bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
How Do African American Men Rate Their Health Care? An Analysis of the Consumer Assessment of Health Plans 2003-2006
Authors: Elder Keith , Meret-Hanke Louise , Dean Caress , Wiltshire Jacqueline , Gilbert Keon L. , Wang Jing , Shacham Enbal , Barnidge Ellen , Baker Elizabeth , Wray Ricardo , Rice Shahida , Johns Marquisha , Moore Tondra
Published: May 2014

African American (AA) men remain one of the most disconnected groups from health care. This study examines the association between AA men’s rating of health care and rating of their personal physician. The sample included 12,074 AA men aged 18 years or older from the 2003 to 2006 waves of the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Adult Commercial Health Plan Survey. Multilevel models were used to obtain adjusted means rating of health care systems and personal physician, and the relationship of ratings with the rating of personal physician. The adjusted means were 80 (on a 100-point scale) for most health ratings and composite health care scores: personal physician (83.9), specialist (83.66), health care (82.34), getting needed care (89.57), physician communication (83.17), medical staff courtesy (86.58), and customer service helpfulness (88.37). Physician communication was the strongest predictor for physician rating. AA men’s health is understudied, and additional research is warranted to improve how they interface with the health care system.
Axiology and Anomaly in the Practice of Mixed Methods Work
Authors: Biddle Catharine , Schafft Kai A.
Published: May 2014

This article uses a Kuhnian framework to explain the adoption of the transformative paradigm in pragmatically informed mixed methods research. We argue that pragmatism represents a model of “normal science” among many mixed methods researchers and that Kuhn’s concept of the scientific anomaly provides an instructive metaphor for understanding what we interpret to be a failure of pragmatic mixed methods researchers to adequately account for the axiological foundation for their work. The transformative paradigm thus can be read as providing pragmatic researchers with an axiological “fix” that sidesteps the larger question of how to establish a philosophically consistent means of specifying research value. We discuss this argument in light of pragmatist philosophy, the recent history of mixed methods research, and the future development of the field.
Carotid false aneurysm after carotid stent fracture: Report of a surgical solution
Authors: Sirignano Pasqualino , Setacci Francesco , Galzerano Giuseppe , de Donato Gianmarco , Setacci Carlo
Published: May 2014

Stent fracture has been well documented in the Literature and in the majority of cases arises from the exposition of the stent to unfavourable stresses and biomechanical forces. We report a case of carotid false aneurysm after stent placement for post-surgery restenosis. Stent fracture is a clinical reality that sometimes should be considered prior to stent deployment and may require monitoring or treatment after occurrence.
Introduction to dynamic treatment strategies and sequential multiple assignment randomization
Authors: Lavori Philip W , Dawson Ree
Published: May 2014

Background

In June 2013, a 1-day workshop on Dynamic Treatment Strategies (DTSs) and Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trials (SMARTs) was held at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. These two linked topics have generated a great deal of interest as researchers have recognized the importance of comparing entire strategies for managing chronic disease. A number of articles emerged from that workshop.

Purpose

The purpose of this survey of the DTS/SMART methodology (which is taken from the introductory talk in the workshop) is to provide the reader the collected articles presented in this volume with sufficient background to appreciate the more detailed discussions in the articles.

Methods

The way that the DTS arises naturally in clinical practice is described, along with its connection to the well-known difficulties of interpreting the analysis by intention-to-treat. The SMART methodology for comparing DTS is described, and the basics of estimation and inference presented.

Results

The DTS/SMART methodology can be a flexible and practical way to optimize ongoing clinical decision making, providing evidence (based on randomization) for comparative effectiveness.

Limitations

The DTS/SMART methodology is not a solution for unstandardized study protocols.

Conclusions

The DTS/SMART methodology has growing relevance to comparative effectiveness research and the needs of the learning healthcare system.
Compassion, suffering and servant-leadership: Combining compassion and servant-leadership to respond to suffering
Authors: Davenport Brian
Published: May 2014

There is a great deal of suffering in the world. Through an examination of suffering and compassion, the author suggests that the servant-leader is in a position to address this suffering, but only if an attitude of compassion is added to the concept of servant-leadership. To that end, the author calls for an exploration of compassion and how it addresses suffering. By examining the nature of compassion, its history among religious traditions and some defining features, as well as the universal nature of suffering, the author suggests that compassion would be a worthy addition to the skills of the servant-leader in responding to suffering.
Narratives used to portray in-group terrorists: A comparative analysis of the Israeli and Norwegian press
Authors: Samuel-Azran Tal , Lavie-Dinur Amit , Karniel Yuval
Published: May 2014

Studies of US and UK media reveal that the press adheres to a dichotomous religion-based us/them worldview that portrays Muslims as terrorists but ‘repairs’ the image of Jews and Christians as criminals, creating concerns that the Western media promotes a clash-of-civilizations thinking pattern. To examine whether this pattern is representative of other Western democracies, the authors analyzed Israeli press coverage of Jewish settlers’ attacks against Palestinians ( N = 134) and Norwegian press coverage of Anders Breivik’s 2011 attacks ( N = 223). Content analysis reveals that the Israeli and Norwegian media labeled all the perpetrators ‘terrorists’, the attacks ‘terror’, and the motivation as ‘ideology’ rather than solely mental. The perpetrators – all subscribing to right-wing ideology – were not vindicated despite being Jewish or Christian. Beyond weakening the clash-of-civilizations notion that terrorism discourse in the West is necessarily religion-related, the findings highlight that the US press was ironically more eager than the Israeli media to ‘repair’ the image of Jewish perpetrators. The authors discuss the implications of our findings and suggest directions for future studies of biases in terrorism discourse.
Witnessing in crisis: Photo-reportage of terror attacks in Boston and London
Authors: Allan Stuart
Published: May 2014

The importance of bearing witness to what is transpiring in harrowing circumstances is a lynchpin of war and conflict reporting. More often than not in recent years, however, the person first on the scene with a camera has been an ordinary citizen, if not one of the combatants themselves. Accordingly, this article explores a number of pressing questions confronting news photographers – both professionals of the craft and bystanders offering improvised contributions to newsmaking – committed to relaying what they see unfolding before them, however disturbing it may be. More specifically, the discussion focuses on two crisis events recurrently characterised as ‘terror attacks’ in the US and British press: the bombing of the Boston marathon in April 2013, and the killing of a British soldier in Woolwich, southeast London, the following month. Drawing on a visual analysis of the photo-reportage of these attacks, the author examines diverse forms of citizen witnessing and their potential to reinvigorate photojournalism’s social contract to document conflicting truths.
Ambrisentan therapy in pulmonary hypertension: clinical use and tolerability in a referral centre
Authors: Condliffe Robin , Elliot Charlie A. , Hurdman Judith , Sabroe Ian , Billings Catherine , Kiely David G. , Hamilton Neil
Published: May 2014

Introduction:

Ambrisentan is an oral selective endothelin receptor antagonist licensed for use in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). There are few data on clinical use and long-term tolerability in a wider range of patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH).

Methods:

All patients treated with ambrisentan over a 4-year period were identified. Baseline characteristics, liver function test (LFT) results and World Health Organization (WHO) functional class were retrieved from hospital databases.

Results:

272 patients received ambrisentan between March 2009 and June 2013 (32% idiopathic PAH, 36% connective tissue disease PAH, 11% congenital heart disease PAH, 6% portopulmonary hypertension, 1% HIV PAH, 4% PH in association with lung disease, 8% chronic thromboembolic PH and 2% PH in association with sarcoidosis). 33.5% of patients received ambrisentan as monotherapy and 12% received ambrisentan as their initial PH therapy. 18% stopped treatment due to side effects and 12% stopped due to lack of efficacy. Oedema was the most common side effect leading to cessation of therapy, which occurred in 7% of patients. 57% of patients who discontinued ambrisentan due to side effects also discontinued other PAH therapies due to side effects previously or subsequently. Ambrisentan was discontinued in two (<1%) patients due to abnormal LFTs. The 3-year survival in congenital heart disease PAH, idiopathic PAH and systemic sclerosis-associated PAH was 80%, 62%, and 38%, respectively ( p = 0.003). Survival was superior in patients in whom WHO functional class improved in response to therapy.

Conclusion:

Ambrisentan is used as an initial therapy and as monotherapy in a minority of patients in a large UK PH referral centre. Discontinuation due to side effects, and especially oedema, was higher than reported in previous studies while discontinuation due to abnormal LFTs was very uncommon. A majority of patients who discontinued therapy due to side effects also previously or subsequently discontinued other PAH therapies. Improvement in WHO functional class was associated with superior survival.
Isolated hepatic perfusion for patients with liver metastases
Authors: Reddy Srinevas K. , Kesmodel Susan B. , Alexander H. Richard
Published: May 2014

Up to 80% of colorectal, melanoma, and neuroendocrine liver metastases are unresectable due to excessive tumor burden. Isolated hepatic perfusion (IHP) administers intensive therapy to the liver while limiting systemic toxicity and thus may have an important role in the management of unresectable liver metastases. This review s describes the development of IHP, initial clinical results, open and percutaneous IHP techniques, and contemporary long-term treatment outcomes. IHP with melphalan or tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) has been shown to achieve hepatic response rates of greater than 50% with progression-free survival of greater than 12 months among patients with refractory ocular melanoma liver metastases. The only series describing outcomes of IHP for neuroendocrine liver metastases notes an overall response rate of 50% and a median actuarial overall survival of 48 months after IHP treatment with melphalan or TNFα. The majority of studies that have evaluated IHP have been performed in patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases (CRCLM). In aggregate, survival results from retrospective studies and phase I/II clinical trials suggest that IHP demonstrated no significant survival benefit compared with systemic chemotherapy alone as first-line therapy. In contrast, IHP does improve outcomes relative to that provided by second-line chemotherapy for CRCLM, with overall response rates of 60% and median duration of liver response of 12 months. Continued evaluation of IHP for unresectable liver metastases is necessary to establish its role in multidisciplinary treatment approaches.
The opponent process theory of leadership succession
Authors: Hollenbeck John R. , DeRue D. Scott , Nahrgang Jennifer D.
Published: May 2014

Groups are increasingly conceptualized as self-regulating, adaptive social systems, where time and history play central explanatory roles. Despite this, concepts related to opponent processes, which are central to theories of self-regulation, have been absent from discussions of leadership of groups. In this paper, we introduce the opponent process theory of leadership succession, and argue that the impact of leadership on current outcomes can be fully appreciated only by complementing the understanding of the current leader’s behaviors and style with the behaviors and styles of his or her predecessor. We outline both the process and content of opponent processes highlighting their potential to explain both adaptive and maladaptive behavior in groups.
Discrepancies between registration and publication of randomised controlled trials: an observational study
Authors: Walker Kate F , Stevenson Graham , Thornton James G
Published: May 2014

Summary

Objectives

To determine the consistency between information contained in the registration and publication of randomised controlled trials (RCTs).

Design

An observational study of RCTs published between May 2011 and May 2012 in the British Medical Journal ( BMJ) and the Journal of the American Medical Association ( JAMA) comparing registry data with publication data.

Participants and Settings

Data extracted from published RCTs in BMJ and JAMA.

Main outcome measures

Timing of trial registration in relation to completion of trial data collection and publication. Registered versus published primary and secondary outcomes, sample size.

Results

We identified 40 RCTs in BMJ and 36 in JAMA. All 36 JAMA trials and 39 (98%) BMJ trials were registered. All registered trials were registered prior to publication. Thirty-two (82%) BMJ trials recorded the date of data completion; of these, in two trials the date of trial registration postdated the registered date of data completion. There were discrepancies between primary outcomes declared in the trial registry information and in the published paper in 18 (47%) BMJ papers and seven (19%) JAMA papers. The original sample size stated in the trial registration was achieved in 24 (60%) BMJ papers and 21 (58%) JAMA papers.

Conclusions

Compulsory registration of RCTs is meaningless if the content of registry information is not complete or if discrepancies between registration and publication are not reported. This study demonstrates that discrepancies in primary and secondary outcomes and sample size between trial registration and publication remain commonplace, giving further strength to the World Health Organisation’s argument for mandatory completion of a minimum number of compulsory fields.
Oral gel choline salicylate induced refractory gastric ulceration
Authors: Lim Yean Cheant , Laxaman Hemant , Mead Rob , Cameron Ewen AB
Published: May 2014

Lesson

Common over the counter oral ulcer soothing gel can be an unexpected source of salicylate and cause refractory gastrointestinal ulcers if not identified.
Successful low-dose thrombolysis of submassive pulmonary embolus in a pregnant patient
Authors: Dhutia Harshil , Sprigings David , Shukla Ami , Lloyd Sue
Published: May 2014

Lesson

Low-dose thrombolysis was effective and safe in a pregnant woman with acute pulmonary embolism causing severe right ventricular dysfunction.

This is the first reported case of successful thrombolysis for pulmonary embolus in pregnancy in the absence of shock.
Invasive medical procedure skills amongst Foundation Year Doctors – a questionnaire study
Authors: Lim Chung Thong , Gibbs Victoria , Lim Chung Sim
Published: May 2014

Objectives

Competency in practical skills is an important aspect of training for medical doctors. This questionnaire survey aimed to investigate if the current Foundation Year trainees have performed several practical procedures of importance and their level of confidence in carrying them out unsupervised.

Design

Questionnaire study.

Setting

Five National Health Service hospitals in England.

Participants

A total of 103 Foundation Year trainees responded to the survey (73 FY1s; 30 FY2s).

Main outcome measures

Percentage of trainees who have performed these skills and their average level of confidence.

Results

The percentage of trainees who have performed these skills and their average level of confidence (scale of 1 to 5) are as follows: intubation (32%, 1); chest drain (33%, 1); central line (26%, 1); femoral line (23%, 1); peripheral line (28%, 1); lumbar puncture (64%, 3); ascitic tap (57%, 3). Only 25% of the trainees have attended certified training courses on these skills during their Foundation Year training. More than half of these trainees (73%) found the courses very useful. Ninety-two per cent of trainees who did not attend practical skill courses are very interested to attend them. All the trainees agreed that these courses should be available for all the Foundation Year doctors, and 92% believe that these courses are most beneficial during the Foundation Year 1 training.

Conclusion

Most Foundation Year trainees have low confidence and exposure to these important practical skills. Certified practical skills courses should be made available to the Foundation Year doctors for the benefit of their training. This will also increase the quality of patient care.
An analysis of National Health Service Trust websites on the occupational backgrounds of ‘Non-Executive Directors’ on England’s Acute Trusts
Authors: Pritchard Colin , Harding Andrew JE
Published: May 2014

Summary

Objectives

To explore the occupational backgrounds of English Non-Executive Directors (NED) on Acute National Health Service (NHS) Trusts.

Design

Data extrapolated from Trust websites of NED’ occupational backgrounds by gender and occupations, and inter-rater reliability test undertaken.

Setting

Data were available on all but 24 of the 166 Acute Trusts’ from all regions.

Participants

Trust Chairs and NED were categorised by their dominant occupation.

Main outcome measure

Differentiating NED with and without health or social care leadership experience.

Results

The ratings of NED’ occupations positively correlated ( p < 0.001). Occupational categories were Commerce and Finance from private and public sectors or with Medical or Community leadership experience. Only 4% of Chairs were Medical, 2% from Community – the majority (61%) from Commerce and Finance. Of the 1001 NED, 8% and 6% respectively had Medical or Community leadership experience; most (86%) were Commerce, Finance and non-clinical Managerial backgrounds. Females made up 27% of NED.

Conclusions

With a predominance of Chairs and NED without health or social care leadership experience, are current Boards equipped to avoid inadvertently ‘doing the system's business’ (Francis, 2013) rather than developing a more patient-centred, clinically led and integrated NHS? It is suggested that Boards need more NED with health and social care leadership experience and methods to identify the ‘patient’s agenda’ to create ‘a common culture’ that places ‘patients at the centre of everything we do’ (Hunt, 2012). A key context for Trust Boards operations is funding, which Francis’ terms of reference excluded, an issue that is briefly discussed.
Medicinal Plants in Light of History: Recognized Therapeutic Modality
Authors: Khan Haroon
Published: May 2014

Medicinal plants have an unbelievable history in terms of serving humanity in almost all continents of the world. Traditional healers have transferred that incredible knowledge from generation to generation. Even modernity or cultural revolutions have not altered the in-depth wisdom of this natural medical paradigm. Pharmacological rationale in light of traditional uses followed by phytochemical studies could surely bring a new revolution in the treatment of diseases.
Animal-Assisted Activity: Effects of a Complementary Intervention Program on Psychological and Physiological Variables
Authors: Nepps Peggy , Stewart Charles N. , Bruckno Stephen R.
Published: May 2014

Animal-assisted activity is the use of trained animals for the therapeutic, motivational, or educational benefit of patients. Subjects of this study were 218 patients hospitalized on the mental health unit of a community hospital with an existing, complementary animal-assisted activity program. Half of the patients participated in a 1-hour session of animal-assisted activity. The other half, who served as a comparison group, participated in a 1-hour stress management program. It was hypothesized that an animal-assisted activity program would improve ratings of depression, anxiety, and pain and the associated physiological measures of stress and discomfort. Self-report ratings of depression, anxiety, and pain were collected before and after treatment sessions, and blood pressure, pulse, and salivary cortisol were measured. There were significant decreases in depression ( P < .0001), anxiety ( P < .0001), pain ( P < .0001), and pulse ( P < .04) after animal-assisted activity program, comparable to those in the more traditional stress management group.
IEP Use by General and Special Education Teachers
Authors: Rotter Kathleen
Published: May 2014

The role of general and special educators in implementing the Individualized Education Program (IEP) is critical. This study investigated the perceptions of those teachers on when they read the IEP, how they measure attainment of IEP goals and objectives, and the IEPs usefulness in instructional planning. Four hundred twenty-six teachers from suburban school districts in central New Jersey were respondents. Results indicated that the majority of general and special education teachers are reading their students’ IEPs in a fairly timely manner and that they find them moderately useful in planning instruction. Results also suggested that teachers relied heavily on grades to document attainment of IEP goals and that teachers felt that the IEPs themselves could be improved if they were shorter with student-specific, critical information that was more relevant to classroom instruction.
Aging People as Communal Actors
Authors: Tedre Silva , Pehkonen Aini
Published: May 2014

This article discusses the variety of social activities of aging people in a community. The first aim of this study is to explore how to overcome two dichotomies—public–private as spheres of everyday life and third–fourth age—and by overcoming these, to make visible the personal social resources of older people, which are not usually recognized in policy discourses or in social policy research. Second, we ask whether the problem-oriented rhetoric of aging in Finnish social and rural policy can be challenged from the perspective of aging people’s activities. The article analyzes older people as actors of a rural village community and overcomes the two dichotomies mentioned above from the theoretical context of agency. In this research, rural East Finland is a case with which to investigate social relationships between people. We suggest that seniors not only participate in a variety of communal activities but also act in their homes, which are culturally coded as the territory of private life. By “just being there,” people also produce and reproduce rural communities in many ways. This is a form of action that has been largely ignored by policies, policymakers, and social studies.
Gratifying the “Self” by Demonizing the “Other”
Authors: Taha Mustafa Hashim
Published: May 2014

This qualitative study examines the U.S. media portrayals of African, Arab, and Islamic countries and sheds light on the response to these portrayals by a number of international students (Africans, Arabs, and Asians) in a middle-sized public university in the United States. The study uses Foucault’s power–knowledge constructs, Bhabha’s cultural difference, Bakhtin’s heteroglossia, and Said’s Orientalism as well the framing theory as a conceptual framework. It concludes that negative U.S. media portrayals of Africans, Arabs, and Asians were based on an Orientalist discourse and elicited negative reaction from the African, Arab, and Asian respondents.
Spiritual and Religious Resources in African American Women
Authors: Cheadle Alyssa C. D. , Dunkel Schetter Christine , Gaines Lanzi Robin , Reed Vance Maxine , Sahadeo Latoya S. , Shalowitz Madeleine U. ,   the Community Child Health Network, Vance M. , Minkovitz C. S. , O’Campo P. , Schafer P. , Sankofa N. , Walton K. , Wagenaar K. , Shalowitz M. , Adam E. , Duncan G. , Schoua-Glusberg A. , McKinney C. , McDade T. , Simon C. , Clark-Kauffman E. , Jones L. , Hobel C. , Schetter C. Dunkel , Lu M. C. , Chung B. , Jones F. , Serafin D. , Young D. , Evans S. , Ruffin J. , Woolard R. , Thorp J. , DeClerque J. , Dolbier C. , Lorenz C. , Sahadeo L. S. , Salisbury K. , Patchen L. , Ramey S. L. , Lanzi R. G. , Klerman L. V. , Miodovnik M. , Ramey C. T. , Randolph L. , Timraz N. , German R. , Chinchilli V. M. , Belue R. , Faulkner G. Brown , Hillemeier M. , Paul I. , Shaffer M. L. , Snyder G. , Lehman E. , Stetter C. , Schmidt J. , Cerullo K. , Whisler S. , Fisher J. , Boyer J. , Payton M. , Evans V. J. , Raju T. N. K. , Weglicki L. , Spittel M. , Willinger M. , Bryan Y. , Phillippe M. , Fuentes-Afflick E.
Published: May 2014

Many women experience depressive symptoms after childbirth, and rates among African Americans are as high as 40%. Spirituality and religiosity are valued in African American communities, but their relevance to new mothers has not been empirically tested. We examined effects of religiosity and spirituality on trajectories of depressive symptoms during the year after childbirth. Data were collected by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Community Child Health Network, which focuses on maternal-child health disparities. The sample consisted of 702 low-socioeconomic-status African American predominantly Christian women. Participants were interviewed in their homes throughout the year after a birth. Spirituality and religiosity each independently predicted changes in depressive symptoms, and low levels predicted increases over time. Effects of religiosity were mediated by a woman’s spirituality. Religiosity and spirituality functioned as significant, interrelated protective factors in this study, which provides novel insight about lower-income African American women after childbirth.
Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome in Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome related to Cryptococcal Meningoencephalitis
Authors: Park Ji Young , Kim Min Jeong
Published: May 2014

Background. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has contributed to reducing the occurrence of opportunistic infections and mortality in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients. However, a paradoxical worsening of clinical signs and symptoms among patients during HAART may occur. Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) is described as a paradoxical deterioration of clinical status on initiation of HAART in patients with HIV infection. Case Report. We describe the case of a 41-year-old man with opportunistic cryptococcal encephalitis who exhibited neurological and radiological deterioration during the course of HAART. A diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS)-IRIS was based on a decrease of HIV-RNA viral load greater than 1 log, with an increase in CD4+ T-cell count from baseline. Conclusions. Differential diagnosis of this paradoxical deterioration in clinical and neurological status from overwhelming opportunistic infection is important; it enables an avoidance of unnecessary diagnostic procedures and proper management of this HIV-associated CNS disorder.
Specific Shoulder Pathoanatomy in Semiprofessional Water Polo Players
Authors: Klein Maria , Tarantino Ignazio , Warschkow René , Berger Claus Joachim , Zdravkovic Vilijam , Jost Bernhard , Badulescu Michael
Published: May 2014

Background:

Shoulders of throwing and swimming athletes are highly stressed joints that often show structural abnormalities on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, while water polo players exhibit a combination of throwing and swimming movements, a specific pattern of pathological findings has not been described.

Purpose:

To assess specific MRI abnormalities in shoulders of elite water polo players and to compare these findings with a healthy control group.

Study Design:

Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3.

Methods:

After performing a power analysis, volunteers were recruited for this study. Both shoulders of 28 semiprofessional water polo players and 15 healthy volunteers were assessed clinically (based on the Constant score) and had bilateral shoulder MRIs. The shoulders were clustered into 3 groups: 28 throwing and 28 nonthrowing shoulders of water polo athletes and 30 shoulders of healthy control subjects.

Results:

Twenty-eight male water polo players with an average age of 24 years and 15 healthy subjects (30 shoulders) with an average age of 31 years were examined. Compared with controls, significantly more MRI abnormalities in the water polo players' throwing shoulders could be found in the subscapularis, infraspinatus, and posterior labrum ( P = .001, P = .024, and P = .041, respectively). Other structures showed no statistical differences between the 3 groups, including the supraspinatus tendon, which had abnormalities in 36% of throwing versus 32% of nonthrowing shoulders and 33% of control shoulders. All throwing shoulders showed abnormal findings in the MRI, but only 8 (29%) were symptomatic.

Conclusion:

The shoulders of semiprofessional water polo players demonstrated abnormalities in subscapularis and infraspinatus tendons that were not typical abnormalities for swimmers or throwing athletes.

Clinical Relevance:

The throwing shoulders of water polo players have specific MRI changes. Clinical symptoms do not correlate with the MRI findings.
Variable versus conventional lung protective mechanical ventilation during open abdominal surgery: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Spieth Peter M , Güldner Andreas , Uhlig Christopher , Bluth Thomas , Kiss Thomas , Schultz Marcus J , Pelosi Paolo , Koch Thea , Gama de Abreu Marcelo
Published: May 2014

Background

General anesthesia usually requires mechanical ventilation, which is traditionally accomplished with constant tidal volumes in volume- or pressure-controlled modes. Experimental studies suggest that the use of variable tidal volumes (variable ventilation) recruits lung tissue, improves pulmonary function and reduces systemic inflammatory response. However, it is currently not known whether patients undergoing open abdominal surgery might benefit from intraoperative variable ventilation.

Methods/Design

The PROtective VARiable ventilation trial (‘PROVAR’) is a single center, randomized controlled trial enrolling 50 patients who are planning for open abdominal surgery expected to last longer than 3 hours. PROVAR compares conventional (non-variable) lung protective ventilation (CV) with variable lung protective ventilation (VV) regarding pulmonary function and inflammatory response. The primary endpoint of the study is the forced vital capacity on the first postoperative day. Secondary endpoints include further lung function tests, plasma cytokine levels, spatial distribution of ventilation assessed by means of electrical impedance tomography and postoperative pulmonary complications.

Discussion

We hypothesize that VV improves lung function and reduces systemic inflammatory response compared to CV in patients receiving mechanical ventilation during general anesthesia for open abdominal surgery longer than 3 hours. PROVAR is the first randomized controlled trial aiming at intra- and postoperative effects of VV on lung function. This study may help to define the role of VV during general anesthesia requiring mechanical ventilation.

Trial registration

Clinicaltrials.govNCT01683578(registered on September 3 3012).
A case report of Charcot arthropathy caused by syringomyelia and Chiari malformation complicated with scoliosis
Authors: Liu Heming , Wang Yulu , Yang Zenghua , Wang Kunzheng
Published: May 2014

Background

Although Charcot arthropathy, also known as neuropathic arthropathy, of which early diagnosis and treatment is extremely difficult, associated with other cause factor has been widely described, Charcot arthropathy caused by syringomyelia and Chiari malformation complicated with scoliosis has never been described in the literature.

Case presentation

A 44-year-old male was hospitalized for diagnosis and treatment due to complaining the progressively swelling and limitation of motion in his left shoulder joint for 1 year. The patient has no significant past medical history except for scoliosis 8 years prior to his presentation to our clinic; He denied any constitutional symptoms, trauma, or pain in the upper extremities at this time of presentation. Based on history, physical and auxiliary examination, following diagnoses were made: Charcot arthropathy of the left shoulder, syringomyelia, Chiari malformation and scoliosis.

Conclusion

Once Charcot arthritis was found, it was mostly in advanced stage and very difficult to treat. So we recommended that if patient suffering from scoliosis visited in clinic, further examination such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and regular follow-up should be carried out, and early-stage of this devastating disease caused by syringomyelia and Chiari malformation may be diagnosed easily.
Forest observational studies-an essential infrastructure for sustainable use of natural resources
Authors: Zhao XiuHai , Corral-Rivas Javier , Zhang ChunYu , Temesgen Hailemariam , Gadow Klaus v
Published: May 2014

This contribution complements Forest Ecosystems’ Thematic Series on “Forest Observational Studies”. We provide essential clarification regarding the definition and purpose of long-term field studies, review some of the extensive literature and discuss different approaches to collecting field data. We also describe two newly established forest observational networks that serve to illustrate the scope and diversity of forest field studies. The first is a large-scale network of forest observational studies in prominent natural forest ecosystems in China. The second example demonstrates observational studies in mixed and uneven-aged pine-oak forests which are selectively managed by local communities in Mexico. We summarize the potential for analysing and modeling forest ecosystems within interdisciplinary projects and provide argumentation in favour of long-term institutional commitment to maintaining forest observational field studies.
Noise removal by migration of time-shift images
Authors: Xu Sheng , Chen Feng , Tang Bing , Lambare Gilles
Published: May 2014

When using seismic data to image complex structures, the reverse time migration (RTM) algorithm generally provides the best results when the velocity model is accurate. With an inexact model, moveouts appear in common image gathers (CIGs), which are either in the surface offset domain or in subsurface angle domain; thus, the stacked image is not well focused. In extended image gathers, the strongest energy of a seismic event may occur at non-zero-lag in time-shift or offset-shift gathers. Based on the operation of RTM images produced by the time-shift imaging condition, the non-zero-lag time-shift images exhibit a spatial shift; we propose an approach to correct them by a second pass of migration similar to zero-offset depth migration; the proposed approach is based on the local poststack depth migration assumption. After the proposed second-pass migration, the time-shift CIGs appear to be flat and can be stacked. The stack enhances the energy of seismic events that are defocused at zero time lag due to the inaccuracy of the model, even though the new focused events stay at the previous positions, which might deviate from the true positions of seismic reflection. With the stack, our proposed approach is also able to attenuate the long-wavelength RTM artifacts. In the case of tilted transverse isotropic migration, we propose a scheme to defocus the coherent noise, such as migration artifacts from residual multiples, by applying the original migration velocity model along the symmetry axis but with different anisotropic parameters in the second pass of migration. We demonstrate that our approach is effective to attenuate the coherent noise at subsalt area with two synthetic data sets and one real data set from the Gulf of Mexico.
Rock-physics-based estimation of critical-clay-volume fraction and its effect on seismic velocity and petrophysical properties
Authors: Adesokan Hamid , Sun Yuefeng
Published: May 2014

Knowledge of the clay content in clastic reservoirs is important for predicting reservoir quality and properties. We used a microgeometrical model for shaly sand and sandy shale to define the critical-clay-volume fraction and explain the dependence of the bulk modulus on clay content. We found that the concept of the pore-aspect ratio relating to the critical-clay-volume fraction was important to interpret the elastic behavior of shaly sandstone. An abrupt decrease in pore-aspect ratio from about 0.23 to about 0.04 was observed where the clay-volume fraction was greater than the critical value of 32% for the studied data set. At the critical-clay-volume fraction of 32%, an increase in pore compressibility also occurred from about 0.6 to about [Formula: see text]. Results revealed that the microgeometrical model compared to other models can better explain the existence of highly scattered compressional velocity-porosity crossplots when the clay content is close to the critical amount. We discovered that the model can be applied in well-logging interpretations of shaly formations for determining shale cut-off and mapping of reservoir pore shape from velocity measurements.
Exact equations for fluid and solid substitution
Authors: Saxena Nishank , Mavko Gary
Published: May 2014

We derived exact equations, elastic bulk and shear, for fluid and solid substitution in monomineralic isotropic rocks of arbitrary pore shape and suggested methods to obtain the required substitution parameters. We proved that the classical Gassmann’s bulk modulus equation for fluid-to-fluid substitution is exact for solid-to-solid substitution if compression-induced mean stresses (pressure) in initial and final pore solids are homogeneous and either the shear modulus of the substituted solid does not change or no shear stress is induced in pores. Moreover, when compression-induced mean stresses in initial and final pore solids are homogeneous, we evaluated exact generalizations of Gassmann’s bulk modulus equation, which depend on usually known parameters. For the effective shear modulus, we found general exactness conditions of Gassmann and other approximations. Using the new exact substitution equations, we interpreted that predicting solid-filled rock stiffness from a dry rock stiffness measurement requires more information (i.e., assumptions about the pore shape) compared to predicting the same from a fluid-saturated rock stiffness.
Absorption-compensation method by l1-norm regularization
Authors: Wang Shoudong , Chen Xiaohong
Published: May 2014

Absorption in subsurface media greatly reduces the resolution of seismic data. Absorption not only dissipates the high-frequency components of the wave, but it also distorts the seismic wavelet. The inverse [Formula: see text]-filtering method is an effective method to correct the attenuation and dispersion of the seismic wave. We evaluated an absorption compensation method based on [Formula: see text]-norm regularization. Forward modeling in the absorption medium is described by a Fredholm integral equation in the time domain, and the absorption compensation comes down to solving the Fredholm integral equation. The solutions of the Fredholm integral equation are extremely unstable. Generally, [Formula: see text]-norm regularization can be used to seek stable solutions of the Fredholm integral equation, but it makes the solutions smooth and reduces the resolution of seismic data. We used [Formula: see text]-norm regularization to overcome instability of solving the integral equation; it makes the solutions have a higher resolution than [Formula: see text]-norm regularization. The iteratively reweighted method is used to solve the minimization problem. Tests on synthetic and real data examples showed that the absorption compensation method that we evaluated can effectively correct the attenuation and dispersion of the seismic wave.
Lowrank seismic-wave extrapolation on a staggered grid
Authors: Fang Gang , Fomel Sergey , Du Qizhen , Hu Jingwei
Published: May 2014

We evaluated a new spectral method and a new finite-difference (FD) method for seismic-wave extrapolation in time. Using staggered temporal and spatial grids, we derived a wave-extrapolation operator using a lowrank decomposition for a first-order system of wave equations and designed the corresponding FD scheme. The proposed methods extend previously proposed lowrank and lowrank FD wave extrapolation methods from the cases of constant density to those of variable density. Dispersion analysis demonstrated that the proposed methods have high accuracy for a wide wavenumber range and significantly reduce the numerical dispersion. The method of manufactured solutions coupled with mesh refinement was used to verify each method and to compare numerical errors. Tests on 2D synthetic examples demonstrated that the proposed method is highly accurate and stable. The proposed methods can be used for seismic modeling or reverse-time migration.
Common-reflection-point migration velocity analysis of 2D P-wave data from TTI media
Authors: Oropeza Ernesto V. , McMechan George A.
Published: May 2014

We have developed a common-reflection-point (CRP)-based kinematic migration velocity analysis for 2D P-wave reflection data to estimate the four transversely isotropic (TI) parameters [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text], and the tilt angle [Formula: see text] of the symmetry axis in a TI medium. In each iteration, the tomographic parameter was updated alternately with prestack anisotropic ray-based migration. Iterations initially used layer stripping to reduce the number of degrees of freedom; after convergence was reached, a couple of more iterations over all parameters and all CRPs ensured global interlayer coupling and parameter interaction. The TI symmetry axis orientation was constrained to be locally perpendicular to the reflectors. The [Formula: see text] dominated the inversion, and so it was weighted less than [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] in the parameter updates. Estimates of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] were influenced if the error in [Formula: see text] was [Formula: see text]; estimates of [Formula: see text] were also influenced if the error in [Formula: see text] was [Formula: see text]. Examples included data for a simple model with a homogeneous TI layer whose dips allowed recovery of all anisotropy parameters from noise-free data, and a more realistic model (the BP tilted transversely isotropic (TTI) model) for which only [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] were recoverable. The adequacy of the traveltimes predicted by the inverted anisotropic models was tested by comparing migrated images and common image gathers, with those produced using the known velocity models.
From the Depths of Patagonia: The Ushuaia Penal Colony and the Nature of “The End of the World”
Authors: Edwards Ryan
Published: May 2014

This article engages the relationship between prison and place on the island of Tierra del Fuego, in southernmost Patagonia. While Patagonia has piqued popular imaginations for centuries through traveler narratives, these accounts have been reduced to a limited lexicon categorizing the region as prehistoric, desolate, and windswept. Similarly, the Ushuaia penal colony (1902–1947), located on the Beagle Channel, has been narrowly cast as the “Argentine Siberia.” I unpack these evocative labels through an examination of journalist accounts, prison personnel correspondence, and the writings of prisoners exiled to Ushuaia, recuperating more situated visions within this mythic landscape. Some authorities considered Ushuaia a natural prison where engineers could design a modern penitentiary and implement rehabilitation techniques through labor and isolation. I explore the tension produced between these elemental and modern carceral forms and argue that the penal colony was an open-door panopticon, where punishment and routines were aligned with environmental factors that extended beyond the prison walls and thereby complicated progressive criminology. Prisoner labor in the town and the surrounding forests rarely rehabilitated the condemned, and it instead created a dependent prison industry that helped develop a region that for decades had posed settlement problems for Argentine statesmen. This dynamic relationship between the prison, town, and landscape created a carceral ecology within which different actors and elements played various yet entangled roles. As perceptions of Ushuaia were informed by one's status and form of confinement or relative freedom, we see divergent as well as overlapping understandings of the region rather than a monolithic landscape at “The End of the World.”
The Idea of Councils Runs Through Latin America
Authors: Bonnet Alberto
Published: May 2014

The article examines the ways that classic problems of workers’ self-organization have reemerged in contemporary social struggles in Latin America. It focuses on three issues: self-organization in the economic and the political spheres, self-organization and the duality of powers, and forms of organization and their class content. The author analyzes how these issues appear in specific experiences of current social struggles in Latin America.
Social Revolution and the Commons
Authors: De Angelis Massimo
Published: May 2014

What does it mean to say no to a capitalist social system that has the power to put life to work for its own development and, in so doing, shapes subjectivities, horizons, architectures, urban and rural spaces, life rhythms, ecologies, and polities in its own image? This question arises with particular urgency in the midst of one of the deepest capitalist crises, with its catastrophic social and ecological consequences. This article argues that the answer to our question resides ultimately in a particular type of social power, one that recomposes the social practice of the commons to achieve autonomy from capital, especially and initially in matters of social reproduction (food, health, care, housing, knowledge, and education).
Lost in Space? Lefebvre, Harvey, and the Spatiality of Negation
Authors: Charnock Greig
Published: May 2014

Urban public spaces have become focal points for mass uprisings and occupations. There is thus a significant spatial dimension to the movement against austerity. This article looks for clues to how to theorize the relation between space and “saying no” to austerity in the work of Henri Lefebvre and David Harvey. The article finds that the two versions of the “production of space” offered up by these ostensibly complementary thinkers are not as easily reconcilable as one might be led to think—and notwithstanding their respective championing of “the right to the city.” Indeed, both thinkers open the door to markedly different notions of the critique of capitalist space and of the spatiality of emancipatory politics.