bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Unilateral Transnasal Endoscopic approach to Frontal Sinuses: Draf IIc
Authors: Mohammed K. , Komser Al , Goldberg Andrew N.
Published: October 2013

For chronic sinusitis surgery, the Draf III approach provides a common median drainage pathway for bilateral frontal sinuses from orbit to orbit. The Draf IIb provides unilateral drainage from orbit to septum. In several cases, inclusion of the nasal and frontal sinus septum in a Draf IIb was advantageous without extension to the opposite frontal recess. The proposed nomenclature is Draf IIc. This study was designed to (1) develop a surgical option for chronic frontal sinusitis where access to one frontal recess is limited or unnecessary and (2) minimize unnecessary surgical manipulation of uninvolved areas. Revision endoscopic frontal sinus surgery was performed on two patients with persistent frontal sinus opacification. Surgery crossed midline including one frontal recess with resection of the superior nasal septum. The surgical result was assessed on endoscopy and computed tomography (CT). The postoperative course was unremarkable with relief of frontal pressure. Postoperative CT scan showed well-aerated frontal sinuses with a widely patent common drainage pathway. Postoperative nasal endoscopy revealed normal mucosa with no exposed bone or edema. The Draf IIc extends the Draf IIb across the midline, without including the opposite frontal recess. This can be accomplished most easily using an interfrontal sinus septal cell or an eccentric interfrontal sinus septum. The Draf IIc is a surgical option in cases of chronic or recalcitrant frontal sinus diseases, including unilateral or bilateral obstruction, where access to the ipsilateral frontal recess is limited or favorable anatomy allows drainage with reduced manipulation of an uninvolved side.
Perceptual Accuracy of Upper Airway Compromise in Children: Clinical Relevance and Future Directions for Research
Authors: Koinis-Mitchell Daphne , Esteban Cynthia , Kopel Sheryl J. , Jandasek Barbara , Dansereau Katie , Fritz Gregory K. , Klein Robert B.
Published: October 2013

Approximately 80% of children with asthma have coexisting allergic rhinitis. The accurate recognition and assessment of asthma and rhinitis symptoms is an integral component of guideline-based treatment for both conditions. This article describes the development and preliminary evaluation of a novel paradigm for testing the accuracy of children's assessment of their upper airway (rhinitis) symptoms. This work is guided by our previous research showing the clinical efficacy of tools to evaluate children's perceptual accuracy of asthma symptoms and linking accurate asthma symptom perception to decreased asthma morbidity (Fritz G, et al., Ethnic differences in perception of lung function: A factor in pediatric asthma disparities? Am J Respir Crit Care Med 182:12–18, 2010; Klein RB, et al., The Asthma Risk Grid: Clinical interpretation of symptom perception, Allergy Asthma Proc 251–256, 2004). The pilot study tests a paradigm that allows for the examination of the correspondence of children's assessment of their upper airway functioning with actual values of upper airway flow through the use of a portable, handheld nasal peak flowmeter. Nine children with persistent asthma were evaluated over a 4-week period. The article describes the rhinitis perceptual accuracy paradigm and reviews the results of a pilot study, showing a large proportion of inaccurate rhinitis symptoms “guesses” by the sample of children with persistent asthma. Patterns of inaccuracy, rhinitis control, and asthma morbidity are also described. Directions for future work are reviewed. The development of clinical tools to evaluate children's accuracy of rhinitis symptoms are needed, given the central role of the self-assessment of symptoms in guideline-based care. Accurate perception of the severity of rhinitis symptoms may enhance rhinitis control, lessen the burden of asthma, and prevent unnecessary emergency use among this high-risk group of children.
Understanding Approaches to Balance Assessment in Physical Therapy Practice for Elderly Inpatients of a Rehabilitation Hospital
Authors: Gervais Tanner , Burling Nicole , Krull Justin , Lugg Carrie , Lung Maria , Straus Sharon , Jaglal Susan , Sibley Kathryn M.
Published: October 2013

Purpose: Balance is a critical modifiable risk factor for falls in older adults. The purpose of this study was to identify the physiotherapy assessment tools used to evaluate balance in clinical practice and to determine the components of balance assessed through the use of standardized and/or other measures. Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed on 250 patients aged 65 and older undergoing in-patient rehabilitation with a clinical diagnosis associated with a balance impairment (stroke, musculoskeletal conditions, lower limb amputation, deconditioning, or cardiac surgery) at a rehabilitation hospital in Ontario. Results: All patients received at least one assessment that incorporated a balance component. Standardized balance measures were performed for 73% of patients; the timed up-and-go test (48%) and Berg Balance Scale (36%) were most commonly used for this assessment. Reactive movement strategies and cognitive processing were the least commonly assessed components of balance. Balance was assessed least often among people with cardiac surgery. Conclusions: Considerable variation exists in the assessment of balance, and the data suggest that not all relevant components are equally considered. Future research should be conducted in other clinical settings and should include other health care practitioners' assessments to develop a more complete understanding of current balance assessment procedures.
The Outcomes of Short Term Inspiratory Muscle Training (IMT) Combined with Chest Physiotherapy in Hospitalized COPD Patients
Authors: Ahmad H , Justine M , Othman Z , Mohan V , Mirza FT
Published: October 2013

Objective: The objective of this study was to identify the outcomes of short term inspiratory muscle training (IMT) combined with chest physiotherapy (CP) on lung function, inspiratory muscle strength, exercise tolerance and quality of life of COPD patients. Materials and Methods: This randomized-controlled trial was conducted at the Terendak Armed Forces Hospital, Melaka. Eighteen hospitalized COPD patients (FEV1 50% to = 80% predicted) were randomized into intervention (IG) and control group (CG). The IG received IMT and CP treatments whilst the CG received only CP for a period of 4 weeks. Assessments of lung function (FEV1/FVC), inspiratory muscle strength (PImax), exercise tolerance (6MWT) and quality of life (SGRQ score) were taken at baseline and after 4 weeks. Results: Analysis showed IG group increased in FEV1/FVC by 19.4%, PImax by 54.7%, 6MWT by 33.2% and quality of life by 52.6% (All, p<0.05). The control group increased in FEV1/FVC by 8.7% (p>0.05), PImax by 15% (p<0.05), 6MWT by 18.9% (p<0.05) and quality of life by 15.6% (p<0.05). Conclusion: The present study has established that by combining inspiratory muscle training (IMT) and chest physiotherapy, provides superior effects on lung function, inspiratory muscle strength, exercise tolerance and quality of life among COPD patients. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v12i4.13302 Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. 12 No. 04 October 13 Page 398-404
Effects of different Familial Mediterranean Fever gene mutations and in vitro Colchicine treatment on Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells production of IL-6
Authors: Daoud AK , Rajab WH , Alawneh KM , Harfiel MA Nizar
Published: October 2013

Rationale: We wanted to study the effects of Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) genetic mutations in Northern Jordan population and in vitro Colchicine treatment on the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMN) production of IL-6 as a marker of disease activity. Methods: - 17 FMF patients and 9 controls were studied. (4 patients had exon 10 mutations only (M680I and V726A), 5 patients had exon 2 mutations (R202Q and E148Q) only and 8 patients with both exon mutations (compound homozygous or heterozygous M694V and R202Q). PBMN cells were incubated with Lipopolysaccharide at 100ng/ml or colchicine 10 ng/ml alone or both. Results: The results showed higher IL-6 levels in the FMF group than control for all treatment modalities, (108.97 vs. 56.49 ng/ml for unstimulated cells) with the highest levels when both exons are involved. Exon 10 mutations were associated with a higher IL-6 level than exon 2 mutations only. Exon 2 mutations alone also were associated with a higher than control IL-6 levels suggesting that it is not a polymorphism phenomenon and is involved in the pathogenesis. In vitro Colchicine treatment caused an increase in the production of IL-6 - although not as high as with LPS - for all groups. Conclusions: Mutations occurring in exon 10 are more significant than mutations occurring in exon 2, although both are contributing to the disease. However colchicine was associated with a paradoxical increase in IL-6 levels. This observation needs confirmation with different colchicine levels in the culture medium and warrants thinking about its exact mechanism of action. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v12i4.16659Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. 12 No. 04 October 13 Page 370-377
Metastasis from cervical carcinoma presenting with acute intestinal obstruction  a case report
Authors: Datta S , Banerjee U , Khatua S , Nigam M
Published: October 2013

A 55 yr. old woman attended emergency with acute intestinal obstruction. The patient underwent emergency surgical procedure of intestinal resection after straight X-ray,few haematological and biochemical investigations. On gross examination ileal stricture due to mass in ileocaecal region with mesenteric lymph nodes found which on histological examination came out to be a squamous cell carcinoma with metastatic deposit in lymph node. The patient had a hysterectomy done 3&1/2 years back for Stage IIB squamous cell carcinoma of cervix for which she received chemoradiation.The intestinal obstruction very likely to be a metastatic presentation. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v12i4.16666 Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. 12 No. 04 October 13 Page 439-441
The One-State as a Demand of International Law:Jus Cogens, Challenging Apartheid and the Legal Validity of Israel
Authors: Ben-Dor Oren
Published: October 2013

This article provides the initial contours of an argument that uses International Law to challenge the validity of Israeli apartheid. It challenges the conventional discourse of legal debates on Israel's actions and borders and seeks to link the illegalities of these actions to the validity of an inbuilt Israeli apartheid. The argument also connects the deontological doctrine of peremptory norms of International Law (jus cogens), the right of self-determination and the International Crime of Apartheid to the doctrine of state recognition. It applies these to the State of Israel and the vision of a single democratic state in historic Palestine.
Cutaneous Alternariosis Caused by Alternaria infectoria: Three Cases in Kidney Transplant Patients
Authors: Lopes Leonor , Borges-Costa João , Soares-Almeida Luís , Filipe Paulo , Neves Fernanda , Santana Alice , Guerra José , Kutzner Heinz
Published: October 2013

The genus Alternaria has more than 80 species. Alternaria alternata and Alternaria infectoria are the most frequent species associated with infections in humans. Their clinical importance lies in the growing number of cases reported in immunocompromised patients. Herein, we report three cases of kidney-transplanted patients with different clinical presentations of cutaneous alternariosis and we discuss the treatment options.
Short-Chain Fatty Acids Inhibit Growth Hormone and Prolactin Gene Transcription via cAMP/PKA/CREB Signaling Pathway in Dairy Cow Anterior Pituitary Cells
Authors: Wang Jian-Fa , Fu Shou-Peng , Li Su-Nan , Hu Zhong-Ming , Xue Wen-Jing , Li Zhi-Qiang , Huang Bing-Xu , Lv Qing-Kang , Liu Ju-Xiong , Wang Wei
Published: October 2013

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) play a key role in altering carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, influence endocrine pancreas activity, and as a precursor of ruminant milk fat. However, the effect and detailed mechanisms by which SCFAs mediate bovine growth hormone (GH) and prolactin (PRL) gene transcription remain unclear. In this study, we detected the effects of SCFAs (acetate, propionate, and butyrate) on the activity of the cAMP/PKA/CREB signaling pathway, GH, PRL, and Pit-1 gene transcription in dairy cow anterior pituitary cells (DCAPCs). The results showed that SCFAs decreased intracellular cAMP levels and a subsequent reduction in PKA activity. Inhibition of PKA activity decreased CREB phosphorylation, thereby inhibiting GH and PRL gene transcription. Furthermore, PTX blocked SCFAs- inhibited cAMP/PKA/CREB signaling pathway. These data showed that the inhibition of GH and PRL gene transcription induced by SCFAs is mediated by Gi activation and that propionate is more potent than acetate and butyrate in inhibiting GH and PRL gene transcription. In conclusion, this study identifies a biochemical mechanism for the regulation of SCFAs on bovine GH and PRL gene transcription in DCAPCs, which may serve as one of the factors that regulate pituitary function in accordance with dietary intake.
The Novel [4,5-e][1,3]Diazepine-4,8-dione and Acyclic Carbamoyl Imino-Ureido Derivatives of Imidazole: Synthesis, Anti-Viral and Anti-Tumor Activity Evaluations
Authors: Wittine Karlo , Poljak Kristina , Kovač Matea , Makuc Damjan , Plavec Janez , Balzarini Jan , Martinović Tamara , Pavelić Sandra , Pavelić Krešimir , Mintas Mladen
Published: October 2013

In the present paper, we report on the synthesis, and in vitro antiviral and cytostatic activities of a series of novel imidazole[4,5-e][1,3]diazepine-4,8-dione (compounds 9–11) and acyclic carbamoyl imino-ureido imidazole (compounds 12 and 13) derivatives. These new type of chemical entities showed no significant activity on the broad spectrum of DNA and RNA viruses. Results of antiproliferative assays performed on a panel of selected human tumor cell lines revealed that only compounds 1 and 5 showed moderate and selective cytostatic effect against HeLa cells (IC50 = 24 and 32 µM) with no concomitant cytotoxic effects on human normal fibroblasts (BJ). Importantly, an imidazole derivative containing a pyrrolidine moiety linked via an ethylenic spacer (3) showed a selective cytostatic effect toward cervical carcinoma (HeLa) cells (IC50 = 9.5 µM) with no apparent cytotoxicity on human normal fibroblasts (BJ). This compound can be therefore considered as a potential anti-tumor lead compound for further synthetic structure optimization.
Comparison of Raw Acceleration from the GENEA and ActiGraph™ GT3X+ Activity Monitors
Authors: John Dinesh , Sasaki Jeffer , Staudenmayer John , Mavilia Marianna , Freedson Patty
Published: October 2013

Purpose: To compare raw acceleration output of the ActiGraph™ GT3X+ and GENEA activity monitors. Methods: A GT3X+ and GENEA were oscillated in an orbital shaker at frequencies ranging from 0.7 to 4.0 Hz (ten 2-min trials/frequency) on a fixed radius of 5.08 cm. Additionally, 10 participants (age = 23.8 ± 5.4 years) wore the GT3X+ and GENEA on the dominant wrist and performed treadmill walking (2.0 and 3.5 mph) and running (5.5 and 7.5 mph) and simulated free-living activities (computer work, cleaning a room, vacuuming and throwing a ball) for 2-min each. A linear mixed model was used to compare the mean triaxial vector magnitude (VM) from the GT3X+ and GENEA at each oscillation frequency. For the human testing protocol, random forest machine-learning technique was used to develop two models using frequency domain (FD) and time domain (TD) features for each monitor. We compared activity type recognition accuracy between the GT3X+ and GENEA when the prediction model was fit using one monitor and then applied to the other. Z-statistics were used to compare the proportion of accurate predictions from the GT3X+ and GENEA for each model. Results: GENEA produced significantly higher (p < 0.05, 3.5 to 6.2%) mean VM than GT3X+ at all frequencies during shaker testing. Training the model using TD input features on the GENEA and applied to GT3X+ data yielded significantly lower (p < 0.05) prediction accuracy. Prediction accuracy was not compromised when interchangeably using FD models between monitors. Conclusions: It may be inappropriate to apply a model developed on the GENEA to predict activity type using GT3X+ data when input features are TD attributes of raw acceleration.
Morphological and genetic differentiation and reproductive isolation among closely related taxa in the Ipomoea series Batatas
Authors: Duncan Tanya M. , Rausher Mark D.
Published: October 2013

• Premise of the study: Identifying recently diverged taxa can be useful for studying the process of speciation. Ipomoea lacunosa and I. cordatotriloba, along with a putative homoploid hybrid, I. ×leucantha, are closely related taxa, which are promising for investigating the early stages of speciation. The objectives of this investigation were to determine how distinct these purported taxa are morphologically and genetically, and to assess the magnitude of reproductive isolation among the taxa.

• Methods: We measured morphological characteristics and determined genotypes at four microsatellite loci in several populations of each of the taxa in North Carolina and South Carolina to quantify genetic and morphological differentiation. We also included a previously undescribed fourth taxon, which we term ‘I. austinii’.

• Key results: Our study revealed that all four taxa had distinct but overlapping geographical ranges, and had significantly distinct morphologies. Patterns of microsatellite variation and the results of crosses indicate that I. ×leucantha and I. austinii are morphologically and genetically distinct taxa. Each exhibits substantial reproductive isolation from the other three taxa. By contrast, microsatellite markers indicate that I. lacunosa and I. cordatotriloba exhibit little differentiation at neutral markers, despite substantial morphological differentiation, and exhibit some reproductive isolation.

• Conclusion: I. ×leucantha and I. austinii should be considered separate species. Our results provide no evidence that either species originated through homoploid hybrid speciation. I. cordatotriloba and I. lacunosa should be considered incipient species, but may be experiencing considerable reciprocal gene flow.
An overview of the synthetic routes to the best selling drugs containing 6-membered heterocycles
Authors: Baumann Marcus , Baxendale Ian R
Published: October 2013

This review which is the second in this series summarises the most common synthetic routes as applied to the preparation of many modern pharmaceutical compounds categorised as containing a six-membered heterocyclic ring. The reported examples are based on the top retailing drug molecules combining synthetic information from both scientific journals and the wider patent literature. It is hoped that this compilation, in combination with the previously published review on five-membered rings, will form a comprehensive foundation and reference source for individuals interested in medicinal, synthetic and preparative chemistry.
SYNTHESIS OF MULTICONDUCTOR MICROSTRIP LINES OPERATING IN NORMAL MODES / DAUGIALAIDĖS MIKROJUOSTELINĖS LINIJOS, VEIKIANČIOS NORMALIŲJŲ BANGŲ REŽIMU, SINTEZĖ
Authors: Mikučionis Šarūnas
Published: October 2013

The article presents a synthesis technique for a symmetrically coupled multiconductor microstrip line operating in normal modes and looks at the examples of the synthesis of a ten-conductor symmetrically coupled multiconductor microstrip line operating in even- and odd normal modes. The paper investigates the dependences of the parameters of the introduced lines.

Santrauka

Straipsnyje išnagrinėtas simetrinių daugialaidžių mikrojuostelinių linijų, veikiančių normaliųjų bangų režimu, sintezės algoritmas. Kaip pavyzdys pateikti dešimties laidininkų simetrinės daugialaidės mikrojuostelinės linijos, veikiančios lyginės ir nelyginės bangų režimu, sintezės rezultatai, aprašyti linijos parametrai.
MAGNETOACTIVE P-GE ROD WAVEGUIDE LOSS ANALYSIS ON THE CONCENTRATION OF TWO COMPONENT HOLE CHARGE CARRIERS / CILINDRINIŲ GIROELEKTRINIŲ P-GE BANGOLAIDŽIŲ NUOSTOLIŲ PRIKLAUSOMYBĖS NUO DVIEJŲ RŪŠIŲ KRŪVININKŲ KONCENTRACIJOS TYRIMAS
Authors: Bubnelis Artūras
Published: October 2013

A new algorithm is utilized to examine the phase and attenuation constants of open dissipative epsilon- and (or) mu-gyrotropic rod waveguides. Our algorithm allows analyzing the waveguides made of materials having very high losses. The dispersion characteristics of p-Ge with a waveguide of two component hole charge carriers are calculated when the ratio of heavy hole concentration in the material is equal to 5%, 50% and 95% of the total free carrier concentration. The effective mass of p-Ge heavy and light holes are 0.279me and 0.043me respectively. The dispersion characteristics of the main and eight higher modes are presented in the paper. The transformation of higher hybrid modes at some heavy hole concentrations can be noticed. Waveguide broad bandwidth can be considerably extended due to the fact that the losses of higher modes are larger in comparison to those of the main mode at certain heavy hole concentration.

Santrauka

Darbe pateikiami dviejų rūšių krūvininkų (lengvųjų ir sunkiųjų skylučių) puslaidininkinių p-Ge giroelektrinių bangolaidžių, kuriuos veikia B 1 0 = r T indukcijos nuolatinis išilginis magnetinis laukas, dispersinių charakteristikų skaičiavimo rezultatai, įvertinant nuostolius bangolaidyje. Skaičiavimo algoritmas leidžia tirti bangolaidžius, pagamintus iš medžiagų, atnešančių labai didelius nuostolius. Tiriamos 1 mm spindulio bangolaidžių dažninės charakteristikos 5–200 GHz dažnių ruože. Laisvųjų krūvininkų koncentracija bangolaidyje yra N = 5·1019 m–3. Nustatoma nuostolių priklausomybė nuo sunkiųjų skylučių krūvininkų koncentracijos Nh, esant trims skirtingoms sunkiųjų skylučių koncentracijoms, kai Nh sudaro 5 %, 50 % ir 95 % nuo visų krūvininkų koncentracijos N bangolaidyje.
Using Literacy Response Activities with Early Childhood English Language Learners and Immigrant Students
Authors: Casey Erin M.
Published: October 2013

This chapter presents findings on the importance of engaging early childhood English Language Learners (ELLs) and immigrant students in literacy response activities designed around Reader Response Theory. This practice is supported by research that urges educators to engage ELL and immigrant students in literature response activities for deeper comprehension and language development. Recent brain-based research supports employing stimulating, active literacy activities in a nonthreatening, comfortable environment to foster literacy comprehension, language acquisition, and cognitive development (Lombardi, 2008). The author presents data on the literacy needs of ELL and immigrant students in the United States, issues of learning styles of these populations, brain-based learning concepts, Reader Response theory, and the use of fairy tales with second language learners. Descriptions of specific Reader Response activities for ELLs and immigrant students as well as suggestions for professional development opportunities for educators of this population are presented at the conclusion.
“I’m Not from the Dominant Culture!”
Authors: Aus Joan Oigawa
Published: October 2013

The United States has experienced a large growth in the number of immigrant students who speak English as a non-native language. The results of a 2004 survey on the topic of English Learners (ELs) or English Language Learners (ELLs) showed the number of ELs had almost doubled to 5,119,561 in public schools across the nation (NCELA, 2008). These ELLs bring their cross-cultural expectations into dominant culture classrooms, and teachers must be prepared to meet the cross-cultural issues between student and teacher that might occur, where ultimately the student loses. Similarly, North Dakota has experienced enormous surges in its ELL populations in its previously culturally homogenous population; consequently, mainstream teachers struggle to learn how to interact with culturally diverse students. Instances of cultural dissonance negatively impact students’ performance and school culture. The awareness of culture and how it impacts content learning is thus a subject of critical importance, and developing cultural awareness as well as effective and culturally relevant instructional methods is a necessity for all classroom teachers. Therefore, this chapter describes multiple methods and strategies that are linguistically appropriate and culturally relevant for all teachers, but particularly for teachers of ELLs.
Transnational Immigration and Family Context
Authors: Hersi Afra Ahmed
Published: October 2013

This chapter examines the transnational nature of African immigrant students’ experiences in the United States. In two case studies of students from Ethiopia and Somalia, the authors explore the students’ pre- and post-immigration experiences, with a particular focus on their family and school contexts. The students’ resiliency in the U.S. education system can be attributed to several factors in their migration histories, including their migration to join family members who were already part of established co-ethnic communities, thus linking them to social support networks, living in transnational family contexts that are characterized by the separation and subsequent reunification of family members, and viewing education as the key to unlocking new opportunities. The authors identify practical strategies for supporting the academic and social success of immigrant students by recognizing and capitalizing on the social capital they possess.
Crossing Borders toward Young Transnational Lives
Authors: Kasun G. Sue , Saavedra Cinthya M.
Published: October 2013

Young immigrant youth often live their lives across borders, either by physically crossing them for return visits and/or by metaphorically crossing them through social media and cultural identification. The authors argue these students are better understood as transnational, shifting the focus for educators away from imagining their immigrant students on a straight, one-way path to assimilation in the U.S. to understanding these youths’ abilities to cross borders. Specifically, they call for a redesignation of English Language Learners (ELLs) as Transnational English Learners (TELs). Highlighting examples of educators’ successful border-crossing work, the authors call for educators to cross borders as well in their curriculum and relationships with transnational youth.
Multicultural Curricular Frameworks for Preservice Teachers
Authors: Mysore Anita Rao
Published: October 2013

One in four children in the US has a parent who is an immigrant. Studies indicate that by and large such students are at-risk for learning and their increasing numbers continue to significantly impact the labor force and the future of the country in multiple facets. Additionally, teachers shoulder a huge responsibility in educating immigrant learners, and their performance is a function of how well teacher education programs prepare them for their work. In contemporary scenario, the performance of teachers depends on how their teacher education programs prepare them for multicultural Pre K-12 classes. To this end, a social justice orientation is useful for teachers working in multicultural classrooms because it allows teachers to strive for equity by employing culturally responsive curriculum. The chapter author presents multicultural frameworks and models with a social justice orientation that could assist preservice teachers to become more effective in their instructional practices.
Protective Factors Immigrant Children Bring to the Classroom
Authors: Onchwari Jacqueline
Published: October 2013

This chapter focuses on strengths and protective factors immigrant children bring into the classroom. If well nurtured, these strengths can enhance immigrant children’s positive outcomes and those of future generations. The “immigrant paradox” is a phenomenon used to describe the positive outcomes of immigrant children despite developmental risks associated with their relocation and adjustment. Unfortunately, the effects of these protective factors reduce with later generations. This incredible loss is a gap that educators could fill. Using strategies that give immigrant families and children “voice” is critical in breaking through the barriers, stereotypes, attitudes, and under-information that come between the educators and the immigrant children in their care. Some strategies that have proven effective in accessing immigrant children’s strengths are suggested in this chapter.
Using Technology to Address the Challenges to Effective Assessment of Young Learners who are Immigrants
Authors: Ntuli Esther , Nyarambi Arnold
Published: October 2013

Assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning. Assessment data is gathered to monitor progress and developmental gains in child development and learning, to guide curriculum planning and decision making, to identify special needs, and to evaluate the effectiveness of early childhood programs. Current research indicates that assessment data gathered from children who are immigrants does not always lead to the development of effective curriculum and instruction, and the data is not reliable in identifying immigrant children with special needs. This chapter discusses the possible technologies available to mitigate the threats and challenges that continue to affect the gathering of effective assessment data from young learners who are immigrants.
Coh-Metrix
Authors: McNamara Danielle S. , Graesser Arthur C.
Published: October 2013

Coh-Metrix provides indices for the characteristics of texts on multiple levels of analysis, including word characteristics, sentence characteristics, and the discourse relationships between ideas in text. Coh-Metrix was developed to provide a wide range of indices within one tool. This chapter describes Coh-Metrix and studies that have been conducted validating the Coh-Metrix indices. Coh-Metrix can be used to better understand differences between texts and to explore the extent to which linguistic and discourse features successfully distinguish between text types. Coh-Metrix can also be used to develop and improve natural language processing approaches. We also describe the Coh-Metrix Text Easability Component Scores, which provide a picture of text ease (and hence potential challenges). The Text Easability components provided by Coh-Metrix go beyond traditional readability measures by providing metrics of text characteristics on multiple levels of language and discourse.
HiDEx
Authors: Shaoul Cyrus , Westbury Chris
Published: October 2013

HAL (Hyperspace Analog to Language) is a high-dimensional model of semantic space that uses the global co-occurrence frequency of words in a large corpus of text as the basis for a representation of semantic memory. In the original HAL model, many parameters were set without any a priori rationale. In this chapter we describe a new computer application called the High Dimensional Explorer (HiDEx) that makes it possible to systematically alter the values of the model’s parameters and thereby to examine their effect on the co-occurrence matrix that instantiates the model. New parameter sets give us measures of semantic density that improve the model’s ability to predict behavioral measures. Implications for such models are discussed.
Computational Aspects of the Intelligent Tutoring System MetaTutor
Authors: Lintean Mihai , Rus Vasile , Cai Zhiqiang , Witherspoon-Johnson Amy , Graesser Arthur C. , Azevedo Roger
Published: October 2013

We present in this chapter the architecture of the intelligent tutoring system MetaTutor that trains students to use metacognitive strategies while learning about complex science topics. The emphasis of this chapter is on the natural language components. In particular, we present in detail the natural language input assessment component used to detect students’ mental models during prior knowledge activation, a metacognitive strategy, and the micro-dialogue component used during sub-goal generation, another metacognitive strategy in MetaTutor. Sub-goal generation involves sub-goal assessment and feedback provided by the system. For mental model detection from prior knowledge activation paragraphs, we have experimented with three benchmark methods and six machine learning algorithms. Bayes Nets, in combination with a word-weighting method, provided the best accuracy (76.31%) and best human-computer agreement scores (kappa=0.63). For sub-goal assessment and feedback, a taxonomy-driven micro-dialogue mechanism yields very good to excellent human-computer agreement scores for sub-goal assessment (average kappa=0.77).
Applying NLP Metrics to Students’ Self-Explanations
Authors: Jackson G. Tanner , McNamara Danielle S.
Published: October 2013

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) are becoming an increasingly common method for students to engage with and learn course material. ITSs are designed to provide students with one-on-one learning that is tailored to their own pace and needs. These systems can adapt to each users’ individual knowledge and ability level to provide the most pedagogically effective learning environment. Tutoring systems have been designed that cover a variety of topics, including both well-defined and ill-defined domains. ITSs have seen great success within well-defined domains, where the topic itself provides only a limited set of responses. For example, in the domain of algebra, there is a limited set of possible actions that can be performed to solve for an unknown variable. Knowing this complete set of actions allows the tutoring system to predict all possible responses from the user. In contrast, ill-defined domains are more abstract and open ended. Reading comprehension is an ill-defined, open ended domain that can incorporate text from any subject, and involve numerous processes and problems for the learner. The number of associations that learners can make with a given text (e.g., based on personal memories, previous courses, ideas within different parts of the same text, etc.) is virtually infinite. These associations make it almost impossible to predict how a user will respond to a text. In addition to working with more abstract concepts, ITSs within ill-defined domains often have the added challenge of interpreting natural language user input. Incorporating natural language allows learners to use their own words and ideas as they interact with the content; however, this also increases the ambiguity of the interaction and decreases the system’s ability to build a precise model of the learner. Building an accurate learner model is essential for the system to adapt the interaction in a pedagogically appropriate manner.
Computer-Aided Rhetorical Analysis
Authors: Ishizaki Suguru , Kaufer David
Published: October 2013

This chapter presents a corpus-based text analysis tool along with a research approach to conducting a rhetorical analysis of individual text as well as text collections. The motivation for our computational approach, the system development, evaluation, and research and educational applications are discussed. The tool, called DocuScope, supports both quantitative and quantitatively-informed qualitative analyses of rhetorical strategies found in a broad range of textual artifacts, using a standard home-grown dictionary consisting of more than 40 million unique patterns of English that are classified into over 100 rhetorical functions. DocuScope also provides an authoring environment allowing investigators to build their own customized dictionaries according to their own language theories. Research published with both the standard and customized dictionaries is discussed, as well as tradeoffs, limitations, and directions for the future.
The Writing-Pal
Authors: McNamara Danielle S. , Raine Roxanne , Roscoe Rod , Crossley Scott A. , Jackson G. Tanner , Dai Jianmin , Cai Zhiqiang , Renner Adam , Brandon Russell , Weston Jennifer L. , Dempsey Kyle , Carney Diana , Sullivan Susan , Kim Loel , Rus Vasile , Floyd Randy , McCarthy Philip M. , Graesser Arthur C.
Published: October 2013

The Writing-Pal (W-Pal) is an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) that provides writing strategy instruction to high school students and entering college students. One unique quality of W-Pal is that it provides feedback to students’ natural language input. Thus, much of our focus during the W-Pal project has been on Applied Natural Language Processing (ANLP). This chapter describes W-Pal and various NLP projects geared toward providing automated feedback to students’ writing during writing strategy training and practice.
Morphological Analysis of Ill-Formed Arabic Verbs for Second Language Learners
Authors: Shaalan Khaled , Magdy Marwa , Fahmy Aly
Published: October 2013

Arabic is a language of rich and complex morphology. The nature and peculiarity of Arabic make its morphological and phonological rules confusing for second language learners (SLLs). The conjugation of Arabic verbs is central to the formulation of an Arabic sentence because of its richness of form and meaning. In this research, we address issues related to the morphological analysis of ill-formed Arabic verbs in order to identify the source of errors and provide an informative feedback to SLLs of Arabic. The edit distance and constraint relaxation techniques are used to demonstrate the capability of the proposed system in generating all possible analyses of erroneous Arabic verbs written by SLLs. Filtering mechanisms are applied to exclude the irrelevant constructions and determine the target stem which is used as the base for constructing the feedback to the learner. The proposed system has been developed and effectively evaluated using real test data. It achieved satisfactory results in terms of the recall rate.
Semantic Methods for Textual Entailment
Authors: Neel Andrew , Garzon Max H.
Published: October 2013

The problem of recognizing textual entailment (RTE) has been recently addressed using syntactic and lexical models with some success. Here, a new approach is taken to apply world knowledge in much the same way as humans, but captured in large semantic graphs such as WordNet. We show that semantic graphs made of synsets and selected relationships between them enable fairly simple methods that provide very competitive performance. First, assuming a solution to word sense disambiguation, we report on the performance of these methods in four basic areas: information retrieval (IR), information extraction (IE), question answering (QA), and multi-document summarization (SUM), as described using benchmark datasets designed to test the entailment problem in the 2006 Recognizing Textual Entailment (RTE-2) challenge. We then show how the same methods yield a solution to word sense disambiguation, which combined with the previous solution, yields a fully automated solution with about the same performance. We then evaluate this solution on two subsequent RTE Challenge datasets. Finally, we evaluate the contribution of WordNet to provide world knowledge. We conclude that the protocol itself works well at solving entailment given a quality source of world knowledge, but WordNet is not able to provide enough information to resolve entailment with this inclusion protocol.
Incidental Mycobacterium-induced granulomatous inflammation of the follicular pharyngeal tonsils in a South African farmed ostrich (Struthio camelus)
Authors: Crole Martina R. , Soley John T. , Clift Sarah J.
Published: October 2013

Avian mycobacteriosis (AM) is a zoonotic disease caused by Mycobacterium aviumcomplex (MAC), which can spread from avians to other farmed animals such as cattle and pigs as well as to humans. This study is the first report of granulomatous inflammation, as a result of avian mycobacteriosis, in the follicular pharyngeal tonsils of a farmed ostrich. The head of an apparently healthy farmed adult ostrich was obtained after slaughter. Each pharyngeal fold displayed a large tissue mass. This tissue was routinely prepared for light microscopy and stained with haematoxylin and eosin, periodic acid Schiff, Grocott methenamine silver, Gram and Ziehl-Neelsen. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were performed to identify Mycobacterium spp. and Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, respectively. Histologically, the tissue masses consisted of confluent mature micro-granulomata that were characterised by central caseous necrosis surrounded by multinucleated giant cells, macrophages and lymphoid cells and an outer mature fibrous connective tissue capsule. Within some foci of caseous necrosis were variably sized colonies of small, Gram-negative, acid-fast bacilli, which showed positive IHC labelling for Mycobacterium spp., leading to a presumptive diagnosis of AM. PCR thus proved useful in excluding the presence of notifiable Mycobacteriumspp. The significance and role of the pharyngeal tonsils of ratites in diseases such as AM warrant specific attention. Moreover, as ratites are known to present with AM infections with apparently no visible loss in body condition, as presumably occurred in the present case, it is imperative that unusual masses in apparently healthy ratites be thoroughly investigated.
The incursion, persistence and spread of peste des petits ruminants in Tanzania: Epidemiological patterns and predictions
Authors: Kivaria Fredrick M. , Kwiatek Olivier , Kapaga Angolwisye M. , Swai Emmanuel S. , Libeau Geneviève , Moshy Winford , Mbyuzi Albano O. , Gladson Joshua
Published: October 2013

Peste des petits ruminants virus, which causes a severe disease in sheep and goats, has only recently been officially declared to be present in Tanzania. An epidemiological study was carried out between September 2008 and October 2010 to investigate the incursion, persistence and spread of the virus in Tanzania. The investigation involved serosurveillance, outbreak investigation and computation of epidemiological indices such as the effective reproductive number, persistence and the threshold level for vaccination. Field and molecular epidemiological techniques were applied to isolate, characterise and trace the origin of the virus in Tanzania. A total of 2182 serum samples from goats and 1296 from sheep from 79 villages across 12 districts were investigated. Village-level prevalence of infection was variable (0.00% – 88.00%) and was higher in pastoral than in agro-pastoral villages. The overall antibody response to the virus was 22.10% (CI 95% = 20.72% – 23.48%). About 68.00% and 73.00% of seropositive goats and sheep, respectively, did not show clinical signs. The proportion of seropositive animals differed significantly (p ≤ 0.001) between age groups, sex and farming practices. Real-time polymerase chain reaction results showed that the isolated strains belong to lineage III, whose origin is in East Africa and the Middle East. This indicates that one of the northern neighbouring countries is most likely the source of infection. The computed overall effective reproductive number, the threshold level of vaccination necessary to eradicate the disease and persistence were 4.75% and 98.00%, respectively. These estimates indicate that achieving elimination of the peste des petits ruminants virus from pastoral flocks will require significant effort and development of highly effective intervention tools.
Concepts for Liver Segment Classification: Neither Old Ones nor New Ones, but a Comprehensive One
Authors: Fasel Jean H. D. , Schenk Andrea
Published: October 2013

Concepts dealing with the subdivision of the human liver into independent vascular and biliary territories are applied routinely in radiological, surgical, and gastroenterological practice. Despite Couinaud's widely used eight-segments scheme, opinions on the issue differ considerably between authors. The aim of this article is to illustrate the scientific basis for understanding and harmonizing inconsistencies between seemingly contradictory observations. Possible clinical implications are addressed.
Superior Gluteal Artery Pseudoaneurysm Presenting as a Gluteal Mass: Case Report and Review of Literature
Authors: Taif Sawsan , Derweesh Asim , Talib Maali
Published: October 2013

Aneurysms of the gluteal arteries are very rare with the majority being post-trauma pseudoaneurysms. Generally, management of these aneurysms could be surgical or through endovascular techniques. We present a case of a superior gluteal artery pseudoaneurysm complicating a pelvic fracture that presented as a gluteal mass. It was successfully treated by transcatheter coil embolization. We review the presentation, imaging, and treatment options. Aneurysms have to be considered in the differential diagnosis of soft tissue masses, therefore lesion intervention by aspiration or needle biopsy should not be tried before ruling out a possible vascular nature which will easily be revealed by ultrasound Doppler or computed tomography scans.
Automating case definitions using literature-based reasoning
Authors: Ball R. , Botsis T.
Published: October 2013

Background: Establishing a Case Definition (CDef) is a first step in many epidemiological, clinical, surveillance, and research activities. The application of CDefs still relies on manual steps and this is a major source of inefficiency in surveillance and research.

Objective: Describe the need and propose an approach for automating the useful representation of CDefs for medical conditions.

Methods: We translated the existing Brighton Collaboration CDef for anaphylaxis by mostly relying on the identification of synonyms for the criteria of the CDef using the NLM MetaMap tool. We also generated a CDef for the same condition using all the related PubMed abstracts, processing them with a text mining tool, and further treating the synonyms with the above strategy. The co-occur-rence of the anaphylaxis and any other medical term within the same sentence of the abstracts supported the construction of a large semantic network. The ‘islands’ algorithm reduced the network and revealed its densest region including the nodes that were used to represent the key criteria of the CDef. We evaluated the ability of the “translated” and the “generated” CDef to classify a set of 6034 H1N1 reports for anaphylaxis using two similarity approaches and comparing them with our previous semi-automated classification approach.

Results: Overall classification performance across approaches to producing CDefs was similar, with the generated CDef and vector space model with cosine similarity having the highest accuracy (0.825±0.003) and the semi-automated approach and vector space model with cosine similarity having the highest recall (0.809±0.042). Precision was low for all approaches.

Conclusion: The useful representation of CDefs is a complicated task but potentially offers substantial gains in efficiency to support safety and clinical surveillance.

Citation: Botsis T, Ball R. Automating case definitions using literature-based reasoning. Appl Clin Inf 2013; 4: 515–527

http://dx.doi.org/10.4338/ACI-2013-04-RA-0028