bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Exploring the frequency and location of prescribing errors in the use of topical glaucoma medications
Authors: Lakhani Bansri K , King Anthony J
Published: January 2018

Importance

Very little is known about health‐care professional related prescribing errors within the glaucoma setting.

Background

This study aims to quantify these errors and to explore where they occur along the prescribing pathway.

Design

Cross‐sectional study of patients attending a specialty glaucoma clinic over a 5‐month period.

Participants

Data was collected for 109 patients.

Methods

We compared glaucoma drop regimes from four different sources: As documented in the hospital notes for the last appointment, the letter sent to the General Practitioner (GP), patient's self‐reporting and bottles/prescriptions brought to the clinic appointment.

Main Outcome Measures

Discrepancies were identified and errors were grouped into one of four categories depending on where in the prescribing pathway they occurred: Incorrect prescribing of the drops by the clinician, incorrect prescribing of the drops by the GP/failure to provide a repeat prescription, incorrect dispensing of the drops by the pharmacist and possible non‐adherence by the patient.

Results

There was a total of 217 individual prescription items involving 266 active ingredients. Seventy‐one prescription items out of 217 (33%) had an error, of this 53 (75%) were due to possible patient non‐adherence and 18 (25%) were process related errors made by health‐care professionals.

Conclusions and Relevance

An error was identified in 33% of prescriptions. About 8.3% of prescriptions had a health‐care professional related process error. These errors are preventable and recognition of these is important to maximize drop adherence and minimize disease progression, requiring increased consultations and interventions with quality of life and health economic consequences.
One‐year weight losses in the Tianjin Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Prevention Programme: A randomized clinical trial
Authors: Liu Huikun , Wang Leishen , Zhang Shuang , Leng Junhong , Li Nan , Li Weiqin , Wang Jing , Tian Huiguang , Qi Lu , Yang Xilin , Yu Zhijie , Tuomilehto Jaakko , Hu Gang
Published: January 2018

Aims

To report the weight loss findings after the first year of a lifestyle intervention trial among women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).

Methods

A total of 1180 women with GDM were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive a 4‐year lifestyle intervention (intervention group, n = 586) or standard care (control group, n = 594) between August 2009 and July 2011. Major elements of the intervention included 6 face‐to‐face sessions with study dieticians and two telephone calls in the first year, and two individual sessions and two telephone calls in each subsequent year.

Results

Among 79% of participants who completed the year 1 trial, mean weight loss was 0.82 kg (1.12% of initial weight) in the intervention group and 0.09 kg (0.03% of initial weight) in the control group (P = .001). In a prespecified subgroup analysis of people who completed the trial, weight loss was more pronounced in women who were overweight (body mass index ≥24 kg/m2) at baseline: mean weight loss 2.01 kg (2.87% of initial weight) in the intervention group and 0.44 kg (0.52% of initial weight) in the control group (P < .001). Compared with those in the control group, women in the intervention group had a greater decrease in waist circumference (1.76 cm vs 0.73 cm; P = .003) and body fat (0.50% vs 0.05% increase; P = .001).

Conclusion

The 1‐year lifestyle intervention led to significant weight losses after delivery in women who had GDM, and the effect was more pronounced in women who were overweight at baseline.
Do sodium‐glucose co‐transporter‐2 inhibitors prevent heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction by counterbalancing the effects of leptin? A novel hypothesis
Authors: Packer Milton
Published: January 2018

Sodium‐glucose co‐transporter‐2 (SGLT2) inhibitors reduce the risk of serious heart failure events in patients with type 2 diabetes, but little is known about mechanisms that might mediate this benefit. The most common heart failure phenotype in type 2 diabetes is obesity‐related heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). It has been hypothesized that the synthesis of leptin in this disorder leads to sodium retention and plasma volume expansion as well as to cardiac and renal inflammation and fibrosis. Interestingly, leptin‐mediated neurohormonal activation appears to enhance the expression of SGLT2 in the renal tubules, and SGLT2 inhibitors exert natriuretic actions at multiple renal tubular sites in a manner that can oppose the sodium retention produced by leptin. In addition, SGLT2 inhibitors reduce the accumulation and inflammation of perivisceral adipose tissue, thus minimizing the secretion of leptin and its paracrine actions on the heart and kidneys to promote fibrosis. Such fibrosis probably contributes to the impairment of cardiac distensibility and glomerular function that characterizes obesity‐related HFpEF. Ongoing clinical trials with SGLT2 inhibitors in heart failure are positioned to confirm or refute the hypothesis that these drugs may favourably influence the course of obesity‐related HFpEF by their ability to attenuate the secretion and actions of leptin.
Survivin is a negative prognostic factor in malignant pleural effusion
Authors: Arellano‐Orden Elena , Romero‐Romero Beatriz , Sánchez‐López Verónica , Martín‐Juan José , Rodríguez‐Panadero Francisco , Otero‐Candelera Remedios
Published: January 2018

Background

Survivin is a well‐known member of the inhibitor of apoptosis family, and has been related to increased tumour aggressivity, both in tissue and in pleural fluid.

Objectives

In patients with malignant pleural effusion, we sought to investigate the changes in pleural fluid survivin concentrations induced by talc instillation into the pleural space. Those changes were also examined in relation to pleurodesis outcome and patient survival.

Methods

We investigated 84 patients with malignant pleural effusion who underwent talc pleurodesis. Of them, 32 had breast cancer, 25 lung cancer and 27 had mesothelioma. Serial samples of pleural fluid were obtained before thoracoscopy (baseline) and 24 hours thereafter.

Results

Survivin levels were successfully quantified in all pleural fluid samples, and they were significantly higher in samples obtained after thoracoscopic talc poudrage compared with baseline (P < .001). Patients with higher pleural fluid survivin levels at baseline had a significantly poorer pleurodesis outcome (P = .004). A 30 pg/mL cut‐off for baseline survivin in pleural fluid predicted failure of pleurodesis with a 54% sensitivity and 79% specificity (P = .009). Moreover, median postpleurodesis survival of patients with baseline survivin levels ≥30 pg/mL was 4 months (range: 0.1‐38), compared with 13 months (range: 0.1‐259) in patients below that cut‐off (P < .001).

Conclusion

Elevated pleural fluid survivin concentrations are useful to predict failure of pleurodesis and are associated with shorter survival in patients with malignant pleural effusion.
Host specificity of co‐infecting Botryosphaeriaceae on ornamental and forest trees in the Western Balkans
Authors: Zlatković M. , Wingfield M. J. , Jami F. , Slippers B.
Published: January 2018

The Botryosphaeriaceae is a diverse family of endophytes and fungal pathogens of mainly woody plants. We considered the host range and distribution of these fungi by sampling diseased ornamental and forest trees and shrubs in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, spanning a Mediterranean and a Continental climatic region. In total, ten Botryosphaeriaceae species were identified in the Western Balkans and with the exception of Sphaeropsis visci and Phaeobotryon cupressi, which occurred on one host, all the species had a broader host range. Phaeobotryon cupressi was found only in the Mediterranean region and S. visci, Dothiorella sp., Dothiorella sarmentorum and Diplodia seriata were present only in the Continental region. Pathogenicity tests were conducted on a variety of hosts from which the Botryosphaeriaceae species were isolated. These included leaves and/or stems of seedlings of 21 hosts, and cut leaves and/or branches of six hosts. Moreover, stems of seedlings of Chamaecyparis lawsoniana, Cedrus deodara, Picea omorika, Pinus patula and Eucalyptus grandis were inoculated as hosts from which some or all of the Botryosphaeriaceae species used for inoculation were not isolated. Inoculations showed that the majority of these fungi could also co‐infect hosts other than those from which they were isolated. The results suggest that most of the species have broad host ranges and can potentially cause disease on a broad range of tree species under certain conditions.
Open‐label study of cognitive behavioural therapy for individuals with at‐risk mental state: Feasibility in the Japanese clinical setting
Authors: Matsumoto Kazunori , Ohmuro Noriyuki , Tsujino Naohisa , Nishiyama Shimako , Abe Koichi , Hamaie Yumiko , Katsura Masahiro , Inoue Naomi , Matsuoka Hiroo , Kawasaki Yasuhiro , Kishimoto Toshifumi , Suzuki Michio , Mizuno Masafumi
Published: January 2018

Aim

To date, most cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) trials for individuals with at‐risk metal state (ARMS) have been conducted in few Western countries and its feasibility in other regions, including Japan, has not been established.

Methods

We designed an open‐label pilot study. Fourteen ARMS participants received CBT over 6 months and were followed‐up for 6 months.

Results

Thirteen individuals completed the CBT intervention and assessments. The mean total score on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale improved from 60.2 to 46.0 after the intervention (Cohen's d = 1.1). The effects were maintained at the follow‐up assessment. One participant transitioned to psychosis after the CBT intervention, and was the only patient who received antipsychotics.

Conclusions

We confirmed the feasibility of the provision of CBT for ARMS in Japan. Since overprescription of antipsychotics is a matter of great concern in Japan, CBT could be a valuable alternative treatment strategy.
An independent race model involving an abort and re‐plan strategy explains reach redirecting movements during planning and execution
Authors: Venkataramani PrasannaVenkhatesh , Gopal Atul , Murthy Aditya
Published: January 2018

Although race models have been extensively used to study inhibitory control, the mechanisms that enable change of reach plans in the context of race models remain unexplored. We used a redirect task in which targets occasionally changed their locations to study the control of reaching movements during movement planning and execution phases. We tested nine different race model architectures that could explain the redirect behavior of reaching movements. We show that an independent GO–STOP–GO model that reflects a plan–abort–re‐plan strategy involving non‐interacting elements successfully explained the various behavioral measures such as the compensation function and the pattern of error response reaction times. By extending the same race model to the execution phase, we could explain the extent and the pattern of hypometric trials. Interestingly, the race model also provided evidence that redirecting a movement during planning and execution shared the same inhibitory mechanism. Taken together, this study demonstrates the applicability of an independent race model to understand the computational mechanisms underlying the control of reach movements.
Functional connectivity maps based on hippocampal and thalamic dynamics may account for the default‐mode network
Authors: Lee Tien‐Wen , Xue Shao‐Wei
Published: January 2018

The default‐mode network (DMN) has been reported to comprise a set of inter‐connected transmodal cortical areas, including the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), medial prefrontal cortex, posterior inferior parietal lobule, lateral temporal region and others. However, the subcortical constituents of theDMNare still not clear. This study aimed to examine whether the correlation maps derived from subcortical structures may also account for neural pattern of theDMN. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and resting‐state functionalMRIscans of 36 subjects were selected from the Rockland sample (Nathan Kline Institute). The hippocampus and thalamus were chosen as subcortical regions of interest (ROIs). EachROIwas partitioned into composite modules which in turn provided simplified and representative dynamics of blood‐oxygen‐level‐dependent (BOLD) signals.PCC‐seeded andROI‐based correlation maps were compared by conjunction analyses and pairedt‐tests (correctedP < 0.05). Our results unveiled that the hippocampus‐, thalamus‐ andPCC‐centred correlation patterns actually overlapped to a substantial degree. Integrating the signals in the thalamus and hippocampus altogether fully explained thePCC‐seededDMN. Supplementary analyses based on theBOLDdynamics in several subcortical nuclei (caudate, putamen and globus pallidus) were dissimilar to theDMN. TheDMNderived from theROI/seed‐based approach may represent combined limbic and region‐specific informatics (and their closely interacting neural substrates). The possible causes for previous methods of task‐induced deactivation and seed‐based correlation that failed to depict the holistic limbic picture are discussed. The neocortical manifestation ofDMNmay reflect the limbic information in the transmodal brain regions.
Binaural frequency selectivity in humans
Authors: Verhey Jesko L. , van de Par Steven
Published: January 2018

Several behavioural studies in humans have shown that listening to sounds with two ears that is binaural hearing, provides the human auditory system with extra information on the sound source that is not available when sounds are only perceived through one ear that is monaurally. Binaural processing involves the analysis of phase and level differences between the two ear signals. As monaural cochlea processing (in each ear) precedes the neural stages responsible for binaural processing properties it is reasonable to assume that properties of the cochlea may also be observed in binaural processing. A main characteristic of cochlea processing is its frequency selectivity. In psychoacoustics, there is an ongoing discussion on the frequency selectivity of the binaural auditory system. While some psychoacoustic experiments seem to indicate poorer frequency selectivity of the binaural system than that of the monaural processing others seem to indicate the same frequency selectivity for monaural and binaural processing. This study provides an overview of these seemingly controversial results and the different explanations that were provided to account for the different results.
Percutaneous perfusion monitoring for the detection of hemodialysis induced cardiovascular injury
Authors: Penny Jarrin D. , Grant Claire , Salerno Fabio , Brumfield Anne , Mianulli Marcus , Poole Lori , Mcintyre Christopher W.
Published: January 2018

Introduction: The safe delivery of hemodialysis (HD) faces dual challenges; the accurate detection of systemic circulatory stress producing cardiovascular (CV) injury, and the ability to enable effective preemptive intervention for such injury. We performed a pilot study to examine the capability of a new noninvasive, real‐time monitoring system to detect the deleterious effects of HD on CV stability.

Methods: Eight patients were evaluated with echocardiography prior to the initiation of HD and again at peak HD stress. Continuous CV physiologic monitoring was performed throughout using oximeter‐based pulse waveform analysis (CVInsight® Monitoring System, Intelomed, Inc., Warrendale, PA, USA). Longitudinal strain (LS) values for 12 left ventricular segments were generated using speckle‐tracking software (EchoPac, GE), to assess the presence of HD‐induced regional wall motion abnormalities (RWMA), indicative of myocardial stunning.

Findings: A reduction in pulse strength (PS) of ≥40% detected by CVI was associated with the development of RWMA (P = 0.005). This reduction occurred in 6/8 patients, all of whom exhibited myocardial stunning. Two patients had no significant reduction in PS nor evidence of myocardial stunning. In subjects with cardiac stunning, the decrease in PS was evident early during HD, 11.49 ± 10 minutes into HD treatment, prior to the detection of RWMA, which were assessed at peak HD stress, mean 210
16.43 minutes into HD treatment.

Discussion: Percutaneous perfusion monitoring, using pulse wave analysis, appears to be useful in identifying circulatory stress during HD and predicting the development of HD‐induced myocardial stunning with a lead time long enough to consider timely intervention.
Metataxonomic approach to decipher the polymicrobial burden in diabetic foot ulcer and its biofilm mode of infection
Authors: Suryaletha Karthika , John Joby , Radhakrishnan Megha Periyappilly , George Sanil , Thomas Sabu
Published: January 2018

Chronic diabetic foot is a global burden affecting millions of people, and the chronicity of an ulcer is directly linked to the diverse bacterial burden and its biofilm mode of infection. The bacterial diversity of 100 chronic diabetic ulcer samples was profiled via traditional culturing method as well as metagenomic approach by sequencing the 16S rRNA V3 hyper‐variable region on Illumina Miseq Platform (Illumina, Inc., San Diego, CA). All the relevant clinical metadata, including duration of diabetes, grade of ulcer, presence of neuropathy, and glycaemic level, were noted and correlated with the microbiota. The occurrence and establishment of bacterial biofilm over chronic wound tissues was revealed by Fluorescent in situ Hybridization and Scanning Electron Microscopy. The biofilm‐forming ability of predominant bacterial isolates was studied via crystal violet assay and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy. The dominant phyla obtained from bacterial diversity analysis were Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria. The dominant aerobic pathogens identified by culture method are Pseudomonas, Proteus, Enterococcus, and Staphylococcus, whereas high‐throughput sequencing revealed heightened levels of Streptococcus and Corynebacterium along with 22 different obligate anaerobes. The biofilm occurrence in chronic diabetic ulcer infection is well analysed. Herein, we illustrate the comprehensive pattern of bacterial infection and identify the community composition of chronic wound pathogenic biofilm.
Unknown Intracardiac Electrogram
Authors: Prystowsky Eric N.
Published: January 2018

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A multicenter, prospective, observational study examining the impact of risk factors, such as BMI and waist circumference, on quality of life improvement and clinical response in moderate‐to‐severe plaque‐type psoriasis patients treated with infliximab in routine care settings of Greece
Authors: Petridis A. , Panagakis P. , Moustou E. , Vergou T. , Kallidis P. , Mandekou‐Lefaki I. , Chaidemenos G. , Sotiriadis D. , Alexopoulou G. , Haratsis Y. , Antoniou C.
Published: January 2018

Background

Obesity has been associated with moderate‐to‐severe plaque psoriasis severity and PASI 75 response attainment of biologic therapies, but findings are inconsistent.

Objective

This study aimed to examine the association of body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) on disease severity, to identify potential patient characteristics associated with response attainment and to assess the impact of infliximab on the patients’ health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) among infliximab‐treated patients in the routine care setting of Greece.

Methods

This was a multicenter, prospective, observational study of adult moderate‐to‐severe plaque psoriasis patients who had initiated treatment with originator infliximab within 2 weeks prior to enrolment. Postenrolment visits occurred at 14 ± 4, 30 ± 4 and 54 ± 4 weeks following treatment onset.

Results

Between October 2012 and June 2014, 136 eligible patients (62.5% males) with a median age of 48.6 years, BMI of 29.6 kg/m2 and WC of 107.0 cm at enrolment were recruited by 21 dermatology hospital/private offices. All patients had received prior psoriasis treatment(s); 62.5% were biologic‐naïve. Mean baseline psoriasis area severity index (PASI) and Dermatology Quality of Life Index (DLQI) scores were 23.4 ± 13.6 and 15.0 ± 8.3, respectively. A low correlation was observed between WC at enrolment and baseline PASI [ρ = 0.324 (P < 0.001)]. Over a median 48.4 weeks of infliximab exposure, 89.3% of the per protocol set achieved a PASI 75 response. At 14, 30 and 54 weeks, the PASI 75 attainment rate was 66.4%, 74.8% and 76.6%, respectively; the clinically meaningful DLQI improvement (≥5 point decrease) rate was 68.9%, 75.7% and 69.8%, respectively. BMI category and abdominal obesity at enrolment did not impact PASI 75 or DLQI improvement rate attainment.

Conclusion

In the routine care of Greece, infliximab reduced disease activity and improved the quality of life of moderate‐to‐severe psoriasis patients through 1 year of treatment, independent of their BMI and WC.
Inflammation and Trajectory of Renal Function in Community‐Dwelling Older Adults
Authors: Salimi Shabnam , Shardell Michelle D. , Seliger Stephen L. , Bandinelli Stefania , Guralnik Jack M. , Ferrucci Luigi
Published: January 2018

Objectives

To examine the hypothesis that the inflammatory state of aging is a risk factor for accelerated renal function (RF) decline using inflammatory biomarkers and RF measures collected over 9 years of follow‐up in relatively healthy individuals enrolled in the Invecchiare in Chianti study.

Design

Longitudinal.

Setting

Community.

Participants

Individuals aged 60 and older with baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of 60 mL/min per 1.73 m2 and greater and no diabetes mellitus (DM) (N = 687).

Measures

eGFR, as a proxy for RF, was determined using the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD‐EPI) equation at baseline and 3‐, 6‐, and 9‐year follow‐up. Incident chronic kidney disease (CKD) was defined as new‐onset eGFR less than 60 mL/min per 1.73 m2 at each follow‐up. Predictors included baseline and time‐dependent inflammatory biomarkers: soluble tumor necrosis factor alpha receptors (sTNFα‐R1 and ‐R2), interleukin (IL)‐6, IL‐18, IL‐1β, IL‐1 receptor antagonist, and high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein.

Results

Higher baseline sTNFα‐R1 was significantly associated with lower eGFR over 9 years, independent of DM or blood pressure (baseline: = −0.39, P = .001; 3‐year: = −0.26, P = .001; 6‐year: = −0.36, P = .001; 9‐year: = −0.47, P = .001). The rate of TNFα‐R1 change was significantly associated with rate of eGFR change ( = −0.18, P = .001). Baseline sTNFα‐R1 predicted incident CKD (per 1‐standard deviation increment: 3‐year: relative risk (RR) = 1.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.1–1.5; 6‐year: RR = 1.5, 95% CI = 1.1–2.2; 9‐year RR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.1–2.2). Similar results were found for sTNFα‐R2.

Conclusion

Baseline TNFα‐R levels and their rates of change were significantly associated with RF decline and incident CKD in older adults independent of DM or blood pressure.
A New Model of Inflation, Trend Inflation, and Long‐Run Inflation Expectations
Authors: CHAN JOSHUA C.C. , CLARK TODD E. , KOOP GARY
Published: January 2018

This paper develops a bivariate model of inflation and a survey‐based long‐run forecast of inflation that allows for the estimation of the link between trend inflation and the long‐run forecast. Thus, our model allows for the possibilities that long‐run forecasts taken from surveys can be equated with trend inflation, that the two are completely unrelated, or anything in between. Using a variety of inflation measures and survey‐based forecasts for several countries, we find that long‐run forecasts can provide substantial help in refining estimates and fitting and forecasting inflation. It is less helpful to simply equate trend inflation with the long‐run forecasts.
Amyloid fibril polymorphism: a challenge for molecular imaging and therapy
Authors: Fändrich M. , Nyström S. , Nilsson K. P. R. , Böckmann A. , LeVine H. , Hammarström P.
Published: January 2018

The accumulation of misfolded proteins (MPs), both unique and common, for different diseases is central for many chronic degenerative diseases. In certain patients, MP accumulation is systemic (e.g. TTR amyloid), and in others, this is localized to a specific cell type (e.g. Alzheimer's disease). In neurodegenerative diseases, NDs, it is noticeable that the accumulation of MP progressively spreads throughout the nervous system. Our main hypothesis of this article is that MPs are not only markers but also active carriers of pathogenicity. Here, we discuss studies from comprehensive molecular approaches aimed at understanding MP conformational variations (polymorphism) and their bearing on spreading of MPs, MP toxicity, as well as MP targeting in imaging and therapy. Neurodegenerative disease (ND) represents a major and growing societal challenge, with millions of people worldwide suffering from Alzheimer's or Parkinson's diseases alone. For all NDs, current treatment is palliative without addressing the primary cause and is not curative. Over recent years, particularly the shape‐shifting properties of misfolded proteins and their spreading pathways have been intensively researched. The difficulty in addressing ND has prompted most major pharma companies to severely downsize their nervous system disorder research. Increased academic research is pivotal for filling this void and to translate basic research into tools for medical professionals. Recent discoveries of targeting drug design against MPs and improved model systems to study structure, pathology spreading and toxicity strongly encourage future studies along these lines to provide an opportunity for selective imaging, prognostic diagnosis and therapy.
Peritonitis after percutaneous endoscopic gastrojejunostomy for levodopa–carbidopa intestinal gel treatment despite concomitant use of gastropexy
Authors: Tsuboi Takashi , Watanabe Hirohisa , Funasaka Kouhei , Takebayashi Mikiko , Miyata Kazushi , Katsuno Masahisa
Published: January 2018

A 58‐year‐old man with Parkinson's disease experienced peritonitis after percutaneous endoscopic gastrojejunostomy (PEG‐J) for levodopa–carbidopa intestinal gel treatment despite concomitant use of gastropexy. Although gastropexy reduces complications including peritonitis, clinicians should consider structural characteristics of PEG‐J devices and patients’ anatomical differences. We recommend that suture threads are removed 2–4 weeks after PEG‐J and that the PEG‐J tube length outside the body is routinely recorded to assess tube dislocation.
Rubisco is not really so bad
Authors: Bathellier Camille , Tcherkez Guillaume , Lorimer George H. , Farquhar Graham D.
Published: January 2018

Ribulose‐1,5‐bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) is the most widespread carboxylating enzyme in autotrophic organisms. Its kinetic and structural properties have been intensively studied for more than half a century. Yet important aspects of the catalytic mechanism remain poorly understood, especially the oxygenase reaction. Because of its relatively modest turnover rate (a few catalytic events per second) and the competitive inhibition by oxygen, Rubisco is often viewed as an inefficient catalyst for CO2 fixation. Considerable efforts have been devoted to improving its catalytic efficiency, so far without success. In this review, we re‐examine Rubisco's catalytic performance by comparison with other chemically related enzymes. We find that Rubisco is not especially slow. Furthermore, considering both the nature and the complexity of the chemical reaction, its kinetic properties are unremarkable. Although not unique to Rubisco, oxygenation is not systematically observed in enolate and enamine forming enzymes and cannot be considered as an inevitable consequence of the mechanism. It is more likely the result of a compromise between chemical and metabolic imperatives. We argue that a better description of Rubisco mechanism is still required to better understand the link between CO2 and O2 reactivity and the rationale of Rubisco diversification and evolution.
Arranging ‘facts’ in ‘fiction’ – Presenting categories of knowledge in Antwerp prints and plays (1550–1565)
Authors: Vandommele Jeroen
Published: January 2018

This essay examines the way the artes liberales – the seven disciplines that traditionally categorised the different fields of learning – were publicly envisioned in the commercial metropolis of Antwerp between 1550 and 1565. It will introduce the Antwerp Landjuweel of 1561, a theatre competition organised by chambers of rhetoric that had knowledge as its main theme. Through an in‐depths analysis of the allegorical plays performed during this Landjuweel, the essay shows that these plays had an encyclopaedic purpose. Their goal was to produce a structured system that categorised the various arts and sciences. To help internalise and deliberate the presented knowledge structure, the plays employed a fictional mode of discourse and used a visual language related to rhetorical strategies. Showing the similarities between the plays of 1561 and two print series published around the same time and composed by Frans Floris, an influential Antwerp artist who had strong ties to the chambers of rhetoric, it is argued that both media intended to aid citizens in navigating the existing knowledge system, while at the same time redefining the corpus of knowledge and its necessity, thus propagating their own view of humanity's place in the world.
Does trade weaken product standards?
Authors: Berti Katia , Falvey Rod
Published: January 2018

We investigate the effects of trade on national minimum quality standards for a product whose quality is unobservable to consumers prior to purchase. Two standard‐setting regimes are considered: (1) where the regulatory authority takes the trade share as given; and (2) where the regulatory authority takes full account of its ability to influence the trade share. We find that standards are not a protectionist instrument in this model, the usual gains from trade apply if standards are maintained at their autarky values, trade can cause private standards to be adjusted in a welfare reducing way, and the welfare of a country is higher if its regulatory authority adopts regime (2) rather than (1).
Recent morphology and sedimentary processes along the western slope of Great Bahama Bank (Bahamas)
Authors: Principaud Melanie , Mulder Thierry , Hanquiez Vincent , Ducassou Emmanuelle , Eberli Gregor P. , Chabaud Ludivine , Borgomano Jean
Published: January 2018

Carbonate slopes and associated resedimented deposits have recently gained renewed interest because they represent volumetrically significant parts of carbonate platforms. Carbonate slopes are highly variable compositionally, architecturally and spatially due to a spectrum of sediment sources, resedimentation processes and controlling factors. Here, new high resolution acoustic data (including EM302 multi‐beam echo‐sounder and very high resolution seismic) and piston cores document highly diverse and complex morphological features along the north‐western slope of Great Bahama Bank. The recent morphology of the slope is the result of the interplay between depositional and erosive processes that vary through time and along strike. The different sedimentary processes are recorded as a Pleistocene lowstand surface, characterized by many erosional features and a Holocene sedimentary wedge along the upper to middle slope that partially covers the underlying Pleistocene surface. Sedimentary processes during the Holocene are dominated by density cascading flows, which export muddy aragonitic sediment from the platform top towards the slope. Sedimentation rates, however, vary along strike due to platform top morphology combined with the variable strength of the basinal current. Reefs and islands in the Bimini area block off‐bank sediment export, and shoals and tidal deltas from Cat Cay to the south reduce the density cascading processes. Numerous small and large slope failure scars show the instability of the steep slopes of Great Bahama Bank. Bottom currents dominate the lower slope and the basin. Striations and moats are the morphological expressions of current directions, while areas of non‐deposition document strong current and concomitant removal of off‐bank transported sediment along parts of the slope, while the Santaren Drift and the drift on the north‐western edge of Great Bahama Bank act as the depositional locus for the fine‐grained sediments transported in the current.
Mycobacterium abscessus infections in lung transplant recipients: 15‐year experience from a single institution
Authors: Osmani Morsal , Sotello David , Alvarez Salvador , Odell John A. , Thomas Mathew
Published: January 2018

Purpose

To evaluate our institutional experience with Mycobacterium abscessus infections occurring in lung transplant recipients (LTR).

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed our prospectively collected institutional adult lung transplant database from 2001 to 2015 to identify patients with M. abscessus or Mycobacterium chelonae/abscessus infection before or after transplantation. Untreated, colonized patients were excluded from the study. Electronic health records of nine out of 516 lung recipients (1.74%) with clinical infection were reviewed to determine outcomes.

Results

Seven patients acquired the infection after transplantation. Indications for transplantation were: idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (in 6), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (in 2), and cystic fibrosis (in 1). Five patients (55.5%) underwent bilateral lung transplantation; one patient required bilateral re‐transplantation for complications from infection. M. abscessus was isolated from the respiratory tract with a median time of 7.5 months (range: 3 days to 13 months) from transplantation. All patients were treated using a multidrug regimen, with durations ranging from 3 days to 12 months. Complications from infection included death in one patient, bronchial anastomotic dehiscence in one patient, delayed bronchial occlusions in two patients, and osteomyelitis of the knee in one patient. Median survival time from transplantation was 39 months (range: 11‐96 months) and from the date of first positive culture was 58 months (range: 3‐91 months). Five patients (55.5%) were cured but two had re‐infections >1 year later.

Conclusions

Mycobacterium abscessus infection in LTR is rare and can lead to severe complications. Eradication is difficult and usually requires prolonged combination antibiotic therapy and occasionally surgical management.
Creutzfeldt‐Jakob disease and blood transfusion safety
Authors: Seed C. R. , Hewitt P. E. , Dodd R. Y. , Houston F. , Cervenakova L.
Published: January 2018

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are untreatable, fatal neurologic diseases affecting mammals. Human disease forms include sporadic, familial and acquired Creutzfeldt‐Jakob disease (CJD). While sporadic CJD (sCJD) has been recognized for near on 100 years, variant CJD (vCJD) was first reported in 1996 and is the result of food‐borne transmission of the prion of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, ‘mad cow disease’). Currently, 230 vCJD cases have been reported in 12 countries, the majority in the UK (178) and France (27). Animal studies demonstrated highly efficient transmission of natural scrapie and experimental BSE by blood transfusion and fuelled concern that sCJD was potentially transfusion transmissible. No such case has been recorded and case–control evaluations and lookback studies indicate that, if transfusion transmission occurs at all, it is very rare. In contrast, four cases of apparent transfusion transmission of vCJD infectivity have been identified in the UK. Risk minimization strategies in response to the threat of vCJD include leucodepletion, geographically based donor deferrals and deferral of transfusion recipients. A sensitive and specific, high‐throughput screening test would provide a potential path to mitigation but despite substantial effort no such test has yet appeared. The initial outbreak of vCJD appears to be over, but concern remains about subsequent waves of disease among those already infected. There is considerable uncertainty about the size of the infected population, and there will be at least a perception of some continuing risk to blood safety. Accordingly, at least some precautionary measures will remain in place and continued surveillance is necessary.
Volatility Transmission between Oil and LME Futures
Authors: Park Jaehwan
Published: January 2018

This paper investigates the volatility transmission between oil and base metals to assess the possibility of hedge strategy across commodity markets. In order to identify the volatility linkage of oil to the base metals, the bivariate GARCH model is applied using daily returns data period over 2000-2016. It is found that evidence of volatility transmission between oil and base metals is somewhat strong with a 1% significant level. This result suggests the investment idea of commodity hedging strategy of cross-market is important.
Maximizing Influence
Authors: Khaire Mukti
Published: January 2018

This chapter describes the prerequisites—independence and expertise—that intermediaries must possess to perform their crucial functions, exert power over producers and consumers, and influence the market. Independence has structural, economic, and cognitive dimensions. An intermediary perceived as or known to be corrupted or co-opted by creators or producers would have no, or worse, a negative influence on value construction and market creation for a cultural good. Intermediaries accordingly develop ways of demonstrating their independence. For their discourse to be credible and influential, intermediaries must also possess and demonstrate expertise. Both prerequisites are assets of intermediaries and play a role in maintaining their financial viability, but neither can be actively managed nor speedily built. This has significant implications, examined in detail in this chapter, for new intermediary ventures as well as pioneer intermediaries.
Purpose and Profit
Authors: Khaire Mukti
Published: January 2018

This chapter explores the strategies adopted by producers, who must balance financial and cultural imperatives to maintain viability and standing in both the artistic and the business worlds, each of which has a different, sometimes contradictory institutional logic. Mirroring the strategies used by individual creators, producers attempt to balance both worlds by maintaining varying degrees of separation between the two worlds—blending (no separation), loose coupling or portfolio (some separation, maintained through the production of multiple product lines), and decoupling (complete separation through production of unrelated products or by adopting a not-for-profit business model). Each of these strategies is differentially appropriate for creator firms versus producer firms, and each has specific implications for pioneer producers and new producer ventures, all of which are explored.
Prelude
Authors: Galperin William H.
Published: January 2018

In the large circular paintings that Robert Barker exhibited in his Panorama in Leicester Square, notably his painting of London (1795), viewers encountered a distended present in which the everyday, a stratum of experience that, as Maurice Blanchot notes, is “never see[n] a first time but is only see[n] again,” comes eventually to view. The “panoramic” experience registers a period-bound phenomenology in which the everyday becomes visible and thinkable for essentially the first time.
Introduction
Authors: Galperin William H.
Published: January 2018

The emergence of the everyday in the romantic period involved a mode of recovery that pitted an empirical history—where the past remains a guide to what is probable and likely to reoccur—and a history in which the prior is sufficiently singular that its reproducibility in any form apart from what “every day life” is undermined. This latter history is evident in Wordsworth’s demonstration of what subjective or “poetic” experience routinely forgets or misses. It is at work in Austen’s revisions that return her to a world appreciable solely in retrospect. In Byron it is allied with the “history” to which marriage and everyday domesticity are consigned before marriage, or by a nostalgia that, lacking mnemonic support, is radically anonymous and conceptual. From domestic fiction to the fragment poem, including Byron’s Don Juan, romantic-period literary production is marked by genres answerable to the everyday.
Lord Byron and Lady Byron
Authors: Galperin William H.
Published: January 2018

An overlooked aspect of Lord Byron’s short unhappy marriage to Annabella Milbanke remains the “singular,” everyday world of relation that marriage represented for him, both beforehand, when marriage was an abstraction performed in correspondence with Milbanke, and afterwards, when the Byron marriage and the world it figured was literally a history of missed opportunities that the poet recaptured and reinscribed in Don Juan. The finite, epistolary conversation that constituted the Byron courtship was more than a trial run at marriage, particularly as the opposite of what Byron disparagingly called “love.” It proved a stay against a future that, on the relational front and in Byron’s contemporaneous Eastern Tales, was devoid of either hope or possibility. Here, in the sway of anticipatory nostalgia, marriage day after day would be suddenly fathomable and as valuable as the monetary fortune Byron also sought, but as a history of missed opportunities.
Playing War in Late Colonial Korea
Authors: Zur Dafna
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines literature for children at the height of imperialization (kōminka) policies in the late 1930s, the era considered most aggressive in its attempt to efface the Korean language and culture. The cultural production for children from this era is often referenced for its normalization of militarism, which is evident in the celebration of war in the texts and images of children’s culture. This chapter argues that this transition to the militarized child was facilitated by organic qualities so celebrated in earlier decades, which made the hearts and bodies of children susceptible to regulation and discipline. Still, humor, irony, and the celebration of the transformative power of the imagination served as a powerful counternarrative to the view of late colonial culture as foreclosed. This was the era that voiced some of colonial Korea’s most powerful anticapitalist resistance.
A Collaborative Model for Long-Term Investing
Authors: Monk Ashby , Sharma Rajiv , Sinclair Duncan L.
Published: January 2018

This chapter introduces the key themes that will be looked at in this book. In particular, it looks at the problem of long-term investing, illustrating why institutional investors are not acting in a long-term manner and the repercussions that this has for wider society. It provides a clear distinction between asset owner investors who have monopolies over their capital source and financial intermediaries, who are essentially acting on the former’s behalf but have come under much scrutiny for their shorter-term, opportunistic, and at times unethical behavior. The collaborative model of long-term investing and re-intermediation thesis is introduced as an innovative way for institutional investors to overcome some of the challenges of short-termism. The chapter outlines how social network theory and economic sociology are used to validate the collaborative model. This paves the way for detailed explanations and case study examples starting in Chapter 2.
Fabrication of a compact glass-sealed x-ray tube with carbon nanotube cold cathode for high-resolution imaging
Authors: Hong Ji Hwan , Kang Jung Su , Park Kyu Chang
Published: January 2018

A glass-sealed x-ray tube with field emission electron sources has been fabricated using carbon nanotubes (CNTs) grown on a silicon substrate by direct current plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Here, the authors report on the fabrication of CNT-based emitters, the field emission characteristics of these emitters, and the properties of the glass-sealed x-ray tube. The field emission produced a current of 5 mA with an electron transmission rate of 91.1% in a high-vacuum chamber. The glass-sealed x-ray tube had a conventional design and comprised a reflection anode, an evaporation getter, and a vacuum-sealed glass tube without additional focusing electrode requirements for ease of commercialization. Using this x-ray tube, the authors obtained x-ray images of objects, including a human finger and a commercial universal serial bus (USB) flash drive. The x-ray image allowed a 100 μm metal wire to be distinguished in the USB flash drive. The x-ray images were obtained at a dose rate of 1944 mrad/h, which represents a relatively low dose. The grown CNT emitters showed stable field emission after electrical aging. These CNT-based glass-sealed x-ray tubes are expected to become a platform for the fabrication of medical and dental x-ray systems.
ACOUSTICAL STANDARDS NEWS
Authors: Stremmel Neil B. , Struck Christopher J.
Published: January 2018

American National Standards (ANSI Standards) developed by Accredited Standards Committees S1, S2, S3, S3/SC 1, and S12 in the areas of acoustics, mechanical vibration and shock, bioacoustics, animal bioacoustics, and noise, respectively, are published by the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). In addition to these standards, ASA publishes a catalog of Acoustical American National Standards. To receive a copy of the latest Standards catalog, please contact Neil Stremmel.

Comments are welcomed on all material in Acoustical Standards News.

This Acoustical Standards News section in JASA and other information on the Standards Program of the Acoustical Society of America are available via the ASA home page: http://acousticalsociety.org.
Shaping Substrate Selectivity in a Broad-Spectrum Metallo-β-Lactamase
Authors: González Lisandro J. , Stival Cintia , Puzzolo Juan L. , Moreno Diego M. , Vila Alejandro J.
Published: January 2018

Metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) are the major group of carbapenemases produced by bacterial pathogens. The design of MBL inhibitors has been limited by, among other issues, incomplete knowledge about how these enzymes modulate substrate recognition. While most MBLs are broad-spectrum enzymes, B2 MBLs are exclusive carbapenemases. This narrower substrate profile has been attributed to a sequence insertion present in B2 enzymes that limits accessibility to the active site. In this work, we evaluate the role of sequence insertions naturally occurring in the B2 enzyme Sfh-I and in the broad-spectrum B1 enzyme SPM-1. We engineered a chimeric protein in which the sequence insertion of SPM-1 was replaced by the one present in Sfh-I. The chimeric variant is a selective cephalosporinase, revealing that the substrate profile of MBLs can be further tuned depending on the protein context. These results also show that the stable scaffold of MBLs allows a modular engineering much richer than the one observed in nature.