bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of secondary orientation on fatigue crack initiation in a single crystal superalloy
Authors: He Z. , Qiu W. , Fan Y.‐N. , Han Q.‐N. , Shi H.‐J. , Ma X.
Published: November 2017

Effects of secondary orientation on plastic deformation and crack initiation in a nickel‐based single crystal superalloy were investigated based on in‐situ scanning electron microscope fatigue tests and crystal plasticity finite element simulations. Specimens in 2 kinds of secondary crystal orientations were tested at 600°C. The results show that specimens exhibit different crack initiation modes. For specimen [001]/ [010], the crack initiated from a region of high density slip traces at an angle of 45° to the load axis and propagated along the 45° slip line. For specimen [001]/ [110], the crack initiated from a slip line that is perpendicular to the loading axis and propagated along the horizontal direction. A crystal plasticity finite element model is used to predict the cyclic plastic behavior of nickel‐based single crystal superalloy. The slip line distributions, the location of the crack initiation, the crack propagating direction, and the crack deflection position are preferably predicted in comparison to the experimental results.
Vapor–pressure deficit and extreme climatic variables limit tree growth
Authors: Sanginés de Cárcer Paula , Vitasse Yann , Peñuelas Josep , Jassey Vincent E. J. , Buttler Alexandre , Signarbieux Constant
Published: November 2017

Assessing the effect of global warming on forest growth requires a better understanding of species‐specific responses to climate change conditions. Norway spruce and European beech are among the dominant tree species in Europe and are largely used by the timber industry. Their sensitivity to changes in climate and extreme climatic events, however, endangers their future sustainability. Identifying the key climatic factors limiting their growth and survival is therefore crucial for assessing the responses of these two species to ongoing climate change. We studied the vulnerability of beech and spruce to warmer and drier conditions by transplanting saplings from the top to the bottom of an elevational gradient in the Jura Mountains in Switzerland. We (1) demonstrated that a longer growing season due to warming could not fully account for the positive growth responses, and the positive effect on sapling productivity was species‐dependent, (2) demonstrated that the contrasting growth responses of beech and spruce were mainly due to different sensitivities to elevated vapor–pressure deficits (VPD), (3) determined the species‐specific limits to VPD above which growth rate began to decline, and (4) demonstrated that models incorporating extreme climatic events could account for the response of growth to warming better than models using only average values. These results support that the sustainability of forest trees in the coming decades will depend on how extreme climatic events will change, irrespective of the overall warming trend.
Lymphoproliferative disorders with concurrent HHV8 and EBV infection: beyond primary effusion lymphoma and germinotropic lymphoproliferative disorder
Authors: Wang Wei , Kanagal‐Shamanna Rashmi , Medeiros L Jeffrey
Published: November 2017

Aims

Lymphoproliferative disorders (LPD) characterised by human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8) and Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection are rare and two entities are included in the World Health Organisation classification: primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) and germinotropic LPD. These two entities have very different clinicopathological presentations and prognosis. Here we describe two cases of HHV8‐positive, EBV‐positive lymphoma with clinicopathological features that are not consistent with either PEL or germinotropic LPD.

Methods and results

Both patients were HIV‐negative without a history of immunodeficiency. In the first case, the patient presented with localised axillary lymphadenopathy without any other symptoms. Biopsy showed lymphoma cells located predominantly in mantle zones with extension into interfollicular areas. Some follicles showed Castleman features, including lymphocyte‐depleted germinal centres penetrated by sclerotic blood vessels and surrounded by concentric rings of small lymphocytes. Using immunohistochemistry, the lymphoma cells were positive for CD3 (weak), CD20 and HHV8. EBV was positive, as shown by in‐situ hybridisation. The lymphoma cells were negative for CD138, immunoglobulin (Ig)M and kappa and lambda. In the second case, the patient presented with multi‐compartmental lymphadenopathy and biopsy showed neoplastic cells that grew in a diffuse pattern with immunoblastic/plasmablastic morphology. Neoplastic cells were positive for both HHV8 and EBV, partially positive for CD20 and CD138 and negative for kappa and lambda.

Conclusions

The description of these two cases suggests that the category of HHV8+ EBV+ LPDs is a spectrum, which not only includes PEL and germinotropic LPD, but also other cases that have overlapping but distinctive features.
Achieving IT‐based synergies through regulation‐oriented and consensus‐oriented IT governance capabilities
Authors: Kude Thomas , Lazic Miroslav , Heinzl Armin , Neff Alexander
Published: November 2017

This study aims at exploring the IT governance capabilities that enable organizations to achieve IT‐based synergies. Following existing work on the contextualization of theories and drawing on the resource‐based view of the firm (RBV), we develop an RBV of IT‐based synergies in two steps. First, we adopt existing context‐specific constructs and relationships from prior work on IT governance capabilities, IT relatedness, and synergies to develop a preliminary contextualization of the RBV. Second, to further refine our theoretical framework, we conduct an exploratory field study that includes interviews with 26 CIOs and other IT executives from 21 multibusiness firms. Our findings suggest that IT governance capabilities lead to IT‐based synergies through IT relatedness and business process relatedness. We found regulation‐oriented IT governance capabilities (IT roles and IT processes) to increase IT relatedness, while consensus‐oriented IT governance capabilities (IT groups and relational capabilities) had a positive effect on business process relatedness. Our results suggest that, in isolation, IT and business process relatedness lead to IT cost synergies, while collectively enabling IT‐induced business synergies. Our study is among the first to treat IT relatedness as an endogenous construct and to explicitly integrate business process relatedness into the IT governance domain. Our context‐specific decomposition of IT governance capabilities helps to better explain their links to IT and business process relatedness. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the tension between IT‐based synergies and business‐IT alignment. Decision‐makers are guided in developing IT governance capabilities to achieve IT‐based synergies.
Innovation among different classes of software development organizations
Authors: Gaskin James , Berente Nicholas , Lyytinen Kalle , Rose Gregory
Published: November 2017

Software development organizations (SDOs) innovate in diverse ways. In this paper, based on an extensive review of innovation typologies, we develop a theory‐driven typology of SDO innovator classes. We theorize about the driving forces behind these classes, with specific attention given to knowledge‐based dispositions that relate to the SDO's knowledge‐based competencies in technology appropriation, technology generation, and network intensity within ecological niches. Through a survey of 136 SDOs, which adopted Internet technologies during 1995‐2006, we empirically verify that these classes also determine different ways that SDOs innovate around software services they provide to their clients. Our findings suggest that the knowledge‐based dispositions of different SDO innovator classes impact how they innovate. Overall, the study involves theorizing around different types of innovation behaviours and associated knowledge‐based factors that influence the way SDOs innovate.
Multidepot pickup and delivery problems in multiple regions: a typology and integrated model
Authors: Dragomir Alina G. , Nicola Daniel , Soriano Adria , Gansterer Margaretha
Published: November 2017

The rapid development experienced by the transportation industry in the past decades has led to many configurations of networks and therefore to an explosion of variants in transportation problems, motivating researchers to look at broader logistic problems, beyond the basic vehicle routing problems. This work introduces a new type of problem scenario combining various attributes: a pickup and delivery problem with multiple regions, multiple depots, and multiple transportation modes. We provide definitions, a literature review, and a step‐by‐step construction of the mathematical models from a simple and well‐known scenario to the multiregion multidepot pickup and delivery problem (MR‐MDPDP). For each step the relevant literature is examined. Furthermore, we suggest possible extensions for prospective research.
Multiscale design of high‐voltage multilayer energy‐storage ceramic capacitors
Authors: Cai Ziming , Wang Xiaohui , Luo Bingcheng , Hong Wei , Wu Longwen , Li Longtu
Published: November 2017

Multilayer energy‐storage ceramic capacitors (MLESCCs) are studied by multiscale simulation methods. Electric field distribution of a selected area in a MLESCC is simulated at a macroscopic scale to analyze the effect of margin length on the breakdown strength of MLESCC using a finite element method. Phase field model is introduced to analyze the dielectric breakdown mechanism of MLESCC at a mesoscopic scale. The microstructure of selected area is generated through voronoi tessellation random construction routine containing core‐shell‐structured dielectric materials. The effects of margin length, shell permittivity, and shell volume fraction on the breakdown strength of MLESCC are respectively studied. Results indicate that the breakdown strength of MLESCC can be enhanced by adopting larger margin lengths, or by increasing the shell permittivity or volume fraction.
Research recruitment: A marketing framework to improve sample representativeness in health research
Authors: Howcutt Sarah J. , Barnett Anna L. , Barbosa‐Boucas Sofia , Smith Lesley A.
Published: November 2017

Aims

This discussion paper proposes a five‐part theoretical framework to inform recruitment strategies. The framework is based on a marketing model of consumer decision‐making.

Background

Respondents in surveys are typically healthier than non‐respondents, which has an impact on the availability of information about those most in need. Previous research has identified response patterns, provided theories about why people participate in research and evaluated different recruitment strategies. Social marketing has been applied successfully to recruitment and promotes focus on the needs of the participant, but little attention has been paid to the periods before and after participant–researcher contact (during advertising and following completion of studies). We propose a new model which conceptualises participation as a decision involving motivation, perception of information, attitude formation, integration of intention and action and finally evaluation and sharing of experience.

Design

Discussion paper.

Data sources

This discussion paper presents a critical review. No literature was excluded on date and the included citations span the years 1981–2017.

Implications for nursing

The proposed framework suggests that researchers could engage a broader demographic if they shape research design and advertising to perform functions that participants are seeking to achieve. The framework provides a novel and useful conceptualisation of recruitment which could help to inform public engagement in research design, researcher training and research policy.

Conclusion

This framework challenges researchers to investigate the goals of the potential participants when designing a study's advertising and procedures.
Personal, professional and workplace factors that contribute to burnout in Australian midwives
Authors: Fenwick Jennifer , Lubomski Anna , Creedy Debra K , Sidebotham Mary
Published: November 2017

Aim

This study aimed to identify personal, professional and workplace factors that contribute to burnout in midwives.

Background

Burnout is prevalent in the midwifery workforce. Burnout adversely affects the well‐being of midwives, diminishes the quality of care they provide and can shorten career duration.

Design

Self‐administered online survey. The survey included the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory and personal and professional variables related to age, children, years of experience, role, model of care and satisfaction with work life. Midwives were invited to participate via an email sent from the Australian College of Midwives and through professional networks between June and July 2014. Variables associated with burnout were entered in a multinomial logistic regression.

Results

A total of 1,037 responses were received and 990 analysed. The prevalence of moderate to severe personal (N = 643; 64.9%) and work‐related burnout (N = 428; 43.8%) were high. Having children, providing caseload midwifery care and working in a regional area were associated with low burnout. However, midwives registered for 5–10 years were more likely to report work and client‐related burnout. Similarly, midwives reporting a lack of satisfaction with work–life balance were also more likely to report personal and work‐related burnout.

Conclusions

Family‐friendly work environments that facilitate work–life balance can help to reduce the personal and organizational costs of burnout. Similarly, providing continuity of midwifery care in a caseload model can facilitate work–life balance and provide significant mental health benefits to participating midwives.
Unpacking action research and implementation science: Implications for nursing
Authors: Casey Mary , O' Leary Denise , Coghlan David
Published: November 2017

Aim

The aim of this study was to unpack the key concepts of action research and implementation science thereby enabling appropriate use of these methods in nursing.

Background

A key issue in action research is not so much the methodology employed to gather data/evidence but who decides the research agenda and who benefits from it. Implementation science is a way to ensure that evidence is translated into practice. The question arises as to how action research and implementation may be understood in relation to one another in nursing.

Design

Discussion Paper

Data sources

This discussion paper is based on our own experiences and offers an exploration of action research and implementation science with the aim of clarifying what each involves and what synergies, if any, exist between them.

Implications for Nursing

Using action research to secure the voice of patients in their own care is essential to delivering quality nursing care. Using implementation science frameworks to get research evidence into practice is effective. Familiarity with both these concepts may enable their improved use and have a positive impact on quality of care.

Conclusion

There is a tension between action researchers and the protagonists of implementation science related to perceived “trade offs” between what constitutes “science” and the necessity of community participation. Nevertheless, the use of an implementation science framework in an action research approach can reduce the research practice time lag and action research provides sound theoretical and philosophical underpinnings that can be used by those in the implementation science field.
Effect of human amniotic epithelial cells on pro‐fibrogenic resident hepatic cells in a rat model of liver fibrosis
Authors: Cargnoni Anna , Farigu Serafina , Cotti Piccinelli Ester , Bonassi Signoroni Patrizia , Romele Pietro , Vanosi Graziella , Toschi Ivan , Cesari Valentina , Barros Sant'Anna Luciana , Magatti Marta , Silini Antonietta R. , Parolini Ornella
Published: November 2017

Myofibroblasts are key fibrogenic cells responsible for excessive extracellular matrix synthesis characterizing the fibrotic lesion. In liver fibrosis, myofibroblasts derive either from activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSC) and portal fibroblasts (PF), or from the activation of fibroblasts that originate from ductular epithelial cells undergoing epithelial–mesenchymal transition. Ductular cells can also indirectly promote myofibroblast generation by activating TGF‐β, the main fibrogenic growth factor, through αvβ6 integrin. In addition, after liver injury, liver sinusoidal cells can lose their ability to maintain HSC quiescence, thus favouring HSC differentiation towards myofibroblasts. The amniotic membrane and epithelial cells (hAEC) derived thereof have been shown to decrease hepatic myofibroblast levels in rodents with liver fibrosis. In this study, in a rat model of liver fibrosis, we investigated the effects of hAEC on resident hepatic cells contributing to myofibroblast generation. Our data show that hAEC reduce myofibroblast numbers with a consequent reduction in fibronectin and collagen deposition. Interestingly, we show that hAEC strongly act on specific myofibroblast precursors. Specifically, hAEC reduce the activation of PF rather than HSC. In addition, hAEC target reactive ductular cells by inhibiting their proliferation and αvβ6 integrin expression, with a consequent decrease in TGF‐β activation. Moreover, hAEC counteract the transition of ductular cells towards fibroblasts, while it does not affect injury‐induced and fibrosis‐promoting sinusoidal alterations. In conclusion, among the emerging therapeutic applications of hAEC in liver diseases, their specific action on PF and ductular cells strongly suggests their application in liver injuries involving the expansion and activation of the portal compartment.
A twin study exploring the association between childhood emotional and behaviour problems and specific psychotic experiences in a community sample of adolescents
Authors: Shakoor Sania , McGuire Philip , Cardno Alastair G. , Freeman Daniel , Ronald Angelica
Published: November 2017

Background

Childhood emotional and behaviour problems are antecedents for later psychopathology. This study investigated genetic and environmental influences shaping the longitudinal association between childhood emotional and behaviour problems and specific PEs.

Method

In a community‐based twin sample, parents reported on emotional and behaviour problems when twins were ages 7 and 12 years. At age 16 years, specific PEs were measured using self‐reports and parent reports. Structural equation model‐fitting was conducted.

Results

Childhood emotional and behaviour problems were significantly associated with paranoia, cognitive disorganisation and parent‐rated negative symptoms in adolescence (mean r = .15–.38), and to a lesser extent with hallucinations, grandiosity and anhedonia (mean r = .04‐.12). Genetic influences on childhood emotional and behaviour problems explained significant proportions of variance in adolescent paranoia (4%), cognitive disorganisation (8%) and parent‐rated negative symptoms (3%). Unique environmental influences on childhood emotional and behaviour problems explained ≤1% of variance in PEs. Common environmental influences were only relevant for the relationship between childhood emotional and behaviour problems and parent‐rated negative symptoms (explaining 28% of variance) and are partly due to correlated rater effects.

Conclusions

Childhood emotional and behaviour problems are significantly, if weakly, associated with adolescent PEs. These associations are driven in part by common genetic influences underlying both emotional and behaviour problems and PEs. However, psychotic experiences in adolescence are largely influenced by genetic and environmental factors that are independent of general childhood emotional and behaviour problems, suggesting they are not merely an extension of childhood emotional and behaviour problems.
Scientism, conflicts of interest, and the marginalization of ethics in medical education
Authors: Mayes Christopher , Williams Jane , Kerridge Ian , Lipworth Wendy
Published: November 2017

Aim

This paper reports on the findings from 6 focus groups conducted with Australian medical students. The focus groups sought students' perspectives on how the influence of commercial interests on medical practice and education could be managed.

Method

We conducted 6 focus groups with medical students in New South Wales, Australia. Participants were recruited via student‐run medical society and faculty e‐mail lists. Forty‐nine students from 6 medical schools in New South Wales participated. The research team reflected on the extent to which students uncritically appealed to science in the abstract as a management solution for conflicts of interest. Data analysis was largely inductive, looking for uses of scientific terminology, EBM, and appeals to “science” in the management of COI and applied theoretical analyses of scientism.

Results

The students in our study suggested that science and evidence‐based medicine, rather than ethics or professionalism, were the best tools to deal with undue influence and bias. This paper uses philosophy of science literature to critically examine these scientistic appeals to science and EBM as a means of managing the influence of pharmaceutical reps and commercial interests. We argue that a scientistic style of reasoning is reinforced through medical curricula and that students need to be made aware of the epistemological assumptions that underpin science, medicine, and EBM to address the ethical challenges associated with commercialised health care.

Conclusion

More work is needed to structure medical curricula to reflect the complexities of practice and realities of science. However, curricula change alone will not sufficiently address issues associated with commercial interests in medicine. For real change to occur, there needs to be a broader social and professional debate about the ways in which medicine and industry interact, and structural changes that restrict or mitigate commercial influences in educational, research, and policy settings.
Reducing the risk of healthcare‐associated infections through Lean Six Sigma: The case of the medicine areas at the Federico II University Hospital in Naples (Italy)
Authors: Improta Giovanni , Cesarelli Mario , Montuori Paolo , Santillo Liberatina Carmela , Triassi Maria
Published: November 2017

Rationale, aims, and objectives

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) has been recognized as an effective management tool for improving healthcare performance. Here, LSS was adopted to reduce the risk of healthcare‐associated infections (HAIs), a critical quality parameter in the healthcare sector.

Methods

Lean Six Sigma was applied to the areas of clinical medicine (including general medicine, pulmonology, oncology, nephrology, cardiology, neurology, gastroenterology, rheumatology, and diabetology), and data regarding HAIs were collected for 28,000 patients hospitalized between January 2011 and December 2016. Following the LSS define, measure, analyse, improve, and control cycle, the factors influencing the risk of HAI were identified by using typical LSS tools (statistical analyses, brainstorming sessions, and cause‐effect diagrams). Finally, corrective measures to prevent HAIs were implemented and monitored for 1 year after implementation.

Results

Lean Six Sigma proved to be a useful tool for identifying variables affecting the risk of HAIs and implementing corrective actions to improve the performance of the care process. A reduction in the number of patients colonized by sentinel bacteria was achieved after the improvement phase.

Conclusions

The implementation of an LSS approach could significantly decrease the percentage of patients with HAIs.
Identifying causal mechanisms in health care interventions using classification tree analysis
Authors: Linden Ariel , Yarnold Paul R.
Published: November 2017

Rationale, aims, and objectives

Mediation analysis identifies causal pathways by testing the relationships between the treatment, the outcome, and an intermediate variable that mediates the relationship between the treatment and outcome. This paper introduces classification tree analysis (CTA), a machine‐learning procedure, as an alternative to conventional methods for analysing mediation effects.

Method

Using data from the JOBS II study, we compare CTA to structural equation models (SEMs) by assessing their consistency in revealing mediation effects on 2 outcomes; reemployment (a binary variable) and depressive symptoms (a continuous variable). Because study participants were not randomized sequentially to both treatment and mediator, an additional model was generated including baseline covariates to strengthen the validity of some key identifying assumptions required of all mediation analyses.

Results

Using SEM, no statistically significant treatment or mediated effects were found for either outcome. In contrast, CTA found a significant treatment effect for reemployment (P = .047) and a mediated pathway for individuals in the treatment group (P = .014). No CTA model could be generated for the reemployment outcome. When covariates were added to the model, CTA found numerous interactions, while SEM found no effects.

Conclusions

CTA may uncover mediation effects where conventional approaches do not, because CTA does not require any assumptions about the distribution of variables nor of the functional form of the model, and CTA will systematically identify all statistically viable interactions. The versatility of CTA enables the investigator to explore the theorized underlying causal mechanism of an intervention in a much more comprehensive manner than conventional mediation analytic approaches.
Thickness evaluation of articulating papers and foils
Authors: Malta Barbosa João , Urtula Adolf Brian , Hirata Ronaldo , Caramês João
Published: November 2017

Articulation and occlusion test materials are tools used in daily prosthodontic and restorative procedures that aid the clinicians in the evaluation of adjacent and opposing natural and/or artificial tooth contacts. A precision micrometer (Series 293, Mitutoyo, Japan) with a resolution of 0.001 mm was used to measure the thickness of five articulating papers and six articulation foils. Four of the articulating foils tested presented thicknesses inferior or equal to 21 μm, confirming their adequacy for the evaluation of natural dentitions. Clinicians and researchers should be aware that some labeled and actual papers/foils thicknesses are not in accordance.

Clinical Significance

The thickness of articulating papers and foils reported by some manufacturers is not accurate. The information provided in this article may aid clinicians and researchers to better select the most appropriate materials for the evaluation of static and dynamic occlusion.
Glutathione reductase mediates drug resistance in glioblastoma cells by regulating redox homeostasis
Authors: Zhu Zhongling , Du Shuangshuang , Du Yibo , Ren Jing , Ying Guoguang , Yan Zhao
Published: November 2017

Glutathione (GSH) and GSH‐related enzymes constitute the most important defense system that protects cells from free radical, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy attacks. In this study, we aim to explore the potential role and regulatory mechanism of the GSH redox cycle in drug resistance in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells. We found that temozolomide (TMZ)‐resistant glioma cells displayed lower levels of endogenous reactive oxygen species and higher levels of total antioxidant capacity and GSH than sensitive cells. Moreover, the expression of glutathione reductase (GSR), the key enzyme of the GSH redox cycle, was higher in TMZ‐resistant cells than in sensitive cells. Furthermore, silencing GSR in drug‐resistant cells improved the sensitivity of cells to TMZ or cisplatin. Conversely, the over‐expression of GSR in sensitive cells resulted in resistance to chemotherapy. In addition, the GSR enzyme partially prevented the oxidative stress caused by pro‐oxidant L‐buthionine ‐sulfoximine. The modulation of redox state by GSH or L‐buthionine –sulfoximine regulated GSR‐mediated drug resistance, suggesting that the action of GSR in drug resistance is associated with the modulation of redox homeostasis. Intriguingly, a trend toward shorter progress‐free survival was observed among GBM patients with high GSR expression. These results indicated that GSR is involved in mediating drug resistance and is a potential target for improving GBM treatment.

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Comparative hindlimb myology of foot‐propelled swimming birds
Authors: Clifton Glenna T. , Carr Jennifer A. , Biewener Andrew A.
Published: November 2017

Several groups of birds have convergently evolved the ability to swim using their feet despite facing trade‐offs with walking. However, swimming relative to terrestrial performance varies across these groups. Highly specialized divers, such as loons and grebes, excel at swimming underwater but struggle to stand on land, whereas species that primarily swim on the water surface, such as Mallards, retain the ability to move terrestrially. The identification of skeletal features associated with a swimming style and conserved across independent groups suggests that the hindlimb of foot‐propelled swimming birds has adapted to suit the physical challenges of producing propulsive forces underwater. But in addition to skeletal features, how do hindlimb muscles reflect swimming ability and mode? This paper presents the first comparative myology analysis associated with foot‐based swimming. Our detailed dissections of 35 specimens representing eight species reveal trends in hindlimb muscle size and attachment location across four independent lineages of extant swimming birds. We expand upon our dissections by compiling data from historical texts and provide a key to any outdated muscle nomenclature used in these sources. Our results show that highly diving birds tuck the femur and proximal tibiotarsus next to the ribcage and under the skin covering the abdomen, streamlining the body. Several hindlimb muscles exhibit dramatic anatomical variation in diving birds, including theflexor cruris lateralis(FCL) andiliofibularis(IF), which reduce in size and shift distally along the tibiotarsus. Thefemorotibialis medius(FTM) extends along an expanded cnemial crest. The resulting increased moment arms of these muscles likely help stabilize the hip and knee while paddling. Additionally, distal ankle plantarflexors, including thegastrocnemiusand digital flexors, are exceptionally large in diving birds in order to power foot propulsion. These patterns exist within distantly related lineages of diving birds and, to a lesser extent, in surface swimmers. Together, our findings verify conserved muscular adaptations to a foot‐propelled swimming lifestyle. The association of muscle anatomy with skeletal features and biomechanical movement demands can inform functional interpretation of fossil birds and reveal selective pressures underlying avian diversification.
Decision‐making in nursing practice: An integrative literature review
Authors: Nibbelink Christine W. , Brewer Barbara B.
Published: November 2017

Aims and objectives

To identify and summarise factors and processes related to registered nurses’ patient care decision‐making in medical–surgical environments. A secondary goal of this literature review was to determine whether medical–surgical decision‐making literature included factors that appeared to be similar to concepts and factors in naturalistic decision making (NDM).

Background

Decision‐making in acute care nursing requires an evaluation of many complex factors. While decision‐making research in acute care nursing is prevalent, errors in decision‐making continue to lead to poor patient outcomes. Naturalistic decision making may provide a framework for further exploring decision‐making in acute care nursing practice. A better understanding of the literature is needed to guide future research to more effectively support acute care nurse decision‐making.

Design

PubMed and CINAHL databases were searched, and research meeting criteria was included. Data were identified from all included articles, and themes were developed based on these data.

Results

Key findings in this review include nursing experience and associated factors; organisation and unit culture influences on decision‐making; education; understanding patient status; situation awareness; and autonomy.

Conclusions

Acute care nurses employ a variety of decision‐making factors and processes and informally identify experienced nurses to be important resources for decision‐making. Incorporation of evidence into acute care nursing practice continues to be a struggle for acute care nurses. This review indicates that naturalistic decision making may be applicable to decision‐making nursing research.

Relevance to clinical practice

Experienced nurses bring a broad range of previous patient encounters to their practice influencing their intuitive, unconscious processes which facilitates decision‐making. Using naturalistic decision making as a conceptual framework to guide research may help with understanding how to better support less experienced nurses’ decision‐making for enhanced patient outcomes.
Describing the healthcare experiences and strategies of women survivors of violence
Authors: Reeves Elizabeth A. , Humphreys Janice C.
Published: November 2017

Aim and Objective

The purpose of this study was to develop knowledge on women survivors' healthcare experiences and strategies.

Background

Survivors of traumatic life events are at an increased risk for an array of negative health consequences, which can be complicated when distressing healthcare experiences act as a barrier to accessing needed care. Implications for trauma‐informed and sensitive practice are well established, but evidence to date on survivors' healthcare experiences and patient engagement is limited.

Design

This study utilized individual interviews and qualitative description methods.

Methods

Fourteen participants completed a demographic questionnaire and one semistructured interview focused on their exposure to violence, healthcare experiences and strategies for navigating health care. Thematic analysis in alignment with qualitative description methods was used to analyse interview transcripts and identify themes.

Results

Participants in this study reported a variety of traumatic life experiences, ranging from childhood sexual abuse and intimate partner violence to severe car accidents. Experiencing a multiplicity of trauma sometimes complicated participants' later healthcare experiences. Although participants described ways in which providers helped them attain positive care experiences, they also acknowledged that limitations of the healthcare system could make trauma‐informed practices difficult to implement. Participants described strategies they use to prepare for, navigate and recover after healthcare encounters including selecting providers, bringing support persons to appointments and engaging in relaxing activities after appointments.

Conclusions

Participants emphasised the importance of trusting and equitable provider–patient relationships and described several ways they prepare for, cope with and care for themselves after difficult healthcare experiences. Descriptive data on the patient engagement behaviours of survivors of violence is a unique contribution of this study to existing research.

Relevance to clinical practice

Findings from this study indicate the importance of comprehensive trauma history screening during health assessments, development of trusting and mutually respectful provider–patient relationships and provider training programmes focused on trauma‐informed care practices.
Organ donation and transplantation: Awareness and roles of healthcare professionals—A systematic literature review
Authors: Jawoniyi Oluwafunmilayo , Gormley Kevin , McGleenan Emma , Noble Helen Rose
Published: November 2017

Aims and objectives

To examine the role of healthcare professionals in the organ donation and transplantation process.

Background

Globally, there remains a perennial disequilibrium between organ donation and organ transplantation. Several factors account for this disequilibrium; however, as healthcare professionals are not only strategically positioned as the primary intermediaries between organ donors and transplant recipients, but also professionally situated as the implementers of organ donation and transplantation processes, they are often blamed for the global organ shortage.

Design

Mixed‐method systematic review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta‐Analysis Protocols 2015 checklist.

Methods

Databases were searched including CINAHL, MEDLINE, Web of Science and EMBASE using the search terms “organ donation,” “healthcare professionals,” “awareness” and “roles” to retrieve relevant publications.

Results

Thirteen publications met the inclusion criteria. The global organ shortage is neither contingent upon unavailability of suitable organs nor exclusively dependent upon healthcare professionals. Instead, the existence of disequilibrium between organ donation and transplantation is necessitated by a web of factors. These include the following: healthcare professionals’ attitudes towards, and experience of, the organ donation and transplantation process, underpinned by professional education, specialist clinical area and duration of professional practice; conflicts of interests; ethical dilemmas; altruistic values towards organ donation; and varied organ donation legislations in different legal jurisdictions.

Conclusion

This review maintains that if this web of factors is to be adequately addressed by healthcare systems in different global and legal jurisdictions, there should be sufficient organs voluntarily donated to meet all transplantation needs.

Relevance to clinical practice

There is a suggestion that healthcare professionals partly account for the global shortage in organ donation, but there is a need to examine how healthcare professionals’ roles, knowledge, awareness, skills and competencies might impact upon the organ donation and transplantation process.
A Sociology of Legal Distinctions: Introducing Contemporary Interpretations of Classic Socio‐legal Concepts
Authors: Přibáň Jiří
Published: November 2017

In this introduction to Main Currents in Contemporary Sociology of Law, I briefly comment on the current state of socio‐legal studies and sociology of law and reasons leading to this collection of essays. I subsequently focus on some general problems which constantly recur in different socio‐legal contexts, especially on the sociological critique of legal formalism and the closely related distinctions between internal and external perspectives of law and legal facts and values. Discussing these classic distinctions, I argue that they are an intrinsic part of both legal and sociological interpretations of positive law. Sociology of law, therefore, cannot resolve theoretical and methodological dilemmas associated with them, yet it can rethink and reformulate them to better understand its own position as a social science of positive law in contemporary society.
Visions of Contract
Authors: Wheeler Sally
Published: November 2017

Stewart Macaulay and Ian Macneil were the prime movers in creating a model of contractual relations that went beyond the confines of the formal legal model that defined contract enforceability. The work of both of them has been influential even though it has suffered from many misdescriptions along the way. In this article I map their respective contributions and explain the differences between their visions of contract. I then add a third dimension: the possibilities for a new vision of contract and contractual relations raised by blockchain.
Breaking Boundaries: Exploring the Process of Intersective Market Activity of Immigrant Entrepreneurship in the Context of High Economic Inequality
Authors: Griffin‐EL Eliada Wosu , Olabisi Joy
Published: November 2017

We explore immigrant entrepreneurship using structuration theory to understand how migrant‐led venture creation conducts socially‐intersective market activity in the host country of high economic inequality and social exclusion. Applying Gidden's structuration theory to immigrant entrepreneurship (1994), we unravel the co‐evolutionary process of both the entrepreneurial agent and the social structure of the host country via three phases of venture creation. We collected and examined original and longitudinal empirical data of eight South African‐based immigrant entrepreneurs using a process‐oriented theory‐building approach. Our findings unveil a process by which home and host institutions shape immigrant entrepreneurial agency to identify non‐ethnic business opportunities and to form relationships across diverse actors that counter existing norms of intergroup segregation and hostility. The process illustrates how an immigrant's social orientation to his/her host country's structure changes over time, and symbiotically, how the immigrant entrepreneur's actions – which break socially constructed boundaries – also change the social structure.
Glucose and lipid metabolism disorders in the chickens with dexamethasone‐induced oxidative stress
Authors: Lv Z.‐P. , Peng Y.‐Z. , Zhang B.‐B. , Fan H. , Liu D. , Guo Y.‐M.
Published: November 2017

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of long‐term treatment with dexamethasone (DEX) on the antioxidation and nutrition metabolism in broiler chickens. Broilers were placed on a high‐nutrient diet for 41 days, and half were given orally DEX‐supplemented water at 20 mg/L every other day from 19 to 41 days of age. DEX treatment downregulated superoxide dismutase activity as well as the mRNA expression of CuZn‐superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase with a decrease in GSH/GSSG ratio and an increase in malondialdehyde level in the liver of broilers. DEX treatment aggravated oxidative damage in the liver and, therefore, increased the sensitivity of broilers to ascites syndrome with higher mortality and reduced growth performance. Serum metabolomics analysis showed that DEX treatment significantly increased the levels of glucose, intermediates in protein metabolism (valine, proline, serine, threonine and urea) and lipid metabolism‐related products (palmitic acid, stearic acid and cholesterol) while decreasing the levels of β‐hydroxy butyric acid, succinic acid and malic acid, demonstrating that DEX treatment inhibited the Krebs cycle and the oxidation of fatty acids, and promoted the de novo synthesis of fatty acids as well as protein decomposition in the liver of broilers. Additionally, detection of metabolism‐related enzymes revealed that DEX treatment inhibited glycolysis and promoted glycogen decomposition. In summary, DEX treatment resulted in oxidative stress and glucose and lipid metabolism disorders in the broilers.
How useful is abdominal ultrasonography in dogs with diarrhoea?
Authors: Mapletoft E. K. , Allenspach K. , Lamb C. R.
Published: November 2017

Objective

To assess the utility of abdominal ultrasonography in the diagnostic work‐up of dogs with diarrhoea.

Methods

Retrospective cross‐sectional study based on a referral population of dogs with diarrhoea. Associations between the clinical signs, use of abdominal ultrasonography, results of abdominal ultrasonography and subsequent work‐up were examined. The utility of abdominal ultrasonography was scored as high, moderate, none or counterproductive based on review of medical records.

Results

Medical records of 269 dogs were reviewed, of which 149 (55%) had abdominal ultrasonography. The most frequent result was no ultrasonographic abnormalities affecting the intestine in 65 (44%) dogs. Ultrasonography results were associated with subsequent work‐up as follows: (1) no detected abnormalities and dietary trial; (2) focal thickening of the intestinal wall, loss of intestinal wall layers or enlarged abdominal lymph nodes and ultrasound‐guided fine‐needle aspirates; (3) diffuse thickening of the intestinal wall or hyperechoic striations in the small intestinal mucosa and endoscopy; and (4) small intestinal foreign body and coeliotomy. Abdominal ultrasonography was considered to be diagnostic without further testing in only four (3%) dogs: two had a portosystemic shunt identified ultrasonographically, one had a linear foreign body and one had a perforated pyloric ulcer. Abdominal ultrasonography had moderate utility in 56 (38%) dogs and no utility in 79 (53%) dogs. Abdominal ultrasonography was considered counterproductive in 10 (7%) dogs because results were either falsely negative or falsely positive.

Clinical Significance

These results should prompt clinicians to reconsider routine use of abdominal ultrasonography in dogs with diarrhoea.
Work stressors, depressive symptoms and sleep quality among US Navy members: a parallel process latent growth modelling approach across deployment
Authors: Bravo Adrian J. , Kelley Michelle L. , Swinkels Cindy M. , Ulmer Christi S.
Published: November 2017

The present study examined whether work stressors contribute to sleep problems and depressive symptoms over the course of deployment (i.e. pre‐deployment, post‐deployment and 6‐month reintegration) among US Navy members. Specifically, we examined whether depressive symptoms or sleep quality mediate the relationships between work stressors and these outcomes. Participants were 101 US Navy members who experienced an 8‐month deployment after Operational Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom. Using piecewise latent growth models, we found that increased work stressors were linked to increased depressive symptoms and decreased sleep quality across all three deployment stages. Further, increases in work stressors from pre‐ to post‐deployment contributed to poorer sleep quality post‐deployment via increasing depressive symptoms. Moreover, sleep quality mediated the association between increases in work stressors and increases in depressive symptoms from pre‐ to post‐deployment. These effects were maintained from post‐deployment through the 6‐month reintegration. Although preliminary, our results suggest that changes in work stressors may have small, but significant implications for both depressive symptoms and quality of sleep over time, and a bi‐directional relationship persists between sleep quality and depression across deployment. Strategies that target both stress and sleep could address both precipitating and perpetuating factors that affect sleep and depressive symptoms.