bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Patients With Short Bowel on Narcotics During 2 Randomized Trials Have Abdominal Complaints Independent of Teduglutide
Authors: Fujioka Ken , Jeejeebhoy Khursheed , Pape Ulrich‐Frank , Li Benjamin , Youssef Nader N. , Schneider Stéphane M.
Published: August 2016

Background: Narcotic agents are frequently administered to manage increased intestinal motility in patients with short bowel syndrome, but long‐term use is associated with gastrointestinal (GI) complaints. This analysis evaluated the incidence of narcotic use and abdominal adverse events among patients with short bowel syndrome receiving teduglutide. Materials and Methods: Pooled data from patients who received ≥1 dose of teduglutide 0.05 mg/kg/d (n = 77) or placebo (n = 59) in either of 2 randomized, double‐blind, phase III studies were analyzed. Results: Of 136 patients, 52 (38%) received narcotics. GI adverse events occurred more often among patients who received narcotics than among those who did not (abdominal pain, 51% vs 21%; nausea, 42% vs 11%; abdominal distension, 17% vs 8%; vomiting, 19% vs 6%). Logistic regression analysis indicated that the probability of GI adverse events was significantly increased in patients with narcotic use (P = .0009). In contrast, teduglutide treatment, as well as the interaction between teduglutide and narcotic use, did not affect the probability of GI adverse events. Conclusions: These results suggest that patients with short bowel syndrome receiving narcotics have chronic GI complaints independent of teduglutide treatment. Data included in this analysis were derived from ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00081458 and NCT00798967 (EudraCT 2004‐000438‐35 and 2008‐006193‐15).
Translating Science
Authors: Krieger Janice L. , Gallois Cindy
Published: August 2016

The articles in this special issue highlight the ways in which science communication, and in particular translational communication, implicates the nuances of language. This issue is the report of the Task Force on STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) language set up by the International Association of Language and Social Psychology. The articles raise issues about the multiple stakeholders in science and their characteristic language and concepts, in contexts as diverse as health, energy production, forensic science, and science education. They point to the consequences of getting communication wrong, and to the important role of linguistics and language and social psychology in understanding this process. The articles point to a research agenda for language and social psychology researchers in this increasingly important and salient area, as we address major problems in society through the sciences.
Aging and the Haptic Perception of Material Properties
Authors: Norman J. Farley , Adkins Olivia C. , Hoyng Stevie C. , Dowell Catherine J. , Pedersen Lauren E. , Gilliam Ashley N.
Published: August 2016

The ability of 26 younger (mean age was 22.5 years) and older adults (mean age was 72.6 years) to haptically perceive material properties was evaluated. The participants manually explored (for 5 seconds) 42 surfaces twice and placed each of these 84 experimental stimuli into one of seven categories: paper, plastic, metal, wood, stone, fabric, and fur/leather. In general, the participants were best able to identify fur/leather and wood materials; in contrast, recognition performance was worst for stone and paper. Despite similar overall patterns of performance for younger and older participants, the younger adults’ recognition accuracies were 26.5% higher. The participants’ tactile acuities (assessed by tactile grating orientation discrimination) affected their ability to identify surface material. In particular, the Pearson r correlation coefficient relating the participants’ grating orientation thresholds and their material identification performance was −0.8: The higher the participants’ thresholds, the lower the material recognition ability. While older adults are able to effectively perceive the solid shape of environmental objects using the sense of touch, their ability to perceive surface materials is significantly compromised.
Skills for Healthy Adult Relationships at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County: Program Development and Preliminary Data
Authors: Khalifian Chandra E. , Murphy Christopher M. , Barry Robin A. , Herman Bruce
Published: August 2016

The present study examines the development and preliminary pilot findings of Skills for Healthy Adult Relationships at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (SHARe@UMBC)—an intimate partner violence prevention program for college students. SHARe@UMBC is based on an integrative cognitive-behavioral model of communication and emotion regulation in close interpersonal relationships. There were four aims of the present study: first, to describe program development; second, to examine program acceptability and participant satisfaction; third, to examine the extent to which participants acquired relationship skills and their level of confidence in using those skills; and fourth, to examine perpetration and victimization of physical, sexual, and psychological aggression. These aims utilized data collected before program initiation, immediately after program completion, and at a follow-up 9 to 15 months after program completion. Findings from two pilot groups (15 students in total; eight women and seven men) indicated high ratings of program acceptability and satisfaction, reductions in negative communication, improvements in confidence using conflict management strategies with romantic partners and peers, and confidence initiating new romantic relationships. In addition, large effect sizes were observed for confidence providing emotional support to a romantic partner and self-disclosure with peers. Participants reported no incidents of physical, sexual, or psychological aggression perpetration or victimization at follow-up. Pilot implementation and initial uncontrolled results are encouraging and provide support for initiating a more extensive controlled investigation of program efficacy.
R&D investment in new technology-based firms
Authors: Lynskey Michael J.
Published: August 2016

This article examines how two core factors – strategic and entrepreneurial dynamics – influence research and development (R&D) investment in new technology-based firms (NTBFs) using data from a questionnaire survey conducted in Japan. Among the strategic dynamics, it is found that joint R&D projects with universities have a positive, complementary effect on R&D investment. Moreover, among the entrepreneurial dynamics, a chief executive officer’s higher education and prior industry experience in an R&D role (the latter implying at least a tertiary-level education in order to have acquired such experience) are positively related to R&D investment. These results indicate that the impact of universities on R&D expenditure in NTBFs occurs in strategic and entrepreneurial dynamics, and is expressed both directly and indirectly, with consequent implications for R&D capability and innovation.
Realizing the latent potential in the part-time student workforce
Authors: Evans Carl , Richardson Mark
Published: August 2016

The purpose of this article is to challenge employers to make the best use of the latent potential of their part-time student workforce and to retain this talent postgraduation. The authors report research which shows that increasing numbers of university students are working part-time alongside their degree studies, while at the same time businesses are becoming more explicit about their requirements for graduate entrants, specifying a range of traits, behaviours and soft skills. The authors argue that this developing scenario affords an opportunity for university students working part-time to develop skills and business-related knowledge that are desirable to their respective employers in the longer term. However, the desire to nurture and retain those individuals on graduation appears to be lacking. This article concludes by challenging both employers and students to embrace a longer term perspective for their mutual benefit.
Educating the science–business professional
Authors: Retra Kim , Hoorn Peter van , Gogh Marcel van , Maas Joep , Rozendal Inge , Dekker Jan , Esch lwan de , Bossink Bart , Sijde Peter van der
Published: August 2016

This article is concerned with the emergence of the science–business (SB) profession and the role of the SB professional (SBP) in both academia and business. Transferring science to markets can take a variety of routes depending on the stage of development and the people and skill sets involved. An SBP may co-develop opportunities for exploitation as part of a team in a university or in the business world in a spin-off or a mature company. In both settings, the SBP connects with scientists and co-develops knowledge or technology into an exploitable commodity. The need for this type of professional was the starting point for a new curriculum: a 3-year bachelor’s programme in science, business and innovation that integrates fundamental sciences (physics, chemistry, mathematics), life and health sciences, energy and sustainability sciences, business/social sciences, innovation and entrepreneurship. The authors provide the context and rationale for the development of the programme and discuss how it meets its objective to address a critical skills need in both academic and business sectors.
Large Capacity of Conscious Access for Incidental Memories in Natural Scenes
Authors: Kaunitz Lisandro N. , Rowe Elise G. , Tsuchiya Naotsugu
Published: August 2016

When searching a crowd, people can detect a target face only by direct fixation and attention. Once the target is found, it is consciously experienced and remembered, but what is the perceptual fate of the fixated nontarget faces? Whereas introspection suggests that one may remember nontargets, previous studies have proposed that almost no memory should be retained. Using a gaze-contingent paradigm, we asked subjects to visually search for a target face within a crowded natural scene and then tested their memory for nontarget faces, as well as their confidence in those memories. Subjects remembered up to seven fixated, nontarget faces with more than 70% accuracy. Memory accuracy was correlated with trial-by-trial confidence ratings, which implies that the memory was consciously maintained and accessed. When the search scene was inverted, no more than three nontarget faces were remembered. These findings imply that incidental memory for faces, such as those recalled by eyewitnesses, is more reliable than is usually assumed.
The ‘Little Ice Age’ in the Himalaya: A review of glacier advance driven by Northern Hemisphere temperature change
Authors: Rowan Ann V
Published: August 2016

Northern Hemisphere cooling between 1400 and 1900 in the Common Era (CE) resulted in the expansion of glaciers during a period known as the ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA). Early investigation of recent advances of Himalayan glaciers assumed that these events were synchronous with LIA advances identified in Europe, based on the appearance and position of moraines and without numerical age control. However, applications of Quaternary dating techniques such as terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide dating have allowed researchers to determine numerical ages for these young moraines and clarify when glacial maxima occurred. This paper reviews geochronological evidence for the last advance of glaciers in the Himalaya. The 66 ages younger than 2000 years (0–2000 CE) calculated from 138 samples collected from glacial landforms demonstrate that peak moraine building occurred between 1300 and 1600 CE, slightly earlier than the coldest period of Northern Hemisphere air temperatures. The timing of LIA advances varied spatially, likely influenced by variations in topography and meteorology across and along the mountain range. Palaeoclimate proxies indicate cooling air temperatures from 1300 CE leading to a southward shift in the Asian monsoon, increased Westerly winter precipitation and generally wetter conditions across the range around 1400 and 1800 CE. The last advance of glaciers in the Himalaya during a period of variable climate resulted from cold Northern Hemisphere air temperatures and was sustained by increased snowfall as atmospheric circulation reorganised in response to cooling during the LIA.
A new parsimonious model for ordinal longitudinal data with application to subjective evaluations of a gastrointestinal disease
Authors: Ursino Moreno , Gasparini Mauro
Published: August 2016

In this paper, a new discrete statistical model for ordered categorical data is proposed via fixed-point discretization of a beta latent variable. The resulting discretized beta distribution has a highly flexible shape and it can be either over-dispersed or under-dispersed with respect to the binomial distribution. It has only two parameters, which may therefore parsimoniously depend on covariates and on random effects, providing new tools for the analysis of structured, clustered or longitudinal ordinal data. Practical examples and advices are given and an application of the new model to subjective evaluations of a gastrointestinal disease is shown.
Reducing the width of confidence intervals for the difference between two population means by inverting adaptive tests
Authors: O’Gorman Thomas W
Published: August 2016

In the last decade, it has been shown that an adaptive testing method could be used, along with the Robbins–Monro search procedure, to obtain confidence intervals that are often narrower than traditional confidence intervals. However, these confidence interval limits require a great deal of computation and some familiarity with stochastic search methods. We propose a method for estimating the limits of confidence intervals that uses only a few tests of significance. We compare these limits to those obtained by a lengthy Robbins–Monro stochastic search and find that the proposed method is nearly as accurate as the Robbins–Monro search. Adaptive confidence intervals that are produced by the proposed method are often narrower than traditional confidence intervals when the distributions are long-tailed, skewed, or bimodal. Moreover, the proposed method of estimating confidence interval limits is easy to understand, because it is based solely on the p-values from a few tests of significance.
A More Complete Picture of Personality
Authors: Borkenau Peter , Leising Daniel
Published: August 2016

Personality profiles describe individual persons’ locations on multiple trait dimensions and enable calculation of profile similarity indices for individual persons and dyads. They are easily misinterpreted, however, unless two components are distinguished: a normative component comprising the sample means of the variables and a distinctive component reflecting the given individual’s deviations from those means. These two profile components provide different kinds of information. Focusing on person-perception research, we review predictors of the similarity of individual profiles to the normative profile (i.e., profile normativeness) and of the agreement between distinctive profiles. We also provide some suggestions for future research.
Motivated Rejection of Science
Authors: Lewandowsky Stephan , Oberauer Klaus
Published: August 2016

Some scientifically well-established results—such as the fact that emission of greenhouse gases produces global warming—are rejected by sizable proportions of the population in the United States and other countries. Rejection of scientific findings is mostly driven by motivated cognition: People tend to reject findings that threaten their core beliefs or worldview. At present, rejection of scientific findings by the U.S. public is more prevalent on the political right than the left. Yet the cognitive mechanisms driving rejection of science, such as the superficial processing of evidence toward the desired interpretation, are found regardless of political orientation. General education and scientific literacy do not mitigate rejection of science but, rather, increase the polarization of opinions along partisan lines. In contrast, specific knowledge about the mechanisms underlying a scientific result—such as human-made climate change—can increase the acceptance of that result.
The Developmental Origins of the Consonant Bias in Lexical Processing
Authors: Nazzi Thierry , Poltrock Silvana , Von Holzen Katie
Published: August 2016

Consonants have been proposed to carry more of the weight of lexical processing than vowels. This consonant bias has consistently been found in adults and has been proposed to facilitate early language acquisition. We explore the origins of this bias over the course of development and in infants learning different languages. Although the consonant bias was originally thought to be present at birth, evidence suggests that it arises from the early stages of phonological and (pre-)lexical acquisition. We discuss two theories that account for the acquisition of the consonant bias: the lexical and acoustic-phonetic hypotheses.
The reactions of neighbourhoods to the eviction of squatters in Rome: An account of the making of precarious investor subjects
Authors: Feliciantonio Cesare Di
Published: August 2016

The article compares the reactions to the eviction of squatters in two very different neighbourhoods of Rome: the centrally located, former working-class and traditionally leftist San Lorenzo; and the peripheral, recently built, speculation and mortgage-driven Nuova Ponte di Nona. While the reaction of the San Lorenzo neighbourhood to the eviction of Communia (August 2013) was highly supportive of the squatters, the residents’ committee in Nuova Ponte di Nona promoted a strong public campaign for the eviction of squatters in a building in Cerruti Street (December 2013). This raised the question of how such different responses, taking place within the same metropolitan area in the same year, can be framed. Based on interviews and the collection of secondary data, the paper addresses this question by showing how the residents of these two neighbourhoods embody the two poles of the process of subjectification created by the singular asset-based Italian welfare regime, the ‘financialization of home’ and the increasingly precarious nature of living conditions. However, a dualistic and rigid account of the neighbourhood reactions is avoided by considering the ‘commoning’ dimension as central to the actions and campaigns of both. Indeed, it shows how the residents’ committees in both cases were engaged in (re)creating new urban commons challenging the increasing privatization and individualization of everyday life prompted by neoliberal/austerity-based urbanism. The case of Nuova Ponte di Nona, however, shows that urban commons are not intrinsically emancipatory, and that the material conditions shaping the community life can lead to viewing the ‘other’ (i.e. the squatters) as a threat to their lifestyle aspirations.
Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in India: Exploring Linkages with Firm Performance
Authors: Nag Tirthankar , Bhattacharyya Asish K.
Published: August 2016

The study examines the corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies and activities of firms as disclosed in annual reports, and explores its linkages to accounting and market performance of firms. The study examines the annual reports of a sample of 30 firms (out of 50) belonging to the benchmark index of the National Stock Exchange of India and tracks these reports for evidence of CSR activities over a 5-year period from 2007 to 2011. The study employs content analysis to study CSR disclosure and classifies and rates these activities using items from an established scale followed by construction of category-wise CSR indexes. The association of these indexes with firm performance is explored through a pooled regression model after provisioning for control variables and lag effects. The study finds that CSR reporting may not have any significant impact on accounting and market performance of the firm in the short term but environment-oriented CSR disclosure may be negatively related to the market performance of the firm. The study also finds that firms focus heavily on employee- and customer-oriented CSR and the modes of CSR investments are more contributory rather than participative in nature.
The Passive-Aggressive Voter
Authors: Moral Mert
Published: August 2016

Invalid votes are often considered as simple failure to cast a valid vote. In fact, they might be a rational expression of discontent with party policy offerings. By employing individual and party system-level data on eighteen European party systems, this article focuses on voter discontent and voter apathy as two major determinants of casting an invalid vote and seeks to answer why some voters intentionally waste their votes despite paying the costs of voting. I find that higher distinct policy offerings decrease the probability of casting an invalid vote. However, voting behaviors of politically sophisticated and unsophisticated voters vary conditionally on the diversity of policy offerings and the cost of information. On one hand, when a party system offers a larger set of policy offerings, politically sophisticated voters become less likely to cast an invalid vote and more likely to support niche parties. On the other hand, sophisticated voters cannot deal with increasing cost of information, and are more likely to cast an invalid vote, especially in party systems with compulsory voting where the cost of nonvoting is higher.
Internet Infidelity 10 Years On
Authors: Vossler Andreas
Published: August 2016

The rapid development of Internet and social networking services in the last decade have augmented the possibilities to engage in activities online that can be classified as infidelity and introduced new challenges into the practice of couple and sex therapists. Building on Hertlein and Piercy’s literature review, this article provides a critical review of the literature on Internet infidelity published in the last 10 years. The aim with the review is to present the current state of knowledge in this field compared to the situation in 2006. The review includes research articles and theoretical papers on the definition of Internet infidelity, factors contributing to it, the impact of online infidelity on couples and families, and treatment models and issues. A discussion of implications for both future research and therapeutic practice is presented at the end of the article.
A Xhosa language translation of the CORE-OM using South African university student samples
Authors: Campbell Megan M. , Young Charles
Published: August 2016

The translation of well established psychometric tools from English into Xhosa may assist in improving access to psychological services for Xhosa speakers. The aim of this study was to translate the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure (CORE-OM), a measure of general distress and dysfunction developed in the UK, into Xhosa for use at South African university student counselling centres. The CORE-OM and embedded CORE-10 were translated into Xhosa using a five-stage translation design. This design included (a) forward-translation, (b) back-translation, (c) committee approach, (d) qualitative piloting, and (e) quantitative piloting on South African university students. Clinical and general samples were drawn from English-medium South African universities. Clinical samples were generated from university student counselling centres. General student samples were generated through random stratified cluster sampling of full-time university students. Qualitative feedback from the translation process and results from quantitative piloting of the 34-item CORE-OM English and Xhosa versions supported the reduction of the scale to 10 items. This reduced scale is referred to as the South African CORE-10 (SA CORE-10). A measurement and structural model of the SA CORE-10 English version was developed and cross-validated using an English-speaking university student sample. Equivalence of this model with the SA CORE-10 Xhosa version was investigated using a first-language Xhosa-speaking university sample. Partial measurement equivalence was achieved at the metric level. The resultant SA CORE-10 Xhosa and English versions provide core measures of distress and dysfunction. Additional, culture- and language-specific domains could be added to increase sensitivity and specificity.
‘Checking’ and googling: Stages of news consumption among young adults
Authors: Antunovic Dunja , Parsons Patrick , Cooke Tanner R
Published: August 2016

In the changing news environment, young adult audiences, often dubbed ‘the Internet generation’, have increasingly gravitated toward online sources of news and information, raising questions about the nature and amount of news consumed. This study joins many others in looking at the emerging processes of news consumption among, in this case, college students, using focus group interviews to further examine how they go about obtaining news. Drawing upon literature in the areas of news consumption, media habits, generational change and news repertoire, this study identifies an emerging three-stage process of consumption that includes the following: routine surveillance, incidental consumption, and directed consumption, each conditioned by various forms of new media use. It suggests continued research in the interaction of a changing media ecology with generational adoption of news habits and the implications of this interaction for news and news engagement.
In the public interest? Planning in the Peak District National Park
Authors: Maidment Christopher
Published: August 2016

The recent history of the public interest is one of misappropriation. Practitioners have been found to value the concept but have struggled to articulate how it guides day-to-day planning practice. It has been used to portray a homogeneous public, furthering the interests of the powerful at the expense of recognising social diversity, and leading to calls for the concept’s abandonment. Yet this article starts from the argument that the public interest remains the justification that fundamentally underpins planning activities, in light of a continuing need to address collective concerns. To this end, the article adopts the typology put forward by Campbell and Marshall, outlining different ways in which the public interest may practically be addressed. Alongside this, Dewey’s work is used to understand how the extent of the public may vary, leading to the use of scale as a way of recognising when different conceptualisations of the public interest might be practically drawn upon. Following this approach, the typology is brought together with scale, as a lens for understanding the extent of a public with a common interest, to form a framework for analysing practice. This framework is used to analyse how the interests of different publics are addressed in a case study of the Peak District, a national park in England. From the case, conclusions are drawn around the need to pay greater attention to the extent of different publics with a common interest and, in turn, how the interests of different publics can be reconciled.
Antibiotic therapy for stable non-CF bronchiectasis in adults – A systematic review
Authors: Fjaellegaard Katrine , Sin Melda Dönmez , Browatzki Andrea , Ulrik Charlotte Suppli
Published: August 2016

To provide an update on efficacy and safety of antibiotic treatments for stable non-cystic fibrosis (CF) bronchiectasis (BE). Systematic review based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines was done. Twenty-six studies (1.898 patients) fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Studies of inhaled tobramycin have revealed conflicting results regarding quality of life (QoL), exacerbations and admissions, but may result in sputum cultures negative for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, whereas studies investigating the effect of inhaled gentamycin have shown positive effects on sputum bacterial density, decrease in sputum cultures positive for P. aeruginosa, QoL and exacerbation rate, but no improvement in forced expiratory volume in first second (FEV1). Oral azithromycin can reduce exacerbations, together with minor improvements in QoL and FEV1. Furthermore, oral erythromycin reduces exacerbations, but has no effect on lung function, symptoms or QoL. Inhaled ciprofloxacin may reduce P. aeruginosa in sputum cultures, but without changes in lung function, exacerbations or QoL. Although with limited evidence, inhaled colistin may have effects on P. aeruginosa density, exacerbations and QoL, whereas studies on aztreonam revealed no significant clinical improvements in the outcomes of interest, including exacerbation rate. Adverse events, including bronchospasm, have been reported in association with tobramycin and aztreonam. Several antibiotic treatment regimens have been shown to improve QoL and exacerbation rate, whereas findings regarding sputum production, lung function and admissions have been conflicting. Evidence-based treatment algorithms for antibiotic treatment of stable non-CF BE will have to await large-scale, long-term controlled studies.
Predicting Recidivism Among Released Juvenile Offenders in Florida
Authors: Hay Carter , Widdowson Alex O. , Bates Meg , Baglivio Michael T. , Jackowski Katherine , Greenwald Mark A.
Published: August 2016

Each year in the United States, as many as 100,000 juvenile offenders are released after completing a residential placement. A significant task for researchers is to identify the factors that explain variations in recidivism. This study considers this by evaluating the predictive validity of the Residential Positive Achievement Change Tool (R-PACT), a fourth-generation risk assessment instrument adopted by Florida for use in all of its juvenile residential facilities. The R-PACT includes a wide variety of static and dynamic risk and needs scales that are used here to predict reoffending among 4,700 released juvenile offenders in Florida. We devote special attention to (1) whether R-PACT scales typically predict reoffending and (2) whether the R-PACT’s predictive validity varies across different subgroups of offenders. In considering these questions, we also consider whether the predictive risk and protective factors in prior research are predictive in the R-PACT as well. The analysis revealed relatively strong support for the R-PACT, but there were nuanced exceptions to that pattern. We discuss the implications these findings have for assessing risk, monitoring progress among residential youth, and predicting reoffending.
Iodine 125 Seed for Localization in Primary Hyperparathyroidism
Authors: de Danschutter Sophie J. R. , Schreinemakers Jennifer M. J. , Kint Peter A. M. , Gobardhan Paul D. , Adriaensen Theo , van der Laan Lijckle , Nuytinck Hans K. S.
Published: August 2016

Background. Preoperative localization of the parathyroid gland prior to a minimally invasive parathyroidectomy (MIP) is important because of varying locations of the parathyroid gland. Several methods have been described to localize the affected gland. One novel technique is the use of an iodine 125 (I-125) seed as a marker. The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of using an I-125 seed in localizing the diseased parathyroid gland prior to MIP. Materials and methods. This is a pilot study of 10 patients performed in the Amphia Hospital, the Netherlands. Patients in whom primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) was diagnosed in combination with 1 enlarged parathyroid gland on ultrasound (US) and scintigraphy and who were eligible for MIP were included in this study. These patients underwent a preoperative US-guided I-125 seed placement in the affected parathyroid gland. The main study parameters were the feasibility of the placement, intraoperative localization of the diseased gland and complications. Results. A total of 10 patients were included. The US-guided I-125 placement in the affected parathyroid gland was technically feasible in the majority of cases. Because of the anatomical location of the gland, the placement was difficult in 2 patients, resulting in suboptimal position and possible misplacement of the marker. MIP was uncomplicated in most cases. Complications during surgery were mainly intraoperative bleeding. Conclusions. The use of an I-125 seed for preoperative localization in PHPT is a relatively safe technique in parathyroid surgery. More research is needed to compare this technique with other preoperative localization techniques.
Influence of structural flexibility on the nonlinear stiffness of hydraulic system
Authors: Jiang Wei , Luo Xin , Chen Xuedong
Published: August 2016

Hydraulic system has been widely used in many mechatronic systems. Accurate identification of the hydraulic stiffness is critical to the design and control of such kind of system. It is widely recognized that the nonlinear hydraulic stiffness is influenced by many factors such as the compressibility of the fluid, the flexibility of the fluid supply circular tube, and the working status of the system. It is very difficult to accurately formulate the hydraulic stiffness due to the complex coupling effects. In this article, the concept of the volume modulus is first introduced to characterize the flexibility of the structure as a container. A hydraulic cylinder consisting of flexible circular tubes is used as an example to illustrate the relationship between the volume modulus and Young’s modulus of the circular tube. A novel formulation of the hydraulic stiffness is then proposed by taking into account the structural flexibility via the volume modulus of the circular tube. Finally, the influences of the circular tube parameters on the hydraulic stiffness are analyzed. Experiments are also carried out to verify the presented formulation. The proposed method can be used to design hydraulic system for achieving desired static and dynamic performances.
Uptake of the MedsCheck annual medication review service in Ontario community pharmacies between 2007 and 2013
Authors: Dolovich Lisa , Consiglio Giulia , MacKeigan Linda , Abrahamyan Lusine , Pechlivanoglou Petros , Rac Valeria E. , Pojskic Nedzad , Bojarski Elizabeth A. , Su Jiandong , Krahn Murray , Cadarette Suzanne M.
Published: August 2016

Background:

MedsCheck Annual (MCA) is an Ontario government-funded medication review service for individuals taking 3 or more prescription medications for chronic conditions.

Methods:

This cohort study analyzed linked administrative claims data from April 1, 2007, to March 31, 2013. Trends in MCA claims and recipient characteristics were examined.

Results:

A total of 1,498,440 Ontarians (55% seniors, 55% female) received an MCA. One-third (36%) had 2 or more MCAs within 6 years. Service provision increased over time, with a sharper increase from 2010 onward. Almost half of Ontario pharmacies made at least 1 MCA claim in the first month of the program. Hypertension, respiratory disease, diabetes, psychiatric conditions and arthritis were common comorbidities. Recipients older than 65 years were most commonly dispensed an antihypertensive and/or antihyperlipidemic drug in the prior year and received an average of 11 unique prescription medications. Thirty-eight percent of recipients visited an emergency department or were hospitalized in the year prior to their first MCA.

Discussion:

Over the first 6 years of the program, approximately 1 in 9 Ontarians received an MCA. There was rapid and widespread uptake of the service. Common chronic conditions were well represented among MCA recipients. Older MCA recipients had less emergency department use compared with population-based estimates.

Conclusions:

Medication reviews increased over time; however, the number of persons receiving the service more than once was low. Service delivery was generally consistent with program eligibility; however, there are some findings possibly consistent with delivery to less complex patients.
Transformalists and transactionists: Towards a more comprehensive understanding of academics’ engagement with ‘internationalisation of the curriculum’
Authors: Green Wendy , Mertova Patricie
Published: August 2016

This paper explores the gap between the rhetoric of institutional policies on internationalisation and how academics understand and translate these policies into in their daily practices. It is based on a study conducted in one large, research-intensive university in Australia. Recent studies investigating this gap from the perspective of academics have tended to do so using an individual/psychological or structural lens. This study applies both lenses to investigate academics’ perceptions and practices of internationalisation of the curriculum (IoC). Academics from a range of disciplines were invited to discuss their understandings of internationalisation and its impact on their curriculum and teaching. ‘Re-storying’ the interview data revealed a range of responses: from ‘transformalists’ who articulated strong, positive personal views and understandings of the concept, to ‘transactionists’ who had little understanding or interest in the concept. It was found that individuals’ understandings and practices of IoC were shaped by what they understood to be the purpose of a tertiary education and their sense of students as future graduates; their approach to teaching; their understanding of their discipline’s orientation to the global context; their own identities as teachers/researchers and citizens; and their capacity or agency to develop these understandings into an authentic teaching practice. Four interrelated threads were common to all transformalists’ narratives – the impact of international experience; an understanding of active, student-centred pedagogy; a sense of belonging in a like-minded (disciplinary) community; and a reflective awareness of the self and others – have implications for the professional development of academics, and for further research.
Changing capabilities, uncertainty, and the risk of war in crisis bargaining
Authors: Benson Brett V. , Meirowitz Adam , Ramsay Kristopher W.
Published: August 2016

Understanding how changes to war-fighting technology influence the probability of war is central to security studies. Yet the effects of changes in the distribution of power are not obvious. All else equal, increasing a country’s power makes it more aggressive when making demands or more resistant to accepting offers, but all else is not equal. Changes in power influence the behavior of both countries and can generate countervailing incentives. In this note we characterize the conditions relating changes in war payoffs to changes in the probability of bargaining failure and war. For a variety of cases the strategic effects can be entirely offsetting and no change in the probability of war results from changes in the balance of power, a result sometimes called neutrality. When this neutralization does not occur, interesting and sometimes surprising effects can persist. For example, if countries are risk averse and neutrality fails, then supporting the weaker country can reduce the probability of war rather than make war more likely, even though the weaker side will now make higher demands and reject more proposals in favor of war.
A place for Big Data: Close and distant readings of accessions data from the Arnold Arboretum
Authors: Loukissas Yanni Alexander
Published: August 2016

Place is a key concept in environmental studies and criticism. However, it is often overlooked as a dimension of situatedness in social studies of information. Rather, situatedness has been defined primarily as embodiment or social context. This paper explores place attachments in Big Data by adapting close and distant approaches for reading texts to examine the accessions data of the Arnold Arboretum, a living collection of trees, vines and shrubs established by Harvard University in 1872 (The original interactive data visualizations can be found online: http://www.lifeanddeathofdata.org ). Although it is an early and unconventional example of the phenomenon, there are several reasons that the Arboretum is a useful site for investigating the relationship between Big Data and place. First, the category of place is embedded in a range of data fields used in the Arboretum’s records. Second, the Arboretum has long sought to be a place in which scientists and citizens alike can encounter large collections of data firsthand. Third, the place has shaped fluctuations in the daily production of data over the course of the Arboretum’s 144 year history. Furthermore, Arboretum data can help us see place in ways not necessarily tied to geolocation. Each of these place attachments suggests a different way in which data can be environmental: by being about, in, from, or generative of place. Taken together, these attachments offer a model for examining other data in relation to their environments. Moreover, the paper contends that rather than being detached from place, as prevailing discourses suggest, Big Data bring together more and further reaching place attachments than data sets of smaller sizes.
Reaching Urban Poor Hypertensive Patients
Authors: Sanders Jim , Guse Clare E.
Published: August 2016

Background: There is a significant disparity in hypertensive treatment rates between those with and without health insurance. If left untreated, hypertension leads to significant morbidity and mortality. The uninsured face numerous barriers to access chronic disease care. We developed the Community-based Chronic Disease Management (CCDM) clinics specifically for the uninsured with hypertension utilizing nurse-led teams, community-based locations, and evidence-based clinical protocols. All services, including laboratory and medications, are provided on-site and free of charge. Methods: In order to ascertain if the CCDM model of care was as effective as traditional models of care in achieving blood pressure goals, we compared CCDM clinics’ hypertensive care outcomes with 2 traditional fee-for-service physician-led clinics. All the clinics are located near one another in poor urban neighborhoods of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Results: Patients seen at the CCDM clinics and at 1 of the 2 traditional clinics showed a statistically significant improvement in reaching blood pressure goal at 6 months ( P < .001 and P < .05, respectively). Logistic regression analysis found no difference in attaining blood pressure goal at 6 months for either of the 2 fee-for-service clinics when compared with the CCDM clinics. Conclusion: The CCDM model of care is at least as effective in controlling hypertension as more traditional fee-for-service models caring for the same population. The CCDM model of care to treat hypertension may offer another approach for engaging the urban poor in chronic disease care.
The Association Between the Mediterranean Lifestyle and Depression
Authors: Sánchez-Villegas Almudena , Ruíz-Canela Miguel , Gea Alfredo , Lahortiga Francisca , Martínez-González Miguel A.
Published: August 2016

This research assessed the association between the adherence to a Mediterranean lifestyle beyond the Mediterranean diet and the risk of depression in a prospective cohort of Spanish university graduates. Through a dynamic cohort study method, diet was assessed with a validated semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire. The baseline assessment included a validated questionnaire on physical activity and average time spent with friends (socializing). Mediterranean lifestyle was defined as the joint exposure to Mediterranean diet, level of physical activity, and level of socializing. After a median follow-up of 8.5 years, 806 cases of depression among 11,800 participants were observed. Participants with the highest adherence to the Mediterranean lifestyle showed a 50% relative risk reduction in depression risk as compared to those participants with the lowest adherence (multivariable hazard ratio = 0.50; 95% confidence interval = [0.32, 0.81]). The Mediterranean lifestyle might reduce depression risk in the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra cohort study beyond the known effects of the Mediterranean diet.
Vaginal Microbiota and Lubricant Use During Labor
Authors: McElroy Katie G. , Regan Mary
Published: August 2016

The human microbiome profoundly influences health promotion and disease prevention. Improved DNA and RNA sequencing technologies have enhanced our knowledge on the composition of the various microbial communities that constitute the microbiome. The structure and stability of the vaginal microbiota is of particular importance during pregnancy and labor because maternal microbes form the basis of the neonate’s own microbiome during the birth process. Vaginal dysbiosis, or perterbations in vaginal microbial composition, that occurs during labor can lead to suboptimal neonatal colonization and may be linked to adverse health outcomes for infants and children, including asthma and obesity. Vaginal dysbiosis is linked with many factors, including the use of personal lubricants. Studies using cell and animal models show that lubricants can alter microbial composition as well as damage the integrity of vaginal epithelial cells. These findings are concerning because similar lubricants are frequently used during labor. However, the effect of lubricant use on vaginal microbiota in the health-care setting has not been studied. This article presents current evidence on vaginal microbiota during pregnancy with a focus on the influence of a common practice, lubricant use during labor. Areas for future research are presented, as well as practice and policy implications for perinatal health-care providers.
Therapeutic potential of mesenchymal stem cell based therapy for osteoarthritis
Authors: Burke John , Hunter Monte , Kolhe Ravindra , Isales Carlos , Hamrick Mark , Fulzele Sadanand
Published: August 2016

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic degenerative disease affecting articular cartilage in joints, and it is a leading cause of disability in the United States. Current pharmacological treatment strategies are ineffective to prevent the OA progression; however, cellular therapies have the potential to regenerate the lost cartilage, combat cartilage degeneration, provide pain relief, and improve patient mobility. One of the most promising sources of cellular regenerative medicine is from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). MSCs can be isolated from adipose tissue, bone marrow, synovial tissue, and other sources. The aim of this review is to compile recent advancement in cellular based therapy more specifically in relation to MSCs in the treatment of osteoarthritis.
Does it make sense to target one tumor cell chemotactic factor or its receptor when several chemotactic axes are involved in metastasis of the same cancer?
Authors: Ratajczak Mariusz Z. , Suszynska Malwina , Kucia Magda
Published: August 2016

The major problem with cancer progression and anti‐cancer therapy is the inherent ability of cancer cells to migrate and establish distant metastases. This ability to metastasize correlates with the presence in a growing tumor of cells with a more malignant phenotype, which express certain cancer stem cell markers. The propensity of malignant cells to migrate and their resistance to radio‐chemotherapy somewhat mimics the properties of normal developmentally early stem cells that migrate during organogenesis in the developing embryo. In the past, several factors, including cell migration‐promoting cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, bioactive lipids, extracellular nucleotides, and even H+ ions, were found to influence the metastasis of cancer cells. This plethora of pro‐migratory factors demonstrates the existence of significant redundancy in the chemoattractants for cancer cells. In spite of this obvious fact, significant research effort has been dedicated to demonstrating the crucial involvement of particular pro‐metastatic factor–receptor axes and the development of new drugs targeting one receptor or one chemoattractant. Based on our own experience working with a model of metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma as well as the work of others, in this review we conclude that targeting a single receptor–ligand pro‐metastatic axis will not effectively prevent metastasis and that we should seek other more effective therapeutic options.