bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
MOVING WATERSHEDS, BORDERLESS MAPS, AND IMPERIAL GEOGRAPHY IN INDIA'S NORTHWESTERN HIMALAYA
Authors: GARDNER KYLE
Published: August 2018

This article uses the British colonial history of border making in northern India to examine the assumptions and contradictions at work in the theorizing, configuring, and mapping of frontiers and borders. It focuses, in particular, on the development of the ‘water-parting principle’ – wherein the edge of a watershed is considered to be the border – and how this principle was used to determine boundaries in the northwestern Himalaya, a region that had long-established notions of border points, but no borderlines. By the twentieth century, the water-parting principle would become the dominant boundary logic for demarcating borders in mountainous regions, and would be employed by statesmen, treaty editors, and boundary commissioners around the world. But for the northwestern Himalaya, a region that British colonial officials considered to be the ‘finest natural combination of boundary and barrier that exists in the world’, making a border proved much more difficult than anticipated.
A two-step immunomagnetic separation of somatic cell subpopulations for a gene expression profile study in bovine milk
Authors: Divari Sara , Starvaggi Cucuzza Laura , Riondato Fulvio , Pregel Paola , Sacchi Paola , Rasero Roberto , Biolatti Bartolomeo , Cannizzo Francesca Tiziana
Published: August 2018

The objective of this study was to demonstrate the usefulness of an immunomagnetic method to purify subpopulations of milk somatic cells. The experiment was conducted on milk samples collected from healthy cows (n = 17) and from cows with clinical mastitis (n = 24) due to a Staphylococcus aureus natural infection. A two-step immunomagnetic purification was applied to simultaneously separate three somatic cell subpopulations from the same milk sample. Total RNA was extracted and qPCR was performed to determinate mRNA levels of innate immunity target genes in purified somatic cell subpopulations. Good quality and quantity of RNA allowed the reference gene analysis in each cell subpopulation. An up-regulation of the main genes involved in innate immune defence was detected in separated polymorphonuclear neutrophilic leucocytes-monocytes and lymphocytes of mastitic milk. These results and flow cytometric analysis suggest that the immunomagnetic purification is an efficient method for the isolation of the three populations from milk, allowing the cells to be studied separately.
CEO Compensation in Japan: Why So Different from the United States?
Authors: Pan Luyao , Zhou Xianming
Published: August 2018

In Mar. 2010, Japan’s financial regulator implemented the country’s first legislation concerning the disclosure of director compensation for named individuals. Using the first publicly available data for Japanese executives, we document direct evidence on the level, structure, and mechanisms of chief executive officer (CEO) compensation in Japan and perform a matched-sample comparison between Japan and the United States. In contrast to the findings of recent studies showing that international differentials in CEO pay have largely disappeared since the mid-2000s, our results show strikingly large differences between the Japanese and American systems that are difficult to explain by differences in conventional incentive contracts.
Topological data analysis and diagnostics of compressible magnetohydrodynamic turbulence
Authors: Makarenko I. , Bushby P. , Fletcher A. , Henderson R. , Makarenko N. , Shukurov A.
Published: August 2018

The predictions of mean-field electrodynamics can now be probed using direct numerical simulations of random flows and magnetic fields. When modelling astrophysical magnetohydrodynamics, it is important to verify that such simulations are in agreement with observations. One of the main challenges in this area is to identify robust quantitative measures to compare structures found in simulations with those inferred from astrophysical observations. A similar challenge is to compare quantitatively results from different simulations. Topological data analysis offers a range of techniques, including the Betti numbers and persistence diagrams, that can be used to facilitate such a comparison. After describing these tools, we first apply them to synthetic random fields and demonstrate that, when the data are standardized in a straightforward manner, some topological measures are insensitive to either large-scale trends or the resolution of the data. Focusing upon one particular astrophysical example, we apply topological data analysis to H iobservations of the turbulent interstellar medium (ISM) in the Milky Way and to recent magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the random, strongly compressible ISM. We stress that these topological techniques are generic and could be applied to any complex, multi-dimensional random field.
Advances in mean-field dynamo theory and applications to astrophysical turbulence
Authors: Brandenburg Axel
Published: August 2018

Recent advances in mean-field theory are reviewed and applications to the Sun, late-type stars, accretion disks, galaxies and the early Universe are discussed. We focus particularly on aspects of spatio-temporal non-locality, which provided some of the main new qualitative and quantitative insights that emerged from applying the test-field method to magnetic fields of different length and time scales. We also review the status of nonlinear quenching and the relation to magnetic helicity, which is an important observational diagnostic of modern solar dynamo theory. Both solar and some stellar dynamos seem to operate in an intermediate regime that has not yet been possible to model successfully. This regime is bracketed by antisolar-like differential rotation on one end and stellar activity cycles belonging to the superactive stars on the other. The difficulty in modelling this regime may be related to shortcomings in simulating solar/stellar convection. On galactic and extragalactic length scales, the observational constraints on dynamo theory are still less stringent and more uncertain, but recent advances both in theory and observations suggest that more conclusive comparisons may soon be possible also here. The possibility of inversely cascading magnetic helicity in the early Universe is particularly exciting in explaining the recently observed lower limits of magnetic fields on cosmological length scales. Such magnetic fields may be helical with the same sign of magnetic helicity throughout the entire Universe. This would be a manifestation of parity breaking.
Ongoing measles outbreak in Greece related to the recent European-wide epidemic
Authors: Georgakopoulou T. , Horefti E. , Vernardaki A. , Pogka V. , Gkolfinopoulou K. , Triantafyllou E. , Tsiodras S. , Theodoridou M. , Mentis A. , Panagiotopoulos T.
Published: August 2018

We report an ongoing measles outbreak in Greece. The first cases were notified through the mandatory notification system on May 2017 in Northern Greece and concerned a cluster of three imported cases in unvaccinated Roma siblings. So far, 3150 cases have been reported in all 13 Regions. Initially, the outbreak mainly affected Greek Roma but as it progressed it spread to non-minority Greek nationals. The outbreak reached its ultimate peak on week 10/2018 but from week 15/2018 has been gradually declining. Most cases (60.6%) were Roma (especially children <10 year-old) followed by non-minority Greek nationals (29.3%; mostly young adults). The majority (80.4%) were unvaccinated. Interestingly, 129 (4.1%) cases were healthcare workers (HCWs). Genotype B3 was identified by molecular methods in all 87 cases tested. Overall, 61.3% of the cases were hospitalised. Complications were reported in 17.1% of the cases among which four deaths. The outbreak occurred after 3 years without local endemic measles transmission. Extensive vaccination implemented as the major public health measure managed to prevent the emergence of a large number of cases in refugee/migrant hosting sites. Mitigation efforts currently focus on raising awareness among HCWs and closing the immunisation gap in populations with suboptimal vaccination coverage.
Like and share: associations between social media engagement and dietary choices in children
Authors: Baldwin Heather J , Freeman Becky , Kelly Bridget
Published: August 2018

Objective

To examine whether social media and online behaviours are associated with unhealthy food and beverage consumption in children.

Design

A cross-sectional online survey was used to assess Internet and social media use, including engagement with food and beverage brand content, and frequency of consumption of unhealthy foods and beverages. Linear regression models were used to examine associations between online behaviours, including engagement with food and beverage brand content, and consumption of unhealthy foods and beverages, adjusting for age, sex and socio-economic status.

Setting

New South Wales, Australia, in 2014.

Subjects

Children aged 10–16 years (n417).

Results

Watching food brand video content on YouTube, purchasing food online and seeing favourite food brands advertised online were significantly associated with higher frequency of consumption of unhealthy foods and drinks after adjustment for age, sex and socio-economic status.

Conclusions

Children who have higher online engagement with food brands and content, particularly through online video, are more likely to consume unhealthy foods and drinks. Our findings highlight the need to include social media in regulations and policies designed to limit children’s exposure to unhealthy food marketing. Social media companies have a greater role to play in protecting children from advertising.
22q13 deletion syndrome: communication disorder or autism? Evidence from a specific clinical and neurophysiological phenotype
Authors: Ponson Laura , Gomot Marie , Blanc Romuald , Barthelemy Catherine , Roux Sylvie , Munnich Arnold , Romana Serge , Aguillon-Hernandez Nadia , Malan Valérie , Bonnet-Brilhault Frédérique
Published: August 2018

Phelan–McDermid syndrome is related to terminal 22q13 deletions of various sizes affecting the SHANK3 gene. In this neurodevelopmental disorder, behavioural symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are reported in half of cases. Extensive clinical and neurophysiological characterization is lacking to understand the genotype–phenotype correlation. Eighteen patients (8 males, mean age 12.7 years, SD = 9.2) with known 22q13 deletions were fully explored with determination of deletion size, along with behavioural, language and cognitive standardized assessments. Neurophysiological indices previously reported to be altered in autism (i.e., eye tracking in a social/non-social task and auditory evoked potential mismatch) were also recorded. Thirty-nine percent met ASD clinical criteria, exceeding cut-off scores on both ADI-R (Autism Diagnosis Interview based on the period spanning 4–5 years of age) and ADOS-2 (Autism Diagnosis Observation Schedule for the current period). All patients had intellectual disability and language disability. Deletion size was significantly correlated with expressive and receptive language disability but not with ASD standardized assessment scores. Developmental Quotient tended to be lower in patients with the largest deletions. Using Eye Tracking, smaller pupil size, which is typically described in ASD, was not observed in these patients. Furthermore, atypical shortened latency of mismatch negativity response previously reported in ASD was not observed, whereas the N250 pattern, related to language, was affected. Language disability combined with cognitive deficits may lead to autistic behavioural symptoms, but with different neurophysiological networks compared to typical autism. These results highlight the indication for early speech therapy rather than intensive autism programme to treat these patients.
The urinary microbiome associated with bladder cancer
Authors: Bučević Popović Viljemka , Šitum Marijan , Chow Cheryl-Emiliane T. , Chan Luisa S. , Roje Blanka , Terzić Janoš
Published: August 2018

Recent findings suggest that human microbiome can influence the development of cancer, but the role of microorganisms in bladder cancer pathogenesis has not been explored yet. The aim of this study was to characterize and compare the urinary microbiome of bladder cancer patients with those of healthy controls. Bacterial communities present in urine specimens collected from 12 male patients diagnosed with bladder cancer, and from 11 healthy, age-matched individuals were analysed using 16S sequencing. Our results show that the most abundant phylum in both groups was Firmicutes, followed by Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria. While microbial diversity and overall microbiome composition were not significantly different between groups, we could identify operational taxonomic units (OTUs) that were more abundant in either group. Among those that were significantly enriched in the bladder cancer group, we identified an OTU belonging to genus Fusobacterium, a possible protumorigenic pathogen. In an independent sample of 42 bladder cancer tissues, 11 had Fusobacterium nucleatum sequences detected by PCR. Three OTUs from genera Veillonella, Streptococcus and Corynebacterium were more abundant in healthy urines. However, due to the limited number of participants additional studies are needed to determine if urinary microbiome is associated with bladder cancer.
A Swath Label-Free Proteomics insight into the Faah−/− Mouse Liver
Authors: Hamid Zeeshan , Summa Maria , Armirotti Andrea
Published: August 2018

Fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) is an important enzyme for lipid metabolism and an interesting pharmacological target, given its role in anandamide breakdown. The FAAH−/− genotype is the most widely used mouse model to investigate the effects of a complete pharmacological inhibition of this enzyme. In this paper, we explore, by means of label-free SWATH proteomics, the changes in protein expression occurring in the liver of FAAH−/− knockout (KO) mice. We identified several altered biological processes and pathways, like fatty acid synthesis and glycolysis, which explain the observed phenotype of this mouse. We also observed the alteration of other proteins, like carboxylesterases and S-methyltransferases, apparently not immediately related to FAAH, but known to have important biological roles. Our study, reporting more than 3000 quantified proteins, offers an in-depth analysis of the liver proteome of this model.
Japanese beetles’ feeding on milkweed flowers may compromise efforts to restore monarch butterfly habitat
Authors: Baker Adam M. , Potter Daniel A.
Published: August 2018

The eastern North American migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) is in serious decline. Habitat restoration, including adding millions of host plants to compensate for loss of milkweed in US cropland, is a key part of the international conservation strategy to return this iconic butterfly to sustainable status. We report here that Popillia japonica, a polyphagous, invasive beetle, aggregates and feeds on flowers of Asclepias syriaca, the monarch’s most important larval food plant, reducing fruiting and seed set by >90% and extensively damaging milkweed umbels in the field. The beetle’s ongoing incursion into the monarch’s key breeding grounds in the US Midwest is likely to limit pollination and outcrossing of wild and planted milkweeds, reducing their capacity to colonize new areas via seeds. Popillia japonica represents a previously undocumented threat to milkweeds that should be considered in models for monarch habitat restoration.
Weighing the two stellar components of the Galactic bulge
Authors: Zoccali M. , Valenti E. , Gonzalez O. A.
Published: August 2018

Context.Recent spectroscopic surveys of the Galactic bulge have unambiguously shown that the bulge contains two main components, which are best separated by their iron content, but also differ in spatial distribution, kinematics, and abundance ratios. The so-called metal poor component peaks at [Fe/H] ∼ −0.4, while the metal rich component peaks at [Fe/H] ∼ +0.3. The total metallicity distribution function is therefore bimodal with a dip at [Fe/H] ∼ 0. The relative fraction of the two components changes significantly across the bulge area.

Aims. We provide, for the first time, the fractional contribution of the metal poor and metal rich stars to the stellar mass budget of the Galactic bulge and its variation across the bulge area.

Methods. This result follows from the combination of the stellar mass profile obtained empirically, by our group, from VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea data, with the relative fraction of metal poor and metal rich stars, across the bulge area, derived from the GIRAFFE Inner Bulge spectroscopic Survey.

Results. We find that metal poor stars make up 48% of the total stellar mass of the bulge, within the region |l| < 10, |b| < 9.5 and that the remaining 52% are made up of metal rich stars. The latter dominate the mass budget at intermediate latitudes |b| ∼ 4, but become marginal in the outer bulge (|b| > 8). The metal poor component is more axisymmetric than the metal rich component, and it is at least comparable and possibly slightly dominant in the inner few degrees. As a result, the metal poor component, which does not follow the main bar, is not marginal in terms of the total mass budget as previously thought, and this new observational evidence must be included in bulge models. While the trend of the total radial velocity dispersion follows the total stellar mass, when we examine the velocity dispersion of each component individually, we find that metal poor stars have higher velocity dispersion where they make up a smaller fraction of the stellar mass, and vice versa. This is due to the kinematical and spatial distribution of the two metallicity components being significantly different, as already discussed in the literature.
Creating a low-carbon campus in Chaoyang University of Technology (CYUT)
Authors: Cheng Tao-Ming , Chang Hwa-Nan , Yen Clive , Chen Ming-Hsiung
Published: August 2018

Founded in 1994, the campus of Chaoyang University of Technology (CYUT) is located in the suburban area of Taichung, Taiwan. In 2009, the president of CYUT signed the Talloires Declaration to show his commitment for promoting environmental sustainability on campus. In 2012, CYUT and many other universities in Taiwan cofounded the Green University Union of Taiwan (GUUT) to collaboratively promote the concept of environmental sustainability. Following the announcement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations in 2015, CYUT has been putting a lot of effort into converting itself into a green university. Four different fields of management, which are energy and resources management, accident prevention and rescue management, occupational safety and health management, and environmental management, have been promoted in the campus of CYUT for this cause. Furthermore, four management practices including implementing management systems, organizing green courses, promoting green activities and creating green environment, have been applied to improve the effectiveness of the campus management. In the case of energy and resources management in particular, not only ISO 50001 and 14001 management systems were implemented but also an intelligent energy network (iEN) was established for maintaining effective usage of the campus energy. For years of striving in creating a green university, CYUT had several remarkable accomplishments. The green open space ratio in campus is 94.43%. Water-saving equipment was installed in the whole campus and reclaimed water is collected for urban reuse. Garbage reduction and classification have been enforced to make ease for later treatments. For issues related to energy and climate change, strategies, such as renewal of high energy consuming facilities, installation of green roofs, utilization of recycle energy and education of staffs were enacted and the consumed energy in campus gradually decreased in recent years. For example, the electricity and oil (including gasoline and diesel) consumption in campus of 2017 were 7.59% and 14% lower than those of 2016, respectively. In order to overcome the challenges from climate change, CYUT will continue on its process of creating a low-carbon campus focusing on energy sustainability.
The sustainability efforts of Ton Duc Thang University in the South of Vietnam
Authors: Le Ut V.
Published: August 2018

Established in 1997, Ton Duc Thang University (TDTU) is now among the best universities in Vietnam for all aspects, after 20 years of development. With sixteen faculties of multi-disciplines and around 25,000 students, TDTU has made lots of achievements. In 2017, TDTU is ranked 245th in the world (and ranked 1st in Vietnam) on Sustainable Development by UI GreenMetric World University Rankings (UI GreenMetric); ranked 1st among universities in Vietnam for high-quality research outputs by Nature Index; ranked 2nd among universities in Vietnam (and ranked 1st in research category) by Xephangdaihoc, a group of independent experts of Vietnam. Sustainability is of TDTU’s focus. This paper shortly discussed TDTU’s latest achievements on sustainability, and then focused on issues and innovation in managing waste at Ton Duc Thang University.
Designing catchment area for water resources management in ITS campus
Authors: Hermana Joni , Irhamah  , Saptarini Dian , Tatas
Published: August 2018

Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) Campus, with the area of 167.4 Ha, is located within Surabaya coastal region in the eastern part of Java Island. It has initial characteristic with wetlands and swamps ecosystem. As a science and technological university, with the main acitivities in teaching, experimental laboratory works, and student activities, ITS is, currently, using ± 49% of its total vast area as building blocks for supporting academic facilities. Being a campus in a coastal zone, the commonly main problems are high porous soil, brackish surface water, high level of ground water, an obstructed drainage tendency because of delicate slant, and low catchment capability. This paper provides an action program on how ITS manage water resources within campus area in order to suppress environmental damage. Many steps had been taken into account for water catchment role, for instance: maintaining the catchment area on the main ITS master plan, planning catchment pond, surface water stabilization by preventing ground water usage, interrupting drainage water flow as being directly discharged into the city drainage system, rain water harvesting, and also designing floating floor for buildings.
Universitas Padjadjaran concern for sustainable water resource from West Java to national and to the world
Authors: Endyana Cipta , Husodo Teguh , Hendarmawan  , Hanggono Achmad Tri
Published: August 2018

The implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which have been set according to the Peraturan Presiden No. 59 tahun 2017 about The Implementation of SDGs to achieve the purpose of SDGs in Indonesia. Through the implementation of universal, integrated, and inclusive principles of 2030 Agenda for SDGs, a new dawn of development that changes the direction of itself, that enveloping human rights and equality in social, economy, and environment, could be accomplished. UNPAD understand, as a seat of learning and to give real contribution, both in the community and national development, by adopting transformative education paradigm, which seek more activities in university level for better community through the idea of sustainability and sustainable development, and its written as Principle Scientific Pattern of Universitas Padjadjaran: bina mulia hukum dan lingkungan hidup dalam pembangunan nasional. Our research was started to perform through multi and transdiscipline-based with all stakeholder involved such as local government, industry side and community. The study areas were focused on most West Java and Banten where region related with industry. Researches were divided into 4 stages, start from study until monitoring stage. As appreciation, Universitas Padjadjaran reached Indonesia Green Award (2013, 2014) and Green World Awards (2017). What’s Unpad researcher has done is a step in engagement to ensure the availability and management of sustainable water and sanitation in accordance once of SDGs in the environmental sector life.
How the environmental planning of the Universidade Federal de Lavras impacts higher education
Authors: Roberto Soares Scolforo José , Vilela de Resende Von Pinho Édila , Chalfun-Junior Antonio , Higino Freire Adriano , Coelho Naves Leandro , Machado Ladeira Marcio
Published: August 2018

UFLA was founded in 1908 as an Agriculture School and since that time there was a large concern with environmental issues. During last decade, UFLA has started a huge expansion in different areas of knowledge, becoming a more comprehensive university rather than being focused only in Agriculture Sciences. Due to that, UFLA has faced a need to build many buildings, avenues, improve water and energy supply and deal with different residues produced by their population on campus (including at the laboratories). For this reason, in 2009, UFLA started the idea to implement an Environmental and Structural Planning (ESP), to solve current structural problems and prevent future ones, creating, by that, conditions for keeping expanding and still placing UFLA as an environmentally sustainable University. Moreover, once the Planning was implemented and, even during its implementation, UFLA started to be an excellent example and laboratory for their students. In other words, we could start teaching how to expand keeping been sustainable. For instance, almost 70% of UFLA undergraduate and graduate programs have direct or indirect relation with environment and sustainability, and part of them use facilities and activities created with the ESP implementation. As recognition for the described actions, in 2017, UFLA was ranked in 35th position in UI Green Metric overall world ranking and 1st in Education. In conclusion, the ESP is a great opportunity to improve education and research quality of UFLA.
RTU approach to sustainable development: governance and measuring impact
Authors: Iljins Juris , Ribickis Leonids
Published: August 2018

The aim of this article is to explore Riga Technical University (RTU) approach to Sustainable Development, sustainability governance practice and its impact. In order to successfully implement sustainability as an essential part of organizations daily operations, processes should be properly governed, communicated and adequate resources should be allocated. Implementation of sustainable thinking has helped RTU to re-evaluate processes, goals and outcomes. The concept of RTU in long-term is to move towards building holistic sustainability concept thus impacting social, economic and environmental issues. For the achievement of these goals, governance of sustainability is a crucial factor.
Good mobility practices at Poltificia Universidad Javeriana (transportation)
Authors: Leal Alexandra , Acosta Sandra Catalina
Published: August 2018

This paper presents the strategies that the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana has been implementing since 2012, aimed to contributing from the academy to the mobility of the city of Bogotá, in order to improve the quality of life of our university community and to reduce the impact on the environment.
Indocyanine Green Lymphangiography as an Adjunct for the Optimal Identification and Management of Lymphatic Leaks in the Groin
Authors: Rebecca Alanna , Mahabir Raman , Pflibsen Lacey , Hillberg Nadine , Jensen Claire , Casey William
Published: August 2018

Background The treatment of lymphatic leaks and lymphoceles in the groin can be challenging with no optimal management determined to date. We postulate that indocyanine green (ICG) lymphangiography improves visualization of the site of a lymphatic leak and can optimize their management.

Methods A retrospective review was conducted of all cases in which ICG lymphangiography was used in the management of lymphatic leaks in the groin over an 18-month span. The inciting surgical procedure resulting in the leak was determined. Following thorough debridement, ICG was injected intradermally in the distal extremity and the site of the lymphatic leak was documented (superficial or deep) and oversewn. Outcomes were reported with regard to healing, infection, time to drain removal, and adjunctive procedures.

Results Fifteen patients underwent ICG lymphangiography during the surgical treatment of a lymphatic leak in the groin during the study period. In all cases, the site of the lymphatic leak was accurately identified and oversewn. In eight cases, the site of the lymphatic leak was in the subcutaneous tissue superficial to the femoral vessels rather than medial to the femoral vessels in the area of the lymph node basin. A local muscle flap was used in 10 cases simultaneously. All wounds healed primarily without an associated wound or infection.

Conclusion ICG lymphangiography facilitated the identification of lymphatic leaks in the groin and optimized their management in these challenging cases, many of which may have been missed if the area around the inguinal lymph node basin was treated exclusively.
Genital Sensibility in the Neophallus: Getting a Sense of the Current Literature and Techniques
Authors: Morrison Shane , Massie Jonathan , Dellon A.
Published: August 2018

Introduction Phalloplasty attempts to achieve a functional and aesthetic phallus. Sensation is a key component for sexual pleasure. Sensation is also important for protection in the setting of penile implant insertion. Little data are available on genital sensibility outcomes after phalloplasty, and there are no standardized approaches for assessment of either sensibility or erogenous perception.

Methods A literature search of PubMed, Google Scholar, and MEDLINE databases was conducted with terms related to genital sensibility after phalloplasty. Data on patient demographics, nerves used for coaptation, and measurements of genital sensibility were collected. Pooled event rates were determined for recovered glans sensibility and recovered erogenous sensation using a Freeman–Tukey arcsine transformation.

Results A total of 341 articles were identified of which 26 met the inclusion criteria for final analysis. The dorsal cutaneous branch of the pudendal nerve and ilioinguinal were the most common donor nerves. The lateral and medial antebrachial cutaneous and lateral femoral cutaneous were the most common recipient nerves. Pooled event rates suggest that some recovered glans sensibility occurs in more than 70% of cismale patients and in more than 90% of transmale patients. Recovered “erogenous” sensation occurs in more than 75% of cismale patients and more than 95% of transmale patients. In cismale patients, outcomes of recovered glans sensibility and erogenous sensation may be better for upper extremity recipient nerves than lower extremity recipient nerves.

Conclusions Based on the limited data in current literature on genital sensibility after phalloplasty, it is difficult to draw evidence-based conclusions. Yet data support improved outcomes with innervation. A validated outcome measure of “erogenous sensation” and a standardized approach to measuring cutaneous sensibility are required.
Necrotic Lesions Following Elective Urological Surgery in an Infant
Authors: Fernández-Ibieta María
Published: August 2018

Case Report An 11-month-old female infant presented on the first postoperative (PO) day following an elective pyeloplasty, a dark bluish erythema of her lumbotomy wound, plus a satellite lesion of the same characteristics. Fever and sepsis developed, and despite broad spectrum antibiotics (meropenem and vancomycin) were started, a diagnosis of necrotizing soft-tissue infection (NSTI or necrotizing fasciitis) was established. Surgical debridement of both lesions was performed on day 3 PO, and a surgical contamination (ring retractor blade) was suspected, due to the particular geography of the lesion. Urine and blood cultures yielded no bacteria, but tissue culture grew Pseudomonas aeruginosa. At PO 6th day, lesions still appeared exudative and poorly perfused, so vacuum-assisted therapy (VAT) treatment was started. Exudate control, perfusion, and granulation improved in consecutive days, which permitted direct closure (no graft needed) at PO day 12.

Discussion P. aeruginosa can be a fatal cause of type I NSTI. It has been reported rarely in adult series, with a prevalence of 4%, but it can be a major pathogen in pediatric NSTI. Added to an early recognition, aggressive surgery and debridement are required, in combination with antibiotic therapy, to limit the spread of the infection. In our case, despite surgical debridement being performed on day 3 PO, both wounds maintained scarce perfusion, and debris and exudate were poorly controlled with usual silver foams and daily nursery cures. VAT pediatric device was then added, which rapidly improved surgical bed, enhancing tissue perfusion and granulation in the following days.
Differentially expressed ZmASR genes associated with chilling tolerance in maize (Zea mays) varieties
Authors: Li Xinyuan , Li Lijie , Zuo Shiyu , Li Jing , Wei Shi
Published: August 2018

The ABA-stress-ripening (ASR) gene is an abiotic stress-response gene that is widely present in higher plants. The expression of ASR was recently shown to effectively improve plant tolerance to several abiotic stresses. However, the role of ASR during chilling stress in maize (Zea mays L.) is unclear. In this study, we tested two maize varieties under chilling treatment. Our results showed that Jinyu 5 (JY5), a chilling-sensitive variety, had lower maximum PSII efficiency (Fv/Fm) and higher lipid peroxidation levels than Jidan 198 (JD198) under chilling conditions. At the same time, the enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) were more active in JD198 than in JY5 under chilling conditions. In addition, exogenous ABA spray pretreatments enhanced the chilling tolerance of maize, showing results such as increased Fv/Fm ratios, and SOD and POD activity; significantly reduced lipid peroxidation levels and increased expression of ZmASR1 in both JD198 and JY5 under chilling conditions. Moreover, when the ZmASR1 expression levels in the two maize varieties were compared, the chilling-sensitive line JY5 had significantly lower expression in both the leaves and roots than JD198 under chilling stress, indicating that the expression of ZmASR1 is a chilling response option in plants. Furthermore, we overexpressed ZmASR1 in JY5; this resulted in enhanced maize chilling tolerance, which reduced the decreases in Fv/Fm and the malondialdehyde content and enhanced SOD and POD activity. Overall, these results suggest that ZmASR1 expression plays a protective role against chilling stress in plants.
A circuitous route
Authors: Jones Diana
Published: August 2018

Little did I know as a small child with a love of nature and exploration that one day I would be doing exactly the same thing – studying biology, exploring new and exciting environments, and telling everyone about it! – as well as realising my wildest dreams. However, it has been a circuitous route, with several swerves and ups and down. On the way through, I have been resilient and developed skills in diverse areas, by taking advantage of whatever opportunities were offered to me and being receptive to new ideas and ways of doing things. My STEM background has affected and enhanced every position I have held in this broad, life-long education. My ultimate passion is unlocking the information contained in historical and contemporary natural history collections, and translating why this work is important and why we should be looking after our environment, to a world-wide audience. Hopefully, this will engender in young people especially a curiosity about their world and a desire to pursue careers in conservation science – just like me!
Women in conservation science making a difference
Authors: Byrne Margaret , Broadhurst Linda , Leishman Michelle , Belov Kathy
Published: August 2018

Conservation science has a long history of providing the evidence-base that underpins management of diverse and unique biota and landscapes. This special issue brings together the stories of a range of women in conservation science to showcase the great work being done to develop and improve our knowledge and understanding of Australian plants, animals and ecosystems, across a range of disciplines and sectors. We focus on Australia in recognition of recent commitments by Australian institutions to achieve gender parity in Australian science, while acknowledging the achievements of women in conservation science globally. In this overview we highlight several exemplary women who have paved the way for those of us who have come after them, and present a brief snapshot of the careers of these women to acknowledge their contributions to the development of conservation science, and its associated disciplines. We also distil some common themes that have been identified by the women in the articles featured in this special issue, particularly passion and enthusiasm for the natural environment; multiple pathways that women have taken; satisfaction derived from working collaboratively across disciplines and with a variety of scientists, policy, managers and practitioners; and seeking to embrace diversity. A striking point from many of the stories, that we hope is changing now, is that many of the women had few female role models, yet the stories highlight their resilience and determination and their desire to inspire other young women to take up the challenge of a career in conservation science.
New Artin-Schelter regular and Calabi-Yau algebras via normal extensions
Authors: Chirvasitu Alex , Kanda Ryo , Smith S.
Published: August 2018

We introduce a new method to construct 4-dimensional Artin-Schelter regular algebras as normal extensions of (not necessarily noetherian) 3-dimensional ones. The method produces large classes of new 4-dimensional Artin-Schelter regular algebras. When applied to a 3-Calabi-Yau algebra our method produces a flat family of central extensions of it that are 4-Calabi-Yau, and all 4-Calabi-Yau central extensions having the same generating set as the original 3-Calabi-Yau algebra arise in this way. Each normal extension has the same generators as the original 3-dimensional algebra, and its relations consist of all but one of the relations for the original algebra and an equal number of new relations determined by “the missing one” and a tuple of scalars satisfying some numerical conditions. We determine the Nakayama automorphisms of the 4-dimensional algebras obtained by our method and as a consequence show that their homological determinant is 1. This supports the conjecture in [J. Algebra 446 (2016), pp. 373–399] that the homological determinant of the Nakayama automorphism is 1 for all Artin-Schelter regular connected graded algebras. Reyes-Rogalski-Zhang proved this is true in the noetherian case [Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 369 (2017), pp. 309–340, Cor. 5.4].
Mechanisms of Spontaneous Electrical Activity in the Developing Cerebral Cortex—Mouse Subplate Zone
Authors: Singh Mandakini B , White Jesse A , McKimm Eric J , Milosevic Milena M , Antic Srdjan D
Published: August 2018

Subplate (SP) neurons exhibit spontaneous plateau depolarizations mediated by connexin hemichannels. Postnatal (P1–P6) mice show identical voltage pattern and drug-sensitivity as observed in slices from human fetal cortex; indicating that the mouse is a useful model for studying the cellular physiology of the developing neocortex. In mouse SP neurons, spontaneous plateau depolarizations were insensitive to blockers of: synaptic transmission (glutamatergic, GABAergic, or glycinergic), pannexins (probenecid), or calcium channels (mibefradil, verapamil, diltiazem); while highly sensitive to blockers of gap junctions (octanol), hemichannels (La3+, lindane, Gd3+), or glial metabolism (DLFC). Application of La3+ (100 μM) does not exert its effect on electrical activity by blocking calcium channels. Intracellular application of Gd3+ determined that Gd3+-sensitive pores (putative connexin hemichannels) reside on the membrane of SP neurons. Immunostaining of cortical sections (P1–P6) detected connexins 26, and 45 in neurons, but not connexins 32 and 36. Vimentin-positive glial cells were detected in the SP zone suggesting a potential physiological interaction between SP neurons and radial glia. SP spontaneous activity was reduced by blocking glial metabolism with DFLC or by blocking purinergic receptors by PPADS. Connexin hemichannels and ATP release from vimentin-positive glial cells may underlie spontaneous plateau depolarizations in the developing mammalian cortex.
Superunitary Representations of Heisenberg Supergroups
Authors: de Goursac Axel , Michel Jean-Philippe
Published: August 2018

Numerous Lie supergroups do not admit superunitary representations (SURs) except the trivial one, for example, Heisenberg and orthosymplectic supergroups in mixed signature. To avoid this situation, we introduce in this paper a broader definition of SUR, relying on a new definition of Hilbert superspace. The latter is inspired by the notion of Krein space and was developed initially for noncommutative supergeometry. For Heisenberg supergroups, this new approach yields a smooth generalization, whatever the signature, of the unitary representation theory of the classical Heisenberg group. First, we obtain Schrödinger-like representations by quantizing generic coadjoint orbits. They satisfy the new definition of irreducible SURs and serve as ground to the main result of this paper: a generalized Stone–von Neumann theorem. Then, we obtain the superunitary dual and build a group Fourier transformation, satisfying Parseval theorem. We eventually show that metaplectic representations, which extend Schrödinger-like representations to metaplectic supergroups, also fit into this definition of SURs.
Beyond Policy Diffusion: Spatial Econometric Models of Public Administration
Authors: Cook Scott J , An Seung-Ho , Favero Nathan
Published: August 2018

Interdependence in the decision-making or behaviors of various organizations and administrators is often neglected in the study of public administration. Failing to account for such interdependence risks an incomplete understanding of the choices made by these actors and agencies. As such, we show how researchers analyzing cross-sectional or time-series-cross-sectional (TSCS) data can utilize spatial econometric methods to improve inference on existing questions and, more interestingly, engage a new set of theoretical questions. Specifically, we articulate several general mechanisms for spatial dependence that are likely to appear in research on public administration (isomorphism, competition, benchmarking, and common exposure). We then demonstrate how these mechanisms can be tested using spatial econometric models in two applications: first, a cross-sectional study of district-level bilingual education spending and, second, a TSCS analysis on state-level healthcare administration. In our presentation, we also briefly discuss many of the practical challenges confronted in estimating spatial models (e.g., weights specification, model selection, effects calculation) and offer some guidance on each.
Public Administration Theory: Normative Necessity
Authors: Weimer David L
Published: August 2018

Intellectual and practical endeavors almost always demand theory to help make sense of the complex world. Descriptive theories seek to predict what will happen, or at least understand what has happened, in particular circumstances. Normative theories seek to inform agents about what they should want or do in particular circumstances. As professionals seeking to promote good governance, public administrators must be able to predict consequences. To do so, they can make use of any relevant descriptive theory without concern for disciplinary boundaries. I argue that this catholic approach largely, though not completely, obviates the value of unique descriptive theories specific to public administration. In contrast, public administrators require normative theories that speak to the choices they must make as members of a profession that seeks to promote the good society. Thus, although as public administration scholars we face the same pressure as our disciplinary colleagues to create descriptive theories, our most important theoretical contributions are likely to be normative.
Structural Validity of the Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment in Patients With Injuries
Authors: de Graaf Max W , Reininga Inge H F , Wendt Klaus W , Heineman Erik , Moumni Mostafa El
Published: August 2018

Background

The Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment (SMFA) is a widely used patient-reported outcome measure, originally having 2 elements of outcome: the function index and the bother index. In multiple studies, it has been argued that the SMFA should be scored using 3, 4, or 6 subscales instead. Therefore, there is inconsistency with the number of underlying dimensions of the SMFA.

Objective

The aim of this study was to evaluate the structural validity of the various proposed subscale configurations of the SMFA in a broad range of Dutch patients with injuries.

Design

This study used a prospective cohort design.

Methods

Participants with injuries were asked to complete the Dutch SMFA (SMFA-NL) at 5 to 8 weeks postinjury. The structural validity of the 6 different factor structures that have been proposed in other studies was evaluated using confirmatory factor analyses. Internal consistency was analyzed using Cronbach alpha.

Results

A total of 491 patients participated (response rate = 74%). A 4-factor structure showed an acceptable fit (root-mean-square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.070, comparative fit index = 0.973, Tucker-Lewis index = 0.971). Other models, including the original 2-index structure, showed insufficient structural validity in Dutch patients with injuries. The 4-factor structure showed sufficient discriminant validity and good internal consistency (Cronbach alpha ≥ 0.83).

Limitations

It is unclear whether conclusions are generalizable across different countries, people who are elderly, and people without injuries.

Conclusion

In a broad range of patients with injuries, the SMFA-NL may be best scored and interpreted using a 4-factor structure. Other factor structures showed insufficient structural validity.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Authors: Nold Carrie Smith
Published: August 2018

With the incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) increasing over recent decades, wide variability in disease presentation, and a median survival of only 2 to 4 years from disease onset, timely referral is key for patients with suspected ALS. This article discusses primary care providers' roles in recognizing ALS and managing symptoms in patients whose travel to specialists can become restricted in the later stages of the disease.