bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Participation of HIV prevention programs among men who have sex with men in two cities of China—a mixed method study
Authors: Ma Wei , Raymond H Fisher , Wilson Erin C , McFarland Willi , Lu Hongyan , Ding Xianbin , Lu Rongrong , Ma Xiaoyan , Xia Dongyan , Xu Jing , He Xiong , Feng Liangui , Fan Song , Li Xuefeng , Sun Jiangping , Jia Yujiang , Shao Yiming , Ruan Yuhua , Xiao Yan
Published: October 2012

Background

Although various HIV prevention programs targeting men who have sex with men (MSM) are operating in China, whether and how these programs are being utilized is unclear. This study explores participation of HIV prevention programs and influencing factors among MSM in two cities in China.

Methods

This is a mixed-method study conducted in Beijing and Chongqing. A qualitative study consisting of in-depth interviews with 54 MSM, 11 key informants, and 8 focus group discussions, a cross-sectional survey using respondent-driven sampling among 998 MSM were conducted in 2009 and 2010 respectively to elicit information on MSM’s perception and utilization of HIV prevention programs. Qualitative findings were integrated with quantitative multivariate factors to explain the quantitative findings.

Results

Fifty-six percent of MSM in Chongqing and 75.1% in Beijing ever participated in at least one type of HIV prevention program (P=0.001). Factors related to participation in HIV prevention programs included age, ethnicity, income, HIV risk perception, living with boyfriend, living in urban area, size of MSM social network, having talked about HIV status with partners, and knowing someone who is HIV positive. Reasons why MSM did not participate in HIV prevention programs included logistical concerns like limited time for participation and distance to services; program content and delivery issues such as perceived low quality services and distrust of providers; and, cultural issues like HIV-related stigma and low risk perception.

Conclusions

The study shows that there is much room for improvement in reaching MSM in China. HIV prevention programs targeting MSM in China may need to be more comprehensive and incorporate the cultural, logistic and HIV-related needs of the population in order to effectively reach and affect this population’s risk for HIV.
Physicochemical and antioxidant properties of Bangladeshi honeys stored for more than one year
Authors: Islam Asiful , Khalil Ibrahim , Islam Nazmul , Moniruzzaman Mohammed , Mottalib Abdul , Sulaiman Siti Amrah , Gan Siew Hua
Published: October 2012

Background

There is no available information on physicochemical and antioxidant properties on Bangladeshi honey. We investigated five different monofloral and three different multifloral honey samples collected from different parts of Bangladesh.

Methods

The levels of phenolics, flavonoids, ascorbic acid, ascorbic acid equivalent antioxidant content (AEAC), proline, protein and antioxidants were determined in the honey samples using ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assays.

Results

The highest level of phenolic was 688.5 ± 5.9 mg Gallic acid/kg, and the highest level of flavonoid was 155 ± 6.9 mg Catechin/kg. The highest color intensity was 2034.00 ± 17.5 mAU, and the highest protein content was 8.6 ± 0.0mg/g. High levels of proline (2932.8 ± 3.7 mg/kg), ascorbic acid (154.3 ± 0.3 mg/kg), AEAC (34.1 ± 1.4mg/100 g) and FRAP (772.4 ± 2.5 μmol Fe (II)/100 g) were detected in some of the samples, especially the multifloral honey samples, indicating good antioxidant properties. A strong positive correlation was found between phenolics, flavonoids, DPPH, FRAP and color intensity, indicating that in addition to total phenolic and flavonoid concentrations, color intensity and amino acid are good indicators of the antioxidant potential of honey. Except for a single sample (BDH-6), the honey samples stored for 1.5 years at room temperature still had 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) values within the recommended range (mean = 10.93 mg/kg), indicating that the rate of HMF production in Bangladeshi honey samples is low.

Conclusion

It is postulated that the low rate of HMF formation could be attributed to the acidic and low moisture content in the samples. In general, multifloral honeys have higher antioxidant properties based on their high levels of phenolics, flavonoids, AEAC, DPPH and FRAP when compared to monofloral honeys. We also found that monofloral honey samples from Guizotia abyssinica and Nigella sativa had high antioxidant properties.
Combining QOF data with the care bundle approach may provide a more meaningful measure of quality in general practice
Authors: de Wet Carl , McKay John , Bowie Paul
Published: October 2012

Background

A significant minority of patients do not receive all the evidence-based care recommended for their conditions. Health care quality may be improved by reducing this observed variation. Composite measures offer a different patient-centred perspective on quality and are utilized in acute hospitals via the ‘care bundle’ concept as indicators of the reliability of specific (evidence-based) care delivery tasks and improved outcomes. A care bundle consists of a number of time-specific interventions that should be delivered to every patient every time. We aimed to apply the care bundle concept to selected QOF data to measure the quality of evidence-based care provision.

Methods

Care bundles and components were selected from QOF indicators according to defined criteria. Five clinical conditions were suitable for care bundles: Secondary Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), Stroke & Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA), Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Diabetes Mellitus (DM). Each bundle has 3-8 components. A retrospective audit was undertaken in a convenience sample of nine general medical practices in the West of Scotland. Collected data included delivery (or not) of individual bundle components to all patients included on specific disease registers. Practice level and overall compliance with bundles and components were calculated in SPSS and expressed as a percentage.

Results

Nine practices (64.3%) with a combined patient population of 56,948 were able to provide data in the format requested. Overall compliance with developed QOF-based care bundles (composite measures) was as follows: CHD 64.0%, range 35.0-71.9%; Stroke/TIA 74.1%, range 51.6-82.8%; CKD 69.0%, range 64.0-81.4%; and COPD 82.0%, range 47.9-95.8%; and DM 58.4%, range 50.3-65.2%.

Conclusions

In this small study compliance with individual QOF-based care bundle components was high, but overall (‘all or nothing’) compliance was substantially lower. Care bundles may provide a more informed measure of care quality than existing methods. However, the acceptability, feasibility and potential impact on clinical outcomes are unknown.
Finding parasites and finding challenges: improved diagnostic access and trends in reported malaria and anti-malarial drug use in Livingstone district, Zambia
Authors: Masaninga Freddie , Sekeseke-Chinyama Masela , Malambo Thindo , Moonga Hawela , Babaniyi Olusegun , Counihan Helen , Bell David
Published: October 2012

Background

Understanding the impact of malaria rapid diagnostic test (RDT) use on management of acute febrile disease at a community level, and on the consumption of anti-malarial medicines, is critical to the planning and success of scale-up to universal parasite-based diagnosis by health systems in malaria-endemic countries.

Methods

A retrospective study of district-wide community-level RDT introduction was conducted in Livingstone District, Zambia, to assess the impact of this programmed on malaria reporting, incidence of mortality and on district anti-malarial consumption.

Results

Reported malaria declined from 12,186 cases in the quarter prior to RDT introduction in 2007 to an average of 12.25 confirmed and 294 unconfirmed malaria cases per quarter over the year to September 2009. Reported malaria-like fever also declined, with only 4,381 RDTs being consumed per quarter over the same year. Reported malaria mortality declined to zero in the year to September 2009, and all-cause mortality declined. Consumption of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) dropped dramatically, but remained above reported malaria, declining from 12,550 courses dispensed by the district office in the quarter prior to RDT implementation to an average of 822 per quarter over the last year. Quinine consumption in health centres also declined, with the district office ceasing to supply due to low usage, but requests for sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) rose to well above previous levels, suggesting substitution of ACT with this drug in RDT-negative cases.

Conclusions

RDT introduction led to a large decline in reported malaria cases and in ACT consumption in Livingstone district. Reported malaria mortality declined to zero, indicating safety of the new diagnostic regime, although adherence and/or use of RDTs was still incomplete. However, a deficiency is apparent in management of non-malarial fever, with inappropriate use of a low-cost single dose drug, SP, replacing ACT. While large gains have been achieved, the full potential of RDTs will only be realized when strategies can be put in place to better manage RDT-negative cases.
Malignant epithelioid angiomyolipoma of the kidney with pulmonary metastases and p53 gene mutation
Authors: Li Jun , Zhu Ming , Wang Yan-Li
Published: October 2012

Angiomyolipoma (AML) is a rare tumor mainly arising in the kidney. Here we report the case of a 55-year-old woman with malignant epithelioid angiomyolipoma with p53 gene mutation. After 7 years from radical nephrectomy of the left kidney, the patient developed multiple lung metastases that showed morphologic features overlapping those of the previously lesion, which was misdiagnosed as renal cell carcinoma. Both renal and pulmonary tumors were reevaluated by immunohistochemical assay, which were showed positive for HMB-45 and p53 protein (95%), but negative for epithelial markers and S-100 protein. A correct diagnosis of malignant epithelioid angiomyolipoma was made on the basis of those results. Meanwhile exon 8 mutation of p53 gene was detected in the renal tumor by microdissection-PCR-SSCP and sequencing technique indicating that p53 gene mutation may play an important role in malignant transformation. The patient was died of respiratory failure after 15 years’ follow-up. This is the second report of renal malignant angiomyolipoma with p53 gene mutation.
Pore formation in p-type silicon in solutions containing different types of alcohol
Authors: Urata Tomoko , Fukami Kazuhiro , Sakka Tetsuo , Ogata Yukio H
Published: October 2012

Macroporous structure of silicon can be obtained with anodization in hydrogen fluoride (HF) solution. The macropore formation in the presence of alcohol was studied. Macroporous layer formation in a low-concentration HF solution is stabilized with the increasing number of carbon in alcohol. The dissolution at the topmost part of the porous layer is observed though the behavior depends upon the type of alcohol. Meanwhile, the total mass loss of dissolved silicon is almost constant. Such dissolution at the top surface occurs only when the concentration of HF is low. Adding organic solvents to the HF solution also leads to the suppression of the pore wall dissolution. The type of alcohol and HF concentration in solution affect the formation of porous silicon.
Hemopexin as biomarkers for analyzing the biological responses associated with exposure to silica nanoparticles
Authors: Higashisaka Kazuma , Yoshioka Yasuo , Yamashita Kohei , Morishita Yuki , Pan Huiyan , Ogura Toshinobu , Nagano Takashi , Kunieda Akiyoshi , Nagano Kazuya , Abe Yasuhiro , Kamada Haruhiko , Tsunoda Shin-ichi , Nabeshi Hiromi , Yoshikawa Tomoaki , Tsutsumi Yasuo
Published: October 2012

Practical uses of nanomaterials are rapidly spreading to a wide variety of fields. However, potential harmful effects of nanomaterials are raising concerns about their safety. Therefore, it is important that a risk assessment system is developed so that the safety of nanomaterials can be evaluated or predicted. Here, we attempted to identify novel biomarkers of nanomaterial-induced health effects by a comprehensive screen of plasma proteins using two-dimensional differential in gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) analysis. Initially, we used 2D-DIGE to analyze changes in the level of plasma proteins in mice after intravenous injection via tail veins of 0.8 mg/mouse silica nanoparticles with diameters of 70 nm (nSP70) or saline as controls. By quantitative image analysis, protein spots representing >2.0-fold alteration in expression were found and identified by mass spectrometry. Among these proteins, we focused on hemopexin as a potential biomarker. The levels of hemopexin in the plasma increased as the silica particle size decreased. In addition, the production of hemopexin depended on the characteristics of the nanomaterials. These results suggested that hemopexin could be an additional biomarker for analyzing the biological responses associated with exposure to silica nanoparticles. We believe that this study will contribute to the development of biomarkers to ensure the safety of silica nanoparticles.
Optic disc localization in retinal images using histogram matching
Authors: Dehghani Amin , Moghaddam Hamid Abrishami , Moin Mohammad-Shahram
Published: October 2012

In this article, we propose a new method for localizing optic disc in retinal images. Localizing the optic disc and its center is the first step of most vessel segmentation, disease diagnostic, and retinal recognition algorithms. We use optic disc of the first four retinal images in DRIVE dataset to extract the histograms of each color component. Then, we calculate the average of histograms for each color as template for localizing the center of optic disc. The DRIVE, STARE, and a local dataset including 273 retinal images are used to evaluate the proposed algorithm. The success rate was 100, 91.36, and 98.9%, respectively.
Primary mucinous cystadenoma of the spermatic cord within the inguinal canal
Authors: Kim Jee-Yeon , Lee Young-Taek , Kang Hyun-Jeong , Lee Chang-Hun
Published: October 2012

We report a hitherto not documented case of primary mucinous cystadenoma arising in the spermatic cord within the right inguinal canal of a78-year-old man. The tumor was painless, hard and mobile. A computed tomography scan on the pelvis revealed an oval shaped, low attenuation mass, measuring 5.0x2.5x2.1 cm, that was present adjacent to the vas deferens. Grossly, the excised mass was multicystic mucinous tumor, filled with thick mucoid materials. Microscopically, the cystic wall was irregularly thickened. The cystic epithelium commonly showed short papillae lined by a single layer of columnar to cuboidal mucinous epithelial cells without significant stratification or cytologic atypia. Goblet cells were also frequently present. Immunohistochemically, the neoplastic cells showed positive reaction to carcinoembryonic antigen, cytokeratin 20, CDX2, epithelial membrane antigen, and CD15. However, they were negative for PAX8 and Wilms’ tumor 1 protein. Pathological diagnosis was a papillary mucinous cystadenoma of the spermatic cord. Although mucinous cystadenoma in this area is extremely rare, it is important that these lesions be recognized clinically and pathologically in order to avoid unnecessary radical surgery.

Virtual slides

The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/1720965948762004
A survey of plants and plant products traditionally used in livestock health management in Buuri district, Meru County, Kenya
Authors: Gakuubi Martin Muthee , Wanzala Wycliffe
Published: October 2012

Background

Up till now, nomadic communities in Africa have been the primary focus of ethnoveterinary research. Although mainly arable and/or mixed arable/pastoral farmers, Ameru of central Kenya are known to have a rich history of ethnoveterinary knowledge. Their collective and accumulative ethnoveterinary knowledge (EVK) is likely to be just as rich and worth documenting. The aim of the study was to document and analyse the ethnoveterinary knowledge of the Ameru.

Methods

Non-alienating, dialogic, participatory action research (PAR) and participatory rural appraisal (PRA) approaches involving 21 women and men aged between 50 and 79 years old were utilized. A combination of snowball and purposive sampling methods were used to select 21 key respondents. The methods comprised a set of triangulation approach needed in EVK for non-experimental validation of ethnoknowledge of the Ameru.

Results

A total of 48 plant species distributed in 26 families were documented with details of diseases/ill-health conditions, parts of plants used and form of preparation and administration methods applied to different animal groups. Of these families, Fabaceae had the highest number of species (16.67%), followed by Solanaceae (12.5%), Asteraceae and Euphorbiacea (each comprising 8.33%), Lamiaceae (6.25%), Apocynaceae and Boraginaceae (each comprising 4.17%), while the rest of the 19 families, each was represented by a single plant species. About 30 livestock diseases/ill-health conditions were described, each treated by at least one of the 48 plant species. Most prevalent diseases/ill-health conditions included: - anaplasmosis, diarrhea, East Coast fever, pneumonia, helminthiasis, general weakness and skin diseases involving wounds caused by ectoparasites.

Conclusion

The study showed that there was a rich knowledge and ethnopractices for traditional animal healthcare amongst the Ameru. This study therefore provides some groundwork for elucidating the efficacy of some of these plants, plant products and ethnopractices in managing livestock health as further research may lead to discovery of useful ethnopharmaceutical agents applicable in livestock industry.
Recurrent adult-onset hypophyseal Langerhans cell histiocytosis after radiotherapy: a case report
Authors: Funk Ryan K , Ferraro Daniel J , Perrin Richard J , Hurth Kyle M , Stephens John J , Mansur David B , Chicoine Michael R , Simpson Joseph R , Jaboin Jerry J
Published: October 2012

Introduction

Langerhans cell histiocytosis is a rare disease within the adult population, with very few cases reported as solitary hypophyseal lesions in adults. Of the reported cases, most have been treated successfully with surgery, radiotherapy, and/or chemotherapy. Radiotherapy has been thought to be curative at the relatively low dose of 20Gy. Here we report a case of recurrent hypophyseal Langerhans cell histiocytosis 9 months after radiotherapy with an interval period of symptomatic and radiographic response to therapy.

Case presentation

A 50-year-old Caucasian woman who had headaches, memory difficulties, and diabetes insipidus was found to have a 2.5cm suprasellar mass. Langerhans cell histiocytosis was diagnosed following stereotactic brain biopsy. Further workup revealed no other lesions. Initial radiation treatment succeeded in shrinking the tumor and relieving clinical symptoms temporarily; however, growth and recurrence of clinical symptoms was noted at 9 months. Re-irradiation was well tolerated and the patient had no acute side effects.

Conclusion

Isolated hypophyseal involvement by Langerhans cell histiocytosis in adults is a unique presentation of a rare disease. Although radiotherapy doses as low as 20Gy have been reported to offer control, this case demonstrates that higher doses may be warranted to ensure tumor control. With modern imaging and radiotherapy techniques higher doses should offer little increased more durable risk to surrounding critical structures.
A Toll/IL-1R/resistance domain-containing thioredoxin regulates phagocytosis in Entamoeba histolytica
Authors: Mancilla-Herrera Ismael , Méndez-Tenorio Alfonso , Wong-Baeza Isabel , Jiménez-Uribe Alexis P , Alcántara-Hernández Marcela , Ocadiz-Ruiz Ramon , Moreno-Eutimio Mario A , Arriaga-Pizano Lourdes A , López-Macías Constantino , González-y-Merchand Jorge , Isibasi Armando
Published: October 2012

Background

Entamoeba histolytica is a protozoan parasite that infects humans and causes amebiasis affecting developing countries. Phagocytosis of epithelial cells, erythrocytes, leucocytes, and commensal microbiota bacteria is a major pathogenic mechanism used by this parasite. A Toll/IL-1R/Resistance (TIR) domain-containing protein is required in phagocytosis in the social ameba Dictyostelium discoideum, an ameba closely related to Entamoeba histolytica in phylogeny. In insects and vertebrates, TIR domain-containing proteins regulate phagocytic and cell activation. Therefore, we investigated whether E. histolytica expresses TIR domain-containing molecules that may be involved in the phagocytosis of erythrocytes and bacteria.

Methods

Using in silico analysis we explored in Entamoeba histolytica databases for TIR domain containing sequences. After silencing TIR domain containing sequences in trophozoites by siRNA we evaluated phagocytosis of erythrocytes and bacteria.

Results

We identified an E. histolytica thioredoxin containing a TIR-like domain. The secondary and tertiary structure of this sequence exhibited structural similarity to TIR domain family. Thioredoxin transcripts silenced in E. histolytica trophozoites decreased erythrocytes and E. coli phagocytosis.

Conclusion

TIR domain-containing thioredoxin of E. histolytica could be an important element in erythrocytes and bacteria phagocytosis.
Diet and density dependent competition affect larval performance and oviposition site selection in the mosquito species Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae)
Authors: Yoshioka Miho , Couret Jannelle , Kim Frances , McMillan Joseph , Burkot Thomas R , Dotson Ellen M , Kitron Uriel , Vazquez-Prokopec Gonzalo M
Published: October 2012

Background

Oviposition-site choice is an essential component of the life history of all mosquito species. According to the oviposition-preference offspring-performance (P-P) hypothesis, if optimizing offspring performance and fitness ensures high overall reproductive fitness for a given species, the female should accurately assess details of the heterogeneous environment and lay her eggs preferentially in sites with conditions more suitable to offspring.

Methods

We empirically tested the P-P hypothesis using the mosquito speciesAedes albopictusby artificially manipulating two habitat conditions: diet (measured as mg of food added to a container) and conspecific density (CD; number of pre-existing larvae of the same species). Immature development (larval mortality, development time to pupation and time to emergence) and fitness (measured as wing length) were monitored from first instar through adult emergence using a factorial experimental design over two ascending gradients of diet (2.0, 3.6, 7.2 and 20 mg food/300 ml water) and CD (0, 20, 40 and 80 larvae/300 ml water). Treatments that exerted the most contrasting values of larval performance were recreated in a second experiment consisting of single-female oviposition site selection assay.

Results

Development time decreased as food concentration increased, except from 7.2 mg to 20.0 mg (Two-Way CR ANOVA Post-Hoc test,P > 0.1). Development time decreased also as conspecific density increased from zero to 80 larvae (Two-Way CR ANOVA Post-Hoc test,P < 0.5). Combined, these results support the role of density-dependent competition for resources as a limiting factor for mosquito larval performance. Oviposition assays indicated that female mosquitoes select for larval habitats with conspecifics and that larval density was more important than diet in driving selection for oviposition sites.

Conclusions

This study supports predictions of the P-P hypothesis and provides a mechanistic understanding of the underlying factors driving mosquito oviposition site selection.
Spinal metastasis in thyroid cancer
Authors: Ramadan Sami , Ugas Mohamed A , Berwick Richard J , Notay Manisha , Cho Hyongyu , Jerjes Waseem , Giannoudis Peter V
Published: October 2012

Background

Thyroid carcinoma generally responds well to treatment and spinal metastasis is an uncommon feature. Many studies have looked at the management of spinal metastasis and proposed treatments, plans and algorithms. These range from well-established methods to potentially novel alternatives including bisphosphonates and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy, amongst others.

The purposes of this systematic review of the literature are twofold. Firstly we sought to analyse the proposed management options in the literature. Then, secondly, we endeavoured to make recommendations that might improve the prognosis of patients with spinal metastasis from thyroid carcinomas.

Methods

We conducted an extensive electronic literature review regarding the management of spinal metastasis of thyroid cancer.

Results

We found that there is a tangible lack of studies specifically analysing the management of spinal metastasis in thyroid cancer. Our results show that there are palliative and curative options in the management of spinal metastasis, in the forms of radioiodine ablation, surgery, selective embolisation, bisphosphonates and more recently the VEGF receptor targets.

Conclusions

The management of spinal metastasis from thyroid cancer should be multi-disciplinary. There is an absence; it seems, of a definitive protocol for treatment. Research shows increased survival with 131I avidity and complete bone metastasis resection. Early detection and treatment therefore are crucial. Studies suggest in those patients below the age of 45 years that treatment should be aggressive, and aim for cure. In those patients in whom curative treatment is not an option, palliative treatments are available.
Apolipoprotein E gene polymorphism and its effect on anthropometric measures in normoglycemic subjects and type 2 diabetes
Authors: Tabatabaei-Malazy Ozra , Fakhrzadeh Hossein , Qorbani Mostafa , Amiri Parvin , Larijani Bagher , Tavakkoly-Bazzaz Javad , Amoli Mahsa M
Published: October 2012

Background

Apolipoprotein E (apo E) plays a major role in lipid metabolism, obesity and accordingly in development of diabetes and coronary heart disease (CHD). Our main objective was to evaluate the association between apo E gene polymorphism with anthropometric measures.

Methods

Participants were selected from zone 17 Tehran/Iran. We assessed height, weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), blood pressure, serum fasting blood sugar, total cholesterol and triglycerides. Genotyping for apo E gene polymorphism was carried out using PCR-RFLP technique.

Results

Among total study population (n=311), 156 subjects were diabetic. The apo E3/E3 was the most common genotype in our population while E2 and E4 alleles had lower frequencies, respectively. After adjustment for diabetes, the apo E2 and E4 alleles were significantly associated with hypercholesterolemia and WC, respectively (p= 0.009, 0.034). This association was also related to sex and age. The probability of having abdominal obesity in E4 allele carriers was increased from 0.22 to 8.12 in women and to 3.08 in age ≥ 50 years.

Conclusions

Apo E polymorphism had significant influences on WC and total cholesterol level in patients with type 2 diabetes. This study highlights the importance of lifestyle modifications which may be more beneficial in hypercholesterolemic women carriers of E2 and E4 alleles concomitant central obesity.
Respiratory variations of inferior vena cava diameter to predict fluid responsiveness in spontaneously breathing patients with acute circulatory failure: need for a cautious use
Authors: Muller Laurent , Bobbia Xavier , Toumi Mehdi , Louart Guillaume , Molinari Nicolas , Ragonnet Benoit , Quintard Hervé , Leone Marc , Zoric Lana , Lefrant Jean Yves ,   the AzuRea group
Published: October 2012

Introduction

To investigate whether respiratory variation of inferior vena cava diameter (cIVC) predict fluid responsiveness in spontaneously breathing patients with acute circulatory failure (ACF).

Methods

Forty patients with ACF and spontaneous breathing were included. Response to fluid challenge was defined as a 15% increase of subaortic velocity time index (VTI) measured by transthoracic echocardiography. Inferior vena cava diameters were recorded by a subcostal view using M Mode. The cIVC was calculated as follows: (Dmax - Dmin/Dmax) × 100 and then receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated for cIVC, baseline VTI, E wave velocity, E/A and E/Ea ratios.

Results

Among 40 included patients, 20 (50%) were responders (R). The causes of ACF were sepsis (n = 24), haemorrhage (n = 11), and dehydration (n = 5). The area under the ROC curve for cIVC was 0.77 (95% CI: 0.60-0.88). The best cutoff value was 40% (Se = 70%, Sp = 80%). The AUC of the ROC curves for baseline E wave velocity, VTI, E/A ratio, E/Ea ratio were 0.83 (95% CI: 0.68-0.93), 0.78 (95% CI: 0.61-0.88), 0.76 (95% CI: 0.59-0.89), 0.58 (95% CI: 0.41-0.75), respectively. The differences between AUC the ROC curves for cIVC and baseline E wave velocity, baseline VTI, baseline E/A ratio, and baseline E/Ea ratio were not statistically different (p = 0.46, p = 0.99, p = 1.00, p = 0.26, respectively).

Conclusion

In spontaneously breathing patients with ACF, high cIVC values (>40%) are usually associated with fluid responsiveness while low values (< 40%) do not exclude fluid responsiveness.
Traveltime parameters in tilted transversely isotropic media
Authors: Golikov Pavel , Stovas Alexey
Published: October 2012

Traveltime parameters define the coefficients of the Taylor series for traveltime or traveltime squared as a function of offset. These parameters provide an efficient tool for analyzing the effect of the medium parameters for short- and long-offset reflection moveouts. We derive the exact equations for one-way and two-way traveltime parameters in a homogeneous transversely isotropic medium with the tilted symmetry axis (TTI). It is shown that most of the one-way traveltime parameters in TTI differ from the two-way traveltime parameters, and we observe strong dependence of all traveltime parameters on tilt. The equations for traveltime parameters are extended to a vertically heterogeneous TTI medium, and weak-anisotropy and weak-anellipticity approximations are considered. We also apply the exact and approximate equations to invert the traveltime parameters into the model parameters for different acquisition setups. Using the traveltime parameters in a weak-anisotropy approximation, our tests show that an analytical inversion is not applicable, whereas the numerical inversion with exact equations yields a good accuracy for strongly anisotropic models.
Book Reviews
Authors: Rand Graham K.
Published: October 2012

In Book Reviews, we review an extensive and diverse range of books. They cover theory and applications in operations research, statistics, management science, econometrics, mathematics, computers, and information systems. In addition, we include books in other fields that emphasize technical applications. The editor will be pleased to receive an e-mail from those willing to review a book, with an indication of specific areas of interest. If you are aware of a specific book that you would like to review, or that you think should be reviewed, please contact the editor.

The following books are reviewed in this issue of Interfaces, 42(5), September–October 2012: Fundamentals of Traffic Simulation, Jaume Barceló, ed.; Handbook of Terminal Planning, Jürgen W. Böse, ed.; Boolean Models and Methods in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Engineering, Yves Crama and Peter L. Hammer, eds.; Boolean Functions: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications, Yves Crama and Peter L. Hammer, eds.
iSchedule to Personalize Learning
Authors: Kannan Anjuli , van den Berg Gerald , Kuo Adeline
Published: October 2012

The New York City public school system needed a new tool that would generate schedules for a set of experimental schools. These schools focus on individualized instruction, making the scheduling problem challenging and novel. In particular, the educators in these schools wanted to create master schedules that could accommodate each student's specific needs while satisfying teacher and other resource constraints. We took a graph-theoretic approach to this problem by developing an algorithm that breaks it into a series of subproblems and applies randomized direct heuristics. Educators have multiple competing objectives with trade-offs that they cannot quantify precisely; therefore, our solution generates a diverse set of schedules that they can compare, combine, and change, before ultimately choosing one schedule to use. Prior to our engagement, school administrators spent approximately eight weeks each year manually generating schedules, a time commitment that was likely to grow as school enrollment increased. Our tool, iSchedule, generated a far richer set of feasible schedules, allowing administrators to focus on satisfying individual student needs. It also reduced the time required to generate a complete schedule to about two weeks.
Amos Poe’s neo-noir stage
Authors: Callens Johan
Published: October 2012

At the time of its release Frogs for Snakes (1999), written and directed by Amos Poe, was criticized for its alleged formalism and gratuitous violence and some facile digs at Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. Redressing these predominantly negative assessments, the present article views
Poe’s overtly theatrical crime movie as a neo-noir parody which joins a considerable part of David Mamet’s dramatic and cinematographic output to classics like All About Eve, Guys and Dolls, The Apartment, All My Sons and On the Waterfront. Either these provided plot situations,
characterizations and genre features or else the involvement of their creators in the HUAC – from Mankiewicz and Wilder through Miller, Kazan, Rossen and Schulberg – extend the intertextual network of Frogs for Snakes from its inset production of American Buffalo into a critique
of the human expendability behind the American way of conducting business which the noir genre frequently equates with crime and shady dealings. The reception of Frogs for Sa es thus repeated that of American Buffalo in that its middle-class audience failed to see the point of the crooks’
ineffective negotiations, erupting in the junkshop’s demolition and Bobby’s beating, yet falling short of any actual heist. More importantly, the noir references in Frogs for Snakes, prolonging those in Poe’s earlier output, bring out the genre’s dramaturgical influence
on Mamet’s drama prior to the release of his first consummate noir exercise, House of Games (1987). Conversely, the social awareness underlying the noir genre and its Depression era predecessors challenges the common critique about American Buffalo’s inconsequentiality and neo-noir’s
superficiality. This critique was also levelled against the erotic thrillers of Brian De Palma, who directed Mamet’s screen adaptation of the noir TV series, The Untouchables (1986), and whose Dressed to Kill and Body Double are alluded to at the start of Frogs for Snakes.
‘ Tis now the very witching time of night’: Halloween horror and the memento mori in Hamlet (2000)
Authors: Ferguson Ailsa Grant
Published: October 2012

Hamlet (2000) removes Hamlet’s discourse with the gravedigger and therefore his confrontation with death through Yorick’s skull. This scene in Shakespeare’s text represents the memento mori, and its removal disrupts the concept of mortality central to Hamlet. This
article focuses on its dis- and replacement in Hamlet (2000). The amputated death’s head memento mori is revealed as having been replaced by Halloween imagery, emblematic mise-en-scène manipulations and horror signifiers throughout the adapted text. Appropriations and subversions
of Shakespearean, early modern and postmodern emblems of mortality are examined. Late postmodern anxieties over disconnectedness, technological dehumanization and consumerism are explored in relation to the recoding of the memento mori via Halloween in this text.
A melodious anti-melodrama–Underscoring, song and parody in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
Authors: Napolitano Marc
Published: October 2012

Charles Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby (1838–1839) is arguably the author’s most melodramatic novel, as Dickens adopts the grandiloquence and histrionic hyperbole of Victorian melodrama. The narrator repeatedly defines the principal conflict between Nicholas and Ralph
in melodramatic terms, and both of these characters (along with the helpless and noble-hearted heroines, Kate Nickleby and Madeline Bray) possess traits that were commonly found in the characters that populated the Victorian stage. Nevertheless, Dickens also satirizes the conventions of melodrama
through his humorous depiction of the Crummles Theatre Company; Mr Crummles’s wry observations about how to manipulate audience sympathies are humorously applicable to Dickens’s narrator, and thus to Dickens himself. This dialectic between the genuinely melodramatic elements of
the text and the pastiche of melodrama sets up the tensions that would define the most famous and acclaimed adaptation of Dickens’s novel: The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1980). This epic adaptation dramatizes the complete Dickensian text
(including the narrator’s narrative prose), but simultaneously eschews the conventions of Victorian melodrama in favour of modern and postmodern performance techniques. The musical score to the RSC adaptation epitomizes this contrast, for composer Stephen Oliver’s score embraces
the conventions of Victorian theatre music while simultaneously drawing attention to the absurdity of many of these conventions; although the primary purpose of Oliver’s music is to provide melodramatic underscoring that reinforces the emotion of each scene, the composer likewise incorporates
diegetic interludes and randomly placed songs that disrupt the continuity of the Dickensian narrative and draw the audience’s attention to the ‘falseness’ of what is transpiring onstage. The sense of pastiche and Brechtian parody conveyed through songs such as ‘Mrs.
Grudden’s Goodbye’ and ‘The Patriotic Song’ further links the adaptation to isDickensian source, as these pastiches, like the pastiches in Dickens’s own text, are directly connected to the Crummles family.
Interpreting invitations: The title Come
Authors: Sætre Marit
Published: October 2012

This article discusses the semantics of the title of Marianne Olsen Ulrichsen's short film Come. The article looks at how each sequence gives the title a different meaning. The title is an invitation to the viewer, and throughout the film the lead character makes several invitations
for the viewer to interpret.
Narrative delay and the nature of love in Come
Authors: Metz Walter
Published: October 2012

By showing teenagers falling in love, and then cutting to the loving couple, now elderly, the short film Come brilliantly uses the excision of the narrative tradition of delay in order to revolutionize the cinema's presentation of love in theoretical synchronicity with Irving
Singer's philosophical study, The Nature of Love.
The ethics of vision in With Raised Hands
Authors: Scherr Rebecca
Published: October 2012

This article addresses some of the ethical issues that arise as a result of the uneasy vacillation between two competing modes of visual aesthetics. Focusing on the dissonance between documentary and surrealistic modes in With Raised Hands, this article assesses the film's usefulness
as a contribution to the 'postmemory' of the Holocaust.
With Raised Hands: Film as fantasy within a photograph
Authors: Kau Edvin Vestergaard
Published: October 2012

This article investigates the manner in which Mitko Panov's short film provides both a poetic, audio-visual interpretation and an adaptation of the famous WWII photograph from the Warsaw Ghetto. How are the dynamic elements of cinematic style used to create the viewer's experience of
fantasy and provide a paradoxical sense of hope?
Escaping authenticity: On Mitko Panov's With Raised Hands
Authors: Doubinsky Sébastien
Published: October 2012

History, memory and tragedy are the three words usually used to describe the Shoah – three words that seem absolutely impossible to question, much less play with. However, in his beautiful short film, With Raised Hands, Mitko Panov manages to subvert what we consider untouchable.
Kitchen Sink, or the postmodern Prometheus: Alison Maclean's reimagining of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein via the cinematic horror genre
Authors: Faber Liz
Published: October 2012

Kitchen Sink imaginatively combines traditional horror film conventions with images of stereotypically feminine domesticity in order to create a postmodern reimagining of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. Through this, I argue, the film posits what Frankenstein might
have been if Shelly had told it today, from a woman's perspective.
The uncanny in Kitchen Sink
Authors: Soila Tytti
Published: October 2012

Drawing on Sigmund Freud's essay 'The Uncanny' and Teresa de Lauretis' thoughts on a film addressing the spectator as a woman through its 'durations, perceptions, events, relationships and silences', this article analyses some of the eerie moments in Kitchen Sink.
A soundtrack between allurement and repulsion: Gentle and threatening tones
Authors: Have Iben
Published: October 2012

By mixing industrial, metallic sounds and organic, throaty sounds, Kitchen Sink creates an acoustic universe that is at once repulsive and alluring. The article takes a phenomenological and deep listening approach to investigate how the soundtrack of Kitchen Sink contributes
to the ambiguous narrative of the film.
The Girl Chewing Gum: The time that cinema forgot
Authors: Stoneman Rod
Published: October 2012

John Smith's Girl Chewing Gum was made in Hackney, East London and shown at the London Film-Makers' Co-op in 1976. Through its wit and imagination this film extended the forms of British avant-garde experimentation that were pervasive at that moment and mobilized a critique of narrative
cinema.
The tragedy of the unreliable narrator in The Girl Chewing Gum
Authors: Proctor Jennifer
Published: October 2012

As a short experimental work about the constructedness of the cinematic image, the film expresses anxieties about our inability not only to control filmic representation, but to impose order in our everyday lives. The film further reveals a pressing desire to turn our lives into movies
– and a sadness that results from that impossibility.
The man giving orders: The Girl Chewing Gum
Authors: Quigley Paula
Published: October 2012

While this film clearly invites a 'modernist' reading, Jean-François Lyotard's distinction between the modern and the postmodern as having to do with their respective attitudes to the visible and the discursive fields, opens up the possibility of considering the figural activity
at work in the film.
Brief encounter: The Girl Chewing Gum
Authors: Brydon Lavinia
Published: October 2012

When discussing his concept of literary chronotopes and that of the 'encounter', Mikhail Bahktin uses the road as an example where 'the spatial and temporal paths of the most varied people intersect'. Using this framework, this article will examine the narrative, aesthetic and thematic
concerns of The Girl Chewing Gum.
Much from little
Authors: Rabiger Michael
Published: October 2012

Witty pocket dictionary of cinematic language that uses two shots, juxtaposition, irony and the unreliable narrator to make us sense the poignancy and unrepeatability of reality.
Wind: The image of violence
Authors: Holohan Conn
Published: October 2012

By foregrounding the formal choices through which it depicts its image of violence, Wind forces us to consider how the image might ethically respond to violence. Drawing on the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, this article argues that Wind positions the viewer to understand time as a force
for change.
Szel/Wind: Memory and history
Authors: Cunningham John
Published: October 2012

This article attempts to place Wind into its Hungarian context. With its flat landscape and mobile camera the film is reminiscent of the work of Miklós Jancsó and other Hungarian directors and artists, ambiguously evoking a time and place which is important to the idea
of national history and identity.
Wind: A commentary on worldhood and plots
Authors: Bossche Astrid Van Den
Published: October 2012

Wind is steeped in an unsettling tension indicating the construction of a precise and vivid worldhood. The climax, instead of being regarded as a plot twist in the service of the story, is read as a manifestation of the worldhood and its power.
Ambiguity and evidence: The elusive qualities of Wind
Authors: Michalski Milena
Published: October 2012

Wind is a multi-faceted work, open to many interpretations while remaining elusive. Much in the film can be seen as relating to various war crime scenarios, but nothing is definite. The film, in its essence, interrogates the problematique of visual material as evidence.
Wind: Projecting the mind's eye
Authors: Rickards Meg
Published: October 2012

Iványi's meticulously choreographed short film Wind portrays the perennial, cyclical nature of violence, while also throwing into sharp relief how photography and its motion counterpart, cinematography, frame the world, project authorial vision, direct the spectator's gaze and
elicit audience interpretation – the film thus elucidating the process of cinematic construction.
Marcell Iványi's Wind: A visual essay on sound
Authors: Chivoiu Oana
Published: October 2012

The article explores the aesthetization of trauma in Marcell Iványi's short film Wind through the association of two aesthetics – of nature and death. It focuses on the narrative role of sound elements in addition to their role in shaping our aesthetic apprehension of trauma.
The fall as an image of rebirth in In Chambers
Authors: Lefebvre-Linetzky Jacques
Published: October 2012

The fall of the young woman is a climactic moment in In Chambers. The spectator is deluded into believing that by being thrown into the precipice she will meet her death. Yet, it actually corresponds to a rebirth, as she leaves the world of darkness and plunges back into light.
In Chambers and the contours of the Holocaust imaginary
Authors: Kerner Aaron Michael
Published: October 2012

In Chambers appropriates some of the visual and narrative motifs that we associate with the Holocaust. Although In Chambers is clearly situated within a tradition of dystopic fantasy narratives, it finds similarities with the torture porn genre – which also adopts the iconography
of the Holocaust.