bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Tyranny of distance and rural prehospital care: Is there potential for a national rural responder network?
Authors: Leeuwenburg Tim , Hall John
Published: June 2015

Critical illness intersects with the workload of rural doctors inAustralia, mostly via their on‐call responsibilities to rural hospitals. A significant proportion of these are prehospital incidents – vehicle crashes, farming injuries, bushfire etc. Effective care for such patients requires an integration of prehospital ambulance services, retrieval services and tertiary level trauma services all the way through to rehabilitation. Ambulance services in rural areas are often volunteer based, and with increasing remoteness via the ‘tyranny of distance’ comes the likelihood of increased delay in arrival of specialist retrieval services. Potential exists to utilise rural clinicians to respond to prehospital incidents in certain defined circumstances, as suggested by a recent survey of rural doctors.
What Sort of Geographical Education for the Anthropocene?
Authors: PAWSON ERIC
Published: June 2015

As the Anthropocene concept gains in prominence, there is opportunity to explore it as a social and cultural process, not merely as a matter of scientific definition and debate. This paper seeks to sketch some of the social dimensions of the Anthropocene, in terms of anxiety about the human future, about risk, and about environmental limits. It considers how the term encapsulates a prophetic sense of concern and unease about people's place in nature, the very thing that the embrace of industrial capitalism was supposed to remove. It then explores four open‐ended attributes of a geographical education for the Anthropocene. These are: first, engaging critically with digital technologies; second, countering grand narratives with local encounters; third, setting hope alongside gloom; and fourth, remembering the past as well as the future. The purpose of such attributes is to prepare students for creative encounters with the uncertainties of the Anthropocene. The implications for educational practice are then considered, including the role of active and community‐based learning strategies within a university conceived of as a place of classrooms without borders.
Employer brand management as boundary‐work: a grounded theory analysis of employer brand managers' narrative accounts
Authors: Edlinger Gabriela
Published: June 2015

This article aims a spotlight at the relatively new and increasingly significant organisational role of employer brand managers. Based on a grounded theory analysis of employer brand managers' descriptions of their work, practices of creating, controlling, promoting, protecting and policing an ideal employer brand are identified as core dimensions of their narrative accounts. The specific contents of these activities present employer brand managers' work as an ongoing process of demarcation with regard to who is allowed to contribute to the employer brand's contents, along with what information and which interpretations and practices are to be considered a valid, legitimate part of the employer brand. Based on these findings, the theoretical perspective of boundary‐work is applied to further explore organisational contexts of employer brand management, as well as to discuss its political characteristics and their implications.
When Parties Make Peoples
Authors: White Jonathan
Published: June 2015

One of the lessons of the 2014 Scottish referendum on independence is that political separatism may be inspired by goals of a left–right kind. The surge in support for the Yes campaign corresponded to its emergence as an anti‐austerity movement. This article examines how questions of peoplehood became linked in this case to the adversarial pursuit of political ends. To clarify the dynamics of partisanship at work, I go on to examine a second case of political separatism – Czechoslovakia in the early 1990s – where, major differences notwithstanding, a similar set of currents was present. Here too, rival definitions of peoplehood were as much the symptoms of political contestation as its inspiration. The article ends by considering what the partisan contestation of political boundaries reveals about the condition of the democracies in which it occurs.
miR‐370 and miR‐373 regulate the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis by modulating one‐carbon metabolism via SHMT‐2 and MECP‐2, respectively
Authors: Song Jinsoo , Kim Dongkyun , Chun Churl‐Hong , Jin Eun‐Jung
Published: June 2015

The aim of this study was to determine the mechanism underlying the association between one‐carbon metabolism and DNA methylation during chronic degenerative joint disorder, osteoarthritis (OA). Articular chondrocytes were isolated from human OA cartilage and normal cartilage biopsied, and the degree of cartilage degradation was determined by safranin O staining. We found that the expression levels of SHMT‐2 and MECP‐2 were increased in OA chondrocytes, and 3′UTR reporter assays showed that SHMT‐2 and MECP‐2 are the direct targets of miR‐370 and miR‐373, respectively, in human articular chondrocytes. Our experiments showed that miR‐370 and miR‐373 levels were significantly lower in OA chondrocytes compared to normal chondrocytes. Overexpression of miR‐370 or miR‐373, or knockdown of SHMT‐2 or MECP‐2 reduced both MMP‐13 expression and apoptotic cell death in cultured OA chondrocytes. In vivo, we found that introduction of miR‐370 or miR‐373 into the cartilage of mice that had undergone destabilization of the medial meniscus (DMM) surgery significantly reduced the cartilage destruction in this model, whereas introduction of SHMT‐2 or MECP‐2 increased the severity of cartilage destruction. Together, these results show that miR‐370 and miR‐373 contribute to the pathogenesis of OA and act as negative regulators of SHMT‐2 and MECP‐2, respectively.
Relationship of ocular and systemic factors to the visibility of choroidal–scleral interface using spectral domain optical coherence tomography
Authors: Gupta Preeti , Cheng Ching‐Yu , Cheung Chui Ming Gemmy , Htoon Hla Myint , Zheng Yingfeng , Lamoureux Ecosse L. , Aung Tin , Wong Tien‐Yin , Cheung Carol Y.
Published: June 2015

Purpose

To assess the visibility of the choroidal–scleral interface (CSI) from spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD‐OCT) and evaluate the ocular and systemic factors influencing the visibility of CSI in healthy eyes from population‐based Malay sample.

Methods

Participants were consecutively recruited from the population‐based Singapore Malay Eye Study‐2 (SiMES‐2). SD‐OCT images were obtained by Spectralis OCT with enhanced depth imaging (EDI) mode. Visibility of CSI was assessed by a grading system ranging from 0 to 2 scores. The reliability of choroidal thickness measurement in different grades of CSI visibility was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficient. Ordinal regression analyses were performed to evaluate a range of ocular and systemic factors influencing the visibility of CSI.

Results

A total of 176 healthy eyes were analysed, and 59.1% of our subjects had well‐defined CSI (score 2), 8.5% had poorly defined CSI (score 0), and 32.4% had CSI between well and poorly defined (score 1). The reliability of subfoveal choroidal thickness measurement decreased with each grade of CSI visibility score. Decreased axial length (AL) (estimate of ordinal regression [OR] = 0.465, p = 0.003), thicker retinal thickness (estimate of OR = −0.030, p = 0.004), younger age (estimate of OR = 0.045, p = 0.030) and diabetes (estimate of OR = −0.746, p = 0.004) were associated with lower CSI visibility score.

Conclusions

Only 60% of normal healthy eyes had well‐defined CSI from SD‐OCT images. Our data suggest that choroidal thickness measurements can be substantially affected by the visibility of CSI. The visibility of CSI varies with AL, retinal thickness, age and diabetes.
A cultural heuristic approach to the study of Jamaican undergraduate students' achievement motivation
Authors: Clayton Karen E. , Zusho Akane
Published: June 2015

Background

In recent years, there have been increasing calls to develop a more contextually based sociocultural perspective of achievement motivation.

Aim

This mixed‐methods study examined why Jamaican undergraduate students are motivated or unmotivated and how this relates to the extant literature on achievement motivation.

Sample(s)

This study was conducted in two phases and consisted of 175 and 189 Jamaican undergraduate students across phases one and two, respectively.

Methods

First, a qualitative investigation using open‐ended questionnaires and semi‐structured interviews explored Jamaican undergraduate students’ conceptualization of motivation and the factors that positively or negatively impacted their motivation. The second phase consisted of using prototype theory to capture a hierarchical cognitive representation of Jamaican students’ motivation using coded themes derived from phase one of the study.

Results and conclusions

The overall results indicated that personal, cognitive, contextual, and sociocultural factors are important determinants of Jamaican undergraduate students’ academic motivation and that sociocultural (e.g., familial, economic, religious) factors appear to play a more critical role in impacting their motivation.
Sequential karyotyping in Burkitt lymphoma reveals a linear clonal evolution with increase in karyotype complexity and a high frequency of recurrent secondary aberrations
Authors: Aukema Sietse M. , Theil Laura , Rohde Marius , Bauer Benedikt , Bradtke Jutta , Burkhardt Birgit , Bonn Bettina R. , Claviez Alexander , Gattenlöhner Stefan , Makarova Olga , Nagel Inga , Oschlies Ilske , Pott Christiane , Szczepanowski Monika , Traulsen Arne , Kluin Philip M. , Klapper Wolfram , Siebert Reiner , Murga Penas Eva M.
Published: June 2015

Typical Burkitt lymphoma is characterized by an IG‐MYC translocation and overall low genomic complexity. Clinically, Burkitt lymphoma has a favourable prognosis with very few relapses. However, the few patients experiencing disease progression and/or relapse have a dismal outcome. Here we report cytogenetic findings of seven cases of Burkitt lymphoma in which sequential karyotyping was performed at time of diagnosis and/or disease progression/relapse(s). After case selection, karyotype re‐review and additional molecular analyses were performed in six paediatric cases, treated in Berlin‐Frankfurt‐Münster‐Non‐Hodgkin lymphoma study group trials, and one additional adult patient. Moreover, we analysed 18 cases of Burkitt lymphoma from the Mitelman database in which sequential karyotyping was performed. Our findings show secondary karyotypes to have a significant increase in load of cytogenetic aberrations with a mean number of 2, 5 and 8 aberrations for primary, secondary and third investigations. Importantly, this increase in karyotype complexity seemed to result from recurrent secondary chromosomal changes involving mainly trisomy 21, gains of 1q and 7q, losses of 6q, 11q, 13q, and 17p. In addition, our findings indicate a linear clonal evolution to be the predominant manner of cytogenetic evolution. Our data may provide a biological framework for the dismal outcome of progressive and relapsing Burkitt lymphoma.
A proposal: the need for thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura Specialist Centres – providing better outcomes
Authors: Dutt Tina , Scully Marie
Published: June 2015

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is heralded by its demanding presentation and impending mortality. The complex and life‐threatening characteristics of TTP justify the need for early referral and responsive management in centres with comprehensive multi‐disciplinary resources. In an era where compromise of patient safety or experience is unsatisfactory, the provision of specialist‐led, organized care for this patient group remains overdue. Patients and clinical teams continue to lack the knowledge, support and resources required to achieve consistently high levels of clinical care. This forms the rationale for development of TTP Specialist Centres.

In this article we focus on what we believe to be the recognized and potential merits of a specialist service provision, highlighting individual components of a high level of integrated expertise. The challenges in managing the condition from acute diagnosis to long‐term care are described alongside defining key standards that represent excellence in patient care. The emphasis will be on understanding how the evolution of TTP Specialist Centres diverges from an ad hoc approach to managing this vulnerable patient group and offers promise in the translation to improved patient outcomes.
Relative cost‐effectiveness of home visits and telephone contacts in preventing early childhood caries
Authors: Koh Rongzhen , Pukallus Margaret , Kularatna Sanjeewa , Gordon Louisa G. , Barnett Adrian G. , Walsh Laurence J. , Seow Wan Kim
Published: June 2015

Objectives

To evaluate the cost‐effectiveness of a home‐visit intervention conducted by oral health therapists relative to a telephone‐based alternative and no intervention.

Methods

A Markov model was built to combine data on dental caries incidence, dental treatments, quality of life and costs for a cohort of children from age 6 months to 6 years. The probabilities of developing caries and subsequent treatments were derived primarily from the key intervention study. The outcome measures were costs (USdollars), quality‐adjusted life years (QALYs) and the number of carious teeth prevented. One‐way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were used to test the stability of the model.

Results

For every group of 100 children, the model predicted that having the home‐visit intervention would save $167 032 and telephone contacts $144 709 over 5½ years relative to no intervention (usual care). The home visits and telephone intervention would prevent 113 and 100 carious teeth (per 100 children) relative to no intervention in a period of 5½ years. Sensitivity analysis showed that a lower rate of caries reduced the intervention's cost‐effectiveness primarily through reducing general anaesthesia costs. The home visits and telephone interventions resulted in 7 and 6QALYs, respectively, gained over the usual care group for the 100 children over 5½ years. Both interventions were ‘dominant,’ as they saved costs and produced health benefits over usual care.

Conclusions

Both the home visits and telephone‐based community interventions conducted by oral health therapists were highly cost‐effective than no intervention in preventing early childhood caries.
IS IT WHERE YOU GO OR WHAT YOU STUDY? THE RELATIVE INFLUENCE OF COLLEGE SELECTIVITY AND COLLEGE MAJOR ON EARNINGS
Authors: Eide Eric R. , Hilmer Michael J. , Showalter Mark H.
Published: June 2015

All college students must decide where to attend college and what major to study. We estimate how earnings by college major differ at different college selectivity types. We find major‐specific earnings vary markedly by college selectivity, with the strongest differences among business majors and the weakest differences among science majors. We also find that when comparing earnings of graduates from top colleges to middle or bottom ranked colleges, the distribution of students across majors can be as important as earnings differences by major in accounting for college selectivity earnings gaps. (JEL I2, J3)
Developing a theoretical maintenance model for disordered eating in Type 1 diabetes
Authors: Treasure J. , Kan C. , Stephenson L. , Warren E. , Smith E. , Heller S. , Ismail K.
Published: June 2015

Background

According to the literature, eating disorders are an increasing problem for more than a quarter of people with Type 1 diabetes and they are associated with accentuated diabetic complications. The clinical outcomes in this group when given standard eating disorder treatments are disappointing. The Medical Research Council guidelines for developing complex interventions suggest that the first step is to develop a theoretical model.

Aim

To review existing literature to build a theoretical maintenance model for disordered eating in people with Type 1 diabetes.

Method

The literature in diabetes relating to models of eating disorder (Fairburn's transdiagnostic model and the dual pathway model) and food addiction was examined and assimilated.

Results

The elements common to all eating disorder models include weight/shape concern and problems with mood regulation. The predisposing traits of perfectionism, low self‐esteem and low body esteem and the interpersonal difficulties from the transdiagnostic model are also relevant to diabetes. The differences include the use of insulin mismanagement to compensate for breaking eating rules and the consequential wide variations in plasma glucose that may predispose to ‘food addiction’. Eating disorder symptoms elicit emotionally driven reactions and behaviours from others close to the individual affected and these are accentuated in the context of diabetes.

Conclusion

The next stage is to test the assumptions within the maintenance model with experimental medicine studies to facilitate the development of new technologies aimed at increasing inhibitory processes and moderating environmental triggers.
Journal editors impasse with outcome reporting bias
Authors: Dal‐Ré Rafael , Caplan Arthur L.
Published: June 2015

key points

Several requirements and regulations have been issued to promote clinical trial transparency through prospective registration of trials, disclosure of results, access to trial reports submitted to regulatory agencies and access to anonymized patient‐level data.

Clinical trial results are disseminated through articles. Yet, many present outcome reporting bias.

Open access to trial data will help to deter outcome reporting bias. However, this is not enough to clinicians.

Access to trial protocols by journal staff has proven rather inefficacious in preventing outcome reporting bias.

Two proposals have been suggested or implemented to tackle outcome reporting bias that are discussed in this article.

Editors should implement quality‐control processes aiming at preventing outcome reporting bias. Readers should be informed as to the efficiency of the implemented process.
Monocytes of Patients with Type 1 Diabetes Harbour Enterovirus RNA
Authors: Alidjinou Enagnon Kazali , Chehadeh Wassim , Weill Jacques , Vantyghem Marie‐Christine , Stuckens Chantal , Decoster Anne , Hober Christine , Hober Didier
Published: June 2015

Background

Intracellular enterovirus (EV) RNA was detected in blood of patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D). The presence of EV RNA in subsets of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients, and the in vitro infection of these cells with an EV, was investigated.

Materials and methods

Blood was collected from 42 patients with T1D, PBMCs were isolated and monocytes were purified. Interferon alpha (IFNα) mRNA and EV RNA were investigated using RT‐PCR. Levels of IFNα in plasma were measured using an immunoassay. Cells were inoculated with Coxsackievirus B4 (CBV4) in vitro, and infection was assessed by indirect immunofluorescence (IFI).

Results

Interferon alpha mRNA was detected in blood and in monocytes of 12 of 42 patients with T1D, but not in monocyte‐depleted PBMCs of the same individuals. Significant plasma levels of IFNα (≥ 5 IU/mL) were found in six patients. EV RNA was detected in whole blood and in monocytes of seven patients and negative‐strand EV RNA was found in monocytes of 6 of them. When monocytes of patients with IFNα and/or EV RNA in their blood were inoculated with CVB4, the proportion of cells stained by an anti‐VP1 antibody was 8·8 ± 1%, whereas no VP1 was detected in the monocytes of IFNα, EV RNA negative patients. Nevertheless, when CBV4 was mixed with plasma, VP1 was detected in monocytes of all patients with T1D (staining ranging from 12 to 36%).

Conclusions

Our data indicate that monocytes of patients with T1D can harbor EV RNA and IFNα mRNA and can be infected with an EV in vitro.
Ursodeoxycholyl Lysophosphatidylethanolamide modifies aberrant lipid profiles in NAFLD
Authors: Pathil Anita , Liebisch Gerhard , Okun Jürgen G. , Chamulitrat Walee , Schmitz Gerd , Stremmel Wolfgang
Published: June 2015

Background

Hepatic fat accumulation with disturbed lipid homoeostasis is a hallmark of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The bile acid phospholipid conjugate Ursodeoxycholyl lysophosphatidylethanolamide (UDCA‐LPE) is a novel anti‐inflammatory agent with hepatoprotective effects in murine high‐fat‐diet (HFD)‐induced NAFLD. The aim of this work was to study changes in the hepatic lipidome due to UDCA‐LPE.

Materials and methods

High fat diet mouse model, mass spectometry, RT‐PCR.

Results

Hepatic lipid extracts of HFD mice were analysed by mass spectrometry. The results determined higher levels of total, saturated, mono‐ and diunsaturated fatty acids (FA) in HFD mice, which were decreased by UDCA‐LPE predominantly by the reducing the most abundant FA species palmitic acid and oleic acid. Unlike other FA species, levels of long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA), which are composed of arachidonic acid (ARA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), were increased in HFD mice upon UDCA‐LPE treatment, mainly due to elevated hepatic ARA pools. Analysis of hepatic phospholipids species showed a decrease in total phosphatidylcholine (PC), especially monounsaturated PC (PUFA‐PC) levels in HFD mice. Loss of total PC was reversed due to UDCA‐LPE by increasing hepatic PUFA‐PC pools. Gene expression analysis showed that UDCA‐LPE upregulated PPARα, a key transcriptional regulator of fatty acid oxidation, as well as downstream target genes CPT1α and AOX, which are crucially involved in mitochondrial and peroxisomal fatty acid oxidation.

Conclusion

UDCA‐LPE modulates defective fatty acid metabolism during experimental NAFLD thereby restoring altered lipid profiles in addition to its pronounced anti‐inflammatory effects. Thus, UDCA‐LPE may be a promising drug candidate for the management of NAFLD.
Scale‐dependent thermal tolerance variation in Australian mountain grasshoppers
Authors: Slatyer Rachel A. , Nash Michael A. , Hoffmann Ary A.
Published: June 2015

Physiological variation among and within species is thought to play a key role in determining distribution patterns across environmental gradients. We tested inter‐ and intraspecific variation in cold and heat tolerances for three grasshopper species (genus Kosciuscola) with overlapping elevation distributions, across their respective ranges in the Australian mountains. Of the three cold tolerance traits measured, the critical thermal minimum was the only trait to vary among species, with greater cold tolerance associated with a distribution extending to a higher elevation. Cold tolerance limits were regularly exceeded in exposed microhabitats, suggesting a role for cold adaptation in structuring species distribution patterns. In contrast to cold tolerance, heat tolerance variation was primarily partitioned within species. For two species, populations from treeless alpine habitat were more heat tolerant than their lower‐elevation counterparts, supporting recent models that suggest greater exposure to temperature extremes at higher elevations. These contrasting patterns of physiological variation among and within species emphasise the importance of considering variation within species when attempting to understand how species distributions are affected by thermal extremes.
Effects of strong ionic polarization in the soil electric field on soil particle transport during rainfall
Authors: Li S. , Li H. , Hu F. N. , Huang X. R. , Xie D. T. , Ni J. P.
Published: June 2015

Specific ion effects are now thought to be important in nature. We studied the specific ion effects on soil particle transport during rainfall simulation (150 mm hour−1, 110 minutes) in sodium nitrate (NaNO3), potassium nitrate (KNO3) and caesium nitrate (CsNO3) solutions. The results showed marked differences in the intensity of soil particle transport in Na+, K+ and Cs+ systems. The differences increased sharply with the decrease in electrolyte concentration, which indicated strong specific ion effects on soil transport and suggested that the differences could not be explained by ionic size, hydration effect or dispersion force. The cationic non‐classical polarization in a strong electric field increases the Coulomb attractive force between the cation and clay surface, and further adversely decreases the strength of the electric field. With the absolute effective charge coefficients, γ, of Na+ (1.110), K+ (1.699) and Cs+ (2.506), we recalculated the true surface potentials of soil particles in NaNO3, KNO3 and CsNO3 solutions. The true surface potentials decrease sharply with the increase in ionic non‐classical polarization, and then the electrostatic repulsive pressure between particles in the soil should decrease sharply. Comparison of fitting the equation for transport intensity in NaNO3 solution with that in KNO3 and CsNO3 solutions showed clearly that the soil electric field controlled the aggregate breakdown and particle transport. The results suggested that the stronger the non‐classical polarization for cations in the soil, the weaker is the electrostatic field that forms and the soil erosion at the same solution concentrations.
Morphological analyses and a novelde novoDLX3mutation associated with tricho–dento–osseous syndrome in aChinese family
Authors: Li Yue , Han Dong , Zhang Hao , Liu Haochen , Wong Singwai , Zhao Na , Qiu Lixin , Feng Hailan
Published: June 2015

Tricho–dento–osseous (TDO) syndrome, an autosomal‐dominant disorder, affects the morphological appearance of the tooth enamel, hair, and bone. Previous studies have confirmed that mutations in theDLX3gene are responsible forTDO. In this study, we describe aChinese patient with the typical traits ofTDO– kinky hair, enamel hypoplasia, skull and jaw bones thickening, and sclerosis. Unfortunately, as a result of excessive attrition, we were unable to assess taurodontism. Examination of the tooth ground section showed a thin layer of enamel with no rods on the patient's tooth and abnormalities inTomes' granular layer and the dentinal tubules. Scanning electron microscopy and energy‐dispersiveX‐ray spectroscopy of the tooth enamel showed significant differences between the patient and the control individuals. A hair sample from the patient observed under a laser‐scanning microscope showed longitudinal grooves in the hair shaft. Dual‐energyX‐ray absorptiometry measurement showed that the bone mineral density values of the patient's bones was much higher than normal. Finally, genetic analysis revealed a novelde novomissense mutation c.533A>G(p.Q178R) in the conserved homeodomain of theDLX3gene. ThisDLX3mutation is the sixth causative mutation forTDOto be identified so far.
Development and testing of the media monitoring tool MedISys for early identification and reporting of existing and emerging plant health threats
Authors: Alomar O. , Batlle A. , Brunetti J.M. , García R. , Gil R. , Granollers A. , Jiménez S. , Laviña A. , Linge J. P. , Pautasso M. , Reverté C. , Riudavets J. , Rortais A. , Stancanelli G. , Volani S. , Vos S.
Published: June 2015

Media monitoring for emerging risks has become an essential tool in public health. This approach also has the potential to deliver early warning of emerging risks to plant health. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has launched a project in collaboration with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission to make use of the Medical Information System (MedISys) media monitoring tool for monitoring plant health threats. This paper provides a summary of the project, which is taking place in partnership with the University of Lleida and the Institut de Recerca I Tecnologia Agroalimentàries. The four specific objectives of the project are: (1) to collate new and appropriate media and information sources, (2) to develop a multilingual ontology for the global identification of emerging new plant health threats, (3) to develop strategies to monitor (re‐)emerging plant health threats at global and regional scales, and (4) to test approaches for reporting the identified warnings to the relevant EFSA units and experts through the MedISys interface, including mapping and georeferencing. The plan and structure of the project are presented with examples of preliminary results.
Educational Spaces and the ‘Whole’ Child: A Spatial History of School Design, Pedagogy and the Modern Australian Nation
Authors: Healy Sianan , Darian‐Smith Kate
Published: June 2015

This article combines perspectives from architectural history, educational history and social history to examine the development of Australian schooling in the 20th century, with a particular emphasis on the period following World War II to the 1970s. In these decades, there was increased interest in Australia and internationally in pedagogical approaches that embraced the development of the ‘whole’ child, and fresh ideas about the design of schools and classrooms, including specialised facilities, that emphasised the importance of space and place to learning. This article surveys the relevant if disparate historiography of education and design and provides an overview of the Australian school in the post‐war period. It argues for greater historical recognition of the relationships between school design and pedagogy for understanding the history of educational policy and the experiences of schooling in modern Australia.
Restoring Agency to Informal Diplomats in Narratives of the Vietnam War
Authors: Mehta Harish C.
Published: June 2015

The history of the diplomacy of the Vietnam War perennially suffers from two lapses. First, scholarly literature almost completely ignores informal diplomacy between North Vietnam and the wider world. Scholars have neglected to grant political and diplomatic agency to ordinary citizens of North Vietnam and the West who regularly interacted to pressure U.S. presidents to end the war in Vietnam. Secondly, the accounts are largely written from Western or U.S. perspective. Most histories prioritize Western diplomacy, while denying proper voice to North Vietnamese. In these ways, North Vietnamese people and diplomats are written out of their own story, consigned to the margins as mere spectators in grand narratives of the diplomacy of the war.
A comparative study between the efficacy of oral cimetidine and low‐dose systemic meglumine antimoniate (MA) with a standard dose of systemic MA in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis
Authors: Shanehsaz Siavash M. , Ishkhanian Silva
Published: June 2015

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a major world health problem, which is increasing in incidence. Pentavalent antimonials have been considered as standard treatment for leishmaniasis. Many studies are performed to find an effective and safe treatment for patients with CL. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of oral cimetidine and low‐dose systemic meglumine antimoniate (MA) with standard dose of systemic MA in the treatment of CL. This study was, to our knowledge, the first to show the effect of combination therapy oral cimetidine and MA in the treatment of CL all over the world. In this randomized double‐blind placebo‐controlled clinical trial, 120 patients with suspected CL were referred to the Aleppo University Hospital Clinic; 90 of these patients with the clinical and parasitological diagnosis of CL were recruited and were randomly divided into three treatment groups of 30 subjects each. Group A was treated with MA 60 mg/kg/d IM and oral placebo. Groups B and C received MA 30 mg/kg/d IM and oral cimetidine 1200 mg/d, MA 30 mg/kg/d IM and oral placebo, respectively. The duration of treatment was three weeks for all groups. The effectiveness of the treatment was classified in three levels as complete response, partial response, and no response. Data were analyzed by SPSS 19 using KI square, Mann–Whitney, Kaplan–Mayer, and ANOVA tests. At the end of the study (12 weeks), the rate of complete response was 91.11% in the first group, and 84.66% and 78.33% in groups B and C, respectively (P < 0.05). The highest response rate was for the group treated with a standard dose of systemic MA and placebo. Our results showed that although oral cimetidine and low‐dose systemic MA had less efficacy in comparison to a standard dose of systemic MA in the treatment of CL, it still can be considered as a replacement therapy in high‐risk patients (such as patients with heart, kidney, and/or liver disease) under close supervision of physicians.
Magnetic resonance elastography and transient elastography as non‐invasive analyses for liver fibrosis: can they obviate the need for liver biopsy in psoriasis patients treated with methotrexate?
Authors: Kaffenberger Benjamin H. , Kaffenberger Jessica A. , Wong Henry , Jarjour Wael , Levin Douglas , Bechtel Mark A.
Published: June 2015

The liver biopsy has been regarded as the reference standard method of monitoring hepatic fibrosis in psoriasis patients treated with methotrexate. It has also been subject to concerns over sampling error, internal and external variability, and potential for morbidity and mortality. During the past two decades, two imaging techniques, magnetic resonance elastography and transient elastography, have been developed and approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the assessment of hepatic fibrosis. Although high‐quality, psoriasis‐specific data are lacking, both methods have been shown to have outstanding efficacy in the detection of hepatic fibrosis, particularly the more advanced stages which may warrant the choice of a therapeutic alternative to methotrexate. Dermatologists should be aware of the availability of these tests and understand their limitations. Prospective studies in psoriasis and methotrexate management using these techniques are needed.
Admission blood glucose predicts mortality and length of stay in patients admitted through the emergency department
Authors: Martin W. G. , Galligan J. , Simpson S. , Greenaway T. , Burgess J.
Published: June 2015

Background

Hyperglycaemia has been associated with adverse outcomes in several different hospital populations.

Aim

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between admission blood glucose level (BGL) and outcomes in all patients admitted through the emergency department.

Methods

This study was a retrospective observational cohort study from anAustralian tertiary referral hospital. Patients admitted in the first week of each month fromApril toOctober 2012 had demographic data, co‐morbidities,BGL, intensive care unit admission, length of stay and dates of death recorded. Factors associated with outcomes were assessed by multi‐level mixed‐effects linear regression.

Results

AdmissionBGLwas recorded for 601 admissions with no diagnosis of diabetes and for 219 admissions diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). In patients with no diagnosis of diabetes, admissionBGLwas associated with in‐hospital and 90‐day mortality (P< 0.001). After multivariate analysis,BGLgreater than 11.5 mmol/L was significantly associated with increased mortality at 90 days (P< 0.05). In patients withT2DMincreasedBGLon admission was not associated with in‐hospital or 90‐day mortality but was associated with length of hospital stay (β: 0.22 days/mmol/L; 95% confidence interval 0.09–0.35;P< 0.001), although this association was lost on multivariable analysis. In patients withT2DM, increased coefficient of variation ofBGLwas also positively associated with length of hospital stay in an almost dose‐dependent fashion (P< 0.001).

Conclusion

AdmissionBGLwas independently associated with increased mortality in patients with no diagnosis of diabetes. Glycaemic variability was associated with increased length of hospital stay in patients withT2DM.
Adverse events in nursing: A retrospective study of reports of patient and relative experiences
Authors: Andersson Å. , Frank C. , Willman A.M.L. , Sandman P.‐O. , Hansebo G.
Published: June 2015

Background

Patient safety is an important global issue. While it is well known that patients can suffer from adverse events in nursing care, there is a lack of knowledge as to how they experience them.

Aim

To examine adverse events in nursing care as they are experienced by patients and relatives.

Methods

This was a retrospective study taking both a qualitative and a quantitative approach. It was based on data regarding 242 adverse events in nursing care, as reported by patients and relatives to Sweden's Medical Responsibility Board, content analysis was used to analyse the reports.

Results

Patients' and relatives' experiences were analysed into four categories of adverse events, as concerning participation, clinical judgement, nursing intervention and the essentials of care.

Limitations

The reports were classified by the Medical Responsibility Board, without a standardized system. The adverse events reported were few in number and were reported by patients and relatives only.

Conclusion

Lack of participation has negative consequences and contributes to adverse events. Adverse events occur through missed care as well as through carer errors.

Implications on nursing and health practice

Nurses need to improve their skills that support patient participation. Patient participation needs to be incorporated into nurses' duties.

Implications for Nursing and Health Policy

Resources for patients to participate in their own care needs to be a priority underpinning policy‐making in health systems. Nursing education systems need to teach students about the value and benefits of involving patients in their care.
Regional population differentiation in the morphologically diverse, elevationally widespread Nearctic skipper Polites sabuleti
Authors: Jahner Joshua P. , Forister Matthew L. , Nice Chris C. , Fordyce James A. , Wilson Joseph S. , Murphy Dennis D. , Marion Zachary H. , Shapiro Arthur M.
Published: June 2015

Aim

To evaluate three phylogeographical models associated with the presence of mountains (montane vicariance, sky island and parapatry) as drivers of intraspecific diversification in the sandhill skipper, Polites sabuleti (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae), a morphologically variable species found in a variety of habitats from sea level to the alpine zone.

Location

Western North America.

Methods

The mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit II region was sequenced in 189 P. sabuleti individuals. Mitochondrial sequences were used in a spatial analysis of molecular variance (SAMOVA) to evaluate geographical population structure. AFLP markers were also generated for 347 individuals in order to estimate admixture proportions and examine population differentiation based on the nuclear genome.

Results

Twenty‐five mitochondrial haplotypes and 42 anonymous AFLP loci were found across 36 collection localities. Mitochondrial variation suggests a degree of regional population structure, although at least one of the inferred population groups extends over nearly the entire geographical range of the species. Analyses of nuclear data (AFLPs) identified five genetic clusters, including one restricted to high elevations in the Sierra Nevada.

Main conclusions

The distribution of genetic variation within Polites sabuleti, a species with a broad elevational range, does not strictly support either mountain‐associated vicariance or ‘sky island’ isolation as the dominant process. Instead, we find complex population structure, including evidence for divergence between high‐ and low‐elevation populations in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Polymorphisms in a desaturase 2 ortholog associate with cuticular hydrocarbon and male mating success variation in a natural population of Drosophila serrata
Authors: Ivory‐Church J. , Frentiu F. D. , Chenoweth S. F.
Published: June 2015

Elucidating the nature of genetic variation underlying both sexually selected traits and the fitness components of sexual selection is essential to understanding the broader consequences of sexual selection as an evolutionary process. To date, there have been relatively few attempts to connect the genetic variance in sexually selected traits with segregating DNA sequence polymorphisms. We set out to address this in a well‐characterized sexual selection system – the cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) of Drosophila serrata – using an indirect association study design that allowed simultaneous estimation of the genetic variance in CHCs, sexual fitness and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) effects in an outbred population. We cloned and sequenced an ortholog of the D. melanogaster desaturase 2 gene, previously shown to affect CHC biosynthesis in D. melanogaster, and associated 36 SNPs with minor allele frequencies > 0.02 with variance in CHCs and sexual fitness. Three SNPs had significant multivariate associations with CHC phenotype (q‐value < 0.05). At these loci, minor alleles had multivariate effects on CHCs that were weakly associated with the multivariate direction of sexual selection operating on these traits. Two of these SNPs had pleiotropic associations with male mating success, suggesting these variants may underlie responses to sexual selection due to this locus. There were 15 significant male mating success associations (q‐value < 0.1), and interestingly, we detected a nonrandom pattern in the relationship between allele frequency and direction of effect on male mating success. The minor‐frequency allele usually reduced male mating success, suggesting a positive association between male mating success and total fitness at this locus.
Genetic panmixia within a narrow contact zone between chromosomally and ecologically distinct black fly sibling species (Diptera: Simuliidae)
Authors: Conflitti I. M. , Shields G. F. , Murphy R. W. , Currie D. C.
Published: June 2015

Hybrid zones are windows into the speciation process, and their study can give clues into the maintenance and breakdown of species boundaries. Using both genetic and ecological tools, we investigate lineage diversification across a contact zone characterized by chromosome rearrangements. We show that black fly sibling species, Simulium arcticum sensu stricto (s.s.) and Simulium saxosum, lack genetic differentiation at both microsatellite and mtDNA loci in allopatry and sympatry, as well as exhibit high levels of gene flow and continuous chromosome variation in sympatry. Furthermore, hybrid frequencies at the contact zone are similar to those seen between races, rather than species. In contrast, S. arcticum s.s. and S. saxosum maintain ecological differences and distinct habitat associations ‐ the contact zone situated at the margin of suitable habitat for each sibling species. Moreover, gene flow occurs only in a narrow band along an ecological transition. Except for the contact zone, S. arcticum s.s. and S. saxosum hybrids do not occur elsewhere within the sibling species' ranges. Although S. arcticum s.s. and S. saxosum maintain the potential to interbreed freely, we conclude that habitat associations and, perhaps, chromosome systems prevent expansion of ranges and assimilation of lineages.
Changes in growth and maturation parameters of Pacific sardine Sardinops sagax collected off California during a period of stock recovery from 1994 to 2010
Authors: Dorval E. , McDaniel J. D. , Macewicz B. J. , Porzio D. L.
Published: June 2015

Whether fluctuation in density influenced the growth and maturation variables of three aggregated cohorts (fish born during the 1986–1993, 1996–2003 and 2004–2008 periods) of Pacific sardine Sardinops sagax caeruleus collected off the Californian coast from 2004 to 2010 was investigated. Using a von Bertalanffy mixed‐effects model with aggregated cohorts as covariates, estimated growth rate significantly covaried with aggregated cohorts. Growth rate (K) was modelled as a fixed effect and estimated to be 0·264 ± 0·015 (±s.e). Statistical contrasts among aggregated cohorts showed that the 1996–2003 cohorts had a significantly lower growth rate than the other two aggregated cohorts. The theoretical age at length zero (t0) and the standard length at infinity (LS∞) were modelled as random effects, and were estimated to be −2·885 ± 0·259 (±s.e) and 273·13 ± 6·533 mm (±s.e). The relation of ovary‐free mass at length was significantly different among the three aggregated cohorts, with the allometric coefficient estimated to be 2·850 ± 0·013 (±s.e) for the S. sagax population. The age‐at‐length trajectory of S. sagax born between 1986 and 2008 showed strong density dependence effects on somatic growth rates. In contrast to the density‐dependent nature of growth, the probability to be mature at‐size or at‐age was not significantly affected by aggregated cohort density. The size and the age‐at‐50% maturity were estimated to be 150·92 mm and 0·56 years, respectively. Stock migration, natural fluctuations in biomass and removal of older and larger S. sagax by fishing might have been interplaying factors controlling growth parameters during 1986–2010.
More rapid shift to a benthic niche in larger Gadus morhua juveniles
Authors: Ólafsdóttir G. Á. , Gunnarsson G. S. , Karlsson H.
Published: June 2015

Trophic use by Atlantic cod Gadus morhua juveniles was examined early and late in the shift from pelagic to benthic habitats. Changes in the proportion of pelagic copepods, estimates of benthic prey indicated by isotope mixing models and stable‐isotope values between sample periods suggested a gradual shift towards a benthic niche. Values of the trophic proxies, however, changed most markedly in the largest juvenile group, suggesting a more rapid trophic niche shift, and in turn competitive advantage, of larger juveniles.
Kinetics Study of Biopolymers Mixture with the Help of Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy
Authors: Ur‐Rehman Amin , Khan Nasir Mehmood , Ali Farman , Khan Hidayatullah , Khan Zia Ullah , Jan Abdul Khaliq , Khan Gul Shahzada , Ahmad Shujaat
Published: June 2015

The application of biopolymers such as protein and polysaccharides is becoming increasingly popular due to their remarkable gelling property under certain conditions. In this work, the effects of gelation together with phase separation in the restricted geometries were studied in detail for whey protein isolate (WPI) and polysaccharide mixtures. The results showed that phase separation of the constituents was highly dependent on the concentration of the constituent in the mixture. The results clearly demonstrated that the properties of the system would be different if the size of the final morphological structure of droplet is reduced. The effect of kinetics on the phase separation was also investigated in this study. It was concluded that the microstructure of droplet exhibited different amounts of phase separation before settling where the whole WPI was observed to form the shell, while the polysaccharide was observed to form the core of microstructure.

Practical Applications

This study provides practical and theoretical information regarding the monodisperse particles of a phase separating and gelling biopolymer mixture of whey protein isolate, gellan gum and locust bean gum which have importance in controlling the kinetics of phase separation to impart stability and desired textural properties to a food product.