bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Readiness for behavioral change of discretionary salt intake among women in Tehran, Iran
Authors: Kholdi Nahid , Pouraram Hamed , Pirasteh Ashraf , Abtahi Mitra
Published: June 2018

Background

It is vitally important to take into consideration women’s role in dietary pattern choice and family food management. Since women’s readiness for dietary behavioral change can be one of the most effective fundamental measures for preventing chronic diseases in developing countries, the present study is aimed to determine the readiness for behavioral change in voluntary salt intake as well as its determinants among women living in Tehran.

Materials and methods

The present cross-sectional study was conducted on 561 women referring to the women care units across city of Tehran. In this regard, demographic information of the participants was collected. The self-administered questionnaire included assessment of nutrition-related knowledge on salt intake and its association with diseases, discretionary salt intake, stages of change, and self-efficacy of women. In addition, the logistic regression test was used to determine the predictors of women’s readiness for behavioral change in voluntary salt intake.

Results

40% women had someone in the family who had such a limitation (salt intake-limited exposure group), while 81.6% always or often added salt to their foods. Moreover, one-third of the participants were in the stage of pre-contemplation and 41.2% were in the stage of preparation for reducing salt intake. Stage of change increased with an increase in the self-efficacy score (r=0.42, p<0.001). Self-efficacy and salt intake-limited exposure were the two most important determinants of the women’s readiness for behavioral change in voluntary salt intake, respectively: (OR=1.1 95% CI: 1.06-1.14 p<0.001; OR=1.58, 95% CI: 1.03-2.42 p<0.038)

Conclusions

Results of the present study showed that increased self-efficacy is associated with higher levels of behavioral change among women. Since self-efficacy is very important for initiating and maintaining the behavioral change, women’s empowerment for reducing salt intake necessitates putting the emphasis on increased self-efficacy as well as community-based nutritional interventions.
Validation of prostate cancer risk variants by CRISPR/Cas9 mediated genome editing
Authors: Wang Xing , Hayes James E. , Xu Xing , Gao Xiaoni , Mehta Dipti , Lilja Hans G. , Klein Robert J.
Published: June 2018

GWAS have identified numerous SNPs associated with prostate cancer risk. One such SNP is rs10993994. It is located in the MSMB promoter, associates with MSMB encoded β-microseminoprotein prostate secretion levels, and is associated with mRNA expression changes in MSMB and the adjacent gene NCOA4. In addition, our previous work showed a second SNP, rs7098889, is in LD with rs10993994 and associated with MSMB expression independent of rs10993994. Here, we generate a series of clones with single alleles removed by double guide RNA (gRNA) mediated CRISPR/Cas9 deletions, through which we demonstrate that each of these SNPs independently and greatly alters MSMB expression in an allele-specific manner. We further show that these SNPs have no substantial effect on the expression of NCOA4. These data demonstrate that a single SNP can have a large effect on gene expression and illustrate the importance of functional validation to deconvolute observed correlations. The method we have developed is generally applicable to test any SNP for which a relevant heterozygous cell line is available.

Author summary

In pursuing the underlying biological mechanism of prostate cancer pathogenesis, scientists utilized the existence of common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in human genome as genetic markers to perform large scale genome wide association studies (GWAS) and have so far identified more than a hundred prostate cancer risk variants. Such variants provide an unbiased and systematic new venue to study the disease mechanism, and the next big challenge is to translate these genetic associations to the causal role of altered gene function in oncogenesis. The majority of these variants are waiting to be studied and lots of them may act in oncogenesis through gene expression regulation. To prove the concept, we took rs10993994 and its linked rs7098889 as an example and engineered single cell clones by allelic-specific CRISPR/Cas9 deletion to separate the effect of each allele. We observed that a single nucleotide difference would lead to surprisingly high level of MSMB gene expression change in a gene specific and tissue specific manner. Our study strongly supports the notion that differential level of gene expression caused by risk variants and their associated genetic locus play a major role in oncogenesis and also highlights the importance of studying the function of MSMB encoded β-MSP in prostate cancer pathogenesis.
Establishment of epithelial and fibroblast cell lines from primary renal cancer nephrectomies
Authors: Yap Ning Yi , Ong Teng Aik , Morais Christudas , Pailoor Jayalakshmi , Gobe Glenda C. , Rajandram Retnagowri
Published: June 2018

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the most lethal urogenital cancers and effective treatment of metastatic RCC remains an elusive target. Cell lines enable the in-vitro investigation of molecular and genetic changes leading to renal carcinogenesis and are important for evaluating cellular drug response or toxicity. This study details a fast and easy protocol of establishing epithelial and fibroblast cell lines concurrently from renal cancer nephrectomy tissue. The protocol involves mechanical disaggregation, collagenase digestion and cell sieving for establishing epithelial cells while fibroblast cells were grown from explants. This protocol has been modified from previous published reports with additional antibiotics and washing steps added to eliminate microbial contamination from the surgical source. Cell characterization was carried out using immunofluorescence and quantitative PCR. Eleven stable epithelial renal tumour cell lines of various subtypes, including rare subtypes, were established with a spontaneous immortalization rate of 21.6% using this protocol. Eight fibroblast cell cultures grew successfully but did not achieve spontaneous immortalization. Cells of epithelial origin expressed higher expression of epithelial markers such as pan-cytokeratin, CK8 and E-cadherin whereas fibroblast cells expressed high α-SMA. Further mutational analysis is needed to evaluate the genetic or molecular characteristics of the cell lines.
Mouse Sperm Cryopreservation Using Cryoprotectant Containing l-Glutamine
Authors: Takeo Toru , Nakagata Naomi
Published: June 2018

Efforts to advance sperm cryopreservation are ongoing and include modifications in the cryoprotective agents. The addition of l-glutamine maintains post-thaw motility and reduces plasma membrane damage to sperm.
Analysis of Cell Viability by the alamarBlue Assay
Authors: Kumar Priti , Nagarajan Arvindhan , Uchil Pradeep D.
Published: June 2018

This protocol describes viability measurements for cell cultures in a 96-well tissue culture plate using alamarBlue (resazurin). The assay can be modified to accommodate larger plates; however, for a preliminary analysis of transfection reagents and parameters of the transfection protocol on cell viability, a 96-well plate format is the most cost effective.
Preparation of Cellular Extracts from Xenopus Eggs and Embryos
Authors: Good Matthew C. , Heald Rebecca
Published: June 2018

Cell-free cytoplasmic extracts prepared from Xenopus eggs have been used extensively to recapitulate and characterize intracellular events in vitro. Egg extracts can be induced to transit the cell cycle and reconstitute assembly of dynamic structures including the interphase nucleus and the mitotic spindle. In this protocol, methods are described for preparing crude cytoplasmic extracts from Xenopus eggs and embryos that are arrested in metaphase of the cell cycle. The basic protocol uses unfertilized Xenopus laevis eggs, which are crushed by centrifugation in the presence of EGTA to preserve the natural cytostatic factor (CSF) activity that maintains high levels of Cdk1/cyclin B kinase and metaphase arrest. In the second method, the basic procedure is adapted for Xenopus tropicalis eggs with minor modifications to accommodate differences in frog size, timing of egg laying, and temperature and salt sensitivity. The third variation takes advantage of the synchronous divisions of fertilized X. laevis eggs to generate extracts from embryos, which are arrested in metaphase by the addition of nondegradable cyclin B and an inhibitor of the anaphase-promoting complex (APC) that together stabilize Cdk1/cyclin B kinase activity. Because they are obtained in much smaller amounts and their cell cycles are less perfectly synchronized, extracts prepared from embryos are less robust than egg extracts. X. laevis egg extracts have been used to study a wide range of cellular processes. In contrast, X. tropicalis egg extracts and X. laevis embryo extracts have been used primarily to characterize molecular mechanisms regulating spindle and nuclear size.
Protein Quantitation
Authors: Greenfield Edward A.
Published: June 2018

Methods for quantifying protein samples include colorimetric assays (e.g., using bicinchoninic acid, Bradford, or Lowry reagents) and ultraviolet (UV) detection (e.g., using NanoDrop technology). Seven such methods are outlined here.
Identification of ions in experimental electrostatic potential maps
Authors: Wang Jimin , Liu Zheng , Frank Joachim , Moore Peter B.
Published: June 2018

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) directly images the distribution of electrostatic potential (ESP) within macromolecules, and thus can provide much more information about atomic charge than X-ray crystallography. The electron-scattering length of an isolated ion is quite different from that of the corresponding neutral atom. The difference is very large at small scattering angles where the effects of electron distributions are largest, but becomes smaller at high scattering angles where nuclear charge determines outcomes. For this reason, in cryo-EM maps that have been solved at resolutions lower than ∼2.5 Å, peaks corresponding to anions will always be less prominent than those of cations, and may even be negative. Furthermore, if a map of this kind is smeared computationally after the fact, which reduces its effective resolution, anion peaks will diminish in size, cation peaks will grow and peaks that represent uncharged atoms will remain about the same. These effects can be used to determine the sign of the charges carried by the ions associated with a macromolecule and even estimate their magnitudes. The ESP value for a cation in a cation–anion pair is smaller than the value of the cation in isolation, but the ESP value for the anion in the ionic pair is greater than the value of the anion in isolation. The experimental range of ESP values for Mg2+ relative to that of the closest C1′ atom is found to be between 0.57 and 1.27.
The effect of resilience and job stress on information security awareness
Authors: McCormac Agata , Calic Dragana , Parsons Kathryn , Butavicius Marcus , Pattinson Malcolm , Lillie Meredith
Published: June 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between resilience, job stress and information security awareness (ISA). The study examined the effect of resilience and job stress on the three components that comprise ISA, namely, knowledge, attitude and behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 1,048 working Australians completed an online questionnaire. ISA was measured with the Human Aspects of Information Security Questionnaire. Participants also completed the Brief Resilience Scale and the Job Stress Scale.

Findings

It was found that participants with greater resilience also had higher ISA and experienced lower levels of job stress. More specifically, individuals who reported higher levels of resilience had significantly better knowledge, attitude and behaviour. Similarly, participants who reported lower levels of job stress also reported significantly better knowledge, attitude and behaviour. Resilience plays an important mediating role in the relationship between job stress and ISA. This means that even if people have high levels of job stress, if they are better able to cope with or adapt to stress (i.e. have higher resilience), they are less likely to have lower ISA. Results of this study add to the body of literature emphasising the positive effects of resilience and suggest that resilience is associated with improved ISA and therefore more secure behaviour.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should focus on assessing the influence of resilience training in the workplace.

Originality/value

Given the constructive findings, it may be valuable to focus on the effect of organisational culture, and organisational security culture, on resilience, job stress and ISA.
How government policies shape the development process of strategic networks
Authors: Agostini Lara , Wegner Douglas
Published: June 2018

Purpose

The importance of government policies in the formation and development of strategic networks has been widely recognized. Many countries have designed specific government policies with the aim to support network creation. However, the influence of these different government policies on the development process of strategic networks has never been considered so far. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how different government policies influence the development process of strategic networks.

Design/methodology/approach

This research uses a multiple case study design with a descriptive and processual case study approach. The study compares two strategic networks where different government policies have been implemented: on the one hand, policies aimed to promote networking through the support of trade association and the design of specific laws; on the other hand, public policies providing financial support for network development.

Findings

The comparative analysis of two networks shows how the different activities along the development process are carried out based on the different support received, and it highlights that financing network creation and exerting a control function is not enough to stimulate network development and sustain its success.

Research limitations/implications

Considering the limited generalizability of this exploratory study because of the analysis of two cases, future studies with a larger number of strategic networks can expand the understanding of the effects of different types of public support for network development.

Practical implications

The results contribute to make entrepreneurs and public bodies aware of the importance of a managerial support to strategic networks’ development. The authors provide a series of evidences to academics and practitioners regarding how the development process of strategic networks may be shaped depending on the different government support they receive.

Originality/value

The value of this contribution lies in demonstrating the influence of different government policies in the development process of strategic networks, which has not been investigated yet, despite the great attention governments are devoting to networking.
Factors influencing green purchase behavior of millennials in India
Authors: Chaudhary Richa , Bisai Samrat
Published: June 2018

Purpose

Building on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the purpose of this paper is to understand the green buying behavior of educated millennials in India. The study also attempts to extend the TPB by including two additional variables, environmental concern (EC) and willingness to pay premium, in the framework.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 202 students from various departments of an institute of higher education in India. The proposed model was tested with the help of structural equation modeling using bootstrapping procedures in SPSS AMOS 24.

Findings

Except for the direct association between subjective norm (SN) and purchase intention (PI), the study provided support for the TPB framework. EC was found to exert an indirect influence on green PI through its effect on attitude, SN and perceived behavioral control. Willingness to pay premium moderated the relationship of PI with green buying behavior. PIs were found to successfully translate into purchase behavior (PB).

Practical implications

This research by promoting an understanding on the factors affecting the green buying behavior of educated millennials in India will assist green marketers to tap the tremendous potential inherent in this market segment by formulating customized market plans and strategies.

Originality/value

The study extends the existing literature by validating and extending the TPB framework in a unique cultural context and advancing the understanding of underlying psychological mechanisms and boundary conditions of the relationship between PIs and PBs.
Green supply chain practice adoption and firm performance: manufacturing SMEs in Uganda
Authors: Namagembe Sheila , Ryan S. , Sridharan Ramaswami
Published: June 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the relationship between five green practices and firm performance. In addition, this paper investigates the influence of each green practice on environmental performance, economic benefits, and economic costs.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected based on a cross-sectional survey of owner/managers of 200 manufacturing SME firms in Uganda, Africa. SPSS was used to find descriptive means and test relationships between green practices and performance outcomes. Structural equation modelling was used to test for the influence of each practice on performance outcomes. The structural equation modelling results were obtained using the Covariance-Based Structural Equation Modelling software. Results were compared with similar studies conducted in developing countries.

Findings

Different green practices affect different performance dimensions in different ways across different industries. For example, eco-design and internal environmental management practices significantly influence environmental performance; green purchasing and internal environmental management practices significantly influence economic benefits; and internal environmental management practices affect economic costs. Overall internal environmental management is the key to positive outcomes across the three performance criteria. The authors show how the results obtained vary from similar studies conducted in developing countries and explain possible reasons for the difference.

Research limitations/implications

Africa is a rapidly industrialising nation faced with difficult choices between economic growth and increased pollution. Because SMEs represent the majority of manufacturing firms, they are the main polluters. Hence, better understanding of the costs and benefits, both environmental and economic, is important to encourage green practice adoption for the betterment of community health and prosperity.

Originality/value

Despite numerous studies on the relationships between green practice adoption and performance outcomes, only a few studies include both economic costs and benefits in addition to environmental performance. The study covers five green supply chain practices, whereas most similar studies are limited in the number of practices examined. The African context is unique and important because industrial development and environmental protection goals are in conflict. Similar studies are predominant in an Asian context which is more developed than Africa. The findings and comparisons raise important questions for further research in relation to the roles of national regulations, geographical markets and industry types in furthering green practices in manufacturing.
Improving in-role and extra-role performances with rewards and recognition
Authors: Rai Alka , Ghosh Piyali , Chauhan Ragini , Singh Richa
Published: June 2018

Purpose

This study aims to explore the possibility that rewards and recognition may be instrumental in improving both in-role and extra-role performances of retail sales associates, with an underlying mediating role of employee engagement in this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was conducted across 35 retail stores in five cities located in North India on 247 sales associates. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to test the mediation hypotheses. Analysis was done in lines with the conditions of mediation laid down by Baron and Kenny (1986).

Findings

Employee engagement is found to fully mediate the impact of rewards and recognition on in-role and extra-role performances.

Practical implications

Organizations should be committed to recognizing employees’ efforts and providing them with financial and non-financial rewards based on organizational policies. Such measures would improve in-role and extra-role performances through enhancing engagement level of employees.

Originality/value

This study makes significant contributions to literature on employee engagement and that on retail sector, especially in Indian context, through highlighting the mediating role of engagement. Given shortage and retention of skilled manpower as major challenges for Indian retailers, engaging sales associates through rewards and recognition to improve their performance at both in-role and extra-role levels can have significant implications for retailers.
The influence of the specifics of small businesses on innovation
Authors: Ferreira de Lara Felipe , Regina Neves Guimarães Márcia
Published: June 2018

Purpose

Based on a multi-case analysis of small businesses in the metal-mechanical industry in the region of Sorocaba, State of São Paulo, Brazil, the purpose of this paper is to analyze how small businesses (in terms of the owner, business, and influences exerted by the environment) influence innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

Six case studies are used to analyze the Brazilian metal-mechanical industry. The data are collected through semi-structured interviews and direct observations. In addition, innovations over the previous five years are evaluated in order to establish a comparative pattern between companies.

Findings

This study examines how facilitating factors are related to the owners of small businesses. These factors include owners’ personal ambitions, the centralization of decisions, and their confidence in their ability to make effective decisions. Factors related to the organization that favor innovation include a simple and streamlined structure and fewer levels of bureaucracy, whereas low capital intensity limit innovation. While some factors related to the environment favor innovation, others have a limiting effect (e.g. short-term horizons and a lack of formal strategic planning).

Originality/value

The main contribution of this research is to show that innovation is not synonymous with financial investment. Strategic reorganization and the rationalization of productive resources through competitive priorities may lead to innovation in different spheres, helping to increase the competitiveness and strength of the national economy.
Predation risk shaped by habitat and landscape complexity in urban environments
Authors: Frey David , Vega Kevin , Zellweger Florian , Ghazoul Jaboury , Hansen Dennis , Moretti Marco
Published: June 2018

Habitat loss and modification are hallmarks of anthropogenic ecosystems, but the consequences for ecosystem functioning and service provisioning often remain unclear. Understanding these links in cities is complicated by strong but fine‐scale differences in habitat structure among green space patches, and a high variance in habitat amount across urban landscapes.

We used airborne laser scanning data to disentangle the effects of 3D woody habitat heterogeneity of urban home gardens, and woody habitat amount at four landscape spatial scales (50, 100, 250, and 500 m), on the predation risk of artificial sentinel prey by birds and arthropods.

In both predator groups, and at all the investigated spatial scales, cross‐scale interactive effects between garden habitat heterogeneity and habitat amount in the urban landscape were the main drivers of predation. Risk of predation by birds was highest in heterogeneous garden habitats, but only in densely built urban landscapes where habitat amount was low to intermediate (10%–20%) at large spatial scales (250–500 m). It dropped independently of garden habitat heterogeneity when habitat amount became too low (<10%) at small (50–100 m) spatial scales. In contrast, risk of predation by arthropods mostly peaked in homogeneous garden habitats when habitat amount was intermediate (20%) at large spatial scales.

Our findings show that the ability of urban green space patches, such as gardens, to sustain ecosystem functions in cities mainly depends on cross‐scale interactive effects with larger scale habitat amount. In birds, predation activity can increase when high patch‐scale habitat heterogeneity contrasts with reduced larger scale habitat amount, suggesting concentration effects. Yet, thresholds exist under which ecosystem functioning drops independently of habitat structure.

Synthesis and applications. The potential of small‐scale interventions to enhance habitat heterogeneity (e.g., by planting native trees with understorey shrubs) for restoring ecosystem functions, such as bird predation, in urban areas is dependent on wider landscape habitat structure. Urban planning should therefore adopt a multiscale approach to sustain and restore ecosystem functions and services; a simple but still not broadly recognized finding. Airborne laser scanning is a useful tool to infer habitat structure across a hierarchy of scales in spatially heterogeneous anthropogenic ecosystems.
The joke is on us: Irony and community in a Beirut scrapyard
Authors: SALEH ELIZABETH , ZAKAR ADRIEN
Published: June 2018

The Lebanese scrap metal industry – one of the country's largest exports – relies heavily upon marginalized young boys displaced from their homes in Syria. These underage waste pickers are not supposed to be working, and yet work is the only legitimate reason for their presence in Lebanon. Workers engage in different types of trip as they journey across Beirut, discreetly rummaging through rubbish. These trips allow them to cover up play under the guise of work while fostering a community of complicity that functions according to age hierarchies, rites of passage and codes of conduct.
The Timing of Income Tax Changes in the Face of Projected Debt Increases
Authors: Ball Christopher , Creedy John , Scobie Grant
Published: June 2018

This article examines the time path of the income tax rate chosen by a hypothetical policy‐maker, in a model where an increasing ratio of government debt to GDP is projected in the absence of policy changes. The policy‐maker is assumed to maximise an objective function expressed in terms of a number of aggregate variables, including the excess burden of taxation and a desired debt ratio. Tax policy changes have feedback effects, as a result of incentives and other endogenous influences that impose constraints on the efficacy of those policies. Emphasis is given to the importance of uncertainty in devising an optimal policy and the consequent value of waiting instead of imposing a sharp initial increase in anticipation of otherwise higher future debt.
The Global Iron and Steel Industry: From a Bilateral Oligopoly to a Thwarted Monopsony
Authors: Sourisseau Sylvain
Published: June 2018

China's growing urbanisation and the speed of development of its manufacturing industry has led to a shock in steel demand. This article analyses the evolution of the market structure and the related market power shift. From a stable situation in which a few steelmakers negotiated with a few mining firms to set an annual price, the market has evolved to a new price‐fixing regime as a result of supply–demand confrontation. A new composition of stakeholders in the iron and steel sectors has emerged, transitioning from an oligopoly to a thwarted monopsony.
The Survey of Income and Housing
Authors: Taylor Matthew
Published: June 2018

This data survey presents an introduction to the Survey of Income and Housing (SIH), a cross‐sectional household survey of individuals living in Australian private dwellings starting in 1969. This article provides an overview of the SIH and a description of the content of the most recent edition collected over the course of the 2015–16 financial year. The overview compares and contrasts the SIH to its longitudinal cousin the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, outlining strengths and limits of both data sources depending on the type of research question.
Education Policy Reforms to Boost Productivity in Australia
Authors: Foster Gigi
Published: June 2018

Chapter 3 of the 2017 Australian Productivity Commission's recent report ‘Shifting the dial’, commissioned by the Commonwealth Treasurer to interrogate ‘Australia's productivity performance’, focuses on education policy. The Treasurer explicitly asks that the report include ‘recommendations on productivity‐enhancing reform’, and Chapter 3, entitled ‘Future Skills and Work’, delivers these for the education policy sphere. In this article I evaluate the education policy reform recommendations set out in Chapter 3 against Australia's educational performance and landscape today, and what we know in general about the educational inputs to productivity. Different, though overlapping, policy recommendations emerge from my analysis.
Strategies to enhance employee well‐being and organisational performance in a postcrisis environment: A case study
Authors: Malinen Sanna , Hatton Tracy , Naswall Katharina , Kuntz Joana
Published: June 2018

Business Continuity Management processes aim at getting businesses backup and running after a crisis or disaster, but do not necessarily have a focus on the longer‐term, people‐related challenges that can follow. This study, based on a longitudinal, action‐research case study, demonstrates how employee well‐being and organisational performance of an organisation were affected over 2 years after the Canterbury earthquakes (2010–2011), in New Zealand. It details the organisational actions taken to improve staff resilience and well‐being, and their performance, including: acknowledgement, increased autonomy, process flexibility, and focus on well‐being. These lessons are presented to guide organisational strategies for crisis recovery. The strategies can strengthen organisations’ adaptive capacity and increase performance in the long‐term aftermath of a disaster.
Laparoscopic donor hepatectomy
Authors: Chen Kuo‐Hsin , Siow Tiing Foong , Chio U‐Chon , Wu Jiann‐Ming , Jeng Kuo‐Shyang
Published: June 2018

Laparoscopic liver resection has been applied to treat most indications for liver resection during the past two decades. According to the literature, patient numbers have increased exponentially as a result, and surgical difficulty has increased as well. In expert centers, laparoscopic anatomical hemihepatectomy and major liver resection more than 3 segments have become the acceptable treatment. Moreover, with surgical innovations and accumulated experience, living donor liver transplantation has become an established treatment choice for patients on the transplant waiting list. It is even considered an inevitable choice in regions with limited access to organs from deceased donors. However, significant morbidity and rare but catastrophic mortality are associated with donor hepatectomy and remain major concerns. Therefore, to decrease the incidence of complications, a minimally invasive approach in donor hepatectomy was adopted in the early 2000s. Initially, a minimally invasive approach was used for left lateral sectionectomy for pediatric liver transplant, then for laparoscopy‐assisted hemihepatectomy and pure laparoscopic/robotic right donor hepatectomy, and more recently, for adult living donor liver transplantation. The extent of procedure complexity and potential complications depends on the approach and the size of the graft to be harvested. Early results from expert teams have seemed promising in terms of shortened donor recovery and improved perioperative outcomes. However, the combination of these two highly sophisticated surgical procedures raise more concerns about donor safety, especially with regard to unexpected events during the operation. A high level of evidence is very difficult to achieve in this highly specialized surgical practice with limited penetration. Therefore, an international registry has been suggested to determine the risks and benefits before the use of laparoscopic right donor hepatectomy spreads.
The United Kingdom Primary Immune Deficiency (UKPID) registry 2012 to 2017
Authors: Shillitoe B , Bangs C , Guzman D , Gennery A R , Longhurst H J , Slatter M , Edgar D M , Thomas M , Worth A , Huissoon A , Arkwright P D , Jolles S , Bourne H , Alachkar H , Savic S , Kumararatne D S , Patel S , Baxendale H , Noorani S , Yong P F K , Waruiru C , Pavaladurai V , Kelleher P , Herriot R , Bernatonienne J , Bhole M , Steele C , Hayman G , Richter A , Gompels M , Chopra C , Garcez T , Buckland M
Published: June 2018

This is the second report of the United Kingdom Primary Immunodeficiency (UKPID) registry. The registry will be a decade old in 2018 and, as of August 2017, had recruited 4758 patients encompassing 97% of immunology centres within the United Kingdom. This represents a doubling of recruitment into the registry since we reported on 2229 patients included in our first report of 2013. Minimum PID prevalence in the United Kingdom is currently 5·90/100 000 and an average incidence of PID between 1980 and 2000 of 7·6 cases per 100 000 UK live births. Data are presented on the frequency of diseases recorded, disease prevalence, diagnostic delay and treatment modality, including haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and gene therapy. The registry provides valuable information to clinicians, researchers, service commissioners and industry alike on PID within the United Kingdom, which may not otherwise be available without the existence of a well-established registry.
Long‐term outcomes of hemi‐automated lamellar keratoplasty
Authors: Fuest Matthias , Liu Yu‐Chi , Arundhati Anshu , Li Lim , Tan Donald , Mehta Jodhbir S
Published: June 2018

Importance

To describe long‐term outcomes of hemi‐automated lamellar keratoplasty (HALK).

Background

HALK is a hybrid anterior lamellar keratoplasty technique for corneas with anterior to mid‐stromal scars and topographical irregularities.

Design

Prospective interventional case series.

Participants

Thirty‐five eyes of 35 consecutive patients undergoing HALK at a single tertiary referral centre from 2007 to 2016.

Methods

Patients were followed up for a mean period of 61.4 ± 29.2 months.

Main Outcome Measure

Uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), best spectacle‐corrected visual acuity (BSCVA), spherical equivalent (SE) and cylinder, endothelial cell density (ECD), central corneal thickness (CCT), graft survival and complications were analysed.

Results

The most common indications for HALK were scars because of contact lens associated infectious keratitis (29%), unknown origin (26%) or corneal dystrophies (14%). Five patients had a previous keratoplasty (n = 4; deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty,n = 1). Two HALKs failed at 22 and 32 months follow‐up. No graft rejections occurred. UCVA improved from 0.91 ± 0.31 to 0.58 ± 0.35 and BSCVA from 0.66 ± 0.30 to 0.21 ± 0.20 logMAR (P < 0.001) at the last follow‐up. Astigmatism (P = 0.2), SE (P = 0.8) and ECD (P = 0.4) did not change significantly during follow‐up. CCT increased from 490 to 560 μm (P = 0.004). Kaplan–Meier estimated survival for all HALK cases was 90.6 (95% confidence interval 82.6–98.5) months with a survival probability of 96% at 12 months and 92% at 3, 5 and 7 years of follow‐up.

Conclusions and Relevance

HALK provides excellent graft survival in primary cases and in patients with prior keratoplasty as well as significant improvement in visual acuity with low complication rates.
A new microflake model with microscopic self‐shadowing for accurate volume downsampling
Authors: Loubet Guillaume , Neyret Fabrice
Published: June 2018

Naïve linear methods for downsampling high‐resolution microflake volumes often produce inaccurate appearance, especially when input voxels are very opaque. Preserving correct appearance at all resolutions requires taking into account maskingshadowing effects that occur between and inside dense input voxels. We introduce a new microflake model whose additional parameters characterize self‐shadowing effects at a microscopic scale. We provide an anisotropic self‐shadowing function and microflake distributions for which the scattering coefficients and the phase functions of our model have closed‐form expressions. We use this model in a new downsampling approach in which scattering parameters are computed from local estimations of self‐shadowing probabilities in the input volume. Unlike previous work, our method handles datasets with spatially varying scattering parameters, semi‐transparent volumes and datasets with intricate silhouettes. We show that our method generates LoDs with correct transparency and consistent appearance through scales for a wide range of challenging datasets, allowing for huge memory savings and efficient distant rendering without loss of quality.
Real‐Time Rendering of Wave‐Optical Effects on Scratched Surfaces
Authors: Velinov Z. , Werner S. , Hullin M. B.
Published: June 2018

The visual appearance of real‐world materials is characterized by surface features across many scales and has received significant attention by the graphics community for decades. Yet, even the most advanced microfacet models have difficulties faithfully recreating materials like snow, sand, brushed metal or hair that feature scale‐violating glints and speckles and defy any traditional notion of filtering and level of detail. In this work, we address an important subset of such materials, namely metal and dielectric surfaces that are covered with microscopic scratches, e.g., from polishing processes or surface wear. The appearance of such surfaces features fine‐scale spatial detail and iridescent colors caused by diffraction, and has only recently been successfully recreated. We adopt the scratch iridescence model, which is known for plausible results in offline Monte Carlo settings but unsuitable for real‐time applications where extensive illumination sampling is prohibitively expensive. In this paper, we introduce an efficient technique for incoherently integrating the contributions of individual scratches, as well as closed‐form solutions for modeling spherical and polygonal area light sources, and for the first time bring scratch iridescence within reach of real‐time applications.
Improved Functional Mappings via Product Preservation
Authors: Nogneng D. , Melzi S. , Rodolà E. , Castellani U. , Bronstein M. , Ovsjanikov M.
Published: June 2018

In this paper, we consider the problem of information transfer across shapes and propose an extension to the widely used functional map representation. Our main observation is that in addition to the vector space structure of the functional spaces, which has been heavily exploited in the functional map framework, the functional algebra (i.e., the ability to take pointwise products of functions) can significantly extend the power of this framework. Equipped with this observation, we show how to improve one of the key applications of functional maps, namely transferring real‐valued functions without conversion to point‐to‐point correspondences. We demonstrate through extensive experiments that by decomposing a given function into a linear combination consisting not only of basis functions but also of their pointwise products, both the representation power and the quality of the function transfer can be improved significantly. Our modification, while computationally simple, allows us to achieve higher transfer accuracy while keeping the size of the basis and the functional map fixed. We also analyze the computational complexity of optimally representing functions through linear combinations of products in a given basis and prove NP‐completeness in some general cases. Finally, we argue that the use of function products can have a wide‐reaching effect in extending the power of functional maps in a variety of applications, in particular by enabling the transfer of high‐frequency functions without changing the representation size or complexity.
Visual Attention for Rendered 3D Shapes
Authors: Lavoué Guillaume , Cordier Frédéric , Seo Hyewon , Larabi Mohamed‐Chaker
Published: June 2018

Understanding the attentional behavior of the human visual system when visualizing a rendered 3D shape is of great importance for many computer graphics applications. Eye tracking remains the only solution to explore this complex cognitive mechanism. Unfortunately, despite the large number of studies dedicated to images and videos, only a few eye tracking experiments have been conducted using 3D shapes. Thus, potential factors that may influence the human gaze in the specific setting of 3D rendering, are still to be understood.

In this work, we conduct two eye‐tracking experiments involving 3D shapes, with both static and time‐varying camera positions. We propose a method for mapping eye fixations (i.e., where humans gaze) onto the 3D shapes with the aim to produce a benchmark of 3D meshes with fixation density maps, which is publicly available. First, the collected data is used to study the influence of shape, camera position, material and illumination on visual attention. We find that material and lighting have a significant influence on attention, as well as the camera path in the case of dynamic scenes. Then, we compare the performance of four representative state‐of‐the‐art mesh saliency models in predicting ground‐truth fixations using two different metrics. We show that, even combined with a center‐bias model, the performance of 3D saliency algorithms remains poor at predicting human fixations. To explain their weaknesses, we provide a qualitative analysis of the main factors that attract human attention. We finally provide a comparison of human‐eye fixations and Schelling points and show that their correlation is weak.
Efficient BVH‐based Collision Detection Scheme with Ordering and Restructuring
Authors: Wang Xinlei , Tang Min , Manocha Dinesh , Tong Ruofeng
Published: June 2018

Bounding volume hierarchy (BVH) has been widely adopted as the acceleration structure in broad‐phase collision detection. Previous state‐of‐the‐art BVH‐based collision detection approaches exploited the spatio‐temporal coherence of simulations by maintaining a bounding volume test tree (BVTT) front. A major drawback of these algorithms is that large deformations in the scenes decrease culling efficiency and slow down collision queries. Moreover, for front‐based methods, the inefficient caching on GPU caused by the arbitrary layout of BVH and BVTT front nodes becomes a critical performance issue. We present a fast and robust BVH‐based collision detection scheme on GPU that addresses the above problems by ordering and restructuring BVHs and BVTT fronts. Our techniques are based on the use of histogram sort and an auxiliary structure BVTT front log, through which we analyze the dynamic status of BVTT front and BVH quality. Our approach efficiently handles inter‐ and intra‐object collisions and performs especially well in simulations where there is considerable spatio‐temporal coherence. The benchmark results demonstrate that our approach is significantly faster than the previous BVH‐based method, and also outperforms other state‐of‐the‐art spatial subdivision schemes in terms of speed.
Aura Mesh: Motion Retargeting to Preserve the Spatial Relationships between Skinned Characters
Authors: Jin Taeil , Kim Meekyoung , Lee Sung‐Hee
Published: June 2018

Applying motion‐capture data to multi‐person interaction between virtual characters is challenging because one needs to preserve the interaction semantics while also satisfying the general requirements of motion retargeting, such as preventing penetration and preserving naturalness. An efficient means of representing interaction semantics is by defining the spatial relationships between the body parts of characters. However, existing methods consider only the character skeleton and thus are not suitable for capturing skin‐level spatial relationships. This paper proposes a novel method for retargeting interaction motions with respect to character skins. Specifically, we introduce the aura mesh, which is a volumetric mesh that surrounds a character's skin. The spatial relationships between two characters are computed from the overlap of the skin mesh of one character and the aura mesh of the other, and then the interaction motion retargeting is achieved by preserving the spatial relationships as much as possible while satisfying other constraints. We show the effectiveness of our method through a number of experiments.
Flexible Live‐Wire: Image Segmentation with Floating Anchors
Authors: Summa B. , Faraj N. , Licorish C. , Pascucci V.
Published: June 2018

We introduce Flexible Live‐Wire, a generalization of the Live‐Wire interactive segmentation technique with floating anchors. In our approach, the user input for Live‐Wire is no longer limited to the setting of pixel‐level anchor nodes, but can use more general anchor sets. These sets can be of any dimension, size, or connectedness. The generality of the approach allows the design of a number of user interactions while providing the same functionality as the traditional Live‐Wire. In particular, we experiment with this new flexibility by designing four novel Live‐Wire interactions based on specific primitives: paint, pinch, probable, and pick anchors. These interactions are only a subset of the possibilities enabled by our generalization. Moreover, we discuss the computational aspects of this approach and provide practical solutions to alleviate any additional overhead. Finally, we illustrate our approach and new interactions through several example segmentations.
Semantic Segmentation for Line Drawing Vectorization Using Neural Networks
Authors: Kim Byungsoo , Wang Oliver , Öztireli A. Cengiz , Gross Markus
Published: June 2018

In this work, we present a method to vectorize raster images of line art. Inverting the rasterization procedure is inherently ill‐conditioned, as there exist many possible vector images that could yield the same raster image. However, not all of these vector images are equally useful to the user, especially if performing further edits is desired. We therefore define the problem of computing an instance segmentation of the most likely set of paths that could have created the raster image. Once the segmentation is computed, we use existing vectorization approaches to vectorize each path, and then combine all paths into the final output vector image. To determine which set of paths is most likely, we train a pair of neural networks to provide semantic clues that help resolve ambiguities at intersection and overlap regions. These predictions are made considering the full context of the image, and are then globally combined by solving a Markov Random Field (MRF). We demonstrate the flexibility of our method by generating results on character datasets, a synthetic random line dataset, and a dataset composed of human drawn sketches. For all cases, our system accurately recovers paths that adhere to the semantics of the drawings.