bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Perivascular Adipose Tissue Angiotensin II Type 1 Receptor Promotes Vascular Inflammation and Aneurysm Formation
Authors: Sakaue Tomoki , Suzuki Jun , Hamaguchi Mika , Suehiro Chika , Tanino Akiko , Nagao Tomoaki , Uetani Teruyoshi , Aono Jun , Nakaoka Hirotomo , Kurata Mie , Sakaue Tomohisa , Okura Takafumi , Yasugi Takumi , Izutani Hironori , Higaki Jitsuo , Ikeda Shuntaro
Published: August 2017

Perivascular adipose tissue exhibits characteristics of active local inflammation, which contributes to the development of atherosclerotic disease as a complication of obesity/metabolic syndrome. However, the precise role of perivascular adipose tissue in the progression of abdominal aortic aneurysm remains unclear. To test the hypothesis that genetic deletion of angiotensin II type 1a (AT
1a
) receptor in perivascular visceral adipose tissue (VAT) can attenuate aortic aneurysm formation in apolipoprotein E–deficient (ApoE
−/−
) mice, we performed adipose tissue transplantation experiments by using an angiotensin II–induced aneurysm murine model, in which we transplanted VAT from ApoE
−/−
or ApoE
−/−
AT
1a
−/−
donor mice onto the abdominal aorta of ApoE
−/−
recipient mice. Compared with ApoE
−/−
VAT transplantation, ApoE
−/−
AT
1a
−/−
VAT transplantation markedly attenuated aortic aneurysm formation, macrophage infiltration, and gelatinolytic activity in the abdominal aorta. AT
1a
receptor activation led to the polarization of macrophages in perivascular VAT toward the proinflammatory phenotype. Moreover, osteopontin expression and gelatinolytic activity were considerably lower in ApoE
−/−
AT
1a
−/−
perivascular VAT than in ApoE
−/−
perivascular VAT, and angiotensin II–induced osteopontin secretion from adipocytes was eliminated after deletion of AT
1a
receptor in adipocytes. Notably, induction of macrophage migration by conditioned medium from angiotensin II–stimulated wild-type adipocytes was suppressed by treatment with an osteopontin-neutralizing antibody, and ApoE
−/−
OPN
−/−
VAT transplantation more potently attenuated aortic aneurysm formation than ApoE
−/−
VAT transplantation. Our findings indicate a previously unrecognized effect of AT
1a
receptor in perivascular VAT on the pathogenesis of abdominal aortic aneurysm.
Inactivation of Nitric Oxide Synthesis Exacerbates the Development of Alzheimer Disease Pathology in APPPS1 Mice (Amyloid Precursor Protein/Presenilin-1)
Authors: Cifuentes Diana , Poittevin Marine , Bonnin Philippe , Ngkelo Anta , Kubis Nathalie , Merkulova-Rainon Tatyana , Lévy Bernard I.
Published: August 2017

The epidemiological link between hypertension and Alzheimer disease is established. We previously reported that hypertension aggravates the Alzheimer-like pathology in APPPS1 mice (amyloid precursor protein/presenilin-1, mouse model of Alzheimer disease) with angiotensin II–induced hypertension, in relation with hypertension and nitric oxide deficiency. To provide further insights into the role of nitric oxide in the hypertension—Alzheimer disease cross-talk, we studied the effects of nitric oxide blockade in APPPS1 mice using
N
(ω)-nitro-
l
-arginine methyl ester (
l
-NAME) alone or in combination with hydralazine, to normalize blood pressure. Compared with normotensive APPPS1 mice, those with
l
-NAME–induced hypertension had greater amyloid burden (
P
<0.05), increased cortical amyloid angiopathy (
P
<0.01), decreased regional microvascular density (
P
<0.05), and deficient long-term spatial reference memory (
P
<0.001). Blood pressure normalization with hydralazine did not protect APPPS1 mice from
l
-NAME–induced deterioration except for cortical amyloid angiopathy, linked to hypertension-induced arterial wall remodeling. By testing the cerebrovascular response to hypercapnic breathing, we evidenced early functional impairment of cerebral vasomotor activity in APPPS1 mice. Whereas in control wild-type normotensive mice, carbon dioxide breathing resulted in 15±1.3% increase in the mean blood flow velocity (
P
<0.001), paradoxical mild decrease (1.5±0.4%) was recorded in normotensive APPPS1 mice (
P
<0.001). Carbon dioxide–induced decrease in mean blood flow velocity was not significantly modified in
l
-NAME–treated hypertensive APPPS1 mice (2.5±1.2%) and partly reversed to mild vasodilation by hydralazine (3.2±1.5%,
P
<0.01). These results suggest that impaired nitric oxide bioavailability exacerbates the pathophysiology of Alzheimer disease, essentially impacting amyloid load and cognitive impairment, independently of
l
-NAME–induced hypertension. Only cerebral amyloid angiopathy seems to be dependent on hypertension.
The Interactive Image: A Media Archaeology Approach
Authors: Bravo Esteban García , Burbano Andrés , Byrd Vetria L. , Forbes Angus G.
Published: August 2017

This paper examines the history of the influential Interactive Image computer graphics showcase, which took place at museum and conference venues from 1987 to 1988. The authors present a preliminary exploration of the historical contexts that led to the creation of this exhibition by the Electronic Visualization Lab (EVL), which included the integrated efforts of both artists and computer scientists. In addition to providing historical details about this event, the authors introduce a media archaeology approach for examining the cultural and technological contexts in which this event is situated.
Autoencoding Blade Runner: Reconstructing Films with Artificial Neural Networks
Authors: Broad Terence , Grierson Mick
Published: August 2017

In this paper, the authors explain how they created Blade Runner—Autoencoded, a film made by training an autoencoder—a type of generative neural network—to recreate frames from the film Blade Runner. The autoencoder is made to reinterpret every individual frame, reconstructing it based on its memory of the film. The result is a hazy, dreamlike version of the original film. The authors discuss how the project explores the aesthetic qualities of the disembodied gaze of the neural network and describe how the autoencoder is also capable of reinterpreting films it has not been trained on, transferring the visual style it has learned from watching Blade Runner (1982).
Avoid Setup: Insights and Implications of Generative Cinema
Authors: Grba Dejan
Published: August 2017

Generative artists engage the poetic and expressive potentials of film playfully and efficiently, with explicit or implicit critique of cinema in a broader cultural context. This paper looks at the incentives, insights, and implications of generative cinema, which significantly expands the creative realm for artists working with film, but also incites critical assessment of the business-oriented algorithmic strategies in the film industry. The poetic divergence, technical fluency, and conceptual cogency of generative cinema successfully demonstrate that authorship evolves toward ever more abstract reflection and cognition which equally treat existing creative achievements as inspirations, sources of knowledge, and tools.
Lenticular Waterwheels: Simultaneous Kinetic and Embedded Animation
Authors: Hessels Scott
Published: August 2017

After decades as a novelty, lenticular technology has resurfaced in compelling large-scale projects. Without any required energy, the medium offers stereography without glasses and frame animation without electronics. A kinetic artwork installed in a remote river in the French mountains broke from the technology’s previous restrictions of static and flat display, recalculated the print mathematics for a curved surface, and explored narrative structures for a moving image on a moving display. This paper documents how the sculpture used custom steel fabrication, site-specific energy, and revised lens calculation to present a previously unexplored hybrid of animation.
Transforming the Commonplace through Machine Perception: Light Field Synthesis and Audio Feature Extraction in the Rover Project
Authors: Twomey Robert , McCrea Michael
Published: August 2017

Rover is a mechatronic imaging device inserted into quotidian space, transforming the sights and sounds of the everyday through its peculiar modes of machine perception. Using computational light field photography and machine listening, it creates a kind of cinema following the logic of dreams: suspended but mobile, familiar yet infinitely variable in detail. Rover draws on diverse traditions of robotic exploration, landscape and still-life depiction, and audio field recording to create a hybrid form between photography and cinema. This paper describes the mechatronic, machine perception, and audio-visual synthesis techniques developed for the piece.
Postautotomy tail movement differs between colour morphs of the red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus)
Authors: Otaibi Banan W. , Johnson Quincey K. , Cosentino Bradley J.
Published: August 2017

Striped and unstriped colour morphs of the eastern red-backed salamander,Plethodon cinereus, vary in their pre-attack behavioural response to predators, but it is unknown whether the morphs vary in post-attack strategies. Both morphs employ tail autotomy, a post-attack defensive mechanism enabling an individual to release a portion of their tail to facilitate escape from predation. Postautotomy tail movement diverts attention of a predator away from the individual’s body, so natural selection should favor vigorous tail movement in both colour morphs ofP. cinereus. We compared the degree of postautotomy tail movement between morphs following simulated predation. Striped individuals exhibited substantially longer and faster tail movement than unstriped individuals. Divergence in postautotomy tail movement may be a direct evolved response to variable predation pressure between colour morphs. Alternatively, tail movement may be constrained in the unstriped morph due to a genetic correlation with colouration (e.g., pleiotropy).
Microhabitat use within a contact zone of parapatric land salamanders in the Swiss Alps
Authors: Werner Philine , Schmidt Benedikt R. , Lötters Stefan
Published: August 2017

Studies investigating the contact zones in parapatric species can provide valuable insights into the mechanisms that cause range borders. Such studies can also provide a better understanding of the mechanisms which allow coexistence within contact zones. In land salamanders, parapatric range limits among species are often determined by abiotic factors and interspecific competition. The ranges of the parapatricSalamandra salamandraandS. atranarrowly overlap in the European Alps. Climatic gradients that determine their parapatric range margins suggest dissimilar species-habitat-relationships. However, habitat use for these species has not yet been studied in the contact zone where the parapatric ranges overlap and where the species locally co-occur in syntopy. To better understand their parapatric range limits and local syntopy, we compared the species’ microhabitat use in a contact zone in Switzerland and quantified the degree of interspecific niche overlap in relation to resource availability. We observed that most studied microhabitat variables were neither selected nor avoided by the two species, suggesting random use of the habitat for the variables that we studied. Interspecific niche overlap was generally large, but did not differ from that expected by chance. Unlike previous studies that analyzed patterns of co-occurrence of these species at larger spatial scales, we observed no niche differentiation within the contact zone. Both species likely select the same areas that are suitable and available for salamanders while they similarly avoid generally unsuitable habitat. This indicates that niche differentiation can vary depending on the spatial scale where it is investigated.
Unstable social structure indicates low diversity of relationships in the spotted forest skink Sphenomorphus maculatus
Authors: Galoyan Eduard A.
Published: August 2017

To the date, we hardly understand what and how affects the social structure in animals. Longevity and social stability must be the key factors influencing the relations among individuals. To test this suggestion, I described the spatial and social structures of the spotted forest skinks (Sphenomorphus maculatus) from southern Vietnam in the breeding seasons of 2008 and 2009. This species is known to have short lifespan and low social stability among seasons. No difference between male and female space use was revealed. Home ranges were 107.7 ± 23.68 m2in males and 78.9 ± 27.27 m2in females, and these contained core areas and activity centres within them. Home ranges and their parts overlapped among individuals of all sexes and were used by several residents, although not at the same time. Intrasexual and intersexual relationships were agonistic, more aggressive among males, and characterized by hierarchy with males as dominants and females as subordinates. Dominance status in males was supported by aggression in males and by submission in females. Females avoided sexual encounters, and no affiliation between sexes or mate guarding behaviour were revealed. A poor social behavioural repertoire was limited by aggressive and submissive behaviour, and it was difficult to distinguish sexual courtship from agonistic interactions. Hence, social and spatial structures were relatively simple in comparison with other saurian species and low stability of social composition is the most probable reason of such a social simplicity.
The State-Centred Nosology
Authors: Lee Taehyung
Published: August 2017

Since 1951, when the Medical Service Act was enacted in South Korea, traditional Korean medicine has been an independent part of a dual medical system along with biomedicine. Despite several attempts to subordinate Korean medicine to biomedicine, Korean medicine has managed to remain an institutionally-independent system of medical care. However, in the years since the launch of the South Korean National Health Insurance Service in 1977, official regulations have required Korean medical nosology to be linked to biomedical nosology. In particular, during the four times of revision from 1979 to 2015, the originally separated disease classification of Korean medicine was gradually integrated into the Korean Standard Classification of Diseases (kcd), which heavily relies on biomedical nosology. The present study uses this nosological shift as a window to illustrate the transformation of Korean medicine in South Korea since the 1970s.
Tradition on the Move
Authors: Kim Taewoo
Published: August 2017

Studies of East Asian medicine have demonstrated that contemporary traditional medicine is by no means static but continuously changing, and current work often emphasises the impact of external forces on this transformation such as the modern state, globalisation, and biomedicine. This paper emphasises another significant—but under-examined—impetus for change: East Asian medical epistemology and its theoretical and clinical elaborations. Drawing on an ethnographic investigation of Korean medicine and focusing on ‘practice’ as a theoretical and methodological vehicle, this study illustrates that traditional medicine retains within great potential to transform itself. Three contemporary acupuncture methods—Sa-am, Eight-Constitution, and Hundred-Degree and their own ways of cultivating tradition (validation of pre-modern methods, combination of existing theories, and reinterpretation of classical texts)—show that East Asian medical theories and epistemology continuously serve as dynamic forces for tradition on the move. By analysing the emergence of new forms of traditional practices in Korean medicine, this study attempts to contribute to the discussion of how tradition exists in modernity.
Historical Experience Interrogated: A Conversation
Authors: Ankersmit Frank , Menezes Jonathan
Published: August 2017

In this interview, Jonathan Menezes asks Frank Ankersmit about various aspects of his theory of historical experience, focusing especially on his main book on the subject, Sublime Historical Experience (2005), but also on other writings in which he accounted for historical experience, like History and Tropology (1994) and Meaning, Truth and Reference in Historical Representation (2012). The subjects addressed in the conversation include some of the existent criticism and polemic about this ‘experiential’ part of Ankersmit’s work; a new analysis of the relationship between Huizinga’s ‘historical sensation’ and Ankersmit’s ‘historical experience’; Ankersmit’s criticism of and attempt to go beyond Rorty and the so-called ‘linguistic transcendentalism’; and Ankersmit’s point of view on the connection between historical experience and the German historicist tradition.
Mediatized Conflict and Visual News Framing
Authors: Sacco Vittoria , Gorin Valérie
Published: August 2017

The Syrian conflict has challenged both the ways of reporting war and its impact on the public. However, only a few empirical studies have tried to assess public reactions to representations of war. In this paper, we use an empirically-based study that combines quantitative and qualitative methods to assess how Swiss audiences react to crisis reporting and visual news framing in French-speaking Swiss media. The study offers a preliminary understanding of how people react to images in the media, especially with respect to military and political contexts, and also builds a visual map of how audiences process information contained in news images of war.
Normalization of War and Conflict in Iraq’s Iraqiya Televison
Authors: Al-Kaisy Aida
Published: August 2017

This article examines the practice of news journalists at Iraqiya, the Iraqi state broadcaster, in the context of the continuing conflict in Iraq. The paper draws on eighteen months of fieldwork at the channel’s headquarters in Baghdad and on interviews with media practitioners throughout the news department. In this article, I show how Iraqiya news employees redefine media professionalism and ethics in the context of an ongoing conflict. I argue that Iraqiya’s news practitioners exist in a liminal state that emerged from their lived experience of the ongoing conflict, a conflict that has brought about new journalistic identities and modes of practice as violence and war have become normalized in everyday practices and lives.
Eulogies for the Resistance
Authors: Joy Jack
Published: August 2017

Recent studies into the notion of crisis argue that affective states of insecurity can offer an instrumental utility to elites seeking to sustain existing power relations. Through their discursive construction, such imaginative landscapes help legitimize previously illegitimate forms of political action, rationalize heightened forms of collective sacrifice and instill new disciplinary technologies among political subjects. Building on this growing body of scholarly work, in this study I use critical discourse analysis (CDA) to address Hizbullah’s mobilization of a specific ‘crisis imaginary’ as part of its efforts to legitimize its ongoing involvement in the Syrian civil war. This perceptual regime works to uphold a ‘state of exception’ for Hizbullah, sustain the practice of martyrdom as a form of Girardian ‘mimetic desire’ and structure a wider moral universe that continues to bind the party’s audience to the resistance society while maintaining their continued docility.
Can the Past Serve the Present? The Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall
Authors: Liu Megan
Published: August 2017

The memorialization of the Nanjing Massacre, constructed almost fifty years after the event, poses challenges for historians. This article asks the simple question: why? Why has the evolution of memory in China and Japan circumvented the issues of Nanjing for nearly half a century before letting it erupt onto the international stage in the past few decades? By examining the circumstances surrounding the opening of Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall and its ensuing impact, this article not only attempts to shed light on how the memorial has been misconstrued in global historical memory, and the fundamental historiographical debates surrounding it, but also the utility of memory in historical narrative. When dealing with the ghosts of the past in the politics of the present, is it ever possible to purge historiography and memory of government?
Revisiting the Past: How the Bing Archives Came to Light in Montevideo
Authors: Bing Dov
Published: August 2017

Siegfried Bing (Hamburg 1838-Paris 1905) and August Bing (Hamburg 1852-Kassel 1918) led the West’s exposure to and interpretation of Japanese arts and crafts at the turn of the nineteenth century. Their collecting, curating and sharing gave rise to an epoch of new artistic feeling in Western visual arts (figs 1 and 2). With August managing the family’s enterprises in Japan and China (1879-1889), Siegfried overseeing the Parisian gallery of Asian art which was to become the Maison de l’Art Nouveau in 1895, and Siegfried’s brother-in-law Michael Baer, Germany’s Honorary Consul in Tokyo, also active, the Bing family exhibited a connoisseurship and taste for adventure that redefined the collecting and making of art. The family’s travels, artistic discoveries and collecting of Asian objects became widely known through Siegfried Bing’s writings, the efforts of researchers to retrace the gallery’s inventory, and recent scholarship and exhibitions devoted to Siegfried Bing. My family worked from 2004 to 2009 to continue to preserve the Bing legacy by re-securing the hitherto undiscovered photographic, cartographic, business and personal correspondence archives of Siegfried and August Bing and Michael Baer. The efforts of my son Ira, his wife Genevieve, my wife Maru and me, which between us involved five journeys to Montevideo, Uruguay, are recounted here.
Diospyros microcalyx (Ebenaceae), a new species from limestone areas in Guangxi, China
Authors: NONG DONG-XIN , PENG YU-DE , HUANG XUE-YAN , YU LI-YING
Published: August 2017

Diospyros microcalyx, a rare new species of Diospyros (Ebenaceae) from the southwest of Guangxi, China is described and illustrated. It is unique in having small calyx lobes, very large fruits 6–8(–10) cm in diameter without persistent fruiting calyx, and seeds with longitudinal grooves on the surface. A detailed description, along with line drawings, photographs, distribution, habitat and ecology, conservation status as well as a comparison to morphologically similar species is provided.
Three combinations in Brazilian Plinia (Myrtaceae)
Authors: SOBRAL MARCOS , MAZINE FIORELLA F. , SOUZA MARCELO COSTA
Published: August 2017

Plinia Plumier ex Linnaeus (1753: 516; for descriptions see Landrum & Kawasaki 1997: 529 and Wilson 2011: 255) is largely identified by the presence of congested to racemiform (very rarely paniculiform) inflorescences with tetramerous, bilocular and tetraovulate flowers with calyces persisting after anthesis and seeds with two distinct plano-convex cotyledons devoid of a hypocotyl. It is an American genus with about 75 recognized species from which about 40 are known from Brazil (Govaerts et al. 2017). Along the examination of southeastern Brazilian collections we have spotted three species with morphological characters suggestive of its inclusion in Plinia, for which new combinations in this genus are herein proposed. When possible, available online type images are cited by reference to herbarium acronyms and barcode numbers (acronyms follow Thiers 2017).
Phthiria vaganoides sp. nov. (Bombyliidae, Phthiriinae, Phthiriini) from Northern Iran with the first record of Phthiria fulva Meigen, 1804 reared from a lepidopteran and description of the pupa
Authors: GHARALI BABAK , EVENHUIS NEAL
Published: August 2017

Based on material collected from Northern Iran, a new species of the genus Phthiria, Phthiria vaganoides sp. nov., is described and its diagnostic characters are photographed. Phthiria fulva Meigen, 1804 is also recorded for the first time from Iran. The pupal exuviae of Phthiria fulva Meigen is described and illustrated and its host, Argyresthia sp. is recorded. This marks the first description of an immature stage of the genus Phthiria.
Two new species of Cercyon (Clinocercyon) from Russian Far East (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae)
Authors: RYNDEVICH SERGEY K. , PROKIN ALEXANDER A.
Published: August 2017

Two new species, Cercyon retius sp. nov. and C. primoricus sp. nov., both belonging to the subgenus Clinocercyon, are described from the Russian Far East. A key to the identification of the six known Palearctic species of the subgenus is given. Both new species are illustrated by photographs of habitus and some morphological characters and by drawings of male genitalia. Within the subgenus Clinocercyon, the new species are most similar to C. conjiciens (Walker) and to the two Japanese species (C. aequalis Sharp and C. rubicundus Sharp). With the inclusion of these two new species, the fauna of Cercyon in Russia now comprises 47 species from 5 subgenera.
Association and description of the male of Aplochares imitator (Smith) (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae)
Authors: PITTS JAMES P. , SADLER EMILY
Published: August 2017

The previously unknown male of Aplochares imitator (Smith), the type species of the genus, is associated with the female and described. Aplochares imitator provides another case of dual sex-limited mimicry. The coloration of the male of A. imitator is similar to that of both sexes of A. adrastes Banks, while the coloration of the female of A. imitator matches that of several species of other unrelated Hymenoptera. A key to both sexes of Aplochares is provided along with illustrations of the two species.
Assessment of Responses of Tropical Pacific Air–Sea CO2 Flux to ENSO in 14 CMIP5 Models
Authors: Dong Fang , Li Yangchun , Wang Bin
Published: August 2017

Responses of tropical Pacific air–sea CO2 flux (fCO2) to El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events in 14 models from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) are examined. The contributions of sea surface temperature (SST), dissolved inorganic carbon in surface seawater (DIC), and total alkalinity of surface seawater (TALK) to interannual variation of ln(pCO2sea) (instead of partial pressure of CO2 in surface seawater pCO2sea) are quantified based on standardized empirical orthogonal function (EOF) results. Results show that six of the models have poor responses because they fail to reproduce observed interannual variation of pCO2sea in the central-eastern tropical Pacific. These six models underestimate the contribution of DIC interannual variation to interannual variation of pCO2sea in the central-eastern tropical Pacific due to a weak relation between interannual variation of upwelling and ENSO events or a weak relation (including no relation) between interannual variation of upwelling and that of DIC. Furthermore, some models have biases in interannual variation of DIC, in terms of both location and period, that are associated with interannual variation of modeled precipitation. It is also found that two models produce unreasonable interannual variation of bioproductivity, which enlarges interannual variation of DIC in the central-eastern tropical Pacific; this may partly explain why the influence of upwelling on interannual variation of DIC is weak in these models, even when the relationship between interannual variation of DIC and ENSO index is reasonable.
Evaluation of Optical Proxies for Suspended Particulate Mass in Stratified Waters
Authors: Tao Jing , Hill Paul S. , Boss Emmanuel S. , Milligan Timothy G.
Published: August 2017

Optical instruments that measure the particulate beam attenuation and backscattering coefficients have been used widely to estimate suspended particulate mass (SPM) in various environments. In pycnoclines, density differences can cause significant forward light scattering (schlieren). This fluid-induced scattering increases the measured by instruments with small acceptance angles that are open to the environment (not pumped). When the 1-m bin-averaged buoyancy frequency (N) exceeds 0.05 s−1 in the Columbia River estuary, inaccurate estimates of are observed by such instruments. The schlieren phenomena do not affect the and measured with a pumped transmissometer or a backscattering meter. It follows that to obtain a reliable proxy of SPM in a highly stratified environment, the use of either a backscattering sensor or a pumped transmissometer is required.
Le stanze di Madame Bovary e gli impressionisti, ovvero il fascino indiscreto della borghesia
Authors: Federico Amalia
Published: August 2017

Nell’ottica del “punto di vista” si metterà a fuoco il rapporto tra romanzo e pittura borghese nella prospettiva comparatistica della produzione letteraria e figurativa francese e italiana. In particolare si analizzeranno le figure femminili di Madame Bovary e di Augusta Malfenti della Coscienza di Zeno, tra l’impressionismo e gli esiti della ricerca pittorica primo novecentesca.
Implications of Synkinesis in Unilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis
Authors: Pei Yu‐Cheng , Chang Wei‐Han , Chuang Hsiu‐Feng , Chang Chia‐Fen , Fang Tuan‐Jen
Published: August 2017

Objectives

In patients with unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP), laryngeal electromyography (LEMG) occasionally observes synkinesis in laryngeal muscles, a condition that could impair vocal fold mobility and voice control. This study aims to evaluate the impact of synkinesis on UVFP patients.

Study Design

A retrospective case‐control study.

Setting

Medical center.

Subjects and Methods

Patients with UVFP onset >6 months were recruited (N = 104). The outcome measurements included LEMG, quantitative LEMG analysis of thyroarytenoid–lateral cricoarytenoid (TA‐LCA) muscle complex, glottal gap measured by videolaryngostroboscopy, voice‐related quality of life, and voice acoustic analysis.

Results

According to the LEMG analysis, 8 patients (8%) had synkinesis, and 96 (92%) did not. In the synkinesis group, TA‐LCA turn frequency in the lesioned side was comparable to that in the healthy side (P =. 52). Patients in the synkinesis group had higher TA‐LCA turn frequency (P =. 001), higher probability of cricothyroid muscle dysfunction (P =. 04), and better voice‐related quality of life (P =. 01) but objective voice outcomes comparable to those in the nonsynkinesis group.

Conclusions

Patients with synkinesis will have near‐complete restoration in TA‐LCA turn frequency but still experience voice impairment, a finding that is compatible with the mechanism of aberrant reinnervation. However, patients with synkinesis have better disease‐related quality of life than do those without synkinesis.
Book Review: Lakshmi Subramanian, The Sovereign and the Pirate: Ordering Maritime Subjects in India’s Western Littoral
Authors: Markovits Claude
Published: August 2017

Lakshmi Subramanian, The Sovereign and the Pirate: Ordering Maritime Subjects in India’s Western Littoral, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2016, 340 pp.,₹850.
Post-decisional logics of inaction: The influence of knowledge controversy in climate policy decision-making
Authors: Sharman Amelia , Perkins Richard
Published: August 2017

Contestation over knowledge claims, including their legitimacy as an input to policy decision-making, does not end at the moment of policy creation. Policies continue to be made and unmade during the implementation phase. Drawing from work on knowledge controversies, and building on the concept of post-decisional politics, we investigate the implementation of climate change policy in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. We identify politically salient post-decisional logics of inaction which have been used to justify delaying or diluting climate policy implementation in both countries. In New Zealand, knowledge controversy has had little or no influence over decision-making, with political rationales in the form of the current national economic interest and cost-based logics prevailing. Conversely, arguments emphasising scientific uncertainty have achieved political traction in the United Kingdom, creating a “fog of distrust” instrumental in draining political capital from the active implementation of climate policy. Explanatory factors such as structural economic considerations and different values placed on science as an input to policy-making are discussed, highlighting the importance of being attentive to the fluidity of knowledge controversies as they achieve salience and legitimacy according to the specificities of time and place.
Seasonality of Holocene hydroclimate in the Eastern Mediterranean reconstructed using the oxygen isotope composition of carbonates and diatoms from Lake Nar, central Turkey
Authors: Dean Jonathan R , Jones Matthew D , Leng Melanie J , Metcalfe Sarah E , Sloane Hilary J , Eastwood Warren J , Roberts C Neil
Published: August 2017

A positive shift in the oxygen isotope composition ( δ18O) of lake carbonates in the Eastern Mediterranean from the early to late Holocene is usually interpreted as a change to drier (reduced precipitation and evaporation (P/E)) conditions. However, it has also been suggested that changes in the seasonality of precipitation could explain these trends. Here, Holocene records of δ18O from both carbonates and diatom silica, from Lake Nar in central Turkey, provide insights into palaeoseasonality. We show how Δ δ18Olakewater (the difference between spring and summer reconstructed δ18Olakewater) was minimal in the early Holocene and for most of the last millennium, but was greater at other times. For example, between ~4100 and 1600 yr BP, we suggest that increased Δ δ18Olakewater could have been the result of relatively more spring/summer evaporation, amplified by a decline in lake level. In terms of change in annual mean δ18O, isotope mass balance modelling shows that this can be influenced by changes in seasonal P/E as well as inter-annual P/E, but lake level falls inferred from other proxies confirm that there was a mid-Holocene transition to drier climatic conditions in central Turkey.
Pharmacist Participation in Acute Ischemic Stroke Decreases Door-to-Needle Time to Recombinant Tissue Plasminogen Activator
Authors: Rech Megan A. , Bennett Stephanie , Donahey Elisabeth
Published: August 2017

Background: Pharmacists are an important member of the stroke team and aid in obtaining medication and medical history, providing education, managing blood pressure, reviewing exclusion criteria for recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA), and facilitating reconstitution and administration of rtPA. Objective: To determine if pharmacist presence at bedside during acute ischemic stroke resulted in a reduction in door-to-needle (DTN) times. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2015 of patients who received rtPA for acute ischemic stroke in either the emergency department or hospital. Results: Of the 125 included patients, 45 patients (36%) had a pharmacist present (PharmD group) and 80 patients (64%) did not (no PharmD group). Median DTN time was significantly shorter in the PharmD group: 48 minutes versus 73 minutes in the no PharmD group ( P < 0.01). The goal of DTN ≤60 minutes was met in 71% of patients in the PharmD group compared to 29% ( P < 0.01). Pharmacist at the bedside was the only factor found to be independently associated with reduction DTN time (βcoefficient −23.5 minutes, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] −38.6 to −8.50 minutes). Conclusion: A pharmacist at the bedside of emergency department or in-patient stroke codes reduced DTN time by a median of 23.5 minutes after adjusting for confounding factors and increased the percentage of patients meeting DTN goal time of ≤60 minutes by 49%. These findings support the inclusion of a stroke-competent pharmacist in the bedside response team for acute ischemic stroke patients.
Love in the time of ‘settling’: Forbidden knowledge and modern singles advice
Authors: Groves Julian M. , Hau-nung Chan Annie
Published: August 2017

While there has been much feminist criticism over recent discourses that stigmatize single women, little is known about how women actually consume and respond to the advice prescribed in this discourse. This article addresses this shortcoming by looking at a controversy that emerged in Hong Kong over a popular television show that dispensed dating advice to single women. Based on focus group discussions about the show with 39 unwed women, we examine how women negotiate sexist modern dating advice in relation to their normative views about courtship. Using analogies drawn from the sociology of science, we argue that modern dating advice is constructed by our informants as forbidden knowledge, that is, knowledge that is considered too sensitive, dangerous or taboo to produce. By rendering the laws of attraction mysterious or unknowable, our informants continue to search for romantic partners, while bracketing the sexism that they encounter. The implications for agency and choice in this positioning are discussed.
NOx emissions in direct injection diesel engines: Part 2: model performance for conventional, prolonged ignition delay, and premixed charge compression ignition operating conditions
Authors: Brückner Clemens , Kyrtatos Panagiotis , Boulouchos Konstantinos
Published: August 2017

Investigations from recent years have shown that at operating conditions characterized by long ignition delays and resulting large proportions of premixed combustion, the NOx emission trend does not correspond to the (usually) postulated correlation with an appropriately defined (adiabatic) burnt flame temperature. This correlation, however, is the cornerstone of most published NOx models for direct injection diesel engines. In this light, a new phenomenological NOx model has been developed in Brückner et al. (Part 1), which considers NOx formation from products of premixed and diffusion combustion and accounts for compression heating of post-flame gases, and describes NOx formation by thermal chemistry. In this study (Part 2), the model is applied to predict NOx emissions from two medium-speed direct injection diesel engines of different size and at various operating conditions. Single parameter variations comprising sweeps of injection pressure, start of injection, load, exhaust gas recirculation rate, number of injections, and end-of-compression temperature are studied on a single-cylinder engine. In addition, different engine configurations (valve timing, turbocharger setup) and injection parameters of a marine diesel engine are investigated. For both engines and all parameter variations, the model prediction shows good agreement. Most notably, the model captures the turning point of the NOx emission trend with increasing ignition delay (first decreasing, then increasing NOx) for both engines. The differentiation in the physical treatment of the products of premixed and diffusion with increasing ignition delay showed to be essential for the model to capture the trend-reversal. Specifically, the model predicted that peak NOx formation rates in diffusion zones decrease with increasing ignition delay, whereas for the same change in ignition delay, peak formation rates in premixed zones increase. This is caused by the high energy release in short time, causing a strong compression of existing premixed combustion product zones that mix at a slower rate and have less time to mix, significantly increasing their temperature. In contrast, the model under-predicts NOx emissions for very low oxygen concentrations, in particular below 15 vol.%, which is attributed to the simple thermal NOx kinetic mechanism used. It is concluded that the new model is able to predict NOx emissions for conventional diesel combustion and for long ignition delay operating conditions, where a substantial amount of heat is released in premixed mode.
Effect of fibre diameter on fabrication of modified PAN nanofibrous membranes and catalytic performance of their Fe complexes for dye degradation
Authors: Dong Yongchun , Li Fu , Zhao Xueting , Cheng Bowen , Kang Weimin , Cui Guixin
Published: August 2017

Polyacrylonitrile nanofibrous membranes ( n-PAN-FMs) with different fibre diameters were prepared using electrospinning process and modified with hydroxylamine hydrochloride. The modified n-PAN-FMs were further coordinated with Fe3+ ions to produce a series of the modified n-PAN-FMs Fe complexes, and the catalytic activity of which was investigated as the heterogeneous Fenton catalyst for the dye degradation. The effect of fibre diameter on modification and coordination of n-PAN-FMs as well as the catalytic activity of the resulting complexes was also examined. The results indicated that increasing fibre diameter proportionally enhanced the amidoximation degree of n-PAN-FMs. The modified n-PAN-FMs consisting of small fibre diameters easily coordinated with Fe3+ ions, especially at high temperature to form the complex with high Fe content at the same conditions. Besides, these complexes exhibited the catalytic performance for the dye degradation in the dark and under visible irradiation at a wide pH range. The complex with middle fibre diameter showed a stronger catalytic performance than the complexes with much bigger or smaller fibre diameter due mainly to its large specific surface area and the proper size pores among fibres as well as better water affinity.
Seismic imaging of fault damaged zone and its scaling relation with displacement
Authors: Alaei Behzad , Torabi Anita
Published: August 2017

We have studied seismically resolved damaged zone of normal faults in siliciclastic rocks of the Norwegian continental shelf. The workflow we have developed reveals structural details of the fault damaged zone and in particular, the subsidiary synthetic faults, horsetail at the main lateral fault tips at different depths and fault bend. These subsidiary or small fault segments form an area that can be clearly followed laterally and vertically. We call this area fault damaged zone. The studied damaged zone on seismic data comprises the fault core and the fault damage zone, as defined in outcrop studies. Spectral decomposition (short-time Fourier transform for time-frequency resolution and continuous wavelet transform) was performed on the data centered around faulted intervals. The magnitude of higher frequencies was used to generate coherence attribute volumes. Coherence attributes were filtered to enhance fault images. This integrated workflow improves fault images on reflection seismic data. Our approach reveals details of damaged zone geometry and morphology, which are comparable with the outcrop studies of similar examples conducted by previous researchers or us. We have extracted the fault geometry data including the segment length, displacement, and damaged zone width at different depths. Our results show that subsidiary faults, fault bends, linkage of fault segments, and branching in the fault tip (horsetail structure or process zone) all affect the width of the damaged zone and the distribution of displacement. We have seen a distinct increase in the fault damaged zone width near the fault bend locations. The fault segment length decreases with depth toward the lower fault tip, which is below the base Cretaceous unconformity. In addition, the displacement increases below the unconformity. In general, there is a positive correlation between fault displacement and the corresponding damaged zone width measured in this study, which is in agreement with previous studies.
Leveraging psychiatric and medical genetics to understand comorbid depression and obesity
Authors: Docherty Anna R.
Published: August 2017

Precision medicine in psychiatry is on the rise, and depression and obesity – two highly prevalent, comorbid and well-characterised phenotypes – are optimal targets for the approach. Add the bedrock susceptibility gene, FTO, and Riviera et al have identified a constellation of factors that could enhance clinical treatment of both disorders.
Drug information update. Atypical antipsychotics and neuroleptic malignant syndrome: Nuances and pragmatics of the association
Authors: Sarkar Siddharth , Gupta Nitin
Published: August 2017

Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) is a rare but potentially fatal adverse event associated with the use of antipsychotics. Although atypical antipsychotics were initially considered to carry no risk of NMS, reports have accumulated over time implicating them in NMS causation. Almost all atypical antipsychotics have been reported to be associated with NMS. The clinical profile of NMS caused by certain atypical antipsychotics such as clozapine has been reported to be considerably different from the NMS produced by typical antipsychotics, with diaphoresis encountered more commonly, and rigidity and tremor encountered less frequently. This article briefly discusses the evidence relating to the occurrence, presentation and management of NMS induced by atypical antipsychotics.
Evaluation of the 13-item Hypomania Checklist and a brief 3-item manic features questionnaire in primary care
Authors: Singh Sukhmeet , Scouller Paul , Smith Daniel J.
Published: August 2017

Aims and method

The mean delay for bipolar disorder diagnosis is 10 years. Identification of patients with previous hypomania is challenging, sometimes resulting in misdiagnosis. The aims of this study were: (a) to estimate the proportion of primary care patients with depression currently taking antidepressants who have undiagnosed bipolar disorder and (b) to compare a brief 3-item manic features questionnaire with the Hypomania Checklist (HCL-13). The sample comprised patients with a recorded diagnosis of depression, either on long-term antidepressant therapy or with previous multiple courses of antidepressants.

Results

Of 149 participants assessed, 24 (16.1%) satisfied criteria for bipolar disorder. Areas under the curve (AUC) for the 3-item questionnaire and the HCL-13 were similar (0.79 and 0.72, respectively) but positive predictive values (PPV) were low.

Clinical implications

Bipolar disorder may be underdiagnosed in primary care. A 3-item questionnaire could be used by general practitioners to screen for bipolar disorder in their patients with depression.
Patterns of Resuscitation Care and Survival After In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest in Patients With Advanced Cancer
Authors: Bruckel Jeffrey T. , Wong Sandra L. , Chan Paul S. , Bradley Steven M. , Nallamothu Brahmajee K.
Published: August 2017

Purpose:

Little is known regarding patterns of resuscitation care in patients with advanced cancer who suffer in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA).

Methods:

In the Get With The Guidelines – Resuscitation registry, 47,157 adults with IHCA with and without advanced cancer (defined as the presence of metastatic or hematologic malignancy) were identified at 369 hospitals from April 2006 through June 2010. We compared rates of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) and survival to discharge between groups using multivariable models. We also compared duration of resuscitation effort and resuscitation quality measures.

Results:

Overall, 6,585 patients with IHCA (14.0%) had advanced cancer. Patients with advanced cancer had lower multivariable-adjusted rates of ROSC (52.3% [95% CI, 49.5% to 55.3%] v 56.6% [95% CI, 53.8% to 59.5%]; P < .001) and survival to discharge (7.4% [95% CI, 6.6% to 8.4%] v 13.4% [95% CI, 12.1% to 14.8%]; P < .001). Among nonsurvivors who died during resuscitation, patients with advanced cancer had better performance on most resuscitation quality measures. Among patients with ROSC, patients with advanced cancer were made Do Not Attempt Resuscitation (DNAR) more frequently within 48 hours (adjusted relative risk, 1.30 [95% CI, 1.24 to 1.37]; P < .001). Adjustment for DNAR status explained some of the immediate effect of advanced cancer on survival; however, survival remained significantly lower in patients with cancer.

Conclusion:

Patients with advanced cancer can expect lower survival rates after IHCA compared with those without advanced cancer, and they are more frequently made DNAR within 48 hours of ROSC. These findings have important implications for discussions of resuscitation care wishes with patients and can better inform end-of-life discussions.