bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Compliance and Social Psychology
Authors: Mortensen Chad R. , Cialdini Robert B.
Published: October 2016

It is through the influence process that people generate and manage change. As such, it is important to understand fully the workings of the influence processes that produce compliance with requests for change. Fortunately, a vast body of scientific evidence exists on how, when, and why people comply with influence attempts. From this formidable body of work, one can extract six universal principles of influence that generate compliance in the widest range of circumstances. Reciprocation states that people are more willing to comply with requests (for favors, services, information, concessions, etc.) from those who have provided such things first. Commitment/Consistency states that people are more willing to be moved in a particular direction if they see it as consistent with an existing commitment. Authority states that people are more willing to follow the directions or recommendations of a communicator to whom they attribute relevant expertise. Social Proof states that people are more willing to take a recommended action if they see evidence that many others, especially similar others, are taking it. Scarcity states that people find objects and opportunities more attractive to the degree that they are scarce, rare, or dwindling in availability. Finally, Liking states that people prefer to say yes to those they like, such as those who are similar to them and who have complimented them.
Critical Literacy
Authors: Vasquez Vivian Maria
Published: October 2016

Changing student demographics, globalization, and flows of people resulting in classrooms where students have variable linguistic repertoire, in combination with new technologies, has resulted in new definitions of what it means to be literate and how to teach literacy. Today, more than ever, we need frameworks for literacy teaching and learning that can withstand such shifting conditions across time, space, place, and circumstance, and thrive in challenging conditions. Critical literacy is a theoretical and practical framework that can readily take on such challenges creating spaces for literacy work that can contribute to creating a more critically informed and just world. It begins with the roots of critical literacy and the Frankfurt School from the 1920s along with the work of Paulo Freire in the late 1940s (McLaren, 1999; Morrell, 2008) and ends with new directions in the field of critical literacy including finding new ways to engage with multimodalities and new technologies, engaging with spatiality- and place-based pedagogies, and working across the curriculum in the content areas in multilingual settings. Theoretical orientations and critical literacy practices are used around the globe along with models that have been adopted in various state jurisdictions such as Ontario, in Canada, and Queensland, in Australia.
Early Buddhism
Authors: Liu Xinru
Published: October 2016

South Asia around the mid-1st millennium bce was a politically and socially turbulent time. Siddhartha, a young man of the Shakya ganasanga, witnessed the cruelty of warfare and the rising social and economic disparity of his time. He realized that the world is full of suffering. This observation evolved into the foremost truth of his doctrine of the Four Noble Truths. This essay will attempt to vividly portray the world of Buddha. It was a world where Brahmans and rajas, merchants and bankers, scribes and artisans, servants and slaves, courtesans-cum-musicians and dancers, farmers and fishermen, and people from mountains and forests, all strived to further (or at least maintain) their place on the newly formed social hierarchy. Some of those from low castes and outside the social core managed to penetrate the mainstream, but some never made it. Others born from elite families were cast out. Meanwhile, the presence of Achaemenid Persian Empire in the northwest of the subcontinent during the Buddha’s time, followed by the establishment of Hellenistic states after Alexander’s invasion in the late 4th century bce, brought new waves of immigration—thus exchanges of goods and ideas—with west and central Asia. Buddhist sangha and other communities of dissidents were refuges for some of the more unfortunate men and women looking for sanctuary. Based on stories in early Buddhist texts, namely the Pali canon and contemporary Brahmana texts (along with inclusion of Buddhist artwork of his time and after, this article will attempt reconstruct the historical Buddha and the time in which he lived.
Maritime Archaeology of the Indian Ocean
Authors: Ray Himanshu Prabha
Published: October 2016

The interface between the sea and the land and the communities that have historically traversed the Indian Ocean form the focus of this article. Maritime communities have been sustained by a variety of occupations associated with the sea, such as fishing and harvesting other marine resources, pearling, salt making, sailing, trade, shipbuilding, piracy, and more. The communities of the sea negotiate land-based issues through a variety of strategies, which are evident in the archaeological record. Fishing as an adaptation dates to the prehistoric period, and fish remains have been found in abundance at several coastal prosites dating from the 5th millennium bce. In eastern Saudi Arabia, for example, they constitute 85 percent of the total faunal inventory at some sites.

A significant factor facilitating the integrative potential of these communities was their large cargo-carrying vessels, which not only facilitated transformation of the local settlements into centers of commerce and production, but also linked the local groups into regional and trans-regional networks. Underwater archaeology has contributed to an understanding of the boat-building traditions of the Indian Ocean, further supplemented by ethnographic studies of contemporary boat-building communities.

Monumental architecture along the coasts served dual functions. Not only did they provide spaces for the interaction of inland routes with those across the ocean, but the structures themselves were also used as major orientation points by watercraft while approaching land. The larger issue addressed underscores the need to include coastal structures such as wharfs, forts, shrines, and archaeological sites as a part of the maritime heritage and to aid in their preservation for posterity.
The Yuezhi
Authors: Benjamin Craig
Published: October 2016

The Inner Eurasian nomadic confederation known in ancient Chinese sources as the Yuezhi were probably descended from Indo-European-speaking pastoral nomads who migrated eastward away from the original homeland of all Indo-European-speakers sometime during the Bronze Ages. The ancestors of the Yuezhi may have been members of the Afanasevo culture who eventually settled in the modern Chinese provinces of Xinjiang and Gansu, and spoke the Indo-European language branch of Tocharian. The ruling dynasty (the core Yuezhi) established a wealthy semi-sedentary pastoralist confederation, based on the export of jade and horses to Zhou dynasty China, and became powerful enough to treat their militarized nomadic neighbors the Wusun and Xiongnu with “contempt.” This remained the situation until the 2nd century bce, when, according to Han dynasty annals, the resurgent Xiongnu were able to defeat the Yuezhi and force them to migrate away from their homeland. Following a thirty-year migration, the Yuezhi resettled in northern Bactria and by a century or so later they had reinvented themselves as the embryonic Kushan empire.

These events were bound up with broader cultural and political developments in ancient Inner Eurasia that demonstrate the particular interconnectedness of historical processes in that region. The Yuezhi were well known to a range of contiguous peoples (generally by variants of the appellation “Tocharian”) and the events in which they found themselves involved, particularly during the 2nd century bce, were to have a profound effect on the subsequent political, military, and cultural development of much of Inner Eurasia. In particular, the “domino-effect” of their migration led to significant changes in the broader Eurasian polity, affecting the Han Chinese, Xiongnu, Wusun, Saka, Sogdians, and Bactrian Greeks. Because of these consequences, and their role in establishing the Kushan Empire, the great facilitators of Silk Roads trade and exchange, the Yuezhi must be regarded as one of the most significant of all Inner Eurasian pastoral nomadic confederations.
African Religion and Healing in the Atlantic Diaspora
Authors: Janzen John M.
Published: October 2016

Religion and healing are useful scholarly constructs in summarizing, consolidating, and interpreting a myriad of details from the historic African-Atlantic experience. For heuristic purposes, religion is understood as the worldviews, rituals, and supernatural beings that represent ultimate reality; healing is the understanding of, and responses to, affliction and misfortune, and the struggle to achieve wholeness. Combining religion and healing in an overview of the African diaspora experience will consider the following: original African worlds in four regional contexts in Western and Western Central Africa (e.g., Senegambia, Upper Guinea, Southern Guinea, Kongo-Angola); the traumatic middle passage refracted in the “broken mirrors” of memory; how this memory is mixed and reinterpreted with the New World experience of slave markets, plantations, maroon settlements, and during post-slavery, post-empire times; scholarly models of continuity and transformation; and modern constructions of religion and healing.
Martin Luther and Ontology
Authors: Bielfeldt Dennis
Published: October 2016

Although many have interpreted Luther as “anti-metaphysical” and therefore unconcerned with the question of being, careful scrutiny of his texts shows otherwise. Trained at Erfurt to read Aristotle in the via moderna tradition, Luther did have ontological and semantic convictions that are displayed throughout his work, but especially in his disputations dealing with Trinitarian, Christological and soteriological issues. While rejecting as idolatrous the human attempt to grasp the summum bonum through natural reason, Luther nonetheless assumed that God’s revelation in Christ has ontological implications.

The Finnish School of Luther interpretation, founded by Tuomo Mannermaa, has done a great service for Luther research by highlighting the motifs in Luther of Christ’s real presence in the justified believer and the presence of God’s love in faith. Although the Aristotelian categories available to Luther were inadequate for conceiving the paradoxical presence of the infinite in the finite, Luther did not thereby adopt a relational ontology more characteristic of the late 19th century than of his own time. Instead, he simply regarded as true what his philosophical categories could not fully conceive: just as God became a human being while remaining God, so too do humans become God while remaining human. While the Finnish scholarship highlights Luther’s use of participatio in speaking of the presence of the divine in the justified believer, Luther did not mean thereby that human beings are essentially transformed into God, but rather that they are, in faith, profoundly interpenetrated by the divine.

Luther’s discussion of the nova lingua of theology connects to the “real-ontic” presence of Christ in the believer. As a good nominalist, Luther understood that sentential truth presupposes ontology. While everyday language, the language of philosophy generally, has truth conditions that can be articulated in terms of the existence of particular substances and their particular qualities, things are not so clear for the language of theology that speaks of the Trinity, incarnation, and the presence of God in the world and particularly in the life of the believer. How is this language constituted so that the real presence of the divine can be spoken with meaning and truth? While Luther assumes the extensionalism of nominalism when speaking philosophically, it is not clear that this is the case when he speaks theologically. Luther understands that language itself must be profoundly changed in order to grasp and state the reality of the infinite in the finite. Whether this change can be understood on the horizon of an extensionalist semantics is an open question.
Korean Phonetics and Phonology
Authors: Yu Cho Young-mee
Published: October 2016

Due to a number of unusual and interesting properties, Korean phonetics and phonology have been generating productive discussion within modern linguistic theories, starting from structuralism, moving to classical generative grammar, and more recently to post-generative frameworks of Autosegmental Theory, Government Phonology, Optimality Theory, and others. In addition, it has been discovered that a description of important issues of phonology cannot be properly made without referring to the interface between phonetics and phonology on the one hand, and phonology and morpho-syntax on the other. Some phonological issues from Standard Korean are still under debate and will likely be of value in helping to elucidate universal phonological properties with regard to phonation contrast, vowel and consonant inventories, consonantal markedness, and the motivation for prosodic organization in the lexicon.
Palaeotsunamis
Authors: Goff James
Published: October 2016

How big, how often, and where from? This is almost a mantra for researchers trying to understand tsunami hazard and risk. What we do know is that events such as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami (2004 IOT) caught scientists by surprise, largely because there was no “research memory” of past events for that region, and as such, there was no hazard awareness, no planning, no risk assessment, and no disaster risk reduction. Forewarned is forearmed, but to be in that position, we have to be able to understand the evidence left behind by past events—palaeootsunamis—and to have at least some inkling of what generated them.

While the 2004 IOT was a devastating wake-up call for science, we need to bear in mind that palaeotsunami research was still in its infancy at the time. What we now see is still a comparatively new discipline that is practiced worldwide, but as the “new kid on the block,” there are still many unknowns. What we do know is that in many cases, there is clear evidence of multiple palaeotsunamis generated by a variety of source mechanisms. There is a suite of proxy data—a toolbox, if you will—that can be used to identify a palaeotsunami deposit in the sedimentary record. Things are never quite as simple as they sound, though, and there are strong divisions within the research community as to whether one can really differentiate between a palaeotsunami and a palaeostorm deposit, and whether proxies as such are the way to go. As the discipline matures, though, many of these issues are being resolved, and indeed we have now arrived at a point where we have the potential to detect “invisible deposits” laid down by palaeotsunamis once they have run out of sediment to lay down as they move inland. As such, we are on the brink of being able to better understand the full extent of inundation by past events, a valuable tool in gauging the magnitude of palaeotsunamis.

Palaeotsunami research is multidisciplinary, and as such, it is a melting pot of different scientific perspectives, which leads to rapid innovations. Basically, whatever is associated with modern events may be reflected in prehistory. Also, palaeotsunamis are often part of a landscape response pushed beyond an environmental threshold from which it will never fully recover, but that leaves indelible markers for us to read. In some cases, we do not even need to find a palaeotsunami deposit to know that one happened.
Vermiculture in Greenhouse Plants, Field Crop Production, and Hydroponics
Authors: Arancon Norman Q. , Solarte Zachary
Published: October 2016

Vermiculture is the art, science, and industry of raising earthworms for baits, feeds, and composting of organic wastes. Composting through the action of earthworms and microogranisms is commonly referred to as vermicomposting. Vermiculture is an art because the technology of raising earthworms requires a comprehensive understanding of the basic requirements for growing earthworms in order to design the space and the system by which organic wastes can be processed efficiently and successfully. It is a science because the technology requires a critical understanding and consideration of the climatic requirements, nutritional needs, growth cycles, taxonomy, and species of earthworms suitable for vermicomposting in order to develop a working system that supports earthworm populations to process successfully the intended organic wastes. The nature of the organic wastes also needs to be taken into careful consideration, especially its composition, size, moisture content, and nutritional value, which will eventually determine the overall quality of the vermicomposts produced. The quality of organic wastes also determines the ability of the earthworms to consume and process them, and the rate by which they turn these wastes into valuable organic amendments. The science of vermiculture extends beyond raising earthworms. There are several lines of evidence that vermicomposts affect plant growth significantly. Vermiculture is an industry because it has evolved from a basic household bin technology to commercially scaled systems in which economic activities emanate from the cost and value of obtaining raw materials, the building of systems, and the utilization and marketing of the products, be they in solid or aqueous extract forms. Economic returns are carefully valued from the production phase to its final utilization as an organic amendment for crops.

The discussion revolves around the development of vermiculture as an art, a science, and an industry. It traces the early development of vermicomposting, which was used to manage organic wastes that were considered environmentally hazardous when disposed of improperly. It also presents the vermicomposting process, including its basic requirements, technology involved, and product characteristics, both in solid form and as a liquid extract. Research reports from different sources on the performance of the products are also provided. The discussion attempts to elucidate the mechanisms involved in plant growth and yield promotion and the suppression of pests and diseases. Certain limitations and challenges that the technology faces are presented as well.
Improving protein disorder prediction by deep bidirectional long short-term memory recurrent neural networks
Authors: Hanson Jack , Yang Yuedong , Paliwal Kuldip , Zhou Yaoqi
Published: October 2016

Motivation

Capturing long-range interactions between structural but not sequence neighbors of proteins is a long-standing challenging problem in bioinformatics. Recently, long short-term memory (LSTM) networks have significantly improved the accuracy of speech and image classification problems by remembering useful past information in long sequential events. Here, we have implemented deep bidirectional LSTM recurrent neural networks in the problem of protein intrinsic disorder prediction.

Results

The new method, named SPOT-Disorder, has steadily improved over a similar method using a traditional, window-based neural network (SPINE-D) in all datasets tested without separate training on short and long disordered regions. Independent tests on four other datasets including the datasets from critical assessment of structure prediction (CASP) techniques and >10 000 annotated proteins from MobiDB, confirmed SPOT-Disorder as one of the best methods in disorder prediction. Moreover, initial studies indicate that the method is more accurate in predicting functional sites in disordered regions. These results highlight the usefulness combining LSTM with deep bidirectional recurrent neural networks in capturing non-local, long-range interactions for bioinformatics applications.

Availability and Implementation

SPOT-disorder is available as a web server and as a standalone program at: http://sparks-lab.org/server/SPOT-disorder/index.php.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data is available at Bioinformatics online.
HYSYS: have you swapped your samples?
Authors: Schröder Jan , Corbin Vincent , Papenfuss Anthony T
Published: October 2016

Motivation

The application of a genomics assay to samples from a cohort is a frequently applied experimental design in cancer genomics studies. The collection and analysis of cancer sequencing data in the clinical setting is an elaborate process that may involve consenting patients, obtaining possibly-multiple DNA samples, sequencing and analysis. Many of these steps are manual. At any stage mistakes can occur that cause a DNA sample to be labelled incorrectly. However, there is a paucity of methods in the literature to identify such swaps specifically in cancer studies.

Results

Here, we introduce a simple method, HYSYS, to estimate the relatedness of samples and test for sample swaps and contamination. The test uses the concordance of homozygous SNPs between samples. The method is motivated by the observation that homozygous germline population variants rarely change in the disease and are not affected by loss of heterozygosity. Our tools include visualization and a testing framework to flag possible sample swaps. We demonstrate the utility of this approach on a small cohort.

Availability and Implementation

http://github.com/PapenfussLab/HaveYouSwappedYourSamples

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
ALTRE: workflow for defining ALTered Regulatory Elements using chromatin accessibility data
Authors: Baskin Elizabeth , Farouni Rick , Mathé Ewy A
Published: October 2016

Regulatory elements regulate gene transcription, and their location and accessibility is cell-type specific, particularly for enhancers. Mapping and comparing chromatin accessibility between different cell types may identify mechanisms involved in cellular development and disease progression. To streamline and simplify differential analysis of regulatory elements genome-wide using chromatin accessibility data, such as DNase-seq, ATAC-seq, we developed ALTRE (ALTered Regulatory Elements), an R package and associated R Shiny web app. ALTRE makes such analysis accessible to a wide range of users—from novice to practiced computational biologists.

Availability and Implementation

https://github.com/Mathelab/ALTRE

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Extraction of microplastic from biota: recommended acidic digestion destroys common plastic polymers
Authors: Enders Kristina , Lenz Robin , Beer Sabrina , Stedmon Colin A.
Published: October 2016

The chemical digestion of tissue from marine biota for microplastic analysis is currently conducted following a variety of protocols published in scientific literature. Often there is a lack of information on whether and to which degree the applied chemicals are destructive to microplastic particles of various polymer types. In the present study we report that a digestion protocol recently recommended by ICES using nitric and perchloric acid has strong detrimental effects on several common plastic polymers, in particular polyamide and polyurethane and to a lesser degree acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polymethyl methacrylate and polyvinylchloride. Raman spectroscopic measurements revealed changes in peak occurrence and intensity for several polymers that did not otherwise show visual macroscopic changes. We developed and tested an alkaline digestion protocol in order to preserve small microplastic particles while removing organic tissue material. We recommend this method for the development of guidelines for plastic microplastic monitoring in biota.
Differential Weighting for Subcomponent Measures of Integrated Clinical Encounter Scores Based on the USMLE Step 2 CS Examination: Effects on Composite Score Reliability and Pass–Fail Decisions
Authors: Park Yoon Soo , Lineberry Matthew , Hyderi Abbas , Bordage Georges , Xing Kuan , Yudkowsky Rachel
Published: October 2016

Purpose

Medical schools administer locally developed graduation competency examinations (GCEs) following the structure of the United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 2 Clinical Skills that combine standardized patient (SP)-based physical examination and the patient note (PN) to create integrated clinical encounter (ICE) scores. This study examines how different subcomponent scoring weights in a locally developed GCE affect composite score reliability and pass–fail decisions for ICE scores, contributing to internal structure and consequential validity evidence.

Method

Data from two M4 cohorts (2014: n = 177; 2015: n = 182) were used. The reliability of SP encounter (history taking and physical examination), PN, and communication and interpersonal skills scores were estimated with generalizability studies. Composite score reliability was estimated for varying weight combinations. Faculty were surveyed for preferred weights on the SP encounter and PN scores. Composite scores based on Kane’s method were compared with weighted mean scores.

Results

Faculty suggested weighting PNs higher (60%–70%) than the SP encounter scores (30%–40%). Statistically, composite score reliability was maximized when PN scores were weighted at 40% to 50%. Composite score reliability of ICE scores increased by up to 0.20 points when SP–history taking (SP-Hx) scores were included; excluding SP-Hx only increased composite score reliability by 0.09 points. Classification accuracy for pass–fail decisions between composite and weighted mean scores was 0.77; misclassification was < 5%.

Conclusions

Medical schools and certification agencies should consider implications of assigning weights with respect to composite score reliability and consequences on pass–fail decisions.
The Impact of Emotion on Learners’ Application of Basic Science Principles to Novel Problems
Authors: McConnell Meghan M. , Monteiro Sandra , Pottruff Molly M. , Neville Alan , Norman Geoff R. , Eva Kevin W. , Kulasegaram Kulamakan
Published: October 2016

Purpose

Training to become a physician is an emotionally laden experience. Research in cognitive psychology indicates that emotions can influence learning and performance, but the materials used in such research (e.g., word lists) rarely reflect the complexity of material presented in medical school. The present study examined whether emotions influence learning of basic science principles.

Method

Fifty-five undergraduate psychology students were randomly assigned to write about positive, negative, or neutral life events for nine minutes. Participants were then taught three physiological concepts, each in the context of a single organ system. Testing consisted of 13 clinical cases, 7 presented with the same concept/organ system pairing used during training (“near transfer”) and 6 with novel pairings (“far transfer”). Testing was repeated after one week with 13 additional cases.

Results

Forty-nine students provided complete data. Higher test scores were found when the concept/organ system pairing was held constant (near transfer = 51% correct vs. far = 33%; P < .001). Emotion condition influenced participants’ overall performance, with individuals in the neutral condition (50.1%) performing better than those in the positive (38.2%, P < .05) and negative (37.7%, P < .001) emotion conditions.

Conclusions

These data suggest that regardless of whether the emotion is positive or negative, mild affective states can impair learning of basic science concepts by novices. Demands on working memory and subsequent cognitive load provide a potential explanation. Future work will examine the extent to which these findings generalize to medical trainees.
The Perils and Rewards of Critical Consciousness Raising in Medical Education
Authors: Bleakley Alan
Published: October 2016

Inequalities in society are reflected in patterns of disease and access to health care, where the disadvantaged suffer most. Traditionally, doctors have kept politics out of their work, even though politics often shape medicine. What political responsibilities, then, should doctors have as they facilitate the learning of medical students? The article in this issue by Kumagai, Jackson, and Razack goes straight to the heart of this question. These authors ask whether educators should be wary of “cutting close to the bone” in discussing issues that may restimulate trauma in some medical students.

Kumagai and colleagues suggest that it is actually the ethical responsibility of educators to introduce students to discomfort as a means of raising students’ critical consciousness or their ability to sensitively gauge the positions of others and to engage in dialogue to address issues such as inequality and inequity so that previously silent and silenced voices can be heard. The author of this Commentary expands on this argument, further supporting the need to democratize medical culture and politicize doctors. Educators, as expert facilitators of this new critical consciousness raising, must create safe spaces for students to work through issues to avoid educational iatrogenesis. Such an approach to medical education is an extension of the traditional art of medicine, at the core of which are patient care and tolerance. Ethics, aesthetics, and politics can come together in such a reflexive medicine curriculum.
Becoming a Doctor in Different Cultures: Toward a Cross-Cultural Approach to Supporting Professional Identity Formation in Medicine
Authors: Helmich Esther , Yeh Huei-Ming , Kalet Adina , Al-Eraky Mohamed
Published: October 2016

Becoming a doctor is fundamentally about developing a new, professional identity as a physician, which in and of itself may evoke many emotions. Additionally, medical trainees are increasingly moving from one cultural context to another and are challenged with navigating the resulting shifts in their professional identify. In this Article, the authors aim to address medical professional identity formation from a polyvocal, multidisciplinary, cross-cultural perspective. They delineate the cultural approaches to medical professionalism, reflect on professional identity formation in different cultures and on different theories of identity development, and advocate for a context-specific approach to professional identity formation. In doing so, the authors aim to broaden the developing professional identity formation discourse to include non-Western approaches and notions.
Interprofessional Team Training at the Prelicensure Level: A Review of the Literature
Authors: Nelson Sioban , White Catriona F. , Hodges Brian D. , Tassone Maria
Published: October 2016

Purpose

The authors undertook a descriptive analysis review to gain a better understanding of the various approaches to and outcomes of team training initiatives in prelicensure curricula since 2000.

Method

In July and August 2014, the authors searched the MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase, Business Source Premier, and CINAHL databases to identify evaluative studies of team training programs’ effects on the team knowledge, communication, and skills of prelicensure students published from 2000 to August 2014. The authors identified 2,568 articles, with 17 studies meeting the selection criteria for full text review.

Results

The most common study designs were single-group, pre/posttest studies (n = 7), followed by randomized controlled or comparison trials (n = 6). The Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation communication tool (n = 5); crisis resource management principles (n = 6); and high-fidelity simulation (n = 4) were the most common curriculum bases used. Over half of the studies (n = 9) performed training with students from more than one health professions program. All but three used team performance assessments, with most (n = 8) using observed behavior checklists created for that specific study. The majority of studies (n = 16) found improvements in team knowledge, communication, and skills.

Conclusions

Team training appears effective in improving team knowledge, communication, and skills in prelicensure learners. Continued exploration of the best method of team training is necessary to determine the most effective way to move forward in prelicensure interprofessional team education.
Development and Validation of the Beliefs About Personal Weight Survey Among African American Women
Authors: Pickett Stephanie , Peters Rosalind M. , Templin Thomas
Published: October 2016

The purpose of this study was to develop the Beliefs about Personal Weight Survey among African American women. Sixty-five items were developed from literature and sample participants to characterize beliefs about personal weight in 3 domains: descriptors, causes, and consequences. The items were administered to 150 community-dwelling African American women, 18 to 40 years old, recruited from 5 sites. Factor analysis supported a 4-factor solution with the following dimensions: overweight acceptance, overweight concern, conventional weight regulation, and circumstantial weight regulation. These factors were significantly associated with weight management behaviors and body mass index. Profile analysis indicated distinct factor belief profiles by 3 weight categories.
Comparison of daytime and after-hours surgical treatment of supracondylar humeral fractures in children
Authors: Aydoğmuş Suavi , Duymuş Tahir Mutlu , Keçeci Tolga , Adiyeke Levent , Kafadar Adnan B.
Published: October 2016

Reports on different types of surgical procedures show that night-time surgeries are often associated with a high number of complications than daytime surgeries. However, there are no data, and hence evidence that relate the outcome of supracondylar humeral fractures in children to the time of the day when the respective surgical procedure is implemented. In this study, we analyze the clinical and radiological outcomes of pediatric supracondylar humeral fractures surgically treated during daytime and night-time hours. In total, 91 patients with Gartland type-3 fractures were included; 47 patients treated between 0800 and 1700 h were defined as the daytime group and 44 patients treated between 1701 and 0759 h were defined as the after-hours group. Age, sex, affected side, fracture type, and day and time of operation were recorded. Any preoperative neurovascular injuries, open fractures, or ipsilateral fractures were noted. The surgical method, use of a medial pin or pins, operation time, any postoperative neurovascular complications, extent of successful reduction, fixation rate, any resultant deformity, and functional loss rate were evaluated. The two groups did not differ significantly in terms of operation time, open reduction rate, rate of poor reduction, extent of poor functional outcomes, or induction of deformity (P>0.05). The poor fixation rate was significantly greater in the after-hours group than in the daytime group (P<0.05). No significant between-group differences were evident in age, sex, affected side, or length of postoperative follow-up (all P-values>0.05). After-hours treatment of displaced supracondylar humeral fractures in children is associated with a higher poor fixation rate compared with daytime procedures. Level of evidence: therapeutic study (retrospective comparative study), Level III.
Factors That Predict Risk of Cervical Instability in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients
Authors: Han Myung-Hoon , Ryu Je Il , Kim Choong Hyun , Kim Jae Min , Cheong Jin Hwan , Bak Koang Hum , Chun Hyoung Joon , Yi Hyeong-Joong , Jun Jae Bum , Chung Jae Woo
Published: October 2016

Study Design.

Retrospective data analysis.

Objective.

To identify factors affecting the atlantodental interval, the Ranawat value, and subaxial translation after rheumatoid arthritis (RA) diagnosis. In addition, factors predictive for cervical spine instability (CSI) development after RA diagnosis were examined.

Summary of Background Data.

Development of CSI affects the prognosis and mortality of RA patients. Previous studies described that obesity is associated with reduced radiographic joint damage in RA patients. We hypothesized that body mass index (BMI) is also associated with radiographic cervical damage in RA patients.

Methods.

Cervical radiographs were taken at full flexion, neutral position, and full extension to measure the geometric length of the anterior atlantodental interval, the Ranawat value, and subaxial translation. These values were entered into multivariable linear regression analysis based on potential associated factors. Hazard ratios were calculated to identify independent factors predictive of CSI.

Results.

Of the patients diagnosed with RA between January 2005 and August 2015, 1611 who underwent at least one cervical radiograph were included. After adjusting for sex, age, BMI category, CSI, rheumatoid factor, and RA medication, multivariate analysis revealed that the risk of atlantoaxial subluxation in the underweight and normal BMI groups was about 1.6-fold (hazard ratio, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.10–2.43; P = 0.015) and 1.7-fold higher, respectively, than that in the obese group, and that the risk of vertical subluxation was about 2.5-fold (hazard ratio, 2.52; 95% CI, 1.32–4.83; P = 0.005) higher in the underweight group than in the obese group. We also found that the rheumatoid factor positivity was a predictive risk factor for CSI development.

Conclusion.

We identified risk factors predictive for CSI occurrence after RA diagnosis through cervical radiograph assessment. We found that BMI was an independent predictor for development of CSI. Further large-scale prospective studies are required to confirm these findings.

Level of Evidence: 3
Stand-alone Lateral Recess Decompression Without Discectomy in Patients Presenting With Claudicant Radicular Pain and MRI Evidence of Lumbar Disc Herniation
Authors: Kulkarni Arvind G. , Patel Ravish , Dutta Shumayou , Patil Vishwanath
Published: October 2016

Study Design.

A prospective study.

Objective.

The aim of this study was to analyze the outcomes of stand-alone lateral recess decompression without discectomy in patients with claudicant radicular pain and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showing LRS (lateral recess stenosis) with lumbar disc herniation.

Summary of Background Data.

Discectomy is the gold standard treatment for symptomatic lumbar disc herniations refractory to conservative care. Typically, patients with positive SLR (Straight leg raising test) and flexion dominant leg pain are the ideal candidates who can be benefited from discectomy. There is a subset of patients with morphological features of lumbar disc herniation with LRS on MRI and presenting with diametrically opposite symptoms such as claudicant leg pain, extension dominant leg pain, relief on flexion, and a negative SLR. Until now, no focused prospective study in the literature highlights stand-alone lateral recess decompression in this group of patients.

Methods.

From January 2007 to June 2013, 55 patients having unilateral claudicant radicular pain were selected to undergo stand-alone lateral recess decompression with tubular retractors. Intraoperatively, disc consistency and presence of sequestrated fragments were analyzed. Visual Analogue Scale (VASleg), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) score, and Macnab criteria were used to measure outcomes.

Results.

Out of 55 patients, stand-alone lateral recess decompression was successfully executed in 51 patients and remaining four patients had sequestrated discs that required removal. Mean age at presentation was 54.5 years (41–67 years), male:female ratio was 1.12:1, and mean follow-up was 3.8 years (3–5.8 years). Significant improvement (P < 0.0001) was noticed between preoperative and postoperative VASleg score (8.39 ± 0.84 vs. 2.5 ± 0.48) and ODI score (46.79 ± 1.85 vs. 18.71 ± 2.41). As per Macnab criteria, 94% patients were satisfied with surgery.

Conclusion.

Stand-alone lateral recess decompression without discectomy is clinically effective for a large majority of patients with claudicant radicular pain and MRI evidence of LRS with associated lumbar disc herniation. The ability to perform it with minimal invasive techniques makes it focused and targeted with minimal morbidity.

Level of Evidence: 4
Development of a Web Exercise Video for Patients With Shoulder Problems
Authors: Park Kyung Hye , Song Mi Ryeong
Published: October 2016

The purpose of this study was to develop a Web video designed to promote regular shoulder joint exercise on a continuous basis among patients with shoulder joint disease. This is a methodological research. A shoulder joint exercise video was developed through the five stages of the ADDIE model: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. The video demonstrates exercises that stretch and strengthen the joints and muscles of the shoulders. Stretching exercises include the pendulum, forward elevation, outer rotation, crossover arm stretch, inner rotation, and the sleeper; strengthening exercises include dumbbell exercises, a chair exercise, wall push-ups, and rowing. This Web exercise video can be used as an educational resource for preventing shoulder joint diseases by middle-aged and elderly people and those seeking to restore shoulder joint function damaged by shoulder joint diseases.
Haemorrhage at caesarean section: a framework for prevention and research
Authors: Jardine Jennifer E. , Law Penny , Hogg Matthew , Murphy Deirdre , Khan Khalid S.
Published: October 2016

Purpose of review

Caesarean section rates are increasing across the world. Postpartum haemorrhage is a major cause of morbidity and mortality; major haemorrhage is more common after caesarean delivery. There is a wide range of practice in the prevention and treatment of postpartum haemorrhage at caesarean section. The aim of this review is to summarize current opinion in the management of postpartum haemorrhage at caesarean section.

Recent findings

Recent large randomized controlled trials have shown a possible effect from the routine use of tranexamic acid and ergometrine. Small randomized controlled trials have shown a possible benefit from using carbetocin.

The impact of postpartum haemorrhage can be reduced by antenatal correction of anaemia. Intraoperative medical management consists of oxytocinon, additional oxytocics +/− tranexamic acid, with at present limited evidence as to the order in which these should be considered. Trials of routine use of cell salvage and tranexamic acid are currently underway.
Utility of Indocyanine Green Angiography in Arterial Selection during Free Flap Harvest in Patients with Severe Peripheral Vascular Disease
Authors: Maxwell Anne K. , Deleyiannis Frederic W.-B.
Published: October 2016

Indocyanine green angiography (SPY) was used to guide arterial selection for an anterolateral thigh free flap in the setting of severe peripheral vascular disease. SPY technology serves as a novel and sensitive intraoperative tool to predict decreased tissue perfusion from vessel sacrifice for flap harvest. Change in SPY time parameters measuring superficial blood flow distal to the donor site while temporarily intraoperatively clamping different possible arterial pedicles can optimize free flap design to avoid iatrogenic critical limb ischemia.
Hospital cultural competency as a systematic organizational intervention
Authors: Weech-Maldonado Robert , Dreachslin Janice L. , Epané Josué Patien , Gail Judith , Gupta Shivani , Wainio Joyce Anne
Published: October 2016

Background:

Cultural competency or the ongoing capacity of health care systems to provide for high-quality care to diverse patient populations (National Quality Forum, 2008) has been proposed as an organizational strategy to address disparities in quality of care, patient experience, and workforce representation. But far too many health care organizations still do not treat cultural competency as a business imperative and driver of strategy.

Purposes:

The aim of the study was to examine the impact of a systematic, multifaceted, and organizational level cultural competency initiative on hospital performance metrics at the organizational and individual levels.

Methodology/Approach:

This demonstration project employs a pre–post control group design. Two hospital systems participated in the study. Within each system, two hospitals were selected to serve as the intervention and control hospitals. Executive leadership (C-suite) and all staff at one general medical/surgical nursing unit at the intervention hospitals experienced a systematic, planned cultural competency intervention. Assessments and interventions focused on three organizational level competencies of cultural competency (diversity leadership, strategic human resource management, and patient cultural competency) and three individual level competencies (diversity attitudes, implicit bias, and racial/ethnic identity status). In addition, we evaluated the impact of the intervention on diversity climate and workforce diversity.

Findings:

Overall performance improvement was greater in each of the two intervention hospitals than in the control hospital within the same health care system. Both intervention hospitals experienced improvements in the organizational level competencies of diversity leadership and strategic human resource management. Similarly, improvements were observed in the individual level competencies for diversity attitudes and implicit bias for Blacks among the intervention hospitals. Furthermore, intervention hospitals outperformed their respective control hospitals with respect to diversity climate.

Practice Implications:

A focused and systematic approach to organizational change when coupled with interventions that encourage individual growth and development may be an effective approach to building culturally competent health care organizations.
Professional networks and the alignment of individual perceptions about medical innovation
Authors: Iacopino Valentina , Mascia Daniele , Cicchetti Americo
Published: October 2016

Background:

In recent decades, the role of technology in health care organizations has become increasingly relevant because it enhances health care outcomes and the achievement of clinical goals. Extant research demonstrates that the effectiveness of a medical innovation depends largely on health care professionals’ perceptions of its usefulness and impact on their activities and practices. We also know that interaction among social actors contributes to the shaping of their judgments and opinions regarding innovation.

Purpose:

This study investigated the role of professionals’ social networks and social capital in the formation of similar individual perceptions about a highly innovative robotic surgical system.

Methodology:

We collected data from a sample of 50 professionals, including both physicians and nurses, working in three hospital wards belonging to an Italian hospital organization. Using a survey, we gathered data on professionals’ demographic characteristics, the adoption and impact of the new technology, and social networks. We tested our hypotheses using a dyadic perspective and logistic regression quadratic assignment procedures.

Findings:

Our findings document that professionals’ perceptions regarding technological change were more likely to be similar when they were connected and exhibited similarity in some social capital characteristics and adoption behavior.

Practice Implications:

These results have important implications for health care executives and administrators, as well as for health professionals characterized by high degrees of autonomy and for which organizational change can be affected by professional or organizational resistance.