bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Idiopathic Bilateral Adrenal Hemorrhage in a 63-Year-Old Male: A Case Report and Review of the Literature
Authors: Dhawan Naveen , Bodukam Vijay Kumar , Thakur Kshitij , Singh Amandeep , Jenkins Donald , Bahl Jaya
Published: April 2015

Adrenal hemorrhage is a largely uncommon condition typically caused by a number of factors including infection, MI, CHF, anticoagulants, trauma, surgery, and antiphospholipid syndrome. Yet, idiopathic bilateral hemorrhage is rare. The authors present a case of a 63-year-old male who presented with abdominal pain that was eventually diagnosed as bilateral adrenal hemorrhages due to an unknown origin. Abdominal CT revealed normal adrenal glands without enlargement, but an MRI displayed enlargement due to hemorrhage in both adrenals. There was no known cause; the patient had not suffered from an acute infection and was not on anticoagulants, and the patient’s history did not reveal any of the other known causative factors. The case underscores the importance of keeping bilateral adrenal hemorrhages on the list of differentials even when a cause is not immediately clear. It also raises the question of whether CT is the most sensitive test in the diagnosis of adrenal hemorrhage and whether the diagnostic approach should place greater weight on MRI. The case highlights the need for prompt therapy with steroids once bilateral hemorrhage is suspected to avert the development or progression of adrenal insufficiency.
Development of a Method to Detect Three Monohydroxylated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Human Urine by Liquid Chromatographic Tandem Mass Spectrometry
Authors: Zhang Xiaotao , Hou Hongwei , Xiong Wei , Hu Qingyuan
Published: April 2015

A liquid chromatographic tandem mass spectrometry method (LC-MS/MS) for the simultaneous determination of 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP), 3-hydroxybenzo[a]pyrene (3-OHBaP), and 3-hydroxybenz[a]anthracene (3-OHBaA) in human urine has been developed. With the exception of 3-OHBaP at a low spiking level, the average recoveries were greater than 80%. The method has good accuracy (72.1–107.7%) and reproducibility (1.8–11.4%) and was successfully used to study the uptake of pyrene, benzo[a]pyrene, and benzo[a]anthracene from cigarette smoke. The results indicated that urinary 1-OHP concentration in the smoking group (66.58 ± 70.91 ng/g creatinine) was higher than that observed in the nonsmoking group (58.16 ± 49.48 ng/g creatinine). Urinary 3-OHBaA concentrations in nonsmokers and smokers with 8 mg and 10 mg tar cigarettes were 10.98 ± 4.39 ng/g creatinine, 11.01 ± 13.30 ng/g creatinine, and 9.17 ± 12.89 ng/g creatinine, respectively. Urinary 3-OHBaP concentrations in nonsmokers and smokers with 8 mg and 13 mg tar cigarettes were 1.30 ± 0.20 ng/g creatinine, 2.83 ± 1.78 ng/g creatinine, and 6.00 ± 4.44 ng/g creatinine, respectively. Urinary 1-OHP levels exhibited a significant correlation with BaP yield in cigarette smoke under the Canadian intense smoking condition (y=3.5563x+30.171,R2=0.9916,n=227).
Asymptotic Behavior of a Second-Order Fuzzy Rational Difference Equation
Authors: Din Q.
Published: April 2015

We study the qualitative behavior of the positive solutions of a second-order rational fuzzy difference equation with initial conditions being positive fuzzy numbers, and parameters are positive fuzzy numbers. More precisely, we investigate existence of positive solutions, boundedness and persistence, and stability analysis of a second-order fuzzy rational difference equation. Some numerical examples are given to verify our theoretical results.
The Effects of Tempol on Cyclophosphamide‐Induced Oxidative Stress in Rat Micturition Reflexes
Authors: Gonzalez Eric J. , Peterson Abbey , Malley Susan , Daniel Mitchel , Lambert Daniel , Kosofsky Michael , Vizzard Margaret A.
Published: April 2015

We hypothesized that cyclophosphamide‐ (CYP‐) induced cystitis results in oxidative stress and contributes to urinary bladder dysfunction. We determined (1) the expression of oxidative stress markers 3‐nitrotyrosine (3‐NT), reactive oxygen species (ROS)/reactive nitrogen species (RNS), inflammatory modulators, neuropeptides calcitonin gene‐related peptide (CGRP), substance P (Sub P), and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) that contribute to the inflammatory process in the urinary tract and (2) the functional role of oxidative stress in urinary bladder dysfunction with an antioxidant, Tempol, (1 mM in drinking water) combined with conscious cystometry. In CYP‐treated (4 hr or 48 hr; 150 mg/kg, i.p.) rats, ROS/RNS and 3‐NT significantly (P  ≤  0.01) increased in urinary bladder. CYP treatment increased ATP, Sub P, and CGRP expression in the urinary bladder and cystometric fluid. In CYP‐treated rats, Tempol significantly (P  ≤  0.01) increased bladder capacity and reduced voiding frequency compared to CYP‐treated rats without Tempol. Tempol significantly (P  ≤  0.01) reduced ATP expression, 3‐NT, and ROS/RNS expression in the urinary tract of CYP‐treated rats. These studies demonstrate that reducing oxidative stress in CYP‐induced cystitis improves urinary bladder function and reduces markers of oxidative stress and inflammation.
Complex Networks: Statistical Properties, Community Structure, and Evolution
Authors: Zhang Lei , Cao Jianxiang , Li Jianyu
Published: April 2015

We investigate the function for different networks based on complex network theory. In this paper, we choose five data sets from various areas to study. In the study of Chinese network, scale-free effect and hierarchical structure features are found in this complex system. These results indicate that the discovered features of Chinese character structure reflect the combination nature of Chinese characters. In addition, we study the community structure in Chinese character network. We can find that community structure is always considered as one of the most significant features in complex networks, and it plays an important role in the topology and function of the networks. Furthermore, we cut all the nodes in the different networks from low degree to high degree and then obtain many networks with different scale. According to the study, two interesting results have been obtained. First, the relationship between the node number of the maximum communities and the number of communities in the corresponding networks is studied and it is linear. Second, when the number of nodes in the maximum communities is increasing, the increasing tendency of the number of its edges slows down; we predict the complex networks have sparsity. The study effectively explains the characteristic and community structure evolution on different networks.
Synthesis, Analysis, and Testing of BiOBr-Bi2WO6Photocatalytic Heterojunction Semiconductors
Authors: Meng Xiangchao , Zhang Zisheng
Published: April 2015

In photocatalysis, the recombination of electron-hole pairs is generally regarded as one of its most serious drawbacks. The synthesis of various composites with heterojunction structures has increasingly shed light on preventing this recombination. In this work, a BiOBr-Bi2WO6photocatalytic heterojunction semiconductor was synthesized by the facile hydrothermal method and applied in the photocatalytic degradation process. It was determined that both reaction time and temperature significantly affected the crystal structure and morphologies of the photocatalysts. BiOBr (50 at%)-Bi2WO6composites were prepared under optimum synthesis conditions (120°C for 6 h) and by theoretically analyzing the DRS results, it was determined that they possessed the suitable band gap (2.61 eV) to be stimulated by visible-light irradiation. The photocatalytic activities of the as-prepared photocatalysts were evaluated by the degradation ofRhodamine B (RhB)under visible-light irradiation. The experimental conditions, including initial concentration, pH, and catalyst dosage, were explored and the photocatalysts in this system were proven stable enough to be reused for several runs. Moreover, the interpreted mechanism of the heterojunction enhancement effect proved that the synthesis of a heterojunction structure provided an effective method to decrease the recombination rate of the electron-hole pairs, thereby improving the photocatalytic activity.
Current Status of Sodium Bicarbonate in Coronary Angiography: An Updated Comprehensive Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review
Authors: Ali-Hassan-Sayegh Sadegh , Mirhosseini Seyed Jalil , Rahimizadeh Elham , Ghodratipour Zahra , Sarrafan-Chaharsoughi Zahra , Dehghan Ali Mohammad , Lotfaliani Mohammad Reza , Rezaeisadrabadi Mohammad , Kayvanpour Elham , Sedaghat-Hamedani Farbod , Zeriouh Mohamed , Weymann Alexander , Sabashnikov Anton , Popov Aron-Frederik
Published: April 2015

This systematic review with meta-analysis sought to determine comparison of efficacy and safety of hydration with sodium bicarbonate versus sodium chloride on contrast induced nephropathy and clinical outcomes. We searched major electronic databases for studies in randomized controlled trials. A value ofP<0.1for Q test orI2>50% indicated significant heterogeneity between the studies. Literature search of all databases retrieved 650 studies. 29 studies enrolled in meta-analysis. Pooled analysis indicated about the incidence of CIN (OR of 0.718; 95% CI: 0.60 to 0.85;P=0.000), requirement of hemodialysis (OR of 1.00; 95% CI: 0.49 to 2.01;P=0.9), mean changes of serum creatinine (WMD of 2.321; 95% CI: 1.995 to 2.648;P=0.000), length of hospital stays (WMD of −0.774; 95% CI: −1.65 to 0.10;P=0.08), major adverse cardiovascular events (OR = 1.075, 95% CI: 0.59 to 1.95;P=0.8), and mortality (OR of 0.73; 95% CI: 0.42 to 1.26;P=0.2). Overall, hydration with sodium bicarbonate could significantly reduce CIN and the length of hospital stay compared to sodium chloride. In addition NAC added as a supplement to sodium bicarbonate could increase prophylactic effects against nephropathy.
Prediction of High-Risk Types of Human Papillomaviruses Using Statistical Model of Protein “Sequence Space”
Authors: Wang Cong , Hai Yabing , Liu Xiaoqing , Liu Nanfang , Yao Yuhua , He Pingan , Dai Qi
Published: April 2015

Discrimination of high-risk types of human papillomaviruses plays an important role in the diagnosis and remedy of cervical cancer. Recently, several computational methods have been proposed based on protein sequence-based and structure-based information, but the information of their related proteins has not been used until now. In this paper, we proposed using protein “sequence space” to explore this information and used it to predict high-risk types of HPVs. The proposed method was tested on 68 samples with known HPV types and 4 samples without HPV types and further compared with the available approaches. The results show that the proposed method achieved the best performance among all the evaluated methods with accuracy 95.59% andF1-score 90.91%, which indicates that protein “sequence space” could potentially be used to improve prediction of high-risk types of HPVs.
Prostate Cancer Patients’ Refusal of Cancer-Directed Surgery: A Statewide Analysis
Authors: Islam K. M. , Wen Jiajun
Published: April 2015

Introduction. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in USA. The surgical outcomes of prostate cancer remain inconsistent. Barriers such as socioeconomic factors may play a role in patients’ decision of refusing recommended cancer-directed surgery.Methods. The Nebraska Cancer Registry data was used to calculate the proportion of prostate cancer patients recommended the cancer-directed surgery and the surgery refusal rate. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to analyze the socioeconomic indicators that were related to the refusal of surgery.Results. From 1995 to 2012, 14,876 prostate cancer patients were recommended to undergo the cancer-directed surgery in Nebraska, and 576 of them refused the surgery. The overall refusal rate of surgery was 3.9% over the 18 years. Patients with early-stage prostate cancer were more likely to refuse the surgery. Patients who were Black, single, or covered by Medicaid/Medicare had increased odds of refusing the surgery.Conclusion. Socioeconomic factors were related to the refusal of recommended surgical treatment for prostate cancer. Such barriers should be addressed to improve the utilization of surgical treatment and patients’ well-being.
Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Arising in a Patient after Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation with Bisphosphonate-Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaws
Authors: Arduino Paolo G. , Scully Crispian , Chiusa Luigi , Broccoletti Roberto
Published: April 2015

A 55-year-old man with a history of acute myeloid leukaemia treated with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and with a 5-year history of bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaws, following 12 cycles of intravenous zoledronic acid therapy, presented in December 2009 with a history of increasingly severe unilateral lower jaw pain. Oral examination revealed, as previously, exposed bone in the left mandible, but also a new exophytic mass on the lower-left buccal mucosa. Biopsy confirmed a diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an oral squamous cell carcinoma that appeared adjacent to an area of osteochemonecrosis.
The Pharmacodynamic Impact of Apremilast, an Oral Phosphodiesterase 4 Inhibitor, on Circulating Levels of Inflammatory Biomarkers in Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis: Substudy Results from a Phase III, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial (PALACE 1)
Authors: Schafer Peter H. , Chen Peng , Fang Lorraine , Wang Andrew , Chopra Rajesh
Published: April 2015

Apremilast, an oral phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor, demonstrated effectiveness (versus placebo) for treatment of active psoriatic arthritis in the psoriatic arthritis long-term assessment of clinical efficacy (PALACE) phase III clinical trial program. Pharmacodynamic effects of apremilast on plasma biomarkers associated with inflammation were evaluated in a PALACE 1 substudy. Of 504 patients randomized in PALACE 1, 150 (placebo:n=51; apremilast 20 mg BID:n=51; apremilast 30 mg BID:n=48) provided peripheral blood plasma samples for analysis in a multiplexed cytometric bead array assay measuring 47 proteins associated with systemic inflammatory immune responses. Association between biomarker levels and achievement of 20% improvement from baseline in modified American College of Rheumatology (ACR20) response criteria was assessed by logistic regression. At Week 24, IL-8, TNF-α, IL-6, MIP-1β, MCP-1, and ferritin were significantly reduced from baseline with apremilast 20 mg BID or 30 mg BID versus placebo. ACR20 response correlated with change in TNF-αlevel with both apremilast doses. At Week 40, IL-17, IL-23, IL-6, and ferritin were significantly decreased and IL-10 and IL-1 receptor antagonists significantly increased with apremilast 30 mg BID versus placebo. In patients with active psoriatic arthritis, apremilast reduced circulating levels of Th1 and Th17 proinflammatory mediators and increased anti-inflammatory mediators.
Gene Expression Profiling and Pathway Network Analysis Predicts a Novel Antitumor Function for a Botanical-Derived Drug, PG2
Authors: Kuo Yu-Lun , Chen Chun-Houh , Chuang Tsung-Hsien , Hua Wei-Kai , Lin Wey-Jinq , Hsu Wei-Hsiang , Chang Peter Mu-Hsin , Hsu Shih-Lan , Huang Tse-Hung , Kao Cheng-Yan , Huang Chi-Ying F.
Published: April 2015

PG2 is a botanical drug that is mostly composed ofAstragaluspolysaccharides (APS). Its role in hematopoiesis and relieving cancer-related fatigue has recently been clinically investigated in cancer patients. However, systematic analyses of its functions are still limited. The aim of this study was to use microarray-based expression profiling to evaluate the quality and consistency of PG2 from three different product batches and to study biological mechanisms of PG2. An integrative molecular analysis approach has been designed to examine significant PG2-induced signatures in HL-60 leukemia cells. A quantitative analysis of gene expression signatures was conducted for PG2 by hierarchical clustering of correlation coefficients. The results showed that PG2 product batches were consistent and of high quality. These batches were also functionally equivalent to each other with regard to how they modulated the immune and hematopoietic systems. Within the PG2 signature, there were five genes associated with doxorubicin:IL-8, MDM4, BCL2, PRODH2, andBIRC5. Moreover, the combination of PG2 and doxorubicin had a synergistic effect on induced cell death in HL-60 cells. Together with the bioinformatics-based approach, gene expression profiling provided a quantitative measurement for the quality and consistency of herbal medicines and revealed new roles (e.g., immune modulation) for PG2 in cancer treatment.
Classification of Two Class Motor Imagery Tasks Using Hybrid GA-PSO BasedK-Means Clustering
Authors: Suraj  , Tiwari Purnendu , Ghosh Subhojit , Sinha Rakesh Kumar
Published: April 2015

Transferring the brain computer interface (BCI) from laboratory condition to meet the real world application needs BCI to be applied asynchronously without any time constraint. High level of dynamism in the electroencephalogram (EEG) signal reasons us to look toward evolutionary algorithm (EA). Motivated by these two facts, in this work a hybrid GA-PSO basedK-means clustering technique has been used to distinguish two class motor imagery (MI) tasks. The proposed hybrid GA-PSO basedK-means clustering is found to outperform genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) basedK-means clustering techniques in terms of both accuracy and execution time. The lesser execution time of hybrid GA-PSO technique makes it suitable for real time BCI application. Time frequency representation (TFR) techniques have been used to extract the feature of the signal under investigation. TFRs based features are extracted and relying on the concept of event related synchronization (ERD) and desynchronization (ERD) feature vector is formed.
Knockdown of Adhesion-Regulating Molecule 1 Inhibits Proliferation in HL60 Cells
Authors: Zheng Xiaohui , Guo Yafei , Chen Yingying , Chen Meilin , Lin Zhenxin , Wu Yong , Chen Yuanzhong
Published: April 2015

Background/Aims: Adhesion-regulating molecule 1 (ADRM1), a receptor located on the 26S proteasome, is upregulated in many solid cancers. However, little is known about its role in acute leukemia (AL). Methods: We determined ADRM1 expression levels in both untreated AL samples and leukemia cell lines using real-time polymerase chain reaction or Western blot analysis. Growth curves, colony formation assays, cell cycle and apoptosis analyses, cell migration and invasion assays and NF-κB p65 nuclear translocation assays via Western blotting were used to examine the biological behavior of HL60 cells and the underlying mechanism. Results: ADRM1 was upregulated in both untreated AL samples and leukemia cell lines. ADRM1 knockdown significantly suppressed HL60 cell proliferation (48.82 ± 12.58%) and colony formation and caused cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase. Furthermore, we confirmed that ADRM1 knockdown suppressed p65 nuclear translocation. Conclusion: Our study revealed that ADRM1 was overexpressed in AL, especially in CD34+ leukemia stem and progenitor cells. ADRM1 may play a role in AL via the proteasome-ubiquitin pathway by potentially sustaining the activation of NF-κB signaling.
Microdrile Oligochaeta in bromeliad pools of a Honduran cloud forest
Authors: SCHMELZ RÜDIGER M. , JOCQUE MERLIJN , COLLADO RUT
Published: April 2015

Phytotelmata, or plant-held water bodies, often house complex aquatic invertebrate communities. Microdrile oligochaetes (Clitellata, Annelida) are known to be part of that community, but specimens are rarely identified to species level. Here we report three species of Enchytraeidae and three species of Naididae from a collection sampled in phytotelms of bromeliads in Cusuco National Park, Honduras. Two species of enchytraeids are new to science. Bryodrilus hondurensis sp. nov. is distinguished from other members of the genus by the high number of ventral chaetae, up to 11 per bundle. The genus is Holarctic and this is the southernmost record so far of a Bryodrilus species. Hemienchytraeus phytotelmatus sp. nov. is distinguished by a combination of characters, among which the huge spermathecae and seminal vesicles are most conspicuous. The genus is common in tropical and subtropical soils around the world. A third species of enchytraeids in the collection, Cernosvitoviella atrata (Bretscher), is redescribed, together with three known species of Naididae, Pristina jenkinae (Stephenson), Pristina osborni (Walton) and Pristina terrena Collado & Schmelz. Presence of ingested debris and humus in the intestine of most specimens suggests that the collected animals live and reproduce in the phytotelms. We provide a list of oligochaete species recorded so far from bromeliad pools in Central and South America.
On the Relationship between the North Atlantic Oscillation and Early Warm Season Temperatures in the Southwestern United States
Authors: Myoung Boksoon , Kim Seung Hee , Kim Jinwon , Kafatos Menas C.
Published: April 2015

It is reported herein that the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), which has been known to directly affect winter weather conditions in western Europe and the eastern United States, is also linked to surface air temperature over the broad southwestern U.S. (SWUS) region, encompassing California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado, in the early warm season. The authors have performed monthly time-scale correlations and composite analyses using three different multidecadal temperature datasets. Results from these analyses reveal that NAO-related upstream circulation positively affects not only the means, but also the extremes, of the daily maximum and minimum temperatures in the SWUS. This NAO effect is primarily linked with the positioning of upper-tropospheric anticyclones over the western United States that are associated with development of the positive NAO phase through changes in lower-tropospheric wind directions as well as suppression of precipitation and enhanced shortwave radiation at the surface. The effect is observed in the SWUS only during the March–June period because the monthly migration of anticyclones over the western United States follows the migration of the NAO center over the subtropical Atlantic Ocean. The link between the SWUS temperatures and NAO has been strengthened in the last 30-yr period (1980–2009), compared to the previous 30-yr period (1950–79). In contrast to the NAO–SWUS temperature relationship, El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) show only marginal correlation strengths in several limited regions for the same 60-yr period.
Making play work for education
Authors: Weisberg Deena Skolnick , Kittredge Audrey K. , Hirsh-Pasek Kathy , Golinkoff Roberta Michnick , Klahr David
Published: April 2015

Children, especially in the preschool years, learn a tremendous amount through play. Research on guided play demonstrates how schools can couple a curriculum-centered preschool program with a developmentally appropriate pedagogical approach to classroom teaching. However, to fully test this claim, we need a clear definition of the term “guided play”: In guided play, the adult structures the play environment, but the child maintains control within that environment. Guided play can lead to dramatically better learning outcomes than didactic situations. If you tell them, children will learn. But if you guide them, children are more likely to actively explore and learn more.
All rigor and no play is no way to improve learning
Authors: Wohlwend Karen , Peppler Kylie
Published: April 2015

The authors propose and discuss their Playshop curricular model, which they developed with teachers. Their studies suggest a playful approach supports even more rigor than the Common Core State Standards require for preschool and early grade children. Children keep their attention longer when learning comes in the form of something they can play with. Research also shows, the authors say, that just because children are playing does not mean they are not developing intellectually or academically. The play/rigor binary is a false construct, the authors say, which has errantly led schools to shorten and eliminate recess and playtime for children, more specifically hurting low-income and diverse children’s chances for fuller academic and intellectual progress that could help close the achievement gap.
Get real — improve leadership learning
Authors: Fowler Gerald L. , Cowden William K.
Published: April 2015

So what if we just turned every course in our Superintendent’s Program into a form of practicum? This question was asked by two former superintendents in response to nationwide calls to reform school leadership training and who found themselves leading a university executive leadership program. It triggered a comprehensive redesign of their framework for leadership training. The authors detail their evolutionary approach and candidate responses to the transformation as well as the bumps and bruises that occurred along the way. The result appears to be a promising and somewhat unconventional approach to preparing future school district level leaders.
The art of the school-community partnership
Authors: Nathan Linda
Published: April 2015

The author outlines the many ways in which schools may partner with businesses, higher education institutions, and nonprofits to provide students with training, jobs, and enrichment that that otherwise would not receive. The author speaks from her experience as founding headmaster of the Boston Arts Academy and years of working to effectuate school-community partnerships.
Telling the truth about the Common Core
Authors: March Judith K. , Peters Karen H.
Published: April 2015

The authors take on myths and misinformation about the Common Core State Standards and seek to tell the positive ways in which the standards work to move education.
A hybrid approach benefits beginning teachers
Authors: Hochberg Eric D. , Desimone Laura M. , Porter Andrew C. , Polikoff Morgan S. , Schwartz Robert , Johnson L. Joy
Published: April 2015

Formal mentoring is the cornerstone of most teacher induction programs, but teachers receive support from informal mentors as well. The authors report on findings from a study of 57 first-year mathematics teachers in 11 school districts to describe who teachers’ formal and informal mentors are, how teachers work with them, and how the functions of formal and informal mentors serve for beginning teachers. They offer suggestions for how schools and districts can harness the power of these two forms of mentoring by embracing both.
Washington View
Authors: Ferguson Maria
Published: April 2015

Demographic projections call for America to become less white in the coming decades. By at least one measure, the percentage of students in U.S. schools who are white will fall below 50% within the next 10 years. As Asians, Latinos, and African Americans account for a greater portion of school children it is not entirely clear what policy changes will need to be made. In states that already have experienced these demographic shifts policy makers have changed education funding to support schools and students in low-income, minority areas. Indeed, schools need to be supported at both ends of the age spectrum. More and better preschool programs are needed and so is assistance to help Latinos and African Americans afford college.
PDK Connection
Authors: Patterson Gregory A.
Published: April 2015

News and information about the PDK family of associations: Future Educators Association will become Educators Rising in August. The next PDK Book club selection (July) will be Score to soar: Moving teachers from evaluation to professional growth (Solution Tree, 2015). This year’s PDK Study tour heads to Berlin, Prague, and Krakow, Poland. PDK Emerging Leaders weigh in on school/community partnerships.
Haiku and Healing
Authors: Stephenson Kittredge , Rosen David H.
Published: April 2015

Haiku poetry was investigated in the context of the expressive writing paradigm to evaluate its potential benefits. Participants, 98 introductory psychology students at a large southwestern university, wrote for 20 min a day on 3 consecutive days and completed self-report measures of happiness, life satisfaction, spiritual meaning, creativity, physiological symptomatology, depression, anxiety, and health/illness orientation at baseline and 3-week follow-up. A series of analysis of covariance linear contrasts were used to examine differences between groups writing narrative about a neutral topic, haiku about a neutral topic, haiku about nature, or haiku about a negative life event. Writing in narrative about a neutral topic led to decreases in anxiety and depression. Participants writing haiku about nature or a negative life event reported increased creativity, and writing haiku about nature led to decreased illness orientation. The present findings suggest that narrative writing leads to decreases in anxiety and depression, while haiku writing increases creativity and sensitivity to topic. The value of haiku and the arts are discussed for the writing paradigm and beyond.
Adapting Gershwin Into Painting
Authors: Güler Ayşe
Published: April 2015

Recent thinking in empirical studies of the arts has emphasized the role of knowledge about historical context and artistic intentions in our appreciation of artworks ( Bullot & Reber, 2013 ; Jucker, Barrett, & Wlodarski, 2014 ). In the present article, I explore this idea in the domain of artistic production by examining the extent to which knowledge about George Gershwin’s composition Rhapsody in Blue affected my adaptation of the music into visual representations thereof in the form of paintings. The study consists of two phases. In the first phase, I painted Rhapsody in Blue without knowledge about Gershwin or his composition. In contrast, in the second phase, Rhapsody in Blue was adapted into painting after careful examination of Gershwin’s life and his composition. There were noticeable differences in terms of colors and forms when comparing the paintings made in the two phases. This case study suggests that background knowledge about a musical piece affects one’s visual representations of its content.
The Relationship Between Need for Cognitive Closure and the Appreciation, Understanding, and Viewing Times of Realistic and Nonrealistic Figurative Paintings
Authors: Ostrofsky Justin , Shobe Elizabeth
Published: April 2015

We assessed the relationship between Need for Cognitive Closure (NFC) personalities and appreciation, comprehension, and viewing time for realistic paintings depicting objects/scenes and nonrealistic paintings that ambiguously depict objects/scenes. For both types of paintings, liking was positively correlated with degree of understanding. Realistic paintings were better understood, liked, and evaluated for less time than nonrealistic paintings. High and low NFC participants were equal in their liking and comprehension of realistic paintings. However, low NFC participants understood and liked nonrealistic paintings more than high NFC participants. High NFC participants also exhibited an urgency tendency, indicated by their shorter viewing times for both types of paintings as compared with low NFC. We suggest that high NFC is associated with intolerance of and lower appreciation for ambiguous, nonrealistic paintings. This may be due to unwillingness to spend sufficient viewing time to achieve the level of understanding needed to appreciate ambiguous art.
The evolutionary origin of pitch centre recognition
Authors: Podlipniak Piotr
Published: April 2015

The ability to recognize a pitch centre in sound sequences belongs to the basic mental tools which are intuitively used by humans when they listen to music. It is also one of the abilities used by listeners in order to establish a tonal hierarchy. The organization of pitches around a pitch centre is one of the most ubiquitous syntactic rules observed in music of all cultures. As far as we know, there is nothing similar to this rule in other human sound expressions nor in animals’ vocal communication. Thus, the recognition of pitch centricity seems to be the unique and species-specific ability of Homo sapiens, which suggests its evolutionary origin. It is proposed in the article that in the course of hominine evolution, the ability of pitch centre recognition became an adaptive innovation which enabled a more effective social consolidation. It is also suggested that the origin of this ability has its roots in the ‘Baldwin effect’ which led to the emergence of a predisposition to join three originally separate abilities – the implicit recognition of the frequency of pitch occurrence, working memory and the emotional assessment of predicted stimuli – into a new mental tool.
Neighborhood Disadvantage and Parenting
Authors: Yun Ilhong , Lee Julak
Published: April 2015

The criminological literature has a long tradition of emphasizing the socialization effects that parents have on children. By contrast, evidence from behavioral genetics research gives precedence to child effects on parental management techniques over parental effects on children’s outcomes. Considering these diverging lines of scholarship and literature, the current study explores a novel hypothesis that child effects on parenting may be conditioned by the level of the disadvantage of the neighborhood in which the child’s family resides. By using measures of perceived parenting as dependent variables, the researchers analyze data on 733 same-sex sibling pairs derived from the Add Health study by taking advantage of the DeFries–Fulker analytical technique. The results show that in adequate neighborhoods, between 43% and 55% of the variance in the measures of perceived parenting is due to genetic factors, whereas shared environmental effects are negligible. In disadvantaged neighborhoods, genetic effects are negligible, whereas shared environmental influences account for between 34% and 57% of the variance in perceived parenting. These results offer partial support for the contextualized gene–environment correlation, which provides initial evidence that although both parental socialization effects and child effects exist, these effects can be modified by the context.
Risk Factors for Hispanic Male Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration
Authors: Mancera Bibiana M. , Dorgo Sandor , Provencio-Vasquez Elias
Published: April 2015

The literature review analyzed 24 studies that explored male intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration risk factors among men, in particular Hispanics, using the socioecological model framework composed of four socioecological levels for violence prevention. Six databases were reviewed within the EBSCO search engine for articles published from 2000 to 2014. Articles reviewed were specific to risk factors for IPV perpetration among Hispanic men, focusing particularly on Mexican American men. Many key factors have previously been associated with risk for IPV perpetration; however, certain determinants are unique to Hispanics such as acculturation, acculturation stress, and delineated gender roles that include Machismo and Marianismo. These risk factors should be incorporated in future targeted prevention strategies and efforts and capitalize on the positive aspects of each to serve as protective factors.
Assessing the Optimum Use of Androgen-Deprivation Therapy in High-Risk Prostate Cancer Patients Undergoing External Beam Radiation Therapy
Authors: Ludwig Michelle S. , Kuban Deborah A. , Strom Sara S. , Du Xianglin L. , Lopez David S. , Yamal Jose-Miguel
Published: April 2015

The optimum use of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in high-risk prostate cancer patients has not been defined in the setting of dose-escalated external beam radiation therapy. A retrospective analysis of 1,290 patients with high-risk prostate cancer from June 1987 through March 2010 treated with external beam radiation therapy was performed. Median follow-up was 7.2 years, and 797 patients received ADT, with 384 patients experiencing a biochemical failure and 145 with distant metastasis. ADT was associated with lower risk of biochemical failure and distant metastasis than no ADT after adjusting for age, prostate-specific antigen (PSA), Gleason score, year of diagnosis, tumor stage, and radiation dose. ADT was associated with a greater reduction in biochemical failure in the low-dose radiation group than in the high-dose group. Patients with >24 months of ADT had a lower risk of PSA failures than those with <24 months. ADT was associated with decreased risk of biochemical failure and distant metastasis in all patients. The effect of ADT on reducing risk of biochemical failure was greater among men with low-dose radiation. There was a benefit in PSA and distant metastasis-free survival with >24 months of ADT in all patients who received ADT.
Chronic Dry Eye Symptoms after LASIK: Parallels and Lessons to be Learned from other Persistent Post-Operative Pain Disorders
Authors: Levitt Alexandra E , Galor Anat , Weiss Jayne S , Felix Elizabeth R , Martin Eden R , Patin Dennis J , Sarantopoulos Konstantinos D , Levitt Roy C
Published: April 2015

Laser in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK) is a commonly performed surgical procedure used to correct refractive error. LASIK surgery involves cutting a corneal flap and ablating the stroma underneath, with known damage to corneal nerves. Despite this, the epidemiology of persistent pain and other long-term outcomes after LASIK surgery are not well understood. Available data suggest that approximately 20–55% of patients report persistent eye symptoms (generally regarded as at least 6 months post-operation) after LASIK surgery. While it was initially believed that these symptoms were caused by ocular surface dryness, and referred to as “dry eye,” it is now increasingly understood that corneal nerve damage produced by LASIK surgery resembles the pathologic neuroplasticity associated with other forms of persistent post-operative pain. In susceptible patients, these neuropathological changes, including peripheral sensitization, central sensitization, and altered descending modulation, may underlie certain persistent dry eye symptoms after LASIK surgery. This review will focus on the known epidemiology of symptoms after LASIK and discuss mechanisms of persistent post-op pain due to nerve injury that may be relevant to these patients. Potential preventative and treatment options based on approaches used for other forms of persistent post-op pain and their application to LASIK patients are also discussed. Finally, the concept of genetic susceptibility to post-LASIK ocular surface pain is presented.
Ionizing radiation induced degradation of diuron in dilute aqueous solution
Authors: Kovács Krisztina , He Shijun , Mile Viktoria , Csay Tamás , Takács Erzsébet , Wojnárovits László
Published: April 2015

Background

Cutting edge technologies based on Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOP) are under development for the elimination of highly persistent organic molecules (like pesticides) from water matrices. Among them, ionizing radiation treatment represents a promising technology that requires no additives and can be easily adapted to an industrial scale. In these processes several reactive species are produced, mainly powerful oxidizing radicals inducing the degradation. This paper investigates the reactions taking place in dilute aqueous solutions of a hazardous pollutant (diuron) during irradiation.

Results

Irradiation of aqueous diuron solutions resulted in effective degradation of the solute mainly due to the reactions of hydroxyl radicals formed in water radiolysis. Hydroxyl radical reacts with diuron with a second order rate constant of (5.8 ± 0.3) × 109 mol−1 dm3 s−1. The main reaction is addition to the ring forming hydroxycyclohexadienyl radical. 30 − 50% of hydroxyl radical reactions induce dechlorination. Reactions with the methyl groups or with the α-amino group have low contribution to the transformation. The presence of dissolved oxygen enhances the rate of degradation; one hydroxyl radical on average induces five-electron oxidations. The high oxidation rate is attributed to the reaction of some of the primarily formed organic radicals with dissolved O2 and the subsequent reactions of the peroxy radicals.

Conclusion

The presence of dissolved oxygen is highly important to achieve efficient ionizing radiation induced degradation of diuron in dilute aqueous solution.
Age-dependent alteration of antioxidant defense system in hypertensive and type-2 diabetes patients
Authors: Okoduwa Stanley IR , Umar Ismaila A , Ibrahim Sani , Bello Fatima , Habila Nathan
Published: April 2015

Background

The association between hypertension and diabetes has been linked to increased oxidative stress with age. This study was to examine the level of age-dependent alterations in antioxidant defense system between patients having hypertension and/or type-2 diabetes.

Methods

The study was conducted at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria-Nigeria, using 200 Subjects recruited from the cardiology, endocrinology and outpatient clinics. They were divided into four groups of 50 subjects each, namely: Diabetic group (DG), hypertensive (HG) and hypertensive-diabetic group (HDG) as cases. The control group (CG) was non-diabetic normotensive subjects. They were all stratified into six age-ranges namely 20–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, 60–69, 70–79 years. Oxidative stress markers (lipid peroxidation, antioxidant vitamins and elements, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant) were measured in the blood sample collected from all subjects in each age group within the study groups.

Results

The results in the DG, HG and HDG, showed that the percentage decrease in enzymatic antioxidants and antioxidant vitamins with age were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than 10.8% and 20.0% respectively when compared to the CG, whereas, the level of decrease in serum Selenium at same age range was significantly higher than 52.8%. The level of lipid peroxidation in the cases was observed to be significantly (P < 0.05) higher than 89.9% when compared to the mean reference values (2.94 ± 0.05 nmol/ml) of the CG at same age range. Also, the decrease levels of endogenous antioxidants were observed to be directly related to aging.

Conclusion

The result obtained demonstrates the percentage age-dependent alteration in oxidative stress markers. The percentage decrease in the antioxidant levels during aging could be an explanation to the possible link, underlying the complication of type-2 diabetes and hypertension in this locale. Hence, antioxidants supplements may be useful in the management of the diseases during aging.
Use of mobile phone during pregnancy and the risk of spontaneous abortion
Authors: Mahmoudabadi Fatemeh Shamsi , Ziaei Saeideh , Firoozabadi Mohammad , Kazemnejad Anoshirvan
Published: April 2015

Background

Exposure to electromagnetic fields of cell phones increasingly occurs, but the potential influence on spontaneous abortion has not been thoroughly investigated.

Methods

In a case–control study, 292 women who had an unexplained spontaneous abortion at < 14 weeks gestation and 308 pregnant women > 14 weeks gestation were enrolled. Two data collection forms were completed; one was used to collect data about socioeconomic and obstetric characteristics, medical and reproductive history, and lifestyles. Another was used to collect data about the use of cell phones during pregnancy. For the consideration of cell phone effects, we measured the average calling time per day, the location of the cell phones when not in use, use of hands-free equipment, use of phones for other applications, the specific absorption rate (SAR) reported by the manufacturer and the average of the effective SAR (average duration of calling time per day × SAR). Analyses were carried out with statistical package state software(SPSS)v.16.

Results

All the data pertaining to mobile phones were different between the two groups except the use of hands free devices (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Our result suggests that use of mobile phones can be related to the early spontaneous abortions.
Real-time PCR analysis of fungal organisms and bacterial species at peri-implantitis sites
Authors: Schwarz Frank , Becker Kathrin , Rahn Sebastian , Hegewald Andrea , Pfeffer Klaus , Henrich Birgit
Published: April 2015

Background

The potential role of fungal organisms and their co-aggregation with either periodontopathogens or opportunistic pathogens at peri-implantitis sites is unknown. The aim of the present study was to qualitatively/quantitatively analyze and correlate fungal organisms and bacterial species at peri-implantitis sites.

Methods

In a total of 29 patients, submucosal/subgingival plaque samples were collected at peri-implantitis and healthy implant sites as well as teeth with a history of periodontitis (controls). A real-time PCR assay was established for the qualification of fungal organisms and a TaqMan assay for the quantification of Porphyromonas gingivalis, Parvimonas micra, Tannerella forsythia, Mycoplasma salivarium, Veillonella parvula, and Staphylococcus aureus.

Results

Fungal organisms were more frequently identified at peri-implantitis (31.6%) (i.e., Candida albicans, Candida boidinii, Penicillium spp., Rhodotorula laryngis, Paelicomyces spp., Saccharomycetes, Cladosporium cladosporioides) and healthy implant sites (40% - Candida dubliniensis, C. cladosporioides) than at selected teeth (20% - C. albicans, Fusarium solani). At implant sites, fungal organisms were significantly correlated with P. micra and T. forsythia.

Conclusions

Candida spp. and other fungal organisms were frequently identified at peri-implantitis as well as healthy implant sites and co-colonized with P. micra and T. forsythia.
On the Disorder Problem for a Negative Binomial Process
Authors: Buonaguidi Bruno , Muliere Pietro
Published: April 2015

We study the Bayesian disorder problem for a negative binomial process. The aim is to determine a stopping time which is as close as possible to the random and unknown moment at which a sequentially observed negative binomial process changes the value of its characterizing parameter p ∈ (0, 1). The solution to this problem is explicitly derived through the reduction of the original optimal stopping problem to an integro-differential free-boundary problem. A careful analysis of the free-boundary equation and of the probabilistic nature of the boundary point allows us to specify when the smooth fit principle holds and when it breaks down in favour of the continuous fit principle.
Deletion of the App-Runx1 region in mice models human partial monosomy 21
Authors: Arbogast Thomas , Raveau Matthieu , Chevalier Claire , Nalesso Valérie , Dembele Doulaye , Jacobs Hugues , Wendling Olivia , Roux Michel , Duchon Arnaud , Herault Yann
Published: April 2015

Partial monosomy 21 (PM21) is a rare chromosomal abnormality that is characterized by the loss of a variable segment along human chromosome 21 (Hsa21). The clinical phenotypes of this loss are heterogeneous and range from mild alterations to lethal consequences, depending on the affected region of Hsa21. The most common features include intellectual disabilities, craniofacial dysmorphology, short stature, and muscular and cardiac defects. As a complement to human genetic approaches, our team has developed new monosomic mouse models that carry deletions on Hsa21 syntenic regions in order to identify the dosage-sensitive genes that are responsible for the symptoms. We focus here on the Ms5Yah mouse model, in which a 7.7-Mb region has been deleted from the App to Runx1 genes. Ms5Yah mice display high postnatal lethality, with a few surviving individuals showing growth retardation, motor coordination deficits, and spatial learning and memory impairments. Further studies confirmed a gene dosage effect in the Ms5Yah hippocampus, and pinpointed disruptions of pathways related to cell adhesion (involving App, Cntnap5b, Lgals3bp, Mag, Mcam, Npnt, Pcdhb2, Pcdhb3, Pcdhb4, Pcdhb6, Pcdhb7, Pcdhb8, Pcdhb16 and Vwf). Our PM21 mouse model is the first to display morphological abnormalities and behavioural phenotypes similar to those found in affected humans, and it therefore demonstrates the major contribution that the App-Runx1 region has in the pathophysiology of PM21.