bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms in Foster Youth Transitioning Into Adulthood
Authors: Valdez Christine E. , Bailey Brenda E. , Santuzzi Alecia M. , Lilly Michelle M.
Published: September 2014

Foster youth often experience considerable adversity both in and out of foster care, including histories of abuse and/or neglect, and further stressors within the foster system. These adverse experiences often occur at key developmental periods that can compromise emotional functioning and lead to posttraumatic symptomatology, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and emotion dysregulation. In the face of difficult histories and ongoing mental health challenges, youth transitioning into adulthood may be particularly vulnerable to increases in depressive symptoms. We explored the trajectory of depressive symptoms in foster youth from age 17 to 19 using a piecewise linear growth model, examining the effects of PTSD and emotion dysregulation on youth’s depressive symptoms over time. Results revealed depressive symptoms decreased from age 17 to 18 but increased from 18 to 19. PTSD and emotion dysregulation predicted greater baseline depressive symptoms and decreases in symptoms from age 17 to 18, whereas only PTSD predicted increases in depressive symptoms from 18 to 19. Females reported higher levels of depressive symptoms compared to males. Additionally, emotion dysregulation was a stronger predictor of depressive symptoms for females than males. Implications for service delivery for foster youth transitioning into adulthood are discussed.
Ensuring consistency across levels? The delegation model of multi-level party politics and Spanish framework manifestos
Authors: Klingelhöfer Tristan
Published: September 2014

In multi-level systems, state-wide parties are faced with particular challenges. Competing in elections on multiple levels of the polity, such parties juggle the desire for national recognizability and the need to be responsive to regional particularities. In this paper, I reflect on the delegation model of multi-level party politics, which is a theoretical perspective of great importance in the literature, arguing that the accuracy of the model depends on two critical assumptions. Based on these theoretical considerations, I develop the model further and apply it to the case of the two main Spanish state-wide parties, the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) and the Partido Popular (PP). More specifically, the programmatic positions of their regional branches are analyzed, and it is shown that the framework manifestos issued by the national party organizations shape these to a large extent. While this case is used to illustrate the illuminating potential of the extended delegation model, the paper is similarly attentive to the limitations of the model and also hints at the implications for our conception of democracy in multi-level systems.
A case–control study of self-reported health, quality-of-life and general functioning among recent immigrants and age- and sex-matched Swedish-born controls
Authors: Löfvander Monica , Rosenblad Andreas , Wiklund Tony , Bennström Halina , Leppert Jerzy
Published: September 2014

Aim: To examine whether new immigrants had inferior quality-of-life, well-being and general functioning compared with Swedish age- and sex-matched controls. Methods: A prospective case–control study was designed including immigrants from non-European countries, 18–65 years of age, with recent Permanent Permits to Stay (PPS) in Sweden, and age- and sex-matched Swedish-born (SB) persons from the general population in Västmanland County, Sweden. The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), the brief version of the World Health Organization Quality-of-Life (WHOQOL-BREF) Scale and the General Activity Functioning Assessment Scale (GAF) from DSM-IV were posted (SB), or applied in personal interviews (PPS) with interpreters. Differences between the PPS and SB groups were measured using McNemar’s test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test conducted separately for observations at baseline, 6- and 12-month follow-up. Results: There were 93 pairs (mean age 36 years). Persons from Somalia (67%) and Iraq (27%) dominated the PPS group. The differences between the groups were statistically significant for all time points for the Psychological health and Social relationship domains of WHOQOL-BREF, and for the baseline and 6-month follow-up time points of GHQ-12 where the PPS-group had a higher degree of well-being, health and quality-of-life than the SB. This tendency applied for both sexes in the immigrant group. Conclusions: These new immigrants did not have inferior physical or psychological health, quality-of-life, well-being or social functioning compared with their age- and sex-matched Swedish born pairs during a 1-year follow-up. Thus, there is reason to advocate immigrants’ fast integration into society.
Robust estimation of marginal regression parameters in clustered data
Authors: Datta Somnath , Beck James D
Published: September 2014

We develop robust methods for analyzing clustered data where estimation of marginal regression parameters is of interest. Inverse cluster size reweighting in the objective function to be minimized is incorporated to handle the issue of informative cluster size. Performance of the resulting estimators is studied by simulation. Large sample inference and variance estimation is carried out. The methodology is illustrated using a periodontal disease dataset.
Semi-parametric Bayesian analysis of binary responses with a continuous covariate subject to non-random missingness
Authors: Poleto Frederico Z , Paulino Carlos Daniel , Singer Julio M , Molenberghs Geert
Published: September 2014

Missingness in explanatory variables requires a model for the covariates even if the interest lies only in a model for the outcomes given the covariates. An incorrect specification of the models for the covariates or for the missingness mechanism may lead to biased inferences for the parameters of interest. Previously published articles either use semi-/non-parametric flexible distributions for the covariates and identify the model via a missing at random assumption, or employ parametric distributions for the covariates and allow a more general non-random missingness mechanism. We consider the analysis of binary responses, combining a missing not at random mechanism with a non-parametric model based on a Dirichlet process mixture for the continuous covariates. We illustrate the proposal with simulations and the analysis of a dataset.
Production, Efficiency, and Corruption in Italian Serie A Football
Authors: Carmichael Fiona , Rossi Giambattista , Thomas Denis
Published: September 2014

This article uses data for Italian Serie A to estimate a production function for the league and the relative efficiency of the clubs playing in it. It utilizes a panel data set comprising season aggregated match statistics for 36 Serie A clubs that played over 10 seasons from 2000 to 2010. The seasons affected by the Calciopoli corruption scandal are incorporated with specific indicators in the statistical model. The results highlight the importance of attacking play in Serie A, the role played by historic success or lack of it and, more tentatively, the potential gains and also costs from fraudulent behavior.
What Do We Really Need? Visions of an Ideal Human–Machine Interface for NOTES Mechatronic Support Systems From the View of Surgeons, Gastroenterologists, and Medical Engineers
Authors: Kranzfelder Michael , Schneider Armin , Fiolka Adam , Koller Sebastian , Wilhelm Dirk , Reiser Silvano , Meining Alexander , Feussner Hubertus
Published: September 2014

Purpose. To investigate why natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) has not yet become widely accepted and to prove whether the main reason is still the lack of appropriate platforms due to the deficiency of applicable interfaces. Methods. To assess expectations of a suitable interface design, we performed a survey on human–machine interfaces for NOTES mechatronic support systems among surgeons, gastroenterologists, and medical engineers. Of 120 distributed questionnaires, each consisting of 14 distinct questions, 100 (83%) were eligible for analysis. Results. A mechatronic platform for NOTES was considered “important” by 71% of surgeons, 83% of gastroenterologist,s and 56% of medical engineers. “Intuitivity” and “simple to use” were the most favored aspects (33% to 51%). Haptic feedback was considered “important” by 70% of participants. In all, 53% of surgeons, 50% of gastroenterologists, and 33% of medical engineers already had experience with NOTES platforms or other surgical robots; however, current interfaces only met expectations in just more than 50%. Whereas surgeons did not favor a certain working posture, gastroenterologists and medical engineers preferred a sitting position. Three-dimensional visualization was generally considered “nice to have” (67% to 72%); however, for 26% of surgeons, 17% of gastroenterologists, and 7% of medical engineers it did not matter ( P = 0.018). Conclusion. Requests and expectations of human–machine interfaces for NOTES seem to be generally similar for surgeons, gastroenterologist, and medical engineers. Consensus exists on the importance of developing interfaces that should be both intuitive and simple to use, are similar to preexisting familiar instruments, and exceed current available systems.
Communicative Dilemmas in Emerging Adults’ Friends With Benefits Relationships
Authors: Knight Kendra
Published: September 2014

Friends with benefits relationships (FWBRs) are a prevalent form of sexually intimate involvement among emerging adults, but research has only recently begun to develop a picture of how FWBRs are communicatively enacted. Research suggests that relational communication (i.e., communication about the nature of the relationship, expectations, and appropriate behavior) is necessary to successfully enact FWBRs but may be uncommon in practice. The current investigation employs qualitative analysis of interviews with emerging adults in an attempt to uncover the relational dynamics which pose challenges to relational talk in emerging adults’ FWBRs. Across participants’ accounts, four themes emerged with respect to communicative challenges experienced in FWBRs—(a) relational talk as (problematic) relational work, (b) relational talk as stigmatizing/face threatening, (c) expression of negative emotion as transgressive, and (d) suppression of relational talk as a maintenance strategy. Findings are considered with regard to the role of casual sexual involvement in emerging adult development.
Role Reversal
Authors: Weiner Lauren H. , Roloff Michael E. , Pusateri Kimberly B.
Published: September 2014

Utilizing theories of social confrontation, this study explores communication shifts in family dynamics during emerging adulthood, focusing on the motivations, barriers, and emotional outcomes of health-related confrontations between emerging adults and their parents. Results indicated that emerging adults’ perceived legitimacy and urgency of health concerns play important roles in the emotional expression in their health confrontations as well as their impact on parents’ future health behaviors, suggesting that emerging adulthood can be a critical time of communicative role-reversal when children begin to prepare themselves for their eventual roles as caregivers for aging parents. Theoretical implications, practical applications, and areas for future research are discussed.
A generalization on weak contractions in partially ordered b-metric spaces and its application to quadratic integral equations
Authors: Allahyari Reza , Arab Reza , Shole Haghighi Ali
Published: September 2014

We introduce the notion of almost generalized(ψ,φ,L)-contractive mappings, and establish the coincidence and common fixed point results for this class of mappings in partially ordered completeb-metric spaces. Our results extend and improve several known results from the context of ordered metric spaces to the setting of orderedb-metric spaces. As an application, we prove the existence of a unique solution to a class of nonlinear quadratic integral equations.
On modular inequalities of interval-valued fuzzy soft sets characterized by soft J-inclusions
Authors: Liu Xiaoyan , Feng Feng , Yager Ronald R , Davvaz Bijan , Khan Madad
Published: September 2014

This study aims to explore modular inequalities of interval-valued fuzzy soft sets characterized by Jun’s soft J-inclusions. Using soft product operations of interval-valued fuzzy soft sets, we first investigate some basic properties of soft J-inclusions and soft L-inclusions. Then a new concept called upward directed interval-valued fuzzy soft sets is defined and some equivalent characterizations are presented. Furthermore, we consider modular laws in lattice theory and find that classical modular inequalities in lattice theory are not valid for interval-valued fuzzy soft sets. Finally, we present some interesting inequalities of interval-valued fuzzy soft sets by virtue of soft J-inclusions and related notions.

MSC:03E72.
Lymph node enlargement after definitive chemoradiotherapy for clinical stage I esophageal squamous cell carcinoma
Authors: Hayashi Yoshito , Nishida Tsutomu , Tsujii Masahiko , Tsutsui Shusaku , Yamamoto Katsumi , Isohashi Fumiaki , Yamasaki Makoto , Miyata Hiroshi , Kato Motohiko , Yamada Takuya , Shinzaki Shinichiro , Iijima Hideki , Ogawa Kazuhiko , Doki Yuichiro , Takehara Tetsuo
Published: September 2014

Background

Chemoradiotherapy (CRT) is an effective modality for stage I esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). However, salvage treatments are often required even if complete response (CR) has been achieved. To this end, it is important to accurately diagnose lymph node or other organ metastatic recurrences. Note that lymph node enlargements (except metastatic recurrence) are often detected during the follow-up period after CRT. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the clinical characteristics of lymph node enlargement after CRT.

Methods

In this retrospective cohort study, patients diagnosed with stage I (T1 [submucosal invasion] N0M0) ESCC were treated with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil concurrently with radiotherapy. A total of 55 patients were enrolled in the study from February 2006 to August 2011.

Results

The median follow-up period was 46 months. The 3-year overall and progression-free survival rates were 90.7% and 71.2%, respectively, and the CR rate was 87.2% (48/55). Nine of the 48 CR patients were finally diagnosed with recurrences, including 7 lymph node metastases and 2 local recurrences. Lymph node enlargement was initially identified in 20 of the total 55 patients during the follow-up; 9 patients were finally diagnosed with lymph node recurrence, whereas 11 patients had benign reactive lymph node enlargement.

Conclusion

The present study demonstrated the high incidence of enlarged lymph nodes after CRT for stage I ESCC. It is important to accurately distinguish between benign lymph node enlargement and recurrent lymph nodes to avoid unnecessary salvage treatments.
Chiropractors' attitudes toward drug prescription rights: a narrative review
Authors: Emary Peter Charles , Stuber Kent Jason
Published: September 2014

Background

The right to prescribe drugs remains a contentious issue within the chiropractic profession. Nevertheless, drug prescription by manual therapy providers is currently an important topic. Notably, physiotherapists in the United Kingdom were recently granted limited independent prescribing rights. Reports suggest that physiotherapists in Australia now want those same rights, and as such a review of chiropractors' general attitudes toward drug prescription is needed.

Objective

To examine the literature concerning chiropractors' attitudes toward drug prescription rights and to compare the opinions of chiropractors currently licensed to prescribe medication with those in the profession who are not.

Methods

This was a narrative review, consisting of a formal literature search and summary of included articles. Electronic databases searched included the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PubMed, and the Index to Chiropractic Literature. Inclusion criteria consisted of prospective studies published in English in peer-reviewed journals. Studies were required to contain data on chiropractors' opinions toward medication prescription rights.

Results

Of 33 articles identified, a total of seven surveys were included in the review. Of these, there was a general split in opinion among chiropractors regarding the right to prescribe drugs in chiropractic practice. Those supportive of prescribing rights favoured a limited number of over-the-counter and/or prescription-based medications such as analgesics, anti-inflammatories, and muscle relaxants. When questioned on full prescribing rights, however, chiropractors were generally opposed. In jurisdictions where chiropractors are currently licensed to prescribe from a limited formulary, such as in Switzerland, the majority perceived this right as an advantage for the profession. Moreover, continuing education in pharmacology was viewed as a necessary component of this privilege.

Conclusions

Based on the literature to date there is a general split in chiropractors' attitudes toward drug prescription rights. This split is most pronounced in countries where chiropractors are not licensed to prescribe medications. Notwithstanding, this is an important topic in chiropractic currently and warrants both further discussion and research to determine future directions and the implications of either pursuit or denial of prescription rights by chiropractors. Future surveys and/or qualitative studies of other chiropractors' opinions toward gaining prescription privileges would be timely.
The E3 ubiquitin ligase TRIM62 and inflammation-induced skeletal muscle atrophy
Authors: Schmidt Franziska , Kny Melanie , Zhu Xiaoxi , Wollersheim Tobias , Persicke Kathleen , Langhans Claudia , Lodka Doerte , Kleber Christian , Weber-Carstens Steffen , Fielitz Jens
Published: September 2014

Introduction

ICU-acquired weakness (ICUAW) complicates the disease course of critically ill patients. Inflammation and acute-phase response occur directly within myocytes and contribute to ICUAW. We observed that tripartite motif-containing 62 (TRIM62), an E3 ubiquitin ligase and modifier of inflammation, is increased in the skeletal muscle of ICUAW patients. We investigated the regulation and function of muscular TRIM62 in critical illness.

Methods

Twenty-six critically ill patients with Sequential Organ Failure Assessment scores ≥8 underwent two skeletal muscle biopsies from the vastus lateralis at median days 5 and 15 in the ICU. Four patients undergoing elective orthopedic surgery served as controls. TRIM62 expression and protein content were analyzed in these biopsies. The kinetics of Trim62, Atrogin1 and MuRF1 expression were determined in the gastrocnemius/plantaris and tibialis anterior muscles from mouse models of inflammation-, denervation- and starvation-induced muscle atrophy to differentiate between these contributors to ICUAW. Cultured myocytes were used for mechanistic analyses.

Results

TRIM62 expression and protein content were increased early and remained elevated in muscles from critically ill patients. In all three animal models, muscular Trim62 expression was early and continuously increased. Trim62 was expressed in myocytes, and its overexpression activated the atrophy-inducing activator protein 1 signal transduction pathway. Knockdown of Trim62 by small interfering RNA inhibited lipopolysaccharide-induced interleukin 6 expression.

Conclusions

TRIM62 is activated in the muscles of critically ill patients. It could play a role in the pathogenesis of ICUAW by activating and maintaining inflammation in myocytes.

Trial registration

Current Controlled Trials ID: http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN77569430 (registered 13 February 2008)
Cas proteins: dodgy scaffolding in breast cancer
Authors: Tornillo Giusy , Defilippi Paola , Cabodi Sara
Published: September 2014

The members of the Cas protein family (p130Cas/BCAR1, Nedd9/HEF1, EFS and CASS4) are scaffold proteins required for the assembly of signal transduction complexes in response to several stimuli, such as growth factors, hormones and extracellular matrix components. Given their ability to integrate and coordinate multiple signalling events, Cas proteins have emerged as crucial players in the control of mammary cell proliferation, survival and differentiation. More importantly, it has been found that alterations of their expression levels result in aberrant signalling cascades, which promote initiation and progression of breast cancer. Based on the increasing data from in vitro, mouse model and clinical studies, in this review we will focus on two Cas proteins, p130Cas/BCAR1 and Nedd9, and their coupled signalling pathways, to examine their role in mammary cell transformation and in the acquirement of invasiveness and drug resistance of breast cancer cells.
Significance of glioma-associated oncogene homolog 1 (GLI1)expression in claudin-low breast cancer and crosstalk with the nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NFκB) pathway
Authors: Colavito Sierra A , Zou Mike R , Yan Qin , Nguyen Don X , Stern David F
Published: September 2014

Introduction

The recently identified claudin-low subtype of breast cancer is enriched for cells with stem-like and mesenchymal-like characteristics. This subtype is most often triple-negative (lacking the estrogen and progesterone receptors (ER, PR) as well as lacking epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2) amplification) and has a poor prognosis. There are few targeted treatment options available for patients with this highly aggressive type of cancer.

Methods

Using a high throughput inhibitor screen, we identified high expression of glioma-associated oncogene homolog 1 (GLI1), the effector molecule of the hedgehog (Hh) pathway, as a critical determinant of cell lines that have undergone an epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT).

Results

High GLI1 expression is a property of claudin-low cells and tumors and correlates with markers of EMT and breast cancer stem cells. Knockdown of GLI1 expression in claudin-low cell lines resulted in reduced cell viability, motility, clonogenicity, self-renewal, and reduced tumor growth of orthotopic xenografts. We observed non-canonical activation of GLI1 in claudin-low and EMT cell lines, and identified crosstalk with the NFκB pathway.

Conclusions

This work highlights the importance of GLI1 in the maintenance of characteristics of metastatic breast cancer stem cells. Remarkably, treatment with an inhibitor of the NFκB pathway reproducibly reduces GLI1 expression and protein levels. We further provide direct evidence for the binding of the NFκB subunit p65 to the GLI1 promoter in both EMT and claudin-low cell lines. Our results uncover crosstalk between NFκB and GLI1 signals and suggest that targeting these pathways may be effective against the claudin-low breast cancer subtype.
Spatial and temporal evolution of distal 10q deletion, a prognostically unfavorable event in diffuse low-grade gliomas
Authors: van Thuijl Hinke F , Scheinin Ilari , Sie Daoud , Alentorn Agusti , van Essen Hendrik F , Cordes Martijn , Fleischeuer Ruth , Gijtenbeek Anja M , Beute Guus , van den Brink Wimar A , Meijer Gerrit A , Havenith Miek , Idbaih Ahmed , Hoang-Xuan Khê , Mokhtari Karima , Verhaak Roel GW , van der Valk Paul , van de Wiel Mark A , Heimans Jan J , Aronica Eleonora , Reijneveld Jaap C , Wesseling Pieter , Ylstra Bauke
Published: September 2014

Background

The disease course of patients with diffuse low-grade glioma is notoriously unpredictable. Temporal and spatially distinct samples may provide insight into the evolution of clinically relevant copy number aberrations (CNAs). The purpose of this study is to identify CNAs that are indicative of aggressive tumor behavior and can thereby complement the prognostically favorable 1p/19q co-deletion.

Results

Genome-wide, 50 base pair single-end sequencing was performed to detect CNAs in a clinically well-characterized cohort of 98 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded low-grade gliomas. CNAs are correlated with overall survival as an endpoint. Seventy-five additional samples from spatially distinct regions and paired recurrent tumors of the discovery cohort were analyzed to interrogate the intratumoral heterogeneity and spatial evolution. Loss of 10q25.2-qter is a frequent subclonal event and significantly correlates with an unfavorable prognosis. A significant correlation is furthermore observed in a validation set of 126 and confirmation set of 184 patients. Loss of 10q25.2-qter arises in a longitudinal manner in paired recurrent tumor specimens, whereas the prognostically favorable 1p/19q co-deletion is the only CNA that is stable across spatial regions and recurrent tumors.

Conclusions

CNAs in low-grade gliomas display extensive intratumoral heterogeneity. Distal loss of 10q is a late onset event and a marker for reduced overall survival in low-grade glioma patients. Intratumoral heterogeneity and higher frequencies of distal 10q loss in recurrences suggest this event is involved in outgrowth to the recurrent tumor.
A general framework for analyzing tumor subclonality using SNP array and DNA sequencing data
Authors: Li Bo , Li Jun Z
Published: September 2014

Intra-tumor heterogeneity reflects cancer genome evolution and provides key information for diagnosis and treatment. When bulk tumor tissues are profiled for somatic copy number alterations (sCNA) and point mutations, it may be difficult to estimate their cellular fractions when a mutation falls within a sCNA. We present the Clonal Heterogeneity Analysis Tool, which estimates cellular fractions for both sCNAs and mutations, and uses their distributions to inform macroscopic clonal architecture. In a set of approximately 700 breast tumors, more than half appear to contain multiple recognizable aneuploid tumor clones, and many show subtype-specific differences in clonality for known cancer genes.
Whole-genome haplotyping approaches and genomic medicine
Authors: Glusman Gustavo , Cox Hannah C , Roach Jared C
Published: September 2014

Genomic information reported as haplotypes rather than genotypes will be increasingly important for personalized medicine. Current technologies generate diploid sequence data that is rarely resolved into its constituent haplotypes. Furthermore, paradigms for thinking about genomic information are based on interpreting genotypes rather than haplotypes. Nevertheless, haplotypes have historically been useful in contexts ranging from population genetics to disease-gene mapping efforts. The main approaches for phasing genomic sequence data are molecular haplotyping, genetic haplotyping, and population-based inference. Long-read sequencing technologies are enabling longer molecular haplotypes, and decreases in the cost of whole-genome sequencing are enabling the sequencing of whole-chromosome genetic haplotypes. Hybrid approaches combining high-throughput short-read assembly with strategic approaches that enable physical or virtual binning of reads into haplotypes are enabling multi-gene haplotypes to be generated from single individuals. These techniques can be further combined with genetic and population approaches. Here, we review advances in whole-genome haplotyping approaches and discuss the importance of haplotypes for genomic medicine. Clinical applications include diagnosis by recognition of compound heterozygosity and by phasing regulatory variation to coding variation. Haplotypes, which are more specific than less complex variants such as single nucleotide variants, also have applications in prognostics and diagnostics, in the analysis of tumors, and in typing tissue for transplantation. Future advances will include technological innovations, the application of standard metrics for evaluating haplotype quality, and the development of databases that link haplotypes to disease.
Weak "Equation missing" -contractions on partially ordered metric spaces and applications to boundary value problems
Authors: Karapınar Erdal , Erhan Inci M , Aksoy Ümit
Published: September 2014

A class of weak

ψ

-contractions satisfying the

C

-condition is defined on metric spaces. The existence and uniqueness of fixed points of such maps are discussed both on metric spaces and on partially ordered metric spaces. The results are applied to a first order periodic boundary value problem.

MSC: 47H10, 54H25.
Periodic solutions of semi-explicit differential-algebraic equations with time-dependent constraints
Authors: Bisconti Luca , Calamai Alessandro , Spadini Marco
Published: September 2014

In this paper we investigate the properties of the set of T-periodic solutions of semi-explicit parametrized differential-algebraic equations with non-autonomous constraints of a particular type. We provide simple, degree-theoretic conditions for the existence of branches of T-periodic solutions of the considered equations. Our approach is based on topological arguments as regards differential equations on implicitly defined manifolds, combined with elementary facts of matrix analysis.

MSC: 34A09, 34C25, 34C40.
Existence and multiplicity results for a degenerate quasilinear elliptic system near resonance
Authors: An Yu-Cheng , Lu Xiong , Suo Hong-Min
Published: September 2014

We establish existence and multiplicity results for weak solutions of a degenerate quasilinear elliptic system. By using Ekeland’s variational principle, the mountain pass theorem and the saddle point theorem in critical point theory, we obtain the existence of one or three solutions for an elliptic system with Dirichlet boundary conditions under some restriction on

λ

. This kind of results was firstly obtained by Mawhin and Schmitt (Ann. Pol. Math. 51:241-248, 1990) for a semilinear two-point boundary value problem.
Multiplicity of solutions for Kirchhoff-type problems involving critical growth
Authors: Zhou Chenxing , Miao Fenghua , Liang Sihua , Song Yueqiang
Published: September 2014

In this paper, by using the concentration-compactness principle and the variational method, we obtain a multiplicity result for Kirchhoff-type problems involving critical growth in bounded domains.

MSC: 35J70, 35B20.
About Dirichlet boundary value problem for the heat equation in the infinite angular domain
Authors: he Jenaliyev Muvasharkhan , Amangaliyeva Meiramkul , Kosmakova Minzilya , Ramazanov Murat
Published: September 2014

In this paper it is established that in an infinite angular domain for Dirichlet problem of the heat conduction equation the unique (up to a constant factor) non-trivial solution exists, which does not belong to the class of summable functions with the found weight. It is shown that for the adjoint boundary value problem the unique (up to a constant factor) non-trivial solution exists, which belongs to the class of essentially bounded functions with the weight found in the work. It is proved that the operator of a boundary value problem of heat conductivity in an infinite angular domain in a class of growing functions is Noetherian with an index which is equal to minus one.

MSC: 35D05, 35K20, 45D05.
Change in the pulp chamber temperature with different stripping techniques
Authors: Pereira José Carlos d'Ornellas , Weissheimer André , de Menezes Luciane Macedo , de Lima Eduardo Martinelli Santayana , Mezomo Maurício
Published: September 2014

Background

The aim of this study is to evaluate the change in pulp chamber temperature during the stripping technique.

Methods

Seventy-eight proximal surfaces of 39 extracted human teeth were stripped by two techniques: double-sided perforated stripping disk (PSD) and handheld stripper (HS). The teeth were divided into three groups: incisors (group 1), premolars (2), and molars (3). A J type thermocouple was inserted into the pulp chamber for temperature evaluation during the stripping procedure.

Results

Temperature rise was observed in all groups. The average temperature increase for the incisors was 2.58°C (±0.27°C) with PSD and 1.24°C (±0.3°C) with HS; for the premolars, 2.64°C (±0.29°C) with PSD and 0.96°C (±0.39°C) with HS; and for the molars, 2.48°C (±0.38°C) with PSD and 0.92°C (±0.18°C) with HS. There was significant difference (p < 0.001) in pulp temperature variation among the stripping techniques evaluated. Greater variations in the temperature were observed for the stripping technique with PSD for all groups (3.1°C in incisors and premolars, 3.2°C in molars). Stripping performed with HS had minor differences in pulp temperature (1.7°C in incisors, 1.9°C in premolars, and 1.2°C in molars) than those in PSD group. However, the temperature variation was less than the critical threshold (5.5°C) in all groups. The results for teeth group comparison showed no significant difference in the temperature variation.

Conclusions

The stripping technique with PSD produced significant increase in pulp temperature, with no differences between the types of teeth. However, it may not be clinically relevant, and both stripping techniques can be used safely.
The short-term skeleto-dental effects of a new spring for the intrusion of maxillary posterior teeth in open bite patients
Authors: Foot Riaan , Dalci Oyku , Gonzales Carmen , Tarraf Nour Eldin , Darendeliler M Ali
Published: September 2014

Background

The technology surrounding temporary skeletal anchorage devices has improved in leaps and bounds. However, no specific auxiliary exists for the intrusion of molars in conjunction with these devices and currently clinicians are forced to make do with available force delivery materials. A new intrusion auxiliary, the Sydney Intrusion Spring (SIS), was designed to facilitate intrusion without frequent need for reactivation or tissue irritation.

Methods

The subjects consisted of 16 adolescent patients (12 females and 4 males) with an average age of 13.1 years (range 12.2 to 14.3 years). All patients were in the permanent dentition with an anterior open bite of ?2 mm. Four self-drilling miniscrews were placed into the posterior maxillary buccal alveolar bone. The intrusion appliance consisted of a bonded acrylic appliance and the SIS, activated to produce an initial intrusive force of 500 g. Cone beam computed tomograms were taken after miniscrew placement and at the end of active intrusion. Rendered lateral cephalograms were produced and measurements were taken and compared.

Results

All study objectives were achieved in 4.91 months (range 2.5 to 7.75 months). The mean molar intrusion was 2.9 0.8 mm (P < .001), resulting in over bite increase of 3.0 1.5 mm (P < .001). The intrusion led to a 2.6 1.3 (P < .001) clockwise occlusal plane rotation and a 1.2 1.3 (P < .01) counter-clockwise rotation of the mandible. Dental measurements showed a significant uprighting and elongation of the incisors. There was no significant extrusion of the lower molars.

Conclusion

The SIS is an effective appliance for the intrusion of maxillary posterior teeth, in conjunction with miniscrews.
Triassic-age salt tectonics of the Central North Sea
Authors: Karlo John F. , van Buchem Frans S. P. , Moen Jan , Milroy Katie
Published: September 2014

The framework of salt tectonics in the Central North Sea was set early in the Triassic. We defined and illustrated five major domains of differing salt tectonic style. The differing structural styles were all interpreted as having evolved under a component of lateral displacement pairing extensional and contractional structures, produced by some combination of decoupled rift extension and gravity sliding. However, the extensional structures are located toward the basin center and the contractional structures near the original updip limits of salt. This suggests a framework driven by gravity sliding of the sediments overlying the Zechstein away from the Central Graben. Possible mechanisms for structural relief away from the Central Graben are the Triassic focus of rifting lying further east at the Norwegian-Danish basin, footwall uplift of a Triassic Central Graben precursor and significant thermal doming occurring much earlier than had previously been thought. The mechanisms are not mutually exclusive and may have acted in concert.
Influence of Liver Triglycerides on Suppression of Glucose Production by Insulin in Men
Authors: Jin Eunsook S. , Szuszkiewicz-Garcia Magdalene , Browning Jeffrey D. , Baxter Jeannie D. , Abate Nicola , Malloy Craig R.
Published: September 2014

Context:

The ability of insulin to suppress hepatic glucose production is impaired among subjects with increased intrahepatic triglycerides (IHTG). However, little is known about the roles of insulin on the supporting fluxes of glucose production among patients with fatty liver.

Objective:

To evaluate the effects of insulin on fluxes through the three potential sources of plasma glucose (glycerol, the citric acid cycle, and glycogen) among patients with fatty liver.

Design, Settings, Participants, and Intervention:

Nineteen men with a range of IHTG (∼0.5% to 23%) were studied after an overnight fast and during hyperinsulinemia using magnetic resonance spectroscopy and stable isotope tracers.

Main Outcome Measures:

IHTG, gluconeogenesis from glycerol, gluconeogenesis from the citric acid cycle, glycogenolysis, and 13C-labeled glucose produced from the citric acid cycle during hyperinsulinemia were measured.

Results:

Men with high IHTG had higher fluxes through all pathways contributing to glucose production during hyperinsulinemia, compared to men with low IHTG, but they had similar fluxes after the fast. Consequently, men with fatty liver had impaired insulin efficiency in suppressing total glucose production as well as fluxes through all three biochemical pathways contributing to glucose. The detection of glucose isotopomers with 13C arising from [U-13C3]propionate ingested during hyperinsulinemia demonstrated continuous gluconeogenesis from the citric acid cycle in all subjects.

Conclusions:

These findings challenge the concept that individual glucose production pathways are selectively dysregulated during hepatic insulin resistance. Overproduction of glucose during hyperinsulinemia in men with fatty liver results from inadequate suppression of all the supporting fluxes of glucose production in response to insulin.
Tract Tales, Literary Aesthetics, and American Fiction
Authors: Howard Kathleen
Published: September 2014

Howard’s essay argues for the significance of antebellum evangelical tract tales both as precedents for later best-selling works such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin and as provocations to consider our critical understandings of literariness. Tract tales belonged to a moment in which discourses of literary aesthetics were bound to a set of questions about whether meaning derived from God, language, or man. The literary was not a mark of the secular, understood as the absence of spiritual concerns, but part of a process of thinking about the relationship of individual will to moral law, biblical precepts, and history. Howard follows the development of ideas about literariness in the antebellum evangelical context by first tracing their roots in a Puritan tradition of representing divine things in language and a Scottish aesthetic tradition that deemed such representations useful. Both of these traditions allowed for a gap between the practical use of language and theories about its significance. It was in this gap that the tract tales emerged—within a cultural context still suspicious of fiction—as representations of what divine truths looked like when lived in the modern world. The essay demonstrates how tales used the developing forms of plot and dialogue to argue for biblical precepts by reading several shorter works as well as Helen Cross Knight’s 1846 tract tale Robert Dawson; or, The Brave Spirit. In closing, Howard considers the formal analogies between this work and the century’s best-selling novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
The Sticky Web of Medical Professionalism: Robert Herrick’s The Web of Life and the Political Economy of Health Care at the Turn of the Century
Authors: Barrish Phillip
Published: September 2014

Robert Herrick’s novel The Web of Life (1900), a self-proclaimed work of literary realism, opens a critical window onto an urban “web” of intersecting practices, institutions, and professional formations at a moment when key dimensions of the US health-care system as we know it today were first taking shape. At this fluid historical moment, Herrick stages a competition between two contrasting possibilities for what that system would, or should, look like in the new century. One possibility consists of a democratic profusion of health-care providers and options, all of which jostle against one another in a marketplace largely unregulated by any external authority. Herrick implicitly associates this energizing, though unsettling, model of US health care with both the labor movement (the novel is set in the same year as Chicago’s Pullman strike) and certain aspects of the New Woman movement. The second possibility the novel showcases, which is closer to the model that would historically prevail, envisions a health-care system that is centralized, rationalized, and directed from the top down by the so-called orthodox profession. Herrick aligns this model with powerful banks, trusts, and corporations. The book presents the competition between these alternative paradigms by following the shifting career choices and internal conflicts of its protagonist, Dr. Howard Sommers, as he strives to satisfy his own vision—at times itself contradictory—of medical professionalism. By the end of the novel, both Sommers and The Web of Life have been forced to acknowledge if not the desirability, then the practical necessity, of the orthodox profession’s monopoly on health care. This reluctant endorsement on Herrick’s part also offers an important perspective on why large-scale systemic reform in US health care has proven so difficult to achieve in the more than a century that has passed since the novel was written.
Unforeseen Consequences: Medicaid and the Funding of Nonprofit Service Organizations
Authors: Allard Scott W. , Smith Steven Rathgeb
Published: September 2014

Medicaid reimbursements have become a key source of funding for nonprofit social service organizations operating outside the medical care sector, as well as an important tool for states seeking resources to fund social service programs within a devolving safety net. Drawing on unique survey data of more than one thousand nonprofit social service agencies in seven urban and rural communities, this article examines Medicaid funding of nonprofit social service organizations that target programs at working-age, nondisabled adults. We find that about one-quarter of nonprofit service organizations — mostly providers offering substance abuse and mental health treatment in conjunction with other services — report receiving Medicaid reimbursements, although very few are overly reliant on these funds. We also find Medicaid-funded social service nonprofits to be less accessible to residents of high-poverty neighborhoods or areas with concentrations of black or Hispanic residents than to residents of more affluent and white communities. We should expect that the role of Medicaid within the nonprofit social service sector will shift in the next few years, however, as states grapple with persistent budgetary pressures, rising Medicaid costs, and decisions to participate in the Medicaid expansion provisions contained within the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Factors Associated with Increased Specialty Care Access in an Urban Area: The Roles of Local Workforce Capacity and Practice Location
Authors: Bisgaier Joanna , Rhodes Karin V. , Polsky Daniel
Published: September 2014

This article explores how a specialty type's local workforce capacity and a specialty practice's location relate to the likelihood of denying care to children covered by Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) while accepting private insurance. Data on discriminatory denials of care to children with public insurance came from an audit study involving 273 practices across seven medical specialties serving children in Cook County, Illinois. These data were linked to physician workforce data and neighborhood poverty data to test for associations with discriminatory denials of public insurance, after adjusting for control variables. In a large metropolitan county, discriminatory denials of specialty care access for publicly insured children were attenuated for specialty types with greater local workforce capacity (odds ratio [OR]: 0.74, 95 percent; confidence interval [CI]: 0.57–0.98) and for practices located in higher-poverty neighborhoods (OR: 0.95, 95 percent; CI: 0.93–0.98). Although limited as a single-site study, our findings support the widespread consensus that payment rates are the strongest driver of decisions to serve patients enrolled in public insurance programs. At a time when state and federal budgets are under strain, ensuring access equity for children covered by Medicaid and CHIP may require policies focused on economic levers tailored based on practice location.
To Extend or Not to Extend the Primary Care “Fee Bump” In Medicaid?
Authors: Wilk Adam S. , Jones David K.
Published: September 2014

Policy makers and researchers are eager to learn the effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) and its many provisions, but to date, they have been frustrated by the dearth of robust evidence on the ACA's true impacts on important health care and patient outcomes (e.g., access to primary care services). The present limitations of evidence, often a consequence of delays and inconsistencies in the law's implementation, have begun to affect policy making in the ACA's wake. In this article, we consider the debates among state and federal policy makers about whether to extend the ACA's so-called fee bump provision, whereby Medicaid fees for primary care services were increased to 100 percent of Medicare levels during 2013 and 2014. We describe the difficulties state Medicaid programs have experienced in implementing the fee bump, as well as how the resulting evidence gap and the broader political context have shaped the deliberations. To conclude, we identify policy alternatives and other factors policy makers should consider when deciding whether to extend or reinstitute the fee bump in the coming years.
Introduction
Authors: Chatterjee Partha
Published: September 2014

Chatterjee’s essay introduces the six articles in “Postcolonial Legalism,” a special section in CSSAAME 34.2. The essays in the section explore the specific field of postcolonial practices of the law in four countries: India, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, and South Africa. The key concern in all discussions of the legal-constitutional framework of postcolonial politics is the question of social (including economic) transformation.
“A Language Which Is Foreign to Us”
Authors: Dasgupta Sandipto
Published: September 2014

Dasgupta’s essay revisits the long-standing debate about colonial continuity in postcolonial India’s constitutional system. The Indian constitution makers sought to produce a system embodying a transformational constitutional vision—that is, a constitutional structure that could mediate a thoroughgoing transformation of social conditions in a controlled and deliberate manner. Therefore, they sought to maintain continuities with the executive apparatus of the colonial state for two reasons: one, to maintain a coherent state machinery that was capable of intervening and transforming the society; and two, to ensure that all contestation about the transformational project was channeled through constitutional paths, by repressing any extraconstitutional forms of agitation. Finally, the essay delineates the centrality of the administrator’s point of view and proceduralism in the constituent imagination of India.