bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Idiopathic infectious arthritis of the coxofemoral joint in a mature horse
Authors: Woodford N. S. , Puzio J. , Parker R. D.
Published: January 2016

The authors are aware of only one previously described case of idiopathic infectious arthritis of the coxofemoral joint in a mature horse. The case described herein presented with clinical signs that localised pain to the proximal limb, subtle increased radiopharmaceutical uptake at the coxofemoral joint and an increase of the major acute phase protein, serum amyloid A in the horse's blood biochemistry. The latter finding led the authors to search initially for an infective process. Ultrasound guided aspiration of the coxofemoral joint yielded infected synovial fluid. Despite the duration of the condition, nonsurgical treatment allowed the horse to return to its previous, relatively modest, level of activity. This case is presented to supplement the single previously published case report of idiopathic adult coxofemoral infectious arthritis in the horse.
Clearance of corticosteroids following intra‐articular administration of clinical doses to racehorses
Authors: Knych H. K. , Blea J. A. , Arthur R. M. , Overly L. R. , McIlwraith C. W.
Published: January 2016

Over the last few years there has been a nationwide cooperative effort to establish threshold concentrations and withdrawal time guidelines for corticosteroid use in racehorses. As dosing regimens are specific to individual horses and highly variable, it is not possible to establish regulatory guidelines for every dosing scenario and therefore they are often based on single dose administration studies. The goal of the study described here was to assess the applicability of current regulatory recommendations for intra‐articular corticosteroids based on clinical protocols used by practitioners. A total of 58 Thoroughbred and 82 Quarter Horse racehorses received varying doses of triamcinolone acetonide, methylprednisolone acetate, isoflupredone or betamethasone intra‐articularly in various joints by the treating practitioner. Blood samples were collected at 0, 7, 10, 14, 21, 28 and 35 days post drug administration and serum samples analysed by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry for quantitation of drug concentrations. Serum elimination varied depending upon the dose and the number and specific joints treated. Serum concentrations fell below theARCIthreshold guidance by Day 7 (100 pg/ml) for both triamcinolone acetonide (2–40 mg dose) and isoflupredone acetate (4–30 mg dose) and Day 21 (100 pg/ml) for methylprednisolone acetate (20–600 mg dose). Betamethasone fell below the regulatory threshold (10 pg/ml) by 7 days for all Quarter Horses and for 7/10 Thoroughbreds studied. Drug concentrations were below the regulatory threshold by Day 10 in the remaining 3 horses receiving betamethasone.
Mutations in the ‘Fingers’ subdomain of the deubiquitinase USP1 modulate its function and activity
Authors: Olazabal‐Herrero Anne , García‐Santisteban Iraia , Rodríguez Jose Antonio
Published: January 2016

Ubiquitin‐specific protease (USP)1 is a member of the USP family of deubiquitinating enzymes. Efficient USP1 activity requires binding to its cofactor USP1‐associated factor 1 (UAF1), and the USP1–UAF1 deubiquitinase complex has important roles in regulating DNA damage‐related processes. USPs show common folding of their catalytic domain, with three subdomains termed Thumb, Palm, and Fingers. The Fingers subdomain appears to be the primary site for ubiquitin binding. In USP1, the Fingers subdomain also mediates its interaction with UAF1, and thus represents a crucial, but poorly characterized, motif in USP1. To explore the role of USP1–UAF1 in ubiquitin‐dependent nuclear processes, we tested the effect of modulating USP1–UAF1 activity on the level and/or localization of conjugated ubiquitin and the DNA damage‐related proteins phosphorylated histone H2AX, Lys56‐acetylated histone H3, and p53‐binding protein 1 (53BP1). Small interfering RNA‐mediated USP1 knockdown or treatment with the novel USP1–UAF1 inhibitor ML323 increased the recruitment of conjugated ubiquitin and 53BP1 into nuclear foci. Strikingly, ectopic coexpression of USP1 and UAF1 depleted conjugated ubiquitin in the nucleus and blocked the recruitment of 53BP1 to DNA damage foci. In a direct comparison with other overexpressed USPs, USP1–UAF1 behaved as a relatively promiscuous deubiquitinase. Experimental and cancer‐related mutations in the USP1 The Fingers subdomain abrogated substrate deubiquitination without interfering with other USP1 activities, such as UAF1 binding or autocleavage. These results provide new insights into the function and regulation of the USP1–UAF1 complex.
Heinrich von Kleists Textrhetorik: Direktheit und Aufschub in Das Erdbeben in Chili und Der Zweikampf
Authors: Biebuyck Benjamin , Elshout Helena , Martens Gunther
Published: January 2016

Wie sich Heinrich von Kleist zur Rhetorik verhält, ist bekanntlich umstritten und wurde bisher vor allem am Beispiel des Aufsatzes “Über die allmählige Verfertigung der Gedanken beim Reden” verhandelt. Dieser Text wird gemeinhin als Kleists Absage an die Rhetorik und als ein Plädoyer für spontanes, das Unbewusste ausdrückendes Reden gedeutet. Wenn wir die Rhetorik von Kleists Erzähltexten in den Mittelpunkt rücken, ergibt sich ein anderes Bild. Im vorliegenden Aufsatz möchten wir am Beispiel von zwei ausgewählten Novellen Kleists (Der Zweikampf und Das Erdbeben in Chili)den Nachweis erbringen, dass Figürlichkeit und rhetorische Strukturen auf die narrative Form und auf die Sprechakte des Textes durchgreifen. Bei rhetorisch‐narratologischer Analyse von Kleists Novellen wird darauf abgehoben, dass Kleist neben der Fabel auch eine Konfrontation von zwei Zeitparadigmen, Direktheit und Verspätung, inszeniert. Die heute gängige Auslegung von Kleists Prosa als Verkörperung einer Faszination für das Unmittelbare wird korrigiert und eine Utopie der Verspätung aufgedeckt.
Advances in the clinicopathological and molecular classification of cutaneous mesenchymal neoplasms
Authors: Costigan Danielle C , Doyle Leona A
Published: January 2016

In recent years, there have been several important refinements in the classification of cutaneous mesenchymal neoplasms, including the description of new tumour types, along with the identification of novel and recurrent molecular genetic findings. In addition to providing new insights into tumour biology, many of these advances have had significant clinical consequences with regard to diagnostics, management, and prognostication. Newly described entities include pseudomyogenic haemangioendothelioma, haemosiderotic fibrolipomatous tumour, and fibroblastic connective tissue naevus, which are reviewed in the context of the principal differential diagnoses and significant clinical implications. Genetic characterization of several soft tissue tumour types that occur in the skin has resulted in the identification of diagnostically useful markers:ALKgene rearrangement with correspondingALKprotein expression by immunohistochemistry in epithelioid fibrous histiocytoma; theWWTR1–CAMTA1fusion gene with CAMTA1 protein expression in epithelioid haemangioendothelioma;MYCamplification and overexpression in radiation‐associated angiosarcoma; andEWSR1gene rearrangement in cutaneous myoepithelial tumours. Finally, the classification of intradermal smooth muscle tumours and unclassified/pleomorphic dermal sarcoma has been refined, resulting in both improved classification and improved prognostication. Many of the tumour types listed above are encountered not only by specialist dermatopathologists, but also by practising general surgical pathologists, and this review should therefore provide a widely applicable update on the histological and molecular classification of cutaneous mesenchymal neoplasms, along with the appropriate use of ancillary diagnostic tests, in particular immunohistochemistry, in the evaluation of such lesions and their histological mimics.
Amomum tsao‐ko fruit extract suppresses lipopolysaccharide‐induced inducible nitric oxide synthase by inducing heme oxygenase‐1 in macrophages and in septic mice
Authors: Shin Ji‐Sun , Ryu Suran , Jang Dae Sik , Cho Young‐Wuk , Chung Eun Kyung , Lee Kyung‐Tae
Published: January 2016

Amomum tsao‐ko Crevost et Lemarié (Zingiberaceae) has traditionally been used to treat inflammatory and infectious diseases, such as throat infections, malaria, abdominal pain and diarrhoea. This study was designed to assess the anti‐inflammatory effects and the molecular mechanisms of the methanol extract of A. tsao‐ko (AOM) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐induced RAW 264.7 macrophages and in a murine model of sepsis. In LPS‐induced RAW 264.7 macrophages, AOM reduced the production of nitric oxide (NO) by inhibiting inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression, and increased heme oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1) expression at the protein and mRNA levels. Pretreatment with SnPP (a selective inhibitor of HO‐1) and silencing HO‐1 using siRNA prevented the AOM‐mediated inhibition of NO production and iNOS expression. Furthermore, AOM increased the expression and nuclear accumulation of NF‐E2‐related factor 2 (Nrf2), which enhanced Nrf2 binding to antioxidant response element (ARE). In addition, AOM induced the phosphorylation of extracellular regulated kinase (ERK) and c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK) and generated reactive oxygen species (ROS). Furthermore, pretreatment with N‐acetyl‐l‐cysteine (NAC; a ROS scavenger) diminished the AOM‐induced phosphorylation of ERK and JNK and AOM‐induced HO‐1 expression, suggesting that ERK and JNK are downstream mediators of ROS during the AOM‐induced signalling of HO‐1 expression. In LPS‐induced endotoxaemic mice, pretreatment with AOM reduced NO serum levels and liver iNOS expression and increased HO‐1 expression and survival rates. These results indicate that AOM strongly inhibits LPS‐induced NO production by activating the ROS/MAPKs/Nrf2‐mediated HO‐1 signalling pathway, and supports its pharmacological effects on inflammatory diseases.
Preparation, characterisation and structure of rabbit (Hyla rabbit) skin gelatine
Authors: Yu Wei , Wang Xuemeng , Ma Liang , Li Hongjun , He Zhifei , Zhang Yuhao
Published: January 2016

Rabbit skin was used as a raw material to prepare gelatine. The yield of extracted rabbit skin gelatine was 8.49 ± 0.91% based on a wet weight basis. The bloom strength of 6.67% rabbit gelatine was 457.57 ± 3.302 g, and its gelling and melting temperatures were 27.8 and 34.4 °C, respectively. Sodium dodecyl sulphate‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis demonstrated that the content of the subunit components (α chain, β and γ components) of the rabbit skin gelatine achieved 97.915%. Amino acid composition analysis indicated that the total amino acid contents (proline plus hydroxyproline) in the rabbit gelatine were 222 residues per 1000 residues. The high content of the subunit components and amino acids could contribute to the gelatine's suitable gel properties. Rabbit gelatine had nearly all of the characteristic absorption peaks of collagen from rabbit skin, and the loss of the triple helical structure and damage to part of the hydrogen bonds occurred during the conversion of collagen to gelatine.
Expression analysis of BECN1 in acute myeloid leukemia: association with distinct cytogenetic and molecular abnormalities
Authors: Zare‐Abdollahi D. , Safari S. , Movafagh A. , Ghadiani M. , Tabarraee M. , Riazi‐Isfahani S. , Gorji S. , Keyvan L. , Gachkar L.
Published: January 2016

Introduction

In acute myeloid leukemia (AML), it has been shown that AML‐derived cells often remain sensitive to autophagy‐inducing stimuli, leading to the idea that harnessing the autophagy can be pertinent to AML cytotoxic therapy. Despite this promising notion, to date, there is no comprehensive study addressing autophagy‐related genes expression status in AML. As a critical mediator, BECN1 influences the onset and advance of autophagy and several studies have pointed to the BECN1 recurrent allelic deletion and expression variation in a broad range of tumors. To explore this caveat, we chose this alteration‐prone gene to investigate in our study.

Methods

We have analyzed the expression status of BECN1 in a series of 128 de novo AML patients using real‐time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR).

Results

In our favorable subgroup, BECN1 expression did not alter (P = 0.301), but in intermediate and unfavorable patients, we have had BECN1 low expression compared to the normal controls (P = 0.008 and P < 0.001, respectively). We found evidence for the association of reduced expression of BECN1 with FLT3‐ITD mutation (19 of 27 patients), monosomal karyotype (all of 11 patients), higher age, and WBC count.

Conclusion

Overall, remarkable association of reduced expression of BECN1 with FLT3‐ITD mutation and monosomal karyotype and their functional relationship is interesting which should be addressed and verified in future studies.
Factorial structure of the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales: An ordinal confirmatory factor analysis using a national sample of clinician ratings in England
Authors: Speak Barry L. , Muncer Steven J.
Published: January 2016

In the present study, the superior factorial structure of the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) was investigated. The aims of the study were to test the fit of our new four‐factor/subscale structure within and across a wide range of clinical populations compared to competing structures, and to identify any clinical populations where the HoNOS might require modification in order to improve its psychometric properties. Ordinal confirmatory factor analysis was performed for four competing HoNOS subscale structures using a national sample of 80 161ratings taken at the point of referral to mental health services in England.

A new four‐factor structure with good/acceptable internal consistency for each of the factors/subscales demonstrated a significantly better fit to the data for 21 of the 24 data groups compared to three competing subscale models. A new four‐factor/subscale structure was shown to be the most generalizable subscale structure currently available for HoNOS. However, although superior to other factorial structures, the statistical fit was less than optimal for some clinical populations. Therefore, we would recommend that additional items relevant to all mental health patients are identified and added to the HoNOS in order to allow the development of a single, more generalizable subscale structure, and a much improved version of the HoNOS.
A two‐stage packing problem procedure
Authors: Moura Ana , Bortfeldt Andreas
Published: January 2016

This paper deals with a two‐stage packing problem that has to be solved in the daily distribution process of a Portuguese trading company. In the first stage, boxes including goods are to be packed on pallets, while in the second stage these pallets are loaded into one or more trucks. The boxes have to be transported to different customers, and the main goal is to guarantee a sufficient utilization of the truck loading space. A two‐stage packing procedure is proposed to cover both problem stages. First, boxes are loaded onto pallets by means of a well‐known container loading algorithm. Then, trucks are filled with loaded pallets by a tree search algorithm. The performance of the two‐stage approach was evaluated using a set of instances that are based on actual company data.
Conductive and Radiative Properties of Soda‐Lime Silicate Glassmelts with Different Iron Contents from 1100°C to 1500°C
Authors: Liu Hua , Kitamura Rei , Xia Xinlin , Pilon Laurent
Published: January 2016

This paper presents an inverse method for retrieving (i) the true thermal conductivity, and (ii) the two‐band absorption coefficient of soda‐lime silicate glassmelts between 1100°C and 1550°C from measured steady‐state temperature profiles. This was achieved by combining (i) a forward method solving combined conductive and radiative heat transfer accounting for temperature‐dependent thermal conductivity and spectral absorption coefficient and (ii) an inverse method based on genetic algorithm (GA) optimization. Four glassmelt compositions from ultraclear to gray glasses with iron content ranging from 0.008 to 1.1 wt% were investigated. First, it was established that the steady‐state temperature in glassmelt can be predicted accurately by averaging the spectral absorption coefficient over two bands from 0 to 2.8 μm and 2.8 to 5.0 μm. The inverse method showed that the true thermal conductivity was independent of the iron content and given by kc(T) = 1.31 + 5.90 × 10−4T, where T is given in °C. In addition, the band absorption coefficient between 0 and 2.8 μm strongly increased with increasing iron content, while the band absorption coefficient between 2.8–5.0 μm was independent of iron content.
Evaluation of pharmacist‐based compared to doctor‐based anticoagulation management in Qatar
Authors: Elewa Hazem , Jalali Fatemeh , Khudair Nada , Hassaballah Noha , Abdelsamad Osama , Mohammed Shaban
Published: January 2016

Rationale, aims and objectives

For over 60 years, warfarin has been the mainstay anticoagulant used in the outpatient setting for the prevention and treatment of a wide variety of thromboembolic clinical conditions. Guidelines recommend that health care providers managing oral anticoagulation therapy should do so in a systematic and coordinated fashion. Studies have shown that, when compared to traditional doctor‐based anticoagulation management, pharmacist‐managed anticoagulation services can improve patient outcomes. The first pharmacist‐based anticoagulation clinic in Qatar was launched in 2013 at Alwakra Hospital. The primary objective of this research was to evaluate the impact of pharmacist versus doctor‐based anticoagulation management on the percentage time under therapeutic INR (International Normalized Ratio; TTR), INR within therapeutic range and the extreme out of range INRs.

Method

A retrospective cohort study was designed to compare the anticoagulation control of pharmacist‐based warfarin clinic to the usual doctor‐care.

Results

Data from 278 patients taking warfarin (78 managed at pharmacist and 200 at doctor‐based clinic) were evaluated. Subjects followed at the pharmacist‐based clinic had a superior TTR compared to those managed at the doctor‐based clinic (81.8% vs. 69.8%, P < 0.001). Additionally, the percentage of visits within therapeutic range were significantly higher in the pharmacist's group compared to doctor's group (76.5% vs. 71.2%, P = 0.011). At the same time, percentage of visits with extreme subtherapeutic INR was reduced in the pharmacist‐managed clinic (5.17% vs. 7.05%, P = 0.007)

Conclusions

Our study indicates that pharmacist‐based anticoagulation has better INR control when compared to the traditional anticoagulation management. Pharmacist‐managed anticoagulation clinics should be considered and supported for warfarin management.
Differential responses to environmental challenge by common carp Cyprinus carpio highlight the importance of coping style in integrative physiology
Authors: Rey S. , Ribas L. , Morera Capdevila D. , Callol A. , Huntingford F. A. , Pilarczyk M. , Kadri S. , MacKenzie S.
Published: January 2016

Common carp Cyprinus carpio displaying proactive or reactive stress coping styles were acclimated to two environmental regimes (low oxygen and low temperature), and selected groups were tested for response to an inflammatory challenge (Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide, LPS). Plasma glucose and lactate levels were measured, as were selected C. carpio‐specific messenger (m)RNA transcript abundance, including cortisol receptor (CR), enolase (ENO), glyceraldehyde 3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and interleukin‐1‐beta (IL1β) was measured in individual whole brain samples. Basal levels (in sham injected fish held in normoxic conditions at 25° C) of plasma lactate and glucose differed between coping styles, being significantly lower in proactive individuals. Both variables increased in response to LPS challenge, with the exception of plasma glucose in reactive fish held in hypoxia. Baseline levels of gene expression under control conditions were significantly different for GAPDH between behavioural phenotypes. The responses to experimental challenge were sometimes diametrically opposed between stress‐coping styles in a transcript‐specific manner. For CR and GAPDH, for example, the response to LPS injection in hypoxia were opposite between proactive and reactive animals. Proactive fish showed decreased CR and increased GAPDH, whereas reactive showed the opposite response. These results further highlight that screening for stress‐coping styles prior to experiments in adaptive physiology can significantly affect the interpretation of data obtained. Further, this leads to a more finely tuned analytical output providing an improved understanding of variation in individual responses to both environmental and inflammatory challenge.
Antibacterial efficacy and pharmacokinetic evaluation of sanguinarine in common carp (Cyprinus carpio) following a single intraperitoneal administration
Authors: Ling F , Wu Z‐Q , Jiang C , Liu L , Wang G‐X
Published: January 2016

Sanguinarine (SA), with antimicrobial and antiparasitic activities against fish pathogens, exhibits great potential commercial use in aquaculture. However, little information on pharmacokinetics of SA restricts further application in aquaculture. In this study, pharmacokinetics of SA in common carp (Cyprinus carpio) following a single intraperitoneal administration [10 mg kg−1 BW (body weight)] was evaluated by high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The peak concentration (Cmax) of SA in kidney was 11.8 μg g−1, which was higher than in other tissues and plasma. The terminal half‐life in fish tissue and plasma was as follows: 42.3 h (kidney) > 37.2 h (liver) > 20.1 h (gill) > 18.8 h (muscle) > 10.9 h (spleen) > 10.0 h (plasma). Additionally, we determined the bacterial loads in tissues of common carp infected with Aeromonas hydrophila after i.p. administration of SA at 0, 5, 10 and 20 mg kg−1 BW. The results showed that i.p. administration of SA at 10 mg kg−1 BW significantly enhanced antibacterial efficacy against A. hydrophila, where the antibacterial ratio in the gill, kidney, spleen and liver on day 5 was 95.13%, 93.33%, 90.09% and 92.82%, respectively. Overall, these results suggested the potential of SA to treat A. hydrophila infection in common carp farming industry.
First evidence of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) in the Netherlands
Authors: Haenen O L M , Schuetze H , Cieslak M , Oldenburg S , Spierenburg M A H , Roozenburg‐Hengst I , Voorbergen‐Laarman M , Engelsma M Y , Olesen N J
Published: January 2016

In spring 2008, infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) was detected for the first time in the Netherlands. The virus was isolated from rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), from a put‐and‐take fishery with angling ponds. IHNV is the causative agent of a serious fish disease, infectious hematopoietic necrosis (IHN). From 2008 to 2011, we diagnosed eight IHNV infections in rainbow trout originating from six put‐and‐take fisheries (symptomatic and asymptomatic fish), and four IHNV infections from three rainbow trout farms (of which two were co‐infected by infectious pancreatic necrosis virus, IPNV), at water temperatures between 5 and 15 °C. At least one farm delivered trout to four of these eight IHNV‐positive farms. Mortalities related to IHNV were mostly <40%, but increased to nearly 100% in case of IHNV and IPNV co‐infection. Subsequent phylogenetic analysis revealed that these 12 isolates clustered into two different monophyletic groups within the European IHNV genogroup E. One of these two groups indicates a virus‐introduction event by a German trout import, whereas the second group indicates that IHNV was already (several years) in the Netherlands before its discovery in 2008.
Perceived School Climate and Chinese Adolescents' Suicidal Ideation and Suicide Attempts: The Mediating Role of Sleep Quality
Authors: Li Dongping , Bao Zhenzhou , Li Xian , Wang Yanhui
Published: January 2016

BACKGROUND

School factors play important roles in adolescent suicide. However, little is known about how school climate is associated with adolescent suicide. This study examined the relationship between perceived school climate and adolescent suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, and whether these relations were explained by adolescent sleep quality.

METHODS

A total of 1529 Chinese adolescents (mean age = 14.74 years; 52% boys) participated in the study. They provided self‐report data on control variables, perceived school climate, sleep quality, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts.

RESULTS

After controlling for sex, age, family structure, socioeconomic status, and parent‐adolescent attachment, we found that perceived school climate negatively predicted adolescent suicidal ideation (odds ratio [OR] = 0.66, p < .001) and suicide attempts (OR= 0.72, p < .001). Moreover, perceived school climate positively predicated adolescent sleep quality (β = 0.13, p < .001), which in turn, negatively predicted adolescent suicidal ideation (OR= 0.75, p < .001) and suicide attempts (OR= 0.76, p < .001).

CONCLUSION

These findings, although cross‐sectional, indicate that perceived school climate plays an important role in adolescent suicidality. Moreover, the relation between perceived school climate and adolescent suicidality was largely mediated by adolescent sleep quality.
Barriers to Addressing Adolescent Substance Use: Perceptions of New York School‐Based Health Center Providers
Authors: Harris Brett , Shaw Benjamin , Lawson Hal , Sherman Barry
Published: January 2016

BACKGROUND

Adolescent substance use is associated with chronic health conditions, accidents, injury, and school‐related problems, including dropping out. Schools have the potential to provide students with substance use prevention and intervention services, albeit with confidentiality challenges. School‐based health centers (SBHCs) provide confidentiality, positioning them as ideal settings to provide substance use prevention and intervention. This study identified program directors' and clinicians' barriers to addressing adolescent substance use in SBHCs.

METHODS

Between May and June 2013, an electronic survey was distributed to all 162 New York State SBHC program directors and clinicians serving middle and high school students.

RESULTS

The most prevalent perceived barriers to discussing substance use with students were time constraints (43%), the belief that students are not honest about their use (43%), and clinicians' lack of training (28%). Both directors and clinicians identified challenges in getting students to return for additional sessions to address their use, and they also indicated that confidentiality was a treatment referral barrier.

CONCLUSIONS

This study identified timely opportunities that may be leveraged and unique challenges that may be overcome with targeted dissemination, training, and technical assistance efforts to enable directors and clinicians to routinely address substance use in SBHCs.
Disturbed sleep in attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is not a question of psychiatric comorbidity or ADHD presentation
Authors: Virring Anne , Lambek Rikke , Thomsen Per H. , Møller Lene R. , Jennum Poul J.
Published: January 2016

Attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a heterogeneous psychiatric disorder with three different presentations and high levels of psychiatric comorbidity. Serious sleep complaints are also common, but the role of the presentations and comorbidity in sleep is under‐investigated in ADHD. Consequently, the goal of the study was to investigate sleep problems in medicine‐naive school‐aged children (mean age = 9.6 years) with ADHD compared to controls using objective methods and to examine the role of comorbidity and presentations. Ambulatory polysomnography results suggested that children with ADHD (n = 76) had significantly more sleep disturbances than controls (n = 25), including a larger percentage of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and more sleep cycles, as well as lower mean sleep efficiency, mean non‐REM (NREM) sleep stage 1 and mean NREM sleep stage 3. No significant between‐group differences were found on the multiple sleep latency test. Stratifying for comorbidity in the ADHD group did not reveal major differences between groups, but mean sleep latency was significantly longer in children with ADHD and no comorbidity compared to controls (36.1 min; SD = 30.1 versus 22.6 min; SD = 15.2). No differences were found between ADHD presentations. Our results support the presence of night‐time sleep disturbances in children with ADHD. Poor sleep does not appear to be attributable to comorbidity alone, nor do sleep disturbances differ within ADHD presentations.
The interpretation of hepatic venous pressure gradient tracings – excellent interobserver agreement unrelated to experience
Authors: Tandon Puneeta , Ripoll Cristina , Assis David , Wongcharatrawee Suchat , Groszmann Roberto J. , Garcia‐Tsao Guadalupe
Published: January 2016

Background and Aims

The hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) plays an important role in the diagnosis, prognosis and therapy of patients with cirrhosis and portal hypertension. One barrier to its widespread use is the potential for a low reproducibility. We aimed to evaluate the interobserver agreement in the interpretation of optimally acquired HVPG tracings from patients with cirrhosis and different degrees of portal hypertension.

Methods

Two hundred and fifteen tracings obtained from 51 patients with cirrhosis in a single centre were interpreted independently by two hepatologists: one experienced observer and one inexperienced observer. Correlation was performed by Pearson linear regression and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). A Bland–Altman plot was constructed to visualize how the differences between observers compared across the range of measurements. Logistic regression was used to identify predictors of ≥10% variation between observers' readings.

Results

There was a significant linear relationship between observers' readings r = 0.98 (P = 0.001). The ICC between observers (interobserver agreement) was also excellent at 0.991 (P = 0.001). Using the Bland–Altman technique, the mean difference between the observers' readings was 0.2 mmHg (95% CI: −1.2 mmHg to 1.6 mmHg). Thirteen per cent of all readings and 9% of readings with an HVPG of ≥10 mmHg differed by ≥10%. As expected, a lower baseline HVPG was a predictor of this variability.

Conclusions

Interobserver reproducibility in the assessment of optimally acquired HVPG tracings is excellent without differences related to experience. The data provide further support that the HVPG can be used accurately in clinical and research settings.
Breast Hypoplasia as a Complication of an Untreated Infantile Hemangioma
Authors: Theiler Martin , Hoffman William Y. , Frieden Ilona J.
Published: January 2016

We report the case of a mixed infantile hemangioma (IH) involving the right breast that resulted in pronounced hypoplasia of the affected breast, which became apparent after breast development at puberty. No treatment had been performed in infancy or childhood. This case demonstrates that the presence of an IH may affect development of the mammary gland bud and that systemic therapy should be considered in an attempt to minimize this adverse sequela.
Penile and Scrotal Swelling: An Underrecognized Presentation of Crohn's Disease
Authors: Barrick Benjamin J. , Tollefson Megha M. , Schoch Jennifer J. , McEvoy Marian T. , Hand Jennifer L. , Wieland Carilyn N. , Davis Dawn M. R.
Published: January 2016

Background: Penile and scrotal swelling can occur as an extraintestinal manifestation of Crohn's disease (CD) and is thought to be an uncommon form of metastatic CD (MCD). Because of the rarity of this manifestation, much is unknown concerning the presentation, treatment, and response to therapy in children with genital MCD. Methods: Boys ages 1 to 17 years presenting with genital edema and a confirmed diagnosis or strong suspicion of CD who were evaluated at the Mayo Clinic between 1996 and 2014 were included for review. We sought to characterize the clinical and pathologic features of genital MCD and response to treatment in our cohort of patients. Results: Eight patients with genital MCD were identified from our institution (mean age 11.4 yrs, range 7–16yrs). Seven (88%) patients experienced cutaneous symptoms before a formal diagnosis of CD was made, and two of the seven had no adverse gastrointestinal symptoms at that time. Patients were prescribed an average of 3.4 medications (topical and systemic) for management of their gastrointestinal CD and MCD. Conclusions: Penile and scrotal swelling can occur as an extraintestinal manifestation of CD and is thought to be an uncommon form of MCD. In boys, genital swelling typically precedes intestinal CD. Treatment of the underlying CD with systemic medications was most helpful in this series. An evaluation for CD is necessary in all patients presenting with unexplained genital swelling.
Orofacial amyloidosis—unusual ­presentation of a rare condition: A case report
Authors: Kaushik Rachna , Pushpanshu Kumar , Punyani Silky R.
Published: January 2016

Orofacial amyloidosis is an extremely rare and generally a benign condition. In contrast to systemic amyloidosis, other organs are not involved; however, extensive investigations are recommended to intercept any systemic involvement. Diagnosis is confirmed by histological examination and Congo red staining. This condition does not have a known etiology, and hence no general consensus exists regarding its management. We are presenting a case of a 65‐year‐old female patient with orofacial amyloidosis having ocular and extensive oral involvement.
Implicit Bias and Policing
Authors: Spencer Katherine B. , Charbonneau Amanda K. , Glaser Jack
Published: January 2016

In a time when racial prejudice is generally taboo and decision makers, including law enforcement officials, strenuously disavow the use of group‐based stereotypes to make judgments that affect others, one might expect discriminatory outcomes to be unusual. However, research repeatedly indicates that discrimination is pervasive across many domains, and specifically in policing. A major cause of biased policing is likely the implicit biases that operate outside of conscious awareness and control but nevertheless influence our behaviors. Implicit biases (e.g., stereotypes linking Blacks with crime or with related traits like violence or hostility) influence judgments through processes of misattribution and disambiguation. Although psychological science gives us good insight into the causes of racially biased policing, there are as yet no known, straightforward, effective intervention programs. Nevertheless, there are several strands of research that represent promising avenues for further exploration, including intergroup contact, exposure to counter‐stereotypic exemplars, and stereotype negation. Meanwhile, many police departments are adjusting their policies, trainings, and procedures to try to address biased policing and community complaints. Several common themes among those changes include banning racial profiling, collecting data, training officers, reducing discretion, and adopting new technologies. These adjustments are more likely to be successful if they incorporate the understanding that biased policing occurs in the absence of explicitly “racist” thoughts because of well‐documented, pernicious stereotypes that operate largely outside of conscious awareness and control.
The canine prostate cancer cell line CHP‐1 shows over‐expression of the co‐chaperone small glutamine‐rich tetratricopeptide repeat‐containing protein α
Authors: Azakami D. , Nakahira R. , Kato Y. , Michishita M. , Kobayashi M. , Onozawa E. , Bonkobara M. , Kobayashi M. , Takahashi K. , Watanabe M. , Ishioka K. , Sako T. , Ochiai K. , Omi T.
Published: January 2016

Although androgen therapy resistance and poor clinical outcomes are seen in most canine prostate cancer cases, there are only a few tools for analysing canine prostate cancer by using a cell biological approach. Therefore, to evaluate androgen‐independent neoplastic cell growth, a new canine prostate cancer cell line (CHP‐1) was established in this study. CHP‐1 over‐expressed the co‐chaperone small glutamine‐rich tetratricopeptide repeat‐containing protein α (SGTA), which is over‐expressed in human androgen‐independent prostate cancer. The CHP‐1 xenograft also showed SGTA over‐expression. Although CHP‐1 shows poor androgen receptor (AR) signalling upon dihydrotestosterone stimulation, forced expression of AR enabled evaluation of AR signalling. Taken together, these results suggest that CHP‐1 will be a useful model for investigating the pathogenesis of androgen‐dependent and androgen‐independent canine prostate cancer.
Vehicle Rollover Prevention Using the Zero-Moment Point in an LQR Output Regulator
Authors: Stankiewicz Paul , Ochoa Lleras Nicolas , Leary Robert , Brennan Sean
Published: January 2016

This research investigates vehicle control techniques for rollover prevention in a collision avoidance scenario. The zero-moment point (ZMP) is used to evaluate the vehicle’s current and near-future rollover propensity with the purpose of predicting and correcting impending wheel lift. Specifically, a linear-quadratic (LQ) output regulator is utilized to safely navigate the vehicle through a collision avoidance maneuver, while employing a weighting scheme that explicitly accounts for rollover prevention through the ZMP. Results show that ZMP regulation is able to reduce the peak rollover threat to the vehicle. Additionally, it is shown that regulation of ZMP in the near future (previewed ZMP) does not necessarily result in a safe maneuver at the present time.
Escape Regions of the Active Target Defense Differential Game
Authors: Garcia Eloy , Casbeer David W. , Pachter Meir
Published: January 2016

The active target defense differential game is addressed in this paper. In this differential game an Attacker missile pursues a Target aircraft. The aircraft is however aided by a Defender missile launched by, say, the wingman, to intercept the Attacker before it reaches the Target aircraft. Thus, a team is formed by the Target and the Defender which cooperate to maximize the separation between the Target aircraft and the point where the Attacker missile is intercepted by the Defender missile, while the Attacker simultaneously tries to minimize said distance. This paper focuses on characterizing the set of coordinates such that if the Target’s initial position belong to this set then its survival is guaranteed if both the Target and the Defender follow their optimal strategies. Such optimal strategies are presented in this paper as well.
Dynamic Modeling of Heat Exchangers With Humidity and Condensation
Authors: Pangborn Herschel , Alleyne Andrew G.
Published: January 2016

The effects of air humidity on the performance of refrigerant-to-air heat exchangers in vapor compression systems (VCSs) are non-negligible in modeling and control design for some applications. Such applications include both those in which the ambient humidity is expected to vary greatly over time and those in which control of the air outlet humidity is desired. This paper presents a control-oriented dynamic model for cross-flow refrigerant-to-air heat exchangers that uses knowledge of the air inlet humidity to improve the accuracy of refrigerant-side and air-side outputs, as well as to calculate the air outlet humidity and rate of condensate formation. Simulation results are validated with experimental data collected from a 1kW VCS test stand.
Motion Planning and Differential Flatness of Mechanical Systems on Principal Bundles
Authors: Dear Tony , Kelly Scott David , Travers Matthew , Choset Howie
Published: January 2016

Mechanical systems often exhibit physical symmetries in their configuration variables, allowing for significant reduction of their mathematical complexity arising from characteristics such as underactuation and nonlinearity. In this paper, we exploit the geometric structure of such systems to explore the following motion planning problem: given a desired trajectory in the workspace, can we explicitly solve for the appropriate inputs to follow it? We appeal to results on differential flatness from the nonlinear control literature to develop a general motion planning formulation for systems with symmetries and constraints, which also applies to both fully constrained and unconstrained kinematic systems. We conclude by demonstrating the utility of our results on several canonical mechanical systems found in the locomotion literature.
Estimating Rigid Transformation With Correlated Observations
Authors: Lin Chung-Yen , Tomizuka Masayoshi
Published: January 2016

The problem of finding the rotation and the translation between two sets of corresponded points is known as the rigid transformation estimation problem. It plays a crucial role in many robotic applications such as “simultaneous localization and mapping” (SLAM), surface reconstruction, and inertial sensor calibration. The most widely used solution to this problem is based on performing the singular value decomposition (SVD) over a derived data matrix. A drawback of the SVD method is that it is a least-squares method and thus may fail to take into account the anisotropic and/or correlated noises, which often present in practical applications. A natural variation is to add a matrix weight to the least-squares problem to balance the estimation errors in different measurement directions. However, it becomes difficult to write down a closed form solution in this setup. In this paper, an efficient algorithm is presented to estimate the rigid transformation with correlated observations. The effectiveness of the proposed method is experimentally demonstrated on two robotic applications, namely the point set registration and the inertial sensor localization.
Long-Time Average Cost Control of Polynomial Systems: A Sum-of-Squares-Based Small-Feedback Approach
Authors: Huang Deqing , Chernyshenko Sergei
Published: January 2016

This paper provides a proof of concept of the recent novel idea in the area of long-time average cost control. Meanwhile, a new method of overcoming the well-known difficulty of nonconvexity of simultaneous optimization of a control law and an additional tunable function is given. First, a recently-proposed method of obtaining rigorous bounds of long-time average cost is outlined for the uncontrolled system with polynomials of system state on the right-hand side. In this method the polynomial constraints are relaxed to be sum-of-squares and formulated as semi-definite programs. It was proposed to use the upper bound of long-time average cost as the objective function instead of the time-average cost itself in controller design. In the present paper this suggestion is implemented for a particular system and is shown to give good results. Designing the optimal controller by this method requires optimising simultaneously both the control law and a tunable function similar to the Lyapunov function. The new approach proposed and implemented in this paper for overcoming the inherent non-convexity of this optimisation is based on a formal assumption that the amplitude of control is small. By expanding the tunable function and the bound in the small parameter, the long-time average cost is reduced by minimizing the respective bound in each term of the series. The derivation of all the polynomial coefficients in controller is given in terms of the solvability conditions of state-dependent linear and bilinear inequalities. The resultant sum-of-squares problems are solved in sequence, thus avoiding the non-convexity in optimization.
Optimizing Ultrafiltration Rate Profiles for the Estimation of Blood Volume During Hemodialysis
Authors: Hollot C. V. , Horowitz J. , Shrestha R. P. , Germain M. G. , Chait Y.
Published: January 2016

Knowledge of a patient’s blood volume during hemodialysis is important as removing too much or too little fluid or removing it too fast has been associated with increased patient morbidity and mortality. Non-invasive absolute blood volume measurements are currently not available. We show how to estimate initial absolute blood volume from readily available relative blood volume measurements, but, in addition that blood volume estimates under present clinical practice will have high variance. We derive D-optimal ultrafiltration profiles for estimation of an individual’s initial blood volume, and demonstrate their performance by simulation.
A Sequential Two-Step Algorithm for Fast Generation of Vehicle Racing Trajectories
Authors: Kapania Nitin R. , Subosits John , Gerdes J. Christian
Published: January 2016

The problem of maneuvering a vehicle through a race course in minimum time requires computation of both longitudinal (brake and throttle) and lateral (steering wheel) control inputs. Unfortunately, solving the resulting nonlinear optimal control problem is typically computationally expensive and infeasible for real-time trajectory planning. This paper presents an iterative algorithm that divides the path generation task into two sequential subproblems that are significantly easier to solve. Given an initial path through the race track, the algorithm runs a forward-backward integration scheme to determine the minimum-time longitudinal speed profile, subject to tire friction constraints. With this speed profile fixed, the algorithm updates the vehicle’s path by solving a convex optimization problem that minimizes the resulting path curvature while staying within track boundaries and obeying affine, time-varying vehicle dynamics constraints. This two-step process is repeated iteratively until the predicted lap time no longer improves. While providing no guarantees of convergence or a globally optimal solution, the approach performs well when tested on the Thunderhill Raceway course in Willows, CA. The lap time reaches a minimum value after only three iterations, with each iteration over the full 5 km race course requiring only thirty seconds of computation time on a laptop computer. The resulting vehicle path and speed profile match very well with a nonlinear gradient descent solution and a path driven by a professional racecar driver, indicating that the proposed method is a viable option for online trajectory planning in the near future.
An Adaptive and Fast Control Strategy for Antilock Braking System
Authors: Tajeddin S. , Batra M. , Azad N. L. , McPhee J. , Fraser R. A.
Published: January 2016

After more than 30 years since the Antilock Braking System (ABS) was first introduced, it has become the most important active safety system used on passenger cars. However, it is hard to find a precise description of ABS, its stability and performance in the literature. Most of ABS algorithms currently used are not adaptive to changes of road friction conditions. The aim of our work is to provide a new ABS algorithm that is adaptive to changes of road conditions. To this end, an online parameter estimator is designed to estimate the road characteristics and maximum possible deceleration. Then, a driver demand regulator is proposed to limit the demanded deceleration to the maximum values. In this new strategy, road characteristics are estimated prior to the braking, not during the braking which makes it fast and adaptive. The proposed ABS algorithm is simulated on an artificial driving track and simulation results have been compared to a simple non-adaptive 6-phase Bosch ABS algorithm as our benchmark that is based on deceleration thresholds. Results show a better braking performance and more than 30% of reduction in braking distance.