bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Subtenon Injections of Ranibizumab Arrest Growth in Early Recurrent Pterygium
Authors: Rose Linda , Byrd Julia M. , Qaseem Yousuf
Published: October 2016

Importance:

Currently the only treatment for recurrent pterygium is surgery. This is a phase 1 trial investigating ranibizumab as a medical treatment for recurrent pterygium.

Objective:

To assess the safety and efficacy of subtenon Ranibizimab for recurrent pterygia.

Design:

Subjects with recurrent pterygium received subtenon ranibizumab and were followed for 1 year. Safety parameters were measured. Photographs were taken and quantitatively analyzed to measure the short-term (2 months) and long-term (5–26 months) response to treatment.

Setting:

University of New Mexico Eye Clinic.

Participants:

Eight subjects with recurrent pterygia.

Interventions:

Subtenon delivery of 0.5 to 2 mg of ranibizumab, at day 0, month 1, and month 2.

Main Outcome Measures:

Safety parameters included visual acuity, intraocular pressure, and assessment of ocular surface. Efficacy was assessed by comparing photographs taken at day 0 with a short-term follow-up photograph taken at month 2 and a long-term follow-up image taken at the final patient visit (range 5–26 months). Quantitative analysis of photographs was performed to measure vascularity in the treated zone.

Results:

Four subjects had an arrest of pterygium growth with a visual reduction in vascularity and a quantitative reduction in the area of vascularization (average vascularized area in short-term follow-up images was 51% of the baseline photos at day 0, and in the long-term photos was 36% of day 0). The other four subjects had a less marked reduction in their vascularity in the short-term photos (69% of their baseline photos). This resulted in two subjects withdrawing from the study early. Long-term quantitative analysis for the two remaining “nonresponders,” who completed the study, showed an average vascularized area that was 71% of that in their baseline photos. The long-term photos in these subjects did not appear to have a clinically relevant difference from the short-term photos.

Conclusions:

In half of the subjects, subtenon ranibizumab appeared to arrest growth. Although the response is variable, this may warrant the drug's use when attempting to control growth of recurrent pterygia, and may prevent consecutive surgery for some patients.
The Impact of Infectious Diseases Consultation on the Choice of Antifungal Therapy in Patients With Candidemia
Authors: Amado Cristina , Blair Paul , Keiser John , Siegel Marc Oliver
Published: October 2016

Background

Candidemia is the fourth most common cause of nosocomial bloodstream infections in the United States. Delay in starting appropriate antifungal therapy in patients with candidemia has been associated with increased mortality rates. The goal of this study was to evaluate the impact of infectious diseases (ID) consultation on the class of antifungal therapy used and on all-cause 90-day mortality in patients with candidemia.

Methods

Candidemic subjects were retrospectively identified by reviewing our hospital's blood culture log books. Medical records of each subject were reviewed for class and length of antifungal agent used, length of hospitalization, evidence of an ID consultation, and 90-day mortality.

Results

One hundred sixty-three patients with 182 episodes of candidemia were identified during a 6-year period from January 1, 2008, to December 31, 2013. Infectious diseases consultation resulted in significantly greater use of azole therapy compared with no ID consult (67.7% vs 26.3%, P < 0.0001) and comparable durations of therapy (15.3 vs 12.3 days, P = 0.0885).

Conclusions

Infectious diseases consultation in patients with candidemia results in a significantly higher rate of fluconazole use and minimally longer durations of antifungal therapy, thereby helping to reduce pharmacy costs.
Practices, Challenges, and Opportunities to Improving Pneumococcal Immunization in Working-Age, At-Risk Adults Through Community Pharmacies
Authors: Kulczycki Andrzej , Wensel Terri M. , Hogue Michael
Published: October 2016

Background

Pneumococcal vaccination is an effective preventative measure. However, adult coverage rates remain very low, especially for working-age adults with chronic morbid conditions. Community pharmacists have the potential to improve such vaccination rates, but very little is known about their practices or perspectives.

Methods

Semistructured interviews were conducted with pharmacists at 12 independently owned community pharmacies purposefully selected from across Alabama. Transcript data were analyzed to identify community pharmacists' knowledge, practices, and perspectives on pneumococcal vaccination for at-risk working-age adults.

Results

Six major themes were identified regarding community pharmacists' knowledge and practice patterns. Multiple challenges and opportunities to improving vaccination coverage levels were also identified. Several knowledge gaps were noted, and very few pharmacists had provided pneumococcal vaccinations to at-risk adults aged 19 to 64. Most did not fully utilize patient data to identify vaccine candidates, and seldom adopted proactive approaches to promote pneumococcal vaccination. The vaccine was rarely recommended outside of flu season despite year-round vaccine availability. Challenges to increasing vaccination included pharmacy-specific barriers, advocacy, public misperceptions, limited collaboration with area physicians, and resource constraints. Opportunities included capitalizing on the growing acceptance of pharmacy-based immunization, the business case for pneumococcal vaccination, and pharmacists' interest in receiving continuing education. Improving record-keeping systems, pharmacist-patient communication, advocacy, and outreach, and building stronger collaborations with community stakeholders to facilitate the pharmacists' role as immunization advocates were additional areas for improvement.

Conclusions

Multiple challenges impede increased involvement by community pharmacists in pneumococcal vaccination services; however, opportunities can be exploited to affect such change.
Validity of Salivary Polymerase Chain Reaction in Diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori Among Egyptian Patients
Authors: Medhat Eman , Marzaban Raghda N. , Dwedar Reham A. , Reda Alaa M. , Rashid Laila , Al-Enezi Taref
Published: October 2016

Objective

Helicobacter pylori is highly endemic in Egypt. Salivary polymerase chain reaction (PCR) offers an easy and safe approach for disease detection as saliva contains an abundance of its biomolecules.

Aim of the Work

To evaluate the validity of salivary PCR as a quantitative method in diagnosis of H. pylori.

Methods

This study included 50 attendant patients of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt. They all proved histologically to have H. pylori–induced gastric and/or duodenal pathology. Another 50 patients negative for H. pylori were included as control group. All patients underwent stool antigen test and salivary PCR.

Results

Prevalence of H. pylori in clinically manifested Egyptian patients was 62.5%. The commonest endoscopic findings were gastric affection (90%), and third of cases (34%) showed definite ulcerative lesions. Salivary PCR test was significantly (P < 0.001) higher in H. pylori patients (mean, 10179.0 ± 20244.1 copies/dL) with wide range than in control group (mean, 99.2 ± 17.9 copies/dL), with sensitivity 100%, specificity 82%, and overall accuracy of 91%. Among the common complaints, it was significantly related to heartburn.

Conclusions

Salivary PCR proved to be a reliable diagnostic test, with sensitivity 100%, and accuracy reached 99% at cutoff level = 130 copies/dl (area under the curve was 0.998 at confidence interval = 0.993–1).
Randomized Crossover Study of the Natural Restorative Environment Intervention to Improve Attention and Mood in Heart Failure
Authors: Jung Miyeon , Jonides John , Northouse Laurel , Berman Marc G. , Koelling Todd M. , Pressler Susan J.
Published: October 2016

Background:

In heart failure (HF), attention may be decreased because of lowered cerebral blood flow and increased attentional demands needed for self-care.

Objective:

Guided by the Attention Restoration Theory, the objective was to test the efficacy of the natural restorative environment (NRE) intervention on improving attention and mood among HF patients and healthy adults.

Methods:

A randomized crossover pilot study was conducted among 20 HF patients and an age- and education-matched comparison group of 20 healthy adults to test the efficacy of the NRE intervention compared with an active control intervention. Neuropsychological tests were administered to examine attention, particularly attention span, sustained attention, directed attention, and attention switching, at before and after the intervention. Mood was measured with the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule.

Results:

No significant differences were found in attention and mood after the NRE intervention compared with the control intervention among the HF patients and the healthy adults. In analyses with HF patients and healthy adults combined (n = 40), significant differences were found. Compared with the control intervention, sustained attention improved after the NRE intervention (P = .001) regardless of the presence of HF. Compared with the healthy adults, HF patients performed significantly worse on attention switching after the control intervention (P = .045).

Conclusions:

The NRE intervention may be efficacious in improving sustained attention in HF patients. Future studies are needed to enhance the NRE intervention to be more efficacious and tailored for HF patients and test the efficacy in a larger sample of HF patients.
Predicting Readmission at Early Hospitalization Using Electronic Clinical Data
Authors: Tabak Ying P. , Sun Xiaowu , Nunez Carlos M. , Gupta Vikas , Johannes Richard S.
Published: October 2016

Background:

Identifying patients at high risk for readmission early during hospitalization may aid efforts in reducing readmissions. We sought to develop an early readmission risk predictive model using automated clinical data available at hospital admission.

Methods:

We developed an early readmission risk model using a derivation cohort and validated the model with a validation cohort. We used a published Acute Laboratory Risk of Mortality Score as an aggregated measure of clinical severity at admission and the number of hospital discharges in the previous 90 days as a measure of disease progression. We then evaluated the administrative data–enhanced model by adding principal and secondary diagnoses and other variables. We examined the c-statistic change when additional variables were added to the model.

Results:

There were 1,195,640 adult discharges from 70 hospitals with 39.8% male and the median age of 63 years (first and third quartile: 43, 78). The 30-day readmission rate was 11.9% (n=142,211). The early readmission model yielded a graded relationship of readmission and the Acute Laboratory Risk of Mortality Score and the number of previous discharges within 90 days. The model c-statistic was 0.697 with good calibration. When administrative variables were added to the model, the c-statistic increased to 0.722.

Conclusions:

Automated clinical data can generate a readmission risk score early at hospitalization with fair discrimination. It may have applied value to aid early care transition. Adding administrative data increases predictive accuracy. The administrative data–enhanced model may be used for hospital comparison and outcome research.
The HOSPITAL Score Predicts Potentially Preventable 30-Day Readmissions in Conditions Targeted by the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program
Authors: Burke Robert E. , Schnipper Jeffrey L. , Williams Mark V. , Robinson Edmondo J. , Vasilevskis Eduard E. , Kripalani Sunil , Metlay Joshua P. , Fletcher Grant S. , Auerbach Andrew D. , Donzé Jacques D.
Published: October 2016

Background/Objectives:

New tools to accurately identify potentially preventable 30-day readmissions are needed. The HOSPITAL score has been internationally validated for medical inpatients, but its performance in select conditions targeted by the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP) is unknown.

Design:

Retrospective cohort study.

Setting:

Six geographically diverse medical centers.

Participants/Exposures:

All consecutive adult medical patients discharged alive in 2011 with 1 of the 4 medical conditions targeted by the HRRP (acute myocardial infarction, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia, and heart failure) were included. Potentially preventable 30-day readmissions were identified using the SQLape algorithm. The HOSPITAL score was calculated for all patients.

Measurements:

A multivariable logistic regression model accounting for hospital effects was used to evaluate the accuracy (Brier score), discrimination (c-statistic), and calibration (Pearson goodness-of-fit) of the HOSPITAL score for each 4 medical conditions.

Results:

Among the 9181 patients included, the overall 30-day potentially preventable readmission rate was 13.6%. Across all 4 diagnoses, the HOSPITAL score had very good accuracy (Brier score of 0.11), good discrimination (c-statistic of 0.68), and excellent calibration (Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test, P=0.77). Within each diagnosis, performance was similar. In sensitivity analyses, performance was similar for all readmissions (not just potentially preventable) and when restricted to patients age 65 and above.

Conclusions:

The HOSPITAL score identifies a high-risk cohort for potentially preventable readmissions in a variety of practice settings, including conditions targeted by the HRRP. It may be a valuable tool when included in interventions to reduce readmissions within or across these conditions.
Psychometric properties of upper extremity outcome measures validated by Rasch analysis: a systematic review
Authors: Hong Ickpyo , Bonilha Heather S.
Published: October 2016

The aim of this study was to provide a systematic review of psychometric studies of upper extremity (UE) outcome measures validated by Rasch analysis and assess the extent to which their measurement areas cover the domains of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health model. A literature search from 1966 to 2014 was performed using PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, PsycINFO, Ovid/MEDLINE, ERIC, and Cochrane library. Fourteen keywords indicating ‘upper extremity’, ‘psychometric properties’, and ‘outcome measures’ were used. From a total of 1039 studies, 17 UE impairment outcome measures that fulfilled the inclusion criteria were selected and reviewed. The instruments targeted adults with various neurological or orthopedic conditions (i.e. stroke, upper and lower extremity impairments, and back pain). Twelve instruments targeted the body structure/function domain and 11 instruments targeted the activity domain of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health model. Only two instruments targeted the participation domain. All outcome measures showed reasonably sound psychometric properties, including construct validity (good fit statistic), moderate to high reliability (r=0.86–0.99), and sound dimensionality (unidimensional). The reviewed psychometric properties of UE outcome measures are useful for clinicians in deciding which measures to use to assess patients’ UE impairments.
Frequency and significance of parvovirus B19 infection in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
Authors: Naciute Milda , Mieliauskaite Diana , Rugiene Rita , Nikitenkiene Rita , Jancoriene Ligita , Mauricas Mykolas , Nora-Krukle Zaiga , Murovska Modra , Girkontaite Irute
Published: October 2016

The present study aims to clarify the possible involvement of parvovirus B19 (B19V) infection in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) pathogenesis by investigating the presence of B19V infection markers (genomic sequences and virus-specific antibodies) in association with the level of cytokines and RA clinical activity and aggressiveness. A total of 118 RA patients and 49 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers were enrolled in the study. Nested PCR was used to detect B19V sequences in whole blood and cell-free plasma DNA, ELISA to detect virus-specific antibodies and cytokine levels in plasma and recomLine dot blot assay for antibodies to separate B19V antigens. The detection frequency of B19V DNA was higher in patients with RA (25.4 %) in comparison with healthy persons (18.4 %). B19V DNA in cell-free plasma (B19+p) was detected significantly often in RA patients in comparison with healthy controls (13.6 vs 2 %; P=0.0002). RA B19+p patients had higher disease activity and aggressiveness, decreased haemoglobin and increased erythrocyte sedimentation rates. IL-6 plasma levels were significantly higher in RA patients than in controls. Within the RA patients’ group the IL-6 level was significantly increased in B19+p patients with disease activity scores of DAS28>5.2, high C-reactive protein and low haemoglobin. Contrary to the healthy controls, the majority of RA B19+p patients did not have antibodies to VP-1S (VP1u) and VP-N (N-terminal half of structural proteins VP1 and VP2), which correspond to the epitopes of neutralizing antibodies. These results indicate that B19V infection at least in some patients is involved in RA pathogenesis.
Measuring and Modeling Nonlinear Interactions Between Brain Regions with fMRI
Authors: Anzellotti Stefano , Fedorenko Evelina , Kell Alexander J E , Caramazza Alfonso , Saxe Rebecca
Published: October 2016

In the study of connectivity in large-scale networks of brain regions, a standard assumption is made that the statistical dependence between regions is univariate and linear. However, brain regions encode information in multivariate responses, and neural computations are nonlinear. Multivariate and nonlinear statistical dependence between regions is likely ubiquitous, but it is not captured by current methods. To fill this gap, we introduce a novel analysis framework: fMRI responses are characterized as points in multidimensional spaces, and nonlinear dependence is modeled using artificial neural networks. Converging evidence from multiple experiments shows that nonlinear dependence 1) models mappings between brain regions more accurately than linear dependence, explaining more variance in left-out data; 2) reveals functional subdivisions within cortical networks, and 3) is modulated by the task participants are performing.
Cell Dynamics in Tumor Environment After Treatments
Authors: Shahriyari Leili
Published: October 2016

Although the failure of cancers treatments has been mostly linked with the existence of resistant cells or cancer stem cells, new findings show a significant correlation between circulating inflammatory biomarkers and treatment failures. Most cancer treatments cause necrotic cell deaths in the tumor microenvironment. Necrotic cells send signals to the immune cells to start the wound healing process in the tissue. Therefore, we assume after stopping treatments there is a wound that needs to be healed. The stochastic simulations of epithelial cell dynamics after a treatment, which only kills cells without changing the tumor’s inflammatory environment, show that higher fitness of cancer cells causes earlier relapses. Moreover, the tumor returns even if a single cancer cell with high fitness remains in the wound’s boundary after such treatments. Although the involvement of cancer cells in the wound healing after treatments lead to the fast relapse, the cancer cells outside of the wound can also cause a slow recurrence of the tumor. Therefore, the absence of relapse after such treatments implies a slow-developing tumor that might not reach an observable size in the patients’ life time. Conversely, a large solid tumor in a young patient suggests the presence of high fitness cancer cells and therefore a high likelihood of relapse after conventional therapies. Additionally, the location of remaining cancer cells after treatments is a very important factor in the recurrence time. The fastest recurrence happens when a high fitness cancer cell is located in the middle of the wound. However, the longest time to recurrence corresponds to cancer cells located outside of the wound’s boundary.
AGFusion: annotate and visualize gene fusions
Authors: Murphy Charlie , Elemento Olivier
Published: October 2016

The discovery of novel gene fusions in tumor samples has rapidly accelerated with the rise of next-generation sequencing. A growing number of tools enable discovery of gene fusions from RNA-seq data. However it is likely that not all gene fusions are driving tumors. Assessing the potential functional consequences of a fusion is critical to understand their driver role. It is also challenging as gene fusions are described by chromosomal breakpoint coordinates that need to be translated into an actual amino acid fusion sequence and predicted domain architecture of the fusion proteins. Currently there are no easy-to-use tools that can automatically reconstruct and visualize fusion proteins from genomic breakpoints. To facilitate the functional interpretation of gene fusions, we developed AGFusion, available as an online web tool that can be readily used by non-computational researchers as well as a python package that can be built into computational pipelines. With minimal input from the user, AGFusion predicts the cDNA, CDS, and protein sequences of all gene fusion products based on all combinations of gene isoforms. For protein coding fusions, AGFusion can annotate and visualize the protein domain architecture. AGFusion currently supports Homo sapiens (genome builds GRCh37 and GRCh38) and Mus musculus (genome build GRCm38) and new genomes can easily be added.

Availability

AGFusion python package is freely available at https://github.com/murphycj/AGFusion under the MIT license. The AGFusion web app is available at http://agfusion.info
Loss of the habenula neuromodulator Kisspeptin1 disrupts learning in larval zebrafish
Authors: Lupton Charlotte , Sengupta Mohini , Cheng Ruey-Kuang , Chia Joanne , Thirumalai Vatsala , Jesuthasan Suresh
Published: October 2016

Learning how to actively avoid a predictable aversive stimulus involves two steps: recognizing the cue that predicts upcoming punishment, and learning a behavioral response that will lead to avoidance. In zebrafish, ventral habenula (vHb) neurons have been proposed to participate in both steps by encoding the expected aversiveness of a stimulus. vHb neurons increase their firing rate as expectation of punishment grows, but reduce their activity as avoidance learning occurs. How the change in vHb activity occurs is not known. Here, we ask whether the neuromodulator kisspeptin1, which is expressed in the ventral habenula, could be involved.Kiss1mutants were generated with Cas9 using guide RNAs targeted to the signal sequence. Mutants, which have a stop codon upstream of the kisspeptin1 peptide, have a deficiency in learning to avoid a shock that is predicted by light. Electrophysiology indicates that kisspeptin1 has a concentration-dependent effect on vHb neurons: depolarizing at low concentrations and hyperpolarizing at high concentrations. These data suggest that as the fish learns to cope with a threat, kisspeptin1 may differentially modulate vHb neurons. This implies that learning a behavioral strategy to overcome a stressor is accompanied by physiological change in habenula neurons.

Significance statement

Learning to deal with adversity can positively affect one’s ability to cope with challenges in the immediate future. Control thus causes short-term change in the brain. Here, we show that the neuromodulator kisspeptin1 is required to learn to avoid a punishment. Expression and electrophysiological recordings suggest that this molecule functions by controlling the ventral habenula, a region of the brain that mediates fear by regulating serotonin release. Kisspeptin1 may be a potential player in resilience developed as a result of control, extending previous findings that it can reduce fear.
Gist – an ensemble approach to the taxonomic classification of metatranscriptomic sequence data
Authors: Halliday Samantha , Parkinson John
Published: October 2016

The study of whole microbial communities through RNA-seq, or metatranscriptomics, offers a unique view of the relative levels of activity for different genes across a large number of species simultaneously. To make sense of these sequencing data, it is necessary to be able to assign both taxonomic and functional identities to each sequenced read. High-quality identifications are important not only for community profiling, but to also ensure that functional assignments of sequence reads are correctly attributed to their source taxa. Such assignments allow biochemical pathways to be appropriately allocated to discrete species, enabling the capture of cross-species interactions. Typically read annotation is performed by a single alignment-based search tool such as BLAST. However, due to the vast extent of bacterial diversity, these approaches tend to be highly error prone, particularly for taxonomic assignments. Here we introduce a novel program for generating taxonomic assignments, called Gist, which integrates information from a number of machine learning methods and the Burrows-Wheeler Aligner. Uniquely Gist establishes the most appropriate weightings of methods for individual genomes, facilitating high classification accuracy on next-generation sequencing reads. We validate our approach using a synthetic metatranscriptome generator based on Flux Simulator, termed Genepuddle. Further, unlike previous taxonomic classifiers, we demonstrate the capacity of composition-based techniques to accurately inform on taxonomic origin without resorting to longer scanning windows that mimic alignment-based methods. Gist is made freely available under the terms of the GNU General Public License atcompsysbio.org/gist.
Evolutionary rescue in randomly mating, selfing, and clonal populations
Authors: Uecker Hildegard
Published: October 2016

Severe environmental change can drive a population extinct unless the population adapts in time to the new conditions (“evolutionary rescue”). How does bi-parental sexual reproduction influence the chances of population persistence compared to clonal reproduction or selfing? In this paper, we set up a one-locus two-allele model for adaptation in diploid species, where rescue is contingent on the establishment of the mutant homozygote. Reproduction can occur by random mating, selfing, or clonally. Random mating generates and destroys the rescue mutant; selfing is efficient at generating it but at the same time depletes the heterozygote, which can lead to a low mutant frequency in the standing genetic variation and also affects the establishment probability of the mutation. Due to these antagonistic effects, we find a non-trivial dependence of population survival on the rate of sex/selfing, which is strongly affected by the dominance coefficient of the mutation before and after the environmental change. Importantly, since mating with the wildtype breaks the mutant homozygote up, a slow decay of the wildtype population size can impede rescue in randomly mating populations.
Sexually dimorphic differentiation of aC. eleganshub neuron is cell-autonomously controlled by a conserved transcription factor
Authors: Serrano-Saiz Esther , Oren-Suissa Meital , Bayer Emily A. , Hobert Oliver
Published: October 2016

Functional and anatomical sexual dimorphisms in the brain are either the result of cells that are generated only in one sex, or a manifestation of sex-specific differentiation of neurons present in both sexes. The PHC neurons of the nematodeC. elegansdifferentiate in a strikingly sex-specific manner. While in hermaphrodites the PHC neurons display a canonical pattern of synaptic connectivity similar to that of other sensory neurons, PHC differentiates into a densely connected hub sensory/interneuron in males, integrating a large number of male-specific synaptic inputs and conveying them to both male-specific and sex-shared circuitry. We describe that the differentiation into such a hub neuron involves the sex-specific scaling of several components of the synaptic vesicle machinery, including the vesicular glutamate transportereat-4/VGLUT,induction of neuropeptide expression, changes in axonal projection morphology and a switch in neuronal function. We demonstrate that these molecular and anatomical remodeling events are controlled cell-autonomously by the phylogenetically conserved Doublesex homologdmd-3,which is both required and sufficient for sex-specific PHC differentiation. Cellular specificity ofdmd-3action is ensured by its collaboration with non-sex specific terminal selector-type transcription factors whereas sex-specificity ofdmd-3action is ensured by the hermaphrodite-specific master regulator of hermaphroditic cell identity, the Gli-like transcription factortra-1, which transcriptionally repressesdmd-3in hermaphrodite PHC. Taken together, our studies provide mechanistic insights into how neurons are specified in a sexually dimorphic manner.
Commentary on “Autism, mental health and offending behaviour: a mother’s quest for healthcare”
Authors: Chaplin Eddie , McCarthy Jane
Published: October 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on “Autism, mental health and offending behaviour: a mother’s quest for healthcare” by Sue Larch.

Design/methodology/approach

Commentary.

Findings

Alongside specialist secure services more needs to be done to develop highly skilled specialist services.

Originality/value

A commentary on an original viewpoint piece published in this special edition on autism and offending behaviour.
Autism and offending behaviour: needs and services
Authors: Pearce Helen , Berney Thomas
Published: October 2016

Purpose

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) brings out the limitations of the Criminal Justice Service. The purpose of this paper is to review some of the salient issues and their remedies.

Design/methodology/approach

A narrative review based on the literature and the clinical experience of the authors.

Findings

ASD’s hidden disabilities, even without the frequent coexistence of other disorder, derail the standard responses to offending.

Practical implications

Management of these individuals as offenders depends on awareness of the issues, adaptation and the input of a variety of other services, especially health, social care and employment.

Originality/value

Although this is a very active field of work, there is relatively little written about it.
The clinical utility of social information processing theory in assessing and treating offenders with autism spectrum disorder
Authors: Chester Verity , Langdon Peter E.
Published: October 2016

Purpose

Social deficits are central within conceptualisations of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and separately linked to offending behaviour. Social problem-solving interventions are often used with offenders, but little research has examined the social information processing (SIP) skills of individuals with ASD and a history of criminal offending behaviours. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

This conceptual paper will introduce the SIP model, review SIP research as applied to those with ASD and in forensic populations, and further consider the relevance to the assessment and treatment of offenders with ASD.

Findings

Difficulties in all areas of the SIP model are noted in ASD and research suggests these difficulties may be directly linked to behaviour.

Practical implications

It is possible that identifying SIP abilities and deficits could improve the effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes for this group.

Originality/value

This paper reviews the utility of social information models in the offending behaviour of people with ASD.
Heterogeneity within autism spectrum disorder in forensic mental health: the introduction of typologies
Authors: Alexander Regi , Langdon Peter E. , Chester Verity , Barnoux Magali , Gunaratna Ignatius , Hoare Sudeep
Published: October 2016

Purpose

Individuals with diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) within criminal justice settings are a highly heterogeneous group. Although studies have examined differences between those with and without ASD in such settings, there has been no examination of differences within the ASD group. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on the findings of a service evaluation project, this paper introduces a typology of ASD within forensic mental health and intellectual disability settings.

Findings

The eight subtypes that are described draw on clinical variables including psychopathy, psychosis and intensity/frequency of problem behaviours that co-occur with the ASD. The initial assessment of inter-rater reliability on the current version of the typology revealed excellent agreement, multirater Kfree =0.90.

Practical implications

The proposed typology could improve understanding of the relationship between ASD and forensic risk, identify the most appropriate interventions and provide prognostic information about length of stay. Further research to refine and validate the typology is ongoing.

Originality/value

This paper introduces a novel, typology-based approach which aims to better serve people with ASD within criminal justice settings.
The nexus between size and external business advice in the family firm
Authors: López-Cózar-Navarro Cristina , Priede-Bergamini Tiziana , Benito-Hernández Sonia
Published: October 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to suggest two main objectives: to analyze if the size of the company is determined by the use of external legal and human resources (HR) advice; and to analyze if the size of the family business is determined by the use of these two same types of external advice.

Design/methodology/approach

The assessment is developed (2,013 firms, the Spanish industrial sector) by using descriptive statistics to compare the features of the different types of firms in the sample: family and non-family ones. This is completed with a test of equality of means and using econometric models.

Findings

Regarding legal advice, results show that as far as legal matters are concerned, when family businesses make greater use of this type of advice, they are smaller. This is a remarkable and interesting result because it differs from non-family firms, in which the use of this type of advice is positively related with size. Regarding the use of HR advice, while it remains significant in general cases with a positive result, this is not the same for family firms.

Originality/value

The use of advising in family firms is seldom dealt with in the literature, despite its helpfulness for family firm managers. There is gap in this field and a great deal of interesting research remains to be developed, because the authors consider that factors determining the use of advice in family and non-family firms are different.
What hampers innovation in Mexican family firms?
Authors: López-Fernández María Concepción , Serrano-Bedia Ana María , Palma-Ruiz Manuel
Published: October 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore to what extent different obstacles (financial, knowledge, market, and perception) affect the propensity of Mexican family firms to engage in innovation activity. Second, it examines whether the perception of these obstacles differs between two subgroups of family firms, considering levels of ownership and family management control.

Design/methodology/approach

Information was gathered through a CIS methodology-based questionnaire applied to 161 CEOs of Mexican family firms. Binomial logistic regressions were performed identifying obstacles that were truly relevant for the family firm subgroups in the sample.

Findings

For subgroup 1, knowledge and market factors were significant and negatively related to the propensity to engage in innovation activities; for subgroup 2, only market factors were relevant. The results also show how the tenure of the CEO, the number of generations involved, and the family involvement in management and non-management positions affect the results obtained.

Practical implications

Implications for family business scholars embrace the assessment criteria of different family business definitions. While the implications for managers and policy makers include the recognition of the factors that affect innovation in Mexican family firms in order to design and implement adequate strategies to overcome them.

Originality/value

This study addresses some of the raised demands in the literature. First, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first attempt to explore the factors hampering innovation in family firms in Latin America. Second, this study was undertaken in response to the call for exploring variations in innovation behavior across different family business types in regards to ownership and family management control. Moreover, this study responds to the call to analyze financial and non-financial factors separately and to expand the geographical areas, sectors, and sizes of family firms, more specifically in Latin America.
A practical approach in clarifying legal drafting: Delphi and case study in Malaysia
Authors: Chong Heap-Yih , Oon Chee Kheng
Published: October 2016

Purpose

Legal drafting is one of the root causes for interpretation errors and misunderstandings in construction contracts. Moreover, most construction personnel do not have legally trained background. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to determine the feasible use and practicality of Plain English in clarifying legal drafting in Malaysian construction contracts.

Design/methodology/approach

Two research approaches were adopted, namely, Delphi research and case study. The Delphi method was to elicit local experts’ knowledge and consensus view on the given examples of restructured contract provisions. Next, an actual case study was conducted to examine and substantiate the research findings by critically reviewing the latest and revised standard form of contract for its Plain English usage.

Findings

The Delphi research shows that all the restructured contract provisions were agreed by the local experts; whereas the case study reveals that significant changes and the acceptance of Plain English in most of the contract provisions.

Originality/value

The research renders insightful references in clarifying legal drafting in construction contracts based on the empirical evidence and the use of Plain English from the Malaysian scenario. It also contributes into the resolution of contractual differences and conflicts caused by the misunderstandings or interpretation problems.
Exploratory study on risk management of state-owned construction enterprises in China
Authors: Hu Lamei , Wu Honghua
Published: October 2016

Purpose

There is a relatively low risk management (RM) level and maturity in China’s state-owned construction enterprises (CSCEs). The purpose of this paper is to find the main factors impacting RM in practice to promote rapid, sound and sustained development in CSCEs.

Design/methodology/approach

There are a few state-owned CSCEs in China. Most enterprises know little about RM. Because of the limited number of RM departments in these enterprises, 200 questionnaires were sent to the enterprises to investigate the RM strategies employed by them. The research is quantitative and used a questionnaire survey to determine the important factors influencing RM practice. The collected data were analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences to identify the most important factors affecting RM as well as the extent of influence of these factors, in order to facilitate further research.

Findings

The survey revealed the top eight factors (i.e. leaders’ support, personnel’s responsibility, comprehensiveness of identification, costs and benefits, risk appetite, understanding of language, frequency of training and performance management) that highly impact RM in CSCEs and the extent to which these factors impact RM. The data reveal that the average RM level is low. Some methods have been recommended to improve RM.

Research limitations/implications

The research lays the foundation for further RM development in CSCEs. The low RM level in CSCEs should encourage researchers to find better ways to improve RM. Some factors in the research will function as valuable guides for China’s private and public-private partnership enterprises.

Practical implications

A quantitative analysis methodology for RM has been developed for CSCEs that can reflect their RM level. In addition, the degree of impact of key factors on RM has been shown. The results can act as a reference to improve RM quantitatively, making the RM system more explicit in dealing with risks more accurately and instructively.

Originality/value

Structural RM research is utilized to evaluate RM in CSCEs by following an empirical method. With the continuous improvement in RM, CSCEs can cooperate well with construction enterprises of other countries for infrastructure projects and gain more benefits.
Searching for niche market for engineering consultants
Authors: Ding Zhikun , Zuo Jian , Wang Jiayuan , Zillante George
Published: October 2016

Purpose

A growing number of foreign consulting firms have been engaged in the Chinese construction market where the supervision system, as a kind of engineering consultant service has been widely implemented. However, the performance of supervision system varies significantly across regions. Therefore, foreign consulting firms are in desperate need of related performance benchmarking statistics to determine the niche market. A major issue is lack of a quantitative method to objectively evaluate regional supervision systems’ performance. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

A new regional construction supervision system benchmarking model was developed via the principal component analysis method. This model is based on key performance indicators drawn from annual official statistics. This list of key indicators was refined by means of a focus group with selected experts. Consequently the performances of all 31 regional supervision systems were calculated and ranked.

Findings

Results indicate a general gap between coastal and inland regions. The various development trends of top 10 regions are analyzed and the underlying reasons are explored. Furthermore, the regions deserving more attention or currently lacking in development are identified. The supervision industry in China is shifting from a labor-intensive industry to a knowledge-intensive industry.

Originality/value

The proposed model provides a single quantitative parameter to conveniently benchmark the performance of various regions. The findings are vital for the benchmarking and clarification of future endeavor of the regional supervision systems and for foreign enterprises that are planning to enter the real-estate market in China.
Duration determination for rural roads using the principal component analysis and artificial neural network
Authors: Mensah Isaac , Adjei-Kumi Theophilus , Nani Gabriel
Published: October 2016

Purpose

Determining the duration for road construction projects represents a problem for construction professionals in Ghana. The purpose of this paper is to develop an artificial neural network (ANN) model for determining the duration for rural bituminous surfaced road projects.

Design/methodology/approach

Data for 22 completed bituminous surfaced road projects from the Department of Feeder Roads (rural road agency) were collected and analyzed using the principal component analysis (PCA) and ANN techniques. The data collected were final payment certificates which contained payment bill of quantities (BOQ) of work items executed for the selected completed road projects. The executed quantities in the BOQ were the total quantities of work items for site clearance, earthworks, in-situ concrete, reinforcement, formwork, gravel sub-base/base, bitumen, road line markings and furniture, length of road and actual durations for each of the completed projects. The PCA was first employed to reduce the data in order to identify a smaller number of variables (or significant quantities) that constitute 81.58 percent of the total variance of the collected data. The ANN was then used to develop the network using the identified significant quantities as input variables and the actual durations as output variables.

Findings

The coefficient of correlation (R) and determination (R2) as well as the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) obtained show that construction professionals can use the developed ANN model for determining duration. The study shows that the best neural network is the multi-layer perceptron with a structure 3-38-1 based on a back propagation feed forward algorithm. The developed network produces good results with an MAPE of 17.56 percent or an average accuracy of 82.44 percent.

Research limitations/implications

Apart from the fact that the sample size was small, the developed model does not incorporate the implications of other likely factors that may affect contract duration.

Practical implications

The outcome of this study is to help construction professionals to fix realistic contract duration for road construction projects before signing a contract. Such realistic contract duration would help reduce time overruns as well as the payment of liquidated and ascertained damages by contractors for late completion.

Originality/value

This paper proposes an alternative way of determining the duration for road construction projects using the total quantities of work items in a final payment BOQ. The approach is based on the PCA and ANN model of quantities of work items of completed road projects.
The impacts of brand asset of domestic screen golf playing systems upon brand trust and brand loyalty
Authors: Lee Ho-Jin , Jee Yongseok
Published: October 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper was to provide Korean screen golf systems suppliers experiencing severe competition in an oversaturated market with effective brand marketing strategies by examining the interrelationships among brand assets, brand trust, and brand loyalty.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used the convenient sampling method of non-probability and distributed questionnaires to 1,200 subjects over 20 years of age from ten screen golf playing facilities in Korea.

Findings

The following results were obtained: first, the subfactors of brand assets were identified to have significant influence upon brand trust in the following order: perceived quality, brand image, and brand awareness. Second, brand trust was identified to have a significant influence on brand loyalty. Lastly, the subfactors of brand assets were identified to have significant influence on brand loyalty in the following order: brand image, brand awareness, and perceived quality.

Originality/value

This paper provides useful information for developing an effective brand strategy in an oversaturated situation.