bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Small Supernumerary Marker Chromosomes in Human Infertility
Authors: Armanet Narjes , Tosca Lucie , Brisset Sophie , Liehr Thomas , Tachdjian Gérard
Published: August 2015

Small supernumerary marker chromosomes (sSMC) are structurally abnormal chromosomes that cannot be unambiguously identified by banding cytogenetics. The objective of this study was to provide an overview of sSMC frequency and characterization in a context of infertility and to review the literature describing sSMC in relation with male and female infertility. Therefore, a systematic literature review on sSMC associated with infertility was conducted by means of a PubMed literature and a sSMC database (http://ssmc-tl.com/sSMC.html) search. A total of 234 patients with infertility were identified as carriers of sSMC. All chromosomes, except chromosomes 10, 19 and the X, were involved in sSMC, and in 72% the sSMC originated from acrocentric chromosomes. Euchromatic imbalances were caused by the presence of sSMC in 30% of the cases. Putative genes have been identified in only 1.2% of sSMC associated with infertility. The implication of sSMC in infertility could be due to a partial trisomy of some genes but also to mechanical effects perturbing meiosis. Further precise molecular and interphase-architecture studies on sSMC are needed in the future to characterize the relationship between this chromosomal anomaly and human infertility.
Extensive Bone Marrow Necrosis in a Case of Acute Myeloid Leukemia Transformed from a Myeloproliferative Neoplasm
Authors: Shapiro Roman , Rizkalla Kamilia , Lam Selay
Published: August 2015

Extensive necrosis affecting more than 50% of the bone marrow is an extremely rare histopathological finding. Relatively little is known about its clinical significance because it is most commonly identified at autopsy - whether it is an independent prognostic marker or whether it is a surrogate marker of underlying disease burden remains unclear. We describe herein a case of a 66-year-old patient with acute myeloid leukemia who presented with acute bone marrow failure and was found to have extensive necrosis. We include presenting clinical features, pathology attained at biopsy, and the challenge of treatment. Bone marrow necrosis is a rare but important clinicopathological entity whose recognition may herald the way for more effective prognostication of underlying disease.
Supplementation of
l
-Alanyl-
l
-Glutamine and Fish Oil Improves Body Composition and Quality of Life in Patients With Chronic Heart Failure
Authors: Wu Christina , Kato Tomoko S. , Ji Ruiping , Zizola Cynthia , Brunjes Danielle L. , Deng Yue , Akashi Hirokazu , Armstrong Hilary F. , Kennel Peter J. , Thomas Tiffany , Forman Daniel E. , Hall Jennifer , Chokshi Aalap , Bartels Matthew N. , Mancini Donna , Seres David , Schulze P. Christian
Published: August 2015

Background—

Skeletal muscle dysfunction and exercise intolerance are clinical hallmarks of patients with heart failure. These have been linked to a progressive catabolic state, skeletal muscle inflammation, and impaired oxidative metabolism. Previous studies suggest beneficial effects of ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and glutamine on exercise performance and muscle protein balance.

Methods and Results—

In a randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 31 patients with heart failure were randomized to either
l
-alanyl-
l
-glutamine (8 g/d) and polyunsaturated fatty acid (6.5 g/d) or placebo (safflower oil and milk powder) for 3 months. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing, dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, 6-minute walk test, hand grip strength, functional muscle testing, echocardiography, and quality of life and lateral quadriceps muscle biopsy were performed at baseline and at follow-up. Oxidative capacity and metabolic gene expression were analyzed on muscle biopsies. No differences in muscle function, echocardiography, 6-minute walk test, or hand grip strength and a nonsignificant increase in peak V
O
2
in the treatment group were found. Lean body mass increased and quality of life improved in the active treatment group. Molecular analysis revealed no differences in muscle fiber composition, fiber cross-sectional area, gene expression of metabolic marker genes (PGC1α, CPT1, PDK4, and GLUT4), and skeletal muscle oxidative capacity.

Conclusions—

The combined supplementation of
l
-alanyl-
l
-glutamine and polyunsaturated fatty acid did not improve exercise performance or muscle function but increased lean body mass and quality of life in patients with chronic stable heart failure. These findings suggest potentially beneficial effects of high-dose nutritional polyunsaturated fatty acids and amino acid supplementations in patients with chronic stable heart failure.

Clinical Trial Registration—

URL:
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov
. Unique identifier: NCT01534663.
Racial/Ethnic and Sex Differences in Emergency Medical Services Transport Among Hospitalized US Stroke Patients: Analysis of the National Get With The Guidelines–Stroke Registry
Authors: Mochari‐Greenberger Heidi , Xian Ying , Hellkamp Anne S. , Schulte Phillip J. , Bhatt Deepak L. , Fonarow Gregg C. , Saver Jeffrey L. , Reeves Mathew J. , Schwamm Lee H. , Smith Eric E.
Published: August 2015

Background

Differences in activation of emergency medical services (
EMS
) may contribute to racial/ethnic and sex disparities in stroke outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine whether
EMS
use varied by race/ethnicity and sex among a current, diverse national sample of hospitalized acute stroke patients.

Methods and Results

We analyzed data from 398 798 stroke patients admitted to 1613 Get With The Guidelines–Stroke participating hospitals between October 2011 and March 2014. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate the associations between combinations of racial/ethnic and sex groups with
EMS
use, adjusting for potential confounders including demographics, medical history, and stroke symptoms. Patients were 50% female, 69% white, 19% black, 8% Hispanic, 3% Asian, and 1% other, and 86% had ischemic stroke. Overall, 59% of stroke patients were transported to the hospital by
EMS
. White women were most likely to use
EMS
(62%); Hispanic men were least likely to use
EMS
(52%). After adjustment for patient characteristics, Hispanic and Asian men and women had 20% to 29% lower adjusted odds of using
EMS versus their white counterparts
; black women were less likely than white women to use
EMS
(odds ratio 0.75, 95% CI 0.72 to 0.77). Patients with weakness or paresis, altered level of consciousness, and/or aphasia were significantly more likely to use
EMS
than patients without each symptom; the observed racial/ethnic and sex differences in
EMS
use remained significant after adjustment for stroke symptoms.

Conclusions

EMS
use differed by race/ethnicity and sex. These contemporary data document suboptimal use of
EMS
transport among US stroke patients, especially by racial/ethnic minorities and those with less recognized stroke symptoms.
Du voyage pédagogique à la pédagogie viatique : le cas de Ḥasan Tawfīq al-ʿAdl
Authors: Gado Rania
Published: August 2015

This article deals with different relations between travel and pedagogy in al-Riḥla ilā Birlīn and Rasāʾil al-bušrā fī l-siyāḥa bi Almāniyā wa-Swīsrā, two travel accounts written by Ḥasan Tawfīq al-ʿAdl and published in Egypt between 1887 and 1892. The study allows to show how these texts tend to a pedagogy book. This pedagogical thought of author is combined with a practice. As a teacher as well as a learner, he communicates to the reader not only a big material of teaching but also his experience of learning. In these two travel accounts, the pedagogy is looking as a metaphoric extension of trip. Itinerary, mobility, urge to have a guide, contact with the other one and several elements relating to travel account are appealed to define the pedagogical activity and to practise it.
Nisbas of the North: Muslims from Armenia, Caucasian Albania, and Azerbaijan in Arabic Biographical Dictionaries (4th-7th centuries AH)
Authors: Vacca Alison
Published: August 2015

Recognizing that we know little about Arab settlement and Muslim populations in Armenia and Caucasian Albania during the Abbasid period, this article considers the data available in specific biographical compendia in Arabic: the works of al-Samʿānī, Ibn al-Aṯīr, Yāqūt, al-Ṣafadī, and Ibn Ḫallikān. It examines entries of notable Muslims from the fourth/eleventh through the seventh/fourteenth centuries with the nisbas related to the three provinces of the North. These tell of ethnic diversity, but also perceived geographical, scholarly, and ideological connectivity between the North and the more central lands of Islam and, specifically, the Persian cultural sphere. They engage themes and ideas that are key to the study of medieval Islam, such as ethnic diversity, slavery, the geographical definition of Islam, ǧihād, ṯuġūr, Sufism and asceticism, travel fī ṭalab al-ʿilm, and lines of transmission and authority.
Patterns of Precipitation Change and Climatological Uncertainty among CMIP5 Models, with a Focus on the Midlatitude Pacific Storm Track*
Authors: Langenbrunner Baird , Neelin J. David , Lintner Benjamin R. , Anderson Bruce T.
Published: August 2015

Projections of modeled precipitation (P) change in global warming scenarios demonstrate marked intermodel disagreement at regional scales. Empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) and maximum covariance analysis (MCA) are used to diagnose spatial patterns of disagreement in the simulated climatology and end-of-century P changes in phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) archive. The term principal uncertainty pattern (PUP) is used for any robust mode calculated when applying these techniques to a multimodel ensemble. For selected domains in the tropics, leading PUPs highlight features at the margins of convection zones and in the Pacific cold tongue. The midlatitude Pacific storm track is emphasized given its relevance to wintertime P projections over western North America. The first storm-track PUP identifies a sensitive region of disagreement in P increases over the eastern midlatitude Pacific where the storm track terminates, related to uncertainty in an eastward extension of the climatological jet. The second PUP portrays uncertainty in a zonally asymmetric meridional shift of storm-track P, related to uncertainty in the extent of a poleward jet shift in the western Pacific. Both modes appear to arise primarily from intermodel differences in the response to radiative forcing, distinct from sampling of internal variability. The leading storm-track PUPs for P and zonal wind change exhibit similarities to the leading uncertainty patterns for the historical climatology, indicating important and parallel sensitivities in the eastern Pacific storm-track terminus region. However, expansion coefficients for climatological uncertainties tend to be weakly correlated with those for end-of-century change.
On the Nature of Near-Inertial Oscillations in the Uppermost Part of the Ocean and a Possible Route toward HF Radar Probing of Stratification
Authors: Shrira Victor I. , Forget Philippe
Published: August 2015

Inertial band response of the upper ocean to changing wind is studied both theoretically and by analysis of observations in the northwestern Mediterranean. On the nontraditional f plane, because of the horizontal component of the earth’s rotation for waves of inertial band with frequencies slightly below the local inertial frequency f, there is a waveguide in the mixed layer confined from below by the pycnocline. It is argued that when the stratification is shallow these waves are most easily and strongly excited by varying winds as near-inertial oscillations (NIOs). These motions have been overlooked in previous studies because they are absent under the traditional approximation. The observations that employed buoys with thermistors, ADCPs, and two 16.3-MHz Wellen Radar (WERA) HF radars were carried out in the Gulf of Lion in April–June 2006. The observations support the theoretical picture: a pronounced inertial band response occurs only in the presence of shallow stratification and is confined to the mixed layer, and the NIO penetration below the stratified layer is weak. NIO surface magnitude and vertical localization are strongly affected by the presence of even weak density stratification in the upper 10 m. The NIO surface signatures are easily captured by HF radars. Continuous 1.8-yr HF observations near the Porquerolles Island confirm that shallow stratification is indeed the precondition for a strong NIO response. The response sensitivity to stratification provides a foundation for developing HF radar probing of stratification and, indirectly, vertical mixing, including spotting dramatic mixing events and spikes of vertical heat, mass, and momentum exchange.
The Evolution of the Goddard Profiling Algorithm to a Fully Parametric Scheme
Authors: Kummerow Christian D. , Randel David L. , Kulie Mark , Wang Nai-Yu , Ferraro Ralph , Joseph Munchak S. , Petkovic Veljko
Published: August 2015

The Goddard profiling algorithm has evolved from a pseudoparametric algorithm used in the current TRMM operational product (GPROF 2010) to a fully parametric approach used operationally in the GPM era (GPROF 2014). The fully parametric approach uses a Bayesian inversion for all surface types. The algorithm thus abandons rainfall screening procedures and instead uses the full brightness temperature vector to obtain the most likely precipitation state. This paper offers a complete description of the GPROF 2010 and GPROF 2014 algorithms and assesses the sensitivity of the algorithm to assumptions related to channel uncertainty as well as ancillary data. Uncertainties in precipitation are generally less than 1%–2% for realistic assumptions in channel uncertainties. Consistency among different radiometers is extremely good over oceans. Consistency over land is also good if the diurnal cycle is accounted for by sampling GMI product only at the time of day that different sensors operate. While accounting for only a modest amount of the total precipitation, snow-covered surfaces exhibit differences of up to 25% between sensors traceable to the availability of high-frequency (166 and 183 GHz) channels. In general, comparisons against early versions of GPM’s Ku-band radar precipitation estimates are fairly consistent but absolute differences will be more carefully evaluated once GPROF 2014 is upgraded to use the full GPM-combined radar–radiometer product for its a priori database. The combined algorithm represents a physically constructed database that is consistent with both the GPM radars and the GMI observations, and thus it is the ideal basis for a Bayesian approach that can be extended to an arbitrary passive microwave sensor.
State Capacity, Minority Shareholder Protections, and Stock Market Development
Authors: Guillén Mauro F. , Capron Laurence
Published: August 2015

We investigate how state capacity—the administrative ability to formulate and implement policy—affects the institutional adoption of new policies and the decoupling of those policies from their original purpose in the face of pressures from professions, multilateral agencies, and imitation among countries. We expect state capacity to reduce the effect of professional and imitation influences, to increase the impact of coercive effects by multilateral agencies, and to lessen decoupling between policies’ adoption and desired outcomes. We tested these predictions using a unique longitudinal dataset on the adoption of minority shareholders’ legal protections and the development of the stock market in 78 countries between 1970 and 2011. We found evidence consistent with the moderating effects of state capacity on institutional adoption and on lessening policy–practice decoupling. Our findings suggest that the strength of state capacity influences which policy models policymakers select and adopt, whether they implement them effectively, and what the consequences of such adoption are.
Effect of transmeridian travel and jetlag on mood disorders: Evidence and implications
Authors: Inder Maree L , Crowe Marie T , Porter Richard
Published: August 2015

Objectives:

Given the sensitivity of individuals with mood disorders to circadian disruption, transmeridian travel would likely be a high-risk endeavour leading to onset or relapses in mood. A systematic review was undertaken to identify the evidence of the impact of transmeridian travel on people with mood disorders.

Methods:

Databases search included the following: CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and manual searching using the keywords jetlag, transmeridian travel, circadian rhythm disruption, mood disorder, bipolar, major depression, seasonal affective disorder, depression, mania and hypomania.

Results:

Only three studies were identified that related to transmeridian travel and jetlag in people with mood disorders. There is some suggestion that transmeridian travel does appear to precipitate mood episodes with an increased rate of episodes of depression with westward compared with an increased rate of manic/hypomanic episodes with eastward travel. Individuals with a previous history of mood disorder appear to be more vulnerable if adherence to medication is compromised.

Conclusion:

Given the limited evidence that transmeridian travel precipitates mood episodes, this poses difficulties in identifying suitable ways to mitigate the effects of transmeridian travel in mood disorders. However, in the absence of mood-specific guidelines, some guidance can be given based on our current understanding of the relevance of circadian disruption to both jetlag and mood disorders. Further research is required to identify more focused strategies to mitigate the impact of transmeridian travel for individuals with mood disorders.
Norm challenges and norm death: The inexplicable?
Authors: Panke Diana , Petersohn Ulrich
Published: August 2015

The subject of a formerly strong norm’s death is not often in the limelight of political science research. This paper investigates successful norm challenges and analyses the conditions that lead to the abolition of norms rather than to limitations of the norms. It presents a theoretical account of norm challenges and develops hypotheses on mechanisms, success and outcomes. Six illustrative case studies show that norm contestations take place through non-compliance when norms are not embedded in international negotiation systems, while norm contestations through negotiation are frequently the case if norms are embedded in international regimes or organizations. Irrespective of the institutional context, the strength of norm challengers relative to norm proponents impacts the prospects for successful normative change. If norm challengers are stronger than the actors defending the status quo, the outcome of norm challenges is influenced by the combination of norm precision and the stability of the normative environment. If the broader context undergoes change while the contested norm is precise, norms cannot be reinterpreted to accommodate norm change. As a result, in such instances, norms die. By contrast, vague norms in combination with stable environments are not abolished after being subject to strong challenges, but are merely reinterpreted in a manner delimiting their applicatory scope.
Critical Essay: Reconsidering critical performativity
Authors: Cabantous Laure , Gond Jean-Pascal , Harding Nancy , Learmonth Mark
Published: August 2015

In recent years, we have witnessed the emergence of ‘critical performativity’, a concept designed to debate relationships between theory and practice and encourage practical interventions in organizational life. Notwithstanding its laudable ambition to stimulate discussion about engagement between critical management studies researchers and practitioners, we are concerned that critical performativity theory is flawed as it misreads foundational performativity authors, such as Austin and Butler, in ways that nullify their political potential, and ignores a range of other influential theories of performativity. It also overlooks the materiality of performativity. We review these limitations and then use three illustrations to sketch out a possible alternative conceptualization of performativity. This alternative approach, which builds on Butler’s and Callon’s work on performativity, recognizes that performativity is about the constitution of subjects, is an inherently material and discursive construct, and happens through the political engineering of sociomaterial agencements. We argue that such an approach – a political theory of organizational performativity – is more likely to deliver on both theoretical and practical fronts than the concept of critical performativity.
Old/New Effect of Digital Memory Retrieval in Chinese Dyscalculia
Authors: Wang Enguo , Du Chenguang , Ma Yujun
Published: August 2015

This study reports the neurophysiological and behavioral correlates of digital memory retrieval features in Chinese individuals with and without dyscalculia. A total of 18 children with dyscalculia (ages 11.5–13.5) and 18 controls were tested, and their event-related potentials were digitally recorded simultaneously with behavior measurement. Behavioral data showed that the dyscalculia group had lower hit rates and higher false rates than the control group. The electroencephalography results showed that both groups had a significant old/new effect and that this effect was greater in the control group. In the 300 to 400 ms processing stages, both groups showed significant differences in digital memory retrieval in the frontal regions. In the 400 to 500 and 500 to 600 ms epochs, the old/new effect in the control group was significantly greater than it was in the dyscalculia group at the frontal, central, and parietal regions. In the 600 to 700 ms processing stages, both groups showed significant differences in digital memory retrieval in the frontal, central, parietal, and occipital regions. These results suggest that individuals with dyscalculia exhibit impaired digital memory retrieval. Extraction failure may be an important cause of calculation difficulties.
Accounting Discretion and Purchase Price Allocation After Acquisitions
Authors: Zhang Ivy Xiying , Zhang Yong
Published: August 2015

The recent movement in standards setting toward fair-value-based accounting beyond financial assets and liabilities calls for more empirical evidence on fair-value measurement, especially that of intangible assets. This article studies the initial valuation of goodwill and identifiable intangible assets after acquisitions. We find that the allocation of purchase price to goodwill and identifiable intangible assets is related to the economic determinants of the valuation. However, it is also significantly affected by managerial incentives arising from the differential treatments of goodwill and identifiable intangible assets under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) 142. The same managerial discretions are not exhibited in the purchase price allocation prior to SFAS 142, when goodwill and other intangibles are both amortized. These findings suggest that unverifiable fair value measures are associated with the underlying economics but also deviate from the true values in the presence of management reporting incentives. Further analysis suggests that external appraisers constrain managerial discretion in intangible asset valuation to an extent but do not completely eliminate it.
Variations Among Medicare Beneficiaries Living in Different Settings
Authors: Degenholtz Howard B. , Park Mijung , Kang Yihuang , Nadash Pamela
Published: August 2015

Older people with complex health issues and needs for functional support are increasingly living in different types of residential care environments as alternatives to nursing homes. This study aims to compare the demographics and health-care expenditures of Medicare beneficiaries by the setting in which they live: nursing homes, residential care settings, and at home using data from the 2002 to 2010 Medicare Current Beneficiary Study (MCBS), a nationally representative survey of the Medicare population. All Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years or older who participated in the fall MCBS interview (years 2002–2010) and were alive for the full year ( N = 83,507) were included in the sample. We found that there is a gradient in health status, physical and cognitive functioning, and health-care use and spending across settings. Minority elderly are overrepresented in facilities and underrepresented in alternative living settings.
The information environment and information behaviour of the Offshore Installation Manager (OIM) in the context of safety and emergency response: An exploratory study
Authors: Marcella Rita , Lockerbie Hayley
Published: August 2015

The offshore installation manager (OIM) is a unique role in the oil and gas industry with the legal responsibility for the health and safety of individuals on an offshore installation, as well as holding commercial responsibilities. Using exploratory, qualitative data based on 10 interviews conducted with OIMs, the information environment and behaviour of the OIM are described and areas for further research are explored. The OIM’s information environment is one that is complex and relies heavily on both formal and informal sources of information. Two modes of OIM information behaviour are identified: everyday information need, in which the OIM seeks, uses and shares information to maintain safe operations; and emergency information need, in which there is both reliance on information that must be known in order to react to an emergency situation and a need for accessible information about the status of a rapidly changing environment. The OIM is both the user of information and a source of information for others and as such must be trusted, reliable and automotive.
Rationalizing Violation: Ordered Accounts of Intentionality in the Breaking of Safety Rules
Authors: Busby J. S. , Iszatt-White M.
Published: August 2015

Regulative rules are central to the efforts made in organizations to ensure orderliness in the presence of physical danger. The reportedly routine violation of safety rules in organizations therefore brings into question the longstanding association of rules with organizational order, and the literature is sharply divided on whether rule violation represents a dangerous disorder or a reasonable way of getting by. This study is an attempt to carry out a more interpretive analysis, looking at how organizational members construct a sense of order in the presence of rule violation – and in particular how they do so by using a concept of intentionality to maintain accountability yet avoid rules becoming taboos. We find that the way people explain intentions attests to several senses of order that otherwise appear to be lost when rules are violated, such as predictability, purposefulness and progressiveness. This indicates that rules do not maintain, symbolize and constitute order simply because they are normative restraints on behaviour – but act as nuclei for discourses that can repair order even when they are violated. The order that is repaired in this way is both a mechanistic and a moral one.
Money Matters: Teflonic Identity Manoeuvring in the Investment Banking Sector
Authors: Alvesson Mats , Robertson Maxine
Published: August 2015

In this paper we address identity issues in relation to senior employees in the UK investment banking sector. Drawing on in-depth material, the study demonstrates their marginal concerns about identity issues or engagement in what is typically viewed as identity work. Instead they had what we refer to as an identity minimalism orientation and met potential challenges to identity with what we conceptualize as teflonic identity manoeuvring. In so doing they were able to deflect attention away from themselves, enabling them to circumvent identity concerns. These employees drew upon material resources, specifically money, to rationalize this disposition and social (in particular, dress codes) and discursive resources (around professionalism) to bolster and sustain this disposition.
Does Organizational Work–Family Support Benefit Temporary and Permanent Employees Equally in a Work–Family Conflict Situation in Relation to Job Satisfaction and Emotional Energy at Work and at Home?
Authors: Mauno Saija , Ruokolainen Mervi
Published: August 2015

This study examined whether work–family support (WF support) buffers permanent and temporary workers similarly against the negative effects of work–family conflict as regard job satisfaction and emotional energy level at work and at home. A total of 1,719 Finnish nurses participated in this study in 2009. The results revealed that high coworker WF support protected temporary workers against the negative effects of high work–family conflict on emotional energy at work. Furthermore, temporary workers with low coworker WF support were at greater risk of job dissatisfaction and diminished emotional energy at home than were their permanent colleagues in the presence of high work–family conflict. Temporary workers may benefit more from coworker WF support if they experience work–family conflict. This should be considered in developing family-friendly practices in organizations where temporary contracts are relatively common.
A growing fear
Authors: Yildirim Caglar , Sumuer Evren , Adnan Müge , Yildirim Soner
Published: August 2015

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of nomophobia (the fear of being out of mobile phone contact) among young adults in Turkey. The Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) was administered to 537 Turkish college students. The results revealed 42.6% of young adults had nomophobia, and their greatest fears were related to communication and information access. The study also found that gender and the duration of smartphone ownership had an effect on young adults’ nomophobic behaviors, whereas age and the duration of mobile phone ownership had no effect. Based on these results, implications, limitations, and further studies were discussed.
Teleconsultation for integrated palliative care at home: A qualitative study
Authors: van Gurp Jelle , van Selm Martine , van Leeuwen Evert , Vissers Kris , Hasselaar Jeroen
Published: August 2015

Background:

Interprofessional consultation contributes to symptom control for home-based palliative care patients and improves advance care planning. Distance and travel time, however, complicate the integration of primary care and specialist palliative care. Expert online audiovisual teleconsultations could be a method for integrating palliative care services.

Aim:

This study aims to describe (1) whether and how teleconsultation supports the integration of primary care, specialist palliative care, and patient perspectives and services and (2) how patients and (in)formal caregivers experience collaboration in a teleconsultation approach.

Design:

This work consists of a qualitative study that utilizes long-term direct observations and in-depth interviews.

Setting/participants:

A total of 18 home-based palliative care patients (16 with cancer, 2 with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; age range 24–85 years old), 12 hospital-based specialist palliative care team clinicians, and 17 primary care physicians.

Results:

Analysis showed that the introduction of specialist palliative care team-patient teleconsultation led to collaboration between primary care physicians and specialist palliative care team clinicians in all 18 cases. In 17/18 cases, interprofessional contact was restricted to backstage work after teleconsultation. In one deviant case, both the patient and the professionals were simultaneously connected through teleconsultation. Two themes characterized integrated palliative care at home as a consequence of teleconsultation: (1) professionals defining responsibility and (2) building interprofessional rapport.

Conclusion:

Specialist palliative care team teleconsultation with home-based patients leads to collaboration between primary care physicians and hospital-based palliative care specialists. Due to cultural reasons, most collaboration was of a multidisciplinary character, strongly relying on organized backstage work. Interdisciplinary teleconsultations with real-time contact between patient and both professionals were less common but stimulated patient-centered care dialogues.
The impact of a new public health approach to end-of-life care: A systematic review
Authors: Sallnow Libby , Richardson Heather , Murray Scott A , Kellehear Allan
Published: August 2015

Background:

Communities play an increasingly significant role in their own health and social care, and evidence demonstrates the positive impact of this work on a range of health outcomes. Interest is building regarding the application of the principles of the new public health approach to those facing the end of life and their families and communities.

Aim:

To review the evidence relating to the impact of a new public health approach to end-of-life care, specifically as this applies to efforts to strengthen community action.

Design:

A systematic review employing narrative synthesis. Both meta-ethnography and the use of descriptive statistics supported analysis.

Data sources:

Eight databases (AMED, ASSIA, BiblioMap, CINAHL, Cochrane Reviews, EMBASE, MEDLINE and PsycINFO) were searched from the earliest record to March 2015 using set eligibility criteria.

Results:

Eight articles were included in the analysis. Three main themes emerged from the meta-ethnography: making a practical difference, individual learning and personal growth and developing community capacity. The quantitative findings mapped to the meta-ethnography and demonstrated that engaging communities can lead to improved outcomes for carers such as decreased fatigue or isolation, increase in size of caring networks and that wider social networks can influence factors such as place of death and involvement of palliative care services.

Conclusion:

Evidence exists for the impact of community engagement in end-of-life care. Impact assessment should be an integral part of future initiatives and policy makers should recognise that these approaches can influence complex issues such as carer support, community capacity, wellbeing and social isolation.
Better sexual acceptability of agomelatine (25 and 50 mg) compared to escitalopram (20 mg) in healthy volunteers. A 9-week, placebo-controlled study using the PRSexDQ scale
Authors: Montejo Angel L , Deakin JFW , Gaillard Raphael , Harmer Catherine , Meyniel Florent , Jabourian Artin , Gabriel Cecilia , Gruget Celine , Klinge Corinna , MacFayden Christine , Milligan Holly , Mullings Emma , Goodwin Guy
Published: August 2015

The present double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluates the effects of agomelatine and the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor escitalopram on sexual dysfunction in healthy men and women.

Methods:

A total of 133 healthy volunteers (67 men, 66 women) were randomly assigned to agomelatine (25 or 50 mg) or escitalopram (20 mg) or placebo for nine weeks. Sexual acceptability was evaluated by using the psychotropic-related sexual dysfunction questionnaire 5-items total score and sexual dysfunction relative to each sub-score (in 110 volunteers with sexual activity). Sexual dysfunction was evaluated at baseline and after two, five and eight weeks of treatment and one week after drug discontinuation.

Results:

The psychotropic-related sexual dysfunction questionnaire 5-items total score was significantly lower in both agomelatine groups versus escitalopram at all visits ( p < 0.01 to p < 0.0001) with no difference between agomelatine and placebo nor between both agomelatine doses. Similar results were observed after drug discontinuation. The total score was significantly higher in the escitalopram group than in the placebo group at each post-baseline visit ( p < 0.01 to p < 0.001). Similar results were observed regardless of volunteers’ gender. Compared to placebo, only escitalopram significantly impaired dysfunction relative to “delayed orgasm or ejaculation” ( p < 0.01) and “absence of orgasm or ejaculation” ( p < 0.05 to p < 0.01). The percentage of participants with a sexual dysfunction was higher in the escitalopram group than in agomelatine groups ( p < 0.01 to p < 0.05) and placebo ( p < 0.01).

Conclusion:

The study confirms the better sexual acceptability profile of agomelatine (25 or 50 mg) in healthy men and women, compared to escitalopram.

Trial registration name:

Evaluation of the effect of agomelatine and escitalopram on emotions and motivation in healthy male and female volunteers.

Trial registration number:

ISRCTN75872983.
Condom Use Self-Efficacy Among Younger Rural Adolescents
Authors: Ritchwood Tiarney D. , Penn Dolly , Peasant Courtney , Albritton Tashuna , Corbie-Smith Giselle
Published: August 2015

This study examines the role of condom use knowledge and attitudes, and parent-teen communication about sex and relationship quality on reports of condom use self-efficacy among rural, African American youth. Participants were 465 North Carolinian youth (10-14 years). Results indicated that greater condom use self-efficacy was predicted by greater knowledge of condom use (β = .206; p < .001), more favorable attitudes toward condom use (β = −.20; p < .0001) and parent-teen communication about sex (β = .13; p < .05), and actual parent-teen communication about sex and dating (β = .14; p < .05). There was low agreement between parents and youth on measures related to parent-teen communication about sex. Findings call for interventions targeting improvement of condom use knowledge among early adolescents, as well as parent-teen communication about sex. In addition, given the low parent-teen agreement regarding sexual communication, parent-teen sexual communication is an important point of intervention.
On the minimal revision problem of specification automata
Authors: Kim Kangjin , Fainekos Georgios , Sankaranarayanan Sriram
Published: August 2015

As robots are being integrated into our daily lives, it becomes necessary to provide guarantees on their safe and provably correct operation. Such guarantees can be provided using automata theoretic task and mission planning where the requirements are expressed as temporal logic specifications. However, in real-life scenarios, it is to be expected that not all user task requirements can be realized by the robot. In such cases, the robot must provide feedback to the user on why it cannot accomplish a given task. Moreover, the robot should indicate what tasks it can accomplish which are as “close” as possible to the initial user intent. This paper establishes that the latter problem, which is referred to as the minimal specification revision problem, is NP-complete. A heuristic algorithm is presented that can compute good approximations to the Minimal Revision Problem (MRP) in polynomial time. The experimental study of the algorithm demonstrates that in most problem instances the heuristic algorithm actually returns the optimal solution. Finally, some cases where the algorithm does not return the optimal solution are presented.
Identification of a novel de novo GATA3 mutation in a patient with HDR syndrome
Authors: Chen Liu , Chen Bing , Leng Wuilin , Lui Xiaotian , Wu Qinan , Ouyang Xinshou , Liang Ziwen
Published: August 2015

We describe the case of a 21-year-old male with hypocalcaemia, hyperphosphataemia, recurrent limb twitch, deafness, proteinuria, increased serum creatinine and urea nitrogen levels, and shrinkage of both kidneys. Brain computed tomography showed intracranial calcifications. The patient was diagnosed with hypoparathyroidism, sensorineural deafness and renal dysplasia (HDR) syndrome. DNA sequence analysis of the GATA3 gene showed a novel de novo mutation, c. 529dupC (p. Arg177profs*126), in exon 2, resulting in a frameshift mutation with a premature stop codon after a new 126 amino acid sequence. We provide further evidence that HDR syndrome is caused by haploinsufficiency of GATA3.
A controversial idea as a cultural resource: The Lysenko controversy and discussions of genetics as a ‘democratic’ science in postwar Japan
Authors: Iida Kaori
Published: August 2015

The Japanese discussion of the theory of Soviet agronomist Trofim D. Lysenko began in the postwar years under the American occupation. Leftists introduced Lysenko’s theory immediately after the war as part of a postwar scientists’ movement. Unlike many American geneticists, who sharply criticized the theory, Japanese geneticists initially participated in the discussion in an even-handed way; their scientific interests in the roles of cytoplasm and the environment in heredity shaped their initial sympathetic reaction. As the Cold War divide deepened, however, Japanese scientists began expressing sharp anti-Lysenko criticisms that resembled the American criticisms. Interestingly, throughout the period, Japanese geneticists’ overall aim in the discussion remained largely unchanged: to effectively reconstruct their discipline and maintain its proper image and authority. However, the shift in their reaction occurred due to an evolving sociopolitical context, especially the shift in the meaning of ‘democratic’ science from a science that employed democratic processes to a science of a liberal-democratic state. Regarding Lysenko’s idea as a cultural resource could help to explain how and why it was treated differently in different places, and why a controversy emerged in certain contexts but not in others.
Intergenerational effects of parental wealth on children's housing wealth
Authors: Ma Kang-Rae , Kang Eun-Taek
Published: August 2015

Past research has shown a close association of housing characteristics between generations. Previous evidence on the similarity of homeownership and housing value between parents and children reflects that inheritances and intergenerational wealth transfers play important roles in reinforcing and extending wealth inequality across generations. The purpose of this study is to examine how housing wealth and the timing of initial homeownership are affected by different characteristics of adult children and their parents using the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study. Special attention is given to the influence of parental economic resources on housing wealth and the timing of their children's initial homeownership in order to discern any intergenerational effects. The paper extends knowledge of ongoing intergenerational effects by analyzing the extent to which parental economic resources have a long-term effect on children's accumulation of net housing wealth. The findings indicate that children of wealthier parents have an economic head start: they transit more quickly to homeownership. Comparing net housing wealth between homeowners and renters reveals an increasing gap between the two groups. The results also show that the large gap in housing wealth can be partly attributed to differing parental wealth.
Parental responsibility for paid employment and social reproduction: children's experiences in middle-class and working-class households in England
Authors: Pimlott-Wilson Helena
Published: August 2015

Over the last 40 years, the labour market has undergone considerable change in the shift from an industrial to postindustrial economy. Profound economic, social and political developments have resulted in the feminisation of the labour force. Employment for parents, and increasingly mothers, is positioned by government policy as a remedy to child poverty at a time when individual responsibility for financial provision intensifies under austerity measures. Geographers have explored the unequal burdens of care borne by women and the gendered moral rationalities which shape labour market attachment from the perspective of adults. This paper shifts this focus to take account of children's understandings of the gendered responsibilities of parents in middle- and workingclass families in relation to employment and social reproduction. Firstly, it considers the persistence of the male breadwinning role in middle-class households, resulting in mothers' paid work being viewed as supplementary by children. Secondly, the paper explores how children understand labour market insecurity for working-class fathers and how this impacts upon their mothers, compelling women into employment to bolster the family income. Thirdly, the paper gives consideration to the experiences of those children who live with the everyday reality of low-paid, insecure parental employment, as the negative effects of insecure work permeate the family. In conclusion, the paper highlights the importance of considering children's perceptions of gendered parenting roles both in the here and now, but also as young people look towards their own family and labour market futures.
Managing fictitious capital: The legal geography of investment and political struggle in rental housing in New York City
Authors: Teresa Benjamin F
Published: August 2015

Since 2001 investors have purchased rent-regulated housing in New York City with heightened expectation for financial performance, placing pressure on tenants and communities through increasing rents, harassment, eviction, and when financial targets are not met, physical deterioration of buildings. At the heart of this investment strategy is fictitious capital, the extension of credit based on assumptions about future events. This paper shows that beyond assessments about the “truth” or rationality of the expectations underlying fictitious capital, the management of value as a problem is at stake. When the expectations underlying fictitious capital are not realized, a network of actors engage in a set of legal–financial practices to manage the value of rent-regulated multifamily buildings, including banking regulation and its exception, mortgage securitization and special servicing, distressed debt markets, rent stabilization, and foreclosure law. The breakdown of the assumptions of fictitious capital reveals new challenges and opportunities for tenant activism and policy to intervene in preserving rent-regulated housing. The paper focuses on how this financialization of housing not only serves as a moment for the increasing role of financial actors and imperatives, but also how it drives tenant activism and policy to engage legal–financial practices to redefine the tenant–landlord relationship and to tie financial expectations more closely to the material reality of tenants and communities.
Limited exposure: Social concealment, mobility and engagement with public space by the super-rich in London
Authors: Atkinson Rowland
Published: August 2015

How do the wealthiest inhabitants in one of the world’s wealthiest cities engage with public settings? Certainly, public concern about social and spatial divisions resulting from gross inequalities has not been matched by empirical research into the flows and social repertoires of the very wealthy. This article presents research examining the place and impact of the super-rich on London and considers how this group relates to its others, how they traverse urban spaces and their feelings about the value and relative dangers of the city. The impression derived from this investigation is of a group able to use residential locational choices and choreographed mobilities as strategies to avoid negative aspects of daily life in the city (visible poverty, potential danger, spaces of social and ethnic difference). Yet despite these strategies of selective engagement, it is also possible to identify a celebration of London as a safe and cosmopolitan urban field in which cultural institutions and commercial districts allow what is nevertheless a socially delimited range of interactions. The city allows the very wealthy to experience London as a democratic and welcoming space underwritten by high levels of domestic security, spatial divisions/buffers and public–private security apparatuses that facilitate their relative invisibility and safety. The wealthy take on a cloaked co-presence that prevents the need for disagreeable encounters with poverty, facilitated by the built structures and networks of the city.