bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Preliminary Report—The Long Leg Cast With a Pelvic Band
Authors: Pidgeon Tyler S. , Schiller Jonathan
Published: September 2015

Objectives

The aim of the study was to describe the long leg cast with a pelvic band (LLCPB), a novel alternative to spica casting for treating femur fractures in patients aged 6 months to 6 years which requires no casting above the waist, allows for hip flexion adjustments after it is applied, and does not require an operating room for placement.

Methods

Seven children aged 7.9 months to 3.7 years with femur fractures treated with the LLCPB at a single institution were retrospectively studied. All children were casted in the emergency department under conscious sedation. Radiographic and subjective outcomes were recorded.

Results

All 7 children achieved acceptable reduction of their fractures without the need for re-reduction or cast wedging. Five of the 7 children were discharged from the emergency department; 1 child required 1 night of hospitalization and another child required 2 nights of hospitalization. There were no complications. The cost of placing an LLCPB at our institution was $430.46. The cost of placing a spica cast in the operating room was $5427.54 to $6465.00.

Conclusions

The long leg cast with a pelvic band seems to be an acceptable treatment for children aged 8 months to 4 years with spiral femur fractures. This technique has significant advantages over traditional and modified spica casts including allowing for uninhibited toileting, weight bearing on the unaffected leg, adjustment of hip flexion at any point after placement, and easier access to the perineum, abdomen, and chest for hygienic and medical purposes. Furthermore, treatment with an LLCPB presents significant potential for cost savings.
Mental Health Screening Among Adolescents and Young Adults in the Emergency Department
Authors: Nager Alan L. , Pham Phung K. , Grajower Daniel N. , Gold Jeffrey I.
Published: September 2015

Objective

To determine if a new, non-validated mental health screener can detect the prevalence of alcohol/drug abuse, traumatic exposure, and behavioral symptoms in adolescents and young adults seeking care in a pediatric emergency department (ED) for medical complaints.

Methods

An 11-item mental health screener (Emergency Department Distress Response Screener [ED-DRS] investigator developed) was created. Patients 12 years or older seen for medical complaints were assessed by physicians using the ED-DRS. Data were analyzed using the Kuder-Richardson Formula 20, χ2 test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Spearman correlation.

Results

Among 992 ED patients, mean age was 15.11 ± 2.10 years (46.2% boys; 53.8% girls). Approximately 77.9% were Hispanic/Latino. Symptomatic patients (S) answered “yes” to at least 1 ED-DRS item; asymptomatic patients answered “no” to all items. The S patients comprised 47.5% of the sample; asymptomatic patients comprised 52.5%. Among S patients, alcohol/drug abuse frequency was 14%. The traumatic exposure frequencies included: 33.5% physically or emotionally traumatized, 29.3% bullied, 21.2% physically abused, 8.1% touched inappropriately and 7.0% exposed to domestic violence. Behavioral symptom frequencies included: 33.8% depressed mood, 30.4% anxiety, 23.8% high energy behavior, 6.6% hallucinations, and 6.2% suicidal/homicidal ideation.

Conclusions

Although patients present to the ED with medical complaints, they may be at risk for concomitant mental health problems potentially discoverable using the ED-DRS.
Afebrile Infants Evaluated in the Emergency Department for Serious Bacterial Infection
Authors: Miller Aaron S. , Hall Laura E. , Jones Katherine M. , Le Catherine , El Feghaly Rana E.
Published: September 2015

Objectives

Afebrile infants 0 to 60 days of age are sometimes evaluated for serious bacterial infection (SBI). Our objective was to describe the clinical and laboratory findings in this population and compare them to their febrile counterparts.

Methods

We performed a retrospective observational study comparing afebrile infants undergoing an SBI evaluation to those evaluated for fever.

Results

We included infants who were admitted to the hospital and had at least 2 of 3 following bacterial cultures: blood, urine, or cerebrospinal fluid. Of the 1184 infants presenting to the emergency department with chief complaints that may prompt an SBI evaluation, 579 patients met our inclusion criteria with 362 in the fever group and 217 in the afebrile group. The most common chief complaints in the afebrile group were respiratory symptoms (27%), seizure (22%), vomiting/diarrhea (21%), and apparent life-threatening event (11%). Rates of true-positive blood, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid cultures were 2%, 2.4%, and 0.9% respectively. All cases of bacterial meningitis were in the fever group antibiotics (P = 0.16). Infants with fever were more likely to receive antibiotics (P < 0.001), although there were no statistical differences between the 2 groups in the rates of positive blood or urine cultures.

Conclusions

Afebrile infants make up a significant percentage of SBI evaluations in the emergency department. Respiratory symptoms, vomiting, and seizure-like activity are common presentations. Although rates of bacteremia and urinary tract infection are higher in the febrile group, this did not reach statistical significance, and therefore afebrile infants should still be considered at risk for SBI.
SimBaby Plus Standardized Patient Teaching Model in the Teaching of Cases of Acute and Severe Bronchopneumonia in Infancy
Authors: Chuan Wen , Jie Xiong , Cheng Wang , Xiao-chuan Wu , Ding-an Mao , Sheng Chen
Published: September 2015

Objective

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of SimBaby plus standardized patient (SP) teaching model in the simulation teaching of acute and severe bronchopneumonia in infancy.

Methods

A total of 40 students majoring in clinical medicine were assigned to either group A (SimBaby group, n = 20) or group B (SP + SimBaby group, n = 20). Medical students' expertise and their ability to apply the expertise on acute and severe bronchopneumonia in infancy were assessed using a scoring method, and the impact of the teaching model of SimBaby plus SP on medical students' comprehensive clinical capacity was assessed using a questionnaire.

Results

The SimBaby plus SP teaching model resulted in medical students' improvement in mastery and application of the knowledge on diagnostic accuracy, airway management, endotracheal intubation, and cardiac massage, enhancement of learning interest, learning initiative, and enthusiasm, as well as abilities in assessment of information, meta-analysis, linguistic organization and expression, communication, and clinical thinking.

Conclusions

The SimBaby plus SP teaching model provided students with a real simulation-based teaching case of “interrogation-physical examination-operating practices” achieving satisfactory teaching outcome and also provided a reference case example for clinical teaching of other pediatric diseases.
Controlled‐source electromagnetic monitoring of reservoir oil saturation using a novel borehole‐to‐surface configuration
Authors: Tietze Kristina , Ritter Oliver , Veeken Paul
Published: September 2015

To advance and optimize secondary and tertiary oil recovery techniques, it is essential to know the areal propagation and distribution of the injected fluids in the subsurface. We investigate the applicability of controlled‐source electromagnetic methods to monitor fluid movements in a German oilfield (Bockstedt, onshore Northwest Germany) as injected brines (highly saline formation water) have much lower electrical resistivity than the oil within the reservoir. The main focus of this study is on controlled‐source electromagnetic simulations to test the sensitivity of various source–receiver configurations. The background model for the simulations is based on two‐dimensional inversion of magnetotelluric data gathered across the oil field and calibrated with resistivity logs. Three‐dimensional modelling results suggest that controlled‐source electromagnetic methods are sensitive to resistivity changes at reservoir depths, but the effect is difficult to resolve with surface measurements only. Resolution increases significantly if sensors or transmitters can be placed in observation wells closer to the reservoir. In particular, observation of the vertical electric field component in shallow boreholes and/or use of source configurations consisting of combinations of vertical and horizontal dipoles are promising. Preliminary results from a borehole‐to‐surface controlled‐source electromagnetic field survey carried out in spring 2014 are in good agreement with the modelling studies.
Mixed Effects Models for Recurrent Events Data with Partially Observed Time-Varying Covariates: Ecological Momentary Assessment of Smoking
Authors: Rathbun Stephen L. , Shiffman Saul
Published: September 2015

Cigarette smoking is a prototypical example of a recurrent event. The pattern of recurrent smoking events may depend on time-varying covariates including mood and environmental variables. Fixed effects and frailty models for recurrent events data assume that smokers have a common association with time-varying covariates. We develop a mixed effects version of a recurrent events model that may be used to describe variation among smokers in how they respond to those covariates, potentially leading to the development of individual-based smoking cessation therapies. Our method extends the modified EM algorithm of Steele (1996) for generalized mixed models to recurrent events data with partially observed time-varying covariates. It is offered as an alternative to the method of Rizopoulos, Verbeke, and Lesaffre (2009) who extended Steele's (1996) algorithm to a joint-model for the recurrent events data and time-varying covariates. Our approach does not require a model for the time-varying covariates, but instead assumes that the time-varying covariates are sampled according to a Poisson point process with known intensity. Our methods are well suited to data collected using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), a method of data collection widely used in the behavioral sciences to collect data on emotional state and recurrent events in the every-day environments of study subjects using electronic devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) or smart phones.
Parsimonious Covariate Selection with Censored Outcomes
Authors: DiRienzo Albert Gregory
Published: September 2015

A new objective methodology is proposed to select the parsimonious set of important covariates that are associated with a censored outcome variable Y; the method simplifies to accommodate uncensored outcomes. Covariate selection proceeds in an iterated forward manner and is controlled by the pre-chosen upper bound for the number of covariates to be selected and the global false selection rate and level. A sequence of working regression models for the event given a covariate set is fit among subjects not censored before y and the corresponding process (through y) of conditional prediction error estimated; the direction and magnitude of covariate effects can arbitrarily change with y. The newly proposed adequacy measure for the covariate set is the slope coefficient resulting from a regression (with no intercept) between the baseline prediction error process for the intercept-only model and that process corresponding to the covariate set. Under quite general conditions on the censoring variable, the methods are shown to asymptotically control the false selection rate at the nominal level while consistently ranking covariate sets which permits recruitment of all important covariates from those available with probability tending to 1. A simulation study confirms these analytical results and compares the proposed methods to recent competitors. Two real data illustrations are provided.
Innovation Policy for Grand Challenges. An Economic Geography Perspective
Authors: Coenen Lars , Hansen Teis , Rekers Josephine V.
Published: September 2015

Grand challenges such as climate change, ageing societies and food security feature prominently on the agenda of policymakers at all scales, from the EU down to local and regional authorities. These are challenges that require the input and collaboration of a diverse set of societal stakeholders to combine different sources of knowledge in new and useful ways – a process that has occupied the minds of economic geographers looking at innovation in recent decades. Work in economic geography has in particular examined infrastructural, capability, network and institutional challenges that may be found in different types of regions. How can these insights improve researchers' and policymakers' understanding of the potential for innovation policies to address grand challenges? In this paper, we review these insights and then identify areas that push economic geographers to go beyond their previous focus and interests, notably by considering innovation policy in light of transformational rather than mere structural failures.
The Power Dynamics of Mandated Network Administrative Organizations
Authors: Saz‐Carranza Angel , Salvador Iborra Susanna , Albareda Adrià
Published: September 2015

In understanding what drives the development of network administrative organizations (NAOs) in mandated networks, power bargaining is central. The authors execute a comparative longitudinal case study of NAOs in two policy‐mandated networks. The article focuses specifically on the role of power in these developments and concludes that differences in NAO development arise from power dependencies, which are attributable in part to sector characteristics. It is proposed that mandated network members’ greater interdependence and greater dependence on external nonmembers, as well as whole network dependence on external actors, partly determine mandated networks’ NAO design. These networks will have larger and more capable NAOs (with more staff), accept sharing control of the NAO executive with the mandating party, and have broader responsibilities.
Assessment of indicators of fecal contamination in soils treated with biosolids for growing grasses
Authors: Campos Maria Claudia , Medina Luz Karime , Fuentes Nancy Piedad , García Gustavo Ignacio
Published: September 2015

Developing countries currently face challenges related to the management and disposal of biosolids that result from wastewater treatment. One of the most important issues they must deal with involves the maximum level of pathogens permitted and the effect they may have on the environment and human health once they are used for agricultural purposes. In order to learn about the risk generated by these kinds of practices, we assessed the behavior of indicators of fecal contamination in grasses used to feed dairy cattle. The study area was divided into two plots: an experimental plot in which diluted biosolids were applied and a control plot without the application of biosolids. We collected samples from soil, grass, surface water and groundwater and analyzed the presence of fecal coliforms, Salmonella, somatic phages and helminth eggs. Experimental and control plots showed a decrease in the concentration of bacterial indicators assessed in soil, and low concentrations in surface water, groundwater and grass. Concentrations of viral and parasite indicators tend to decrease more slowly. Our results show that this way of biosolid management allows a better use of its benefits as an organic amendment by lowering the sanitary risk due to the presence of pathogens.
Glutamine-dependent α-ketoglutarate production regulates the balance between T helper 1 cell and regulatory T cell generation
Authors: Klysz Dorota , Tai Xuguang , Robert Philippe A. , Craveiro Marco , Cretenet Gaspard , Oburoglu Leal , Mongellaz Cédric , Floess Stefan , Fritz Vanessa , Matias Maria I. , Yong Carmen , Surh Natalie , Marie Julien C. , Huehn Jochen , Zimmermann Valérie , Kinet Sandrina , Dardalhon Valérie , Taylor Naomi
Published: September 2015

Altering the availability of nutrients shapes T cell differentiation and the immune response.
Interaction between the Rous sarcoma virus transforming protein and two cellular phosphoproteins: analysis of the turnover and distribution of this complex.
Authors: Brugge J , Yonemoto W , Darrow D
Published: September 2015

The transforming protein of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV), pp60src, was previously shown to associate with two cellular proteins of Mr 90,000 and 50,000 in RSV-transformed chicken cells. In this report, we demonstrate that this interaction is specific for a discrete population of pp60src molecules. Newly synthesized pp60src was found to preferentially associate with pp90 and pp50 to form a short-lived complex. The half-life of this complex varied from 9 to 15 min in cells transformed by nondefective strains of RSV. This interaction between pp60src, pp50, and pp90 took place in a soluble fraction of the cell, and the complex-bound pp60src molecules were not phosphorylated on tyrosine. These results suggest that pp90 and pp50 may be involved in the processing of pp60src molecules before the association of pp60src with the plasma membrane. The kinetics of dissociation of this complex were shown to be altered in cells infected with viruses containing a temperature-sensitive defect in the src gene. When cells infected with these viruses were grown at the nonpermissive temperature, more than 90% of the pp60src molecules were associated with pp90 and pp50, and little or no dissociation was observed in a 3-h chase period. These results suggest that mutations in the src gene which affect the transforming activity of pp60src also affect the stability of the interaction of pp60src with pp90 and pp50.
Cloning and genetic mapping of SNF1, a gene required for expression of glucose-repressible genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Authors: Celenza J L , Carlson M
Published: September 2015

A functional SNF1 gene product is required to derepress expression of many glucose-repressible genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Strains carrying a snf1 mutation are unable to grow on sucrose, galactose, maltose, melibiose, or nonfermentable carbon sources; utilization of these carbon sources is regulated by glucose repression. The inability of snf1 mutants to utilize sucrose results from failure to derepress expression of the structural gene for invertase at the RNA level. We isolated recombinant plasmids carrying the SNF1 gene by complementation of the snf1 defect in S. cerevisiae. A 3.5-kilobase region is common to the DNA segments cloned in five different plasmids. Transformation of S. cerevisiae with an integrating vector carrying a segment of the cloned DNA resulted in integration of the plasmid at the SNF1 locus. This result indicates that the cloned DNA is homologous to sequences at the SNF1 locus. By mapping a plasmid marker linked to SNF1 in this transformant, we showed that the SNF1 gene is located on chromosome IV. We then mapped snf1 to a position 5.6 centimorgans distal to rna3 on the right arm; snf1 is not extremely closely linked to any previously mapped mutation.
Toxicity of 2-deoxygalactose to Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells constitutively synthesizing galactose-metabolizing enzymes.
Authors: Platt T
Published: September 2015

Analysis of 400 independent spontaneous mutations conferring 2-deoxygalactose resistance upon cells constitutive for the galactose pathway suggests that toxicity is due to 2-deoxygalactose-1-phosphate. Selection for and against growth on galactose in the same strain is now possible; application to systems with transcriptional or translational gene fusions to galactokinase are discussed.
Efficient Coflow Scheduling Without Prior Knowledge
Authors: Chowdhury Mosharaf , Stoica Ion
Published: September 2015

Inter-coflow scheduling improves application-level communication performance in data-parallel clusters. However, existing efficient schedulers require a priori coflow information and ignore cluster dynamics like pipelining, task failures, and speculative executions, which limit their applicability. Schedulers without prior knowledge compromise on performance to avoid head-of-line blocking. In this paper, we present Aalo that strikes a balance and efficiently schedules coflows without prior knowledge.

Aalo employs Discretized Coflow-Aware Least-Attained Service (D-CLAS) to separate coflows into a small number of priority queues based on how much they have already sent across the cluster. By performing prioritization across queues and by scheduling coflows in the FIFO order within each queue, Aalo's non-clairvoyant scheduler reduces coflow completion times while guaranteeing starvation freedom. EC2 deployments and trace-driven simulations show that communication stages complete 1.93X faster on average and 3.59X faster at the 95th percentile using Aalo in comparison to per-flow mechanisms. Aalo's performance is comparable to that of solutions using prior knowledge, and Aalo outperforms them in presence of cluster dynamics.
Hopper
Authors: Ren Xiaoqi , Ananthanarayanan Ganesh , Wierman Adam , Yu Minlan
Published: September 2015

As clusters continue to grow in size and complexity, providing scalable and predictable performance is an increasingly important challenge. A crucial roadblock to achieving predictable performance is stragglers, i.e., tasks that take significantly longer than expected to run. At this point, speculative execution has been widely adopted to mitigate the impact of stragglers. However, speculation mechanisms are designed and operated independently of job scheduling when, in fact, scheduling a speculative copy of a task has a direct impact on the resources available for other jobs. In this work, we present Hopper, a job scheduler that is speculation-aware, i.e., that integrates the tradeoffs associated with speculation into job scheduling decisions. We implement both centralized and decentralized prototypes of the Hopper scheduler and show that 50% (66%) improvements over state-of-the-art centralized (decentralized) schedulers and speculation strategies can be achieved through the coordination of scheduling and speculation.
R2C2
Authors: Costa Paolo , Ballani Hitesh , Razavi Kaveh , Kash Ian
Published: September 2015

Rack-scale computers, comprising a large number of micro-servers connected by a direct-connect topology, are expected to replace servers as the building block in data centers. We focus on the problem of routing and congestion control across the rack's network, and find that high path diversity in rack topologies, in combination with workload diversity across it, means that traditional solutions are inadequate. We introduce R2C2, a network stack for rack-scale computers that provides flexible and efficient routing and congestion control. R2C2 leverages the fact that the scale of rack topologies allows for low-overhead broadcasting to ensure that all nodes in the rack are aware of all network flows. We thus achieve rate-based congestion control without any probing; each node independently determines the sending rate for its flows while respecting the provider's allocation policies. For routing, nodes dynamically choose the routing protocol for each flow in order to maximize overall utility. Through a prototype deployed across a rack emulation platform and a packet-level simulator, we show that R2C2 achieves very low queuing and high throughput for diverse and bursty workloads, and that routing flexibility can provide significant throughput gains.
Challenging Entropy-based Anomaly Detection and Diagnosis in Cellular Networks
Authors: Fiadino Pierdomenico , D'Alconzo Alessandro , Schiavone Mirko , Casas Pedro
Published: September 2015

In this paper we challenge the applicability of entropy-based approaches for detecting and diagnosis network traffic anomalies, and claim that full statistics (i.e., empirical probability distributions) should be applied to improve the change-detection capabilities. We support our claim by detecting and diagnosing large-scale traffic anomalies in a real cellular network, caused by specific OTT (Over The Top) services and smartphone devices. Our results clearly suggest that anomaly detection and diagnosis based on entropy analysis is prone to errors and misses typical characteristics of traffic anomalies, particularly in the studied scenario.
Short vs. Long Flows
Authors: Kheirkhah Morteza , Wakeman Ian , Parisis George
Published: September 2015

In this paper, we introduce MMPTCP, a novel transport protocol which aims at unifying the way data is transported in data centres. MMPTCP runs in two phases; initially, it randomly scatters packets in the network under a single congestion window exploiting all available paths. This is beneficial to latency-sensitive flows. During the second phase, MMPTCP runs in Multi-Path TCP (MPTCP) mode, which has been shown to be very efficient for long flows. Initial evaluation shows that our approach significantly improves short flow completion times while providing high throughput for long flows and high overall network utilisation.
Design and Implementation
Authors: Nan Guoshun , Qiao Xiuquan , Tu Yukai , Tan Wei , Guo Lei , Chen Junliang
Published: September 2015

Content-Centric Networking (CCN) has recently emerged as a clean-slate Future Internet architecture which has a completely different communication pattern compared with exiting IP network. Since the World Wide Web has become one of the most popular and important applications on the Internet, how to effectively support the dominant browser and server based web applications is a key to the success of CCN. However, the existing web browsers and servers are mainly designed for the HTTP protocol over TCP/IP networks and cannot directly support CCN-based web applications. Existing research mainly focuses on plug-in or proxy/gateway approaches at client and server sides, and these schemes seriously impact the service performance due to multiple protocol conversions. To address above problems, we designed and implemented a CCN web browser and a CCN web server to natively support CCN protocol. To facilitate the smooth evolution from IP networks to CCN, CCNBrowser and CCNxTomcat also support the HTTP protocol besides the CCN. Experimental results show that CCNBrowser and CCNxTomcat outperform existing implementations. Finally, a real CCN-based web application is deployed on a CCN experimental testbed, which validates the applicability of CCNBrowser and CCNxTomcat.
Towards the 5G Revolution
Authors: Szabó Dávid , Németh Felicián , Sonkoly Balázs , Gulyás András , Fitzek Frank H.P.
Published: September 2015

Many networking visioners agree that 5G will be much more than the incremental improvement, in terms of data rate, of 4G. Besides the mobile networks, 5G will fundamentally influence the core infrastructure as well. In our vision the realization of the challenging promises of 5G (e.g. extremely fast, low-overhead, low-delay access of mostly cloudified services and content) will require the massive use of multipathing equipped with low overhead transport solutions tailored to fast, reliable and secure data retrieval from cloud architectures. In this demo we present a prototype architecture supporting such services by making use of automatically configured multipath service chains implementing network coding based transport solutions over off-the-shelf software defined networking (SDN) components.
NetFPGA
Authors: Zilberman Noa , Audzevich Yury , Kalogeridou Georgina , Manihatty-Bojan Neelakandan , Zhang Jingyun , Moore Andrew
Published: September 2015

The demand-led growth of datacenter networks has meant that many constituent technologies are beyond the budget of the wider community. In order to make and validate timely and relevant new contributions, the wider community requires accessible evaluation, experimentation and demonstration environments with specification comparable to the subsystems of the most massive datacenter networks. We demonstrate NetFPGA, an open-source platform for rapid prototyping of networking devices with I/O capabilities up to 100Gbps. NetFPGA offers an integrated environment that enables networking research by users from a wide range of disciplines: from hardware-centric research to formal methods.
Outcomes and Prognostic Factors of Intravitreal Bevacizumab Monotherapy in Zone I Stage 3+ and Aggressive Posterior Retinopathy of Prematurity
Authors: Nicoară Simona Delia , Nascutzy Constanța , Cristian Cristina , Irimescu Iulian , Ștefănuț Anne Claudia , Zaharie Gabriela , Drugan Tudor
Published: September 2015

Purpose. This study aims to evaluate the regression of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) after one intravitreal injection of bevacizumab and the factors that influenced it.Methods. This retrospective case series was carried out at the “Iuliu Hațieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. It includes all the consecutive infants treated for ROP with one intravitreal bevacizumab injection, from January 1, 2009, throughout July 31, 2013. The follow-up continued for 60 weeks after injection. We recorded ROP classification, regression, gender, gestational age, birth weight, postnatal age and postmenstrual age at treatment, and pregnancy type. Regression was analyzed according to each of the abovementioned factors, with the program IBM SPSS 20 (Chicago, Illinois, USA).Results. This study includes 74 eyes of 37 infants of which 52 had aggressive posterior ROP (70.27%) and 22 had zone I stage 3+ ROP (29.72%). One week after the bevacizumab injection, ROP regressed in 63 eyes (85.13%), with a statistically significant higher rate in zone I stage 3+ ROP (100%), as compared with aggressive posterior ROP (78.84%) (P=0.03). We recorded no complications subsequent to the intravitreal injections of bevacizumab. We identified no late retinal detachment.Conclusion. ROP regression rate after one intravitreal bevacizumab injection was 85.13%. This trial is registered with trial registration numberIRCT2014101618966N2.
Oral Lesions Induced by Chronic Khat Use Consist Essentially of Thickened Hyperkeratinized Epithelium
Authors: Lukandu Ochiba Mohammed , Koech Lionel Sang , Kiarie Paul Ngugi
Published: September 2015

Objectives.The habit of khat chewing is prevalent in many Middle Eastern and African cultures and has been associated with various adverse conditions in humans. This study aimed to describe histological changes induced by chronic khat chewing on the buccal mucosa.Methods.Biopsies of the buccal mucosa from 14 chronic khat chewers, 20 chronic khat chewers who also smoked tobacco, and 8 nonchewers were compared for epithelial thickness, degree and type of keratinization, and connective tissue changes.Results.Tissues from khat chewers depicted abnormal keratinization of the superficial cell layer and showed increased epithelial thickness affecting all layers. Epithelial thickness in control samples was 205 ± 26 μm whereas thickness in khat chewers and khat chewers who smoked tobacco was significantly higher measuring 330 ± 35 μm and 335 ± 19 μm, respectively. Tissues from khat chewers also showed increased intracellular edema, increased melanin pigment deposits, and increased number of rete pegs most of which were thin and deep.Conclusions.These results show that oral lesions induced by chronic chewing of khat in the buccal mucosa present with white and brown discoloration due to increased epithelial thickness, increased keratinization, and melanin deposition.
Structural Optimization of Steel Cantilever Used in Concrete Box Girder Bridge Widening
Authors: Wang Qian , Qiu Wen-liang , Xu Sheng-li
Published: September 2015

The structural optimization method of steel cantilever used in concrete box girder bridge widening is illustrated in this paper. The structural optimization method of steel cantilever incorporates the conceptual layout design of steel cantilever beam based on the topological theory and the determination of the optimal location of the transverse external prestressed tendons which connect the steel cantilever and the box girder. The optimal design theory and the analysis process are illustrated. The mechanical model for the prestressed steel cantilever is built and the analytical expression of the optimal position of the transverse external tendon is deduced. At last the effectiveness of this method is demonstrated by the design of steel cantilevers which are used to widen an existing bridge.
Characteristic Evaluation on Bolt Stress by Ultrasonic Nondestructive Methods
Authors: Pan Qinxue , Liu Shuai , Li Xiao , Xu Chunguang
Published: September 2015

Based on the acoustoelasticity theory, a certain relationship exists between ultrasonic velocity and stress. By combining shear and longitudinal waves, this paper provides a nondestructive method of evaluating axial stress in a tightened bolt. For measuring the bolt axial stress in different situations, such as under low or high loads, this paper provides guidelines for calculating the stress for a given load factor. Experimental and calculated results were compared for three bolt test samples: an austenitic stainless steel bolt (A2-70) and low-carbon steel 4.8 and 8.8 bolts. On average, the experimental results were in good agreement with those obtained through calculations, thus providing a nondestructive method for bolt stress measurements.
Intermittent Plurisink Model and the Emergence of Complex Heterogeneity Patterns: A Simple Paradigm for Explaining Complexity in Soil Chemical Distributions
Authors: Martín Miguel Ángel , Reyes Miguel , Taguas F. Javier
Published: September 2015

The spatial complexity of the distribution of organic matter, chemicals, nutrients, and pollutants has been demonstrated to have multifractal nature. This fact supports the possibility of existence of some emergent heterogeneity structure built under the evolution of the system. The aim of this paper is providing a consistent explanation of the mentioned results via an extremely simple model.
A Case of Ovarian Pregnancy Diagnosed by MRI
Authors: Io Shingo , Hasegawa Masaaki , Koyama Takashi
Published: September 2015

Ovarian pregnancy is a rare form of ectopic pregnancy, causing a great diagnostic challenge. We report a case of ovarian pregnancy in a 42-year-old woman, in whom MRI successfully demonstrated the implantation in the ovary. Transvaginal ultrasonography showed an echogenic mass in the right ovary but failed to demonstrate tubal pregnancy. T2-weighted MR images disclosed a gestational sac structure in the right ovary, which exhibited heterogeneous high intensity intermingled with punctate foci of distinct low intensity. MRI may be a useful tool for diagnosing ovarian pregnancy, by demonstrating a gestational sac in the ovary.
Targeting the Mitotic Catastrophe Signaling Pathway in Cancer
Authors: Mc Gee Margaret M.
Published: September 2015

Mitotic catastrophe, as defined in 2012 by the International Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death, is a bona fide intrinsic oncosuppressive mechanism that senses mitotic failure and responds by driving a cell to an irreversible antiproliferative fate of death or senescence. Thus, failed mitotic catastrophe can promote the unrestrained growth of defective cells, thereby representing a major gateway to tumour development. Furthermore, the activation of mitotic catastrophe offers significant therapeutic advantage which has been exploited in the action of conventional and targeted anticancer agents. Yet, despite its importance in tumour prevention and treatment, the molecular mechanism of mitotic catastrophe is not well understood. A better understanding of the signals that determine cell fate following failed or defective mitosis will reveal new opportunities to selectively target and enhance the programme for therapeutic benefit and reveal biomarkers to predict patient response. This review is focused on the molecular mechanism of mitotic catastrophe induction and signalling and highlights current strategies to exploit the process in cancer therapy.
17βEstradiol Modulates Perfusion Pressure and Expression of 5-LOX and CYP450 4A in the Isolated Kidney of Metabolic Syndrome Female Rats
Authors: Zúñiga-Muñoz A. M. , Guarner Lans V. , Soria-Castro E. , Diaz-Diaz E. , Torrico-Lavayen R. , Tena-Betancourt E. , Pérez-Torres I.
Published: September 2015

Prevalence of metabolic syndrome and progression of nephropathy depend on sex. We examined a protective effect of estradiol against nephropathy in metabolic syndrome through the modulation of the arachidonic acid metabolism by activating the 5-lipoxygenase and cytochrome p450 4A pathways. 28 female Wistar rats were divided into four groups of seven animals each: control, intact metabolic syndrome, ovariectomized metabolic syndrome, and metabolic syndrome ovariectomized plus estradiol. Blood pressure, body weight, body fat, triglycerides, insulin, HOMA-index, albuminuria, and TNF-αwere increased in ovariectomized metabolic syndrome rats (p<0.001). The perfusion pressure in isolated kidneys of ovariectomized metabolic syndrome rats in presence of 4 μg of arachidonic acid was increased. The inhibitors of the arachidonic acid metabolism Baicalein, Miconazole, and Indomethacin in these rats decreased the perfusion pressure by 57.62%, 99.83%, and 108.5%, respectively and they decreased creatinine clearance and the arachidonic acid percentage. Phospholipase A2expression in the kidney of ovariectomized metabolic syndrome rats was not modified. 5-lipoxygenase was increased in metabolic syndrome ovariectomized rats while cytochrome p450 4A was decreased. In conclusion, the loss of estradiol increases renal damage while the treatment with estradiol benefits renal function by modulating arachidonic acid metabolism through the 5-lipoxygenase and cytochrome p450 4A pathways.
A Topology Evolution Model Based on Revised PageRank Algorithm and Node Importance for Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Qi Xiaogang , Liu Lifang , Cai Guoyong , Xie Mande
Published: September 2015

Wireless sensor network (WSN) is a classical self-organizing communication network, and its topology evolution currently becomes one of the attractive issues in this research field. Accordingly, the problem is divided into two subproblems: one is to design a new preferential attachment method and the other is to analyze the dynamics of the network topology evolution. To solve the first subproblem, a revised PageRank algorithm, called Con-rank, is proposed to evaluate the node importance upon the existing node contraction, and then a novel preferential attachment is designed based on the node importance calculated by the proposed Con-rank algorithm. To solve the second one, we firstly analyze the network topology evolution dynamics in a theoretical way and then simulate the evolution process. Theoretical analysis proves that the network topology evolution of our model agrees with power-law distribution, and simulation results are well consistent with our conclusions obtained from the theoretical analysis and simultaneously show that our topology evolution model is superior to the classic BA model in the average path length and the clustering coefficient, and the network topology is more robust and can tolerate the random attacks.
A Personal Credit Rating Prediction Model Using Data Mining in Smart Ubiquitous Environments
Authors: Bae Jae Kwon , Kim Jinhwa
Published: September 2015

This study suggests a methodology called a smart ubiquitous data mining (UDM) that consolidates homogeneous models in a smart ubiquitous computing environment. It tests the suggested model with financial datasets. It basically induces rules from the dataset using diverse rule extraction algorithms and combines the rules to build a metamodel. This paper builds several personal credit rating prediction models based on the UDM and benchmarks their performance against other models which employ logistic regression (LR), Bayesian style frequency matrix (BFM), multilayer perceptron (MLP), classification tree methods (C5.0), and neural network rule extraction (NR) algorithms. To verify the feasibility and effectiveness of UDM, personal credit data and personal loan data provided by a Financial Holding Company (FHC) were used in this study. Empirical results indicated that UDM outperforms other models such as LR, BFM, MLP, C5.0, and NR.
Strength Mechanism and Influence Factors for Cold Recycled Asphalt Mixture
Authors: Ma Tao , Wang Hao , Zhao Yongli , Huang Xiaoming , Pi Yuhui
Published: September 2015

This study focused on the key factors affecting the tensile strength of cold recycled asphalt mixture with cement and emulsified asphalt. The specific surface areas and strength of RAP were analyzed. The interaction between the emulsified asphalt and cement was observed. Comprehensive laboratory testing was conducted to evaluate the influences of RAP, emulsified asphalt, and cement on the tensile strength of cold recycled asphalt mixture. It is found that although RAP is used as aggregates, its inner structure and strength are much different from real aggregates. The strength of RAP has decisive effect on the strength of cold recycled asphalt mixture. New aggregates and fine gradation design can help improve the bonding between RAP and binder. For emulsified asphalt, slow setting of asphalt can give sufficient time for cement to hydrate which is helpful for strength formation in the cold recycled asphalt mixture. The high viscosity of asphalt can improve the early strength of cold recycled asphalt mixture that is important for traffic opening in the field. Cement is an efficient additive to improve the strength of cold recycled asphalt mixtures by promoting demulsification of emulsified asphalt and producing cement hydrates. However, the cement content is limited by RAP.
Apelin Protects Primary Rat Retinal Pericytes from Chemical Hypoxia-Induced Apoptosis
Authors: Chen Li , Tao Yong , Feng Jing , Jiang Yan Rong
Published: September 2015

Pericytes are a population of cells that participate in normal vessel architecture and regulate permeability. Apelin, as the endogenous ligand of G protein-coupled receptor APJ, participates in a number of physiological and pathological processes. To date, the effect of apelin on pericyte is not clear. Our study aimed to investigate the potential protection mechanisms of apelin, with regard to primary rat retinal pericytes under hypoxia. Immunofluorescence staining revealed that pericytes colocalized with APJ in the fibrovascular membranes dissected from proliferative diabetic retinopathy patients. In thein vitrostudies, we first demonstrated that the expression of apelin/APJ was upregulated in pericytes under hypoxia, and apelin increased pericytes proliferation and migration. Moreover, knockdown of apelin in pericyte was achieved via lentivirus-mediated RNA interference. After the inhibition of apelin, pericytes proliferation was inhibited significantly in hypoxia culture condition. Furthermore, exogenous recombinant apelin effectively prevented hypoxia-induced apoptosis through downregulating active-caspase 3 expression and increasing the ratio of B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2)/Bcl-2 associated X protein (Bax) in pericytes. These results suggest that apelin suppressed hypoxia-induced pericytes injury, which indicated that apelin could be a potential therapeutic target for retinal angiogenic diseases.
Research Progress on the Role of ABC Transporters in the Drug Resistance Mechanism of Intractable Epilepsy
Authors: Xiong Jie , Mao Ding-an , Liu Li-qun
Published: September 2015

The pathogenesis of intractable epilepsy is not fully clear. In recent years, both animal and clinical trials have shown that the expression of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters is increased in patients with intractable epilepsy; additionally, epileptic seizures can lead to an increase in the number of sites that express ABC transporters. These findings suggest that ABC transporters play an important role in the drug resistance mechanism of epilepsy. ABC transporters can perform the funcions of a drug efflux pump, which can reduce the effective drug concentration at epilepsy lesions by reducing the permeability of the blood brain barrier to antiepileptic drugs, thus causing resistance to antiepileptic drugs. Given the important role of ABC transporters in refractory epilepsy drug resistance, antiepileptic drugs that are not substrates of ABC transporters were used to obtain ABC transporter inhibitors with strong specificity, high safety, and few side effects, making them suitable for long-term use; therefore, these drugs can be used for future clinical treatment of intractable epilepsy.
Anti‐Inflammatory Effects of a Methanol Extract from the Marine Sponge Geodia cydonium on the Human Breast Cancer MCF‐7 Cell Line
Authors: Costantini Susan , Romano Giovanna , Rusolo Fabiola , Capone Francesca , Guerriero Eliana , Colonna Giovanni , Ianora Adrianna , Ciliberto Gennaro , Costantini Maria
Published: September 2015

Many research groups are working to find new possible anti‐inflammatory molecules, and marine sponges represent a rich source of biologically active compounds with pharmacological applications. In the present study, we tested different concentrations of the methanol extract from the marine sponge, Geodia cydonium, on normal human breast epithelial cells (MCF‐10A) and human breast cancer cells (MCF‐7). Our results show that this extract has no cytotoxic effects on both cell lines whereas it induces a decrease in levels of VEGF and five proinflammatory cytokines (CCL2, CXCL8, CXCL10, IFN‐γ, and TNF‐α) only in MCF‐7 cells in a dose‐dependent manner, thereby indicating an anti‐inflammatory effect. Moreover, interactomic analysis suggests that all six cytokines are involved in a network and are connected with some HUB nodes such as NF‐kB subunits and ESR1 (estrogen receptor 1). We also report a decrease in the expression of two NFKB1 and c‐Rel subunits by RT‐qPCR experiments only in MCF‐7 cells after extract treatment, confirming NF‐kB inactivation. These data highlight the potential of G. cydonium for future drug discovery against major diseases, such as breast cancer.
Production Decline Analysis for Two-Phase Flow in Multifractured Horizontal Well in Shale Gas Reservoirs
Authors: Xie Wei-Yang , Li Xiao-Ping , Zhang Lie-Hui , Tan Xiao-Hua , Wang Jun-Chao , Wang Hai-Tao
Published: September 2015

After multistage fracturing, the flowback of fracturing fluid will cause two-phase flow through hydraulic fractures in shale gas reservoirs. With the consideration of two-phase flow and desorbed gas transient diffusion in shale gas reservoirs, a two-phase transient flow model of multistage fractured horizontal well in shale gas reservoirs was created. Accurate solution to this flow model is obtained by the use of source function theory, Laplace transform, three-dimensional eigenvalue method, and orthogonal transformation. According to the model’s solution, the bilogarithmic type curves of the two-phase model are illustrated, and the production decline performance under the effects of hydraulic fractures and shale gas reservoir properties are discussed. The result obtained in this paper has important significance to understand pressure response characteristics and production decline law of two-phase flow in shale gas reservoirs. Moreover, it provides the theoretical basis for exploiting this reservoir efficiently.