bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Exam Corner – March 2013
Authors: Khanduja V.
Published: February 2013

The FRCS (Tr & Orth) examination has three components: MCQs, Vivas and Clinical Examination. The Vivas are further divided into four sections comprising Basic Science, Adult Pathology, Hands and Children’s Orthopaedics and Trauma. The Clinical Examination section is divided into Upper and Lower limb cases. The aim of this section in the Journal is to focus specifically on the trainees preparing for the exam and to cater to all the sections of the exam. The vision is to complete the cycle of all relevant exam topics (as per the syllabus) in four years.
The young and suicide
Authors: Omar Hatim A. , Merrick Joav
Published: February 2013

No abstract available.
Evaluation of project P.A.T.H.S. by the program implementers: findings based on the extension phase
Authors: Shek Daniel T.L. , Sun Rachel C.F.
Published: February 2013

A total of 236 schools participated in the Project P.A.T.H.S. in the 2010/2011 school year. After completion of the Tier 1 Program, subjective outcome evaluation data were collected from 3275 program implementers. Based on the consolidated findings based on schools as units, results showed that participants had positive perceptions of the program, implementers, and benefits of the program. More than four-fifths of the implementers regarded the program as helpful to the program participants. Multiple regression analysis revealed that perceived qualities of the program and the program implementers predicted perceived effectiveness of the program. Grade differences were not significant. The present study provides additional support for the effectiveness of the Tier 1 Program of the Project P.A.T.H.S. in Hong Kong.
Perception of collaborative learning in associate degree students in Hong Kong
Authors: Shek Daniel T.L. , Shek Moses M.W.
Published: February 2013

Although collaborative learning has been widely researched in Western contexts, no study has been carried out to understand how associate degree students look at collaborative learning in Hong Kong. In this study, perceptions of and attitudes to collaborative learning among associate degree students were studied. A total of 44 associate degree students completed an online questionnaire including measures of perceived benefits and attitudes to collaborative learning, and social-emotional competence. Results showed that there were no significant differences between male and female students on perceived benefits of and attitudes towards collaborative learning. Social-emotional competence was related to perceived benefits of and attitudes to collaborative learning. Attitudes were also related to perceived benefits of collaborative learning. This paper is the first known study looking at the relationships among perceived benefits and attitudes to collaborative learning and social-emotional competence in Chinese associate degree students in different Chinese contexts.
Implementation of the extension phase of the project P.A.T.H.S. in Hong Kong: observations based on the Co-Walker Scheme
Authors: Shek Daniel T.L. , Law Moon Y.M.
Published: February 2013

The implementation quality of the Tier 1 Program (Secondary 1 Program) of the Project P.A.T.H.S. in the second year of the Extension Phase was examined in this study, with classroom observations of 218 units in 172 schools. Results demonstrated that the overall level of program adherence was generally high with an average of over 90%. Different aspects regarding program delivery were significantly correlated, suggesting that different aspects of program implementation were intimately related. Regarding predictors of global implementation quality, analyses indicated that overall implementation quality was significantly predicted by interactive delivery method, achievement of objectives, time management, and lesson preparation; success of implementation was predicted by student participation and involvement, interactive delivery method, achievement of objectives, and time management. The present study replicated the findings in previous studies.
Reflexo cilioespinhal no homem
Authors: Henriques Fernando Guilhon , Leão Iturialdi Azevedo
Published: February 2013

Os autores estudaram o reflexo cilioespinhal em 23 pacientes, divididos em dois grupos: com lesão medular e com lesão no tronco cerebral. São discutidas as vias e o mecanismo do reflexo, bem como sua importância para o diagnóstico das lesões do tronco cerebral.
Degeneração cortico-estriato-medular: relato de um caso com achados clínicos e patológicos sugestivos de doença de Creutzfeldt-Jakob
Authors: Nascimento Osvaldo J. M. , Freitas Marcos R. G. de
Published: February 2013

É apresentado caso sugestivo de doença de Creutzfeldt-Jakob em adulto jovem. O estudo anátomo-patológico revelou alteração difusa no córtice cerebral, núcleos da base e medula, constituídas por degeneração neuronal, gliose, espongiose e infiltração linfoplasmocitária. Acham os autores que a natureza do infiltrado inflamatório corrobora a etiologia por vírus.
Carcinoma de plexo coroideo: relato de um caso
Authors: Japp Hans H. , Farage Filho Miguel
Published: February 2013

É relatado um caso de carcinoma de plexo coróideo em paciente com 3 anos de idade, com hipertensão intracraniana. Sem um claro diagnóstico clínico, o paciente evoluiu para o óbito, em 8 dias. O exame neuropatológico do cérebro e estudo histopatológico do tecido removido, revelou um tumor maligno do plexo coróideo, de extrema raridade no sistema nervoso central.
An electrophysiological investigation of skeletal muscles in polymyositis
Authors: Sica R. E. P. , Sanz Olga P. , Aguilera Nidia , Colombi A.
Published: February 2013

An electrophysiological study has been made of the extensor digitorum brevis, thenar and hypothenar muscles in 25 patients with chronic and acute polymyositis. It was found a reduction of the number of functioning motor units in some patients with chronic polymyositis and only in one of those affected by acute polymyositis. The sizes of the surviving units suggested that the results could be explained in terms of a primary muscle involvement mainly in acute polymyositis, while in chronic polymyositis a combination of primary and neurogenic involvement of muscle fibers might take place.
Associação de retardo neuromotor e cromossomo 1qh +: registro de um caso
Authors: Jorge Salin Moyses , Ribeiro Valeriana Moura , Ferrari Iris , Moreira Lilia M. A.
Published: February 2013

Os autores registram um caso de retardo neuromotor em paciente com cromossomo 1qh+. A análise cromossômica do paciente e três familiares revelou igualmente em todos, aumento do braço longo do cromossomo n.° 1. Entretanto, é considerada a possibilidade de que o quadro clínico do paciente seja subordinado também a outros fatores, não genéticos.
Um método prático de racionamento das aves domésticas
Authors: Torres A. Di Paravicini
Published: February 2013

O A., pretende facilitar aos práticos a composição de suas próprias fórmulas de ração com os alimentos disponíveis no momento; baseando-se nos conhecimentos e métodos já existentes sobre o assunto, simplifica-os, reduzindo-os ao exame de uma tabela que apresenta, conjuntamente com regras simples e práticas. Os cálculos sáo baseados na composição bruta dos alimentos e se limitam a adição e subtração do teor em proteina de cada ingradiente duma ração cujo total seja 100. Outras sugestões práticas são apresentadas.
[NO TITLE AVAILABLE]
Authors: Bergamin Armando
Published: February 2013

The author reports in this paper the results obtained in one experiment with wet an dry mash on the growing of chickens. The experiment started with two groups of 50 Sussex bred each, one receiving dry and other wet mash. The observations were continued in another four groups of 25 chickens each, two of Rhod Island Red bred and two of Sussex bred, both receiving dry and wet mash. The chickens were weight every 10 days and the differences obtained proved to be not significant statistically. Both dry and wet mash were equally good but wet mash is much more dificult to give to the chickkens than the dry one.
Pielite enfisematosa unilateral: relato de caso
Authors: Gonçalves Eduardo , Maia Bruna Tupinambá , Versiani Camila Matos , Mota Cristiane Turano , Santos Filho Augusto Gonçalves
Published: February 2013

Relata-se um caso de paciente de 22 anos de idade, gênero feminino, que foi admitida no pronto-socorro com lombalgia aguda, disúria, vômitos e febre (38,5ºC). Os achados de exames de urina e tomografia computadorizada demonstraram infecção no trato urinário associada a gás no sistema coletor, configurando pielite enfisematosa unilateral por Gram-negativo. O presente relato enfatiza a ocorrência deste agravo como complicação de infecção no trato urinário.
O homem dos ratos, Schreber e Kafka: destinos possíveis para a hostilidade
Authors: Castiel Sissi Vigil , Farinati Débora , Didonet Liege Horst , Moreira Maria Lucia Fortes , Monteiro Roberta Araujo , Rocha Cláudia , Feijó Daniela Trois , Costa Juliana Martins , Silva Luciana Lopez
Published: February 2013

A clínica psicanalítica impõe a observação, por vezes muito presente em determinados quadros, das tendências hostis que aparecem de forma manifesta ou fantasiada. Partindo dessa constatação e sustentado na releitura dos textos freudianos, este trabalho propõe uma reflexão sobre as tendências agressivas e suas implicações na clínica da neurose obsessiva e da paranoia, já que entendemos que a intensidade da hostilidade nessas patologias se coloca, muitas vezes, como um impasse para o tratamento. Os quadros clínicos serão exemplificados por meio do caso do Homem dos Ratos e da história de Schreber. Posteriormente, passaremos a discutir dois textos de Kafka, a fim de indicar uma saída para a elaboração da hostilidade no sentido de simbolizar e de sublimar as tendências agressivas.
O saber e a verdade na Psicanálise e na Universidade
Authors: Danziato Leonardo J. B.
Published: February 2013

O autor realiza uma discussão acerca da posição da psicanálise no âmbito da Universidade e em sua relação com a ciência. Para tanto, promove uma problematização sobre as relações históricas entre o saber e a verdade na estrutura desses discursos, apresentando uma argumentação que considera a função política do saber e da verdade na constituição do sujeito na modernidade. Para demonstrar a relação política e econômica entre ciência e capitalismo, de forma a fundamentar suas análises das apropriações que essas práticas e discursos realizam dessas categorias, articula proposições das obras de Lacan e Foucault, entendendo que essas análises históricas e genealógicas são necessárias para aprofundar o debate sobre as relações entre psicanálise, ciência e Universidade.
Percepção do acidente fatal de trabalho para a família da vítima
Authors: Moraes Ana Beatryce Tedesco , Moulin Maria das Graças Barbosa , Souza Mariane Lima de , Pepino Cláudia Balestreiro
Published: February 2013

O trabalho humano constitui importante meio de inserção social, implicado na formação de identidade e de reconhecimento social. Em caso de acidente de trabalho fatal, a família sofre os impactos desse fenômeno em sua organização e dinâmica. Esta pesquisa teve por objetivo investigar a percepção do acidente de trabalho fatal para a família de uma vítima no sul do Estado do Espírito Santo, cuja análise se baseou nos seguintes temas: condições de trabalho do acidentado, impactos psicossociais gerados pelo acidente de trabalho e mudanças na dinâmica familiar em função dessa ocorrência. Foram entrevistados três membros da família da vítima e seu empregador. Os dados foram analisados conforme os critérios qualitativos da fenomenologia semiótica. Os resultados apontam um paradoxo na percepção da família da vítima e do empregador sobre o acidente: enquanto sua repercussão para a família se fundamenta na importância social do trabalho, para o empregador, associa-se à defesa da empresa e de sua responsabilidade sobre a morte no trabalho.
Direcionalidade em duas melodias do século XX: Syrinx, de Claude Debussy e a primeira das Três peças para clarinete solo, de Igor Stravinsky
Authors: Bitondi Matheus
Published: February 2013

O presente trabalho analisa a estruturação melódica das peças Syrinx, de Claude Debussy, e a primeira das Três peças para clarinete solo, de Igor Stravinsky, em busca dos procedimentos geradores de direcionalidade no discurso. Para tal, foram considerados aspectos como dinâmica, estrutura rítmica, composição intervalar e movimento no registro. Ao final do trabalho, chegou-se à conclusão que ambos os compositores lançam mão de procedimentos tradicionais para conferir direcionalidade às linhas melódicas, ao mesmo tempo em que contribuem com recursos novos e particulares.
Considerações sobre a aprendizagem da performance musical
Authors: Cerqueira Daniel Lemos , Zorzal Ricieri Carlini , Ávila Guilherme Augusto de
Published: February 2013

Este artigo oferece uma proposta para fundamentação da prática musical de instrumentos e canto, enfatizando procedimentos de estudo, baseando-se principalmente na Teoria da Aprendizagem Pianística de José Alberto Kaplan. Paralelamente, foi realizada uma breve releitura crítica da história do ensino de instrumentos musicais e métodos para educação musical, em diálogo com áreas afins à Performance Musical, entre elas Psicologia Cognitiva, Neurociência e Educação Física.
"Você mandou eu cantar, na mente que eu não sabia": estruturação formal e camuflagem em um gênero musical camponês do médio Jequitinhonha
Authors: Rosse Leonardo Pires
Published: February 2013

O paulista é um importante gênero músico-coreográfico camponês no médio Jequitinhonha (Minas Gerais). A partir da análise formal de alguns de seus parâmetros técnicos, este artigo busca explorar mecanismos através dos quais uma forma musical e literária pode propor um enunciado coerente e ao mesmo tempo dificultar ou restringir sua apreensão. Esta "codificação" acontece aqui através de processos de estruturação formal de um lado, aliados a uma particular economia de qualquer discurso analítico ou não-musical sobre a prática musical, de outro. Por fim, uma curta comparação de caso pretende sugerir tal problema como um paradigma possivelmente pertinente a outros contextos camponeses no Brasil.
Fantasia Sul América para clarineta solo de Claudio Santoro: uma análise
Authors: Santos Gueber Pessoa , Bordini Ricardo Mazzini
Published: February 2013

Estudo analítico abordando os aspectos estruturais da Fantasia Sul América para clarineta solo de Claudio Franco de Sá Santoro (1919-1989), que propõe uma segmentação formal a partir da análise motívica da obra, identificando seus elementos constitutivos e procurando elaborar e responder questões investigativas. Ao fornecer subsídios que possam auxiliar o instrumentista em suas escolhas interpretativas, busca-se aprofundar o conhecimento geral na área de execução musical instrumental e em particular de obras brasileiras contemporâneas.
Bridges by ‘Engineers Without Borders Germany’
Authors: Morgenthal Guido , Timmermann Sandra
Published: February 2013

In 2003 a group of structural engineers founded a new group within the charitable organisation ‘Engineers Without Borders Germany’. Inspired by the work of other non-government organisations, they set off with the goal of applying their engineering knowledge to post-disaster relief work and infrastructure development in countries where it was most needed. Over the past 10 years the group has grown into a team of engineers, architects and students spread across Germany who plan, design and execute bridge projects in developing countries. The initial projects were footbridges built in Rwanda, but the scope has expanded ever since. The group aims at providing sustainable design and construction, which means that locally available materials and construction techniques are to be preferred. Further, the training of local engineers is considered important for providing a lasting infrastructure that can be maintained by the communities themselves. To this end, training workshops have been held and a strong relationship with a local university has been established. This paper describes the challenging work of providing safe yet efficient bridge designs and outlines the execution of some projects. It also describes the history of the group and outlines some of the work undertaken in research and development.
Land snail diversity can reflect degrees of anthropogenic disturbance
Authors: Douglas Daniel D. , Brown David R. , Pederson Neil
Published: February 2013

Faunal indicators of old‐growth forests in heavily‐disturbed regions are virtually non‐existent. However, land snails, in particular micro‐snails, could reflect the impact of land‐use on ecosystem integrity. Because of their size, limited mobility, and propensity to spend their entire lives at one locality due to lack of migratory behavior, micro‐snails are susceptible to changes in land‐use within forested ecosystems. Therefore, we proposed the hypothesis that micro‐snails would reflect land‐use in forested ecosystems. We sampled snail communities in paired old‐growth and second‐growth forests in three distinct ecoregions. Species diversity, richness, and abundance were greater in two of the three old‐growth sites compared to paired second‐growth sites. Across all of the ecoregions, 21 out of 70 species had an affinity for old‐growth. Eighteen of which were statistically significant. These results suggest that anthropogenic disturbance plays a key role in shaping species diversity and community structure of land snail fauna. However, site specific factors also appear to be important moderators of the response, and the mechanisms of the process remain to be studied. Snails appear to be a promising group of organisms to use as indicators of historic forest disturbance. In order to maintain ecological integrity, forest managers should consider management strategies that are low impact and protect existing patches of old‐growth forests.
Mineralogy, provenance, and dispersal history of late Quaternary deep-sea sands in Cascadia Basin and Blanco fracture zone off Oregon
Authors: Duncan John R. , Kulm L. D.
Published: February 2013

The mineralogy of sandy sediments deposited during the late Pleistocene and Holocene in southern Cascadia Basin and the adjoining Blanco Fracture Zone displays systematic regional and temporal trends. The light-mineral constituents of these sands are lithic, arkosic, or volcanic in composition. They are mainly derived from extrusive and intrusive basic igneous rocks. Four deep-sea heavy-mineral provinces (A, B, C, and D) are distinguishable in the area investigated. Province A lies in the Blanco Fracture Zone--Gorda Ridge transition area. Textural and mineralogical compositions of these deposits suggest local submarine volcanism. The volcanism may be associated with sea-floor spreading along the young crestal zone of Gorda Ridge. Province B is restricted to the late Pleistocene sediments of western Cascadia Abyssal Plain and Vancouver Valley; the most probable sediment source is Vancouver Island and vicinity. Sandy sediments from the island no longer reach the deep-sea environments, because they are presently being trapped behind the sills of the glacially-scoured inlets of the island. Province C includes the late Pleistocene and Holocene deposits in southeastern Cascadia Basin and Cascadia Channel; the sediments were derived from the Columbia River drainage. During Holocene time, the supply of coarse-grained detritals from the Columbia River diminished as sea level rose, and locally derived sediments from the metamorphic terrane of the Klamath Mountains were deposited at the base of the continental slope off southern Oregon and northern California (Province D), overriding the influence of the Columbia River sedimentation.
Application of date palm trunk fibers as adsorbents for removal of Cd+2 ions from aqueous solutions
Authors: Al-Ghamdi Ahmed , Altaher Hosam , Omar Waid
Published: February 2013

In this research raw date palm trunk fibers were used to adsorb cadmium ions from aqueous solutions. The date palm trunk fibers are considered as agricultural waste which is available in huge quantities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In order to assess the feasibility and the efficiency of using this as an adsorbent, a series of experiments were conducted in a batch adsorption method. The effects of the process variables such as fiber size, mixing rate, mixing time, temperature, solution pH and adsorbent dose on the adsorption capacity of date palm fibers were studied. The results obtained indicated that the adsorption capacity of Cd2+ increased from 29.06 to 51.1 mg/g as the particle size decreased from 875 to 100 μm. It was found that the adsorption capacity of Cd2+ decreased in the strong acidic medium and increased rapidly as the solution pH increased from 1.69 to 3.71. The adsorption capacity was observed to have an insignificant change on raising the temperature from 12 to 34 °C and increasing of mixing speed from 100 to 500 rpm. Also, one very important finding of this research is that the equilibrium time of the adsorption process is very short. The maximum adsorption capacity was obtained after 10 minutes.
Membrane-integrated hybrid bioremediation of industrial wastewater: a continuous treatment and recycling approach
Authors: Kumar Ramesh , Pal Parimal
Published: February 2013

A new membrane-integrated hybrid treatment system was investigated to turn highly hazardous coke wastewater reusable. This could protect both air and surface water bodies from toxic contaminants such as ammonia, phenol, cyanide, thiocyanate and other carcinogenic aromatic compounds which are normally released into the environment during discharge of coke wastewater and during quenching of coke by wastewater. Apart from these hazardous substances, oil, grease, other organics and even trace elements could be very effectively removed from wastewater by logical sequencing of chemical, biological and finally nanomembrane-based treatments in an integrated hybrid plant. After almost 99% removal of highly toxic cyanide compounds in a well-optimized Fenton's treatment unit, subsequent biological treatment units could be very effective. All these pretreatments helped achieve microbial nitrification and denitrification of more than 98% of ammonia. Composite nanofiltration membranes selected through investigation could separate ionic trace contaminants from water with a high degree of purification permitting recycling and reuse of the treated water. A selected cross flow membrane module allowed long hours of largely fouling-free operation under a reasonably low transmembrane pressure of only 15 bars while yielding an industrially acceptable flux of 80 L of pure water per hour per square meter of membrane surface.
Analysis of Pedestrian Accidents in Irbid City, Jordan
Authors: Al-Omari Bashar H. , Obaidat Eman S.
Published: February 2013

The numbers of people who are walking and bicycling continues to increase all over the world and pedestrian
accidents are becoming a serious problem in the developed and developing countries. However, the problem is more
severe in the developing countries, such as Jordan where pedestrians represented 32.5% of all traffic accident fatalities
and 23.8% of all traffic accident injuries during the year 2010. This study aims at analyzing pedestrian accidents in Irbid
city, as an example for urban areas in Jordan, based on a total of 1090 pedestrian accidents that have occurred in the City
during the three years period (1999 - 2001). The analysis was based on pedestrian characteristics, driver characteristics,
accident time, accident location, weather, road surface condition, illumination condition, vehicle characteristics, speed
limit, accident severity, pedestrian faults, and driver faults. Geographic Information System (GIS) tool was used to locate
all pedestrian accidents over the study area. The results of the study showed that the majority of pedestrian accidents have
occurred at non-intersection locations, during clear and sunny weather, on dry surface, during daylight, and at low speed
limits. Also, more pedestrian accidents have occurred during the afternoons, on Thursdays, and during July. The majority
of involved drivers in pedestrian accidents were males, with private license type, driving private vehicles and committed
the fault of “not giving priority to pedestrians”. The majority of pedestrian victims were males, children less than 15 years
old, and hit by vehicles while crossing the road.
Comparing medical treatments for Crohn’s disease
Authors: Renna Sara , Orlando Ambrogio , Cottone Mario
Published: February 2013

The drugs available for inflammatory bowel disease are aminosalicylates, antibiotics, steroids, immunosuppressors and biologics. The effectiveness of these drugs has been evaluated in many randomized clinical trials, mainly versus placebo. Few studies have been conducted comparing the different drugs among themselves, owing to the methodological problems raised by comparative trials, such as sample size and blindness. This review focuses mainly on the randomized clinical trials that have compared different treatments. Of course comparisons are mainly between drugs used in a particular setting (mild, moderate and severe disease). However, on many occasions there is no homogeneity in these clinical settings, and therefore the results are difficult to interpret.
The value of linking hospital discharge and mortality data for comparative effectiveness research
Authors: Mark Tami L , Lawrence William , Coffey Rosanna M , Kenney Timothy , Chu Bong Chul , Mohler Emile R , Steiner Claudia
Published: February 2013

Background:
Linkage of US state hospital discharge records to state death certificate records offers the possibility of tracking long-term mortality outcomes across large, diverse patient populations, which may be useful for comparative effective analyses.
Aim:
To demonstrate the value of linking state community hospital discharge data to vital statistics death files for research by conducting a comparative effectiveness analysis.
Methods:
Linked Patient Discharge Data and Vital Statistics Death Files from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development were used to compare survival rates for patients with an elective repair for abdominal aortic aneurysm who received open aneurysm repair (OAR) versus endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). The sample consisted of 13,652 hospitalized patients who underwent an OAR or EVAR for abdominal aortic aneurysm between 1 July 2000 and 31 January 2006. Patients were matched using propensity scores (8966 patients in the matched sample). In-hospital, 30-day, 1-year and 5-year mortality rates were compared between the OAR and EVAR populations, before and after propensity score matching.
Results:
We found a few data anomalies (92 out of 13,652), primarily in patients’ sex and date of death. The analysis revealed that in the matched cohort, in-hospital and 30-day postdischarge mortality rates were significantly lower following EVAR than OAR; however, consistent with previous clinical trials, differences in the 1- and 5-year rates were not statistically significant.
Conclusion:
The study demonstrates that linked US state discharge and mortality data can be a valuable resource for comparative effectiveness analyses. In particular, this approach may be useful when generally available data sets such as Medicare claims data limit the generalizability of findings. Policy-makers and others should consider greater investments in these data.
Feasibility of Computer Vision-Based Safety Evaluations
Authors: Sayed Tarek , Ismail Karim , Zaki Mohamed H. , Autey Jarvis
Published: February 2013

Traditional road safety analysis has often been undertaken with historical collision records. However, limitations on the quality and completeness of collision data gave rise to surrogate ways of measuring safety, especially the traffic conflict technique. Traditionally, traffic conflict techniques have relied on field observations, which have some reliability and repeatability problems. Therefore, successfully automating conflict detection with data extracted from video sensors could have considerable benefits for traffic safety studies. Before-and-after safety evaluations could greatly benefit from automated analysis of traffic conflicts, and the main objective of this paper is to demonstrate the use of this analysis technique for such evaluations. A right-turn safety improvement was implemented at an intersection in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in 2009 to mitigate the high rate of rear-end and merging collisions. The right-turn ramp was closed, and all right-turning vehicles were brought to the right-turn lane at the intersection, where a “No-Right-Turn-on-Red” sign was installed. In this study, video sensors were the primary source of conflict data. The video data were analyzed and traffic conflicts were measured with an automated traffic safety tool. The distributions of the calculated conflict indicators before and after the treatment showed a considerable reduction in the frequency and severity of traffic conflicts. This result suggests significant positive changes in rear-end, merging, and total conflicts. The results of this study show the potential benefit of adopting automated conflict analysis for before-and-after safety studies.
Linear and Nonlinear Safety Intervention Models
Authors: El-Basyouny Karim , Sayed Tarek
Published: February 2013

Recent research has advocated the use of linear intervention models developed within a hierarchical full Bayes context to conduct road safety evaluations. These models acknowledge that the effects of a safety treatment (intervention) do not occur instantaneously but are spread over future time periods. Despite the demonstrated advantages of such models, the manner in which the implemented countermeasures affect safety at the treated locations according to their novelty, direct effects, and indirect effects is not completely understood. A novel nonlinear intervention model was proposed to better understand how safety countermeasures work. To demonstrate the proposed model's capabilities, linear and nonlinear (Koyck) models were applied to estimate the effectiveness of the installation of shoulder rumble strips on a number of highway segments in the province of British Columbia, Canada. In addition to providing the best fit, the nonlinear Koyck model provided valuable insight into the effectiveness of shoulder rumble strips. This model showed an immediate 24.9% reduction of off-road-right collisions after 1 year that decreased with time and a 19.2% reduction in collisions as a result of permanent treatment. Overall, the findings from this study can have a significant impact on the economic evaluation of safety programs and countermeasures.
Investigating Effect of Collision Aggregation on Safety Evaluations with Models of Multivariate Linear Intervention
Authors: El-Basyouny Karim , Sayed Tarek , Esawey Mohamed El , Pump John
Published: February 2013

This study investigated the effect of collision aggregation on safety evaluation through a case study from the 2001 Signal Head Upgrade Program of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, Canada. Three types of evaluations were performed. Bivariate intervention models were used in the first two evaluations to assess the impacts of different collision severity levels [severe and property damage only (PDO)] and the impact of the time of the collision (daytime and nighttime) on safety. In the third evaluation, multivariate intervention models were used to determine the safety impacts of the program on each combination of collision severity and time of occurrence (i.e., severe–daytime, severe–nighttime, PDO–daytime, PDO–nighttime). Overall, the results indicated that the program was effective in improving the safety of the treated intersections. However, the results revealed that aggregate analyses could lead to misleading results. Aggregation of collisions over time of day indicated that the treatment resulted in significant reductions in PDO collisions but not in severe collisions. Alternatively, aggregation of collisions over severity levels indicated that the treatment resulted in significant reductions in both daytime and nighttime collisions. These results were different from the results of the disaggregate analysis, in which significant reductions were found for all collision types, except for severe collisions during the daytime.
Analysis of Crash Frequency in Work Zones with Focus on Police Enforcement
Authors: Chen Erdong , Tarko Andrew P.
Published: February 2013

Highway work zone safety has been a concern nationwide and will likely draw ever increasing attention as more highway funds are invested in the maintenance of existing highways. To improve work zone safety, the Indiana Department of Transportation (DOT) established a special fund for work zone patrolling, and this study was commissioned to help the Indiana DOT achieve the maximum safety benefits within its budget constraint. With help from the Indiana DOT, a survey of project engineers was conducted to collect work zone information. The findings from the survey were linked with other available data. A random-effect negative binomial model was developed to identify the contributing factors and to estimate crash frequency in highway work zones. The results from the model provided insight for better understanding of crashes in work zones. Various factors, including roadway information, traffic volume, work zone–specific features, and police presence, were identified as things that affect crash frequency in work zones. These and other findings will be used to plan police enforcement activities in future Indiana DOT work zones.
Discretization of Road Networks for Safety Evaluation with Consideration of Intersection Impact Zones
Authors: Brown Jennifer , Romero Mario , Tarko Andrew P.
Published: February 2013

The goal of safety management is to reduce the number and severity of crashes in transportation networks. One of the methods of safety management is identification of roads that experience an excessive number of crashes by comparison of the actual number of crashes with exposure-based predictions. The identification task typically includes division of the road network into intersections and segments in such a way that independent prediction of safety at these components can be defended. However, evidence provided by recent research shows that the assumption of independence can be violated and lead to biased safety predictions. This study proposed a refined road network discretization and an accounting for the safety impact of intersections on nearby short segments. The latter was accomplished by inclusion of variables for the distance to the intersection in the safety performance functions for segments. Three network discretization methods, including the one proposed, are presented and discussed on the basis of their application to the Indiana state road network. Considerable differences between the average safety impact zones of signalized and unsignalized intersections were detected. Rural signalized intersections tended to have very short impact zones, whereas rural unsignalized intersections were influential over greater distances. In urban areas, unsignalized intersections had a short impact zone and signalized intersections were influential over greater distances. Potential sources of these differences are discussed, and future work is detailed.
Histological Study of Human Thyroid Gland Relative Proportion of Parenchyma and Stroma in Thyroid Glands of Bangladeshi People
Authors: Ullah Md Enayet , Hena Hasna , Qasim Rubina
Published: February 2013

Deep cervical fascia forms a connective tissue sheath around the thyroid gland. Delicate trabeculae and septa penetrate the gland indistinctly dividing the gland into lobes and lobules which in turn composed of follicles.1,2,3 These follicles are structural units of thyroid gland which varies greatly in size and shape.4 The number of follicles varies in different age groups. The study was carried out to see the percentage of area occupied by follicles in the stained section of thyroid glands in different age groups. The collected samples were grouped as A (3.5  20yrs), B (21- 40yrs) & C (41  78yrs). Percentage of area occupied by follicles was (58.55±10.72) in group A, (63.79±12.35) in group B + (63.39±8.29) in group C.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/updcj.v1i2.13981 Update Dent. Coll. j. 2011: 1(2): 17-20
Fabricating a Partial Denture Obturator for the rehabilitation of Maxillectomy Patient - A Case Report
Authors: Khan Md Ali Afzal , Hasan Md Nazmul , Mohsina Newaz , Begum Aleya
Published: February 2013

Obturator prostheses are considered to be the preferred choice for the restoration of maxillary defects. Patients with palatal insufficiency, speech and deglutition becomes impaired, thereby requiring prosthodontic rehabilitation. The prosthodontic rehabilitation of patients with acquired defects of the maxilla after surgical resection is the complete responsibility of a maxillofacial prosthodontist. He has to recreate an artificial barrier between the cavities and thus restore the functional capabilities of speech, mastication and swallowing. Palatal obturator is the only substitute which covers the defect and contributes to normal speech production. It eliminates hypernasality and improves the communication.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/updcj.v1i2.13983 Update Dent. Coll. j. 2011: 1(2): 25-28
Antioxidants in Different Potato Genotypes: Effect of Drought and Wounding Stress
Authors: Wegener Christina , Jansen Gisela
Published: February 2013

Potatoes are regarded as a significant antioxidant source in human nutrition. However, different types of environmental stress may affect the level of antioxidants in their tuber tissue. In this study, two purple breeding clones and the yellow fleshed cultivar (cv.) Agave were grown in the glasshouse under control with drought stress conditions for two consecutive years. After harvest, the tubers were analysed for concentrations of antioxidants measured as ascorbic acid equivalent (ACE) and trolox equivalent (TXE) in fresh tissue and after wounding. In addition, the peroxidase enzyme (POD) activities and total amounts of anthocyanins (Ac) were assayed. Drought stress caused a significant decrease in tuber yield but had no significant effect on Ac, POD, ACE and TXE. Wounding stress significantly induced the POD activity in control and drought stressed tubers of all genotypes. Also the ACE and TXE were notably increased by wounding in cv. Agave. This was less pronounced in the purple clones which in general displayed a higher level of antioxidants. The results revealed significant differences between genotypes and that the effect of drought stress on the level of antioxidants is smaller than that of wounding stress.
Targeted Toxin-Based Selectable Drug-Free Enrichment of Mammalian Cells with High Transgene Expression
Authors: Sato Masahiro , Akasaka Eri , Saitoh Issei , Ohtsuka Masato , Nakamura Shingo , Sakurai Takayuki , Watanabe Satoshi
Published: February 2013

Almost all transfection protocols for mammalian cells use a drug resistance gene for the selection of transfected cells. However, it always requires the characterization of each isolated clone regarding transgene expression, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. In the current study, we developed a novel method to selectively isolate clones with high transgene expression without drug selection. Porcine embryonic fibroblasts were transfected with pCEIEnd, an expression vector that simultaneously expresses enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and endo-b-galactosidase C(EndoGalC; an enzyme capable of digesting cell surface a-Gal epitope) upon transfection. After transfection, the surviving cells were briefly treated with IB4SAP (a-Gal epitope-specific BS-I-B4 lectin conjugated with a toxin saporin). The treated cells were then allowed to grow in normal medium, during which only cells strongly expressing EndoGalC and EGFP would survive because of the absence of a-Gal epitopes on their cell surface. Almost all the surviving colonies after IB4SAP treatment were in fact negative for BS-I-B4 staining, and also strongly expressed EGFP. This system would be particularly valuable for researchers who wish to perform large-scale production of therapeutically important recombinant proteins.
Supporting Translational Research on Inherited Cardiomyopathies through Information Technology
Authors: Gabetta M. , Milani G. , Bucalo M. , Mulas F. , Nuzzo A. , Favalli V. , Arbustini E. , Bellazzi R. , Larizza C.
Published: February 2013

Objectives: The INHERITANCE project, funded by the European Commission, is aimed at studying genetic or inherited Dilated cardiomyopathies (DCM) and at understanding the impact and management of the disease within families that suffer from heart conditions that are caused by DCMs. The biomedical informatics research activity of the project aims at implementing information technology solutions to support the project team in the different phases of their research, in particular in genes screening prioritization and new gene-disease association discovery.

Methods: In order to manage the huge quantity of scientific, clinical and patient data generated by the project several advanced biomedical informatics tools have been developed. The paper describes a layer of software instruments to support translation of the results of the project in clinical practice as well as to support the scientific discovery process. This layer includes data warehousing, intelligent querying of the phenotype data, integrated search of biological data and knowledge repositories, text mining of the relevant literature, and case based reasoning.

Results: At the moment, a set of 1,394 patients and 9,784 observations has been stored into the INHERITANCE data warehouse. The literature database contains more than 1,100,000 articles retrieved from the Pubmed and generically related to cardiac diseases, already analyzed for extracting medical concepts and genes.

Conclusions: After two years of project the data warehouse has been completely set up and the text mining tools for automatic literature analysis have been implemented and tested. A first prototype of the decision support tool for knowledge discovery and gene prioritization is available, but a more complete release is still under development.
The Role of Taxonomies in Social Media and the Semantic Web for Health Education
Authors: Konstantinidis S. , Fernandez-Luque L. , Karlsen R. , Bamidis P.
Published: February 2013

Background: An increasing amount of health education resources for patients and professionals are distributed via social media channels. For example, thousands of health education videos are disseminated via You-Tube. Often, tags are assigned by the disseminator. However, the lack of use of standardized terminologies in those tags and the presence of misleading videos make it particularly hard to retrieve relevant videos.

Objectives: i) Identify the use of standardized medical thesauri (SNOMED CT) in You-Tube Health videos tags from preselected YouTube Channels and demonstrate an information technology (IT) architecture for treating the tags of these health (video) resources. ii) Investigate the relative percentage of the tags used that relate to SNOMED CT terms. As such resources may play a key role in educating professionals and patients, the use of standardized vocabularies may facilitate the sharing of such resources. iii) Demonstrate how such resources may be properly exploited within the new generation of semantically enriched content or learning management systems that allow for knowledge expansion through the use of linked medical data and numerous literature resources also described through the same vocabularies.

Methods: We implemented a video portal integrating videos from 500 US Hospital channels. The portal integrated 4,307 YouTube videos regarding surgery as described by 64,367 tags. BioPortal REST services were used within our portal to match SNOMED CT terms with YouTube tags by both exact match and non-exact match. The whole architecture was complemented with a mechanism to enrich the retrieved video resources with other educational material residing in other repositories by following contemporary semantic web advances, in the form of Linked Open Data (LOD) principles.

Results: The average percentage of YouTube tags that were expressed using SNOMED CT terms was about 22.5%, while one third of YouTube tags per video contained a SNOMED CT term in a loose search; this analogy became one tenth in the case of exact match. Retrieved videos were then linked further to other resources by using LOD compliant systems. Such results were exemplified in the case of systems and technologies used in the mEducator EC funded project.

Conclusion: YouTube Health videos can be searched for and retrieved using SNOMED CT terms with a high possibility of identifying health videos that users want based on their search criteria. Despite the fact that tagging of this information with SNOMED CT terms may vary, its availability and linked data capacity opens the door to new studies for personalized retrieval of content and linking with other knowledge through linked medical data and semantic advances in (learning) content management systems.
Emasculation increases seed set in the bird‐pollinated hermaphrodite Kniphofia linearifolia (Xanthorrhoeaceae): Evidence for sexual conflict?
Authors: Duffy Karl J. , Patrick Kirsten L. , Johnson Steven D.
Published: February 2013

• Premise of the study: Hermaphroditism in plants can lead to gender conflicts, such as pollen discounting—the loss of siring opportunities following self‐pollination, and ovule discounting—the loss of seed production opportunities when self‐pollen tubes disable ovules through early inbreeding depression or late‐acting self‐incompatibility. If ovules are discounted by self‐pollination, it can be predicted that emasculation (removal of self‐pollen) should increase seed production, as long as pollinators are not deterred by emasculation.

• Methods: Using the hermaphroditic Kniphofia linearifolia, which belongs to a lineage known to possess late‐acting self‐incompatibility, we performed hand‐pollinations with either self‐ or cross‐pollen and recorded pollen tube growth and seed production. We paired experimentally emasculated plants with non‐emasculated controls and quantified pollinator visitation rates, fruit, and seed set in both groups.

• Key Results: Ovules penetrated by tubes from self‐pollen uniformly failed to develop into seeds, as expected from ovarian self‐incompatibility (or strong early inbreeding depression). Experimental emasculation had no effect on the rate of visitation by birds, the primary pollinators of this species, but led to increased rejection by bees, which are secondary pollinators. Despite reducing visitation by some pollinators, emasculation led to increased seed production and reduced rates of seed abortion.

• Conclusions: These results show that female performance in hermaphroditic flowers can be enhanced when flowers are emasculated, even if the overall number of pollinator visits is decreased. The most likely explanation for this effect of emasculation is that it reduces ovule discounting arising from pollinator‐mediated self‐pollination.
Scleral Fixation Underneath an Intact Conjunctiva
Authors: Koytak Arif , Sari Esin Sogutlu , Altinisik Muhammed
Published: February 2013

PURPOSE:

To describe a technique for the fixation of intraocular lenses or capsular tension rings through the ciliary sulcus or pars plana.

METHODS:

This alternative technique allows burial of the knot and the free suture ends within the sclera, without using a scleral flap or pocket or even a conjunctival opening.

RESULTS:

No suture exposure has occurred with the use of the suture burial technique in approximately 25 eyes in 4 years. Additional benefits include less patient discomfort and an improved anatomic and cosmetic outcome starting from the first postoperative day.

CONCLUSIONS:

This technique causes minimal tissue damage and scarring with almost no postoperative discomfort.