bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Keratorefractive Effect of High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Keratoplasty on Rabbit Eyes
Authors: Du Zhiyu , Yan Pisong , Luo Qiang , Zhang Dan , Zhang Yu
Published: June 2016

Purpose. To evaluate high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) as an innovation and noninvasive technique to correct presbyopia by altering corneal curvature in the rabbit eye.Methods. Eighteen enucleated rabbit eyes were treated with a prototype HIFU keratoplasty. According to the therapy power, these eyes were divided three groups: group 1 (1 W), group 2 (2 W), and group 3 (3 W). The change in corneal power was quantified by a Sirius Scheimpflug camera. Light microscopy (LM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were performed to determine the effect on the corneal stroma.Results. In the treated eyes, the corneal curvature increases from 49.42 ± 0.30 diopters (D) and 48.00 ± 1.95 D before procedure to 51.37 ± 1.11 D and 57.00 ± 1.84 D after HIFU keratoplasty application in groups 1 and 3, respectively. The major axis and minor axis of the focal region got longer when the powers of the HIFU got increased; the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). LM and TEM showed HIFU-induced shrinkage of corneal stromal collagen with little disturbance to the underlying epithelium.Conclusions. We have preliminarily exploited HIFU to establish a new technique for correcting presbyopia. HIFU keratoplasty will be a good application prospect for treating presbyopia.
The Role Descriptions of Triage Nurse in Emergency Department: A Delphi Study
Authors: Ebrahimi Mohsen , Mirhaghi Amir , Mazlom Reza , Heydari Abbas , Nassehi Asra , Jafari Mojtaba
Published: June 2016

Background. Triage nurses play a pivotal role in the emergency department. However some researchers have attempted to expand triage nurse’s role; remarkable discrepancies exist among scholarly communities. The aim was to develop a role description of triage nurse relying on the experts.Methods. A modified Delphi study consisting of 3 rounds was performed from March to October 2014. In the first round, an extensive review of the literature was conducted. Expert selection was conducted through a purposeful sample of 38 emergency medicine experts.Results. Response rates for the second and third rounds were 37% and 58%. Average age of panelists was (38.42±5.94) years. Thirty-nine out of 54 items reached to the final round. Prioritizing had the higher agreement rate and least agreement on triage related interventions.Conclusion. Triage nursing as a relatively new role for nurses needs significant development to be practiced. Comprehensive educational programs and developmental research are required to support diagnostic and therapeutic interventions in triage practice by nurses.
The Incidence of Euphoria in Multiple Sclerosis: Artefact of Measure
Authors: Duncan Amy , Malcolm-Smith Susan , Ameen Ozayr , Solms Mark
Published: June 2016

Background. A subgroup of MS patients present with “euphoria.” Classical authors describe this symptom as the predominant mood state of these patients, while contemporary authors regard it as rare.Objective. This study aimed to address these discrepancies and investigate the contributions made by varying operational definitions and measurement instruments.Methods. One hundred MS patients and 100 matched controls completed the classical interview of Cottrell and Wilson and the modern Neuropsychiatric Inventory in a once-off interview.Results. The MS group demonstrated high frequencies of euphoria using the classical measure but low frequencies using the contemporary measure and definition. The matched control group demonstrated significantly higher rates than the MS group using the classical measure and lower rates than the MS group using the contemporary measure.Conclusion. The discrepancies in incidence rates of euphoria noted in the literature do not reflect a change in the incidence of euphoria in MS, but rather in the definition and operationalisation of “euphoria.” Furthermore, these results highlight the importance of characterising what represents pathological euphoria as well as the need for better definitions and instruments of measure.
Regeneration of Zebrafish CNS: Adult Neurogenesis
Authors: Ghosh Sukla , Hui Subhra Prakash
Published: June 2016

Regeneration in the animal kingdom is one of the most fascinating problems that have allowed scientists to address many issues of fundamental importance in basic biology. However, we came to know that the regenerative capability may vary across different species. Among vertebrates, fish and amphibians are capable of regenerating a variety of complex organs through epimorphosis. Zebrafish is an excellent animal model, which can repair several organs like damaged retina, severed spinal cord, injured brain and heart, and amputated fins. The focus of the present paper is on spinal cord regeneration in adult zebrafish. We intend to discuss our current understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanism(s) that allows formation of proliferating progenitors and controls neurogenesis, which involve changes in epigenetic and transcription programs. Unlike mammals, zebrafish retains radial glia, a nonneuronal cell type in their adult central nervous system. Injury induced proliferation involves radial glia which proliferate, transcribe embryonic genes, and can give rise to new neurons. Recent technological development of exquisite molecular tools in zebrafish, such as cell ablation, lineage analysis, and novel and substantial microarray, together with advancement in stem cell biology, allowed us to investigate how progenitor cells contribute to the generation of appropriate structures and various underlying mechanisms like reprogramming.
A Prospective Study of the Incidence of Retinopathy of Prematurity in China: Evaluation of Different Screening Criteria
Authors: Li Qiuping , Wang Zonghua , Wang Ruijuan , Tang Hongyi , Chen Haihua , Feng Zhichun
Published: June 2016

To investigate the incidence of Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) in Beijing, North China, and to evaluate the effectiveness of different ROP screening criteria, we conducted a prospective cohort study in a single-neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). A total of 2997 premature infants with birth weight (BW) ≤ 2000 g and/or gestational age (GA) ≤ 34 weeks had completed ROP screening. ROP was diagnosed in 356 (11.9%) infants. The mean GA was 30.46 ± 1.98 weeks and the mean BW was 1477.35 ± 371.29 g. Of the 59 (2.0%) infants receiving treatment, the mean GA was 29.37 ± 2.10 weeks, and the mean BW was 1240.80 ± 330.71 g. The incidence of ROP declined from 14.7% in 2009 and 11.1% in 2010 to 9.5% in 2011. The United Kingdom (UK) criteria could reduce the screening number by 40.8%, and 3 infants with type I ROP needing treatment were missed, but none in 2011. The United States (US) criteria could reduce the screening number by 66.5%, and 10 infants with type I ROP needing treatment were missed, including one in 2011. So the UK criteria may be appropriate for screening of ROP in our NICU in 2011. Future multisite epidemiologic studies are required to establish suitable ROP screening criteria in China.
C-Terminal Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Peptide: A New Sepsis Biomarker with Immunomodulatory Function
Authors: Blaurock Nancy , Schmerler Diana , Hünniger Kerstin , Kurzai Oliver , Ludewig Katrin , Baier Michael , Brunkhorst Frank Martin , Imhof Diana , Kiehntopf Michael
Published: June 2016

Systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) is a life threatening condition and the leading cause of death in intensive care units. Although single aspects of pathophysiology have been described in detail, numerous unknown mediators contribute to the progression of this complex disease. The aim of this study was to elucidate the pathophysiological role of CAAP48, a C-terminal alpha-1 antitrypsin fragment, that we found to be elevated in septic patients and to apply this peptide as diagnostic marker for infectious and noninfectious etiologies of SIRS. Incubation of human polymorphonuclear neutrophils with synthetic CAAP48, the SNP-variant CAAP47, and several control peptides revealed intense neutrophil activation, induction of neutrophil chemotaxis, reduction of neutrophil viability, and release of cytokines. We determined the abundance of CAAP48 in patients with severe sepsis, severe SIRS of noninfectious origin, and viral infection. CAAP48 levels were 3-4-fold higher in patients with sepsis compared to SIRS of noninfectious origin and allowed discrimination of those patients with high sensitivity and specificity. Our results suggest that CAAP48 is a promising discriminatory sepsis biomarker with immunomodulatory functions, particularly on human neutrophils, supporting its important role in the host response and pathophysiology of sepsis.
Using Soluble Transferrin Receptor and Taking Inflammation into Account When Defining Serum Ferritin Cutoffs Improved the Diagnosis of Iron Deficiency in a Group of Canadian Preschool Inuit Children from Nunavik
Authors: Turgeon O’Brien Huguette , Blanchet Rosanne , Gagné Doris , Lauzière Julie , Vézina Carole
Published: June 2016

The prevalence of iron depletion, iron deficient erythropoiesis (IDE), and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) was assessed in preschool Inuit children using soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) and traditional indicators of iron status while disregarding or taking inflammation into account when defining SF cutoffs. Iron depletion was defined as follows: (1) SF < 15 μg/L regardless of the C-reactive protein (CRP) level and (2) SF < 15 or <50 μg/L with CRP ≤ 5 or >5 mg/L, respectively. IDE corresponded to iron depletion combined with total iron binding capacity > 72 μmol/L and/or transferrin saturation < 16%. Iron depletion and IDE affected almost half of the children when accounting for inflammation, compared to one-third when the SF cutoff was defined regardless of CRP level (P<0.0001). The prevalence of IDE adjusted for inflammation (45.1%) was very similar to the prevalence observed when sTfR was used as a sole marker of IDE (47.4%). The prevalence of anemia was 15%. The prevalence of IDA (IDE + hemoglobin < 110 g/L) was higher when accounting for than when disregarding inflammation (8.0% versus 6.2%,P=0.083). Using sTfR and different SF cutoffs for children with versus without inflammation improved the diagnosis of iron depletion and IDE. Our results confirm that Inuit children are at particularly high risk for iron deficiency.
Gold Nanoparticles Synthesized with a Polyphenols-Rich Extract from Cornelian Cherry (Cornus mas) Fruits: Effects on Human Skin Cells
Authors: Perde-Schrepler Maria , David Luminita , Olenic Liliana , Potara Monica , Fischer-Fodor Eva , Virag Piroska , Imre-Lucaci Florica , Brie Ioana , Florea Adrian
Published: June 2016

Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) were obtained by green synthesis with an extract fromCornus masfruits (GNPs-CM), characterized by several methods, and their biologic effects were evaluated on two cell lines: HaCaT, normal keratinocytes, and A431, epidermoid carcinoma. GNPs were spherical with sizes between 2 and 24 nm. Their optical spectra had a dominant plasmonic band centered at 525 nm; zeta potential distribution was narrow, centered at −19.7 mV, and the mean hydrodynamic diameter was 58 nm. GNPs were visualized in both cell types entering the cells by endocytosis. The amount of gold uptaken by the cells was dose and time dependent. The intracellular concentration of Au ions was higher in HaCaT compared to A431 cells. The toxicity of GNPs-CM was dose dependent being significant only when the highest concentrations were employed. A431 cells were less affected compared to HaCaT cells, but the difference was not statistically significant. ROS production was not significant, except in HaCaT cells at the highest concentration. The comet assay revealed no significant supplementary DNA lesions, while the secretion of inflammatory cytokines was modulated by the presence of GNPs only when the cells were additionally irradiated with UVB. These results recommend GNPs-CM for further testing and possible dermatological applications.
Epidemiology and Outcome of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia in a Heterogeneous ICU Population in Qatar
Authors: Ali Husain Shabbir , Khan Fahmi Yousef , George Saibu , Shaikh Nissar , Al-Ajmi Jameela
Published: June 2016

Objective. The purpose of this study is to collect data on epidemiology, microbiology, and outcome of VAP in our ICUs for reevaluation of the therapeutic strategies.Methods. This retrospective study involved all adult patients, 15 years of age or older, diagnosed with VAP in multidisciplinary ICUs at Hamad General Hospital between January 2010 and December 2012.Results. A total of 106 patients were enrolled. The mean incidence of VAP was 5.0 per 1000 ventilator-days. It was predominant among younger age group (<60 years), male patients (80.2%), and trauma ICU admissions (49.0%). The most common comorbidity was hypertension (34%) and polytrauma (36.8%) was the most frequent admission diagnosis. 30-day mortality was 23.6% and it was significantly higher in ≥60 years age group, female gender, patients with diabetes mellitus, hypertension, chronic respiratory disease, ≥1 comorbidity, and poor functional status, smokers, medical and surgical ICU admissions, and patients with previous stay in medical/surgical wards, inappropriate empirical therapy, and admission diagnosis of respiratory failure. Gram-negative bacilli were the most frequent respiratory specimen isolates,Pseudomonas spp.being the most common. Majority of ourAcinetobacterisolates were multidrug resistant.Conclusion. The incidence of VAP in our ICUs was low. Higher mortality rates were observed in certain subgroup of patients. Resistance to commonly used antimicrobials is likely to require reevaluation of the therapeutic strategies at our institution.
Analyzing the Performance of a Hybrid Heuristic for Solving a Bilevel Location Problem under Different Approaches to Tackle the Lower Level
Authors: Maldonado-Pinto Sayuri , Casas-Ramírez Martha-Selene , Camacho-Vallejo José-Fernando
Published: June 2016

The problem addressed here is a combinatorial bilevel programming problem called the uncapacitated facility location problem with customer’s preferences. A hybrid algorithm is developed for solving a battery of benchmark instances. The algorithm hybridizes an evolutionary algorithm with path relinking; the latter procedure is added into the crossover phase for exploring the trajectory between both parents. The proposed algorithm outperforms the evolutionary algorithm already existing in the literature. Results show that including a more sophisticated procedure for improving the population through the generations accelerates the convergence of the algorithm. In order to support the latter statement, a reduction of around the half of the computational time is obtained by using the hybrid algorithm. Moreover, due to the nature of bilevel problems, if feasible solutions are desired, then the lower level must be solved for each change in the upper level’s current solution. A study for illustrating the impact in the algorithm’s performance when solving the lower level through three different exact or heuristic approaches is made.
Hereditary Influence in Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm and Dissection
Authors: Isselbacher Eric M. , Lino Cardenas Christian Lacks , Lindsay Mark E.
Published: June 2016

Thoracic aortic aneurysm is a potentially life-threatening condition in that it places patients at risk for aortic dissection or rupture. However, our modern understanding of the pathogenesis of thoracic aortic aneurysm is quite limited. A genetic predisposition to thoracic aortic aneurysm has been established, and gene discovery in affected families has identified several major categories of gene alterations. The first involves mutations in genes encoding various components of the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) signaling cascade (
FBN1, TGFBR1, TGFBR2, TGFB2, TGFB3, SMAD2, SMAD3
and
SKI
), and these conditions are known collectively as the TGF-β vasculopathies. The second set of genes encode components of the smooth muscle contractile apparatus (
ACTA2, MYH11, MYLK
, and
PRKG1
), a group called the smooth muscle contraction vasculopathies. Mechanistic hypotheses based on these discoveries have shaped rational therapies, some of which are under clinical evaluation. This review discusses published data on genes involved in thoracic aortic aneurysm and attempts to explain divergent hypotheses of aneurysm origin.
Made in the Image of God: The Creation of אדם, the Commissioning of the King and the Chaoskampf of Yhwh
Authors: Crouch C.L.
Published: June 2016

This article suggests that Genesis 1 and Psalms 8, 18 and 89 reflect a mythological tradition which described the creation of the human king as Yhwh’s counterpart in the divine battle against chaos. The residual royal features of the narrative of the creation of אדם in Genesis 1—the creation of the אדם in the image of god, to exercise dominion—appear in a context of a polemical revision of Yhwh’s Chaoskampf and are suggestive of the older tradition’s inclusion of the king’s commissioning as Yhwh’s representative and earthly counterpart in these activities. Psalm 8 similarly associates the creation of a royal figure with the exertion of authority and dominion over chaos, using the same image of god language as Genesis 1 to describe this figure and to articulate his special relationship with Yhwh. Psalm 18 and especially Psalm 89 affirm the location of the king’s Chaoskampf commission in the midst of Yhwh’s own Chaoskampf activities, with the latter’s use of parental language echoing the image of god language in Genesis 1.
‘Dagon Our God’: Iron i Philistine Cult in Text and Archaeology
Authors: Emanuel Jeffrey P.
Published: June 2016

Despite the late date and dubious veracity of the Deuteronomistic history, and despite the Bible’s status as the only Bronze or Iron Age text which indisputably refers to Dagon in a southern Canaanite geographical context, scholars have traditionally accepted 1 Samuel 5:1–8’s portrayal of Philistine cult in the Iron Ageias being centered on this deity and his temple at Ashdod. This study marshals archaeological and historical evidence to assess the level of support for the presence of Dagon in IroniPhilistia, and for a temple at Ashdod as described in the biblical account. Also considered, through comparison with the materially analogous situation in the Bronze Age Aegean, is the critical role that a textual complement to physical evidence (or, in the case of the Philistines, the lack thereof) plays in cultic analysis and pantheonic reconstruction.
Josephus’s Seven Purities and the Mishnah’s Ten Holinesses
Authors: Orian Matan
Published: June 2016

This paper compares two descriptions of the Jewish hierarchy of holiness in relation to the Jerusalem temple: one from Josephus’s Jewish War, books 1 and 5, where the relevant hierarchy is referred to as the seven purities, and the other, in Mishnah Kelim 1:6-9, titled (the) ten holinesses. After analyzing the guiding principles behind the seven purities, this paper will examine the two hierarchies against the background of the biblical instructions for the exclusion of impure persons from the desert camp, and the interpretation of these instructions according to Josephus, the Temple Scroll from Qumran, and rabbinic literature. It will show that, while the seven purities is a cultic perception coherent to the exclusion of different categories of people from the temple, the ten holinesses follows different guiding principles.
INDIRECT ADVERBIAL CLAUSES IN CHINESE
Authors: Eifring Halvor
Published: June 2016

Indirect adverbial clauses are clauses with a conditional form that do not seem to give conditions, clauses with a temporal form that do not seem to indicate the time etc. For instance, the indirect conditional If you're hungry, there's food in the fridge differs semantically from the direct conditional If you're hungry, I'll give you something to eat. A similar distinction is found in Chinese. This paper examines indirect adverbial clauses in Chinese in light of what we already know about Western languages. In order to show that the patterns described are not simply results of Westernized grammar, the material from modern Chinese is supplied with example sentences from the 18th century novel Hongloumeng.
Francis Xavier at the Court of Ōtomo Yoshishige: Representations of Religious Disputation between Jesuits and Buddhists in La conversione alla santa fede del re di Bungo giaponese (1703)
Authors: Takao Makoto Harris
Published: June 2016

Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, exotic tales of conversion and martyrdom set in Japan played out upon the Jesuit stages of Europe. It is in this way that Japan’s Christian Century (1549–1639) endured in the Jesuit mind as a source of spiritual and creative inspiration. The development of the “Japanese genre” in the acted and musical dramas of the historical Society of Jesus is a scarcely travelled road of research. In exploring this unique performance tradition, the article presents an analysis of the only known example of an oratorio based on a solely Japanese theme: La conversione alla santa fede del re di Bungo giaponese (1703). The article addresses the oratorio’s literary genealogy in order to identify the librettist’s didactic intention. In so doing, the representation of theological disputations between the Jesuits and the various sects of Buddhist priests in the mid-sixteenth century is reconstructed and examined.
A new dune-dwelling lizard of the genus Leiocephalus (Iguania, Leiocephalidae) from the Dominican Republic
Authors: KÖHLER GUNTHER , BOBADILLA MARCOS J. RODRÍGUEZ , HEDGES S. BLAIR
Published: June 2016

We describe a new species of Leiocephalus from the coastal dunes of Bahía de las Calderas in the southwestern Dominican Republic. In external morphology, Leiocephalus sixtoi sp. nov. is most similar to L. schreibersii and L. inaguae. Leiocephalus sixtoi differs from L. inaguae in having a U-shaped bony parietal table (vs. V-shaped in L. inaguae), 3 or 4 enlarged postcloacal scales in males (vs. 2 in L. inaguae), most scales on snout posterior to internasal scales rugose to keeled scales (vs. smooth in L. inaguae), and a patternless throat in males, spots on the throat in females (vs. throat with dark streaks and bars in males and females of L. inaguae). Leiocephalus sixtoi differs from L. schreibersii in having the scales of the lateral fold only slightly smaller than adjacent scales (vs. scales of lateral fold distinctly smaller than adjacent scales), having prominent caudal crest scales in adult males (vs. caudal crest scales of moderate size, even in very large males in L. schreibersii), a pattern of dark gray bars on a grayish brown background in the region above the lateral body fold (vs. dense turquoise blue mottling with heavy suffusion of red pigment in L. schreibersii), a darker dorsal ground color (vs. paler in L. schreibersii), and a red iris in adult males (vs. pale grayish blue in adult male L. schreibersii). Leiocephalus sixtoi differs further from L. schreibersii in several osteological characters as follows: in L. sixtoi the nasal process of the premaxilla reaches to mid-level of the bony external nares (vs. to level of posterior margin of the bony external nares in L. schreibersii), lacking a constriction at the base of the nasal process of the premaxilla (vs. such a constriction present in L. schreibersii), and having a reduced nasal-prefrontal contact leaving the nasal processes of the frontal bone exposed (vs. nasal and prefrontal bones contact one another, thereby obscuring the nasal processes of the frontal bone in L. schreibersii). We designate SMF 26228, an adult male from Saint Marc, Province Artibonite, Haiti, as the neotype of L. schreibersii.
Platyrhina psomadakisi sp. nov., a new species of fanray (Batoidea: Platyrhinidae) from the Andaman Sea, the first record of this family in the Indian Ocean
Authors: WHITE WILLIAM T. , LAST PETER R.
Published: June 2016

A new species of fanray (Platyrhina) is described based on four specimens collected in 2015 from the Andaman Sea, off Myanmar. These represent the first records of the family Platyrhinidae from the Indian Ocean with the three other members of the genus being restricted to the North-West Pacific. The new species differs from its congeners in having a series of faint dark bands on the body and tail, more pectoral-fin radials, and much more widely separated dorsal fins.
New Geranomyia crane flies (Diptera: Limoniidae) from Korea and Kunashir Island
Authors: PODENAS SIGITAS
Published: June 2016

Geranomyia kunashir n. sp. from Kunashir Island (Far East of Russia), Geranomyia piagola n. sp. and Geranomyia semjina n. sp. from South Korea are described. Keys for all species of Korean Geranomyia are presented.
Stationary Wave Reflection as a Mechanism for Zonalizing the Atlantic Winter Jet at the LGM
Authors: Löfverström Marcus , Caballero Rodrigo , Nilsson Johan , Messori Gabriele
Published: June 2016

Current estimates of the height of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) range from around 3000 to 4500 m. Modeling studies of the LGM, using low-end estimates of the LIS height, show a relatively weak and northeastward-tilted winter jet in the North Atlantic, similar to the modern jet, while simulations with high-end LIS elevations show a much more intense and zonally oriented jet. Here, an explanation for this response of the Atlantic circulation is sought using a sequence of LGM simulations spanning a broad range of LIS elevations. It is found that increasing LIS height favors planetary wave breaking and nonlinear reflection in the subtropical North Atlantic. For high LIS elevations, planetary wave reflection becomes sufficiently prevalent that a poleward-directed flux of wave activity appears in the climatology over the midlatitude North Atlantic. This entails a zonalization of the stationary wave phase lines and thus of the midlatitude jet.
An Observationally Based Global Band-by-Band Surface Emissivity Dataset for Climate and Weather Simulations
Authors: Huang Xianglei , Chen Xiuhong , Zhou Daniel K. , Liu Xu
Published: June 2016

While current atmospheric general circulation models (GCMs) still treat the surface as a blackbody in their longwave radiation scheme, recent studies suggest the need for taking realistic surface spectral emissivity into account. There have been few measurements available for the surface emissivity in the far IR (<650 cm−1). Based on first-principle calculation, the authors compute the spectral emissivity over the entire longwave spectrum for a variety of surface types. MODIS-retrieved mid-IR surface emissivity at 0.05° × 0.05° spatial resolution is then regressed against the calculated spectral emissivity to determine the surface type for each grid. The derived spectral emissivity data are then spatially averaged onto 0.5° × 0.5° grids and spectrally integrated onto the bandwidths used by the RRTMG_LW—a longwave radiation scheme widely used in current climate and numerical weather models. The band-by-band surface emissivity dataset is then compared with retrieved surface spectral emissivities from Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) measurements. The comparison shows favorable agreement between two datasets in all the bands covered by the IASI measurements. The authors further use the dataset in conjunction with ERA-Interim to evaluate its impact on the top-of-atmosphere radiation budget. Depending on the blackbody surface assumptions used in the original calculation, the globally averaged difference caused by the inclusion of realistic surface emissivity ranges from −1.2 to −1.5 W m−2 for clear-sky OLR and from −0.67 to −0.94 W m−2 for all-sky OLR. Moreover, the difference is not spatially uniform and has a distinct spatial pattern.
Heat, Salt, and Freshwater Budgets for a Glacial Fjord in Greenland
Authors: Jackson Rebecca H. , Straneo Fiammetta
Published: June 2016

In Greenland’s glacial fjords, heat and freshwater are exchanged between glaciers and the ocean. Submarine melting of glaciers has been implicated as a potential trigger for recent glacier acceleration, and observations of ocean heat transport are increasingly being used to infer the submarine melt rates. The complete heat, salt, and mass budgets that underlie such methods, however, have been largely neglected. Here, a new framework for exploring glacial fjord budgets is developed. Building on estuarine studies of salt budgets, the heat, salt, and mass transports through the fjord are decomposed, and new equations for calculating freshwater fluxes from submarine meltwater and runoff are presented. This method is applied to moored records from Sermilik Fjord, near the terminus of Helheim Glacier, to evaluate the dominant balances in the fjord budgets and to estimate freshwater fluxes. Throughout the year, two different regimes are found. In the nonsummer months, advective transports are balanced by changes in heat/salt storage within their ability to measure; freshwater fluxes cannot be inferred as a residual. In the summer, a mean exchange flow emerges, consisting of inflowing Atlantic water and outflowing glacially modified water. This exchange transports heat toward the glacier and is primarily balanced by changes in storage and latent heat for melting ice. The total freshwater flux increases over the summer, reaching 1200 ± 700 m3 s−1 of runoff and 1500 ± 500 m3 s−1 of submarine meltwater from glaciers and icebergs in August. The methods and results highlight important components of fjord budgets, particularly the storage and barotropic terms, that have been not been appropriately considered in previous estimates of submarine melting.
Agricultural commodity prices and oil prices
Authors: McFarlane Ian
Published: June 2016

The world market price of many commodities including US corn (maize) peaked sharply in 2008. The US Energy Policy Act (2005) led to a rapid rise in demand for corn ethanol as a partial substitute for gasoline in the United States. In this article, we report the analysis of weekly prices of corn, wheat, sugar and crude oil, together with monthly series derived from those and other weekly prices, for two consecutive seven-year periods: 1999–2005 and 2006–2012. We find strong evidence of co-integration between prices in both series but only weak evidence of causation. We conclude that the normal stimulus to production of agricultural commodities given by a price increase is sufficient to restore equilibrium in supply and demand within a period of about a year.
Measuring the technical efficiency of livestock production in Vietnam
Authors: Tung Diep Thanh
Published: June 2016

The aim of this study was to measure the technical efficiency and productivity performance of livestock production activities across different regions of Vietnam, based on panel data covering the period 2008–2012. Although efficiency improvements did occur in some regions over this period, low technical efficiency, poor productivity performance, and variations in performance composition dominate across most regions. Households that depend heavily on the livestock income particularly or the agricultural income generally are more vulnerable than others in terms of livestock production.
Societal benefits from agricultural landscapes in Girona, Catalonia
Authors: Soy-Massoni Emma , Bieling Claudia , Langemeyer Johannes , Varga Diego , Sáez Marc , Pintó Josep
Published: June 2016

Taking into account the perceptions of locals as well as visitors to La Plana de l’Empordà, a region in Girona (Spain) undergoing an agricultural intensification process, this study attempts to explore the linkages between agricultural landscapes and human well-being by performing open, single-question interviews with 241 respondents. The results show a high perception of cultural ecosystem services as benefits from agricultural landscapes, although differences across respondent groups and across a rural–urban gradient suggest important trade-offs. Our results demonstrate that potential conflicts in the study area might emerge between a rural view on agricultural landscapes and a more production-oriented landscape appreciation. We consider it relevant to take into account potential social conflicts due to the new social composition in Mediterranean rural areas where different perceptions regarding the delivery of ecosystem services coexist.
High-content screening identifies kinase inhibitors that overcome venetoclax resistance in activated CLL cells
Authors: Oppermann Sina , Ylanko Jarkko , Shi Yonghong , Hariharan Santosh , Oakes Christopher C. , Brauer Patrick M. , Zúñiga-Pflücker Juan C. , Leber Brian , Spaner David E. , Andrews David W.
Published: June 2016

Key Points

Patient-specific pathways of resistance to venetoclax can be identified by high-content screening of clinical samples with a KI library. Sunitinib may overcome resistance to venetoclax for many patients by downregulating the expression of Bcl-xl, Mcl-1, and A1 in CLL cells.
Physicians' Perceptions of Commercial and Medicaid Managed Care Plans: A Comparison
Authors: Silverstein Gail
Published: June 2016

Physician participation in fee-for-service Medicaid programs has been declining nationally since the mid-1970s. Numerous studies have documented the reasons for this decline, including poor reimbursement, payment delays, and administrative burdens. Most are now incorporating managed care into their Medicaid programs as an approach to reduce costs. Arizona has the only statewide, mandatory managed care Medicaid program, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). This study examines Arizona physicians’ perceptions of both AHCCCS and commercial managed care plans. If physicians’ perceptions of commercial and Medicaid managed care plans are similar, as suggested by this study, then recruitment of physicians into Medicaid programs should improve during the coming years in geographic areas that have some managed care penetration.
The Dynamics of Market-Level Change
Authors: Ginsburg Paul B.
Published: June 2016

Health care exhibits a competitive dynamic today that increasingly resembles that in other service industries. Organizations are becoming larger to achieve scale economies and to increase market power. Vertical integration, whether through ownership or complex contracts, is also being pursued both to seek efficiencies and to improve the bargaining position of the organization. External forces that are driving these changes include more aggressive activities on the part of purchasers to contain their costs, developments in information technology, management innovation in other service industries, and advances in medical technology. Within the health care industry, there is a pattern of organizations taking the initiative to respond to these external forces—often in anticipation of them—and other organizations then responding to the pressures in turn placed on them. Although information on strategies is communicated rapidly throughout the country, what is attempted and what succeeds differs a great deal across communities. The nature of current health care institutions in the community, including the presence of large entities with extensive capital and strong management in a particular segment of the health system, and the community’s experience with managed care are important factors in the path that change takes.
The Doctor as Businessman: The Changing Politics of a Cultural Icon
Authors: Stone Deborah A.
Published: June 2016

From just after the Civil War, when medicine began to professionalize, until the late 1970s, doctors and policy makers believed that clinical judgment should not be influenced by the financial interests of doctors. Physicians were highly entrepreneurial, and organized medicine fought to preserve their entrepreneurial interests, but the moral norm that justified their autonomy from state regulation was a strict separation of clinical judgment and pecuniary interests.

Under managed care, the old norm is reversed. A good doctor takes financial considerations into account in making clinical decisions. Theoretically, doctors should consider measures of cost to society, but in practice, the payment systems of managed care plans induce doctors to consider the impact of each clinical decision on their own income. Because doctors share the risks of insuring patients with managed care plans, they have the same incentives as insurers to avoid patients who are expensively sick. The new cultural image of doctors as entrepreneurs masks their considerable loss of clinical autonomy under managed care. It also serves to persuade doctors to accept managed care arrangements and to persuade insurance consumers and patients to accept reduced benefits from employers and the government.
Markets, Medicare, and Making Do: Business Strategies After National Health Care Reform
Authors: Martin Cathie Jo
Published: June 2016

This essay examines the role of business health care purchasers in keeping market solutions at the center of the health system. One might assume that employers would have a clear ideological preference for market solutions, but big business managers are ambivalent about market interventions at both the firm and public policy levels. Although currently enthusiastic about market–oriented managed care, large employers have been periodically disappointed by firm–level market experiments during the past two decades. They viewed with skepticism the Republican proposal to apply private–sector market cures to the public Medicare and Medicaid, fearing that the proposals would accelerate cost–shifting to private business payers. Big business objections have been muted, however, by the organizational weakness so vividly illustrated during the national health reform debate.
New Federalism and Intergovernmental Fiscal Relationships: The Implications for Health Policy
Authors: Anton Thomas J.
Published: June 2016

This paper explores a number of popular but largely inaccurate myths about American federalism in order to clarify the fundamental structures and processes that characterize American federal governance. Examination of financial and political trends over the past several decades reveals the development of a form of functional specialization among national, state, and local governments based on pragmatic responses to policy problems rather than decisions based on clearly articulated “principles.” These responses have increasingly come from states in a wide variety of policy areas, including health care, where the energetic reform activity of the past decade provides a sharp contrast to the inability of the national government to enact reform. Recent pressure to devolve more authority to the states is thus much more than an ideological fad; it reflects widespread agreement among political elites that state and local governments have become capable governing partners. Nonetheless, there are limits to devolution which guarantee that close fiscal and political ties between the nation and the states will remain in place. Devolution does not, because it cannot, mean separation.
Translating Ideas into Actions: Entrepreneurial Leadership in State Health Care Reforms
Authors: Oliver Thomas R. , Paul-Shaheen Pamela
Published: June 2016

States are often touted as “laboratories” for developing national solutions to social problems. In this article we examine the appropriateness of this metaphor for comprehensive health care reform and attempt to draw lessons about policy innovation from recent state actions. We present evidence from six states that enacted major pieces of health care legislation in the late 1980s or early 1990s: Massachusetts, Oregon, Florida, Minnesota, Vermont, and Washington State. The variation in design casts doubt on the proposition that states can invent plans and programs for other states and the federal government to adopt for themselves. Instead, we argue that it is more accurate to think of states as specialized political markets in which individuals and groups develop and promote innovative products. We examine the factors that might create receptive markets for comprehensive health care reforms and conclude that the critical factor these states shared in common was skilled and committed leadership from “policy entrepreneurs” who formulated the plans for system reform and prominent “investors” who contributed substantial political capital to the development of the reforms. We illustrate different strategies that leaders in these states used to carry out the entrepreneurial tasks of identifying a market opportunity, designing an innovation, attracting political investment, marketing the innovation, and monitoring its early production.
Laboratories and the Health Care Marketplace: The Limits of State Workforce Policy
Authors: Sparer Michael S.
Published: June 2016

Nearly every state has enacted its own effort to change both the composition and the practice patterns of America’s medical workforce. At the same time, the health care marketplace is altering the nation’s medical workforce, encouraging more medical students to enter primary care and fewer to become specialists. In this article, I consider various issues raised by these trends. Do the various state programs constitute an effective policy laboratory? Is the market solving problems government could not? Are the government initiatives now irrelevant? I conclude that the market is solving the problem of specialty maldistribution (too many specialists) but not the problem of geographic maldistribution (too many medically underserved communities). I also conclude that state workforce efforts have not constituted good policy laboratories and that only federal action can seriously address the geographic maldistribution problem.
Community Control in a World of Regional Delivery Systems
Authors: Spitz Bruce
Published: June 2016

The pell-mell restructuring of health care into massive regional delivery systems has disrupted long-standing relationships between local leaders and residents and their community health care systems. This diminished role of communities in our new world of health care is ironic. As control within large regions in this country becomes concentrated within the operation of three or four health plans, we become increasingly dependent upon oligopolies for our market solutions. As economic arrangements, all that oligopolies can offer are indeterminate outcomes. Some may be good for consumers, others disastrous. Without the countervailing influence of nonmarket community interests, individuals may find their satisfaction with the health care system greatly diminished.
Ligand Effect on the Formation of Gold Nanoparticles via Sputtering Deposition over a Liquid Matrix
Authors: Akita Ikumi , Ishida Yohei , Yonezawa Tetsu
Published: June 2016

Sputtering deposition of gold over a liquid matrix containing different ligands with thiolate, amine, or carboxy groups resulted in the formation of spherical gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) in the range of 2.1 to 6.7 nm, and the diameters gradually decreased as the affinity of the ligands for Au increases.
Ανισότητα και ϕτώχεια στην εποχή της κρίσης, 2008-2013
Authors: Καπλάνογλου Γεωργία
Published: June 2016

Μεταξύ όλων των αναπτυγμένων χωρών η Ελλάδα είναι εκείνη που αντιμετώπισε τη μεγαλύτερη ύϕεση εξαιτίας της κρίσης και των πολιτικών δημοσιονομικής προσαρμογής, με τη μείωση του ΑΕΠ της να ϕτάνει αθροιστικά το 30% από το 2008. Τα ελληνικά νοικοκυριά μείωσαν την καταναλωτική δαπάνη τους κατά ανάλογο ποσοστό, το οποίο σε πραγματικούς όρους προσεγγίζει και αυτό το 30%. η μελέτη αυτή αξιοποιεί τα στοιχεία των Ερευνών οικογενειακών προϋπολογισμών (Εοπ) για να τεκμηριώσει τις επιπτώσεις της κρίσης και των πολιτικών λιτότητας στην εξέλιξη της ανισότητας και ϕτώχειας στην Ελλάδα από την αρχή της κρίσης μέχρι το 2013, το έτος δηλαδή για το οποίο υπάρχουν τα πιο πρόσϕατα διαθέσιμα στοιχεία. Σε αντίθεση με τις περισσότερες υπάρχουσες εργασίες, οι οποίες μελετούν την εισοδηματική ανισότητα και ϕτώχεια, η μελέτη αυτή εξετάζει την καταναλωτική δαπάνη των νοικοκυριών ενσωματώνοντας με αυτόν τον τρόπο την επίπτωση της κρίσης και της λιτότητας στο πραγματικό επίπεδο διαβίωσης. Επιπλέον αναλύουμε την ανισότητα και τη ϕτώχεια όχι με βάση προσομοιώσεις των πρόσϕατων πολιτικών σε παλαιότερες βάσεις δεδομένων, αλλά με βάση τα πιο πρόσϕατα στατιστικά μικρο-δεδομένα που συλλέχθηκαν από την ΕλΣΤΑΤ το 2013 και ανακοινώθηκαν τον Νοέμβριο του 2014. Αυτό έχει μεγάλη σημασία, καθώς το 2013 είναι το έτος με την ισχυρότερη συσσωρευμένη ύϕεση από την αρχή της κρίσης και υπ’ αυτή την έννοια αντανακλά το πλήρες εύρος των συνεπειών των πολιτικών λιτότητας στα ελληνικά νοικοκυριά.
Preliminary investigation of glyphosate resistance mechanism in giant ragweed using transcriptome analysis
Authors: Padmanabhan Karthik Ramaswamy , Segobye Kabelo , Weller Stephen C. , Schulz Burkhard , Gribskov Michael
Published: June 2016

Giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida) is a highly competitive annual weed prevalent mainly in the United States across the eastern Corn Belt. Glyphosate has been a key herbicide to help tackle the spread of giant ragweed in the past few decades. Recently, there have been reports of widespread resistance to glyphosate in giant ragweed, with the mechanism of resistance yet to be determined. We designed a single-replicate RNA sequencing experiment to study the genes differentially expressed between glyphosate-resistant and glyphosate-sensitive biotypes of giant ragweed. We used a de novo assembly of the giant ragweed transcriptome to determine key marker genes that could help explain the mechanism of resistance.
Fish community structure in high water temperature around Bontang Industrial Estate, East Kalimantan, Indonesia
Authors: SUYATNA IWAN , SIDIK A. SYAFEI , ALMADI ISMAIL FAHMY , RIZAL SAMSUL , SUKARTI KOMSANAH
Published: June 2016

Suyatna I, Sidik AS, Almadi FA, Rizal S, Sukarti K. 2016. Fish community structure in high water temperature around Bontang Industrial Estate, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 17: 558-564. We have conducted studies on fish community and their physical and chemical properties of coastal waters in the work area of the industrial estate from 2012 to 2014. At least four industries are known to use the coastal waters in cooling their processing equipments, the hot wastewater is then discharged back into the coastal environment. The current study reports the result of a survey undertaken around the work area of PT Blackbear Resources Indonesia. The result showed that high water temperature and tidal fluctuation are affecting the fish community in the area. By sampling results, during HWL of the spring tide at the maximum of water temperature of 35,9 oC, fish were the most populated and found 5999 ind. or 72,4% of the total number of 8291 fish. During LWL of the same tide type fish were observed 1931 ind oC, this ambient showed that the fish population drastically change in number and the environment became undesirable.