bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ex vivo MR volumetry of human brain hemispheres
Authors: Kotrotsou Aikaterini , Bennett David A. , Schneider Julie A. , Dawe Robert J. , Golak Tom , Leurgans Sue E. , Yu Lei , Arfanakis Konstantinos
Published: February 2013

Purpose

The aims of this work were to (a) develop an approach for ex vivo MR volumetry of human brain hemispheres that does not contaminate the results of histopathological examination, (b) longitudinally assess regional brain volumes postmortem, and (c) investigate the relationship between MR volumetric measurements performed in vivo and ex vivo.

Methods

An approach for ex vivo MR volumetry of human brain hemispheres was developed. Five hemispheres from elderly subjects were imaged ex vivo longitudinally. All datasets were segmented. The longitudinal behavior of volumes measured ex vivo was assessed. The relationship between in vivo and ex vivo volumetric measurements was investigated in seven elderly subjects imaged both antemortem and postmortem.

Results

This approach for ex vivo MR volumetry did not contaminate the results of histopathological examination. For a period of 6 months postmortem, within‐subject volume variation across time points was substantially smaller than intersubject volume variation. A close linear correspondence was detected between in vivo and ex vivo volumetric measurements.

Conclusion

Regional brain volumes measured with this approach for ex vivo MR volumetry remain relatively unchanged for a period of 6 months postmortem. Furthermore, the linear relationship between in vivo and ex vivo MR volumetric measurements suggests that this approach captures information linked to antemortem macrostructural brain characteristics. Magn Reson Med 71:364–374, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Spiral trajectory design: A flexible numerical algorithm and base analytical equations
Authors: Pipe James G. , Zwart Nicholas R.
Published: February 2013

Purpose

Spiral‐based trajectories for magnetic resonance imaging can be advantageous, but are often cumbersome to design or create. This work presents a flexible numerical algorithm for designing trajectories based on explicit definition of radial undersampling, and also gives several analytical expressions for charactering the base (critically sampled) class of these trajectories.

Theory and Methods

Expressions for the gradient waveform, based on slew and amplitude limits, are developed such that a desired pitch in the spiral k‐space trajectory is followed. The source code for this algorithm, written in C, is publicly available. Analytical expressions approximating the spiral trajectory (ignoring the radial component) are given to characterize measurement time, gradient heating, maximum gradient amplitude, and off‐resonance phase for slew‐limited and gradient amplitude‐limited cases. Several numerically calculated trajectories are illustrated, and base Archimedean spirals are compared with analytically obtained results.

Results

Several different waveforms illustrate that the desired slew and amplitude limits are reached, as are the desired undersampling patterns, using the numerical method. For base Archimedean spirals, the results of the numerical and analytical approaches are in good agreement.

Conclusion

A versatile numerical algorithm was developed, and was written in publicly available code. Approximate analytical formulas are given that help characterize spiral trajectories. Magn Reson Med 71:278–285, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Orthogonalizing crusher and diffusion‐encoding gradients to suppress undesired echo pathways in the twice‐refocused spin echo diffusion sequence
Authors: Nagy Zoltán , Thomas David L. , Weiskopf Nikolaus
Published: February 2013

Purpose

The twice‐refocused spin echo sequence is widely used in diffusion imaging due to its excellent performance in reducing eddy currents. The three radio frequency pulses give rise to eight separate signal pathways. Because there is no general solution for the size and arrangement for crusher gradients, with constant size and orientation, that is effective for all arbitrary diffusion‐sensitizing b‐values and directions, this article introduces and validates a solution whereby the crusher and diffusion‐encoding gradients are always kept orthogonal, thus ensuring their independence.

Methods

The cancellation of the crusher and diffusion gradients was demonstrated. Subsequently, crusher gradients were implemented in such a way that they were always orthogonal to the diffusion gradient. Phantom and in‐vivo experiments were performed to ascertain that orthogonally implemented crusher gradients alleviate the problem without lowering image quality.

Results

In all experiments, when the crusher gradients' action was cancelled by the diffusion‐encoding gradients artifactual signal modulation was observed. When orthogonal gradients were implemented the artifacts were eliminated without detrimental effects on image quality.

Conclusions

Orthogonal crushers are easy to implement and can be used for any variant of diffusion imaging sequences (e.g., diffusion tensor imaging, fiber diameter mapping) where the twice‐refocused scheme is used. Magn Reson Med 71:506–515, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Whole‐body and local RF absorption in human models as a function of anatomy and position within 1.5T MR body coil
Authors: Murbach Manuel , Neufeld Esra , Kainz Wolfgang , Pruessmann Klaas P. , Kuster Niels
Published: February 2013

Purpose

Radiofrequency energy deposition in magnetic resonance imaging must be limited to prevent excessive heating of the patient. Correlations of radiofrequency absorption with large‐scale anatomical features (e.g., height) are investigated in this article.

Theory and Methods

The specific absorption rate (SAR), as the pivotal parameter for quantifying absorbed radiofrequency, increases with the radial dimension of the patient and therefore with the large‐scale anatomical properties. The absorbed energy in six human models has been modeled in different Z‐positions (head to knees) within a 1.5T bodycoil.

Results

For a fixed
incident field, the whole‐body SAR can be up to 2.5 times higher (local SAR up to seven times) in obese adult models compared to children. If the exposure is normalized to 4 W/kg whole‐body SAR, the local SAR can well‐exceed the limits for local transmit coils and shows intersubject variations of up to a factor of three.

Conclusions

The correlations between anatomy and induced local SAR are weak for normalized exposure, but strong for a fixed
field, suggesting that anatomical properties could be used for fast SAR predictions. This study demonstrates that a representative virtual human population is indispensable for the investigation of local SAR levels. Magn Reson Med 71:839–845, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PLANNING AND PARTICIPATION IN CITIES THAT MOVE: IDENTIFYING OBSTACLES TO MUNICIPAL MOBILITY MANAGEMENT
Authors: Landau Loren B. , Segatti Aurelia , Misago Jean Pierre
Published: February 2013

The dual processes of rapidly transforming cities and administrative decentralisation demands that local government address human mobility as a means of countering urban poverty. Despite this imperative, local authorities are often poorly equipped to address the needs of poor and transient residents. Through an examination of four South African municipalities, this article helps to identify three critical factors working against effective responses: poor data and conceptual bias; institutional ambiguities and budgeting processes; and, ironically, participatory planning. Although any one of these could serve as a basis for an article, by taking them together, we better summarise the challenges' scope and outline areas for further research and policy intervention. The article concludes by considering these findings' practical and scholarly implications. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
SIOP PODC: Recommendations for supportive care of children with cancer in a low‐income setting
Authors: Israels Trijn , Renner Lorna , Hendricks Marc , Hesseling Peter , Howard Scott , Molyneux Elizabeth
Published: February 2013

These supportive care recommendations were prepared to guide doctors who practice in areas with significantly limited resources but who have sufficient infrastructure and training to treat children with cancer with curative intent. The success of any cancer treatment regimen depends largely on the availability and quality of supportive care and this also determines the intensity of treatment that can be delivered. We present practical recommendations on how to prevent infections, general nursing care, management of febrile neutropenia, nutritional assessment and support, treatment of co‐infections and the social support to help prevent failure to complete treatment in resource poor settings. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2013; 60: 899–904. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Determination of Endogenous Brassinosteroids in Plant Tissues Using Solid‐phase Extraction with Double Layered Cartridge Followed by High‐performance Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry
Authors: Ding Jun , Mao Li‐Jing , Wang Shao‐Ting , Yuan Bi‐Feng , Feng Yu‐Qi
Published: February 2013

Introduction

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are a group of important phytohormones that play vital roles in plant growth, development and a series of physiological phenomena. In order to understand biosynthesis, degradation and metabolic pathways of BRs, a reliable analytical method of BRs with effective sample pre‐treatment process is favourable.

Objective

The development of a quick and effective method for the quantification of endogenous BRs in plant tissue with the aid of double layered solid‐phase extraction (SPE) cartridges (graphite carbon black and primary secondary amine silica sorbent: GCB/PSA).

Method

The method involved an initial extraction of BRs with acetonitrile, a dehydration process with anhydrous MgSO4 and NaCl, a SPE purification process with a double layered cartridge, and a further clean‐up step utilising liquid–liquid extraction (LLE). The purification process was mainly realised on the GCB/PSA cartridge. GCB could eliminate hydrophobic compounds, especially those containing a π system, and PSA was introduced to remove the polar interferences. Endogenous BRs were quantified by HPLC–ESI–MS/MS.

Results

Good linearities were obtained in the range of 0.4–500 ng/mL (0.0124–15 ng), with the correlation coefficients above 0.9957. The relative recoveries of BRs of this method were in the range of 71.1–113.1%, with intra‐ and interday relative standard deviations (RSDs) less than 16.3%. With the proposed method, the requirement of plant tissue amount was minimised to 1 g fresh weight, which is the smallest amount reported so far, to our knowledge. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Comparative effectiveness research using electronic health records: impacts of oral antidiabetic drugs on the development of chronic kidney disease
Authors: L. Masica Andrew , Ewen Edward , A. Daoud Yahya , Cheng Dunlei , Franceschini Nora , E. Kudyakov Rustam , R. Bowen James , Brouwer Emily S. , Wallace Dennis , S. Fleming Neil , West Suzanne L.
Published: February 2013

Purpose

Little is known about the comparative effects of common oral antidiabetic drugs ([OADs] metformin, sulfonylureas, or thiazolidinediones [THZs]) on chronic kidney disease (CKD) outcomes in patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and followed in community primary care practices. Electronic health records (EHRs) were used to evaluate the relationships between OAD class use and incident proteinuria and prevention of glomerular filtration rate decline.

Methods

A retrospective cohort study on newly diagnosed T2D cases requiring OADs documented in the EHRs of two primary care networks between 1998 and 2009 was conducted. CKD outcomes were new‐onset proteinuria and estimated GFR (eGFR) falling below 60 ml/min/1.73 m2. OAD exposures defined cohorts. Hazard ratios represent differential CKD outcome risk per year of OAD class use.

Results

A total of 798 and 977 patients qualified for proteinuria and eGFR outcome analyses, respectively. With metformin as the reference group, sulfonylurea exposure trended toward association with an increased risk of developing proteinuria ([adjusted hazard ratio; 95% CI] 1.27; 0.93, 1.74); proteinuria risk associated with THZ exposure (1.00; 0.70, 1.42) was similar to metformin. Compared with metformin, sulfonylurea exposure was associated with an increased risk of eGFR reduction to <60 ml/min/1.73 m2 (1.41; 1.05, 1.91). THZ exposure (1.04; 0.71, 1.50) was not associated with change in the risk of eGFR decline.

Conclusions

In a primary care population, metformin appeared to decrease the risk of CKD development compared with sulfonlyureas; risks of CKD development between metformin and THZs were similar. EHR use in pharmacotherapy comparative effectiveness research creates specific challenges and study limitations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Insight into the sporulation phosphorelay: Crystal structure of the sensor domain of Bacillus subtilis histidine kinase, KinD
Authors: Wu R. , Gu M. , Wilton R. , Babnigg G. , Kim Y. , Pokkuluri P. R. , Szurmant H. , Joachimiak A. , Schiffer M.
Published: February 2013

The Bacillus subtilis KinD signal‐transducing histidine kinase is a part of the sporulation phosphorelay known to regulate important developmental decisions such as sporulation and biofilm formation. We have determined crystal structures of the extracytoplasmic sensing domain of KinD, which was copurified and crystallized with a pyruvate ligand. The structure of a ligand‐binding site mutant was also determined; it was copurified and crystallized with an acetate ligand. The structure of the KinD extracytoplasmic segment is similar to that of several other sensing domains of signal transduction proteins and is composed of tandem Per‐Arnt‐Sim (PAS)‐like domains. The KinD ligand‐binding site is located on the membrane distal PAS‐like domain and appears to be highly selective; a single mutation, R131A, abolishes pyruvate binding and the mutant binds acetate instead. Differential scanning fluorimetry, using a variety of monocarboxylic and dicarboxylic acids, identified pyruvate, propionate, and butyrate but not lactate, acetate, or malate as KinD ligands. A recent report found that malate induces biofilm formation in a KinD‐dependent manner. It was suggested that malate might induce a metabolic shift and increased secretion of the KinD ligand of unknown identity. The structure and binding assays now suggests that this ligand is pyruvate and/or other small monocarboxylic acids. In summary, this study gives a first insight into the identity of a molecular ligand for one of the five phosphorelay kinases of B. subtilis.
Nucleophosmin mutations in acute myeloid leukemia: A tale of protein unfolding and mislocalization
Authors: Federici Luca , Falini Brunangelo
Published: February 2013

Nucleophosmin (NPM1) is an abundant, ubiquitously expressed protein mainly localized at nucleoli but continuously shuttling between nucleus and cytoplasm. NPM1 plays a role in several cellular functions, including ribosome biogenesis and export, centrosome duplication, chromatin remodeling, DNA repair, and response to stress stimuli. Much of the interest in this protein arises from its relevance in human malignancies. NPM1 is frequently overexpressed in solid tumors and is the target of several chromosomal translocations in hematologic neoplasms. Notably, NPM1 has been characterized as the most frequently mutated gene in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Mutations alter the C‐terminal DNA‐binding domain of the protein and result in its aberrant nuclear export and stable cytosolic localization. In this review, we focus on the leukemia‐associated NPM1 C‐terminal domain and describe its structure, function, and the effect exerted by leukemic mutations. Finally, we discuss the possibility to target NPM1 for the treatment of cancer and, in particular, of AML patients with mutated NPM1 gene.
Transverse vibration bandgaps in phononic‐crystal Euler beams on a Winkler foundation studied by a modified transfer matrix method
Authors: Zhang Yan , Han Lin , Jiang Lin‐hua
Published: February 2013

In this paper, a modified transfer matrix method is proposed to solve the transverse vibration bandgaps (BGs) in phononic crystal (PC) Euler beams on a Winkler foundation. An equivalent critical frequency is introduced to facilitate the calculation of the end frequency of the first BG. The band structures of a lead–steel PC Euler beam either on a Winkler foundation or not show that the existence of a foundation has a significant influence on the distribution of BGs. A new BG that starts at 0 Hz appears. Additional results demonstrate that a very narrow passband could exist between the first two BGs. This study is aimed at searching for large BGs, especially at low frequencies.

magnified image

Band structures for the lead–steel PC Euler beam on a Winkler foundation (continuous line) or not (dash line). A new BG that starts at 0 Hz appears in the case of having a foundation.
Blood Pressure Lowering Effect of Nigella sativa L. Seed Oil in Healthy Volunteers: A Randomized, Double‐Blind, Placebo‐controlled Clinical Trial
Authors: Fallah Huseini H. , Amini M. , Mohtashami R. , Ghamarchehre M. E. , Sadeqhi Z. , Kianbakht S. , Fallah Huseini A.
Published: February 2013

Nigella sativa L. seeds (N. sativa) have been used as a traditional remedy for a wide range of diseases including hypertension. The present study was performed to explore the effects of N. sativa oil on blood pressure (BP) in healthy volunteers. In a double‐blind, randomized study, 70 healthy volunteers aged 34 to 63 years with systolic BP from 110 to 140 mmHg and diastolic BP from 60 to 90 mmHg were randomly allocated to receive 2.5 mL N. sativa oil or placebo two times a day for 8 weeks. The systolic and diastolic BPs, body mass index and blood levels of aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, creatinine and blood urea nitrogen were determined at baseline and endpoint. Results showed that in N. sativa oil treated group the systolic and diastolic BPs decreased significantly compared with baseline and placebo group at the endpoint. Other parameters did not significantly change in both groups at the endpoint. No adverse effects were reported. In conclusion, oral daily administration of 5 mL N. sativa oil to healthy volunteers for 8 weeks lowers systolic and diastolic BPs without any adverse effects. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Acquisition parameters optimization of a transmission electron forward scatter diffraction system in a cold‐field emission scanning electron microscope for nanomaterials characterization
Authors: Brodusch Nicolas , Demers Hendrix , Trudeau Michel , Gauvin Raynald
Published: February 2013

Transmission electron forward scatter diffraction (t‐EFSD) is a new technique providing crystallographic information with high resolution on thin specimens by using a conventional electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) system in a scanning electron microscope. In this study, the impact of tilt angle, working distance, and detector distance on the Kikuchi pattern quality were investigated in a cold‐field emission scanning electron microscope (CFE‐SEM). We demonstrated that t‐EFSD is applicable for tilt angles ranging from −20° to −40°. Working distance (WD) should be optimized for each material by choosing the WD for which the EBSD camera screen illumination is the highest, as the number of detected electrons on the screen is directly dependent on the scattering angle. To take advantage of the best performances of the CFE‐SEM, the EBSD camera should be close to the sample and oriented towards the bottom to increase forward scattered electron collection efficiency. However, specimen chamber cluttering and beam/mechanical drift are important limitations in the CFE‐SEM used in this work. Finally, the importance of t‐EFSD in materials science characterization was illustrated through three examples of phase identification and orientation mapping. SCANNING 35:375–386, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Penetration resistance: A new approach to the energetics of indentations
Authors: Kaupp Gerd
Published: February 2013

This article deals with quantitative applications of the penetration resistance of experimental indentation loading curves without fittings or simulations in terms of the various energetic contributions for an improved understanding. The total applied work upon indentation with pyramids, cones and also spheres is partitioned between the indentation and the long‐range effects including friction in a constant 80/20 ratio for mathematical reasons and thus for all of the diverse materials and methods. Long‐range effects such as molecular migrations, rosettes, shear‐bands, pile‐up, sink‐in, and elastic stress are recalled. An easy integration of (higher) parabolas with known exponent is presented. The constant ratios of applied work, indentation work, and long‐range work allow for separation of surface effect work, reliable calculations of adhesion energies, and phase transformation energies. Corrections of Sneddon/Love and of Johnson, Kendall, Roberts (JKR) derived equations are now required. SCANNING 35:392–401, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
An exploratory study of the evolution of communicated information about the execution of large software systems
Authors: Shang Weiyi , Jiang Zhen Ming , Adams Bram , Hassan Ahmed E. , Godfrey Michael W. , Nasser Mohamed , Flora Parminder
Published: February 2013

Substantial research in software engineering focuses on understanding the dynamic nature of software systems in order to improve software maintenance and program comprehension. This research typically makes use of automated instrumentation and profiling techniques after the fact, that is, without considering domain knowledge. In this paper, we examine another source of dynamic information that is generated from statements that have been inserted into the code base during development to draw the system administrators' attention to important run‐time phenomena. We call this source communicated information (CI). Examples of CI include execution logs and system events. The availability of CI has sparked the development of an ecosystem of Log Processing Apps (LPAs) that surround the software system under analysis to monitor and document various run‐time constraints. The dependence of LPAs on the timeliness, accuracy and granularity of the CI means that it is important to understand the nature of CI and how it evolves over time, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Yet, to our knowledge, little empirical analysis has been performed on CI and its evolution. In a case study on two large open source and one industrial software systems, we explore the evolution of CI by mining the execution logs of these systems and the logging statements in the source code. Our study illustrates the need for better traceability between CI and the LPAs that analyze the CI. In particular, we find that the CI changes at a high rate across versions, which could lead to fragile LPAs. We found that up to 70% of these changes could have been avoided and the impact of 15% to 80% of the changes can be controlled through the use of robust analysis techniques by LPAs. We also found that LPAs that track implementation‐level CI (e.g. performance analysis) and the LPAs that monitor error messages (system health monitoring) are more fragile than LPAs that track domain‐level CI (e.g. workload modelling), because the latter CI tends to be long‐lived. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Imprinting
Authors: McCabe Brian J.
Published: February 2013

Imprinting is a type of learning by which an animal restricts its social preferences to an object after exposure to that object. Filial imprinting occurs shortly after birth or hatching and sexual imprinting, around the onset of sexual maturity; both have sensitive periods. This review is concerned mainly with filial imprinting. Filial imprinting in the domestic chick is an effective experimental system for investigating mechanisms underlying learning and memory. Extensive evidence implicates a restricted part of the chick forebrain, the intermediate and medial mesopallium (IMM), as a memory store for visual imprinting. After imprinting to a visual stimulus, neuronal responsiveness in IMM is specifically biased toward the imprinting stimulus. Both this bias and the strength of imprinting measured behaviorally depend on uninterrupted sleep shortly after training. When learning‐related changes in IMM are lateralized they occur predominantly or completely on the left side. Ablation experiments indicate that the left IMM is responsible for long‐term storage of information about the imprinting stimulus; the right side is also a store but additionally is necessary for extra storage outside IMM, in a region necessary for flexible use of information acquired through imprinting. Auditory imprinting gives rise to biochemical, neuroanatomical, and electrophysiological changes in the medio‐rostral nidopallium/mesopallium, anterior to IMM. Auditory imprinting has not been shown to produce learning‐related changes in IMM. Imprinting may be facilitated by predispositions. Similar predispositions for faces and biological motion occur in domestic chicks and human infants. WIREs Cogn Sci 2013, 4:375–390. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1231

This article is categorized under:

Psychology > Memory

Psychology > Learning

Neuroscience > Behavior
Current trends in modeling host–pathogen interactions
Authors: Mukherjee Sumanta , Sambarey Awanti , Prashanthi Karyala , Chandra Nagasuma
Published: February 2013

The rapid emergence of infectious diseases calls for immediate attention to determine practical solutions for intervention strategies. To this end, it becomes necessary to obtain a holistic view of the complex host–pathogen interactome. Advances in omics and related technology have resulted in massive generation of data for the interacting systems at unprecedented levels of detail. Systems‐level studies with the aid of mathematical tools contribute to a deeper understanding of biological systems, where intuitive reasoning alone does not suffice. In this review, we discuss different aspects of host–pathogen interactions (HPIs) and the available data resources and tools used to study them. We discuss in detail models of HPIs at various levels of abstraction, along with their applications and limitations. We also enlist a few case studies, which incorporate different modeling approaches, providing significant insights into disease. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

This article is categorized under:

Algorithmic Development > Biological Data Mining
The Safe and Efficient Use of Forced‐Air Warming Systems
Authors: Wu Xuelei
Published: February 2013

Maintaining perioperative normothermia is important to ensure that a patient does not experience inadvertent hypothermia and its consequences, such as increased blood loss, cardiac abnormalities, prolonged recovery, and increased risk for wound infection. Many clinical guidelines recommend the use of forced‐air warming as one of several techniques to prevent inadvertent perioperative hypothermia. Safe use of forced‐air warming devices includes choosing the right device, assessing the patient for risks, protecting the patient from burn injuries, appropriately maintaining the patient's body temperature, and using the device as directed by the manufacturer's recommendations. Staff members should receive education on hypothermia and warming technology on a regular basis.
A Graphical and Statistical Analysis of the Judgment of Princeton Wine Tasting
Authors: Ward Daniel L.
Published: February 2013

The wine ratings from the a wine tasting comparing wines from a young wine region, New Jersey, to wines from Bordeaux was held June 8, 2012 in Princeton, NJ. Graphical analysis revealed substantial differences in the use of the rating scale between judges, both in the centroids of their scores and the variability in their scores. Analysis of variance failed to detect any significant differences in the white wines regardless of data transformation or statistical model. Analysis of raw data from the red wines suggested significant differences, but severely violated ANOVA model assumptions and was invalid. Rank transformation, standardization, a model with heterogeneous variances, and Friedman's test all indicated no significant differences among red wines. Based on the confidence interval on the difference between all New Jersey and all Bordeaux wines in each flight it was estimated that differences larger than 1.5 on the 20-point scale would have been declared significantly different for either white or red wines. Therefore, the tasting was powerful enough that any meaningful differences between the wines from the two origins would have been detected. (JEL Classification: C19, Q19)
The Judgment of Princeton
Authors: Taber George M.
Published: February 2013

On May 24, 1976, a wine tasting took place in Paris at the InterContinental Hotel that wine-and-food critic Anthony Dias Blue has called the most important in the 20th century. Englishman Steven Spurrier, who owned a wine shop and wine school in Paris called Caves de la Madeleine, staged the event. He was in his 30s and regularly did things that the French wine establishment never thought of trying. His wine school, for example, was the first ever in Paris. Once he had a comparative tasting of the five famous French First Growths, something the masters of French wines never did.
Comments on the Judgment of Princeton
Authors: Quandt Richard E.
Published: February 2013

Wine tastings inevitably involve some form of grading or ranking the wines, since the objective of tastings is to determine which wine is best, second best, etc., at least among the tasters on that particular occasion. Much has been written about the care that has to be taken that judges are not influenced by extraneous and irrelevant factors and that they do not influence one another. Ultimately, of course, the views of the judges need to be congealed in a single ranking that expresses the “social preference” among the wines. And therein lies the rub: how to aggregate individual preferences into a social ranking.
Comment on “A New Method to Obtain a Consensus Ranking of a Region's Vintages' Quality”
Authors: Hulkower Neal D.
Published: February 2013

Issues with the Cordorcet method used in the subject paper to aggregate rankings are presented. These arise because critical information contained in each voter's ranking is ignored. The mathematically superior Borda Count, which uses the complete information provided by each voter, is used to aggregate the rankings and the results are compared.
Short-form Mini-Nutritional Assessment with either BMI or calf circumference is effective in rating the nutritional status of elderly Taiwanese – results of a national cohort study
Authors: Tsai Alan C. , Chang Tsui-Lan , Wang Jiun-Yi
Published: February 2013

The present study was aimed to validate two normalised short-form (SF) Mini-Nutritional Assessments (MNA) that contained either BMI (Taiwan version 1, T1) or calf circumference (CC; Taiwan version 2, T2) for rating the nutritional status of elderly Taiwanese. Both versions adopted Taiwanese anthropometric cut-offs, but T2 further had the BMI item replaced by CC. We compared the ability of the two SF in rating the nutritional status of 2674 elderly Taiwanese in the 1999 ‘Taiwan Longitudinal Survey on Aging’ with their respective full versions. We evaluated the agreement between the SF and full scales with weighted κ and performed Cox regression analysis for the follow-up 4-year mortality according to nutritional status rated at baseline. The results showed that the agreements between the respective SF and the full MNA were good (weighted κ: 0·679 for T1 and 0·667 for T2). Both SF performed well in predicting follow-up 4-year mortality relative to the full MNA. In conclusion, MNA-T1-SF and -T2-SF have good consistency with the full MNA and have quite comparable abilities in rating the nutritional status of elderly Taiwanese. Both SF versions appear appropriate for functioning as stand-alone units for rating the nutritional status of the elderly in community-living settings or the general population.
NIELSEN EQUIVALENCE OF GENERATING PAIRS OF SL(2,q)
Authors: MCCULLOUGH DARRYL , WANDERLEY MARCUS
Published: February 2013

We present several conjectures which would describe the Nielsen equivalence classes of generating pairs for the groups SL(2,q) and PSL(2,q). The Higman invariant, which is the union of the conjugacy classes of the commutator of a generating pair and its inverse, and the trace of the commutator play key roles. Combining known results with additional work, we clarify the relationships between the conjectures, and obtain various partial results concerning them. Motivated by the work of Macbeath (A. M. Macbeath, Generators of the linear fractional groups, in Number theory (Proc. Sympos. Pure Math., vol. XII, Houston, TX, 1967) (American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 1969), 14–32), we use another invariant defined using traces to develop algorithms that enable us to verify the conjectures computationally for all q up to 101, and to prove the conjectures for a highly restricted but possibly infinite set of q.
A NOTE ONp-CENTRAL GROUPS
Authors: CAMINA RACHEL , THILLAISUNDARAM ANITHA
Published: February 2013

A groupGisn-centralifGn≤Z(G), that is the subgroup ofGgenerated byn-powers ofGlies in the centre ofG. We investigatepk-central groups forpa prime number. ForGa finite group of exponentpk, the covering group ofGispk-central. Using this we show that the exponent of the Schur multiplier ofGis bounded by$p^{\lceil \frac{c}{p-1} \rceil}$, wherecis the nilpotency class ofG. Next we give an explicit bound for the order of a finitepk-centralp-group of coclassr. Lastly, we establish that forG, a finitep-centralp-group, andN, a proper non-maximal normal subgroup ofG, the Tate cohomologyHn(G/N, Z(N)) is non-trivial for alln. This final statement answers a question of Schmid concerning groups with non-trivial Tate cohomology.
TAUBERIAN THEOREMS AND SPECTRAL THEORY IN TOPOLOGICAL VECTOR SPACES
Authors: DE BEER RICHARD J.
Published: February 2013

We investigate the spectral theory of integrable actions of a locally compact abelian group on a locally convex vector space. We start with an analysis of various spectral subspaces induced by the action of the group. This is applied to analyse the spectral theory of operators on the space, generated by measures on the group. We apply these results to derive general Tauberian theorems that apply to arbitrary locally compact abelian groups acting on a large class of locally convex vector spaces, which includes Fréchet spaces. We show how these theorems simplify the derivation of Mean Ergodic theorems.
CHARACTERIZATIONS OF LINEAR WEINGARTEN SPACELIKE HYPERSURFACES IN EINSTEIN SPACETIMES
Authors: DE LIMA HENRIQUE F. , DE LIMA JOSEÍLSON R.
Published: February 2013

Our purpose is to study the geometry of linear Weingarten spacelike hypersurfaces immersed in a locally symmetric Einstein spacetime, whose sectional curvature is supposed to obey some standard restrictions. In this setting, by using as main analytical tool a generalized maximum principle for complete non-compact Riemannian manifolds, we establish sufficient conditions to guarantee that such a hypersurface must be either totally umbilical or an isoparametric hypersurface with two distinct principal curvatures, one of which is simple. Applications to the de Sitter space are given.
SCHOTTKY UNIFORMIZATIONS OF SYMMETRIES
Authors: GROMADZKI G. , HIDALGO R. A.
Published: February 2013

A real algebraic curve of genusgis a pair (S,〈 τ 〉), whereSis a closed Riemann surface of genusgand τ:S→Sis a symmetry, that is, an anti-conformal involution. A Schottky uniformization of (S,〈 τ 〉) is a tuple (Ω,Γ,P:Ω →S), where Γ is a Schottky group with region of discontinuity Ω and P:Ω →Sis a regular holomorphic cover map with Γ as its deck group, so that there exists an extended Möbius transformation$\widehat{\tau}$keeping Ω invariant withPo$\widehat{\tau}$=τ oP. The extended Kleinian groupK=〈 Γ,$\widehat{\tau}$〉 is called an extended Schottky groups of rankg. The interest on Schottky uniformizations rely on the fact that they provide the lowest uniformizations of closed Riemann surfaces. In this paper we obtain a structural picture of extended Schottky groups in terms of Klein–Maskit's combination theorems and some basic extended Schottky groups. We also provide some insight of the structural picture in terms of the group of automorphisms ofSwhich are reflected by the Schottky uniformization. As a consequence of our structural description of extended Schottky groups, we get alternative proofs to results due to Kalliongis and McCullough (J. Kalliongis and D. McCullough, Orientation-reversing involutions on handlebodies,Trans. Math. Soc.348(5) (1996), 1739–1755) on orientation-reversing involutions on handlebodies.
The fermentation of cellulose by thermophilic bacteria
Authors: Viljoen J. A. , Fred E. B. , Peterson W. H.
Published: February 2013

1. A thermophilic organism which destroys cellulose at 65° C. has been isolated in pure culture.

2. The organism is motile, gram negative, forms spores in the swollen end, stains well with carbol fuchsin, poorly with methylene blue.

3. After growth on media without cellulose the organism is unable to ferment cellulose.

4. The range of fermentation is from 43° C. to 65° C. The organism lives at 38° C. and 72° C. but does not ferment at these temperatures.

5. The spores are very resistant to heat and withstand 115° C. for 35 minutes.

6. Heating the spores to 100° C. for 5 to 10 minutes causes an increased rate of germination.

7. Carbohydrates fermented: cellulose, starch, raffinose, sucrose, maltose, lactose, mannose, galactose, fructose, glucose, xylose and arabinose.

8. Organic nitrogen is necessary for the fermentation, and peptone is the best source.

9. The products from cellulose are: acetic acid, small amounts of butyric acid, ethyl alcohol, carbon dioxide and hydrogen. The amount of cellulose destroyed in a 1 to 5 per cent, suspension varies from 70 to 95 per cent. Of the cellulose destroyed, 50 to 55 per cent, is regained as acetic acid, 5 to 25 per cent. as ethyl alcohol and the rest as small amounts of butyric acid, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and pigment. The pigment is a fatty substance soluble in ether.
Pneumatisation of turbinates and paranasal sinuses in children: case report
Authors: Tsioulos K , Del Pero M Martinez , Philpott C
Published: February 2013

Objective:

To describe a rare case of multiple anatomical variations in the sinonasal skeleton of an adolescent with chronic rhinosinusitis, together with its successful surgical management.

Case report:

A 15-year-old male adolescent was referred with a 3-year history of nasal blockage and hyposmia. His symptoms did not improve on maximal medical therapy. A pre-operative computed tomography scan revealed numerous anatomical variations in his nose and paranasal sinuses. He underwent neuronavigation-assisted endoscopic sinus surgery without complication, and with subsequent resolution of his symptoms at 10 months.

Conclusion:

Chronic rhinosinusitis in children offers its own set of unique surgical challenges. The effectiveness and safety of sinus surgery in this population can be improved through the knowledge of anatomical variants, and is aided by the use of image guidance systems.
Factors affecting hearing improvement following successful repair of the tympanic membrane
Authors: Thiel G , Mills RP , Mills N
Published: February 2013

Background:

The main aim of tympanic membrane repair is the elimination of chronic or intermittent aural discharge. Hearing improvement may or may not occur following a technically successful operation.

Method:

This study entailed a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data from 203 operations that resulted in an intact tympanic membrane 6 months after surgery.

Results:

Complete hearing data were available for 169 operations on 160 patients. Of these, 53 per cent resulted in closure of the air–bone gap to within 10 dB, and 54 per cent of cases had post-operative hearing thresholds of at least 30 dB. The mean hearing change after surgery was +8.3 dB. Multiple regression analysis indicated that hearing improvement was more likely in large compared with small perforations. Smaller hearing gains occurred in ears with erosion of the stapes arch and/or fixation of the stapes, as well as in those with active discharge at the time of surgery and in revision cases.

Conclusion:

Greater hearing improvement can be expected following successful repair of perforations involving more than 50 per cent of the drum area. Poorer results are likely to occur in ears with additional middle-ear pathology and in revision cases.
Taxonomy of the genusMyrionora, with a second species from South America
Authors: PALICE Zdeněk , PRINTZEN Christian , SPRIBILLE Toby , SVENSSON Måns , TØNSBERG Tor , URBANAVICHENE Irina , YAKOVCHENKO Lidia S. , EKMAN Stefan
Published: February 2013

A taxonomic and biogeographic overview of the genusMyrionorais provided. Two species are recognized,M. albidula(Willey) R. C. Harris andM. pseudocyphellariae(Etayo) S. Ekman & Palice comb. nov. The genus is characterized by polysporous asci, the presence of crystals in the hymenium and proper exciple that partly consist of lobaric acid, and a photobiont with large cells (mostly in the range 12–20 µm).Myrionora albidulais currently known from Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Russian Federation (Altayskiy Kray, Chelyabinskaya Oblast', Khabarovskiy Kray and Zabaykal'skiy Kray), and the United States (Alaska, Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts). It inhabits bark of deciduous trees and shrubs and conifers over a wide range of latitudes.Myrionora pseudocyphellariaeis known from Chile and Ecuador, where it has been encountered on lichens and decaying bark. Based on morphological characteristics, we conclude thatMyrionorabelongs in theRamalinaceae.
Two new species of Pyrenula with a red or orange thallus from Vale do Catimbau National Park, Pernambuco, Brazil
Authors: LIMA Edvaneide Leandro de , MENDONÇA Cléverton de Oliveira , MAIA Leonor Costa , APTROOT André , CÁCERES Marcela Eugenia da Silva
Published: February 2013

The new species Pyrenula reginae and P. rubromamillana are described from NE Brazil. Both have a conspicuous red or orange thallus, an inspersed hamathecium and relatively small ascospores, but they differ clearly in colour and ascoma organization.
GLOBAL BAHADUR REPRESENTATION FOR NONPARAMETRIC CENSORED REGRESSION QUANTILES AND ITS APPLICATIONS
Authors: Kong Efang , Linton Oliver , Xia Yingcun
Published: February 2013

This paper is concerned with the nonparametric estimation of regression quantiles of a response variable that is randomly censored. Using results on the strong uniform convergence rate of U-processes, we derive a global Bahadur representation for a class of locally weighted polynomial estimators, which is sufficiently accurate for many further theoretical analyses including inference. Implications of our results are demonstrated through the study of the asymptotic properties of the average derivative estimator of the average gradient vector and the estimator of the component functions in censored additive quantile regression models.
COMMUTING PROPERTIES OF EXT
Authors: SCHULTZ PHILL
Published: February 2013

We characterize the abelian groups$G$for which the functors$\mathrm{Ext} (G, - )$or$\mathrm{Ext} (- , G)$commute with or invert certain direct sums or direct products.
The associations between psychiatric label use and young people's help-seeking preferences: results from an Australian national survey
Authors: Yap M. B. H. , Reavley N. J. , Jorm A. F.
Published: February 2013

Aims.

Emerging evidence suggests that psychiatric labels may facilitate help seeking in young people. This study examined whether young people's use of accurate labels for five disorders would predict their help-seeking preferences.

Methods.

Young people's help-seeking intentions were assessed by a national telephone survey of 3021 Australian youths aged 15–25. Respondents were presented with a vignette of a young person portraying depression, depression with suicidal thoughts, psychosis, social phobia or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They were then asked what they thought was wrong with the person, and where they would go for help if they had a similar problem.

Results.

Accurate psychiatric label use was associated with a preference to seek help from a general practitioner or mental health specialist. Accurately labelling the psychosis vignette was also associated with a preference to not seek help from family or friends.

Conclusions.

Findings add to the emerging evidence that accurate psychiatric labelling may facilitate help seeking for various mental disorders in young people, and support the promise of community awareness campaigns designed to improve young people's ability to accurately identify mental disorders.
Selective max‐min algorithm for low‐density parity‐check decoding
Authors: Hareedy Ahmed H. , Khairy Mohamed M.
Published: February 2013

With the growing importance of error correction in different communication systems, using an efficient and easily implementable code is always appreciated. One of the most important codes is the low‐density parity‐check (LDPC) code. Two main iterative decoding algorithms are usually used, namely the sum‐product (SP) algorithm (also referred to as belief propagation) and the min–sum (MS). The SP algorithm is more accurate but suffers from very high complexity. On the other hand, the MS algorithm has a much lower complexity at the expense of some performance degradation. To handle this performance degradation, many algorithms were presented in the literature as improvements for the MS, like the scaled MS and the offset MS. However, all those improved algorithms are more complex than the traditional MS. In this study, an efficient and low complexity LDPC decoding algorithm, called selective max–min (SMM), is proposed. The SMM performance is closer to SP than to MS as long as the average number of ones per column in the parity check matrix is around or less than 4 (which is the case for most of the communication systems using LDPC). On the other hand, the SMM exhibits only a minor complexity increase over traditional MS making it suitable for practical implementation.
Inter‐cell interference coordination in downlink orthogonal frequency division multiple access systems using Hungarian method
Authors: Forouzan Nafiseh , Ghorashi Seyed Ali
Published: February 2013

Inter‐cell interference (ICI) is a serious problem in multi‐cell orthogonal frequency division multiple access systems and should be mitigated by a smart radio resource management scheme. The authors present here a novel downlink adaptive resource allocation (RA) algorithm based on ICI measurement to achieve both multi‐user diversity gain and the cancellation of ICI. The proposed algorithm is performed in two steps: first, interference management by user grouping into different clusters and second, subchannel allocation in order to maximise the total throughput of the network. It does not need any priori frequency planning and no precise signal‐to‐interference plus noise ratio information is required for subchannel allocation. In both steps of the algorithm, the authors propose a graphic framework and use Hungarian method to solve subproblems. Simulation results indicate that the authors algorithm mitigates the ICI successfully and can improve the total throughput of network by 10–15% compared with existing adaptive RA schemes.
Efficient narrowband interference cancellation in ultra‐wide‐band rake receivers
Authors: Abedi Omid , Yagoub Mustapha C.E.
Published: February 2013

In this study, different pulse modulation parameters, such as symbol error rate (SER), power loss and bandwidth were investigated to highlight the most suitable parameter for narrowband interference cancellation in ultra‐wide‐band (UWB) Rake receivers. Thus, the performance of transmitter pulse was evaluated at the UWB Rake receiver. Finally, comparison of various filter bank receivers in terms of number of filters and SER was achieved by using a new accurate indoor UWB IEEE model channel with different propagation scenarios.