bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Derrida, Proust, and the Promise of Writing
Authors: Rushworth Jennifer
Published: February 2015

This article explores the language of the promise in Derrida's ‘Avances’ and
Mémoires pour Paul de Man
and in Proust's
À la recherche du temps perdu
. Derrida considers the promise to be impossible and necessary, tenable and untenable, finite and infinite. These Derridean stipulations are used to read the imagery and structure of promises in Proust's novel. While the promise in
À la recherche
punctuates the lives of couples unreliably, it is also shown to be connected to epiphanic moments intermittently granted by nature and art, and often signalled by the figure of the rainbow. Special attention is paid to Vinteuil's septet as a promise, and to connected semantic fields within this episode. Finally, the Derridean promise of writing is proposed as a means of rereading
Le Temps retrouvé
, and the promise as compromise is suggested to be a useful intermediary between the two opposing critical views (circular versus open-ended) surrounding the close of
À la recherche
and the complex question of the relationship between the book we have just read and the book the protagonist plans to write.
Anti-CD81 but not anti-SR-BI blocks Plasmodium falciparum liver infection in a humanized mouse model
Authors: Foquet Lander , Hermsen Cornelus C. , Verhoye Lieven , van Gemert Geert-Jan , Cortese Riccardo , Nicosia Alfredo , Sauerwein Robert W. , Leroux-Roels Geert , Meuleman Philip
Published: February 2015

Objectives

Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites, deposited in the skin by infected Anopheles mosquitoes taking a blood meal, cross the endothelium of skin capillaries and travel to the liver where they traverse Kupffer cells and hepatocytes to finally invade a small number of the latter. In hepatocytes, sporozoites replicate, differentiate and give rise to large numbers of merozoites that are released into the bloodstream where they invade red blood cells, thus initiating the symptomatic blood stage. Using in vitro systems and rodent models, it has been shown that the hepatocyte receptors CD81 and scavenger receptor type B class I (SR-BI) play a pivotal role during sporozoite invasion. We wanted to evaluate whether these two entry factors are genuine drug targets for the prevention of P. falciparum infection in humans.

Methods

Immunodeficient mice of which the liver is largely repopulated by human hepatocytes were treated with monoclonal antibodies blocking either CD81 or SR-BI 1 day prior to challenge with infected mosquitoes. P. falciparum infection of the liver was demonstrated using a qPCR assay.

Results

In human liver chimeric mice, an antibody directed against CD81 completely blocked P. falciparum sporozoite invasion while SR-BI-specific monoclonal antibodies did not influence in vivo infection.

Conclusions

These observations confirm the role of CD81 in liver-stage malaria and question that of SR-BI. CD81 might be a valuable drug target for the prevention of malaria.
Personal health record use for children and health care utilization: propensity score-matched cohort analysis
Authors: Zhou Yi Yvonne , Leith Wendy M , Li Hui , Tom Jeffrey O
Published: February 2015

Objectives To examine the association between caregiver personal health record (PHR) use and health care utilization by pediatric patients.

Design, Setting, and Participants We conducted a retrospective observational cohort study of 2286 pediatric members aged six months to 2.5 years of Kaiser Permanente Hawaii and Northwest Regions in 2007-2011, using propensity score matching methods and t and chi-square tests to examine associations between PHR use and health care utilization. We used ANOVA to examine utilization across quartiles of PHR use.

Main Outcome Measures Outpatient clinic visits, telephone encounters, and emergency department visits.

Results PHR-registered children, compared with propensity score-matched nonregistered children, had 21% (95% CI, 14-28; P < .0001) more outpatient clinic visits and 26% (95% CI, 16-37; P < .0001) more telephone encounters. Utilization differences were more pronounced with nonprimary care providers than with primary care providers. Outpatient clinic visits and telephone encounters increased among the quartile with the highest PHR use; no utilization differences occurred in the 3 lowest-use quartiles.

Conclusions PHR use by caregivers was associated with statistically significant increases in outpatient clinic visits and telephone encounters among pediatric patients.
Profiling phenome-wide associations: a population-based observational study
Authors: Syed-Abdul Shabbir , Moldovan Max , Nguyen Phung-Anh , Enikeev Ruslan , Jian Wen-Shan , Iqbal Usman , Hsu Min-Huei , Li Yu-Chuan
Published: February 2015

Objectives To objectively characterize phenome-wide associations observed in the entire Taiwanese population and represent them in a meaningful, interpretable way.

Study Design In this population-based observational study, we analyzed 782 million outpatient visits and 15 394 unique phenotypes that were observed in the entire Taiwanese population of over 22 million individuals. Our data was obtained from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database.

Results We stratified the population into 20 gender-age groups and generated 28.8 million and 31.8 million pairwise odds ratios from male and female subpopulations, respectively. These associations can be accessed online at http://associations.phr.tmu.edu.tw. To demonstrate the database and validate the association estimates obtained, we used correlation analysis to analyze 100 phenotypes that were observed to have the strongest positive association estimates with respect to essential hypertension. The results indicated that association patterns tended to have a strong positive correlation between adjacent age groups, while correlation estimates tended to decline as groups became more distant in age, and they diverged when assessed across gender groups.

Conclusions The correlation analysis of pairwise disease association patterns across different age and gender groups led to outcomes that were broadly predicted before the analysis, thus confirming the validity of the information contained in the presented database. More diverse individual disease-specific analyses would lead to a better understanding of phenome-wide associations and empower physicians to provide personalized care in terms of predicting, preventing, or initiating an early management of concomitant diseases.
Automated confidence ranked classification of randomized controlled trial articles: an aid to evidence-based medicine
Authors: Cohen Aaron M , Smalheiser Neil R , McDonagh Marian S , Yu Clement , Adams Clive E , Davis John M , Yu Philip S
Published: February 2015

Objective: For many literature review tasks, including systematic review (SR) and other aspects of evidence-based medicine, it is important to know whether an article describes a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Current manual annotation is not complete or flexible enough for the SR process. In this work, highly accurate machine learning predictive models were built that include confidence predictions of whether an article is an RCT.

Materials and Methods: The LibSVM classifier was used with forward selection of potential feature sets on a large human-related subset of MEDLINE to create a classification model requiring only the citation, abstract, and MeSH terms for each article.

Results: The model achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.973 and mean squared error of 0.013 on the held out year 2011 data. Accurate confidence estimates were confirmed on a manually reviewed set of test articles. A second model not requiring MeSH terms was also created, and performs almost as well.

Discussion: Both models accurately rank and predict article RCT confidence. Using the model and the manually reviewed samples, it is estimated that about 8000 (3%) additional RCTs can be identified in MEDLINE, and that 5% of articles tagged as RCTs in Medline may not be identified.

Conclusion: Retagging human-related studies with a continuously valued RCT confidence is potentially more useful for article ranking and review than a simple yes/no prediction. The automated RCT tagging tool should offer significant savings of time and effort during the process of writing SRs, and is a key component of a multistep text mining pipeline that we are building to streamline SR workflow. In addition, the model may be useful for identifying errors in MEDLINE publication types. The RCT confidence predictions described here have been made available to users as a web service with a user query form front end at: http://arrowsmith.psych.uic.edu/cgi-bin/arrowsmith_uic/RCT_Tagger.cgi.
Biases in the inferred mass-to-light ratio of globular clusters: no need for variations in the stellar mass function
Authors: Shanahan Rosemary L. , Gieles Mark
Published: February 2015

From a study of the integrated light properties of 200 globular clusters (GCs) in M31, Strader et al. found that the mass-to-light ratios are lower than what is expected from simple stellar population models with a ‘canonical’ stellar initial mass function (IMF), with the discrepancy being larger at high metallicities. We use dynamical multimass models, that include a prescription for equipartition, to quantify the bias in the inferred dynamical mass as the result of the assumption that light follows mass. For a universal IMF and a metallicity-dependent present-day mass function, we find that the inferred mass from integrated light properties systematically underestimates the true mass, and that the bias is more important at high metallicities, as was found for the M31 GCs. We show that mass segregation and a flattening of the mass function have opposing effects of similar magnitude on the mass inferred from integrated properties. This makes the mass-to-light ratio as derived from integrated properties an inadequate probe of the low-mass end of the stellar mass function. There is, therefore, no need for variations in the IMF, nor the need to invoke depletion of low-mass stars, to explain the observations. Finally, we find that the retention fraction of stellar-mass black holes (BHs) is an equally important parameter in understanding the mass segregation bias. We speculatively put forward to idea that kinematical data of GCs can in fact be used to constrain the total mass in stellar-mass BHs in GCs.
A Radiographic Analysis of Cervical Sagittal Alignment in Adolescent Idiopathic Cervical Kyphosis
Authors: Shen Xiao-Long , Tian Ye , Zhou Xu-Hui , Ren Dong , Cao Peng , Yuan Wen
Published: February 2015

Objective:

The aim of this study was to analyze the radiologic features of adolescent idiopathic cervical kyphosis.

Summary of Background Data:

There are few previous reports about radiographic analysis of cervical sagittal alignment of adolescent idiopathic cervical kyphosis. A new method was proposed in this article to evaluate the severity of cervical kyphosis.

Patients and Methods:

A total of 41 adolescent patients with cervical kyphosis were reviewed. Several angles were measured from the radiographs utilizing the 2-line Cobb method and Harrison posterior tangent method. Ishihara’s Curvature Index (CI), Kyphosis Index (KI), kyphosis levels, and the apex of the kyphosis were also measured.

Results:

The results showed that the apex of the kyphosis is located at the posterior-superior edge of C4 (70.7%) and C5 (29.3%). C2–C7 angles ranged from 4.7 to 71.3 degrees (36.2±13.6 degrees) and from 9.8 to 83.1 degrees (36.4±15.1 degrees) in the above 2 methods, respectively. Local angles of kyphotic area ranged from 21.8 to 96.3 degrees (50.5±23.7 degrees) in 2-line Cobb method and from 19.8 to 105.6 degrees (52.0±19.5 degrees) in Harrison posterior tangent method. CI and KI ranged from 8.6 to 79.8 (36.8±16.7) and 15.2 to 141.9 (50.6±23.7), respectively. Statistical analysis showed that there was significant positive correlation between KI and kyphosis angle.

Conclusions:

In adolescent idiopathic cervical kyphosis, the alteration of the sagittal profile only occurs on partial cervical alignment rather than the whole cervical spine. The apex of the kyphosis locates at posterior-superior edge of the vertebrae. It seems that KI can accurately depict the severity of cervical kyphosis.
Comparison of Pedicle Screw Fixation Strength Among Different Transpedicular Trajectories
Authors: Matsukawa Keitaro , Yato Yoshiyuki , Hynes Richard A. , Imabayashi Hideaki , Hosogane Naobumi , Yoshihara Yasuo , Asazuma Takashi , Nemoto Koichi
Published: February 2015

Study Design:

Comparative biomechanical study by finite element (FE) method.

Objective:

To investigate the pullout strength of pedicle screws using different insertional trajectories.

Summary of Background Data:

Pedicle screw fixation has become the gold standard for spinal fusion, however, not much has been done to clarify how the fixation strength of pedicle screws are affected by insertional trajectories and bone properties.

Materials and Methods:

Three-dimensional FE models of 20 L4 vertebrae were constructed from the computed tomographic data. Five different transpedicular trajectories were compared: the traditional trajectory, the vertical trajectory, and the 3 lateral trajectories with different sagittal directions (caudal, parallel, cranial). For a valid comparison, screws of the same shape and size were inserted into the same pedicle in each subject, and the pullout strength were compared with nonlinear FE analyses. In addition, the pullout strength was correlated with bone mineral density (BMD).

Results:

The mean pullout strength showed a 3.9% increase for the vertical trajectory relative to the traditional trajectory, 6.1% for the lateral-caudal trajectory, 21.1% for the lateral-parallel trajectory, and 34.7% for the lateral-cranial trajectory. The lateral-cranial trajectory demonstrated the highest value among all trajectories (P<0.001). In each trajectory, the correlation coefficient between the pullout strength and BMD of the femoral neck (r=0.74–0.83, P<0.01) was higher than the mean BMD of all the lumbar vertebrae (r=0.49–0.75, P<0.01), BMD of the L4 vertebra (r=0.39–0.64, P<0.01), and regional BMD of the L4 pedicle (r=0.53–0.76, P<0.01).

Conclusions:

Regional variation in the vertebral bone density and the amount of denser bone-screw interface contribute to the differences of stiffness among different screw trajectories. BMD of the femoral neck is considered to be a better objective predictor of pedicle screw stability than that of the lumbar vertebra.
Crystal structure of 1,1′-[imidazolidine-1,3-diylbis(methylene)]bis(naphthalen-2-ol)
Authors: Rivera Augusto , Rojas Jicli José , Ríos-Motta Jaime , Bolte Michael
Published: February 2015

The crystal structure of the title compound, C25H24N2O2, at 173 K has monoclinic (C2/c) symmetry. The molecule is located on a crystallographic twofold rotation axis with only half a molecule in the asymmetric unit. The imidazolidine ring adopts a twist conformation, with a twist about the ring C—C bond. The crystal structure shows theanticlinaldisposition of the two (2-hydroxynaphthalen-1-yl)methyl substituents of the imidazolidine ring. The structure displays two intramolecular O—H...N hydrogen bonds, each forming anS(6) ring motif.
Collaborative purchasing of complex technologies in healthcare
Authors: Gobbi Chiara , Hsuan Juliana
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate how buyers and the vendors pursue alignment in collaborative purchasing (CP) of complex medical technologies.

Design/methodology/approach

– Through a literature review in CP, the paper identify factors for shareholder alignment (i.e. aligning the needs of the buyers within the purchasing group) and customer alignment (i.e. aligning buyers’ needs with the vendors offering strategies) and investigate how they manifest in the case of CP of complex technology in the Danish National Healthcare System.

Findings

– Shareholder alignment requires appropriate management of the relationships, expertise and guidance in simplifying procedures and effective management of the purchasing group. Customer alignment is facilitated by buyers’ understating of the vendor’s design options, which are moderated by the vendor’s design strategies.

Research limitations/implications

– The findings and generalizations from a single case study are limited to the complexity of the purchased technology and the specific cultural context. However the paper represents the first explorative study that poses the attention on the relevance of shareholder and customer alignment in CP.

Practical implications

– The study can offer hospitals, vendors, governmental and regional institutions a better understanding about the alignment mechanisms for successful implementation of CP and how to avoid pitfalls.

Originality/value

– Literature on CP is scarce as there are virtually no contributions that debate the key elements and tradeoffs that need to be considered for strategic alignment. The study addresses this gap.
Putting the Italians on bicycles: marketing at Bianchi, 1885-1955
Authors: Mari Carlo
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– The aim of this paper is to examine marketing practices within the bicycle industry.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper utilizes both primary and secondary sources to provide a retrospective analysis of marketing strategy at the largest Italian bicycle company.

Findings

– The paper explains how marketing works at the Bianchi company and provides a detailed analysis of how it built its brand identity over time.

Research limitations/implications

– Very few primary sources were available. There was neither a company archive nor other archives. For the most part, the paper is based on secondary sources.

Originality/value

– The paper tries to fill the gap in current marketing literature that usually neglects the bicycle as a relevant topic, despite bicycle companies being a predecessor to the automobile industry. Moreover, the paper demonstrates that bicycle companies developed a rather sophisticated approach to marketing that is still in use.
History as an intangible asset for the Italian fashion business (1950-1954)
Authors: Belfanti Carlo Marco
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to reconstruct the process that led to the appropriation of history – of a particular historical period, the Renaissance – as an intangible asset in the promotion of Italian fashion on the international market after the Second World War.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper reconstructs the process that led to the appropriation of history – of a particular historical period, the Renaissance – as an intangible asset in the promotion of Italian fashion on the international market after the Second World War.

Findings

– The successful debut of Italian fashion in the fifties can be explained through an intelligent marketing campaign which placed it directly in the centre of a well-known, appreciated, not to say indisputable, tradition of “good taste”: that of the Renaissance. Connecting Italian fashion with Renaissance Italy meant in fact introducing a kind ofante litteramguarantee of provenance – a “country branding” - recognized throughout the world, which, at the same time, evoked the splendour of a period in which Italian taste was a model to follow and imitate.

Originality/value

– The studies on the history of the Italian fashion business have accepted the association of Italian fashion with Renaissance tradition as an element to be taken for granted, without inquiring into the historical legitimacy of such a coupling (either in the way in which it was produced or why it had such an important role). This paper dismantles the consistent rhetorical sedimentation with which the subject is encrusted and provides a new insight, showing that such continuity did not exist; on the contrary, it was the product of a marketing strategy.
The use of social networks in marketing: the Italian co-operative experience
Authors: Battilani Patrizia , Bertagnoni Giuliana
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– The main aim of our study is to demonstrate that the Italian way to marketing included not only the “advertising artists” but also what can be labelled as the social network approach, which was mainly used by cooperative enterprises. Focussing on the case study of the Granarolo co-operative, the paper discusses the social network method of marketing as it emerged during the 1950s and 1960s in Italy.

Design/methodology/approach

– The research draws on different types of primary sources, including co-operative business records, interviews, publications, newspaper articles and advertisements.

Findings

– In the age of mass consumption, the Granarolo co-operative developed an original marketing strategy based on social networks. This strategy can be considered a kind of community brand based on shared values pre-existing to the brand itself and a kind of viral marketing put in place before the electronic revolution.

Research limitations/implications

– The research focusses on the Granarolo case study. It can be extended to other co-operative enterprises. However, it is unknown whether the anticipation of viral marketing has also been used by private enterprises.

Practical implications

– The marketing strategies analyzed in the paper could be a interesting solution for undertakings strictly connected and rooted in their local community or in their Web community.

Social implications

– In today’s world of the Web, this physical constraint no longer exists, and the social method of marketing exceeds the regional and even the national level. In conclusion, this was an innovative method of marketing and advertising that came into being, ahead of its time, about a half a century before modern Web-based social networks were conceived, yet uses the same concepts, hence its extraordinary originality.

Originality/value

– This study is the result of an original research which tries to highlight what we could label the Italian way to marketing. Taking into consideration the first two decades of the Granarolo history and focussing on the marketing strategy, our contribution seeks to examine how the social networks approach worked and in what it differs from today brand community and viral marketing.
The performance of a blended real estate portfolio for UK DC investors
Authors: Moss Alex , Farrelly Kieran
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the performance implications for UK DC pension fund investors who choose to combine global listed and UK unlisted real estate in a blended allocation relative to a pure unlisted solution.

Design/methodology/approach

– Blended listed and unlisted real estate portfolios are constructed. Investor risk and returns are then studied over the full 15 year sample horizon and distinct cyclical phases over this period using a number of risk-return metrics. Performance is then contrasted with that of a pure unlisted solution, as well as UK equity market and bond total returns over the same period.

Findings

– A UK DC pension fund investor choosing to construct a blended global listed and UK unlisted real estate portfolio would have experienced material return enhancement relative to a pure unlisted solution. The “price” of this enhanced performance and improved liquidity profile is, unsurprisingly, higher portfolio volatility. However, because of the improved returns, the impact upon measured risk adjusted returns is less significant.

Practical implications

– Relatively liquid blended listed and unlisted real estate portfolios create efficient risk and return outcomes for investors.

Originality/value

– This study uses actual fund rather than index data (i.e. measures delivered returns to investors), has chosen a global rather than single country listed real estate allocation and is focused on providing clarity around the real estate exposure for a specific investment requirement, the UK DC pension fund market.
Transplantation as an abstract good: practising deliberate ignorance in deceased organ donation in Denmark
Authors: Hoeyer Klaus , Jensen Anja M. B. , Olejaz Maria
Published: February 2015

This article investigates valuations of organ transfers that are currently seen as legitimising increasingly aggressive procurement methods in Denmark. Based on interviews with registered donors and the intensive care unit staff responsible for managing organ donor patients we identify three types of valuation: the needs of recipients, respect for donors' autonomy and support of donors' relatives in their grieving process. Sometimes these modes of valuation conflict with each other, and we show how our informants then respond with a form of deliberate ignorance. We suggest that deliberate ignorance has a more general salience in the organ transplant field by way of facilitating a perception of organ transplantation as an abstract moral good rather than a specific good for specific people. Furthermore, we suggest that multiple forms of ignorance sustain each other: a desire for ignorance with respect to the prioritisation of recipients sustains pressure for more organs; this pressure necessitates more aggressive measures in organ procurement and these measures increase the need for ignorance in relation to the actual procedures as well as the actual recipients. These attempts to avoid knowledge are in remarkable contrast to the otherwise widespread policy emphasis on education and information in this medical domain.
Explaining Disability Trends in the U.S. Elderly and Near‐Elderly Population
Authors: Chen Yiqun , Sloan Frank A.
Published: February 2015

Objective

To examine disability trends among U.S. near‐elderly and elderly persons and explain observed trends.

Data Source

1996–2010 waves of the Health and Retirement Study.

Study Design

We first examined trends in Activities of Daily Living and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living limitations, and large muscle, mobility, gross motor, and fine motor indexes. Then we used decomposition analysis to estimate contributions of changes in sociodemographic composition, self‐reported chronic disease prevalence and health behaviors, and changes in disabling effects of these factors to disability changes between 1996 and 2010.

Principal Findings

Disability generally increased or was unchanged. Increased trends were more apparent for near‐elderly than elderly persons. Sociodemographic shifts tended to reduce disability, but their favorable effects were largely offset by increased self‐reported chronic disease prevalence. Changes in smoking and heavy drinking prevalence had relatively minor effects on disability trends. Increased obesity rates generated sizable effects on lower‐body functioning changes. Disabling effects of self‐reported chronic diseases often declined, and educational attainment became a stronger influence in preventing disability.

Conclusions

Such unfavorable trends as increased chronic disease prevalence and higher obesity rates offset or outweighed the favorable effects with the result that disability remained unchanged or increased.
An Evaluation of Childhood Deaths in Turkey Due to Yellow Phosphorus in Firecrackers
Authors: Yilmaz Riza , Yilmaz Eyyüp , Ozdemir Veli , Can Muhammet , Pakis Isil , Piskin Ibrahim E. , Dokgoz Halis , Ozer Erdal , Numanoglu Kemal V.
Published: February 2015

Yellow phosphorus (YP) is a powerful protoplasmic poison used in the manufacturing of matches, pest poisons, firecrackers, firework cracker, lights for watches, military ammunition, and agriculture fertilizer. YP is extremely flammable and toxic and easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. In this study, we examined childhood deaths from 1997 to 2012 resulting from the ingestion of firecrackers. The patients ranged from 2 to 15 years of age and were admitted to the hospital with a variety of symptoms. Those that presented with nausea, vomiting, and hypotension rapidly deteriorated and entered a coma. An autopsy was performed in all but one of the 16 cases reviewed. Macroscopically, the livers had a yellowish discoloration with petechial bleeding. Histopathologic examination revealed acute toxic hepatitis. In conclusion, these firecrackers are found in corner shops throughout Turkey, may cause death in children with little warning, and should be banned to prevent further deaths.
DNA barcoding of freshwater ichthyoplankton in the Neotropics as a tool for ecological monitoring
Authors: Frantine‐Silva W. , Sofia S. H. , Orsi M. L. , Almeida F. S.
Published: February 2015

Quantifying and classifying ichthyoplankton is one of the most effective ways of monitoring the recruitment process in fishes. However, correctly identifying the fish based on morphological characters is extremely difficult, especially in the early stages of development. We examined ichthyoplankton from tributaries and reservoirs along the middle stretch of the Paranapanema River, one of the areas most impacted by hydroelectric projects in the Neotropics. Matching DNA sequences of the COI gene (628–648 bp) allowed us to identify 99.25% of 536 samples of eggs (293) and larvae (243) subjected to BOLD‐IDS similarity analysis with a species‐level threshold of 1.3%. The results revealed 37 species in 27 genera, 15 families and four orders, some 23.8% of documented fish species in the Paranapanema River. Molecular identification meant that we could include data from egg samples that accounted for about 30% of the species richness observed. The results in this study confirm the efficacy of DNA barcoding in identifying Neotropical ichthyoplankton and show how the data produced provide valuable information for preparing plans for conserving and managing inland waters.
The Impact of Focusing a Program to Prevent Heavier Drinking on a Pre‐existing Phenotype, the Low Level of Response to Alcohol
Authors: Schuckit Marc A. , Smith Tom L. , Kalmijn Jelger , Skidmore Jessica , Clausen Peyton , Shafir Alexandra , Saunders Gretchen , Bystritsky Hannah , Fromme Kim
Published: February 2015

Background

Heavy drinking is common during transitions from high school to college. Optimal programs for diminishing risks for high alcohol consumption often tailor the approach to the specific needs of students. This study describes the results of an Internet‐based prevention protocol that tailors the information to the risk associated with a pre‐existing phenotype, the Low level of Response (Low LR) to alcohol.

Methods

Using stratified random assignment, 454 freshmen with Low and High LR values were assigned to 2 education groups (LR‐based where all examples were given the context of the Low LR model of heavy drinking or a State Of The Art (SOTA) Group where the same lessons were taught but without an emphasis on LR) or a no‐intervention Control Group. Individuals in the 2 education groups viewed 50‐minute online videos once per week for 4 weeks. Changes in drinking patterns were assessed at Baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks using a 2 (LR status) by 3 (education group) by 3 (time points) analysis of variance, with additional tests for ethnicity and sex.

Results

Low LR participants tended to decrease their usual (p < 0.06) and maximum (p < 0.05) drinks per occasion most prominently when assigned to the LR‐based protocol, while those with High LRs improved more in the SOTA Group. The most robust differences were seen when controlling for ethnicity. The effect sizes were small to medium.

Conclusions

These results support the advantages of carrying out prevention via the Internet and in tailoring the approach to a pre‐existing phenotype.
Incarceration and health outcomes in HIV‐infected patients: The impact of substance use, primary care engagement, and antiretroviral adherence
Authors: Wang Emily A. , McGinnis Kathleen A. , Long Jessica B. , Akgün Kathleen M. , Edelman E. Jennifer , Rimland David , Wang Karen H. , Justice Amy C. , Fiellin David A.
Published: February 2015

Background and Objectives

One in seven HIV‐infected individuals is incarcerated each year. We used data from the Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS) to explore the relationship between incarceration and HIV disease outcomes and evaluate potential mediators of this relationship.

Methods

HIV disease outcomes included: low CD4 counts (<200 cells/mL), detectable viral RNA loads (>500 copies/mL), and the VACS Index score. We performed a mediation analysis among 1,591 HIV‐infected patients to examine whether unhealthy alcohol use, drug use, primary care engagement, or antiretroviral adherence mediated observed associations.

Results

Among 1,591 HIV‐infected patients, 47% reported having a history of incarceration. In multivariate analyses, a history of incarceration was associated with a higher VACS Index score (β 2.47, 95% CI 0.52–4.43). Mediation analysis revealed that recent drug use attenuated the association by 22% (β 1.93, 95% CI −0.06, 3.91) while other proposed mediators did not.

Conclusions and Scientific Significance

Improving access to drug treatment when incarcerated and upon release may be an important target to improving the health of HIV‐infected individuals with a history of incarceration. (Am J Addict 2015;24:178–184)
Penthrox alone versus Penthrox plus periprostatic infiltration of local analgesia for analgesia in transrectal ultrasound‐guided prostate biopsy
Authors: Huang Sean , Pepdjonovic Lana , Konstantatos Alex , Frydenberg Mark , Grummet Jeremy
Published: February 2015

Background

The objective of this study was to compare pain intensity in patients undergoing transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)‐guided biopsy of the prostate with Penthrox alone compared with Penthrox plus periprostatic infiltration of local analgesia (PILA).

Method

Seventy‐two subjects participated in this study after receiving appropriate education. Forty‐two patients self‐administered inhaled Penthrox (3 mL methoxyflurane) alone for analgesia (Group A), followed by 30 patients who self‐administered Penthrox and received PILA with 5 mL of 2% lignocaine. All subjects had TRUS biopsy performed. Immediately after the procedure, patients were asked to rate their pain intensity using a numerical verbal rating scale from 0 to 10.

Results

Baseline characteristics of the two groups were similar. Patients in Group B reported significantly lower post TRUS biopsy median pain intensity of 2 (1–3) compared with Group A subjects who reported a median post TRUS biopsy pain intensity of 3 (2–5) (P = 0.014). A total of 72 men underwent TRUS‐guided biopsy. All patients indicated they would be happy to have another TRUS‐guided prostate biopsy in the future.

Conclusion

Our study shows that Penthrox plus PILA shows promise as an efficacious and easily tolerated analgesic technique for outpatient TRUS biopsy, keeping resource use to a minimum. Planning for a multi‐centre, double‐blind randomized control trial comparing Penthrox plus PILA with PILA alone is presently underway.
Why Procreative Preferences May be Moral – And Why it May not Matter if They Aren't
Authors: Saunders Ben
Published: February 2015

There has been much argument over whether procreative selection is obligatory or wrong. Rebecca Bennett has recently challenged the assumption that procreative choices are properly moral choices, arguing that these views express mere preferences. This article challenges Bennett's view on two fronts. First, I argue that the Non‐Identity Problem does not show that there cannot be harmless wrongs – though this would require us to abandon the intuitively attractive ‘person‐affecting principle’, that may be a lesser cost than abandoning some more firmly‐held intuition. But, even if we accept Bennett's claim that these choices are not moral, that does not show them to be mere personal preferences. I argue that there is a class of non‐moral ‘categorical preferences’ that have much the same implications as moral preferences. If a moral preference for able‐bodied children is problematic (as Bennett claims), then so is a non‐moral categorical preference. Thus, showing that these preferences are not moral does not show that they are not problematic, since they may still be categorical.
Reviewing Literature in Bioethics Research: Increasing Rigour in Non‐Systematic Reviews
Authors: McDougall Rosalind
Published: February 2015

The recent interest in systematic review methods in bioethics has highlighted the need for greater transparency in all literature review processes undertaken in bioethics projects. In this article, I articulate features of a good bioethics literature review that does not aim to be systematic, but rather to capture and analyse the key ideas relevant to a research question. I call this a critical interpretive literature review. I begin by sketching and comparing three different types of literature review conducted in bioethics scholarship. Then, drawing on Dixon‐Wood's concept of critical interpretive synthesis, I put forward six features of a good critical interpretive literature review in bioethics: answering a research question, capturing the key ideas relevant to the research question, analysing the literature as a whole, generating theory, not excluding papers based on rigid quality assessment criteria, and reporting the search strategy.
Quota Mechanics in Panamá, 1999–2014: ‘Se obedece, pero no se Cumple’
Authors: GRAY TRICIA
Published: February 2015

How do electoral gender quotas interact with the electoral process to increase descriptive representation? The case of quota mechanics in Panamá is revealing because it represents common factors in much of the region, but it is rarely considered in the literature. In fact, Panamá is often misrepresented as simply a legislative quota, ignoring the causal mechanisms of one of the worst performing quotas in the world. The case study of Panamá illuminates which quota provisions increase descriptive representation, shedding light on how quotas work in small states and how the lack of enforcement mechanisms fail to increase representation.
The dynamic behavior of the early dental caries lesion in caries‐active adults and implications
Authors: Brown John P. , Amaechi Bennett T. , Bader James D. , Shugars Daniel , Vollmer William M. , Chen Chuhe , Gilbert Gregg H. , Esterberg Elisabeth J. ,   the X‐ACT Collaborative Research Group
Published: February 2015

Objective

To describe the full range of behavior of the visible, noncavitated, early caries lesion in caries‐active adults with substantial fluoride exposure, and to consider implications.

Methods

The data were from the Xylitol for Adult Caries Trial (X‐ACT) collected annually for 33 months using condensed ICDAS caries threshold criteria. Individual tooth surfaces having a noncavitated caries lesion were included, and the patterns of transition to each subsequent annual clinical examination to sound, noncavitated or cavitated, filled or crowned were determined. The resulting sets of patterns for an individual tooth surface, looking forward from its first appearance as a noncavitated lesion, were combined into one of four behavior profiles classified as reversing, stable, oscillating, or continuously progressing, or were excluded if not part of the caries continuum. The distributions of profile types were assessed using the Rao–Scott chi‐square test, which adjusts for clustering of tooth surfaces within teeth.

Results

Inter‐ and intra‐examiner kappa scores demonstrated acceptable calibration at baseline and annually. 8084 tooth surfaces from 543 subjects were included. The distribution of profile types differed significantly between coronal and root surfaces. Overall, two‐thirds of all coronal noncavitated lesions were first seen at baseline, half reversed, over a fifth were stable, 15% oscillated, and only 8.3% progressed to cavitation, filled, or crowned in 33 months or less (6.3% consistently Progressed plus 2.0% inconsistently, a subset of oscillating, which oscillated before progressing to cavitation). Approximal, smooth, and occlusal coronal surfaces each were significantly different in their individual distributions of profile types. Xylitol showed no significant and consistent effect on this distribution by tooth surface type. This was in keeping with the X‐ACT's lack of effect of xylitol at the noncavitated plus cavitated lesion thresholds combined.

Conclusions

This study demonstrated the full dynamic range of early caries lesion behavior. The great majority were not progressive, and few (8.3%) became cavitated over 33 months in caries‐active adults using fluorides. Important caries management implications favoring recorded longitudinal monitoring, prevention of active risks, and minimal restoration only after direct visual determination of cavitation are discussed.
Use of the theoretical domains framework to further understanding of what influences application of fluoride varnish to children's teeth: a national survey of general dental practitioners in Scotland
Authors: Gnich Wendy , Bonetti Debbie , Sherriff Andrea , Sharma Shilpi , Conway David I. , Macpherson Lorna M. D.
Published: February 2015

Objectives

Despite recent improvements in the oral health of Scotland's population, the persistence of childhood dental caries underscores a need to reduce the disease burden experienced by children living in Scotland. Application of fluoride varnish (FV) to children's teeth provides an evidence‐based approach to achieving this goal. Despite policy, health service targets and professional recommendations supporting application, not all children receive FV in line with guidance. The objective of this study was to use the theoretical domains framework (TDF) to further an understanding of what may influence fluoride varnish application (FVA) in General Dental Practice in Scotland.

Methods

A postal questionnaire assessing current behaviour (frequency of FVA) and theoretical domains (TDs) was sent to all General Dental Practitioners (GDPs) in Scotland. Correlations and linear regression models were used to examine the association between FVA and the TDs.

Results

One thousand and ninety (53.6%) eligible GDPs responded. Respondents reported applying FV more frequently to increased risk and younger children (aged 2–5 years). Higher scores in eight TDs (Knowledge, Social/professional role and identity, Beliefs about consequences, Motivation and goals, Environmental context and resources, Social influences, Emotion and Behavioural regulation) were associated with greater frequency of FVA. Four beliefs in particular appear to be driving GDPs' decision to apply FV (recognizing that FVA is a guideline recommended behaviour (Knowledge), that FVA is perceived as an important part of the GDPs' professional role (Professional role/identity), that FV is something parents want for their children (Social influences) and that FV is something GDPs really wanted to do (Emotion).

Conclusions

The findings of this study support the use of the TDF as a tool to understand GDPs application of FV and suggest that a multifaceted intervention, targeting dental professionals and families, and more specifically those domains and items associated with FVA may have the greatest likelihood of influencing the evidence‐based behaviour.
Alveolar ridge dimensional changes following ridge preservation procedure with novel devices: Part 1 – CBCT linear analysis in non‐human primate model
Authors: Min Seiko , Liu Yi , Tang Jianxia , Xie Yilin , Xiong Jimin , You Hyung‐Keun , Zadeh Homayoun H.
Published: February 2015

Aim

This study sought to investigate dimensional changes to the alveolar bone following extraction and application of novel devices used for obturation of socket orifice (socket cap) and space maintenance in sockets with facial dehiscence (socket cage).

Material and methods

Six Macaca fascicularis had six teeth each removed according to the following intervention groups (groups A–C intact alveolar bone; D–E facial dehiscence): negative control (A); socket obturated with cap (B); filled with anorganic bovine bone mineral (ABBM) + socket cap (C); dehiscence negative control (D); socket cap + socket cage (E); ABBM + socket cap + socket cage (F). Serial CBCT scans at preoperatively, 6 and 12 weeks following intervention were compared to quantify linear alveolar bone alterations.

Results

Without therapeutic intervention, intact sockets exhibited significant reduction in width at the crestal 2 mm of the ridge crest within 6 weeks. Compared with the negative control sites which lost up to 52% of crestal bone width, sites treated with socket cap + ABBM lost at most 4% of bone width at the crestal 2 mm. Similar results were seen in the dehiscence groups, with the combination of socket cap + socket cage + ABBM maintaining the greatest socket width and height dimensions.

Conclusions

Results from the current non‐human primate study suggest that the socket cap and socket cage devices, when used in conjunction with xenograft proved effective in minimizing post‐extraction socket width loss and height seen in both intact sockets and sockets with facial dehiscence defects.
Motor behavior during the first chewing cycle in subjects with fixed tooth‐ or implant‐supported prostheses
Authors: Grigoriadis Joannis , Trulsson Mats , Svensson Krister G.
Published: February 2015

Objectives

Appropriate sensory information from periodontal mechanoreceptors (PMRs) is important for optimizing the positioning of food and adjustment of force vectors during precision biting. This study was designed to describe motor behavior during the first cycle of a natural chewing task and to evaluate the role of such sensory input in this behavior.

Material and methods

While 10 subjects with natural dentition, 11 with bimaxillary fixed tooth‐supported prostheses (TSP) and 10 with bimaxillary fixed implant‐supported prostheses (ISP) (mean age 69 [range 61–83]) chewed a total of five hazelnuts, their vertical and lateral jaw movements were recorded. Data obtained during the first chewing cycle of each hazelnut were analyzed.

Results

The amplitude of vertical and lateral mandibular movement and duration of jaw opening did not differ between the groups, indicating similar behavior during this part of the chewing cycle. However, only 30% of the subjects in the natural dentate group, but 82% of those in the TSP and 70% in the ISP group exhibited slippage of the hazelnut during jaw closure in at least one of five trials. The TSP and ISP groups also exhibited more irregular and narrower patterns of motion (total lateral/vertical movement = 0.15 and 0.19, respectively, compared to 0.27 for the natural group).

Conclusions

Subjects with fixed tooth‐ or implant‐supported prostheses in both jaws show altered behavior, including inadequate control of the hazelnut, during the first chewing cycle. We propose that these differences are due to impairment or absence of sensory signaling from PMRs in these individuals.