bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Regularization of nonlinear decomposition of spectral x‐ray projection images
Authors: Ducros Nicolas , Abascal Juan Felipe Perez‐Juste , Sixou Bruno , Rit Simon , Peyrin Françoise
Published: September 2017

Purpose

Exploiting the x‐ray measurements obtained in different energy bins, spectral computed tomography (CT) has the ability to recover the 3‐D description of a patient in a material basis. This may be achieved solving two subproblems, namely the material decomposition and the tomographic reconstruction problems. In this work, we address the material decomposition of spectral x‐ray projection images, which is a nonlinear ill‐posed problem.

Methods

Our main contribution is to introduce a material‐dependent spatial regularization in the projection domain. The decomposition problem is solved iteratively using a Gauss–Newton algorithm that can benefit from fast linear solvers. A Matlab implementation is available online. The proposed regularized weighted least squares Gauss–Newton algorithm (RWLS‐GN) is validated on numerical simulations of a thorax phantom made of up to five materials (soft tissue, bone, lung, adipose tissue, and gadolinium), which is scanned with a 120 kV source and imaged by a 4‐bin photon counting detector. To evaluate the method performance of our algorithm, different scenarios are created by varying the number of incident photons, the concentration of the marker and the configuration of the phantom. The RWLS‐GN method is compared to the reference maximum likelihood Nelder–Mead algorithm (ML‐NM). The convergence of the proposed method and its dependence on the regularization parameter are also studied.

Results

We show that material decomposition is feasible with the proposed method and that it converges in few iterations. Material decomposition with ML‐NM was very sensitive to noise, leading to decomposed images highly affected by noise, and artifacts even for the best case scenario. The proposed method was less sensitive to noise and improved contrast‐to‐noise ratio of the gadolinium image. Results were superior to those provided by ML‐NM in terms of image quality and decomposition was 70 times faster. For the assessed experiments, material decomposition was possible with the proposed method when the number of incident photons was equal or larger than 105 and when the marker concentration was equal or larger than 0.03 g·cm−3.

Conclusions

The proposed method efficiently solves the nonlinear decomposition problem for spectral CT, which opens up new possibilities such as material‐specific regularization in the projection domain and a parallelization framework, in which projections are solved in parallel.
Low‐dose dynamic myocardial perfusion CT imaging using a motion adaptive sparsity prior
Authors: Bian Zhaoying , Zeng Dong , Zhang Zhang , Gong Changfei , Tian Xiumei , Yan Gang , Huang Jing , Guo Hong , Chen Bo , Zhang Jing , Feng Qianjin , Chen Wufan , Ma Jianhua
Published: September 2017

Purpose

Dynamic myocardial perfusion computed tomography (DM‐PCT) imaging offers benefits over quantitative assessment of myocardial blood flow (MBF) for diagnosis and risk stratification of coronary artery disease. However, one major drawback of DM‐PCT imaging is that a high radiation level is imparted by repeated scanning. To address this issue, in this work, we developed a statistical iterative reconstruction algorithm based on the penalized weighted least‐squares (PWLS) scheme by incorporating a motion adaptive sparsity prior (MASP) model to achieve high‐quality DM‐PCT imaging with low tube current dynamic data acquisition. For simplicity, we refer to the proposed algorithm as “PWLS‐MASP’’.

Methods

The MASP models both the spatial and temporal structured sparsity of DM‐PCT sequence images with the assumption that the differences between adjacent frames after motion correction are sparse in the gradient image domain. To validate and evaluate the effectiveness of the present PWLS‐MASP algorithm thoroughly, a modified XCAT phantom and preclinical porcine DM‐PCT dataset were used in the study.

Results

The present PWLS‐MASP algorithm can obtain high‐quality DM‐PCT images in both phantom and porcine cases, and outperforms the existing filtered back‐projection algorithm and PWLS‐based algorithms with total variation regularization (PWLS‐TV) and robust principal component analysis regularization (PWLS‐RPCA) in terms of noise reduction, streak artifacts mitigation, and time density curve estimation. Moreover, the PWLS‐MASP algorithm can yield more accurate diagnostic hemodynamic parametric maps than the PWLS‐TV and PWLS‐RPCA algorithms.

Conclusions

The study indicates that there is a substantial advantage in using the present PWLS‐MASP algorithm for low‐dose DM‐PCT, and potentially in other dynamic tomography areas.
Adaptive non‐local means on local principle neighborhood for noise/artifacts reduction in low‐dose CT images
Authors: Zhang Yuanke , Lu Hongbing , Rong Junyan , Meng Jing , Shang Junliang , Ren Pinghong , Zhang Junying
Published: September 2017

Purpose

Low‐dose CT (LDCT) technique can reduce the x‐ray radiation exposure to patients at the cost of degraded images with severe noise and artifacts. Non‐local means (NLM) filtering has shown its potential in improving LDCT image quality. However, currently most NLM‐based approaches employ a weighted average operation directly on all neighbor pixels with a fixed filtering parameter throughout the NLM filtering process, ignoring the non‐stationary noise nature of LDCT images. In this paper, an adaptive NLM filtering scheme on local principle neighborhoods (PC‐NLM) is proposed for structure‐preserving noise/artifacts reduction in LDCT images.

Methods

Instead of using neighboring patches directly, in the PC‐NLM scheme, the principle component analysis (PCA) is first applied on local neighboring patches of the target patch to decompose the local patches into uncorrelated principle components (PCs), then a NLM filtering is used to regularize each PC of the target patch and finally the regularized components is transformed to get the target patch in image domain. Especially, in the NLM scheme, the filtering parameter is estimated adaptively from local noise level of the neighborhood as well as the signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) of the corresponding PC, which guarantees a “weaker” NLM filtering on PCs with higher SNR and a “stronger” filtering on PCs with lower SNR. The PC‐NLM procedure is iteratively performed several times for better removal of the noise and artifacts, and an adaptive iteration strategy is developed to reduce the computational load by determining whether a patch should be processed or not in next round of the PC‐NLM filtering.

Results

The effectiveness of the presented PC‐NLM algorithm is validated by experimental phantom studies and clinical studies. The results show that it can achieve promising gain over some state‐of‐the‐art methods in terms of artifact suppression and structure preservation.

Conclusions

With the use of PCA on local neighborhoods to extract principal structural components, as well as adaptive NLM filtering on PCs of the target patch using filtering parameter estimated based on the local noise level and corresponding SNR, the proposed PC‐NLM method shows its efficacy in preserving fine anatomical structures and suppressing noise/artifacts in LDCT images.
Model‐based dose reconstruction for CT dose estimation
Authors: Wu Mingye , Yin Zhye , De Man Bruno
Published: September 2017

Purpose

Our goal is to develop a model‐based approach for CT dose estimation. We previously presented a CT dose estimation method that offered good accuracy in soft tissue regions but lower accuracy in bone regions. In this work, we propose an improved physic‐based approach to achieve high accuracy for any materials and realistic clinical anatomies.

Methods

Like Monte Carlo techniques, we start from a model or image of the patient and we model all relevant x‐ray interaction processes. Unlike Monte Carlo techniques, we do not track each individual photon, but we compute the average behavior of the x‐ray interactions, combining pencil‐beam calculations for the first‐order interactions and kernels for the higher order interactions. The new algorithm more accurately models the variation of materials in the human body, especially for higher attenuation materials such as bone, as well as the various x‐ray attenuation processes. We performed validation experiments with analytic phantoms and a polychromatic x‐ray spectrum, comparing to Monte Carlo simulation (GEANT4) as the ground truth.

Results

The results show that the proposed method has improved accuracy in both soft tissue region and bone region: less than 6% voxel‐wise errors and less than 3.2% ROI‐based errors in an anthropomorphic phantom. The computational cost is on the order of a low‐resolution filtered backprojection reconstruction.

Conclusions

We introduced improved physics‐based models in a fast CT dose reconstruction approach. The improved approach demonstrated quantitatively good correspondence to a Monte Carlo gold standard in both soft tissue and bone regions in a chest phantom with a realistic polychromatic spectrum and could potentially be used for real‐time applications such as patient‐ and organ‐specific scan planning and organ dose reporting.
The Use of Hunting and Herding Spaces: Stable Isotope Analysis of Late Archaic and Early Formative Camelids in the Tulan Transect (Puna de Atacama, Chile)
Authors: López M. P. , Cartajena I. , Loyola R. , Núñez L. , Carrasco C.
Published: September 2017

We present the results of analysing stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in camelid remains found at the Late Archaic site TU‐52 (ca. 5000–3800 bp), the Tarajne Phase site TU‐94 and the Early Formative sites TU‐54, TU‐85 and TU‐122 (ca. 3100–2400 bp). All of the sites are located in the Puna de Atacama (Northern Chile) along the 14 km Tulan transect, between the head of Tulan ravine (ca. 3000 m.a.s.l.) and the border of the Salar de Atacama (2317 m.a.s.l.). Our aim is to understand how the space was used by hunter‐gatherers and early herders from the beginning of camelid domestication to the consolidation of herding practices. Isotopic analyses were complemented with osteometric data in order to correlate changes in animal size and isotopic values with the initiation of animal husbandry. Isotopic and osteometric results show less variability of δ13C and δ15N values during the Late Archaic and Tarajne Phase, whereas variability is higher during the Early Formative. We postulate that during the latter period, there was more widespread use of hunting and herding spaces along the Tulan ravine, including areas above 3000 m.a.s.l. as result of more consolidated herding practices, while the highlands were used as a complementary space to hold livestock near ritual sites and residential settlements. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Preparation and thermal properties of a novel core‐shell structure flame‐retardant copolymer
Authors: Cui Jianguang , Zhu Changjiang , He Mingshan , Ke Zhenkun , Liu Yu , Tai Qilong , Xiao Xifu , Hu Yuan
Published: September 2017

In order to improve the flame retardancy of polystyrene (PS), a phosphorus and nitrogen comonomer, named AC2NP2, was synthesized and then incorporated into various amounts of PS by seeded emulsion polymerization. The modified methacrylate (AC2NP2) was used as the core phase, the styrene as the shell phase, then flame‐retardant effect copolymers with core‐shell structure were prepared successfully. The particle size was ranged from 40 to 60 nm, and the structure and properties of the copolymers were characterized in detail. Notably, despite a few amounts of the AC2NP2 units in the copolymers, all the copolymers exhibited significantly enhanced thermal stability and reduced flammability as compared with pure PS. Furthermore, from differential scanning calorimetry test, it was observed that the glass transition temperature was tinily influenced with the incorporation of commoner. The incorporation of P‐N comonomer into PS backbone did not lead to negative effect on the glass transition behavior of PS.
PET/CT versus bone marrow biopsy in the initial evaluation of bone marrow infiltration in various pediatric malignancies
Authors: Zapata Claudia P. , Cuglievan Branko , Zapata Catalina M. , Olavarrieta Raquel , Raskin Scott , Desai Kavita , De Angulo Guillermo
Published: September 2017

Accurate staging is essential in the prognosis and management of pediatric malignancies. Current protocols require screening for marrow infiltration with bone marrow biopsy (BMB) as the gold standard. Positron emission tomography–computed tomography (PET–CT) is commonly used to complete the staging process and can also be used to evaluate marrow infiltration.

Objective

To compare PET–CT and BMB in the initial evaluation of bone marrow infiltration in pediatric cancers.

Design/method

We retrospectively reviewed new cases of EWS, rhabdomyosarcoma, neuroblastoma, and lymphoma diagnosed between January 2009 and October 2014. Each case had undergone both PET–CT and BMB within 4 weeks without treatment in the interval between screening modalities.

Results

We reviewed 69 cases. Bone marrow infiltration was demonstrated in 34 cases by PET–CT and in 18 cases by BMB. The sensitivity and negative predictive value of PET–CT were both 100%. Interestingly, the cases in which infiltration was not detected on BMB had an abnormal marrow signal on PET–CT focal or distant to iliac crest.

Conclusion

PET–CT has a high sensitivity when assessing marrow infiltration in pediatric malignancies. Advances in radiologic modalities may obviate the use of invasive, painful, and costly procedures like BMB. Furthermore, biopsy results are limited by insufficient tissue or the degree of marrow infiltration (diffuse vs. focal disease). PET–CT can improve the precision of biopsy when used as a guiding tool. This study proposes the use of PET–CT as first‐line screening for bone marrow infiltration to improve the accuracy of staging in new diagnoses.
Functionalized graphene with DOPO based organic/inorganic flame retardants: Preparation and its reinforcements on the flame retardancy of polyurea composites
Authors: Qian Xiaodong
Published: September 2017

Graphene (rGO) is a promising nano‐filler for reinforcing the properties of polymer nanocomposites, but the aggregation in polymer nanocomposites limits its application. To solve this problems, rGO was functionalized with silicon‐based organic/inorganic flame retardants through sol–gel process with controllable thicknesses (1.9 nm thick and 4.9 nm thick). The functionalized graphenes, noted as FGO‐1 (1.9 nm thick) and FGO‐2 (4.9 nm thick), are then incorporated into polyurea (PUA) at the loadings of 1 wt% and the property reinforcement are compared and investigated. After surface modification, covalent attachment of organic/inorganic flame retardants to the surface of rGO can prevent the agglomeration effectively and greatly improve the dispersion of rGO in the PUA matrix. Since those silicon‐based flame retardants can act as a good compatibilizer during in situ polymerization process, and all the PUA/FGO composites have good dispersion at the loading of 1 wt%, as evinced by transmission electron microscopy result. When 1 wt% of FGO‐2 is incorporated into PUA matrix, thermal and flame retardant properties of the composites are enhanced significantly compared with those of PUA/FGO‐1 composites in air atmosphere. Moreover, the introduction of FGO‐1 results in a 17.7% increase in tensile strength, while the PUA/FGO‐2 results in 31.4% increase. The good dispersion and organic/inorganic flame retardants on the surface of rGO are believed to be key factors for the improvement of mechanical properties of PUA/FGO‐2 composites. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:4637–4645, 2018. © 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers
Conjugated Microporous Polymers with Immobilized TiO2 Nanoparticles for Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalysis
Authors: Ayed Cyrine , Huang Wei , Li Run , da Silva Lucas Caire , Wang Di , Suraeva Oksana , Najjar Wahiba , Zhang Kai A. I.
Published: September 2017

The search for heterogeneous, visible light‐active, transition metal‐free, stable, and reusable photocatalysts for organic photoredox reactions remains a challenge for the chemists. Here, this study reports on a series of hybrid photocatalysts consisting of conjugated microporous polymer‐based organic semiconductors with immobilized TiO2 nanoparticles. The organic/inorganic semiconductor‐based hybrid photocatalytic system can enhance the photoinduced charge separation and thereby increasing the photocatalytic efficiency. As model reactions, the photocatalytic oxidative coupling reaction of amines and the selective oxidation of organic sulfides can be catalyzed with almost quantitative conversion and selectivity. The catalytic efficiency of the hybrid photocatalyst is higher than that of the pristine single photocatalytic systems as the conjugated microporous polymer and TiO2. Furthermore, the mechanistic study of the photoredox reactions is also described.
Interactive comparison and remediation of collections of macromolecular structures
Authors: Moriarty Nigel W. , Liebschner Dorothee , Klei Herbert E. , Echols Nathaniel , Afonine Pavel V. , Headd Jeffrey J. , Poon Billy K. , Adams Paul D.
Published: September 2017

Often similar structures need to be compared to reveal local differences throughout the entire model or between related copies within the model. Therefore, a program to compare multiple structures and enable correction any differences not supported by the density map was written within the Phenix framework (Adams et al., Acta Cryst 2010; D66:213–221). This program, called Structure Comparison, can also be used for structures with multiple copies of the same protein chain in the asymmetric unit, that is, as a result of non‐crystallographic symmetry (NCS). Structure Comparison was designed to interface with Coot(Emsley et al., Acta Cryst 2010; D66:486–501) and PyMOL(DeLano, PyMOL 0.99; 2002) to facilitate comparison of large numbers of related structures. Structure Comparison analyzes collections of protein structures using several metrics, such as the rotamer conformation of equivalent residues, displays the results in tabular form and allows superimposed protein chains and density maps to be quickly inspected and edited (via the tools in Coot) for consistency, completeness and correctness.
Double‐Walled ZrO2 Nanotube Array: Preparation and Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity
Authors: Xue Chaorui , Hu Shengliang , Chang Qing , Wang Yanzhong , Yang Jinlong
Published: September 2017

This work demonstrates the formation of self‐ordered double‐walled ZrO2 nanotube array via electrochemical anodization in glycerol‐based electrolyte. Compared with its counterpart of single‐walled ZrO2 nanotube array, the tube wall of double‐walled ZrO2 nanotube split into outer and inner layers for the decomposition of glycerol during anodization process. Moreover, the double‐walled structure showed its advantage of achieving improved utilization of light and higher specific surface area of nanotube array. Due to the unique double‐walled structure, the double‐walled ZrO2 nanotube array exhibited better photocatalytic activity than the single‐walled ZrO2 nanotube array.
A nonparametric test of independence between 2 variables
Authors: Li Bin , Yu Qingzhao
Published: September 2017

A nonparametric statistic, called the roughness of concomitant ranks, is proposed for testing whether 2 quantitative vectors are dependent. The new testing procedure is highly computationally efficient and simple, and exhibits competitive empirical performance in simulations and 2 microarray data analyses. We apply the new method to screen variables for high‐dimensional data analysis. For a low signal‐to‐noise ratio setting, we suggest the use of data binning to increase the power of the test. Simulation results show the fine performance of the proposed method with the existing screening methods.
Molecular dynamics simulation of the interaction between methyl benzotriazole and Cu2O crystal
Authors: Zeng Jianping , Ma Xiaotian , Zhu Zhidong , Hou Yingying , Shi Wenyan , Bai Yunshan
Published: September 2017

In circulating water system, methyl benzotriazole (TTA) is one of the common corrosion inhibitors for copper. But the inhibition mechanisms have not been clearly understood so far. In different number of water molecules, the interaction between TTA and Cu2O (copper surface) was investigated with molecular dynamics (MD) method. The results showed that the MD simulation result with water was more consistent with the experiment results. In different number of water molecules, the sequence of the interaction energies between TTA and Cu2O (001) was ∆E1 (150H2O) > ∆E1(200H2O) > ∆E1(100H2O) > ∆E1(50H2O) > ∆E1(0H2O). The number of water molecules had an important influence on the interaction between corrosion inhibitors and Cu2O crystal. From non‐bond energy and pair correlation functions, the interaction energies of the model system were mainly contributed by the non‐bond interaction. Strong adsorption could be raised by the Coulomb interaction between the negatively charged functional groups in TTA and the positive copper ions in the Cu2O (001) face, and further interaction between aggressive media and copper could be restricted. So, copper corrosion could be avoided. Chemical bonds and non‐bond interactions were formed between TTA and Cu2O (001) in different number of water molecules. Water molecules could not be ignored during the MD simulation, too. The results obtained here may provide theoretical supports for developing new corrosion inhibitors.
Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticle‐Embedded Silver Cubic Mesh Nanostructures Using AgCl Nanocubes for Plasmonic Photocatalysis
Authors: Joo Jang Ho , Kim Byung‐Ho , Lee Jae‐Seung
Published: September 2017

A novel room‐temperature aqueous synthesis for gold nanoparticle‐embedded silver cubic mesh nanostructures using AgCl templates via a template‐assisted coreduction method is developed. The cubic AgCl templates are coreduced in the presence of AuCl4− and Ag+, resulting in the reduction of AuCl4− into gold nanoparticles on the outer region of AgCl templates, followed by the reduction of AgCl and Ag+ into silver cubic mesh nanostructures. Removal of the template clearly demonstrates the delicately designed silver mesh nanostructures embedded with gold nanoparticles. The synthetic mechanism, structural properties, and surface functionalization are spectroscopically investigated. The plasmonic photocatalysis of the cubic mesh nanostructures for the degradation of organic pollutants and removal of highly toxic metal ions is investigated; the photocatalytic activity of the cubic mesh nanostructures is superior to those of conventional TiO2 catalysts and they are catalytically functional even in natural water, owing to their high surface area and excellent chemical stability. The synthetic development presented in this study can be exploited for the highly elaborate, yet, facile design of nanomaterials with outstanding properties.
A Proteoliposome Method for Assessing Nanotoxicity on Synaptic Fusion and Membrane Integrity
Authors: Crowe Michael , Lai Ying , Wang Yongyao , Lu Jiuwei , Zhao Minglei , Tian Zhiqi , Long Jiangang , Zhang Peng , Diao Jiajie
Published: September 2017

Nanoparticles have received significant research interest for potential biomedical applications. Before nanomaterials are administered to patients, their biocompatibility should be thoroughly evaluated through in vitro experiments and other preclinical procedures. Many studies have sought to assess the toxicity of nanomaterials on synaptic transmission for neuroscience applications. However, it may be hard to perform such experiments because of the difficulty associated with delivering synthesized nanomaterials across cell membranes. Here, an in vitro method is demonstrated that mimics neuronal exocytosis, which features protein‐reconstituted liposomes for nanotoxicity testing; the effects of graphene oxide and pristine graphene on fusogenic activity and membrane integrity are examined. These results demonstrate the potential of this system as a novel in vitro platform for assessing the biocompatibility of nanomaterials, drug molecules, and other substances.
How Do You Build Community and Foster Engagement in Online Courses?
Authors: Dolan Joanne , Kain Kevin , Reilly Janet , Bansal Gaurav
Published: September 2017

This chapter reviews research linking the importance of community in increasing engagement in online courses from an interdisciplinary perspective. Additionally, we identify applicable teaching strategies that focus on the important elements of community building, namely teaching, social, and cognitive presence.
How Do You Increase Students’ Global Learning in the Classroom?
Authors: Fezzey Hilary N. , Fujieda Eri , Goerdt Lynn Amerman , Kahler Heather , Nikoi Ephraim
Published: September 2017

This chapter will discuss global awareness in five distinctive disciplines (Communications, Literature, Mathematics, Social Work, and Sociology). Comparisons between the pedagogies in the disciplines focus on academic settings other than study abroad.
High Patient Satisfaction with Daylight-Activated Methyl Aminolevulinate Cream in the Treatment of Multiple Actinic Keratoses: Results of an Observational Study in Australia
Authors: See Jo-Ann , Gebauer Kurt , Wu Jason K. , Manoharan Shobhan , Kerrouche Nabil , Sullivan John
Published: September 2017

Introduction

Actinic keratoses (AK) are treated to reduce the risk of progression to squamous cell carcinoma and for symptomatic and cosmetic benefits. The objective of this observational study was to generate real-life data on the use of daylight photodynamic therapy with methyl aminolevulinate cream (MAL DL-PDT) in treating mild to moderate facial/scalp AK.

Methods

A multicenter, prospective, observational study was conducted in Australia in patients receiving a single treatment of MAL DL-PDT for mild to moderate AK. Efficacy was assessed 3 months after treatment by investigator-assessed improvement and patient- and physician-completed satisfaction questionnaires. Adverse events were recorded throughout the study.

Results

Overall, 81 patients were enrolled of mean age 62.7 years, mostly men (76.5%) with skin phototype I (64.2%) or II (35.8%) and a long history of AK (mean duration 16.8 years). Most had multiple lesions (82.7% had >10 lesions) of predominantly grade I (75.3%). At 3 months after treatment, almost half the patients (46.8%) required no further treatment. The proportions of patients and physicians satisfied to very satisfied with the MAL DL-PDT treatment were 79.7% and 83.3%, respectively. After receiving the treatment, 74.1% of patients indicated via the questionnaire that they were not bothered at all by the pain. Related AEs were reported in 48.1% of patients, mainly mild erythema (44.4%).

Conclusions

In clinical practice in Australia, the use of MAL DL-PDT in treating multiple mild to moderate non-hyperkeratotic AK of the face and/or scalp results in high levels of patient and physician satisfaction reflecting the good efficacy and tolerability of this almost painless, convenient procedure.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov identifier, NCT02674048.

Funding

Galderma R&D.
On the asymptotic growth of positive solutions to a nonlocal elliptic blow-up system involving strong competition
Authors: Terracini Susanna , Vita Stefano
Published: September 2017

For a competition-diffusion system involving the fractional Laplacian of the form

−(−\mathrm{\Delta })^{s}u = uv^{2},\:−(−\mathrm{\Delta })^{s}v = vu^{2},\:u,v > 0\:\text{in}\:\mathbb{R}^{N},

with

s \in (0,1)

, we prove that the maximal asymptotic growth rate for its entire solutions is

2s

. Moreover, since we are able to construct symmetric solutions to the problem, when

N = 2

with prescribed growth arbitrarily close to the critical one, we can conclude that the asymptotic bound found is optimal. Finally, we prove existence of genuinely higher dimensional solutions, when

N \geq 3

. Such problems arise, for example, as blow-ups of fractional reaction-diffusion systems when the interspecific competition rate tends to infinity.
Cuando el velo deviene revolución, reseña del libro de Sirin Adlbi Sibai La cárcel del feminismo. Hacia un pensamiento islámico decolonial
Authors: González Ortuño Gabriela
Published: September 2017

Cuando el velo deviene revolución, rese˜na del libro de Sirin Adlbi Sibai La cárcel del feminismo. Hacia un pensamiento islámico decolonial
Association of midlife lipids with 20‐year cognitive change: A cohort study
Authors: Power Melinda C. , Rawlings Andreea , Sharrett A. Richey , Bandeen‐Roche Karen , Coresh Josef , Ballantyne Christie M. , Pokharel Yashashwi , Michos Erin D. , Penman Alan , Alonso Alvaro , Knopman David , Mosley Thomas H. , Gottesman Rebecca F.
Published: September 2017

Introduction

Existing studies predominantly consider the association of late‐life lipid levels and subsequent cognitive change. However, midlife rather than late‐life risk factors are often most relevant to cognitive health.

Methods

We quantified the association between measured serum lipids in midlife and subsequent 20‐year change in performance on three cognitive tests in 13,997 participants of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study.

Results

Elevated total cholesterol, low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides were associated with greater 20‐year decline on a test of executive function, sustained attention, and processing speed. Higher total cholesterol and triglycerides were also associated with greater 20‐year decline in memory scores and a measure summarizing performance on all three tests. High‐density lipoprotein cholesterol was not associated with cognitive change. Results were materially unchanged in sensitivity analyses addressing informative missingness.

Discussion

Elevated total cholesterol, low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides in midlife were associated with greater 20‐year cognitive decline.
Clinical implications of serum adiponectin on progression of atrial fibrillation
Authors: Yamaguchi Naoko , Okumura Yasuo , Watanabe Ichiro , Nagashima Koichi , Takahashi Keiko , Iso Kazuki , Watanabe Ryuta , Arai Masaru , Kurokawa Sayaka , Ohkubo Kimie , Nakai Toshiko , Hirayama Atsushi
Published: September 2017

Background

The association between circulating adiponectin levels and atrial fibrillation (AF) is uncertain. We, therefore, investigated whether an increased serum adiponectin level is implicated in the long‐term recurrence of AF after ablation therapy.

Methods

Our study included 100 consecutive patients (88 men; median age, 57.9±10.9 years) who underwent catheter ablation for AF at our hospital between 2011 and 2013. The adiponectin and N‐terminal pro‐brain natriuretic peptide (NT‐proBNP) levels were measured before ablation and compared between those in whom AF recurred and those in whom AF did not recur.

Results

Elevation in adiponectin levels was significantly associated with female sex, non‐paroxysmal AF, heart failure, higher NT‐proBNP and matrix metallo‐proteinase‐2 levels, and lower body mass index. After a stepwise adjustment for any potential confounding variables, the adiponectin levels remained significantly associated with female sex (beta=0.2601, P=0.0041), non‐paroxysmal AF (beta=0.2708, P=0.0080), and higher NT‐proBNP levels (beta=0.2536, P= 0.0138). During the median follow‐up period of 26.2 months, AF recurred in 48 of the 100 patients. Stepwise multivariate adjustment showed that an increased log‐transformed NT‐proBNP (Hazard ratio [HR], 2.18; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.25–4.00; P=0.0055), longer duration of AF (HR, 1.87; 95%CI 1.01–3.76; P=0.0465), and decreased left ventricular ejection fraction (HR, 0.96; 95%CI 0.93–0.99; P=0.0391) were independent predictors of recurrent AF after catheter ablation, but adiponectin was not.

Conclusions

Our data indicated that adiponectin was partially responsible for progression of AF, but the correlation between adiponectin levels and AF recurrence was not significant.
Young People and the Future of News
Authors: Clark Lynn Schofield , Marchi Regina
Published: September 2017

Young People and the Future of News traces the practices that are evolving as young people come to see news increasingly as something shared via social networks and social media rather than produced and circulated solely by professional news organizations. The book introduces the concept of connective journalism, clarifying the role of creating and sharing stories online as a key precursor to collective and connective political action. At the center of the story are high school students from low-income minority and immigrant communities who often feel underserved or misrepresented by mainstream media but express a strong interest in politics and their communities. Drawing on in-depth field work in three major urban areas over the course of ten years, Young People and the Future of News sheds light on how young people share news that they think others should know about, express solidarity, and bring into being new publics and counter-publics.
Habitat Suitability and Distribution Models
Authors: Guisan Antoine , Thuiller Wilfried , Zimmermann Niklaus E.
Published: September 2017

This book introduces the key stages of niche-based habitat suitability model building, evaluation and prediction required for understanding and predicting future patterns of species and biodiversity. Beginning with the main theory behind ecological niches and species distributions, the book proceeds through all major steps of model building, from conceptualization and model training to model evaluation and spatio-temporal predictions. Extensive examples using R support graduate students and researchers in quantifying ecological niches and predicting species distributions with their own data, and help to address key environmental and conservation problems. Reflecting this highly active field of research, the book incorporates the latest developments from informatics and statistics, as well as using data from remote sources such as satellite imagery. A website at www.unil.ch/hsdm contains the codes and supporting material required to run the examples and teach courses.
Why Environmental Policies Fail
Authors: Laitos Jan
Published: September 2017

This book is for those who are not just interested in the ways humans have harmfully altered their environment, but instead wish to learn why the many governmental policies in place to curb such behavior have been unsuccessful. Since humans began to exploit natural resources for their own economic ends, we have ignored a central principle: nature and humans are not separate, but are a unified, interconnected system in which neither is superior to the other. Policy must reflect this reality. We failed to follow this principle in exploiting natural capital without expecting to pay any price, and in hurriedly adopting environmental laws and policies that reflected how we wanted nature to work instead of how it does work. This study relies on more accurate models for how nature works and humans behave. These models suggest that environmental laws should be consistent with the laws of nature.
An Early History of Compassion
Authors: Mirguet Françoise
Published: September 2017

In this book, Françoise Mirguet traces the appropriation and reinterpretation of pity by Greek-speaking Jewish communities of Late Antiquity. Pity and compassion, in this corpus, comprised a hybrid of Hebrew, Greek, and Roman constructions; depending on the texts, they were a spontaneous feeling, a practice, a virtue, or a precept of the Mosaic law. The requirement to feel for those who suffer sustained the identity of the Jewish minority, both creating continuity with its traditions and emulating dominant discourses. Mirguet's book will be of interest to scholars of early Judaism and Christianity for its sensitivity to the role of feelings and imagination in the shaping of identity. An important contribution to the history of emotions, it explores the role of the emotional imagination within the context of Roman imperialism. It also contributes to understanding how compassion has come to be so highly valued in Western cultures.
Human Dependency and Christian Ethics
Authors: Sullivan-Dunbar Sandra
Published: September 2017

Dependency is a central aspect of human existence, as are dependent care relations: relations between caregivers and young children, persons with disabilities, or frail elderly persons. In this book, Sandra Sullivan-Dunbar argues that many prominent interpretations of Christian love either obscure dependency and care, or fail to adequately address injustice in the global social organization of care. Sullivan-Dunbar engages a wide-ranging interdisciplinary conversation between Christian ethics and economics, political theory, and care scholarship, drawing on the rich body of recent feminist work reintegrating dependency and care into the economic, political, and moral spheres. She identifies essential elements of a Christian ethic of love and justice for dependent care relations in a globalized care economy. She also suggests resources for such an ethic ranging from Catholic social thought, feminist political ethics of care, disability and vulnerability studies, and Christian theological accounts of the divine-human relation.
Economic Integration in Africa
Authors: Mshomba Richard E.
Published: September 2017

In this work, Richard E. Mshomba offers an in-depth analysis of economic integration in Africa with a focus on the East African Community (EAC), arguably the most ambitious of all the regional economic blocs currently in existence in Africa. Economic Integration in Africa provides more than just an overview of regional economic blocs in Africa; it also offers a rich historical discussion on the birth and death of the first EAC starting with the onset of colonialism in the 1890s, and a systematic analysis of the birth, growth, and aspirations of the current EAC. Those objectives include forming a monetary union and eventually an East African political federation. This book also examines the African Union's aspirations for continent-wide integration as envisioned by the Abuja Treaty. Mshomba carefully argues that maturity of democracy and good governance in each country are prerequisites for the formation of a viable and sustainable East African federation and genuine continent-wide integration.
Microbial Disruption Indices to Detect Colonization With Multidrug-Resistant Organisms
Authors: Araos Rafael , Montgomery Veronica , Ugalde Juan A. , Snyder Graham M. , D’Agata Erika M. C.
Published: September 2017

OBJECTIVE

To characterize the microbial disruption indices of hospitalized patients to predict colonization with multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs).

DESIGN

A cross-sectional survey of the fecal microbiome was conducted in a tertiary referral, acute-care hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

PARTICIPANTS

The study population consisted of adult patients hospitalized in general medical/surgical wards.

METHODS

Rectal swabs were obtained from patients within 48 hours of hospital admission and screened for MDRO colonization using conventional culture techniques. The V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was sequenced to assess the fecal microbiome. Microbial diversity and composition, as well as the functional potential of the microbial communities present in fecal samples, were compared between patients with and without MDRO colonization.

RESULTS

A total of 44 patients were included in the study, of whom 11 (25%) were colonized with at least 1 MDRO. Reduced microbial diversity and high abundance of metabolic pathways associated with multidrug-resistance mechanisms characterized the fecal microbiome of patients colonized with MDRO at hospital admission.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data suggest that microbial disruption indices may be key to predicting MDRO colonization and could provide novel infection control approaches.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:1312–1318
DĀDUŠA'S STELA AND THE VEXED QUESTION OF IDENTIFYING THE MAIN ACTORS ON THE RELIEF
Authors: Rollinger Robert
Published: September 2017

This contribution deals with the famous stela of king Dāduša of Ešnunna (c. eighteenth century b.c.). The monument testifies to a correlation of text and image that is unique in the Ancient Near East. However, recent scholarship still disagrees on the identification of the three main actors in the top register of the stela. The paper discusses in detail the philological and epigraphic evidence and their larger contexts. It concludes that the slaying figure to the left standing on the defeated king of Qab(a)rā is Adad and the figure to the far right is the pious king of Ešnunna paying reverence to his god who guaranteed victory over his enemy.
A new fossil evaniid wasp from Eocene Baltic amber, with highly modified compound eyes unique within the Hymenoptera
Authors: Jennings John T. , O’Carroll David D. , Priya  , Krogmann Lars , Austin Andrew D.
Published: September 2017

Evaniid wasps develop as solitary egg predators within the oothecae of cockroaches. Fossil evaniids are relatively common compared with most other parasitoid Hymenoptera, undoubtedly due to their searching for host cockroaches on tree trunks and thus an increased chance of being trapped in tree resin. The genusParevaniaKieffer, 1907 is widely distributed through the Old World and is also known from a small number of rather unremarkable fossil taxa. Here we add to this extinct faunaParevania oculiseparataJennings, Krogmann, and Austin new species from Baltic Eocene amber, a species that has highly modified compound eyes that are unique among the Hymenoptera, and possibly among insects as a whole.Parevania oculiseparatan. sp. possesses a prominent acute ridge extending across the entire dorso-ventral elongation of the eye surface. Modifications to the regular curved surface of the eyes are extremely rare among Hymenoptera and previously were only known from two species ofInostemmaHaliday, 1833 (Platygastridae s. s.) and the three known species ofIsomeralaShipp, 1894 (Eucharitidae). In describing this unusual fossil evaniid species, we also analyze the optical consequences of the eye surface discontinuity, and discuss different types of compound eye modifications that occur in other Hymenoptera and other insects.
‘Speaking Kleinian’: Susan Isaacs as Ursula Wise and the Inter-War Popularisation of Psychoanalysis
Authors: Shapira Michal
Published: September 2017

How did the complex concepts of psychoanalysis become popular in early twentieth-century Britain? This article examines the contribution of educator and psychoanalyst Susan Isaacs (1885–1948) to this process, as well as her role as a female expert in the intellectual and medical history of this period. Isaacs was one of the most influential British psychologists of the inter-war era, yet historical research on her work is still limited. The article focuses on her writing as ‘Ursula Wise’, answering the questions of parents and nursery nurses in the popular journalNursery World, from 1929 to 1936. Researched in depth for the first time, Isaacs’ important magazine columns reveal that her writing was instrumental in disseminating the work of psychoanalyst Melanie Klein in Britain. Moreover, Isaacs’ powerful rebuttals to behaviourist, disciplinarian parenting methods helped shift the focus of caregivers to the child’s perspective, encouraging them to acknowledge children as independent subjects and future democratic citizens. Like other early psychoanalysts, Isaacs was not an elitist; she was in fact committed to disseminating her ideas as broadly as possible. Isaacs taught British parents and child caregivers to ‘speak Kleinian’, translating Klein’s intellectual ideas into ordinary language and thus enabling their swift integration into popular discourse.
Homeopathy ‘for Mexicans’: Medical Popularisation, Commercial Endeavours, and Patients’ Choice in the Mexican Medical Marketplace, 1853–1872
Authors: Hernández Berrones Jethro
Published: September 2017

This paper focuses on homeopaths’ strategies to popularise homeopathy from 1850 to 1870. I argue that homeopaths created a space for homeopathy in Mexico City in the mid-nineteenth century by facilitating patients’ access to medical knowledge, consultation and practice. In this period, when national and international armed conflicts limited the diffusion and regulation of academic medicine, homeopaths popularised homeopathy by framing it as a life-enhancing therapy with tools that responded to patients’ needs. Patients’ preference for homeopathy evolved into commercial endeavours that promoted the practice of homeopathy through the use of domestic manuals. Using rare publications and archival records, I analyse the popularisation of homeopathy in Ramón Comellas’s homeopathic manual, the commercialisation of Julián González’s family guides, and patients’ and doctors’ reception of homeopathy. I show that narratives of conversion to homeopathy relied on the different experiences of patients and trained doctors, and that patients’ positive experience with homeopathy weighed more than the doctors’ efforts to explain to the public how academic medicine worked. The fact that homeopaths and patients used a shared language to describe disease experiences framed the possibility of a horizontal transmission of medical knowledge, opening up the possibility for patients to become practitioners. By relying on the long tradition of domestic medicine in Mexico, the popularisation of homeopathy disrupted the professional boundaries that academic physicians had begun to build, making homeopaths the largest group that challenged the emergent medical academic culture and its diffusion in Mexico in the nineteenth century.
Antihistamines for treating rhinosinusitis: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled studies
Authors: Seresirikachorn K , Khattiyawittayakun L , Chitsuthipakorn W , Snidvongs K
Published: September 2017

Background:

Without the release of histamines, patients with rhinosinusitis may not benefit from antihistamines. Additionally, anticholinergic effects may do more harm than good. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of antihistamines in treating rhinosinusitis.

Methods:

An electronic search was performed. Randomised controlled trials comparing antihistamines with either placebo or other treatments for patients with rhinosinusitis were selected.

Results:

Two studies (184 patients) met the inclusion criteria. Loratadine decreased nasal obstruction in allergic rhinitis patients with acute rhinosinusitis (mean difference = −0.58; confidence interval = −0.85 to −0.31,p< 0.01), but had no benefit on total symptom score (mean difference = −1.25; confidence interval = −2.77 to 0.27,p= 0.11), or rhinorrhoea symptoms (mean difference = −0.06; confidence interval = −0.37 to 0.25,p= 0.71).

Conclusion:

There is limited evidence to support the use of antihistamines in treating rhinosinusitis. The number of included studies in this systematic review is limited. Antihistamines may relieve nasal obstruction in allergic rhinitis patients with acute rhinosinusitis.