bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The evolution of tumour composition during fractionated radiotherapy: implications for outcome
Authors: Lewin Thomas D. , Maini Philip K , Moros Eduardo G , Enderling Heiko , Byrne Helen M
Published: August 2017

Current protocols for delivering radiotherapy are based primarily on tumour stage and nodal and metastases status, even though it is well known that tumours and their microenvironments are highly heterogeneous. It is well established that the local oxygen tension plays an important role in radiation-induced cell death, with hypoxic tumour regions responding poorly to irradiation. Therefore, to improve radiation response, it is important to understand more fully the spatiotemporal distribution of oxygen within a growing tumour before and during fractionated radiation. To this end, we have extended a spatially-resolved mathematical model of tumour growth first proposed by Greenspan (Stud. Appl. Math., 1972) to investigate the effects of oxygen heterogeneity on radiation-induced cell death. In more detail, cell death due to radiation at each location in the tumour, as determined by the well-known linear-quadratic model, is assumed also to depend on the local oxygen concentration. The oxygen concentration is governed by a reaction-diffusion equation that is coupled to an integro-differential equation that determines the size of the assumed spherically-symmetric tumour. We combine numerical and analytical techniques to investigate radiation response of tumours with different intra-tumoral oxygen distribution profiles. Model simulations reveal a rapid transient increase in hypoxia upon re-growth of the tumour spheroid post-irradiation. We investigate the response to different radiation fractionation schedules and identify a tumour-specific relationship between inter-fraction time and dose per fraction to achieve cure. The rich dynamics exhibited by the model suggest that spatial heterogeneity may be important for predicting tumour response to radiotherapy for clinical applications.
Partisan effects in morality policy making
Authors: BUDDE EMMA , HEICHEL STEPHAN , HURKA STEFFEN , KNILL CHRISTOPH
Published: August 2017

Current comparative policy research gives no clear answer to the question of whether partisan politics in general or the partisan composition of governments in particular matter for different morality policy outputs across countries and over time. This article addresses this desideratum by employing a new encompassing dataset that captures the regulatory permissiveness in six morality policies that are homosexuality, same‐sex partnership, prostitution, pornography, abortion and euthanasia in 16 European countries over five decades from 1960 to 2010. Given the prevalent scepticism about a role for political parties for morality policies in existing research, this is a ‘hard’ test case for the ‘parties do matter’ argument. Starting from the basic theoretical assumption that different party families, if represented in national governments to varying degrees, ought to leave differing imprints on morality policy making, this research demonstrates that parties matter when accounting for the variation in morality policy outputs. This general statement needs to be qualified in three important ways. First, the nature of morality policy implies that party positions or preferences cannot be fully understood by merely focusing on one single cleavage alone. Instead, morality policy is located at the interface of different cleavages, including not only left‐right and secular‐religious dimensions, but also the conflicts between materialism and postmaterialism, green‐alternative‐libertarian and traditional‐authoritarian‐nationalist (GAL‐TAN) parties, and integration and demarcation. Second, it is argued in this article that the relevance of different cleavages for morality issues varies over time. Third, partisan effects can be found only if individual cabinets, rather than country‐years, are used as the unit of analysis in the research design. In particular, party families that tend to prioritise individual freedom over collective interests (i.e., left and liberal parties) are associated with significantly more liberal morality policies than party families that stress societal values and order (i.e., conservative/right and religious parties). While the latter are unlikely to overturn previous moves towards permissiveness, these results suggest that they might preserve the status quo at least. Curiously, no systematic effects of green parties are found, which may be because they have been represented in European governments at later periods when morality policy outputs were already quite permissive.
Microbial ecology‐based engineering of Microbial Electrochemical Technologies
Authors: Koch Christin , Korth Benjamin , Harnisch Falk
Published: August 2017

Microbial ecology is devoted to the understanding of dynamics, activity and interaction of microorganisms in natural and technical ecosystems. Bioelectrochemical systems represent important technical ecosystems, where microbial ecology is of highest importance for their function. However, whereas aspects of, for example, materials and reactor engineering are commonly perceived as highly relevant, the study and engineering of microbial ecology are significantly underrepresented in bioelectrochemical systems. This shortfall may be assigned to a deficit on knowledge and power of these methods as well as the prerequisites for their thorough application. This article discusses not only the importance of microbial ecology for microbial electrochemical technologies but also shows which information can be derived for a knowledge‐driven engineering. Instead of providing a comprehensive list of techniques from which it is hard to judge the applicability and value of information for a respective one, this review illustrates the suitability of selected techniques on a case study. Thereby, best practice for different research questions is provided and a set of key questions for experimental design, data acquisition and analysis is suggested.
Microbial melanins for radioprotection and bioremediation
Authors: Cordero Radames J. B. , Vij Raghav , Casadevall Arturo
Published: August 2017

Microbial melanins provide a biocompatible and scalable approach for bioremediation and radioprotection technologies due to their physicochemical properties.
Increasing the accuracy and precision of relative telomere length estimates by RT qPCR
Authors: Eastwood Justin R. , Mulder Ellis , Verhulst Simon , Peters Anne
Published: August 2017

As attrition of telomeres, DNA caps that protect chromosome integrity, is accelerated by various forms of stress, telomere length (TL) has been proposed as an indicator of lifetime accumulated stress. In ecological studies, it has been used to provide insights into ageing, life history trade‐offs, the costs of reproduction and disease. qPCR is a high‐throughput and cost‐effective tool to measure relative TL (rTL) that can be applied to newly collected and archived ecological samples. However, qPCR is susceptible to error both from the method itself and pre‐analytical steps. Here, repeatability was assessed overall and separately across multiple levels (intra‐assay, inter‐assay and inter‐extraction) to elucidate the causes of measurement error, as a step towards improving precision. We also tested how accuracy, defined as the correlation between the “gold standard” for TL estimation (telomere restriction fragment length analysis with in‐gel hybridization), could be improved. We find qPCR repeatability (intra‐ and inter‐assay levels) to be at similar levels across three common storage media (ethanol, Longmire's and Queen's). However, inter‐extraction repeatability was 50% lower for samples stored in Queen's lysis buffer, indicating storage medium can influence precision. Precision as well as accuracy could be increased by estimating rTL from multiple qPCR reactions and from multiple extractions. Repetition increased statistical power equivalent to a 25% (single extraction analysed twice) and 17% (two extractions) increase in sample size. Overall, this study identifies novel sources of variability in high‐throughput telomere quantification and provides guidance on sampling strategy design and how to increase rTL precision and accuracy.
Do Mutual Fund Investors Care About Auditor Quality?
Authors: Goldie Bradley A. , Li Lei , Masli Adi
Published: August 2017

We study the influence of perceived auditor quality on investment decisions by bond mutual fund investors. Audits of bond mutual funds require significant auditor expertise. Fund managers estimate daily the fair market values of holdings that are often opaque and illiquid. Managers can use their discretion to manipulate their fund's performance results. While it is known that investment flows into funds that report good past performance, little evidence exists about whether investors' confidence in the reliability of fund financial reports is influenced by auditor quality. Using hand‐collected data from SEC filings, we find that the positive association between reported performance and investment flows is stronger for funds with auditors who are industry specialists and are longer‐tenured, as well as for funds that pay higher audit fees. We do not find that auditor office size strengthens the association. We also find that the presence of industry‐specialist auditors, long‐tenured auditors, and higher audit fees lead to additional disclosure in the form of emphasis‐of‐matter. This study contributes to the streams of research investigating perceived audit quality, fund investment decisions, and auditing for financial services.
Diet tracing in ecology: Method comparison and selection
Authors: Nielsen Jens M. , Clare Elizabeth L. , Hayden Brian , Brett Michael T. , Kratina Pavel
Published: August 2017

Determining diet is a key prerequisite for understanding species interactions, food web structure and ecological dynamics. In recent years, there has been considerable development in both the methodology and application of novel and more traditional dietary tracing methods, yet there is no comprehensive synthesis that systematically and quantitatively compares the different approaches.

Here we conceptualise diet tracing in ecology, provide recommendations for method selection, and illustrate the advantages of method integration. We summarise empirical evidence on how different methods quantify diet mixtures, by contrasting estimates of dietary proportions from multiple methods applied to the same consumer‐resource datasets, or from experimental studies with known diet compositions.

Our data synthesis revealed an urgent need for more experiential comparisons among the dietary methods. The comparison of diet quantifications from field observations showed that different techniques aligned well in cases with less than six diet items, but diverged considerably when applied to more complex diet mixtures.

Efforts are ongoing to further advance dietary estimation, including how reliably compound specific stable isotope analyses and fatty acid profiles can quantify more prey items than bulk stable isotope analyses. Similarly, DNA analyses, which can depict trophic interactions at a higher resolution than any other method, are generating new ways to better quantify diets and differentiate among life‐stages of prey. Such efforts, combined with more empirical testing of each dietary method and establishment of open data repositories for dietary data, promise to greatly advance community and ecosystem ecology.
Mendelian randomisation analysis provides no evidence for a relationship between adult height and testicular cancer risk
Authors: Levy M. , Hall D. , Sud A. , Law P. , Litchfield K. , Dudakia D. , Haugen T. B. , Karlsson R. , Reid A. , Huddart R. A. , Grotmol T. , Wiklund F. , Houlston R. S. , Turnbull C.
Published: August 2017

Observational studies have suggested anthropometric traits, particularly increased height are associated with an elevated risk of testicular cancer (testicular germ cell tumour). However, there is an inconsistency between study findings, suggesting the possibility of the influence of confounding factors. To examine the association between anthropometric traits and testicular germ cell tumour using an unbiased approach, we performed a Mendelian randomisation study. We used genotype data from genome wide association studies of testicular germ cell tumour totalling 5518 cases and 19,055 controls. Externally weighted polygenic risk scores were created and used to evaluate associations with testicular germ cell tumour risk per one standard deviation (s.d) increase in genetically‐defined adult height, adult BMI, adult waist hip ratio adjusted for BMI (WHRadjBMI), adult hip circumference adjusted for BMI (HIPadjBMI), adult waist circumference adjusted for BMI (WCadjBMI), birth weight (BW) and childhood obesity. Mendelian randomisation analysis did not demonstrate an association between any anthropometric trait and testicular germ cell tumour risk. In particular, despite good power, there was no global evidence for association between height and testicular germ cell tumour. However, three SNPs for adult height individually showed association with testicular germ cell tumour (rs4624820: OR = 1.47, 95% CI: 1.41–1.55, p = 2.7 × 10−57; rs12228415: OR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.11–1.22, p = 3.1 × 10−10; rs7568069: OR = 1.13, 95% CI: 1.07–1.18, p = 1.1 × 10−6). This Mendelian randomisation analysis, based on the largest testicular germ cell tumour genome wide association dataset to date, does not support a causal etiological association between anthropometric traits and testicular germ cell tumour aetiology. Our findings are more compatible with confounding by shared environmental factors, possibly related to prenatal growth with exposure to these risk factors occurring in utero.
Bonding, bridging and linking social networks: A qualitative study of the emergency management of Cyclone Pam, Vanuatu
Authors: Vachette Astrid , King David , Cottrell Alison
Published: August 2017

Cyclone Pam (March 2015) was an unprecedented event in Vanuatu forcing the simultaneous involvement of national and long‐term international actors, well integrated into the national disaster governance system, as well as numerous short‐term international actors, unfamiliar with the geopolitical and cultural disaster context of the country. Cooperation between these three groups of actors evolved through the three scales of bonding, bridging and linking social networking. This paper questions the different drivers and challenges within and across these scales of social networks affecting cooperation among the three different groups of actors during an emergency. Using a mixed methodology based on social network analysis, this paper utilises the case study of Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu to study the strengths and weaknesses of the disaster governance system in place based on bonding and bridging social capital to conduct disaster risk management and to prepare the integration of linking social capital when external support is needed. This paper contributes to the identification of key considerations in the development of resilience‐building strategies: the interactions of diverse actors to address disaster management needs and the reciprocal impacts of these interactions within and across the three different scales of social networks.
A Matrix-based Method of Moments for Fitting Multivariate Network Meta-analysis Models with Multiple Outcomes and Random Inconsistency Effects
Authors: Jackson Dan , Bujkiewicz Sylwia , Law Martin , Riley Richard D. , White Ian R.
Published: August 2017

Random-effects meta-analyses are very commonly used in medical statistics. Recent methodological developments include multivariate (multiple outcomes) and network (multiple treatments) meta-analysis. Here, we provide a new model and corresponding estimation procedure for multivariate network meta-analysis, so that multiple outcomes and treatments can be included in a single analysis. Our new multivariate model is a direct extension of a univariate model for network meta-analysis that has recently been proposed. We allow two types of unknown variance parameters in our model, which represent between-study heterogeneity and inconsistency. Inconsistency arises when different forms of direct and indirect evidence are not in agreement, even having taken between-study heterogeneity into account. However, the consistency assumption is often assumed in practice and so we also explain how to fit a reduced model which makes this assumption. Our estimation method extends several other commonly used methods for meta-analysis, including the method proposed by DerSimonian and Laird (1986). We investigate the use of our proposed methods in the context of both a simulation study and a real example.
Associations between behaviours that challenge in adults with intellectual disability, parental perceptions and parental mental health
Authors: Waite Jane , Rose John , Wilde Lucy , Eden Kate , Stinton Chris , Moss Jo , Oliver Chris
Published: August 2017

Objectives

This study examined parental perceptions of behaviours that challenge (CB) in their adult children with intellectual disability (ID), and explored whether perceptions mediated associations between CB and parental psychological distress.

Design

A within‐group correlational design was employed.

Methods

Sixty‐five parents reported on individuals with genetic syndromes and ID who had chronic CB. Parents completed the Illness Perception Questionnaire‐Revised (IPQ‐R) adapted to measure perceptions of self‐injury, aggression or property destruction, alongside assessments of parental locus of control, attributions about behaviour, parental psychological distress, and CB.

Results

A high proportion of parents evidenced anxiety and depression at clinically significant levels (56.9% and 30.8%, respectively). Contrary to predictions, psychological distress was not significantly associated with CB. The perception that the adult with ID exerted control over the parent's life mediated the association between CB and parental psychological distress. Few parents endorsed operant reinforcement as a cause of CB (< 10%).

Conclusions

The high levels of psychological distress in parents is notable and of concern. Further research should consider the reasons why parents have causal attributions that might be inconsistent with contemporary interventions.

Practitioner points

Parents experience high levels of psychological distress while supporting adults with ID who engage in chronic behaviours that challenge.

A stronger belief that the adult with ID exerts control over the parent's life may mediate an association between CB exhibited by the individual with ID and parental psychological distress.

Few parents endorsed operant reinforcement as a cause of behaviours that challenge.
Persistent detection of alternatively spliced BCR‐ABL variant results in a failure to achieve deep molecular response
Authors: Yuda Junichiro , Miyamoto Toshihiro , Odawara Jun , Ohkawa Yasuyuki , Semba Yuichiro , Hayashi Masayasu , Miyamura Koichi , Tanimoto Mitsune , Yamamoto Kazuhito , Taniwaki Masafumi , Akashi Koichi
Published: August 2017

Treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) may sequentially induce TKI‐resistant BCR‐ABL mutants in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Conventional PCR monitoring of BCR‐ABL is an important indicator to determine therapeutic intervention for preventing disease progression. However, PCR cannot separately quantify amounts of BCR‐ABL and its mutants, including alternatively spliced BCR‐ABL with an insertion of 35 intronic nucleotides (BCR‐ABLIns35bp) between ABL exons 8 and 9, which introduces the premature termination and loss of kinase activity. To assess the clinical impact of BCR‐ABL mutants, we performed deep sequencing analysis of BCR‐ABL transcripts of 409 samples from 37 patients with suboptimal response to frontline imatinib who were switched to nilotinib. At baseline, TKI‐resistant mutations were documented in 3 patients, whereas BCR‐ABLIns35bp was detected in all patients. After switching to nilotinib, both BCR‐ABL and BCR‐ABLIns35bp became undetectable in 3 patients who attained complete molecular response (CMR), whereas in the remaining all 34 patients, BCR‐ABLIns35bp was persistently detected, and minimal residual disease (MRD) fluctuated at low but detectable levels. PCR monitoring underestimated molecular response in 5 patients whose BCR‐ABLIns35bp was persisted, although BCR‐ABLIns35bp does not definitively mark TKI resistance. Therefore, quantification of BCR‐ABLIns35bp is useful for evaluating “functional” MRD and determining the effectiveness of TKI with accuracy.
Corticotrophin‐releasing hormone stimulation tests for the infants with relative adrenal insufficiency
Authors: Iwanaga Kougoro , Yamamoto Akane , Matsukura Takashi , Niwa Fusako , Kawai Masahiko
Published: August 2017

Background

Very low birthweight (VLBW) infants are considered to be vulnerable to relative adrenal insufficiency (RAI); however, diagnosis is difficult in some clinical settings. Considering this background, it is necessary to establish a diagnosis of RAI in preterm infants.

Objective

In this study, we attempted to clarify the difference in response to CRH stimulation tests for preterm infants with or without RAI.

Methods

Between June 2009 and December 2015, we performed CRH stimulation tests for preterm infants born at a gestational age of <30 weeks at around 2 weeks of age. Retrospectively, subjects were classified into two groups: infants with RAI (n = 9) or without RAI (n = 17) based on the clinical symptoms and responsiveness to hydrocortisone.

Results

We found no difference in base or peak serum cortisol levels related to CRH stimulation tests between the two groups; however, delta cortisol levels and responsive ratio (peak‐to‐base ratio) were significantly reduced in infants with RAI. 140 nmol/L for delta cortisol or 1.5 times for peak‐to‐base ratio may be cut‐off levels in preterm infants.

Conclusion

This study provides evidence that base cortisol levels of preterm infants with RAI were not different from those without RAI; however, CRH stimulation tests may be a useful tool for the diagnosis of RAI in preterm infants.
Fast and Memory‐Efficient Voronoi Diagram Construction on Triangle Meshes
Authors: Qin Yipeng , Yu Hongchuan , Zhang Jianjun
Published: August 2017

Geodesic based Voronoi diagrams play an important role in many applications of computer graphics. Constructing such Voronoi diagrams usually resorts to exact geodesics. However, exact geodesic computation always consumes lots of time and memory, which has become the bottleneck of constructing geodesic based Voronoi diagrams. In this paper, we propose the window‐VTP algorithm, which can effectively reduce redundant computation and save memory. As a result, constructing Voronoi diagrams using the proposed window‐VTP algorithm runs 3–8 times faster than Liu et al.'s method [LCT11], 1.2 times faster than its FWP‐MMP variant and more importantly uses 10–70 times less memory than both of them.
Stochastic Heat Kernel Estimation on Sampled Manifolds
Authors: Aumentado‐Armstrong T. , Siddiqi K.
Published: August 2017

The heat kernel is a fundamental geometric object associated to every Riemannian manifold, used across applications in computer vision, graphics, and machine learning. In this article, we propose a novel computational approach to estimating the heat kernel of a statistically sampled manifold (e.g. meshes or point clouds), using its representation as the transition density function of Brownian motion on the manifold. Our approach first constructs a set of local approximations to the manifold via moving least squares. We then simulate Brownian motion on the manifold by stochastic numerical integration of the associated Ito diffusion system. By accumulating a number of these trajectories, a kernel density estimation method can then be used to approximate the transition density function of the diffusion process, which is equivalent to the heat kernel. We analyse our algorithm on the 2‐sphere, as well as on shapes in 3D. Our approach is readily parallelizable and can handle manifold samples of large size as well as surfaces of high co‐dimension, since all the computations are local. We relate our method to the standard approaches in diffusion geometry and discuss directions for future work.
Enhancing the Realism of Sketch and Painted Portraits With Adaptable Patches
Authors: Lee Yin‐Hsuan , Chang Yu‐Kai , Chang Yu‐Lun , Lin I‐Chen , Wang Yu‐Shuen , Lin Wen‐Chieh
Published: August 2017

Realizing unrealistic faces is a complicated task that requires a rich imagination and comprehension of facial structures. When face matching, warping or stitching techniques are applied, existing methods are generally incapable of capturing detailed personal characteristics, are disturbed by block boundary artefacts, or require painting‐photo pairs for training. This paper presents a data‐driven framework to enhance the realism of sketch and portrait paintings based only on photo samples. It retrieves the optimal patches of adaptable shapes and numbers according to the content of the input portrait and collected photos. These patches are then seamlessly stitched by chromatic gain and offset compensation and multi‐level blending. Experiments and user evaluations show that the proposed method is able to generate realistic and novel results for a moderately sized photo collection.
Aid relief in Haiti after the earthquake: Haitians’ preferences for food and other basic commodities
Authors: Lusk Jayson L. , Andre Rock
Published: August 2017

The earthquake that struck Haiti at the start of 2010 led to impressive international solidarity in the recovery effort. Despite the tons of aid sent to Haiti, relatively little is known about the effectiveness of the aid or about the continuing needs of the Haitians. Using data collected from in‐person surveys with over 1,000 Haitians in two major cities, we sought to quantify some of the impacts of the earthquake while determining people's relative preferences for food and other basic needs in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake. The results indicate that almost two thirds of Haitians lost a friend to the earthquake, and nearly half lost a family member. People reported spending more on food in the aftermath of the earthquake, and the level of food aid received does not appear to have any impact on food expenditures. Among different types of aid, Haitians stated being most in need of a job—something difficult for international aid agencies to supply over the long run. They also indicated that quality of life would be most improved by education. The lessons learned in Haiti may prove useful in addressing future natural disasters.
Rapid evolution of symbiont‐mediated resistance compromises biological control of aphids by parasitoids
Authors: Käch Heidi , Mathé‐Hubert Hugo , Dennis Alice B. , Vorburger Christoph
Published: August 2017

There is growing interest in biological control as a sustainable and environmentally friendly way to control pest insects. Aphids are among the most detrimental agricultural pests worldwide, and parasitoid wasps are frequently employed for their control. The use of asexual parasitoids may improve the effectiveness of biological control because only females kill hosts and because asexual populations have a higher growth rate than sexuals. However, asexuals may have a reduced capacity to track evolutionary change in their host populations. We used a factorial experiment to compare the ability of sexual and asexual populations of the parasitoid Lysiphlebus fabarum to control caged populations of black bean aphids (Aphis fabae) of high and low clonal diversity. The aphids came from a natural population, and one‐third of the aphid clones harbored Hamiltonella defensa, a heritable bacterial endosymbiont that increases resistance to parasitoids. We followed aphid and parasitoid population dynamics for 3 months but found no evidence that the reproductive mode of parasitoids affected their effectiveness as biocontrol agents, independent of host clonal diversity. Parasitoids failed to control aphids in most cases, because their introduction resulted in strong selection for clones protected by H. defensa. The increasingly resistant aphid populations escaped control by parasitoids, and we even observed parasitoid extinctions in many cages. The rapid evolution of symbiont‐conferred resistance in turn imposed selection on parasitoids. In cages where asexual parasitoids persisted until the end of the experiment, they became dominated by a single genotype able to overcome the protection provided by H. defensa. Thus, there was evidence for parasitoid counteradaptation, but it was generally too slow for parasitoids to regain control over aphid populations. It appears that when pest aphids possess defensive symbionts, the presence of parasitoid genotypes able to overcome symbiont‐conferred resistance is more important for biocontrol success than their reproductive mode.
Applying landscape genomic tools to forest management and restoration of Hawaiian koa (Acacia koa) in a changing environment
Authors: Gugger Paul F. , Liang Christina T. , Sork Victoria L. , Hodgskiss Paul , Wright Jessica W.
Published: August 2017

Identifying and quantifying the importance of environmental variables in structuring population genetic variation can help inform management decisions for conservation, restoration, or reforestation purposes, in both current and future environmental conditions. Landscape genomics offers a powerful approach for understanding the environmental factors that currently associate with genetic variation, and given those associations, where populations may be most vulnerable under future environmental change. Here, we applied genotyping by sequencing to generate over 11,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms from 311 trees and then used nonlinear, multivariate environmental association methods to examine spatial genetic structure and its association with environmental variation in an ecologically and economically important tree species endemic to Hawaii, Acacia koa. Admixture and principal components analyses showed that trees from different islands are genetically distinct in general, with the exception of some genotypes that match other islands, likely as the result of recent translocations. Gradient forest and generalized dissimilarity models both revealed a strong association between genetic structure and mean annual rainfall. Utilizing a model for projected future climate on the island of Hawaii, we show that predicted changes in rainfall patterns may result in genetic offset, such that trees no longer may be genetically matched to their environment. These findings indicate that knowledge of current and future rainfall gradients can provide valuable information for the conservation of existing populations and also help refine seed transfer guidelines for reforestation or replanting of koa throughout the state.
Use of a saliva‐based diagnostic test to identify tapeworm infection in horses in the UK
Authors: Lightbody K. L. , Matthews J. B. , Kemp‐Symonds J. G. , Lambert P. A. , Austin C. J.
Published: August 2017

Background

Anthelmintic resistance combined with limited chemotherapeutic options has prompted a change in approaches to control of equine helminth infections. Targeted selective treatment strategies use diagnostics to reduce anthelmintic use by treating individuals with worm burdens or egg shedding levels above a set threshold. While faecal egg count analysis has limitations for informing tapeworm treatment, a commercially available saliva‐based diagnostic test accurately diagnoses horses with tapeworm infection.

Objectives

Evaluation of a saliva‐based diagnostic test to identify horses naturally infected with tapeworm and assess the impact of using the test to inform anthelmintic administration.

Study design

Retrospective longitudinal study.

Methods

Saliva was collected from horses (n = 237) at a UK welfare charity from autumn 2015 to autumn 2016. Horses diagnosed as positive for tapeworm infection using the EquiSal® Tapeworm test were anthelmintic treated according to weight. The number of horses that received anthelmintic treatment based on the test result was compared with an all‐group treatment approach and the reduction in anthelmintic usage calculated. Incoming horses were also tested (n = 143) and the information was used to inform quarantine treatments.

Results

In autumn 2015, 85% of 237 horses tested received no anthelmintic and the majority (71%) of these remained below the treatment threshold throughout the study. Of the 69 horses that received treatment, seven required treatment following three subsequent tests, while >50% of horses administered with anthelmintic fell below the treatment threshold at the following test. No increase in tapeworm prevalence within the 237 horses was observed during the study despite a substantial reduction in the application of antitapeworm treatments. A total of 41% of incoming horses required anticestode treatment.

Main limitations

Other management practices were not included in the analysis.

Conclusions

Compared with an all‐group treatment strategy, the diagnostic‐led approach used here considerably reduced application of anticestode anthelmintics. This could reduce selection pressure for anthelmintic resistance.
The dock‐and‐coalesce mechanism for the association of a WASP disordered region with the Cdc42 GTPase
Authors: Ou Li , Matthews Megan , Pang Xiaodong , Zhou Huan‐Xiang
Published: August 2017

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) play key roles in signaling and regulation. Many IDPs undergo folding upon binding to their targets. We have proposed that coupled folding and binding of IDPs generally follow a dock‐and‐coalesce mechanism, whereby a segment of the IDP, through diffusion, docks to its cognate subsite and, subsequently, the remaining segments coalesce around their subsites. Here, by a combination of experiment and computation, we determined the precise form of dock‐and‐coalesce operating in the association between the intrinsically disordered GTPase‐binding domain (GBD) of the Wiskott–Aldrich Syndrome protein and the Cdc42 GTPase. The association rate constants (ka) were measured by stopped‐flow fluorescence under various solvent conditions. ka reached 107 m−1·s−1 at physiological ionic strength and had a strong salt dependence, suggesting that an electrostatically enhanced, diffusion‐controlled docking step may be rate limiting. Our computation, based on the transient‐complex theory, identified the N‐terminal basic region of the GBD as the docking segment. However, several other changes in solvent conditions provided strong evidence that the coalescing step also contributed to determining the magnitude of ka. Addition of glucose and trifluoroethanol and an increase in temperature all produced experimental ka values much higher than expected from the effects on the docking rate alone. Conversely, addition of urea led to ka values much lower than expected if only the docking rate was affected. These results all pointed to ka being approximately two‐thirds of the docking rate constant under physiological solvent conditions.
Reactive alloy melt infiltration for SiC composite matrices: Mechanistic insights
Authors: Reitz Rebecca B. , Zok Frank W. , Levi Carlos G.
Published: August 2017

A comparative study of reactive melt infiltration using Si and Si‐Y alloys is presented to provide insight into the governing processes that control the effectiveness of the melt interaction with a carbonaceous preform and the temperature capability of the SiC matrix for ceramic matrix composites. Through experiments on two substantially different scales of capillaries in porous graphite tubes using Si and Si‐Y alloys, the current study has characterized the phenomena that play a role in the infiltration of the melt and its reaction with the preform. It is shown that (i) the interface reaction controls wetting in both large and small capillaries and the climb rate is enhanced by the presence of Y; (ii) reaction choking occurs at critical throats within the pore network, usually behind the infiltration front; and (iii) different residual silicides can form during reaction and upon cooling. A potential mechanism for SiC growth is described, and the implications for the interplay between SiC growth and infiltration are discussed.
Presence of the telescope fish Mendosoma lineatum in Patagonian waters, a new species in the ichthyological fauna from the south‐west Atlantic Ocean
Authors: Bovcon N. D. , Cochia P. D. , Ruibal Núñez J. , Vucica M. , Figueroa D. E.
Published: August 2017

The presence of the telescope fish Mendosoma lineatum in Patagonian waters of Argentina is reported. Mendosoma lineatum is the second species of the Latridae recorded in the south‐west Atlantic Ocean and its presence in Patagonia is an addition to both the ichthyological fauna of the Argentinean Sea and the south‐west Atlantic Ocean.
Thiopurines prevented surgical recurrence in patients with Crohn's disease after intestinal resection: Strategy based on risk stratification
Authors: Guo Jing , Chen Bai‐li , Chen Zhi‐hui , Luo Xia‐peng , Qiu Yun , Zhang Sheng‐hong , Feng Rui , He Yao , Zeng Zhi‐rong , Song Xin‐ming , Ben‐Horin Shomron , Mao Ren , Chen Min‐hu
Published: August 2017

Background and Aim

Thiopurines (TPs) are effective in reducing clinical and endoscopic recurrence in postoperative patients with Crohn's disease (CD). However, whether TPs could prevent surgical recurrence (SR) remains unknown. We aimed to explore whether TPs could prevent SR and identify risk factors associated with SR.

Methods

This was a retrospective cohort study of 246 postoperative patients with CD. Cox proportional hazard model was used to identify risk factors for SR. Patients were stratified according to the presence of risk factors.

Results

A total of 50 (20.3%) patients suffered SR after a mean follow up of 54.3±46.4 months. Multivariable analysis showed independent risk factors for SR were penetrating disease behavior (HR 8.628; 95% CI 1.573–47.341; P = 0.01), ileocolonic disease location (HR 2.597; 95% CI 1.047–6.445; P = 0.04) and isolated upper gastrointestinal disease (UGID) location (HR 5.082; 95% CI 1.496–17.267; P = 0.009). However, use of TPs after surgery significantly reduced the risk of SR (HR 0.120; 95% CI 0.063–0.231; P < 0.001). When stratifying patients according to risk factors, there was no statistical difference of SR between patients treated or not by TPs (P = 0.08) in low‐risk group (n = 46). However, in high risk group (n = 200), patients with TPs use had a lower risk of SR than those without TPs (HR 0.093; 95% CI 0.048–0.178; P < 0.001).

Conclusions

Penetrating disease behavior and ileocolonic/isolated (UGID) location were associated with SR in CD patients. TPs use was beneficial in decreasing risk for SR in CD patients at high risk.
Alternative Methods for Solving Heterogeneous Firm Models
Authors: TERRY STEPHEN J.
Published: August 2017

I implement and compare five solution methods for a benchmark heterogeneous firms model with lumpy capital adjustment and aggregate uncertainty. The Krusell–Smith algorithm performs best within a group of methods using projection in the aggregate states. Another technique, Parameterization plus Perturbation, is much faster and performs best within a group of methods using perturbation in aggregates. However, projection and perturbation have nonoverlapping strengths and weaknesses. I highlight the resulting trade‐offs with several model extensions. I recommend that researchers apply projection methods to cases with large shocks or nonlinear dynamics, while cases with explicitly distributional channels at work favor perturbation.
Institutional Investors and the QE Portfolio Balance Channel
Authors: JOYCE MICHAEL A.S. , LIU ZHUOSHI , TONKS IAN
Published: August 2017

The operation of the portfolio balance channel has been emphasized by monetary policymakers as a key channel through which quantitative easing (QE) policies work. We assess whether the investment behavior of insurance companies and pension funds in the United Kingdom during the global financial crisis was consistent with such an effect by analyzing both sectoral and institution‐level data. Our results suggest QE led to institutional investors shifting their portfolios away from government bonds toward corporate bonds but did not lead to a shift into equities.
House Prices and Government Spending Shocks
Authors: KHAN HASHMAT , REZA ABEER
Published: August 2017

We show that dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models with housing and collateralized borrowing predict a fall in house prices following positive government spending shocks. By contrast, we show that house prices in the United States rise persistently after identified positive government spending shocks. We clarify that the incorrect house price response is due to a general property of DSGE models—approximately constant shadow value of housing—and that modifying preferences and production structure cannot help in obtaining the correct house price response. Properly accounting for the empirical evidence on government spending shocks and house prices using a DSGE model therefore remains a significant challenge.
Net Settlement and Counterparty Risk: Evidence from the Formation of the New York Stock Exchange Clearing House in 1892
Authors: MCSHERRY BERNARD , WILSON BERRY K. , MCANDREWS JAMES J.
Published: August 2017

The securities settlement literature indicates that centralized settlement can reduce monitoring incentives and lead to excessive risk‐taking and inefficient risk‐sharing. This paper examines broker‐failure rates and counterparty losses surrounding the transition from bilateral to multilateral settlement facilitated by the NYSE. Study results provide evidence that net settlement reduced failures without diminishing risk constraining incentives. The study constructs a controlled comparison of broker failures through data collected from the NYSE and the Consolidated Stock Exchange, which traded identical securities settled under different systems. The results suggest that multilateral settlement is advantageous when financial markets are highly stressed.
Do Data Revisions Matter for DSGE Estimation?
Authors: GIVENS GREGORY E.
Published: August 2017

This paper checks whether the coefficient estimates of a famous dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model are robust to macroeconomic data revisions. The effects of revisions are captured by rerunning the estimation on a real‐time data set compiled using the latest time series available each quarter from 1997 through 2015. Results show that estimates of the structural parameters are generally robust to changes in the data that have occurred over the past 20 years. By comparison, standard error estimates are more sensitive to revisions. The latter implies that judgments about the statistical significance of certain parameters depend on which data vintage is used for estimation.
Mandate for the Nursing Profession to Address Climate Change Through Nursing Education
Authors: Leffers Jeanne , Levy Ruth McDermott , Nicholas Patrice K. , Sweeney Casey F.
Published: August 2017

Purpose

The adverse health effects from climate change demand action from the nursing profession. This article examines the calls to action, the status of climate change in nursing education, and challenges and recommendations for nursing education related to climate change and human health.

Organizing Construct

Discussion paper.

Findings

The integration of climate change into nursing education is essential so that knowledge, skills, and insights critical for clinical practice in our climate‐changing world are incorporated in curricula, practice, research, and policy. Our Ecological Planetary Health Model offers a framework for nursing to integrate relevant climate change education into nursing curricula and professional nursing education. Nursing education can offer a leadership role to address the mitigation, adaptation, and resilience strategies for climate change.

Conclusions

An ecological framework is valuable for nursing education regarding climate change through its consideration of political, cultural, economic, and environmental interrelationships on human health and the health of the planet. Knowledge of climate change is important for integration into basic and advanced nursing education, as well as professional education for nurses to address adverse health impacts, climate change responses policy, and advocacy roles.

Clinical Relevance

For current and future nurses to provide care within a climate‐changing environment, nursing education has a mandate to integrate knowledge about climate change issues across all levels of nursing education. Competence in nursing practice follows from knowledge and skill acquisition gained from integration of climate change content into nursing education.
A dyadic typology of social desires in couples
Authors: Czikmantori Thomas , Hagemeyer Birk , Engeser Stefan
Published: August 2017

Objective

Employing a couple‐centered approach to social motivation in intimate relationships, we developed a dyadic typology based on the ABC model of communal and agentic social desires.

Method

Using latent profile analysis, 631 heterosexual couples (age women: M = 39.7, SD = 13.6; age men: M = 42.0, SD = 14.1) were categorized regarding both partners' self‐reported desires for closeness with partner, for affiliation with friends, and for being alone. Couple types were described using self‐reported indicators of relationship functioning. Relationship stability was assessed after 1 year, and in stable couples, social desires were reassessed to examine continuity and change.

Results

We identified four motivational couple types. Three profiles showed similar orientations between partners and were labeled the communion, closeness, and distance couple types. Additionally, the distanced‐man type was characterized by a low desire for closeness and a high desire for being alone in men, but not women. The communion and closeness types showed better relationship functioning than the other types, and the distanced‐man type showed an increased rate of relationship break‐up.

Conclusions

A couple‐centered, typological approach provides a viable way of studying complex dyadic motivational constellations and their consequences. This is beneficial for researchers as well as practitioners.
Bullying Victimization Trajectories for Sexual Minority Adolescents: Stable Victims, Desisters, and Late‐Onset Victims
Authors: Sterzing Paul R. , Gibbs Jeremy J. , Gartner Rachel E. , Goldbach Jeremy T.
Published: August 2017

Sexual minority adolescents are bullied more frequently than heterosexual peers. Research is lacking on their rates of general and sexual orientation bullying victimization. The present study identified (1) the rate, onset, and desistance of general and sexual orientation bullying victimization, (2) the rate of bullying victimization trajectories, and (3) risk and protective factors across trajectories. A life history calendar method and thematic analysis were employed with a sexual minority adolescent sample (N = 52, 14–20 y/o). General bullying began at age 5 and declined after age 12, with sexual orientation bullying increasing throughout adolescence. Late‐onset victim (34.6%) was the most common trajectory, followed by stable victim (28.9%), desister (23.1%), and nonvictim (13.5%). Differences in risk and protective factors were found across trajectories.