiently support the design and implementation of national and European Union wide inclusion strategies and sectorial policies as well as monitoring their outcomes. This article aims to provide an overview of the theoretical and practical challenges researchers need to face in the course of designing and conducting survey among ‘Roma’ populations. A number of factors – such as dilemmas about the definition of the target population, methodology of sampling of a population with multiple and threatened identity, difficulties of constructing comparable indicators – have led to greatly diverging outcomes of various ‘Roma’ surveys in terms of the most essential statistics, such as the size of the population, geographical dispersion, level of poverty, level of education and employment rate. This article will summarize the various methodological decisions that research has to make by providing illustrative examples of recent research in Hungary, Romania and the European Union. It attempts to demonstrate the actual consequences of methodological decisions in terms of the varying outcomes of a crucial indicator – employment rate – produced by six independent surveys. The article’s conclusions are further reaching: data on Roma minorities are a requirement for evidence-based, efficient policy making targeted at social inclusion of Roma in Europe, and therefore understanding methodological dilemmas in the collection of this data is essential.
Angels with dirty faces? European identity, politics of representation and recognition of Romani interests
Authors: Agarin Timofey
Published: November 2014

The contradiction between acknowledgement of cultural differences and their accommodation in public has been a constant theme in studies of diverse societies. This review essay discusses five volumes that grapple with questions of Romani inclusion and the problems Roma face across Europe. The volumes under review point to problems faced by Romani communities and analyse the various legal, political and social challenges that situation of the Roma poses to institutions of contemporary societies. The essay reviews the challenging nature of the status of Roma as we move away from the one-sided towards more reciprocal relationship engagement of state with society in general, and the multiply excluded groups, in particular. The essay finds that the role Roma play in these relationships is either over-, or under-estimated by the literature, largely as a result of limited opportunities to acknowledge and, in effect, accommodate Roma who are rarely understood as actors in their own right.
Improving the care of older persons in Australian prisons using the Policy Delphi method
Authors: Patterson Karen , Newman Claire , Doona Katherine
Published: November 2014

There are currently no internationally recognised and approved processes relating to the care of older persons with dementia in prison. This research aimed to develop tools and procedures related to managing the care of, including the identification and assessment of, older persons with dementia who are imprisoned in New South Wales, Australia. A modified approach to the Policy Delphi method, using both surveys and facilitated discussion groups, enabled experts to come together to discuss improving the quality of care provision for older persons with dementia in prison and achieve research aims.
The Politics of Content Aggregation
Authors: Vonderau Patrick
Published: November 2014

This article deals with the streaming of online video, along a line of comparison to the music industry. Based on qualitative empirical research conducted in Sweden and other European countries, the article focuses on one particular aspect of streamed media, aggregation, since aggregation is central for how streaming is economically, technically, and socially organized. Developing its argument at the intersection of critical media industry studies and economic anthropology, the article argues that online aggregators have contributed to a process of devaluation that their services were designed to fight.
Featured Article: Isolation, characterization, and cultivation of human hepatocytes and non-parenchymal liver cells
Authors: Pfeiffer Elisa , Kegel Victoria , Zeilinger Katrin , Hengstler Jan G , Nüssler Andreas K , Seehofer Daniel , Damm Georg
Published: November 2014

Primary human hepatocytes (PHH) are considered to be the gold standard for in vitro testing of xenobiotic metabolism and hepatotoxicity. However, PHH cultivation in 2D mono-cultures leads to dedifferentiation and a loss of function. It is well known that hepatic non-parenchymal cells (NPC), such as Kupffer cells (KC), liver endothelial cells (LEC), and hepatic stellate cells (HSC), play a central role in the maintenance of PHH functions. The aims of the present study were to establish a protocol for the simultaneous isolation of human PHH and NPC from the same tissue specimen and to test their suitability for in vitro co-culture. Human PHH and NPC were isolated from tissue obtained by partial liver resection by a two-step EDTA/collagenase perfusion technique. The obtained cell fractions were purified by Percoll density gradient centrifugation. KC, LEC, and HSC contained in the NPC fraction were separated using specific adherence properties and magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS®). Identified NPC revealed a yield of 1.9 × 106 KC, 2.7 × 105 LEC and 4.7 × 105 HSC per gram liver tissue, showing viabilities >90%. Characterization of these NPC showed that all populations went through an activation process, which influenced the cell fate. The activation of KC strongly depended on the tissue quality and donor anamnesis. KC became activated in culture in association with a loss of viability within 4–5 days. LEC lost specific features during culture, while HSC went through a transformation process into myofibroblasts. The testing of different culture conditions for HSC demonstrated that they can attenuate, but not prevent dedifferentiation in vitro. In conclusion, the method described allows the isolation and separation of PHH and NPC in high quality and quantity from the same donor.
The digital and social media journalist: A comparative analysis of journalists in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru
Authors: Weiss Amy Schmitz
Published: November 2014

This study examines how journalists in Latin America, specifically in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, view their professional roles in today’s digital media landscape. This study is part of a larger research project of an online survey administered to journalists in Latin America. In particular, this study examines through a comparative analysis how journalists in Latin America perceive their journalistic role and what forms of digital and social media are becoming parts of the journalists’ daily work in this region. Survey findings show that the interpretive and populist mobilizer roles resonated the most among the countries sampled. Furthermore, these journalists are engaging in specific digital and social media tasks for daily newsgathering and reporting routines in their respective newsrooms.
Adenosine triphosphate bioluminescence assay for monitoring contamination of the working environment of anaesthetists and cleanliness of the operating room
Authors: Fukada Tomoko , Tsuchiya Yuri , Iwakiri Hiroko , Ozaki Makoto
Published: November 2014

Anaesthetists possibly contribute to the spread of infections during anaesthesia. The adenosine triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence assay is an easy-to-perform, on-the-spot assay that provides objective data; therefore, using the LuciPac®Pen and the Lumitester PD-20®System, we assessed contamination of the working environment of anaesthetists before and after surgery as well as their hands at the time of each procedure during induction and extubation. Similarly, cleanliness of the operating room was evaluated using this assay to determine whether it is useful to assess the effectiveness of the routine cleaning protocols followed after surgery. ATP concentrations in the working environment of anaesthetists and their hands increased during surgery. In addition, ATP concentrations within the working environment decreased after routine cleaning with ethanol or accelerated hydrogen peroxide; however, there were no differences in the number of sites with ATP concentrations >500 relative light units before and after cleaning. This method is useful to evaluate contamination of the working environment of anaesthetists; nevertheless, it is prudent to evaluate the effectiveness of routine cleaning protocols because ATP bioluminescence assays are influenced by the use of various disinfectants at varying concentrations.
Hashimoto Encephalopathy or Neurosarcoidosis? A Case Report
Authors: Sapkota Sarita K. , Sapkota Biggya L. , Pitiyanuvath Nataria
Published: November 2014

Hashimoto encephalopathy (HE) is a rare autoimmune disease characterized by symptoms of acute or subacute encephalopathy associated with increased antithyroid antibody levels. Neurosarcoidosis is also a rare entity that occurs in less than 5% of patients with systemic sarcoidosis. Neurosarcoidosis usually presents with cranial neuropathies, myelopathy, or new-onset seizure. We report a case of a 49-year-old caucasian woman, previously healthy, who initially presented for a workup of a new-onset seizure. She had a gradually progressive course with neurocognitive decline and recurrent partial seizures refractory to conventional antiepileptic drugs. Her seizures responded well to a course of intravenous immunoglobulin. She was subsequently diagnosed with HE and pulmonary sarcoidosis based on serological and pathological studies. She improved neurologically once the seizures were controlled. Hashimoto encephalopathy is a rare condition that is potentially treatable and presents with various neuropsychiatric manifestations. It is a diagnosis of exclusion that requires a strong clinical suspicion and is often underrecognized.
Narcissism and Emotional Contagion
Authors: Czarna Anna Z. , Wróbel Monika , Dufner Michael , Zeigler-Hill Virgil
Published: November 2014

In this research, we investigated the association between narcissism and one central aspect of empathy, susceptibility to emotional contagion (the transfer of emotional states from one person to another). In a laboratory study ( N = 101), we detected a negative link between narcissism and emotional contagion in response to experimentally induced positive affect. In an online study ( N = 195), narcissism was negatively linked to experimentally induced emotional contagion regardless of valence. These findings indicate that individuals with high narcissism levels are apparently less prone to emotional contagion than individuals lower in narcissism. Hence, narcissists are less likely to “catch the emotions” of others. Furthermore, by comparing experimental assessments of susceptibility to emotional contagion with subjective self-reports, we were able to study self-insight. Across both samples, self-insight was generally low, and individual differences in self-insight were unrelated to narcissism.
Study on fabrication of ceramic coatings on Ti–6Al–4V alloy by combined ultrasonic impact treatment and electrospark
Authors: Liu Y. , Wang D. , Deng C. , Huo L. , Wang L. , Fang R.
Published: November 2014

A method combining ultrasonic impact treatment with electrospark was developed to fabricate ceramic coatings on Ti–6Al–4V alloy. In this paper, the mechanism of the combined process is described in detail. The microstructure, chemical states, phase composition and surface residual stress of the ceramic coated titanium alloy were presented. The coatings mainly consist of carbides of titanium. The hardness of the coating increased significantly owing to the existence of the ceramic phase. Further, the impact process and the narrow space that the shock ball traverses decrease the surface roughness of the sample after the combined process. Finally, the surface residual stress of the sample treated by the combined process is compressive stress.
Zinc-indium-oxide sol-gel thin film surface patterning, morphology and photocatalytic activity
Authors: Bera S. , Haldar A. , Pal M. , Sarkar S. , Chakraborty R. , Jana S.
Published: November 2014

We report the fabrication of surface patterned zinc indium oxide thin films by pressure assisted capillary force lithography from the precursor solutions of varying indium content 55 maximum. The presence of various morphologies spherical, hexagonal plate, cotton ball, flower and islandlike of hexagonal ZnO together with the formation of light surface patterns was observed from electron microscopes field emission scanning electron microscope, TEM for the films deposited from the precursors of 45 indium. However, at 55 indium ZI55, the development of high fidelity surface patterns average periodicity 15m peak height 15nm was observed from atomic force microscopy (AFM) study. A gradual increase in photocatalytic activity PA of the films towards decomposition of rhodamine 6G dye under UV 254nm was found on increasing indium content. Moreover, an improvement of the PA over 13 times was noticed by nanoAu coating on ZI55. This fabrication strategy could be used for PA improvement of metal oxide semiconductors.
Part I. Mechanism of oxidation of Cr2AlC films in temperature range 700–1200°C
Authors: Berger O. , Boucher R. , Ruhnow M.
Published: November 2014

The isothermal oxidation behaviour of Cr2AlC-MAX phase (ternary alloy with general formula Mn+1AXn: M = early transition metal, A = A-group element, mostly IIIA or IVA, X = C or N, n = 1–3) films on alumina substrates was investigated at temperatures between 700 and 1200°C for hold times of 1 to 30 h. The influence of the annealing temperature and time on the structure, surface morphology and microstructure evolution was studied. It was found that two processes occur simultaneously in these layers. These are the transformation of the disordered solid solution (Cr,Al)2Cx to the ordered Cr2AlC-MAX phase and the oxidation of the MAX phase. In this work, a detailed discussion of these processes is given. Moreover, a schematic model of the associated structural and chemical changes in the annealed Cr2AlC layers based on the X-ray diffraction (XRD), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and magnetic results was developed.
Part II. Oxidation of yttrium doped Cr2AlC films in temperature range between 700 and 1200°C
Authors: Berger O. , Boucher R. , Ruhnow M.
Published: November 2014

The isothermal oxidation behaviour of Cr2AlC films deposited with 0·1–0·3 at.%Y addition on alumina substrates was investigated at temperatures between 700 and 1200°C for hold times of 1 to 30 h. It was found that the Y atoms impede the bulk diffusion of Al and Cr atoms and, thus, the initial transformation of the disordered solid solution (Cr, Al)2Cx to the ordered Cr2AlC-MAX phase. It also reduces the oxidation rate of the ordered Cr2AlC-MAX phase and promotes the α-Al2O3 phase formation relative to the other alumina on the surface and leads to better adhesion of the layers. 0·3 at.%Y was found to promote the formation of α-Al2O3 relative to the other possible phases most strongly for 700–900°C. However, 0·2 at.%Y addition was found to cause the best oxidation resistance at 1200°C. The model introduced in part I was developed further.
Upregulation of FcγRIIb on monocytes is necessary to promote the superagonist activity of TGN1412
Authors: Hussain Khiyam , Hargreaves Chantal E. , Roghanian Ali , Oldham Robert J. , Chan H. T. Claude , Mockridge C. Ian , Chowdhury Ferdousi , Frendéus Bjorn , Harper Kirsty S. , Strefford Jonathan C. , Cragg Mark S. , Glennie Martin J. , Williams Anthony P. , French Ruth R.
Published: November 2014

Key Points

TGN1412-induced T-cell activation following high-density preculture of PBMCs is a consequence of FcγRIIb upregulation on monocytes. In vivo, cytokine release syndrome may be due to the close association of FcγRIIb-bearing cells with T cells in lymphoid tissues.
Spirometric reference values for Malagasy adults aged 18–73 years
Authors: Ratomaharo Julia , Linares Perdomo Olinto , Collingridge Dave S. , Andriamihaja Rabezanahary , Hegewald Matthew , Jensen Robert L. , Hankinson John , Morris Alan H.
Published: November 2014

The American Thoracic Society (ATS) and European Respiratory Society (ERS) recommend that spirometry prediction equations be derived from samples of similar race/ethnicity. Malagasy prediction equations do not exist. The objectives of this study were to establish prediction equations for healthy Malagasy adults, and then compare Malagasy measurements with published prediction equations.

We enrolled 2491 healthy Malagasy subjects aged 18–73 years (1428 males) from June 2006 to April 2008. The subjects attempted to meet the ATS/ERS 2005 guidelines when performing forced expiratory spirograms. We compared Malagasy measurements of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) and FEV1/FVC with predictions from the European Community for Steel and Coal (ECSC), the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) and the ERS Global Lung Function Initiative (GLI) 2012 study.

A linear model for the entire population, using age and height as independent variables, best predicted all spirometry parameters for sea level and highland subjects. FEV1, FVC and FEV1/FVC were most accurately predicted by NHANES III African-American male and female, and by GLI 2012 black male and black and South East Asian female equations. ECSC-predicted FEV1, FVC and FEV1/FVC were poorly matched to Malagasy measurements.

We provide the first spirometry reference equations for a healthy adult Malagasy population, and the first comparison of Malagasy population measurements with ECSC, NHANES III and GLI 2012 prediction equations.
Food allergy competencies of dietitians in the United Kingdom, Australia and United States of America
Authors: Maslin Kate , Meyer Rosan , Reeves Liane , Mackenzie Heather , Swain Anne , Stuart‐Smith Wendy , Loblay Rob , Groetch Marion , Venter Carina
Published: November 2014

Background

A knowledgeable and competent dietitian is an integral part of the food allergy multidisciplinary team, contributing to effective diagnosis and management of food allergic disorders. Little is currently known about the food allergy training needs and preferences of dietitians. The purpose of this paper is to measure and compare self‐reported food allergy competencies of dietitians based in the UK, Australia and USA.

Methods

A survey of USA‐based paediatric dietitians was developed to measure self‐reported proficiency and educational needs in the area of food allergy. The survey was modified slightly and circulated online to paediatric and adult dietitians in the UK and Australia. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations are presented.

Results

A total of 797 dietitians completed the questionnaire. Competency in “developing food challenge protocols” and “managing feeding problems” were rated the poorest overall across all three settings. A higher level of competency was significantly positively associated with length of practice as a dietitian, percentage of caseload composed of patients with food allergy and training in food allergy. The most popular topics for further training were food additives, pharmacological reactions and oral allergy syndrome.

Conclusions

There is a need amongst dietitians to increase their knowledge in different aspects of food allergy diagnosis and management, specifically the areas of developing food challenge protocols and management of feeding problems. This study provides valuable information for designing targeted food allergy education for dietitians.