bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The prevalence and correlates of syphilis and HIV among homosexual and bisexual men in Shijiazhuang, China
Authors: Zhang Shao-Hui , Liu Shu-Jun , Hu Ling-Ling , Li Jie-Fang , Liu Li-Hua , Wei Ning
Published: March 2015

Summary

Bisexual men (men who have sex with men and women) are potential epidemiological bridges responsible for the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections from men who have sex with men only to the heterosexual population. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of syphilis and HIV and the factors associated with syphilis infection among men who have sex with men and women and men who have sex with men only from Shijiazhuang, China. In 2011–2013, a cross-sectional cohort of 427 men who have sex with men was recruited by a snowball sampling method and tested for syphilis and HIV. Chi square and logistic regression were performed to identify syphilis risk factors. Among the 427 men who have sex with men, 71 (16.6%) cases were syphilis-positive and 16 cases (3.7%) were HIV-positive. The proportions of men who have sex with men and women and men who have sex with men only in the total sample were 31.4% and 68.6%, respectively. Men who have sex with men and women exhibited double the syphilis prevalence of men who have sex with men only and were more likely to practice insertive anal sex. Higher education level, being married, having more male partners, and both receptive and insertive anal sex roles were associated with syphilis among men who have sex with men and women. Residing in suburban areas, being married, being HIV positive, and an absence of desire to change sexual orientation were associated with syphilis among men who have sex with men only. Therefore, men who have sex with men and women represent an important sub-group in the syphilis epidemic and further interventions should be developed to reduce risk among different sub-sets of men who have sex with men.
Socio-demographics, sexual behaviours, and use of HIV prevention services among men who have sex with men and women in Western China
Authors: Dai Zhenzhen , Zhong Xiaoni , Peng Bin , Zhang Yan , Liang Hao , Peng HongBin , Zhong Xiao Hua , Liu Xiyao , Huang Ailong
Published: March 2015

This paper looks into the differences of sexual risk behaviours and prevention services among men who have sex with men and women and men who have sex with men only. The data from a cross-sectional survey of 159 men who have sex with men and women and 1186 men who have sex with men only in western China is analysed. It is found that men who have sex with men and women, with multiple anal sex partners, have higher rates of selling and buying sex than men who have sex with men only, but obtain less HIV-related knowledge from partners or HIV consulting and testing services. More efforts should be made to promote safer sexual behaviours and reduce the barriers for access to health services.
European integration studies, European Monetary Union, and resilience of austerity in Europe: Post-mortem on a crisis foretold
Authors: Cafruny Alan W
Published: March 2015

Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union was presented in terms of an idealized, teleological narrative of ‘ever closer union’ that obscured substantive conflicts within and among the member states of the eurozone as well as the EU as a whole. Despite its limitations the narrative persisted, because it was instrumentalized by powerful social forces and states and reproduced by the mainstream European studies academic cohort, which was strongly influenced by the European Commission. At the present time economic stagnation is giving rise to demands from Keynesian and heterodox quarters for an alternative to neoliberal austerity. However, the resilience of austerity should be understood not primarily as a result of a dominant, if flawed, intellectual discourse, but rather as an expression of Europe’s distinctive power relations and the imperatives of German export mercantilism.
The relationship between suicidal behaviors and atopic dermatitis in Korean adolescents
Authors: Noh Hye-Mi , Cho Jung Jin , Park Yong Soon , Kim Jeong-Hyeon
Published: March 2015

Atopic dermatitis is a common skin disease in adolescents, which may have a negative effect on the mental and emotional health. We investigated the relationship between atopic dermatitis and suicidal behaviors in Korean adolescents. Participants included 74,186 adolescents (38,221 boys and 35,965 girls) in middle and high school who completed the Eighth Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey. There were significant associations between atopic dermatitis and suicidal behaviors for girls. The overestimation of weight perception might have an additive impact on suicidal risk among girls. However, there were no significant associations between atopic dermatitis and suicidal behaviors in boys.
‘Too many bad role models for us girls’: Girls, female pop celebrities and ‘sexualization’
Authors: Jackson Sue , Vares Tiina
Published: March 2015

In recent years the ‘sexualization’ of pre-teen and younger girls has been a dominating presence in the media and popular press. Female celebrities’ hypersexual performances and styling, in particular, have been significantly implicated in claims about girls being launched into premature sexuality under the influence of their idols. Yet, despite the claims, relatively little is known about how pre-teen girls make sense of ‘sexualized’ media in relation to self and others. This paper contributes to an emergent feminist literature that aims to expand our knowledge about pre-teen girls’ understandings and negotiations of sexually saturated popular culture. Drawing on material from a project in which 71 pre-teen girls recorded media video diaries about their everyday engagement with popular culture, the paper examines girls’ negotiation of female pop celebrity performances of hypersexual subjectivities. Our discursive analyses highlight girls’ negotiations of hypersexual celebrity as necessarily complicated and contradictory, reflecting their location in intersecting discourses of age, sexuality, and femininity.
Ace of (BDSM) clubs: Building asexual relationships through BDSM practice
Authors: Jolene Sloan Lorca
Published: March 2015

Since the, 1990s, asexuality has gained prominence as an identity adopted by individuals who do not experience sexual attraction. Paradoxically, many asexual individuals form relationships through Bondage and Discipline, Domination and Submission, and Sadism and Masochism (BDSM) – acts conventionally assumed to involve sexual desire and pleasure. I interviewed 15 asexual individuals to illuminate why they participate in interactions where sexual attraction is often expected and expressed. I propose that BDSM helps these practitioners form non-sexual relationships by providing tools for navigating sexual expectations and redefining their behaviors as indicative of affections that do not stem from sexual desire.
Biopolitical mythologies: Róheim, Freud, (homo)phobia, and the sexual science of Eastern European Otherness
Authors: Renkin Hadley Z
Published: March 2015

A vast body of research has, following Foucault, shown the scientific study of sexuality to be central to the construction of modernity and its Others, and to biopolitical categories of personhood and citizenship. Similarly, much historical work has acknowledged the critical role of the Eastern European Other in imagining the modern European West. Yet while representations of sexuality were critical to Eastern Europe’s invention, and have been increasingly visible elements of re-emerging European “neo-orientalisms,” there has been little scholarly concern with how such symbolic and political hierarchies were constructed through the historical intersections of ethnographic and sexual scientific practice, or with this history’s biopolitical implications. This paper examines the intersection of several such sexual-scientific imaginings. Focusing on the conjuncture between Hungarian scholar Géza Róheim’s psychoanalytic interpretations of European folklore and non-European ethnography, Sigmund Freud’s orientalizing construction of the key psychoanalytic concept of “phobia,” and scholarly analyses of postsocialist sexual politics, I argue that these intersecting scientific works joined evolutionist understandings of culture to theories of universal psychic development to read Eastern Europe as a site of psycho-sexual and civilizational immaturity, producing mutually-reinforcing narratives that fabricated Eastern European sexuality as a biopolitical marker of European difference. These overlapping sexual geotemporalities, I suggest, continue to inform current scholarly interpretations of postsocialist homophobia, (re)producing both Hungary and Eastern Europe as naturalized sites of homophobia, primitivity, and failed sexual citizenship, and rendering hegemonic the status of the region and its inhabitants as sexual Others of “European” modernity. By fabricating postsocialist homophobia as a scientific “fact,” such layered discourses sustain the biopolitical boundaries of modern European citizenship.
‘Lad culture’ in higher education: Agency in the sexualization debates
Authors: Phipps Alison , Young Isabel
Published: March 2015

This article reports on research funded by the National Union of Students, which explored women students’ experiences of ‘lad culture’ through focus groups and interviews. We found that although laddism is only one of various potential masculinities, for our participants it dominated the social and sexual spheres of university life in problematic ways. However, their objections to laddish behaviours did not support contemporary models of ‘sexual panic’, even while oppugning the more simplistic celebrations of young women’s empowerment which have been observed in debates about sexualization. We argue that in their ability to reject ‘lad culture’, our respondents expressed a form of agency which is often invisibilized in sexualization discussions and which could be harnessed to tackle some of the issues we uncovered.
Blessing same-sex unions and the invention of a ‘genuine homosexuality’ in the Church of Sweden
Authors: Enstedt Daniel
Published: March 2015

The Church of Sweden decided to introduce a blessing ceremony for same-sex couples in 2005. This article examines how the blessing ceremony was made possible by the invention of a new ‘genuine’ homosexuality. Theological issues concerning ‘sin’, ‘grace’, eschatology, ‘God’, anthropology and the status of the Bible and historical texts came to be understood and articulated in new ways when the idea of ‘genuine’ homosexuality began to be discussed and gained acceptance in the Church of Sweden. I argue that the decision to introduce a blessing ceremony not only represented a change in how the Church of Sweden regards homosexuality and same-sex relationships, thereby formulating and reformulating well-established Christian teachings and doctrines, but also that new exclusions were articulated which strengthened the hegemonic and heteronormative order. The behaviours and social forms that were excluded include bisexuality, promiscuity, promiscuous homosexuality, and polyamorous relationships.
‘I am happy to start the conversation’: Examining sport media framing of Jason Collins’ coming out and playing in the NBA
Authors: Kian Edward M , Anderson Eric , Shipka Danny
Published: March 2015

A textual analysis examined US media framing of National Basketball Association (NBA) player Jason Collins’ coming out as the first ‘active’ gay athlete in one of the four most popular US professional men’s team sport leagues. We analyzed all articles on Collins published over a four-day period in the five most circulated US newspapers and five most trafficked USA-based sport websites after he came out publicly, and then analyzed those same publications over a three-day period following his signing with and playing for the Brooklyn Nets as an openly gay player. Journalists framed Collins’ self-outing as a landmark for US sport, noting that both sport and the USA are now far more accepting of sexual minorities. The few media members and athletes who criticized Collins or homosexuality were framed as antiquated outliers. Sports journalists continued to frame Collins as a hero after he signed with the Brooklyn Nets. Upon his return to the NBA nearly 10 months after coming out, prominent African-American basketball players and Collins’ teammates with Brooklyn were quoted as equating homophobia with racism in offering their support for Collins. Overall, media framed sport as an inclusive, accepting institution for gays, countering most previous research on homosexuality in sport media.
Sexuality in transit – gender gaming and spaces of sexuality in late modernity
Authors: Heinskou Marie Bruvik
Published: March 2015

Through an investigation of a reported rape, this article suggests that we conceive sexuality as a transitional object that changes and transforms depending on space and temporality. This makes sexuality difficult to grasp within specific and stable frames of gender and power analysis. Applying such an approach, the complexities of sexual assault, changing power relations and unstable narratives of gender and sexuality are illuminated. The analysis shows that the traditional divide between public and private has dissolved and that public spaces of pop culture are drawn into spaces of intimacy and thereby renegotiated and domesticated.
‘I’d much rather have sexual intimacy as opposed to sex’: Young Australian gay men, sex, relationships and monogamy
Authors: Duncan Duane , Prestage Garrett , Grierson Jeffrey
Published: March 2015

Few studies have explored how young gay men negotiate opportunities for rethinking sexual and relationship life associated with gay sexual cultures upon coming out. Drawing on qualitative interview data with Australian gay men aged 18–30, this article explores a tension these participants described between a desire for monogamy as the basis to a committed, enduring and mature relationship on one hand, and sexual opportunities associated with ‘the gay scene’ on the other. We analyse these men's negotiation of this tension in the context of wider political shifts in the social status of gay men's relationships, encapsulated in a debate between those who see ‘homonormativity’ and those who see transformation in the contemporary relationship practices of gay men.
The influence of ageing on baby boomers' not so straight sexualities
Authors: Rowntree Margaret R
Published: March 2015

This article draws on data from an internet survey of 67 Australian baby boomers, now in their 50s and 60s, that explores the influence of ageing on their sexual expression. Utilizing a form of narrative analysis, express attention is given to what the data reveal about the 25 baby boomers (37.5% of the sample) who consider their sexual orientations and preferences to be not exclusively heterosexual or homosexual. The findings indicate that ageing is attributed considerable and favourable importance by this non-exclusive subset of baby boomers in the reappraisal of their sexual orientations or preferences.
Venous stenosis in chronic dialysis patients with a well-functioning arteriovenous fistula
Authors: Shi Yaxue , Zhu Mingli , Cheng Jiejun , Zhang Jiwei , Ni Zhaohui
Published: March 2015

Purpose

It is not clear whether patient who is dialyzing with a well-functioning vascular access may appear venous stenosis. The aim is to see the prevalence of central or other vein stenoses/occlusions in patients with asymptomatic, normal functioning fistulas.

Methods

A total of 54 patients met the inclusion criteria. We performed angiography examinations for these patients and reviewed venography of the superficial and deep venous systems.

Results

Among these patients, 21 (39%) were detected positive cases by the angiography, the remainder was negative cases. Thirteen of 54 (24%) had mild central venous stenosis (stenosis <50% diameter with or without collateral branch), 7/54 (13%) had upper arm vein system occlusion or stenosis, another one had anastomotic stenosis. There were no differences in fistula flow dynamics between those with venous abnormalities and those without such as blood flow rate, venous pressures, brachial arterial velocity, and brachial arterial flow rate. We also observed no significant differences in other variables between these two groups (including BMI, hemoglobin, albumin, gender, primary disease, URR, spKt/V P > 0.05).

Conclusion

The frequency of venous lesion is not low in hemodialysis patients with a well-functioning AVF. To value the impact of these abnormalities on access, prognosis needs longer time follow-up.
Sex, women and the menopause: Are specialist trainee doctors up for it? A survey of views and attitudes of specialist trainee doctors in Community Sexual & Reproductive Health and Obstetrics & Gynaecology around sexuality and sexual healthcare in the (peri)menopause
Authors: Gleser Heike
Published: March 2015

Sexual health, function and pleasure can contribute significantly towards the wellbeing of (peri-)menopausal women. Healthcare professionals specialising in women’s health should therefore be able to provide ‘sex-positive’ menopause care, which proactively addresses any sexual issues and assesses the need for contraception and prevention of sexually transmitted infections. A survey was used to investigate the views and attitudes of specialist trainee doctors in Community Sexual & Reproductive Health (cSRH) and Obstetrics & Gynaecology towards sexual health in the (peri)menopause as they play a key role in promoting the sexual wellbeing of their patients. The results showed that both study groups had positive attitudes towards sexuality and sexual healthcare of mid-life and older women. However, cSRH trainees had significantly more confidence in dealing with psychosexual problems and perceived significantly less barriers to deliver comprehensive menopausal care within the mostly community-based Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare settings they are working in compared to their mainly hospital-based gynaecological colleagues. Profiting from seemingly better training in the topic cSRH trainees also noticed considerably less embarrassment from their patients when addressing sexual issues. Nonetheless, training needs were identified in both trainee groups.
From Commemoration to Conviction
Authors: Whitlinger Claire
Published: March 2015

Despite the growing number of civil rights era cold cases brought to trial over the past 20 years, surprisingly little social scientific research has examined how these cases emerged. This article examines one such case—the 2005 prosecution of Edgar Ray Killen for the 1964 murder of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. Using event structure analysis and drawing on archival sources, media accounts, and interview data, this study finds that the trial would not have occurred without the 40th anniversary commemoration in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Furthermore, this study suggests that commemorations can serve as mechanisms connecting collective memory with broader social change by catalyzing mnemonic entrepreneurship and cultivating organizational structures and resources necessary to achieve positive legal outcomes. Such outcomes, however, can only occur when political opportunities are favorable and potential jurors have been primed through the “memory of commemoration.”
Volatile organic compounds and risk of asthma and allergy: a systematic review
Authors: Nurmatov Ulugbek B. , Tagiyeva Nara , Semple Sean , Devereux Graham , Sheikh Aziz
Published: March 2015

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are ubiquitous domestic pollutants. Their role in asthma/allergy development and exacerbations is uncertain. This systematic review investigated whether domestic VOC exposure increases the risk of developing and/or exacerbating asthma and allergic disorders.

We systematically searched 11 databases and three trial repositories, and contacted an international panel of experts to identify published and unpublished experimental and epidemiological studies.

8455 potentially relevant studies were identified; 852 papers were removed after de-duplication, leaving 7603 unique papers that were screened. Of these, 278 were reviewed in detail and 53 satisfied the inclusion criteria. Critical appraisal of the included studies indicated an overall lack of high-quality evidence and substantial risk of bias in this body of knowledge. Aromatics (i.e. benzenes, toluenes and xylenes) and formaldehyde were the main VOC classes studied, both in relation to the development and exacerbations of asthma and allergy. Approximately equal numbers of studies reported that exposure increased risks and that exposure was not associated with any detrimental effects.

The available evidence implicating domestic VOC exposure in the risk of developing and/or exacerbating asthma and allergy is of poor quality and inconsistent. Prospective, preferably experimental studies, investigating the impact of reducing/eliminating exposure to VOC, are now needed in order to generate a more definitive evidence base to inform policy and clinical deliberations in relation to the management of the now substantial sections of the population who are either at risk of developing asthma/allergy or living with established disease.
Cellular interactions in the pathogenesis of interstitial lung diseases
Authors: Bagnato Gianluca , Harari Sergio
Published: March 2015

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) encompasses a large and diverse group of pathological conditions that share similar clinical, radiological and pathological manifestations, despite potentially having quite different aetiologies and comorbidities. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) represents probably the most aggressive form of ILD and systemic sclerosis is a multiorgan fibrotic disease frequently associated with ILD. Although the aetiology of these disorders remains unknown, in this review we analyse the pathogenic mechanisms by cell of interest (fibroblast, fibrocyte, myofibroblast, endothelial and alveolar epithelial cells and immune competent cells). New insights into the complex cellular contributions and interactions will be provided, comparing the role of cell subsets in the pathogenesis of IPF and systemic sclerosis.
Malignant pleural mesothelioma: history, controversy and future of a manmade epidemic
Authors: Røe Oluf Dimitri , Stella Giulia Maria
Published: March 2015

Asbestos is the term for a family of naturally occurring minerals that have been used on a small scale since ancient times. Industrialisation demanded increased mining and refining in the 20th century, and in 1960, Wagner, Sleggs and Marchand from South Africa linked asbestos to mesothelioma, paving the way to the current knowledge of the aetiology, epidemiology and biology of malignant pleural mesothelioma. Pleural mesothelioma is one of the most lethal cancers, with increasing incidence worldwide. This review will give some snapshots of the history of pleural mesothelioma discovery, and the body of epidemiological and biological research, including some of the controversies and unresolved questions. Translational research is currently unravelling novel circulating biomarkers for earlier diagnosis and novel treatment targets. Current breakthrough discoveries of clinically promising noninvasive biomarkers, such as the 13-protein signature, microRNAs and theBAP1mesothelioma/cancer syndrome, are highlighted. The asbestos history is a lesson to not be repeated, but here we also review recentin vivoandin vitrostudies showing that manmade carbon nanofibres could pose a similar danger to human health. This should be taken seriously by regulatory bodies to ensure thorough testing of novel materials before release in the society.
Targeted screening programmes in COPD: how to identify individuals with α1-antitrypsin deficiency
Authors: Chorostowska-Wynimko Joanna
Published: March 2015

α1-antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) is a significantly under-recognised autosomal genetic disorder with <10% of affected individuals being clinically diagnosed. Moreover, rigorous genetic epidemiological data regarding AATD are lacking. The majority of findings come from the USA and Western Europe, and no information is available for many countries. To address this concern, an α1-antitrypsin (AAT) laboratory was set up in 2009 at the National Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (Warsaw, Poland). In 2010, an AATD screening programme targeting patients with respiratory disorders was initiated in Poland. This targeted survey has provided valuable information regarding AAT-deficient genotypes, clinical disease and levels of expertise at the physician level. After 4 years, almost 2500 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorders have been screened and, in this cohort, ∼13% had AATD alleles. In these patients, the detection frequency for S and Z alleles was four times greater, and the frequency of homozygous PI*ZZ was 16 times greater than that of the general population. These results highlight the need to build awareness in the medical community, and the project is currently being extended to cover central Eastern Europe, with the creation of the Central Eastern European Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Network.
Nutritional advances in patients with respiratory diseases
Authors: Schols Annemie M.W.J.
Published: March 2015

Nutritional issues are increasingly recognised in the course of respiratory diseases, from primary prevention to advanced disease care. During the 2014 ERS International Congress in Munich, Germany, the topic was addressed in a Clinical Year in Review session. This review highlights new insights in generic and disease-specific nutritional issues from recently published peer-reviewed articles. The clinical relevance of obesity was highlighted in primary and secondary prevention across all respiratory diseases. Radiographic imaging was explored for characterisation of metabolic phenotypes as an integrated part of diagnostic work-up. Muscle regenerative defects and the autophagy-lysosome pathway were identified as new leads for combatting muscle wasting.
Advances in target therapy in lung cancer
Authors: Sculier Jean-Paul , Berghmans Thierry , Meert Anne-Pascale
Published: March 2015

Herein, we have reviewed and analysed recent literature, published in 2013 and early 2014, in the context of pre-existing data. Considered target therapies were tyrosine kinase inhibitors of active epidermal growth factor receptor mutations (e.g.erlotinib, gefinitib and afatinib), anaplastic lymphoma kinase rearrangements (e.g.crizotinib) or angiogenesis (drugs under development), or monoclonal antibodies against vascular endothelial growth factor (e.g.bevacizumab) or epidermal growth factor receptors (e.g.cetuximab). The therapeutic project has to consider tyrosine kinase inhibitors in the case of nonsmall cell lung cancer with active epidermal growth factor receptor mutations or anaplastic lymphoma kinase rearrangement. However, these drugs should not be used in the absence of the targeted genetic abnormalities.
The changing treatment landscape in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
Authors: Costabel Ulrich
Published: March 2015

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive and irreversible fibrotic disease of the lung that has greatly frustrated clinicians for a long time. The prognosis of IPF (median survival 2–5 years following diagnosis) is poorer than that of some cancers and for many years no significant advances were made in its management. However, between 2011 and 2014 a number of pivotal developments were made that have improved the outlook for patients with IPF. Herein, we review this rapidly changing landscape, discussing key events whilst still acknowledging that IPF remains a challenging disease to diagnose and manage.
Long-term clinical and real-world experience with pirfenidone in the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
Authors: Cottin Vincent , Maher Toby
Published: March 2015

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, irreversible, progressively destructive lung disease that culminates in respiratory failure and death. Randomised controlled trials have demonstrated that treatment of IPF patients with pirfenidone reduces lung function decline, improves progression-free survival and significantly reduces the risk of all-cause mortality at 1 year. Pirfenidone has been shown to have a favourable safety profile and was generally well tolerated over the long term in clinical trials and real-world experience. However, side-effect management is critical to help some patients remain on treatment over the long term. The primary treatment-related adverse events associated with pirfenidone therapy are gastrointestinal upset, rash and photosensitivity. Gastrointestinal events may be mitigated by ensuring that pirfenidone is taken with food, while skin symptoms may be reduced by avoiding sun exposure and frequent use of sunblock. Educating patients about the potential for these adverse events to occur and providing instructions prior to treatment to avoid adverse drug reactions are an important means of ensuring patients may derive the important benefits provided by long-term treatment with pirfenidone.
Host–microbe interactions in distal airways: relevance to chronic airway diseases
Authors: Martin Clémence , Burgel Pierre-Régis , Lepage Patricia , Andréjak Claire , Blic Jacques de , Bourdin Arnaud , Brouard Jacques , Chanez Pascal , Dalphin Jean-Charles , Deslée Gaetan , Deschildre Antoine , Gosset Philippe , Touqui Lhousseine , Dusser Daniel
Published: March 2015

This article is the summary of a workshop, which took place in November 2013, on the roles of microorganisms in chronic respiratory diseases. Until recently, it was assumed that lower airways were sterile in healthy individuals. However, it has long been acknowledged that microorganisms could be identified in distal airway secretions from patients with various respiratory diseases, including cystic fibrosis (CF) and non-CF bronchiectasis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and other chronic airway diseases (e.g.post-transplantation bronchiolitis obliterans). These microorganisms were sometimes considered as infectious agents that triggered host immune responses and contributed to disease onset and/or progression; alternatively, microorganisms were often considered as colonisers, which were considered unlikely to play roles in disease pathophysiology. These concepts were developed at a time when the identification of microorganisms relied on culture-based methods. Importantly, the majority of microorganisms cannot be cultured using conventional methods, and the use of novel culture-independent methods that rely on the identification of microorganism genomes has revealed that healthy distal airways display a complex flora called the airway microbiota. The present article reviews some aspects of current literature on host–microbe (mostly bacteria and viruses) interactions in healthy and diseased airways, with a special focus on distal airways.
The multidisciplinary approach in the diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: a patient case-based review
Authors: Tomassetti Sara , Piciucchi Sara , Tantalocco Paola , Dubini Alessandra , Poletti Venerino
Published: March 2015

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a specific form of chronic, progressively fibrosing interstitial pneumonia that is associated with a significantly worse prognosis than other forms of chronic interstitial pneumonia. An early and accurate diagnosis of IPF is important to enable the initiation of disease-specific therapies, which have the potential to reduce disease progression, and the avoidance of inappropriate and potentially harmful drugs. Establishing an accurate diagnosis of IPF can be challenging. Recent studies and international guidelines advocate the importance of a multidisciplinary team (MDT) in the initial diagnostic assessment of patients with suspected IPF. Typical MDT members include a pulmonologist, a radiologist and a pathologist, with further input from a thoracic surgeon, a rheumatologist, a specialist nurse and an occupational physician where appropriate. Multidisciplinary diagnosis is considered the gold standard because it can improve the accuracy of diagnosis of IPF, avoid unnecessary testing (e.g.lung biopsy), and optimise patient management. Here we highlight the strengths and limitations of the multidisciplinary approach to IPF diagnosis through MDT discussion of two patient cases.
Recent advances in mechanical ventilation in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome
Authors: Rittayamai Nuttapol , Brochard Laurent
Published: March 2015

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is characterised by different degrees of severity and different stages. Understanding these differences can help to better adapt the ventilatory settings to protect the lung from ventilator-induced lung injury by reducing hyperinflation or keeping the lung open when it is possible. The same therapies may be useful and beneficial in certain forms of ARDS, and risky or harmful at other stages: this includes high positive end-expiratory pressure, allowance of spontaneous breathing activity or use of noninvasive ventilation. The severity of the disease is the primary indicator to individualise treatment. Monitoring tools such as oesophageal pressure or lung volume measurements may also help to set the ventilator. At an earlier stage, an adequate lung protective strategy may also help to prevent the development of ARDS.
Innate immunity is a key factor for the resolution of inflammation in asthma
Authors: Barnig Cindy , Levy Bruce D.
Published: March 2015

The resolution of inflammation is an integral and natural part of the physiological response to tissue injury, infection and allergens or other noxious stimuli. Resolution is now recognised as an active process with highly regulated cellular and biochemical events. Recent discoveries have highlighted that innate inflammatory cells have bimodal effector functions during the inflammatory response, including active roles during the resolution process. Several mediators displaying potent pro-resolving actions have recently been uncovered. Lipoxin A4, the lead member of this new class of pro-resolving mediators, has anti-inflammatory actions on type 2 innate lymphoid cells and pro-resolving actions through natural killer cells in asthma immunobiology. Eosinophils are also able to control crucial aspects of resolution through the generation of pro-resolving mediators. Uncontrolled asthma has been associated with a defect in the generation of specialised pro-resolving mediators, including lipoxin A4and protectin D1. Thus, bioactive stable analogue mimetics of these mediators that can harness endogenous resolution mechanisms for inflammation may offer new therapeutic strategies for asthma and airway inflammation associated diseases.
Long-term experience in the treatment of α1-antitrypsin deficiency: 25 years of augmentation therapy
Authors: Teschler Helmut
Published: March 2015

Although it is often under-recognised, α1-antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) represents one of the most common genetic respiratory disorders worldwide. Since the publication of studies in the late 1980s, which demonstrated that plasma-derived augmentation therapy with intravenous α1-antitrypsin (AAT) can reverse the biochemical deficiencies in serum and lung fluid that characterise emphysema, augmentation therapy has become the cornerstone of patient management. This article, with a focus on experience gained in clinical practice in Germany, provides an overview of some of the research highlights and clinical experience gained in the use of augmentation therapy for AATD during the past 25 years, and briefly discusses the potential role of AAT augmentation therapy in lung transplant recipients. Additionally, the goals of AAT augmentation therapy will be discussed, namely to delay the progression of emphysema, reduce the frequency of exacerbations and improve health-related quality of life. Beyond pulmonary disease, there is recent growing evidence to indicate that AATD could also play a role in rare disorders such as panniculitis, granulomatosis with polyangiitis and ulcerative colitis.
Diagnosing α1-antitrypsin deficiency: how to improve the current algorithm
Authors: McElvaney Noel G.
Published: March 2015

Over the past 10–15 years, the diagnosis of α1-antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) has markedly improved as a result of increasing awareness and the publication of diagnostic recommendations by the American Thoracic Society (ATS)/European Respiratory Society (ERS). Nevertheless, the condition remains substantially underdiagnosed. Furthermore, when AATD is diagnosed there is a delay before treatment is introduced. This may help explain why AATD is the fourth most common cause of lung transplantation. Clearly we need to do better. The ATS/ERS recommend testing high-risk groups, such as: all chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients; all nonresponsive asthmatic adults/adolescents; all cases of cryptogenic cirrhosis/liver disease; subjects with granulomatosis with polyangitis; bronchiectasis of unknown aetiology; panniculitis and first-degree relatives of patients with AATD. In terms of laboratory diagnosis, measurement of α1-antitrypsin levels will identify patients with protein deficiency, but cannot differentiate between the various genetic subtypes of AATD. Phenotyping is the current gold standard for detecting rare variants of AATD (except null variants), while advances in molecular diagnostics are making genotyping more effective. An accurate diagnosis facilitates the physician's ability to actively intervene with measures such as smoking cessation and perhaps augmentation therapy, and it will also help provide a better understanding of the natural history of the disease.
Advances in asthma pathophysiology: stepping forward from the Maurizio Vignola experience
Authors: Bonsignore Maria R. , Profita Mirella , Gagliardo Rosalia , Riccobono Loredana , Chiappara Giuseppina , Pace Elisabetta , Gjomarkaj Mark
Published: March 2015

Maurizio Vignola was a superb and innovative researcher, who wrote seminal papers on the biology of airway epithelium in asthma. Inflammation and remodelling were the main topics of his research, mostly conducted in biopsy specimens from patients with asthma of variable severity, encompassing the entire spectrum of the disease from mild to severe asthma. His observations contributed to define the biology of asthma as we know it today, and opened the way to the personalised treatment of asthma. His group has successfully continued to investigate the biology and clinical aspects of bronchial asthma, with major interest in the clinical use of biomarkers to monitor disease activity, and in the development of new therapeutic perspectives. This review summarises the latest work on these topics proudly conducted by Maurizio's closest collaborators. The results indicate significant progress in our understanding of asthma in the last 10 years, in particular increased knowledge of the complex interaction between inflammatory and remodelling pathways, improved recognition of biological and clinical asthma phenotypes, and development of new treatment strategies, especially for patients with severe corticosteroid-resistant asthma.
Editorial: ADAMs control inflammation from afar
Authors: Andrews Robert K , Gardiner Elizabeth E
Published: March 2015

Discussion on two distinct mechanisms of regulation for membrane levels of CXCR2 as a level of therapeutic control.
Interpolating wide-aperture ground-penetrating radar beyond aliasing
Authors: Martins Saulo S. , Travassos Jandyr M.
Published: March 2015

Most of the data acquisition in ground-penetrating radar is done along fixed-offset profiles, in which velocity is known only at isolated points in the survey area, at the locations of variable offset gathers such as a common midpoint. We have constructed sparse, heavily aliased, variable offset gathers from several fixed-offset, collinear, profiles. We interpolated those gathers to produce properly sampled counterparts, thus pushing data beyond aliasing. The interpolation methodology estimated nonstationary, adaptive, filter coefficients at all trace locations, including at the missing traces’ corresponding positions, filled with zeroed traces. This is followed by an inversion problem that uses the previously estimated filter coefficients to insert the new, interpolated, traces between the original ones. We extended this two-step strategy to data interpolation by employing a device in which we used filter coefficients from a denser variable offset gather to interpolate the missing traces on a few independently constructed gathers. We applied the methodology on synthetic and real data sets, the latter acquired in the interior of the Antarctic continent. The variable-offset interpolated data opened the door to prestack processing, making feasible the production of a prestack time migrated section and a 2D velocity model for the entire profile. Notwithstanding, we have used a data set obtained in Antarctica; there is no reason the same methodology could not be used somewhere else.
Inversion for permeability distribution from time-lapse gravity data
Authors: Capriotti Joseph , Li Yaoguo
Published: March 2015

Understanding reservoir properties plays a key role in managing a reservoir’s resources and optimizing production. History matching is an important means for characterizing those properties. We developed a method to invert for the distribution of permeability directly from time-lapse gravity data. In this process, we used fluid flow in a porous medium coupled with forward modeling of the time-lapse gravity response as the forward operator, and then we solved a nonlinear inversion to reconstruct the permeability distribution in the reservoir. We were able to formulate the deterministic inversion as a Tikhonov regularization problem because of the relatively low computational cost of forward modeling time-lapse gravity data. The inversion can combine the information from time-lapse gravity and injection-production data sets to determine a static state of the reservoir described by the permeability. The resulting model satisfied all data sets simultaneously while obeying the mechanics of fluid flow through a porous medium. The inverse formulation also enabled the estimation of the uncertainty of the constructed permeability model with respect to the data, and our numerical simulations indicated that the information content in the two dynamic data sets appeared to be sufficiently high to constrain the recovery of permeability distribution.
Including poroelastic effects in the linear slip theory
Authors: Rubino J. Germán , Castromán Gabriel A. , Müller Tobias M. , Monachesi Leonardo B. , Zyserman Fabio I. , Holliger Klaus
Published: March 2015

Numerical simulations of seismic wave propagation in fractured media are often performed in the framework of the linear slip theory (LST). Therein, fractures are represented as interfaces and their mechanical properties are characterized through a compliance matrix. This theory has been extended to account for energy dissipation due to viscous friction within fluid-filled fractures by using complex-valued frequency-dependent compliances. This is, however, not fully adequate for fractured porous rocks in which wave-induced fluid flow (WIFF) between fractures and host rock constitutes a predominant seismic attenuation mechanism. In this letter, we develop an approach to incorporate WIFF effects directly into the LST for a 1D system via a complex-valued, frequency-dependent fracture compliance. The methodology is validated for a medium permeated by regularly distributed planar fractures, for which an analytical expression for the complex-valued normal compliance is determined in the framework of quasistatic poroelasticity. There is good agreement between synthetic seismograms generated using the proposed recipe and those obtained from comprehensive, but computationally demanding, poroelastic simulations.
A column on the history and culture of geophysics and science in general
Authors: Liner Christopher L.
Published: March 2015

As I continue with duties as SEG President, I also enjoy looking back at adventures in the past, including my presentation of the SEG Distinguished Instructor Short Course in 2012.
Student Zone
Authors: Osterman Gordon , Algeo Jonathan , Terry Neil
Published: March 2015

The Rutgers-Newark near-surface geophysics research group is dedicated to advancing the use of our science both at home and abroad. Our chapter has been involved in a remarkable number of international projects across the globe. Here we briefly discuss three ongoing projects in which students from our group traveled abroad to four countries, each on a different continent, to pursue a research project. These projects have given our students unique insight into how geophysical methods can be used to solve problems locally and globally.
Animal models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy: from basic mechanisms to gene therapy
Authors: McGreevy Joe W. , Hakim Chady H. , McIntosh Mark A. , Duan Dongsheng
Published: March 2015

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a progressive muscle-wasting disorder. It is caused by loss-of-function mutations in the dystrophin gene. Currently, there is no cure. A highly promising therapeutic strategy is to replace or repair the defective dystrophin gene by gene therapy. Numerous animal models of DMD have been developed over the last 30 years, ranging from invertebrate to large mammalian models. mdx mice are the most commonly employed models in DMD research and have been used to lay the groundwork for DMD gene therapy. After ~30 years of development, the field has reached the stage at which the results in mdx mice can be validated and scaled-up in symptomatic large animals. The canine DMD (cDMD) model will be excellent for these studies. In this article, we review the animal models for DMD, the pros and cons of each model system, and the history and progress of preclinical DMD gene therapy research in the animal models. We also discuss the current and emerging challenges in this field and ways to address these challenges using animal models, in particular cDMD dogs.
Study of Benzene Hydroxylation in Liquid Phase Using Mono- and Binuclear Copper Complex Catalysts
Authors: Okemoto Atsushi , Kato Kurumi , Taniya Keita , Ichihashi Yuichi , Nishiyama Satoru
Published: March 2015

Mono- or binuclear copper homogeneous catalysts with similar coordination environments were used for benzene hydroxylation. The effect of multiple active sites on phenol formation was investigated. The structures of the synthesized mono- and binuclear copper catalysts were confirmed by FT-IR and EXAFS. Molecular oxygen was used as the oxidant and it was found that the binuclear copper catalyst showed better phenols formation than the mononuclear catalyst.
Technical Note—On Estimating Quantile Sensitivities via Infinitesimal Perturbation Analysis
Authors: Jiang Guangxin , Fu Michael C.
Published: March 2015

Hong (2009) [Hong LJ (2009) Estimating quantile sensitivities. Oper. Res. 57(1):118-130.] introduced a general framework based on probability sensitivities and a conditional expectation relationship for estimating quantile sensitivities by infinitesimal perturbation analysis (IPA). We present an alternative more direct derivation of the IPA estimators that leads to simplified proofs for strong consistency and convergence rate of the unbatched estimator, and strong consistency and a central limit theorem for the batched estimator.