bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Human‐facilitated jump dispersal of a non‐native frog species on Hawai'i Island
Authors: Everman Elizabeth , Klawinski Paul
Published: June 2013

Aim

The coqui frog (Eleutherodactylus coqui) was introduced to the Hawai'ian archipelago in the late 1980s and became established as a widespread species on Hawai'i Island over a short timespan, suggesting that humans are facilitating their movement. To determine the importance of human facilitation, we assessed dispersal patterns and genetic structure of coqui populations using microsatellite data.

Location

Hawai'i Island.

Methods

We obtained genotype data using seven microsatellites from coqui specimens collected from 25 populations on Hawai'i Island. The dispersal mechanism was examined using a Mantel test in GenAlEx and a genetic distance tree analysis in Phylip. Allelic diversity, measures of equilibrium, and genetic structure were analysed in GenAlEx and Arlequin. The correlation between genetic distance and geographical distance was used to distinguish between diffusion dispersal (positive correlation) and jump dispersal (zero or negative correlation).

Results

The Mantel test for isolation by distance found no significant correlation between genetic and geographical distance (r2 = 0.002, P = 0.4401). The genetic distance tree topology is consistent with this result and exhibited a pattern expected if population establishment occurred through jump dispersal. Migration rates were high (NM = 4.228), inbreeding was high, genetic differentiation between populations was low, and significant genetic structure was detected among populations (4% of total variation, P < 0.002).

Main conclusions

Genetic distance is not correlated with geographical distance, suggesting that humans are important facilitators of coqui dispersal. Migration rate was high, indicating that the rapid expansion of coquies on Hawai'i Island was human‐facilitated, while high levels of inbreeding and significant genetic structure suggest low post‐establishment dispersal. If this is the case, early detection of coqui populations will be crucial for management due to their propensity to be spread through human‐facilitated jump dispersal, followed by slow rates of diffusion dispersal from these newly established populations.
Environmental Development of Emerging Economy Suppliers: Antecedents and Outcomes
Authors: Ehrgott Matthias , Reimann Felix , Kaufmann Lutz , Carter Craig R.
Published: June 2013

As supply chains spread toward emerging economies, Western buying firms frequently face the question of whether they should commit resources to develop their suppliers in these regions in terms of environmental issues. Supplier development researchers have just begun to consider environmental aspects, and thus far, the peer‐reviewed literature has remained primarily qualitative, and often descriptive. Large‐scale empirical evidence indicating the antecedents and benefits of environmental supplier development for a buying firm is still scarce. Addressing this gap, we use stakeholder theory to complement and extend the work of Ehrgott et al. (2011) and investigate how pressures from customers, governments, and employees act as antecedents to environmental supplier development. Furthermore, we build on the resource‐based view to examine how supplier capabilities, buying firm environmental reputation, and organizational learning in the buying firm can result from such supplier development initiatives. We test the resulting model with a sample of 244 corporate procurement executives from the United States and Germany.
Integration of Metabolomics and Subcellular Organelle Expression Microarray to Increase Understanding the Organic Acid Changes in Post‐harvest Citrus Fruit
Authors: Sun Xiaohua , Zhu Andan , Liu Shuzhen , Sheng Ling , Ma Qiaoli , Zhang Li , Nishawy Elsayed Mohamed Elsayed , Zeng Yunliu , Xu Juan , Ma Zhaocheng , Cheng Yunjiang , Deng Xiuxin
Published: June 2013

Citric acid plays an important role in fresh fruit flavor and its adaptability to post‐harvest storage conditions. In order to explore organic acid regulatory mechanisms in post‐harvest citrus fruit, systematic biological analyses were conducted on stored Hirado Buntan Pummelo (HBP; Citrus grandis) fruits. High‐performance capillary electrophoresis, subcellular organelle expression microarray, real‐time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC‐MS), and conventional physiological and biochemical analyses were undertaken. The results showed that the concentration of organic acids in HBP underwent a regular fluctuation. GC‐MS‐based metabolic profiling indicated that succinic acid, γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA), and glutamine contents increased, but 2‐oxoglutaric acid content declined, which further confirmed that the GABA shunt may have some regulatory roles in organic acid catabolism processes. In addition, the concentration of organic acids was significantly correlated with senescence‐related physiological processes, such as hydrogen peroxide content as well as superoxide dismutase and peroxidase activities, which showed that organic acids could be regarded as important parameters for measuring citrus fruit post‐harvest senescence processes.
When the Going Gets Tough: The “Why” of Goal Striving Matters
Authors: Ntoumanis Nikos , Healy Laura C. , Sedikides Constantine , Duda Joan , Stewart Brandon , Smith Alison , Bond Johanna
Published: June 2013

No prior research has examined how motivation for goal striving influences persistence in the face of increasing goal difficulty. This research examined the role of self‐reported (Study 1) and primed (Study 2) autonomous and controlled motives in predicting objectively assessed persistence during the pursuit of an increasingly difficult goal. In Study 1, 100British athletes (64 males;Mage = 19.89 years,SDage = 2.43) pursued a goal of increasing difficulty on a cycle ergometer. In Study 2, 90British athletes (43 males;Mage = 19.63 years,SDage = 1.14) engaged in the same task, but their motivation was primed by asking them to observe a video of an actor describing her or his involvement in an unrelated study. In Study 1, self‐reported autonomous goal motives predicted goal persistence via challenge appraisals and task‐based coping. In contrast, controlled goal motives predicted threat appraisals and disengagement coping, which, in turn, was a negative predictor of persistence. In Study 2, primed autonomous (compared to controlled) goal motives predicted greater persistence, positive affect, and future interest for task engagement. The findings underscore the importance of autonomous motivation for behavioral investment in the face of increased goal difficulty.
Risk factors for oral mucositis in children receiving hematopoietic cell transplantation for primary immunodeficiencies: A retrospective study
Authors: Bardellini E. , Schumacher F. , Conti G. , Porta F. , Campus G. , Majorana A.
Published: June 2013

OM is a frequent complication for patients undergoing HSCT. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible risk factors for OM in children undergoing HSCT for PI. A retrospective study was carried out on 55 consecutive medical records of patients with PI (including osteopetrosis) who underwent HSCT. Age at the time of HSCT, gender, diagnosis, type of donor, conditioning regimen, engraftment, graft‐versus‐host disease, and severity and duration of OM were collected at the beginning of the conditioning until day 100 post‐HSCT or death. OM was measured using the WHO scale. Patients' age range at the time of HSCT was quite wide; 59.2% of the patients who were under nine months (n = 13) developed OM vs. 87.8% of the patients older than nine months (n = 29) (p = 0.01). T‐cell positive patients had a statistically significant higher risk of developing OM (p = 0.04), as did those receiving a more intensive conditioning regimen (p < 0.01). PI patients undergoing HSCT are at higher risk of developing OM if the PI is a T‐lymphocyte‐positive disease and/or if the HSCT recipient is over nine months of age.
Two Models of Minimalist, Incremental Syntactic Analysis
Authors: Stabler Edward P.
Published: June 2013

Minimalist grammars (MGs) and multiple context‐free grammars (MCFGs) are weakly equivalent in the sense that they define the same languages, a large mildly context‐sensitive class that properly includes context‐free languages. But in addition, for each MG, there is an MCFG which is strongly equivalent in the sense that it defines the same language with isomorphic derivations. However, the structure‐building rules of MGs but not MCFGs are defined in a way that generalizes across categories. Consequently, MGs can be exponentially more succinct than their MCFG equivalents, and this difference shows in parsing models too. An incremental, top‐down beam parser for MGs is defined here, sound and complete for all MGs, and hence also capable of parsing all MCFG languages. But since the parser represents its grammar transparently, the relative succinctness of MGs is again evident. Although the determinants of MG structure are narrowly and discretely defined, probabilistic influences from a much broader domain can influence even the earliest analytic steps, allowing frequency and context effects to come early and from almost anywhere, as expected in incremental models.
Effect of resistance exercise contraction mode and protein supplementation on members of the STARS signalling pathway
Authors: Vissing Kristian , Rahbek Stine K. , Lamon Severine , Farup Jean , Stefanetti Renae J. , Wallace Marita A. , Vendelbo Mikkel H. , Russell Aaron
Published: June 2013

Key points

Myocellular protein signalling constitutes an important regulatory process influencing skeletal muscle cell size and remodelling as an adaptation to exercise and training.

Findings suggest that the striated muscle activator of Rho signalling (STARS) pathway is involved in exercise‐induced muscle hypertrophy and/or remodelling, but its regulation by different exercise modes is not well understood.

In a comparative study including single‐bout exercise and training, we investigated the mRNA and protein regulation of STARS and members of its signalling pathway in response to eccentric versus concentric resistance exercise and protein supplementation.

Our data show that components of the STARS signalling pathway exhibit transient regulation in response to resistance exercise, but not to resistance training, and show contraction mode‐specific regulation at the level of gene and protein expression.

The results suggest that STARS signalling is important for the initiation of myocellular adaptations to resistance exercise that are dependent on contraction mode, but independent of protein supplement.

Abstract  The striated muscle activator of Rho signalling (STARS) pathway is suggested to provide a link between external stress responses and transcriptional regulation in muscle. However, the sensitivity of STARS signalling to different mechanical stresses has not been investigated. In a comparative study, we examined the regulation of the STARS signalling pathway in response to unilateral resistance exercise performed as either eccentric (ECC) or concentric (CONC) contractions as well as prolonged training; with and without whey protein supplementation. Skeletal muscle STARS, myocardian‐related transcription factor‐A (MRTF‐A) and serum response factor (SRF) mRNA and protein, as well as muscle cross‐sectional area and maximal voluntary contraction, were measured. A single‐bout of exercise produced increases in STARS and SRF mRNA and decreases in MRTF‐A mRNA with both ECC and CONC exercise, but with an enhanced response occurring following ECC exercise. A 31% increase in STARS protein was observed exclusively after CONC exercise (P < 0.001), while pSRF protein levels increased similarly by 48% with both CONC and ECC exercise (P < 0.001). Prolonged ECC and CONC training equally stimulated muscle hypertrophy and produced increases in MRTF‐A protein of 125% and 99%, respectively (P < 0.001). No changes occurred for total SRF protein. There was no effect of whey protein supplementation. These results show that resistance exercise provides an acute stimulation of the STARS pathway that is contraction mode dependent. The responses to acute exercise were more pronounced than responses to accumulated training, suggesting that STARS signalling is primarily involved in the initial phase of exercise‐induced muscle adaptations.
Study of Life Prediction and Damage Mechanism for Modified 9Cr-1Mo Steel Under Creep-Fatigue Interaction
Authors: Zhang Guodong , Zhao Yanfen , Xue Fei , Wang Zhaoxi , Mei Jinna , Zhang Lu , Zhou Changyu
Published: June 2013

Creep-fatigue interaction is a principal cause of failures of many engineering components under high temperature and cyclic loading. In this work, stress controlled creep-fatigue interaction tests are carried out for modified 9Cr-1Mo (P91) steel. In order to study the damage mechanism of P91 steel under creep-fatigue interaction, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) of specimen fracture morphology and in-situ observation experiments were conducted. Based on the ductility exhaustion theory and creep-fatigue interaction tests data, the modified ductility exhaustion life prediction model was developed. The predicted results are in a good agreement with the experiment. By comparison with frequency separation model, the life predicted by ductility exhaustion model is better than frequency separation model obviously. The results show that different stress amplitude and mean stress have great effect on the fracture damage mechanism when the hold time is invariable. By the SEM analysis of fracture morphology, the damage characters of creep, creep-fatigue interaction and fatigue can be partitioned. The specimen crack initiation source is the modified 9Cr-1Mo steel inclusion. Therefore, this work can provide a reference of life prediction and design for high temperature materials and components.
A Study of the Combined Effects of Erosions, Cracks and Partial Autofrettage on the Stress Intensity Factors of a Thick Walled Pressurized Cylinder
Authors: Ma Q. , Levy C. , Perl M.
Published: June 2013

For the investigation of cracked problems in thick-walled pressurized cylindrical vessels, the displacement-based finite element method has become one of the main computational tools to extract stress intensity results for their fatigue life predictions. The process of autofrettage, practically from the partial autofrettage level of 30% to full autofrettage level of 100%, is known to introduce favorable compressive residual hoop stresses at the cylinder bore in order to increase its service life. In order to extract the fatigue life, stress intensity factors (SIFs) need to be obtained a priori. The necessity for determining SIFs and their practical importance are well understood. However, it is usually not a trivial task to obtain the SIFs required since the SIFs largely depend on not only the external loading scenarios, but also the geometrical configurations of the cylinder. Our recent work has shown that the Bauschinger effect (BE) may come into play and affect the effective SIFs significantly for an eroded fully autofrettaged thick-walled cylinder. In this study, we further investigate the SIFs for the Bauschinger effect dependent autofrettage (BEDA) and the Bauschinger effect independent autofrettage (BEIA) at various autofrettage levels. The crack is considered to emanate from the erosion's deepest point in a multiply eroded cylinder. The commercial finite element package, ANSYS v12, was employed to perform the necessary analysis. A two-dimensional model, analogous to the authors' previous studies, has been adopted for this investigation. The residual stress field of autofrettage process, based on von Mises yield criterion, is simulated by thermal loading. The combined SIFs are evaluated for a variety of relative crack lengths with cracks emanating from the tip of erosions with various geometrical configurations and span angles. The effective SIFs for relatively short cracks are found to be increased by the presence of the erosion and further increased due to the BE at the same autofrettage level, which may result in a significant decrease in the vessel's fatigue life. Deep cracks are found to be almost unaffected by the erosion, but may be considerably affected by BE as well as by the level of partial autofrettage.
Increased Power Capture by Rotor Speed–Dependent Yaw Control of Wind Turbines
Authors: Kragh Knud A. , Fleming Paul A. , Scholbrock Andrew K.
Published: June 2013

When extracting energy from the wind using upwind, horizontal-axis wind turbines, a primary condition for ensuring maximum power yield is the ability to align the rotor axis with the dominating wind direction. Attempts have been made to improve the yaw alignment of wind turbines by applying advanced measurement technologies, such as light detection and ranging systems. However, application of advanced measurement equipment is associated with additional costs and increased system complexity. This study is focused on assessing the current performance of an operating turbine and exploring how the yaw alignment can be improved using measurements from the existing standard measurements system. By analyzing data from a case turbine and a corresponding meteorological mast, a correction scheme for the original yaw control system is suggested. The correction scheme is applied to the case turbine and tested. Results show that, with the correction scheme in place, the yaw alignment of the case turbine is improved and the yaw error is reduced to the vicinity of zero degrees. As a result of the improved yaw alignment, an increased power capture is observed for below-rated wind speeds.
Thermophysical Properties of LiNO3–NaNO3–KNO3 Mixtures for Use in Concentrated Solar Power
Authors: Coscia Kevin , Nelle Spencer , Elliott Tucker , Mohapatra Satish , Oztekin Alparslan , Neti Sudhakar
Published: June 2013

One of the major challenges preventing the concentrated solar power (CSP) industry from occupying a greater portion of the world's energy portfolio are unattractive start up and operating costs for developers and investors. In order to overcome these reservations, plant designers must be able to achieve greater efficiencies of power production. Molten salt nitrates are ideal candidates for CSP heat transfer fluids and have been proposed to offer significant performance advantages over current silicone based oil heat transfer fluids. Ternary molten salt nitrates offer high operating temperatures while maintaining low freezing temperatures. However, a shortage of important thermophysical property data exists for these salts. Previous work has shown the ternary compositions of LiNO3–NaNO3–KNO3 salts offer the widest possible temperature range for use in a CSP system. The present work contains data for the viscosity, specific heat, and latent heat of some mixtures of these salts at various temperatures, providing vital information for plant designers to optimize power generation and attract future investment to CSP systems.
Real‐time x‐ray fluoroscopy‐based catheter detection and tracking for cardiac electrophysiology interventions
Authors: Ma YingLiang , Gogin Nicolas , Cathier Pascal , Housden R. James , Gijsbers Geert , Cooklin Michael , O'Neill Mark , Gill Jaswinder , Rinaldi C. Aldo , Razavi Reza , Rhode Kawal S.
Published: June 2013

Purpose:

X‐ray fluoroscopically guided cardiac electrophysiology (EP) procedures are commonly carried out to treat patients with arrhythmias. X‐ray images have poor soft tissue contrast and, for this reason, overlay of a three‐dimensional (3D) roadmap derived from preprocedural volumetric images can be used to add anatomical information. It is useful to know the position of the catheter electrodes relative to the cardiac anatomy, for example, to record ablation therapy locations during atrial fibrillation therapy. Also, the electrode positions of the coronary sinus (CS) catheter or lasso catheter can be used for road map motion correction.

Methods:

In this paper, the authors present a novel unified computational framework for image‐based catheter detection and tracking without any user interaction. The proposed framework includes fast blob detection, shape‐constrained searching and model‐based detection. In addition, catheter tracking methods were designed based on the customized catheter models input from the detection method. Three real‐time detection and tracking methods are derived from the computational framework to detect or track the three most common types of catheters in EP procedures: the ablation catheter, the CS catheter, and the lasso catheter. Since the proposed methods use the same blob detection method to extract key information from x‐ray images, the ablation, CS, and lasso catheters can be detected and tracked simultaneously in real‐time.

Results:

The catheter detection methods were tested on 105 different clinical fluoroscopy sequences taken from 31 clinical procedures. Two‐dimensional (2D) detection errors of 0.50 ± 0.29, 0.92 ± 0.61, and 0.63 ± 0.45 mm as well as success rates of 99.4%, 97.2%, and 88.9% were achieved for the CS catheter, ablation catheter, and lasso catheter, respectively. With the tracking method, accuracies were increased to 0.45 ± 0.28, 0.64 ± 0.37, and 0.53 ± 0.38 mm and success rates increased to 100%, 99.2%, and 96.5% for the CS, ablation, and lasso catheters, respectively. Subjective clinical evaluation by three experienced electrophysiologists showed that the detection and tracking results were clinically acceptable.

Conclusions:

The proposed detection and tracking methods are automatic and can detect and track CS, ablation, and lasso catheters simultaneously and in real‐time. The accuracy of the proposed methods is sub‐mm and the methods are robust toward low‐dose x‐ray fluoroscopic images, which are mainly used during EP procedures to maintain low radiation dose.
Distinction between the Cfr Methyltransferase Conferring Antibiotic Resistance and the Housekeeping RlmN Methyltransferase
Authors: Atkinson Gemma C. , Hansen Lykke H. , Tenson Tanel , Rasmussen Anette , Kirpekar Finn , Vester Birte
Published: June 2013

The
cfr
gene encodes the Cfr methyltransferase that primarily methylates C-8 in A2503 of 23S rRNA in the peptidyl transferase region of bacterial ribosomes. The methylation provides resistance to six classes of antibiotics of clinical and veterinary importance. The
rlmN
gene encodes the RlmN methyltransferase that methylates C-2 in A2503 in 23S rRNA and A37 in tRNA, but RlmN does not significantly influence antibiotic resistance. The enzymes are homologous and use the same mechanism involving radical
S
-adenosyl methionine to methylate RNA via an intermediate involving a methylated cysteine in the enzyme and a transient cross-linking to the RNA, but they differ in which carbon atom in the adenine they methylate. Comparative sequence analysis identifies differentially conserved residues that indicate functional sequence divergence between the two classes of Cfr- and RlmN-like sequences. The differentiation between the two classes is supported by previous and new experimental evidence from antibiotic resistance, primer extensions, and mass spectrometry. Finally, evolutionary aspects of the distribution of Cfr- and RlmN-like enzymes are discussed.
Pharmacokinetics of a Multipurpose Pod-Intravaginal Ring Simultaneously Delivering Five Drugs in an Ovine Model
Authors: Moss John A. , Malone Amanda M. , Smith Thomas J. , Kennedy Sean , Nguyen Cali , Vincent Kathleen L. , Motamedi Massoud , Baum Marc M.
Published: June 2013

Multipurpose technologies that simultaneously protect from sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy are urgently needed. Pod-intravaginal rings (IVRs) formulated with the antiretroviral agents (ARVs) tenofovir, nevirapine, and saquinavir and the contraceptives etonogestrel and estradiol were evaluated in sheep. Steady-state concentrations were maintained for 28 days with controlled, sustained delivery. This proof-of-principle study demonstrates that pod IVRs can deliver three ARVs from different mechanistic classes and a progestin-estrogen combination over the wide range needed for putative preventative efficacy.
Congenital cytomegalovirus infection and finger anomaly
Authors: Işikay Sedat , Yilmaz Kutluhan
Published: June 2013

Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is the most common cause of intrauterine infection. It affects the central nervous system and causes microcephaly, hydrocephalus, mental retardation, hearing disorder, chorioretinitis and rarely finger anomalies. We present the case of a 4-month-old girl with an agenesis of the middle finger and syndactyly of the fourth and fifth fingers as a result of congenital CMV; this is the first such case in the literature. Here, congenital CMV infection is examined along with finger anomalies.
AN ANONYMOUS ONLINE SURVEY OF THE VIEWS AND ATTITUDES OF MEDICAL STUDENTS AND JUNIOR DOCTORS TOWARDS PHYSICAL ACTIVITY (PA) TEACHING AND PROMOTION
Authors: Bates Sophie , Kipps Courtney
Published: June 2013

Background

Physical inactivity is the fourth leading cause of mortality globally according to the WHO. Several recent studies have highlighted that physical activity (PA) is inadequately covered during UK medical school training.

This study aims to investigate the frequency of PA questions and advice during routine consultations by medical students and junior doctors.

Methods

A link to an anonymous online survey was sent to 195 medical students and 68 junior doctors based at a hospital near London. Thirty-four of the fifty responders were medical students.

Results

Less than a quarter of respondents routinely asked about PA levels in the medical history. In contrast, more than 90 percent always asked about tobacco and alcohol.

Fear of offending or alienating patients, lack of knowledge and lack of time were the three most common themes identified by responders when asked about the perceived barriers to giving PA advice.

Almost half reported having no teaching on PA guidelines. None of the medical students or junior doctors were able to correctly identify the WHO top 4 global mortality risk factors.

Discussion/Conclusions

This study found that clinical medical students and recent graduates rarely include questions or advice about PA in routine medical consultations.

Responders tended to under prioritise physical inactivity as a mortality risk factor, and this may reflect a lack of adequate teaching and emphasis on physical inactivity within medical schools.

Fear of offending of alienating patients was the most frequently cited barrier to giving PA advice. This may be due to the inexperience of juniors, or view that labelling someone as physically inactive is stigmatising.

This study reaffirms previous findings of low levels of teaching about PA in medical schools and identifies lack of knowledge as one of the prime reasons why PA is neglected in routine medical history taking. This calls for urgent action to include PA teaching as a priority in UK medical school teaching.
DIAGNOSTIC VALUE OF OTTAWA ANKLE RULES: SIMPLE GUIDELINES WITH HIGH SENSITIVITY
Authors: Tayeb Ramim
Published: June 2013

Purpose

Ankle and foot injuries are one of the most common acute sport injuries. The objective was to conduct a study to determine the accuracy of the Ottawa Ankle Rules (OARs) to rule out ankle and midfoot fractures in athletes' population presenting with blunt ankle and midfoot injuries.

Methods

Two physicians assessed the OARs in 1156 athletes and 1329 radiographs. Radiography was performed in each patient after clinical evaluation. Findings were recorded. An expert radiologist who was blinded to clinical exanimation interpreted the radiographs.

Findings

Of the 1329 radiographs from ankle and midfoot trauma, 93 ankle and 71 midfoot fractures were diagnosed. All cases with a fracture had a positive OARs result (sensitivity 100% 95% CI; 97–100) and of 1165 radiographs without a fracture, the OARs were negative in 439 cases (specificity 37%; 34–40).The corresponding potential savings in radiographs was 33% using the OAR. The interobserver agreement for our two independent assessors was substantial. (κ=0.79, SE=0.11).

Conclusion

This validation study of the OARs in an Iranian athletes' population produced similar results than those published previously in various other settings. We confirmed the previous studies that the OARs could be a reliable tool to exclude fractures and could aid sport medicine physicians make proper decisions on field and in clinic about athletes who suffered from ankle and midfoot trauma. Employing OARs would significantly decrease radiography requests and costs.
Changes in mechanisms proposed to mediate fat loss following an acute bout of high-intensity interval and endurance exercise
Authors: Williams Cameron B. , Zelt Jason G.E. , Castellani Laura N. , Little Jonathan P. , Jung Mary E. , Wright David C. , Tschakovsky Michael E. , Gurd Brendon J.
Published: June 2013

The purpose of this study was to investigate the acute effects of endurance exercise (END; 65% V̇O2peak for 60 min) and high-intensity interval exercise (HIE; four 30 s Wingates separated by 4.5 min of active rest) on cardiorespiratory, hormonal, and subjective appetite measures that may account for the previously reported superior fat loss with low volume HIE compared with END. Recreationally active males (n = 18) completed END, HIE, and control (CON) protocols. On each test day, cardiorespiratory measures including oxygen uptake (V̇O2), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), and heart rate were recorded and blood samples were obtained at baseline (BSL), 60 min after exercise, and 180 min after exercise (equivalent times for CON). Subjective measures of appetite (hunger, fullness, nausea, and prospective consumption) were assessed using visual analogue scales, administered at BSL, 0, 60, 120, and 180 min after exercise. No significant differences in excess postexercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) were observed between conditions. RER was significantly (P < 0.05) depressed in HIE compared with CON at 60 min after exercise, yet estimates of total fat oxidation over CON were not different between HIE and END. No differences in plasma adiponectin concentrations between protocols or time points were present. Epinephrine and norepinephrine were significantly (P < 0.05) elevated immediately after exercise in HIE compared with CON. Several subjective measures of appetite were significantly (P < 0.05) depressed immediately following HIE. Our data indicate that increases in EPOC or fat oxidation following HIE appear unlikely to contribute to the reported superior fat loss compared with END.
Fuhr's challenge
Authors: Bodoff David
Published: June 2013

In his 2012 Salton Award acceptance speech, Norbert Fuhr challenged the IR research community to develop IR into an engineering science. In this note, I elaborate on the implications of this challenge, which I interpret as a call for more conceptualization in IR research. The stakes are high, because failing this transition, IR research may never be able to produce generalizable, long--term performance gains, and IR risks losing its significance as a research field.
Semantic and distributed entity search in the web of data
Authors: Neumayer Robert
Published: June 2013

Both the growth and ubiquitous character of the Internet have had a profound effect on how we access and consume data and information. More recently, the Semantic Web, an extension of the current Web has come increasingly relevant due to its widespread adoption.

The Web of Data (WoD) is an extension of the current web, where not only documents are interlinked by means of hyperlinks but also data in terms of predicates. Specifically, it describes objects, entities or "things" in terms of their attributes and their relationships, using RDF data (and often is used equivalently to Linked Data). Given its growth, there is a strong need for making this wealth of knowledge accessible by keyword search (the de-facto standard paradigm for accessing information online).

The goal of this thesis is to provide new techniques for accessing this data, i.e., to leverage its full potential to end users. We therefore address the following four main issues: a) how can the Web of Data be searched by means of keyword search?, b) what sets apart search in the WoD from traditional web search?, c) how can these elements be used in a sound and effective way?, and d) How can the techniques be adapted to a distributed environment?

To this end, we develop techniques for effectively searching WoD sources. We build upon and formalise existing entity modelling approaches within a generative language modelling framework, and compare them experimentally using standard test collections. We show that these models outperform the current state-of-the-art in terms of retrieval effectiveness, however, this is done at the cost of abandoning a large part of the semantics behind the data. We propose a novel entity model capable of preserving the semantics associated with entities, without sacrificing retrieval effectiveness. We further show how these approaches can be applied in the distributed context, both with low (federated search) and high numbers (Peer-to-peer or P2P) of independent repositories, collections, or nodes.

The main contributions are as follows:

We develop a hybrid approach to search in the Web of Data, using elements from traditional information retrieval and structured retrieval alike.

We formalise our approaches in a language model setting.

We discuss and analyse based on our empirical evaluation and provide insights into the entity search problem.

.
Programming language vulnerabilities
Authors: Michell Stephen
Published: June 2013

The vulnerability methodology of the ISO/IEC/JTC 1/ SC 22/ WG 23 Programming Language Vulnerabilities Working Group is applied to the problem space of concurrency. A set of vulnerabilities is developed to capture the issues thread creation, thread termination, shared data access, resource hijacking and communication protocols.
Adding multiprocessor and mode change support to the Ada real-time framework
Authors: Sáez Sergio , Real Jorge , Crespo Alfons
Published: June 2013

Based on a previous proposal of an Ada 2005 framework of real-time utilities, this paper deals with the extension of that framework to include support for multiprocessor platforms and multiple operating modes and mode changes. The design of the proposed framework is also intended to be amenable to automatic code generation.
Emerging Therapeutic Biomarkers in Endometrial Cancer
Authors: Dong Peixin , Kaneuchi Masanori , Konno Yosuke , Watari Hidemichi , Sudo Satoko , Sakuragi Noriaki
Published: June 2013

Although clinical trials of molecular therapies targeting critical biomarkers (mTOR, epidermal growth factor receptor/epidermal growth factor receptor 2, and vascular endothelial growth factor) in endometrial cancer show modest effects, there are still challenges that might remain regarding primary/acquired drug resistance and unexpected side effects on normal tissues. New studies that aim to target both genetic and epigenetic alterations (noncoding microRNA) underlying malignant properties of tumor cells and to specifically attack tumor cells using cell surface markers overexpressed in tumor tissue are emerging. More importantly, strategies that disrupt the cancer stem cell/epithelial-mesenchymal transition-dependent signals and reactivate antitumor immune responses would bring new hope for complete elimination of all cell compartments in endometrial cancer. We briefly review the current status of molecular therapies tested in clinical trials and mainly discuss the potential therapeutic candidates that are possibly used to develop more effective and specific therapies against endometrial cancer progression and metastasis.
Demographic, Psychological, and School Environment Correlates of Bullying Victimization and School Hassles in Rural Youth
Authors: Smokowski Paul R. , Cotter Katie L. , Robertson Caroline , Guo Shenyang
Published: June 2013

Little is known about bullying in rural areas. The participants in this study included 3,610 racially diverse youth (average age = 12.8) from 28 rural schools who completed the School Success Profile-Plus. Binary logistic regression models were created to predict bullying victimization in the past 12 months, and ordered logistic regression was used to predict school hassles in the past 12 months. Overall, 22.71% of the sample experienced bullying victimization and school victimization rates ranged from 11% to 38%. Risk factors for bullying victimization included younger students and students experiencing depression and anxiety. Being female, Hispanic/Latino or African American, was associated with lower bullying victimization. Thirty-nine percent of the sample reported a high level of school hassles. Younger students and students with higher levels of anxiety and depression were at increased risk for school hassles. Students from larger schools reported high levels of school hassles, while students from schools with more teachers with advanced degrees reported fewer school hassles.
Unifying the Galilei Relativity and the Special Relativity
Authors: Lyra Alexandre , Carvalho Marcelo
Published: June 2013

We present two models combining some aspects of the Galilei and the Special relativities that lead to a
unification of both relativities. This unification is founded on a reinterpretation of the absolute time of the Galilei relativity that is considered as a quantity in its own and not as mere reinterpretation of the time of the Special relativity in the limit of low velocity. In the first model, the Galilei relativity
plays a prominent role in the sense that the basic kinematical laws of Special relativity, for example, the Lorentz transformation and the velocity law, follow from the corresponding Galilei transformations for the position and velocity. This first model also provides a new way of conceiving the nature of relativistic spacetime where the Lorentz transformation is induced by the Galilei transformation through an embedding of 3-dimensional Euclidean space into hyperplanes of 4-dimensional Euclidean space. This idea provides the starting point for the development of a second model that leads to a generalization of the Lorentz transformation, which includes, as particular cases, the standard Lorentz transformation and transformations that apply to the case of superluminal frames.
Bioremediation of Direct Blue 14 and Extracellular Ligninolytic Enzyme Production by White Rot Fungi:PleurotusSpp.
Authors: Singh M. P. , Vishwakarma S. K. , Srivastava A. K.
Published: June 2013

In the present investigation, four species of white rot fungi (Pleurotus), that is,P. flabellatus, P. florida, P. ostreatusandP. sajor-cajuwere used for decolorization of direct blue 14 (DB14). Among all four species ofPleurotus,P. flabellatusshowed the fastest decolorization in petri plates on different concentration, that is, 200 mg/L, 400 mg/L, and 600 mg/L. All these four species were also evaluated for extracellular ligninolytic enzymes (laccase and manganese peroxidase) production and it was observed that the twelve days old culture ofP. flabellatusshowed the maximum enzymatic activity, that is, 915.7 U/mL and 769.2 U/mL of laccase and manganese peroxidase, respectively. Other threePleurotusspecies took more time for dye decolorization and exhibited less enzymatic activities. The rate of decolorization of DB14 dye solution (20 mg/L) by crude enzymes isolated fromP. flabellatuswas very fast, and it was observed that up to 90.39% dye solution was decolorized in 6 hrs of incubation.
Nonlocal Regularized Algebraic Reconstruction Techniques for MRI: An Experimental Study
Authors: Li Xin
Published: June 2013

We attempt to revitalize researchers' interest in algebraic reconstruction techniques (ART) by expanding their capabilities and demonstrating their potential in speeding up the process of MRI acquisition. Using a continuous-to-discrete model, we experimentally study the application of ART into MRI reconstruction which unifies previous nonuniform-fast-Fourier-transform- (NUFFT-) based and gridding-based approaches. Under the framework of ART, we advocate the use ofnonlocal regularizationtechniques which are leveraged from our previous research on modeling photographic images. It is experimentally shown that nonlocal regularization ART (NR-ART) can often outperform their local counterparts in terms of both subjective and objective qualities of reconstructed images. On one real-worldk-space data set, we find that nonlocal regularization can achieve satisfactory reconstruction from as few as one-third of samples. We also address an issue related to image reconstruction from real-worldk-space data but overlooked in the open literature: theconsistencyof reconstructed images across different resolutions. A resolution-consistent extension of NR-ART is developed and shown to effectively suppress the artifacts arising from frequency extrapolation. Both source codes and experimental results of this work are made fully reproducible.
Basal Cell Carcinoma Masked in Rhinophyma
Authors: De Seta Daniele , Russo Francesca Yoshie , De Seta Elio , Filipo Roberto
Published: June 2013

Rhinophyma, the advanced stage of rosacea, is a lesion characterized by progressive hypertrophy and hyperplasia of sebaceous glandular tissue, connective tissue, and blood vessels. Rhinophyma can lead to a significant facial disfigurement and severe emotional distress, but it is not only an aesthetic problem, since rare cases of simultaneous presence of malignant tissue are described in the literature. The case of an 84-year-old farmer affected by basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and diagnosed in the context of rhinophyma is presented. The anatomical distortion produced by the chronic inflammation and fibrous scarring makes the BCC diagnosis difficult and uncertain. The histological examination of the entire mass and its margins is fundamental. A partial biopsy can lead to a false negative result, and the histological examination must be repeated intra- or postoperatively.
Study of the Halogen Bonding between Pyridine and Perfluoroalkyl Iodide in Solution Phase Using the Combination of FTIR and19F NMR
Authors: Hawthorne Briauna , Fan-Hagenstein Haiyan , Wood Elizabeth , Smith Jessica , Hanks Timothy
Published: June 2013

Halogen bonding between pyridine and heptafluoro-2-iodopropane (iso-C3F7I)/heptafluoro-1-iodopropane (1-C3F7I) was studied using a combination of FTIR and19F NMR. The ring breathing vibration of pyridine underwent a blue shift upon the formation of halogen bonds with both iso-C3F7I and 1-C3F7I. The magnitudes of the shifts and the equilibrium constants for the halogen-bonded complex formation were found to depend not only on the structure of the halocarbon, but also on the solvent. The halogen bond also affected the Cα-F (C-F bond on the center carbon) bending and stretching vibrations in iso-C3F7I. These spectroscopic effects show some solvent dependence, but more importantly, they suggest the possibility of intermolecular halogen bonding among iso-C3F7I molecules. The systems were also examined by19F NMR in various solvents (cyclohexane, hexane, chloroform, acetone, and acetonitrile). NMR dilution experiments support the existence of the intermolecular self-halogen bonding in both iso-C3F7I and 1-C3F7I. The binding constants for the pyridine/perfluoroalkyl iodide halogen bonding complexes formed in various solvents were obtained through NMR titration experiments. Quantum chemical calculations were used to support the FTIR and19F NMR observations.
Preoperative Plasmapheresis for Elective Thymectomy in Myasthenia Patient: Is It Necessary?
Authors: Saeteng Somcharoen , Tantraworasin Apichat , Siwachat Sophon , Lertprasertsuke Nirush , Euathrongchit Juntima , Wannasopha Yuttaphan
Published: June 2013

Background. Role of plasmapheresis before thymectomy remains controversial. The aim of this study is to determine the peri-operative and post-operative outcome of a thymectomy between performing and not performing a pre-operative plasmaphreresis. Patients and Methods. A retrospective chart review study was conducted in Chiang Mai University Hospital between January 2006 and December 2011. There were 86 myasthenia patients divided into two groups; Preoperative plasmapheresis group (PPG) and no preoperative plasmapheresis group (NPPG). The primary outcome involved post-operative extubation and the secondary outcome included post-operative complications, 28 day mortality and length of hospital stay. Results. Eighty-six patients were enrolled in this study. The number of patients who had a history of myasthenic crisis at any time or within one month in the PPG was significantly more than those in the NPPG. Muscle power and forced expiratory vital capacity in the NPPG was higher than that in the PPG. The postoperative extubation rate was similar in both groups. After controlling for the propensity score, there were no statistically significant differences in both of primary and secondary outcomes. Conclusion. The results of this study shows no significant differences between both groups in all outcomes, therefore the pre-operative plasmaphresis is not necessary for elective thymectomy.
Prevalence of Intestinal Parasitic Infection among HIV Positive Persons Who Are Naive and on Antiretroviral Treatment in Hiwot Fana Specialized University Hospital, Eastern Ethiopia
Authors: Teklemariam Zelalem , Abate Degu , Mitiku Habtamu , Dessie Yadeta
Published: June 2013

Background. Intestinal parasitic infection affects the health and quality of life of people living with HIV. This study was aimed to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasites among HIV positive individuals who are naive and who are on antiretroviral treatment (ART) in Hiwot Fana Specialized University Hospital, Eastern Ethiopia. Methods. A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted on 371 (112 ART-naive group and 259 on ART) HIV positive individuals. Stool specimens were collected and examined by direct wet mount, formol ether concentration technique, and modified ziehl-Neelsen methods.
Results. The overall prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections was 33.7%; it was significantly higher among the study participants who were ART-naive group (45.5%) (AOR: 2.60(1.56,4.34)) and diarrheic (53.3%) (AOR: 2.30(1.34,3.96)) and with CD4 count <200 cells/μL (46%) (AOR: 2.07(1.06,4.04)). The most commonly identified parasites were Entamoeba histolytica/E. dispar (13.5%), Giardia lamblia (8.1%), Strongyloides stercoralis (4.0%), and Cryptosporidium species (2.2%). Conclusion. HIV positive individuals with diarrhea and low CD4 count and ART naive groups were more infected with intestinal parasites than their counterparts. Early stool examination and treatment of intestinal parasites for HIV/AIDS patients is essential.