bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Measuring Attitudes About Women’s Recourse After Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence
Authors: Yount Kathryn M. , VanderEnde Kristin , Zureick-Brown Sarah , Minh Tran Hung , Schuler Sidney Ruth , Anh Hoang Tu
Published: December 2013

Attitudes about intimate partner violence (IPV) against women are widely surveyed, but attitudes about women’s recourse after exposure to IPV are understudied, despite their importance for intervention. Designed through qualitative research and administered in a probability sample of 1,054 married men and women 18 to 50 years in My Hao District, Vietnam, the ATT-RECOURSE scale measures men’s and women’s attitudes about a wife’s recourse after exposure to physical IPV. Data were initially collected for nine items. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with one random split-half sample ( N1 = 526) revealed a one-factor model with significant loadings (0.316-0.686) for six items capturing a wife’s silence, informal recourse, and formal recourse. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with the other random split-half sample ( N2 = 528) showed adequate fit for the six-item model and significant factor loadings of similar magnitude to the EFA results (0.412-0.669). For the six items retained, men consistently favored recourse more often than did women (52.4%-66.0% of men vs. 41.9%-55.2% of women). Tests for uniform differential item functioning (DIF) by gender revealed one item with significant uniform DIF, and adjusting for this revealed an even larger gap in men’s and women’s attitudes, with men favoring recourse, on average, more than women. The six-item ATT-RECOURSE scale is reliable across independent samples and exhibits little uniform DIF by gender, supporting its use in surveys of men and women. Further methodological research is discussed. Research is needed in Vietnam about why women report less favorable attitudes than men regarding women’s recourse after physical IPV.
The RESTORE Program of Restorative Justice for Sex Crimes
Authors: Koss Mary P.
Published: December 2013

The article reports empirical evaluation of RESTORE, a restorative justice (RJ) conferencing program adapted to prosecutor-referred adult misdemeanor and felony sexual assaults. RESTORE conferences included voluntary enrollment, preparation, and a face-to-face meeting where primary and secondary victims voice impacts, and responsible persons acknowledge their acts and together develop a re-dress plan that is supervised for 1 year. Process data included referral and consent rates, participant characteristics, observational ratings of conferences compared with program design, services delivered, and safety monitoring. Outcome evaluation used 22 cases to assess (a) pre–post reasons for choosing RESTORE, (b) preparation and conference experiences, (c) overall program and justice satisfaction, and (d) completion rates. This is the first peer-reviewed quantitative evaluation of RJ conferencing for adult sexual assault. Although the data have limitations, the results support cautious optimism regarding feasibility, safety, and satisfactory outcomes. They help envision how conferencing could expand and individualize justice options for sexual assault.
Interparental Conflict, Parenting Behavior, and Children’s Friendship Quality as Correlates of Peer Aggression and Peer Victimization Among Aggressor/Victim Subgroups in South Korea
Authors: Shin Jung-Hee , Hong Jun Sung , Yoon Jina , Espelage Dorothy L.
Published: December 2013

The focus of this study was to examine whether interparental conflict, maternal parenting behaviors, and children’s friendship quality varied as a function of peer aggression/victim subgroups among a sample of 227 elementary school children and their mothers in South Korea. Both self-report and peer-report data indicated that the majority of the students were uninvolved in peer aggression situations, and the number of participants in the subgroups (aggressors, victims, and aggressor-victims) varied depending on the source of report. According to the self-report data, victims and aggressor-victims reported a higher level of maternal rejection than uninvolved youth. Aggressors, victims, and aggressor-victims reported higher maternal neglect than uninvolved youth. The highest level of interparental conflict was reported by victims, followed by aggressors. Interestingly, no significant differences were found in positive functioning of friendship quality among the subgroups, although results indicated a significant difference among groups in negative friendship quality.
Public Knowledge and Use of Sexual Offender Internet Registries
Authors: Boyle Douglas J. , Ragusa-Salerno Laura M. , Marcus Andrea Fleisch , Passannante Marian R. , Furrer Susan
Published: December 2013

The present study examines public knowledge and use of a sexual offender Internet registry in New Jersey. A 20-item random digit dial telephone survey of 1,016 New Jersey residents was completed to determine public awareness and use of the New Jersey Sex Offender Internet Registry (NJSOIR). Approximately 51% of respondents reported knowledge of the NJSOIR, while 17% had accessed the site. Of those who accessed the site, 68% took some preventive measure based on the information they obtained. Logistic regression analyses demonstrate that ethnicity, education, and Internet access were associated with residents’ knowledge of the NJSOIR, while sex, race, education, being the parent/caregiver of a child below 18 years of age, and access to the Internet were associated with respondents’ likelihood to visit the registry website. These results suggest that an intervention that will increase public awareness of sex offender registries and provide specific preventive measures the public can take is needed.
Individual Versus Individual and Group Therapy Regarding a Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment for Battered Women in a Community Setting
Authors: Echeburúa Enrique , Sarasua Belén , Zubizarreta Irene
Published: December 2013

The current study aimed to test the clinical effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) program for battered women in a community setting and to find out whether effectiveness of individual therapy can be improved in conjunction with group therapy. One hundred sixteen treatment-seeking battered women were assigned either to CBT on an individual basis or an individual and group basis. Psychological treatment, focused on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), emotional discomfort, and impaired functioning, comprised a 17-session program, including emotional expression, psychoeducation, trauma re-exposure, coping skills, and problem-solving training. Although most treated patients in both groups improved in all variables (PTSD, emotional discomfort, and impaired functioning) at all assessments, the combined individual and group therapy did better than the individual therapy regarding PTSD symptoms and impaired functioning at follow-up assessments. These findings partially support the beneficial effects of group CBT as adjunctive therapy to individual CBT. Implications of this study for clinical practice and future research in this field are commented on.
Residency Restrictions for Sex Offenders
Authors: Anderson Amy L. , Sample Lisa L. , Cain Calli M.
Published: December 2013

Although many states have enacted statewide residency restriction laws, others have left the need for, and content of, these laws to local municipalities. To better understand within-state variation in residency restriction laws, this study investigates the public’s desire for these laws and the distances they feel restrictions should be from public spaces populated by children. We review both quantitative and qualitative data from a statewide survey to determine where the public feels sex offenders can live without threatening children. Our results are interpreted using the “dikes” perspective of public opinion to predict the passage and content of future of residency restriction laws.
Long-term mass balance of perennial firn and ice in an Alpine cave (Austria): Constraints from radiocarbon-dated wood fragments
Authors: Spötl Christoph , Reimer Paula J , Luetscher Marc
Published: December 2013

Hundsalm ice cave located at 1520 m altitude in a karst region of western Austria contains up to 7-m-thick deposits of snow, firn and congelation ice. Wood fragments exposed in the lower parts of an ice and firn wall were radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dated. Although the local stratigraphy is complex, the 19 individual dates – the largest currently available radiocarbon dataset for an Alpine ice cave – allow to place constraints on the accumulation and ablation history of the cave ice. Most of the cave was either ice free or contained only a small firn and ice body during the ‘Roman Warm Period’; dates of three wood fragments mark the onset of firn and ice build-up in the 6th and 7th century ad. In the central part of the cave, the oldest samples date back to the 13th century and record ice growth coeval with the onset of the ‘Little Ice Age’. The majority of the ice and firn deposit, albeit compromised by a disturbed stratigraphy, appears to have been formed during the subsequent centuries, supported by wood samples from the 15th to the 17th century. The oldest wood remains found so far inside the ice is from the end of the Bronze Age and implies that local relics of prehistoric ice may be preserved in this cave. The wood record from Hundsalm ice cave shows parallels to the Alpine glacier history of the last three millennia, for example, the lack of preserved wood remains during periods of known glacier minima, and underscores the potential of firn and ice in karst cavities as a long-term palaeoclimate archive, which has been degrading at an alarming rate in recent years.
Holocene environmental change in subarctic aeolian dune fields: The chronology of sand dune re-activation events in relation to forest fires, palaeosol development and climatic variations in Finnish Lapland
Authors: Matthews John A , Seppälä Matti
Published: December 2013

Sand dune stratigraphy, radiocarbon-dated charcoal layers, palaeosol development and luminescence dating are used to reconstruct the Holocene environmental history of the dune fields in Finnish Lapland since deglaciation in the early Holocene (~10,900–10,200 cal. BP). After rapid formation and stabilisation of parabolic dunes and the immigration of Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris), forest fires are inferred to have played a key role in triggering episodes of aeolian erosion of the dunes (deflation) leading to 16 sand dune re-activation events. These events were widespread in the dune fields from ~8300 cal. BP and occurred with increasing frequency towards the late Holocene. Each event is interpreted as relating to local fires that occurred up to 100–400 years after the date of each charcoal layer; the radiocarbon age of the charcoal being affected by the age of the wood when burned, and the accumulation and/or recycling of charcoal from earlier fires. Well-developed buried iron podzols, which can develop within 500–1000 years, indicate prolonged phases of dune stability, four of which are dated to between 4500 and 1050 cal. BP. Indirect associations are evident between the sand dune re-activation events and climatic phases that were relatively cold and/or wet. These associations are explained by a conceptual geo-ecological model in which the effects of century- to millennial-scale climatic variability are modulated by the interactions between fire and vegetation. Thus, the subarctic dune field is viewed as a heterogeneous landscape of stable and unstable areas in space and through time. The unstable elements of this spatial mosaic become more extensive at times when the climatic environment promotes fire and deflation.
Taiwanese life scientists less “medialized” than their Western colleagues
Authors: Lo Yin-Yueh , Peters Hans Peter
Published: December 2013

The article presents results from surveys of life scientists in Taiwan ( n = 270) and in Germany ( n = 326). Fewer Taiwanese than German researchers have frequent contact with the media and they rate their experiences with journalists less positively. Furthermore, they are less prepared to adapt to journalistic expectations and to a greater extent than German researchers they expect journalists to consider scientific criteria in their reporting. These findings are interpreted in Weingart’s “medialization of science” framework as indicators of lower medialization of science in Taiwan than in Germany. However, Taiwanese scientists are more willing than German scientists to accept journalistic simplification at the expense of accuracy. This is explained as an adaptation to the media system and to the perceived scientific literacy of the media audience. We hypothesize that cultural differences regarding the relative priority of relational vs. rational communication goals may also contribute to more tolerance of journalistic simplification in Taiwan.
Formation of Novice Business Students’ Mental Models Through Simulation Gaming
Authors: Palmunen Lauri-Matti , Pelto Elina , Paalumäki Anni , Lainema Timo
Published: December 2013

Studies on students’ perceptions of learning in business simulations often suggest that students like simulations and view them more positively than both lectures and case discussions. However, research on the actual learning outcomes deriving from participating in business simulations still needs to be pursued. Consequently, the purpose of this case-study article is to examine how a business simulation game contributes to the cognitive learning of novices in business studies. We describe the use of a clock-driven business simulation for teaching 133 novices in business studies at the University of Turku, Finland. The students’ cognitive learning was evaluated based on data generated by pre- and post-game concept map tests designed to illustrate the formation and change of mental models during the simulation course. The results of this study suggest that simulation games can provide a solid basis for novice learning. They help to increase comprehension of the complexity of business organizations and the various processes, transactions, and operations involved.
The Therapeutic Role of Niacin in Dyslipidemia Management
Authors: Boden William E. , Sidhu Mandeep S. , Toth Peter P.
Published: December 2013

There is abundant epidemiologic evidence to support the independent, inverse relationship between low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and incident cardiovascular (CV) risk, the clinical importance of which is underscored by the high prevalence of low HDL-C in populations with coronary heart disease (CHD), with or without elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). The National Cholesterol Education Program recommended that optimal treatment for high-risk patients includes both lowering LDL-C and non-HDL-C to risk stratified levels and raising HDL-C when it is <40 mg/dL, although no target level for the latter lipoprotein was suggested. Niacin is the most powerful agent currently available for raising low levels of HDL-C. It also induces significant reductions in triglycerides, lipoprotein(a), and LDL-C levels while also favorably altering LDL particle size and number. In the Coronary Drug Project, niacin treatment was associated with significant reductions in CV events and long-term mortality, similar to the reductions seen in the statin monotherapy trials. In combination trials, niacin plus a statin or bile acid sequestrant produces additive reductions in CHD morbidity and mortality and promotes regression of coronary atherosclerosis. Recently, 2 clinical outcome trials (Atherothrombosis Intervention in Metabolic Syndrome With Low HDL/High Triglycerides and Impact on Global Health Outcomes [AIM-HIGH] and Second Heart Protection Study [HPS-2 THRIVE]) failed to show a reduction in CV events in patients treated to optimally low levels of LDL-C. Despite favorable effects on HDL-C and triglycerides, these studies did not demonstrate incremental clinical benefit with niacin when added to simvastatin, although notable limitations were identified in each of these trials. Thus, there is insufficient evidence from clinical trials to recommend HDL-targeted therapy for additional event reduction at the present time. However, niacin should continue to be used as an adjuvant therapy for reducing atherogenic lipoprotein burden in patients who have not reached their risk stratified LDL-C and non-HDL-C targets.
Numerical simulation of inter-floor airflow and impact on pollutant transport in high-rise buildings due to buoyancy-driven natural ventilation
Authors: Zhou Ye , Deng Qihong
Published: December 2013

The purpose of this study is to numerically investigate vertical flow interaction and air pollutant transport in multiple adjoined ventilated enclosures. The flow is driven by buoyancy effect due to temperature/ concentration difference between the heat/pollutant sources and the ambient fluid. Attention was given to analyse the effect of the main factors – the strength of pollutant source, the presence of heat source and the strategies of window openings – on the pollutant transport among different enclosures. The study has found that air pollutant can spread from lower floors to upper floors due to the inter-floor airflow through open windows caused by the buoyancy force. The stronger the pollutant source, the higher the pollutant concentration would be in the adjacent apartments on upper floors. The results also show that the pollutant transport could be affected by the heat source, which would aid the transport of pollutants to upper floors when the heat source is located at the enclosure on the same floor as the pollutant source. The enclosure with two openings on single side would be more susceptible to the pollutants from the lower floor than an enclosure with one opening. The study concluded that the airflow interaction between different floors due to buoyancy has an important effect on the vertical transport of air pollutants in buildings.
From social network to safety net: Dementia-friendly communities in rural northern Ontario
Authors: Wiersma Elaine C , Denton Alison
Published: December 2013

Dementia-friendly communities, as communities that enable people with dementia to remain involved and active and have control over their lives for as long as possible, centrally involve social support and social networks for people living with dementia. The purpose of this research was to explore and understand the context of dementia in rural northern communities in Ontario with an emphasis on understanding how dementia friendly the communities were. Using qualitative methods, interviews were conducted with a total of 71 participants, including 37 health service providers, 15 care partners, 2 people living with dementia and 17 other community members such as local business owners, volunteers, local leaders, friends and neighbours. The strong social networks and informal social support that were available to people living with dementia, and the strong commitment by community members, families and health care providers to support people with dementia, were considered a significant asset to the community. A culture of care and looking out for each other contributed to the social support provided. In particular, the familiarity with others provided a supportive community environment. People with dementia were looked out for by community members, and continued to remain connected in their communities. The social support provided in these communities demonstrated that although fragile, this type of support offered somewhat of a safety net for individuals living with dementia. This work provides important insights into the landscape of dementia in rural northern Ontario communities, and the strong social supports that sustain people with dementia remaining in the communities.
Modes of technification: Expertise, urban controversies and the radicalness of radical planning
Authors: Tironi Manuel
Published: December 2013

This article questions radical planning’s insistence on an ontological distinction between lay and expert knowledge. Drawing on an in-depth analysis of citizen collectives in Santiago, Chile, I explain how citizen organisations, in their quest for political recognition and emancipation, embrace rationalistic, bureaucratic, formal and instrumental knowledge and tactics. Utilising insights from Science and Technology Studies, I call modes of technification the specific and differentiated strategies by which these collectives become technical entities. Three of these modes are described: the organisational, epistemic and generative modes. The larger claim is that radical planning, by pursuing a politics of difference, may end up enacting a world in which identities are essentialised and roles forcefully allocated.
Articulating breath: Writing Charcot’s hysteric with performance writing
Authors: Worden Jessica
Published: December 2013

The overlap between the visual and textual in practice research provides an opportunity to explore ways of presenting knowledge through performance writing. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how a performance writing practice can be incorporated into and shape research writing. This text uses descriptions of Jean-Martin Charcot’s photographic documentation, medical–historical documents and the deconstruction thereof to create a piece that demonstrates performance writing as a means to bridging practice research and research writing.
Practice as research: A fine art contextual study
Authors: Adams Suze
Published: December 2013

This paper examines the dynamic interplay between practice and theory in practice-led research in the visual arts. Building on recent debate around the issue and following appropriately rigorous models, the importance of locating a suitable methodology to adequately reflect the integrated process of research practice in written as well as visual form is underlined. Exploring the role of the embodied practitioner and issues of subjectivity and description, I propose that the adoption of a performative writing strategy that reflects both the content and context of the enquiry can be a productive move and put forward alternative routes and references that might practically assist achievement of just such an aim. Critical references that can support such a framework are also suggested and examples of alternative writing strategies that might help underpin alternative dissemination frameworks indicated.
The social dynamics of art research: Contemporary photography in Belfast post the Good Friday Agreement
Authors: Tuck Sarah
Published: December 2013

This article reflects critically on ‘The Social Dynamics of Art Research: Contemporary Photography in Belfast’, an engaged research project conducted with photographers, community activists, academics and visual artists in Belfast. Through a critical examination of the project’s theoretical architecture and methodological framework this paper explores some of the emerging questions and challenges implicated in a research strategy of convocation and collaborative research production.
‘The house is still named after him’: Exploring the subjective tensions of the female artist inhabiting cultural discourses
Authors: Hannon Andrea , Journeaux Jill
Published: December 2013

This paper discusses the problematic category of ‘things known’ to be the masculine hegemony (‘His House’) through which we experience reality, and the challenging situation of inhabiting dichotomous frameworks of knowledge. Methods are defined within practice in work that is process led, that investigate the relationship between thought, action and interpretation, in order to interrogate dichotomous boundaries of knowledge. Through a practice-based inquiry a shift is recognized from methods that bind creative thinking to the dichotomy of concept to object. Acts of experimentation are employed as a method of action, or ‘flitting’, a ‘hybridised’ method of continuous action, between text, form, reflection, object, experience and image, drawn from subjective perception, as a means to interrogate and intervene within the existing structures of knowledge.
‘If you cannot say it, point to it’
Authors: Crews Sarah
Published: December 2013

Practice as research and performance as research are methods that have developed significantly over the past decade and have subsequently caused debate within the creative arts industry and in university culture. During a research seminar at Goldsmiths University in 2011, Professor Dan Rebellato proposed the question: ‘What if there is no such thing as practice as research?’ In an attempt to unpack the connotations of the term, Rebellato further provoked, ‘Can we learn from an artwork in the way we can learn from an academic book?’ This paper is a systematic response to some of the key arguments surrounding this dialogue, as well an investigation as to how practice or performance as research may function in a performing arts context as research degree level.
Non-damage-related influences on Lamb wave–based structural health monitoring of carbon fiber–reinforced plastic structures
Authors: Schubert Konstantin J , Brauner Christian , Herrmann Axel S
Published: December 2013

Structural health monitoring with actively excited Lamb waves is a promising technology for health monitoring of aerospace carbon fiber–reinforced plastic structures with reasonable effort, as it has the potential to cover large areas with few sensors and a high sensitivity to damage. The high signal complexity inherent to wave propagation in complex, finite, and anisotropic structures, especially in combination with the sensitivity toward environmental and operational loads, presents the main challenge on the road toward the utilization of this potential. In this study, the effects that real structural features and damage, in combination with environmental conditioning, have on Lamb wave propagation and measurement are investigated. For this, the composite-specific behavior is discussed. Based on the local temporal coherence method, changes of sensor responses containing reflections and interaction with stiffness discontinuities, both unrelated and related to damage, are identified in anisotropic composite materials. The amount of signal changes unrelated to damage, as well as their high dependency on the specific conditions of the measurements, is an indicator for the complex issues faced by compensation. While damage of a sufficient size will be detectable even in the most complex, finite, and anisotropic structures, the establishment of a sufficiently reliable damage detection with an acceptable low detection threshold will require even more careful consideration of the monitored structure and its environmental and operational loads than for metallic structures.
Systemic action research: Changing system dynamics to support sustainable change
Authors: Burns Danny
Published: December 2013

This article explores the characteristics of systemic action research. It looks at the conceptual underpinnings of systemic action research and explores some of the ways in which it differs from (builds on) other forms of action research. It then explores some of the issues and dilemmas faced by systemic action researchers.
Researching prisoner experiences with prison officers: An action research-inspired approach
Authors: Drake Deborah H
Published: December 2013

This article reports on research that incorporated action research-inspired dimensions on a project conducted in three maximum-security prisons in England. The project was aimed at collecting ethnographically informed data on prisoner experiences, at developing a method by which such data could be systematically and routinely collected by prison staff and at facilitating opportunities for prison officers to understand the ‘pains of imprisonment’ from the perspectives of prisoners. The challenges and limitations of the project are discussed, with particular reference to the paradox of participation and the role of power relations within prisons and within the research process. It is suggested that despite the inherent difficulties of attempting a participative approach with more powerful actors, facilitating change on a larger scale may be best served by developing a ‘pedagogy of the oppressors’ alongside a ‘pedagogy of the oppressed’.
Wake Up or Perish
Authors: Jemielniak Dariusz , Greenwood Davydd J.
Published: December 2013

Higher education around the world is currently undergoing a neo-liberal administrative takeover. The drive to reduce costs and increased bureaucratization do not serve any other purpose than increasing the power of the universities’ administration. The reasons for allowing this situation to happen are related to scholars’ inertia and subscribing to a belief that academia can and should be impractical. As a result, the emerging corporate university, McDonaldized model relies increasingly on contingent and deskilled faculty, effectively eliminating the traditional academic freedoms. We conclude with suggestions for possible courses of action to make a constructive counter-movement to the radical changes taking place. We propose that we can begin addressing the predicaments of higher education through re-discovering our role in the society, by re-conceptualizing the disciplinary boundaries of academic fields, by forcing the de-bunkerization of academic career and work, and by starting up multi-disciplinary learning communities at universities. We argue that collective action is needed immediately, if any positive change is possible at all before more of higher education is more deeply degraded.
Wound Healing after Mesh Inner Embedding and Outer Binding Pancreaticojejunostomy in Piglets
Authors: Yu Kai , Li Wei , Ji Yun , Wu Wanbo , Shen Dijian , Zhu Jinhui
Published: December 2013

Background. The aim of this study was to introduce a novel technique of pancreaticojejunostomy, namely, mesh inner embedding and outer binding pancreaticojejunostomy, and to evaluate wound healing after this operation in piglets. Methods. Thirty-six domestic piglets were randomly divided into 2 groups after pancreaticoduodenectomy: the mesh inner embedding and outer binding pancreaticojejunostomy group (n = 18) and the conventional double-deck invaginated pancreaticojejunostomy group (n = 18). Bursting pressure and breaking strength were assessed on the operative day and on days 7 and 14 postoperatively. The pathologic findings and collagen content of the anastomotic site were evaluated on days 7 and 14 postoperatively. Results. Both the bursting pressure and breaking strength were significantly higher in the mesh inner embedding and outer binding pancreaticojejunostomy group than in the double-deck invaginated pancreaticojejunostomy group on days 0, 7, and 14 ( P < .01). The collagen content of the anastomotic site was significantly higher in the mesh inner embedding and outer binding pancreaticojejunostomy group than in the double-deck invaginated pancreaticojejunostomy group on days 7 and 14 postoperatively ( P < .01). The anastomotic site was more completely repaired by connective and granulation tissue in the mesh inner embedding and outer binding pancreaticojejunostomy group on day 7 than in the double-deck invaginated pancreaticojejunostomy group. Conclusion. Mesh inner embedding and outer binding pancreaticojejunostomy significantly enhanced the anastomotic firmness and sped up the wound healing process compared with conventional mesh inner embedding and outer binding pancreaticojejunostomy. Therefore, it may decrease the risk of pancreatic fistulas after pancreaticoduodenectomy.
Amniotic fluid embolism: the known and not known
Authors: Benson Michael D
Published: December 2013

Amniotic fluid embolism was first recognized in 1926, in a Brazilian journal case report, on the basis of large amounts of fetal material in the maternal pulmonary vasculature at autopsy. The first English language description appeared in 1941 and consisted of eight parturients dying suddenly in which, once again, fetal material was seen in the pulmonary vasculature. A control group of 34 pregnant women dying of other recognized causes did not have fetal material in their lungs. The incidence of recognized, serious illness is on the order of two to eight per 100,000, with a mortality rate ranging from 13% to 35%. The diagnosis rests largely on one or more of four clinical signs: circulatory collapse, respiratory distress, coagulopathy, and seizures/ coma. The only confirmatory laboratory test remains autopsy findings although serum tests for fetal antigen, insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1, and complement are currently being investigated. One of the paradoxes of diagnosis is that fetal material in the pulmonary circulation at autopsy is specific for amniotic fluid embolism, while the same finding in the living is not. The mechanism of disease remains uncertain although the best available evidence suggests that complement activation might have a role. In contrast, mast cell degranulation probably is not a mechanism, so amniotic fluid embolism is not an anaphylaxis or anaphylactoid reaction as has been occasionally suggested. Perhaps the greatest unknown is not why 1 in 50,000 pregnant women develop what appears to be an immune response to their fetus, but rather why the other 49,999 do not?
A method of determining in vivo dynamic human ankle stiffness during external foot rotation
Authors: Button Keith D , Braman Jerrod E , Wei Feng , Haut Roger C
Published: December 2013

This study presents a method to determine stiffness of the human ankle in internal–external rotation, inversion–eversion, and plantarflexion–dorsiflexion during an in vivo, single-legged, external foot rotation experiment. Five young male subjects stood on one foot and performed an internal rotation of the body (external rotation of the foot) on a force plate, while motions were captured with a motion capture system. Hindfoot rotations relative to the tibia and resistive moments in the above three directions were obtained using a commercial software package. The resistive moments were plotted against rotation during the loading portions of the curves. Linear approximations of these curves were used to determine stiffness of the ankle in directions of internal–external, inversion–eversion, and plantarflexion–dorsiflexion. Future data from the above experiment and other athletic motions may be useful for the design of surrogate devices used to evaluate the potential performance and ankle injury risk characteristics of various shoe–surface interfaces.
Intralesional collagenase in the treatment of Peyronie’s disease
Authors: Honig Stanton C.
Published: December 2013

The objective of intralesional pharmacotherapy in the treatment of Peyronie’s disease is to deliver large doses of pharmacologic agents that can have a local effect on wound remodeling, with minimal side effects. Guidelines for the treatment of peyronie’s disease published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine and the European Association of Urology offer no grade A evidence of efficacy with multiple agents such as steroids, verapamil and interferon. Intralesional collagenase is the first drug to be approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of Peyronie’s disease. This is based on grade A evidence. The purpose of this update is to review the literature and current data on intralesional collagenase in the treatment of Peyronie’s disease.
A new computational strategy for predicting essential genes
Authors: Cheng Jian , Wu Wenwu , Zhang Yinwen , Li Xiangchen , Jiang Xiaoqian , Wei Gehong , Tao Shiheng
Published: December 2013

Background

Determination of the minimum gene set for cellular life is one of the central goals in biology. Genome-wide essential gene identification has progressed rapidly in certain bacterial species; however, it remains difficult to achieve in most eukaryotic species. Several computational models have recently been developed to integrate gene features and used as alternatives to transfer gene essentiality annotations between organisms.

Results

We first collected features that were widely used by previous predictive models and assessed the relationships between gene features and gene essentiality using a stepwise regression model. We found two issues that could significantly reduce model accuracy: (i) the effect of multicollinearity among gene features and (ii) the diverse and even contrasting correlations between gene features and gene essentiality existing within and among different species. To address these issues, we developed a novel model called feature-based weighted Naïve Bayes model (FWM), which is based on Naïve Bayes classifiers, logistic regression, and genetic algorithm. The proposed model assesses features and filters out the effects of multicollinearity and diversity. The performance of FWM was compared with other popular models, such as support vector machine, Naïve Bayes model, and logistic regression model, by applying FWM to reciprocally predict essential genes among and within 21 species. Our results showed that FWM significantly improves the accuracy and robustness of essential gene prediction.

Conclusions

FWM can remarkably improve the accuracy of essential gene prediction and may be used as an alternative method for other classification work. This method can contribute substantially to the knowledge of the minimum gene sets required for living organisms and the discovery of new drug targets.
Development and initial validation of a traditional Chinese medicine symptom-specific outcome measure: a Zheng-related atopic dermatitis symptom questionnaire (ZRADSQ)
Authors: Wu Darong , Huang Chujun , Mo Xiumei , Liu Junfeng , Cai Jianxiong , Liu Chi , Zhu Haili , Li Hongyi , Chen Dacan
Published: December 2013

Background

Zhengrepresents pattern differentiation in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), as the basic unit and a key concept in TCM therapeutic theory, is based on the physiology and pathology of TCM. None of the outcome measurements of atopic dermatitis (AD) areZheng-specific. The effectiveness of TCM is likely to be underestimated without aZheng-related symptom-specific instrument. The aim of this study was to develop an instrument for measuring theZheng-related symptom-specific status of patients with AD.

Methods

We followed standard methodology to develop the instrument, including item generation and selection, item reduction and presentation, and pretesting, and recruited 188 patients with AD involved in a six-center randomized-controlled trial (ChiCTR-TRC-08000156) to validate the questionnaire. We conducted construct validity, reliability, and responsiveness analysis. The standardized effect size (SES) and standardized response mean (SRM) were used to calculate the responsiveness of additional items and the total score for the rating items.

Results

ZRADSQ has 15 items, with 12 rating items and 3 additional items. The 12 rating items fall within three domains: AD symptoms (n = 6 items); Heat (n = 4 items) and Mood (n = 2 items). Confirmatory factor analysis provided good support for a three-factor model (d.f. = 51,x2=97.11, RMSEA = 0.07, CFI = 0.96), and the Pearson’s correlation coefficient between ZRADSQ and Severity Scoring of Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) was 0.40 (P < 0.001). The reliability was also good, with a Cronbach’s alpha value for ZRADSQ of 0.84, a split-half coefficient of 0.75, and a test-retest reliability coefficient of 0.98. The standardized effect size and standardized response mean were close to or larger than 1, which indicated moderate to good responsiveness.

Conclusions

The ZRADSQ demonstrates promising reliability, validity, and responsiveness. It can be used to determine whetherZheng-specific or symptom-specific treatments relieve the symptom that is most bothersome the patient.
Psychometric evaluation of the sleep hygiene index: a sample of patients with chronic pain
Authors: Cho Sungkun , Kim Gye-Seok , Lee Jang-Han
Published: December 2013

Background

Sleep Hygiene Index (SHI) was designed to assess sleep hygiene. Although the SHI has shown adequate psychometric properties in a nonclinical sample, it has not been validated in a sample with chronic pain. Also, its factor structure, measurement error, and incremental validity over and above other factors affecting sleep quality have not been investigated in a nonclinical sample. Thus, this present study aimed to extend prior psychometric investigation of the SHI. Specifically, we evaluated the factor structure, measurement error, and incremental validity as well as the reliabilities and concurrent validity of the SHI in a sample with chronic pain.

Methods

A total of 161 patients seeking treatment in a tertiary pain center located in Seoul, Korea participated. To explore the factor structure of the SHI, we performed an exploratory factor analysis using principal component with varimax. Cronbach’s alphas and intraclass correlation coefficients were computed to investigate internal consistency and 2-week test-retest stability of the SHI, respectively. Measurement error was estimated using standard error of measurement and minimum detectable change (MDC) of the SHI. For concurrent validity, Pearson correlations were calculated to examine the relations between the SHI and outcome measures including background variables. Also for incremental validity, a hierarchical multiple regression was performed in relation to sleep quality.

Results

Results indicated that two-factor solution is most appropriate; sleep disturbing behavior and environment (B/E) and irregular sleep-wake schedule. Results also showed that the internal consistencies and test–retest stability estimates of the SHI were deemed acceptable. At the 95% confidence level, the MDCs were 5.75 for ‘sleep disturbing B/E,’ 3.65 for ‘irregular sleep-wake schedule,’ and 7.49 points for total. The SHI was significantly correlated with age, depression, pain-related anxiety, and sleep quality. Also, sleep quality was significantly predicted by the irregular sleep-wake schedule subscale of the SHI, over and above background variables, pain intensity, depression, pain-related anxiety.

Conclusions

The SHI has the reliability, measurement error, and concurrent and incremental validity support for assessing sleep hygiene in a sample with chronic pain.
Atropisomeric determination of chiral hydroxylated metabolites of polychlorinated biphenyls using HPLC-MS
Authors: Zhai Guangshu , Wu Xianai , Lehmler Hans-Joachim , Schnoor Jerald L
Published: December 2013

Background

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a group of environmental persistent organic pollutants, which can be metabolized into a series of metabolites, including hydroxylated metabolites (OH-PCBs) in biota. Nineteen of 209 PCB congeners can form chiral stable isomers. However, atropisomeric determination of the hydroxylated metabolites of these chiral PCBs has never been reported by LC methods. In this work, a novel HPLC-MS method was developed to detect five chiral OH-PCBs (4OH-PCB91, 5OH-PCB91, 4OH-PCB95, 5OH-PCB95 and 5OH-PCB149) using HPLC-MS without a derivatization step.

Results

The influences of column-type, column temperature, flow rate and ratio of the mobile phase on the atropisomeric separation were investigated in detail. In the final method, calibration curves, based on peak areas against concentration, were linear in a range of 1–100 ng mL-1 of five chiral OH-PCBs with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.9996 to 0.9999 for all atropisomers of OH-PCBs. The relative standard deviations measured at the 10.0 ng mL-1 level for atropisomers of five chiral OH-PCBs were in the range of 0.60-7.55% (n = 5). Calculated detection limits (S/N = 3) of five chiral OH-PCBs were between 0.31 and 0.60 ng mL-1 for all OH-PCB atropisomers.

Conclusion

This HPLC-MS method was developed to detect chiral OH-PCBs and further successfully applied to measure OH-PCB atropisomer levels and enantiomeric fractions (EFs) in rat liver microsomal samples. The results from LC-MS method were highly consistent with those from GC-ECD method. It is the first time to report these OH-PCB atropisomers detected in microsomes by HPLC-MS. The proposed method might be applied also to detect chiral OH-PCBs in environmental samples and for metabolites of PCBs in vivo.
Carbothermal Reduction Synthesis Using CaCN2 as Calcium and Carbon Sources for CaAlSiN3:Eu2+ Phosphor and Their Luminescence Properties
Authors: Kim Hyo Sung , Machida Ken-ichi , Horikawa Takashi , Hanzawa Hiromasa
Published: December 2013

High-quality powders of mixed metal nitride phosphor, CaAlSiN3:Eu2+, were successfully synthesized using only inexpensive and air-stable materials, viz. CaCN2, CaCO3:Eu3+, AlN, and Si3N4, with no impurities such as AlN or carbon residue by a CRN method even under conditions of normal N2 pressure (0.1 MPa) and a moderate temperature of 1600 °C for 5–7 h. The resultant phosphors were well crystallized and gave an intense red emission band peaking at about 650 nm by optimizing the dopant amount of Eu2+ ion (ca. 3 atom %).
Rapid Conversion of Glycerol to Lactic Acid under Alkaline Hydrothermal Conditions, by Using a Continuous Flow Reaction System
Authors: Shimanouchi Toshinori , Ueno Shouhei , Shidahara Kazuki , Kimura Yukitaka
Published: December 2013

A rapid conversion of glycerol to lactic acid (lactate) could be successfully achieved under alkaline hydrothermal conditions, by using a continuous flow reaction system. A rapid conversion by a continuous flow-type reaction system made it possible to achieve the reaction under high-temperature conditions without side reactions. The rapid conversion and high reaction yield (reaction: 2 min; yield: 90%) resulted from the rapid temperature-shift advantageous for the inhibition of side reactions.
A Surface Molecularly Imprinted Polymer for Selective Extraction and Liquid Chromatographic Determination of 4-Methylimidazole in Environmental Samples
Authors: Zhu Guifen , Fan Jing , Gao Xia , Wang Jianji
Published: December 2013

A newly designed surface molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was developed using 4-methylimidazole as the template and ethylenediaminepoly (styrene-divinylbenzene) particles as the support material. The resulting MIP material was characterized with scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectrum, surface area, pore-size and thermal property measurements. Static adsorption, solid-phase extraction (SPE) and high-performance liquid chromatography were combined to study the adsorption characteristics and selective recognition performance of the polymer for 4-methylimidazole and its structural analogues. It was shown that the maximum binding capacities of 4-methylimidazole on the MIP and the non-imprinted polymer (NIP) were 416 and 227 µmol g−1 respectively. The binding process could be described by pseudo-second-order kinetics, and the adsorption equilibrium was achieved in 40 minutes. Compared with the corresponding NIP, the MIP exhibited much higher adsorption performance and selectivity for the template. After the separation of a mixture of 4-methylimidazole, benzimidazole and nitrophenol on the MIP–SPE and the NIP–SPE columns, the recoveries of 4-methylimidazole on the MIP–SPE and NIP–SPE columns were 96–102% and 34–39%, respectively, whereas those of benzimidazole and nitrophenol were below 19% on the two columns. In addition, more than 99% of 4-methylimidazole could be obtained on the MIP–SPE column from water and soil samples.