bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Conflit et utopie au sein des Églises. La perspective socio-historique de Jean Séguy
Authors: Prandi Carlo
Published: December 2012

Jean Seguy’s (1925–2007) research followed two intertwined paths. The principal path was that of methodology: his research on the history of Christianity was conducted within the framework of the sociology of Max Weber and Ernst Troeltsch. The French social historian was also interested in apocalyptic and utopian phenomena, both on the Catholic and on the Reformation side, with the intention of grasping the similarities between them, if not their common roots. The result is an innovative reading of Christian history, with an original methodology in the French context. Séguy’s work continues to question the historiography of Christianity in both its cognitive and methodological contributions, and as a result our understanding of the classics of modern sociology.
Le protestantisme et les modes d’institutionnalité du religieux. Complexifier le type « Église »
Authors: Willaime Jean-Paul
Published: December 2012

Protestantism includes Church-type as well as Sect-type ecclesiastical organizations. Its study therefore allows the Weberian typology to be elaborated. In terms of the way in which religious groups define their legitimacy, their ritual, ideological and charismatic characteristics acquire greater or lesser importance. As regards the Church-type, the author proposes a distinction between a ritual-institutional and an ideological-institutional model. In the Protestant world, legitimacy is better established through ideology (theology) and the authority of the ‘doctor-preacher’ than by ritual and charismatic function. Protestantism represents another mode of Church-type religious institutionalism as well as another mode of Sect-type religious association.
The Influence of the Metaparadigm of Nursing on Professional Identity Development Among RN-BSN Students
Authors: Lee Rebecca C. , Fawcett Jacqueline
Published: December 2012

This paper is a report of an interview about the metaparadigm of nursing and the influence of the metaparadigm on the professional identity development of students enrolled in an online RN-BSN program.
Silence
Authors: Bunkers Sandra Schmidt
Published: December 2012

The author in this column discusses the concept silence and the contradictions present with silence. Silence can be experienced in the following life patterns: silence as a pattern of surrendering to moments of awakening; silence as a pattern of bearing witness to life story; and, silence as a pattern of betrayal of trust. Each of these patterns is explored with their relevance for nursing.
The Relevancy of Ethnography to Nursing Research
Authors: Robinson Sheria G.
Published: December 2012

The systematic inquiry into human experience, within the context of health, allows nurses to discover knowledge that helps in optimizing health and quality of life. Humans have natural health-seeking behaviors that are influenced by culture. Understanding the essences of these behaviors allows nursing science to progress and promotes health of people. The discovery process must be inclusive of appropriate research methodologies that are congruent with nursing philosophy, practice, and goals. Here, the author links ethnography to nursing practice and presents it as a relevant method for nursing research.
Roy’s Specific Life Values and the Philosophical Assumption of Humanism
Authors: Hanna Debra R.
Published: December 2012

Roy’s philosophical assumption of humanism, which is shaped by the veritivity assumption, is considered in terms of her specific life values and in contrast to the contemporary view of humanism. Like veritivity, Roy’s philosophical assumption of humanism unites a theocentric focus with anthropological values. Roy’s perspective enriches the mainly secular, anthropocentric assumption. In this manuscript, the basis for Roy’s perspective of humanism will be discussed so that readers will be able to use the Roy adaptation model in an authentic manner.
Feeling Bored
Authors: Baumann Steven L.
Published: December 2012

This purpose of this study was to enhance understanding of the living experience of feeling bored. Parse’s phenomenological-hermeneutic research method was used to answer the research question: What is the structure of the living experience of feeling bored? Participants were 10 older adults; half were living in a long-term care facility, and the other half were living in their own homes. Data were collected with dialogical engagement. The major finding of the study is the structure: Feeling bored is wearisome dullness surfacing with uplifting engagements while prevailing with fortitude amid the uninspiring. Feeling bored is discussed in relation to the principles of humanbecoming and in relation to how it can inform nursing research and practice.
‘Reckless Eyeballing’: Written and Oral Narratives in Genesis 16.4-5
Authors: Splawn Jane
Published: December 2012

This essay considers how current theories of narrative (both written and oral) inform how we read the complexities of the relationship(s) among Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar in Gen. 16.4-5. It argues that, while we may no longer have access to the oral counter narrative of Gen. 16.4-5, deconstructive criticism, which–among other things – teaches us that a text can be most revealing in those places in which it is most notably silent, may allow for a possible recovery of the oral, unrecorded narrative of the servant Hagar.
Why I Am Not a Buddhist Feminist: A Critical Examination of ‘Buddhist Feminism’
Authors: Byrne Jean
Published: December 2012

Feminist Buddhology is a burgeoning area of study, with many scholar-practitioners examining the interaction between Buddhism and feminist theory. Here I examine the contributions made by Buddhist Feminists and argue that, in general, Feminist Buddhology runs the serious risk of being ‘apologist’. I contrast the discrimination against women evident in Buddhist traditions with the claims of Buddhist Feminists that ‘Buddhism is feminism’ and ‘feminism is Buddhism’. In order to do so I provide a brief history or the position of women in Buddhism, an overview of Feminist Buddhology and lastly the beginnings of an alternate perspective from which we may interweave Buddhism and feminism, without an underlying apologist perspective.
A unique fuzzy simulation approach for concurrent improvement of customer satisfaction in integrated information and production processes with ambiguity
Authors: Azadeh Ali , Raoofi Zeinab , Haghnevis Moeed , Madadi Mahboubeh
Published: December 2012

In a real business process, the parameters for probability distributions are unknown or ambiguous. Therefore, conventional modeling of these systems using deterministic parameters is questionable. Fuzzy simulation enables modeling uncertainties in such systems. The objective of this study is to model and improve concurrently the performance of integrated information, business, and production process of a manufacturing system using fuzzy simulation. Here, performance is defined as customer satisfaction. The superiority of the fuzzy simulation approach over conventional models used in prior studies is discussed. The integrated fuzzy approach in this study enables evaluating customer lead times in six dimensions with uncertainties considerations. Major effects of business process reengineering and information technology are evaluated before the actual implementation. The comparison results indicate that the fuzzy model is closer to the actual system. This is the first study that presents an integrated fuzzy model for improvement of customer satisfaction in integrated information, business, and production processes with ambiguity.
The PedsQL™ as a measure of parent-rated quality of life in healthy UK toddlers
Authors: Buck Deborah
Published: December 2012

The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQLTM) is a widely-used generic measure of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in children aged ≥ 2 years. In the UK, mean scores are known for healthy children aged ≥ 5 years, but unknown for toddlers. This paper reports the psychometric properties of parent-rated PedsQLTM scores in healthy UK toddlers and compares scores with a healthy USA sample. Two-hundred and fifty-six parents of healthy 2–4-year-olds (recruited from UK Children’s Centres/nurseries, University staff/volunteers, and a national parent forum) completed the toddler version of the PedsQLTM. Internal consistency was good (≥ 0.70) for all except Nursery Functioning. There were ceiling effects but missing response rates were minimal. Mean scores were: Total score 87.8; Physical Health 92.6; Emotional Functioning 76.0; Social Functioning 89.9; Nursery Functioning 92.3; and Psychosocial Summary 84.6. UK parents rated higher on Physical and Nursery Functioning ( p < 0.001), but worse than their US counterparts on Emotional Functioning ( p < 0.001) and Psychosocial Summary ( p = 0.004). In conclusion, the toddler version of the PedsQLTM performed well in a UK sample, apart from the Nursery Functioning scale. Further evidence is needed to ascertain its construct and discriminant validity in the UK. Differences between the UK and USA samples highlight the importance of cross-cultural variations.
Demographic and lifestyle characteristics associated with non-willingness to participate in health promotion programmes among adults of a lower socioeconomic status in Singapore
Authors: Ng Charis Wei Ling , Heng Bee Hoon , Molina Joseph Antonio , Wong Lai Yin , George Pradeep Paul , Cheah Jason
Published: December 2012

Introduction/Objective

Lower socioeconomic groups have been found to have poorer health outcomes and engage in fewer health promoting behaviours. Understanding the reasons behind adverse lifestyle habits and non-willingness to participate in health promotion programmes among lower socioeconomic groups will enable administrators to modify the programmes and increase participation in this population. This study aimed to determine reasons for non-exercise, smoking and non-willingness to participate, and characteristics associated with non-willingness to participate in health promotion programmes among residents in Singapore.

Method

A cross-sectional survey was conducted on a purposive sample of residents living in four housing developments of one- and two-room households in Singapore from June to October 2009. The patterns of exercise and smoking, receptiveness towards health promotion programmes and the reasons for non-willingness to participate were elicited. Chi-square tests and logistic regression analysis were performed to identify differences between groups.

Results

Seven hundred and seventy-eight responses were analysed. Only 36.1% of respondents were willing to participate in at least one health promotion programme (health screening, talk or workshop). Older respondents aged 45–64 years and more than 65 years were less likely to participate than their younger counterparts (18–44 years). Malays were more likely than Chinese to participate, and respondents who do not exercise were less likely to participate than respondents who exercise (regularly/occasionally). Reasons for non-willingness to participate were ‘not interested’ and ‘no time’.

Conclusion

Health promotion messages should adapt to the needs and situation of the disadvantaged, to increase participation.
Promoting the health of Aboriginal Australians through empowerment: eliciting the components of the Family well-being empowerment and leadership programme
Authors: Laliberté Arlene , Haswell Melissa , Tsey Komla
Published: December 2012

Most policies addressing Aboriginal health in Australia promote initiatives that are based on empowerment principles. Articulated programme components are necessary to support personal and group empowerment and to assist individuals in gaining the sense of control and purposefulness needed to exert their political and personal power in the face of the severe stress and powerlessness faced by the Australian Aboriginal people. This paper aims to provide a detailed description of the mechanisms underpinning a ‘bottom-up’ empowerment initiative, the Family well-being empowerment and leadership programme (FWB), and to analyze how the programme supports empowerment. The five stages of FWB were described and the validity of this model was assessed through the combination of participatory observation, documentation analysis, literature review, semi-structured interviews and iterative feedback with different analytical perspectives. Our study results articulated four distinct programme components: the setting plus inter-relational, educational and experiential actions. FWB is an example of the promotion of both outcome and process pathways towards empowerment. Potential applications of the programme are discussed.
Dengue and health care access: the role of social determinants of health in dengue surveillance in Colombia
Authors: Carabalí Jenny Mabel , Hendrickx David
Published: December 2012

Based on a first-hand experience from Colombia in the context of a local dengue research project, this paper illustrates how social determinants of health are associated with public health and how they can affect disease surveillance systems. The paper shows how various issues related to dengue case notification procedures and health insurance systems in Colombia are intertwined with more structural socio-economic factors. We argue that there is a need for public health interventions and health related research to acknowledge and consider the important role social determinants play in public health dynamics.
Promouvoir la consommation de légumes et de fruits chez des collégiens : application du protocole d’intervention mapping
Authors: Boucher Danielle , Côté Françoise , Gagné Camille
Published: December 2012

Résumé:

L’objectif de cet article est de présenter le processus suivi lors du développement, de la mise en œuvre et de l’évaluation d’un programme de promotion de la consommation de légumes et de fruits destiné à des collégiens. Un total de 385 collégiens québécois du Canada âgés de 18 ans en moyenne ont accepté volontairement de participer à cette étude. Le modèle de planification en six étapes de Bartholomew et collaborateurs (2006) a été utilisé. Basée sur la théorie du comportement planifié (Ajzen,1991), l’évaluation des besoins a été effectuée avec un questionnaire auto-administré développé à partir d’une revue de la littérature et de groupes de discussion focalisée auprès de collégiens. Cette première étape a permis d’identifier les déterminants psychosociaux sur lesquels intervenir spécifiquement. Les résultats consistent en un programme d’une durée de quatre heures et demie, qui a été offert à 167 collégiens (groupe expérimental). Adaptées à cette clientèle, et sur des bases théoriques, les activités incluaient l’utilisation d’outils d’auto-évaluation de la consommation quotidienne de légumes et de fruits, le calcul de portions avec une nutritionniste, un quiz sur le web, la rédaction d’un plan pour implanter ses intentions, les démonstrations culinaires de recettes d’un pair avec dégustations et tests de goût. Le programme s’est avéré efficace pour augmenter l’intention comportementale ainsi que le nombre de participants à consommer au moins cinq portions de légumes et de fruits chaque jour, à la fin du programme. Ce protocole permet de structurer une intervention sur mesure visant un changement comportemental chez une clientèle ciblée. Le développement d’un partenariat milieu/université accroît les chances de succès, tant pour l’implantation du programme que pour son efficacité.
¿Profesionalizar la promoción de la salud? Algunas reflexiones desde el contexto europeo
Authors: Contu Paolo
Published: December 2012

Resumen:

El proceso de globalización ha tenido repercusiones no sólo en el área económico-financiera sino también en las esferas social, cultural y educativa. Uno de estos efectos es el desarrollo de procesos para lograr la acreditación de programas académicos y el tránsito regulado de profesionales certificados en diversos campos entre los que se incluyen la salud pública y la promoción de la salud (PS). En este trabajo, se reflexiona sobre los retos que enfrenta la formación en PS en el continente europeo. Se presentan datos sobre la capacitación a nivel pregrado de promotores de salud concebidos como profesionales autónomos y sobre la definición de competencias básicas referidas a PS que se incluirían en el curriculum de distintos tipos de personal en formación. Finalmente, se presenta el proyecto CompHP, que ha buscado contribuir a la consolidación de una identidad en los profesionales europeos que trabajan en PS y su reconocimiento en el mercado laboral.
Multi-species data integration and gene ranking enrich significant results in an alcoholism genome-wide association study
Authors: Zhao Zhongming , Guo An-Yuan , van den Oord Edwin JCG , Aliev Fazil , Jia Peilin , Edenberg Howard J , Riley Brien P , Dick Danielle M , Bettinger Jill C , Davies Andrew G , Grotewiel Michael S , Schuckit Marc A , Agrawal Arpana , Kramer John , Nurnberger John I , Kendler Kenneth S , Webb Bradley T , Miles Michael F
Published: December 2012

Background

A variety of species and experimental designs have been used to study genetic influences on alcohol dependence, ethanol response, and related traits. Integration of these heterogeneous data can be used to produce a ranked target gene list for additional investigation.

Results

In this study, we performed a unique multi-species evidence-based data integration using three microarray experiments in mice or humans that generated an initial alcohol dependence (AD) related genes list, human linkage and association results, and gene sets implicated in C. elegans and Drosophila. We then used permutation and false discovery rate (FDR) analyses on the genome-wide association studies (GWAS) dataset from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) to evaluate the ranking results and weighting matrices. We found one weighting score matrix could increase FDR based q-values for a list of 47 genes with a score greater than 2. Our follow up functional enrichment tests revealed these genes were primarily involved in brain responses to ethanol and neural adaptations occurring with alcoholism.

Conclusions

These results, along with our experimental validation of specific genes in mice, C. elegans and Drosophila, suggest that a cross-species evidence-based approach is useful to identify candidate genes contributing to alcoholism.
CTF: a CRF-based transcription factor binding sites finding system
Authors: He Yupeng , Zhang Yizhe , Zheng Guangyong , Wei Chaochun
Published: December 2012

Background

Identifying the location of transcription factor bindings is crucial to understand transcriptional regulation. Currently, Chromatin Immunoprecipitation followed with high-throughput Sequencing (ChIP-seq) is able to locate the transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) accurately in high throughput and it has become the gold-standard method for TFBS finding experimentally. However, due to its high cost, it is impractical to apply the method in a very large scale. Considering the large number of transcription factors, numerous cell types and various conditions, computational methods are still very valuable to accurate TFBS identification.

Results

In this paper, we proposed a novel integrated TFBS prediction system, CTF, based on Conditional Random Fields (CRFs). Integrating information from different sources, CTF was able to capture patterns of TFBSs contained in different features (sequence, chromatin and etc) and predicted the TFBS locations with a high accuracy. We compared CTF with several existing tools as well as the PWM baseline method on a dataset generated by ChIP-seq experiments (TFBSs of 13 transcription factors in mouse genome). Results showed that CTF performed significantly better than existing methods tested.

Conclusions

CTF is a powerful tool to predict TFBSs by integrating high throughput data and different features. It can be a useful complement to ChIP-seq and other experimental methods for TFBS identification and thus improve our ability to investigate functional elements in post-genomic era.

Availability: CTF is freely available to academic users at: http://cbb.sjtu.edu.cn/~ccwei/pub/software/CTF/CTF.php
RNA-Seq analysis implicates dysregulation of the immune system in schizophrenia
Authors: Xu Junzhe , Sun Jingchun , Chen Jingchun , Wang Lily , Li Anna , Helm Matthew , Dubovsky Steven L , Bacanu Silviu-Alin , Zhao Zhongming , Chen Xiangning
Published: December 2012

Background

While genome-wide association studies identified some promising candidates for schizophrenia, the majority of risk genes remained unknown. We were interested in testing whether integration gene expression and other functional information could facilitate the identification of susceptibility genes and related biological pathways.

Results

We conducted high throughput sequencing analyses to evaluate mRNA expression in blood samples isolated from 3 schizophrenia patients and 3 healthy controls. We also conducted pooled sequencing of 10 schizophrenic patients and matched controls. Differentially expressed genes were identified by t-test. In the individually sequenced dataset, we identified 198 genes differentially expressed between cases and controls, of them 19 had been verified by the pooled sequencing dataset and 21 reached nominal significance in gene-based association analyses of a genome wide association dataset. Pathway analysis of these differentially expressed genes revealed that they were highly enriched in the immune related pathways. Two genes,S100A8andTYROBP, had consistent changes in expression in both individual and pooled sequencing datasets and were nominally significant in gene-based association analysis.

Conclusions

Integration of gene expression and pathway analyses with genome-wide association may be an efficient approach to identify risk genes for schizophrenia.
Identifying the status of genetic lesions in cancer clinical trial documents using machine learning
Authors: Wu Yonghui , Levy Mia A , Micheel Christine M , Yeh Paul , Tang Buzhou , Cantrell Michael J , Cooreman Stacy M , Xu Hua
Published: December 2012

Background

Many cancer clinical trials now specify the particular status of a genetic lesion in a patient's tumor in the inclusion or exclusion criteria for trial enrollment. To facilitate search and identification of gene-associated clinical trials by potential participants and clinicians, it is important to develop automated methods to identify genetic information from narrative trial documents.

Methods

We developed a two-stage classification method to identify genes and genetic lesion statuses in clinical trial documents extracted from the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) Physician Data Query (PDQ) cancer clinical trial database. The method consists of two steps: 1) to distinguish gene entities from non-gene entities such as English words; and 2) to determine whether and which genetic lesion status is associated with an identified gene entity. We developed and evaluated the performance of the method using a manually annotated data set containing 1,143 instances of the eight most frequently mentioned genes in cancer clinical trials. In addition, we applied the classifier to a real-world task of cancer trial annotation and evaluated its performance using a larger sample size (4,013 instances from 249 distinct human gene symbols detected from 250 trials).

Results

Our evaluation using a manually annotated data set showed that the two-stage classifier outperformed the single-stage classifier and achieved the best average accuracy of 83.7% for the eight most frequently mentioned genes when optimized feature sets were used. It also showed better generalizability when we applied the two-stage classifier trained on one set of genes to another independent gene. When a gene-neutral, two-stage classifier was applied to the real-world task of cancer trial annotation, it achieved a highest accuracy of 89.8%, demonstrating the feasibility of developing a gene-neutral classifier for this task.

Conclusions

We presented a machine learning-based approach to detect gene entities and the genetic lesion statuses from clinical trial documents and demonstrated its use in cancer trial annotation. Such methods would be valuable for building information retrieval tools targeting gene-associated clinical trials.
Regulation of fruit ascorbic acid concentrations during ripening in high and low vitamin C tomato cultivars
Authors: Mellidou Ifigeneia , Keulemans Johan , Kanellis Angelos K , Davey Mark W
Published: December 2012

Background

To gain insight into the regulation of fruit ascorbic acid (AsA) pool in tomatoes, a combination of metabolite analyses, non-labelled and radiolabelled substrate feeding experiments, enzyme activity measurements and gene expression studies were carried out in fruits of the ‘low-’ and ‘high-AsA’ tomato cultivars ‘Ailsa Craig’ and ‘Santorini’ respectively.

Results

The two cultivars exhibited different profiles of total AsA (totAsA, AsA + dehydroascorbate) and AsA accumulation during ripening, but both displayed a characteristic peak in concentrations at the breaker stage. Substrate feeding experiments demonstrated that the L-galactose pathway is the main AsA biosynthetic route in tomato fruits, but that substrates from alternative pathways can increase the AsA pool at specific developmental stages. In addition, we show that young fruits display a higher AsA biosynthetic capacity than mature ones, but this does not lead to higher AsA concentrations due to either enhanced rates of AsA breakdown (‘Ailsa Craig’) or decreased rates of AsA recycling (‘Santorini’), depending on the cultivar. In the later stages of ripening, differences in fruit totAsA-AsA concentrations of the two cultivars can be explained by differences in the rate of AsA recycling activities. Analysis of the expression of AsA metabolic genes showed that only the expression of one orthologue of GDP-L-galactose phosphorylase (SlGGP1), and of two monodehydroascorbate reductases (SlMDHAR1 and SlMDHAR3) correlated with the changes in fruit totAsA-AsA concentrations during fruit ripening in ‘Ailsa Craig’, and that only the expression of SlGGP1 was linked to the high AsA concentrations found in red ripe ‘Santorini’ fruits.

Conclusions

Results indicate that ‘Ailsa Craig’ and ‘Santorini’ use complementary mechanisms to maintain the fruit AsA pool. In the low-AsA cultivar (‘Ailsa Craig’), alternative routes of AsA biosynthesis may supplement biosynthesis via L-galactose, while in the high-AsA cultivar (‘Santorini’), enhanced AsA recycling activities appear to be responsible for AsA accumulation in the later stages of ripening. Gene expression studies indicate that expression of SlGGP1 and two orthologues of SlMDHAR are closely correlated with totAsA-AsA concentrations during ripening and are potentially good candidates for marker development for breeding and selection.
Impact of heavy proteinuria on clinical outcomes in patients on incident peritoneal dialysis
Authors: Kang Seok Hui , Cho Kyu Hyang , Park Jong Won , Yoon Kyung Woo , Do Jun Young
Published: December 2012

Background

There are few reports on the nutritional status changes and residual renal function (RRF) according to proteinuria levels in patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD).

Methods

A total of 388 patients on PD were enrolled. The patients were divided into 3 groups with respect to initial proteinuria: the A (n = 119; <500 mg/day), B (n = 218; 500–3,500 mg/day), and C groups (n = 51; >3,500 mg/day).

Results

The patients with higher proteinuria levels had a higher incidence of male sex, diabetes mellitus, and icodextrin use than those with lower proteinuria levels. Although initial peritoneal albumin loss in C group was lower than that detected in the other groups, no significant difference was observed in peritoneal albumin loss among the 3 groups at the end of follow-up period. At the time of PD initiation, the Geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI) was lower in the C group than in the other 2 groups. However, at the end of the follow-up period, there was no significant difference in GNRI between the 3 groups. The GNRI increased, and the proteinuria level or RRF decreased more in the C group than in the other 2 groups. There were no significant differences in lean mass index or fat mass index change from the time of PD initiation to the end of the follow-up period. However, fat mass index and nPNA showed greater increases in the C group. The multivariate analysis revealed that proteinuria was negatively correlated with GNRI at the time of PD initiation and at the end of the follow-up period. The initial RRF and proteinuria were negatively correlated with the RRF decline during the follow-up.

Conclusion

The attenuation of the nephrotic proteinuria, along with the RRF decline, was associated with the improvement of the malnutrition.
Mapping EORTC QLQ-C30 onto EQ-5D for the assessment of cancer patients
Authors: Kim Seon Ha , Jo Min-Woo , Kim Hwa-Jung , Ahn Jin-Hee
Published: December 2012

Background

The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) is the instrument most frequently used to measure quality of life in cancer patients, whereas the EQ-5D is widely used to measure and evaluate general health status. Although the EORTC QLQ-C30 has been mapped to EQ-5D utilities, those studies were limited to patients with a single type of cancer. The present study aimed to develop a mapping relationship between the EORTC QLQ-C30 and EQ-5D-based utility values at the individual level.

Methods

The model was derived using patients with different types of cancer who were receiving chemotherapy. The external validation set comprised outpatients with colon cancer. Ordinary least squares regression was used to estimate the EQ-5D index from the EORTC QLQ-C30 results. The predictability, goodness of fit, and signs of the estimated coefficients of the model were assessed. Predictive ability was determined by calculating the mean absolute error, the estimated proportions with absolute errors > 0.05 and > 0.1, and the root-mean-squared error (RMSE).

Results

A model that included global health, physical, role, emotional functions, and pain was optimal, with a mean absolute error of 0.069 and an RMSE of 0.095 (normalized RMSE, 8.1%). The explanatory power of this model was 51.6%. The mean absolute error was higher for modeled patients in poor health.

Conclusions

This mapping algorithm enabled the EORTC QLQ-C30 to be converted to the EQ-5D utility index to assess cancer patients in Korea.
Nonlinear cyclic weak contractions in G-metric spaces and applications to boundary value problems
Authors: Nashine Hemant Kumar , Golubović Zoran , Kadelburg Zoran
Published: December 2012

We present fixed point theorems for nonlinear cyclic mappings under a generalized weakly contractive condition in G-metric spaces. We furnish examples to demonstrate the usage of the results and produce an application to second-order periodic boundary value problems for ODEs.

MSC:47H10, 34B15.
A study on the consistency analysis of energy parameter for Mandarin speech
Authors: Shen Li-Te , Yeh Cheng-Yu , Hwang Shaw-Hwa
Published: December 2012

In this study, a consistency analysis of energy parameter for Mandarin speech is presented. Identified as a result of inspection of the human pronunciation process, the consistency can be interpreted as a high correlation of a warping curve between the spectrum and the prosody intra a syllable. Through three steps in the procedure of the consistency analysis, the hidden Markov model (HMM) algorithm is used first to decode HMM-state sequences within a syllable at the same time as to divide them into three segments. Second, based on a designated syllable, the vector quantization (VQ) with the Linde–Buzo–Gray algorithm is used to train the VQ codebooks of each segment. Third, the energy vector of each segment is encoded as an index by VQ codebooks, and then the probability of each possible path is evaluated as a prerequisite to analyze the consistency. It is demonstrated experimentally that a consistency is definitely acquired in case the syllable is located exactly in the same word. These results offer a research direction that the energy warping process intra a syllable must be considered in a text-to-speech system to improve the synthesized speech quality.
Health impact assessment of air pollution in megacity of Tehran, Iran
Authors: Naddafi Kazem , Hassanvand Mohammad Sadegh , Yunesian Masud , Momeniha Fatemeh , Nabizadeh Ramin , Faridi Sasan , Gholampour Akbar
Published: December 2012

The aims of the present study were to provide quantitative data on the impact of air pollution on the health of people living in Tehran city, the most populated city of Iran. The approach proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) was applied using the AirQ 2.2.3 software developed by the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, Bilthoven Division. Concentrations of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter of aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 μm (PM10) were used to assess human exposure and health impacts in terms of attributable proportion of the health outcome, annual number of excess cases of mortality for all causes, and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. The annual average of PM10, SO2, NO2 and O3 in Tehran were 90.58, 89.16, 85 and 68.82 μg/m3, respectively. Considering short-term effects, PM10 had the highest health impact on the 8,700,000 inhabitants of Tehran city, causing an excess of total mortality of 2194 out of 47284 in a year. Sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone caused about, respectively, 1458, 1050 and 819 excess cases of total mortality. Results indicate that the magnitude of the health impact estimated for the city of Tehran underscores the need for urgent action to reduce the health burden of air pollution.
Multivariate statistical assessment of heavy metal pollution sources of groundwater around a lead and zinc plant
Authors: Zamani Abbas Ali , Yaftian Mohammad Reza , Parizanganeh Abdolhossein
Published: December 2012

The contamination of groundwater by heavy metal ions around a lead and zinc plant has been studied. As a case study groundwater contamination in Bonab Industrial Estate (Zanjan-Iran) for iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, cadmium and lead content was investigated using differential pulse polarography (DPP). Although, cobalt, copper and zinc were found correspondingly in 47.8%, 100.0%, and 100.0% of the samples, they did not contain these metals above their maximum contaminant levels (MCLs). Cadmium was detected in 65.2% of the samples and 17.4% of them were polluted by this metal. All samples contained detectable levels of lead and iron with 8.7% and 13.0% of the samples higher than their MCLs. Nickel was also found in 78.3% of the samples, out of which 8.7% were polluted. In general, the results revealed the contamination of groundwater sources in the studied zone. The higher health risks are related to lead, nickel, and cadmium ions. Multivariate statistical techniques were applied for interpreting the experimental data and giving a description for the sources. The data analysis showed correlations and similarities between investigated heavy metals and helps to classify these ion groups. Cluster analysis identified five clusters among the studied heavy metals. Cluster 1 consisted of Pb, Cu, and cluster 3 included Cd, Fe; also each of the elements Zn, Co and Ni was located in groups with single member. The same results were obtained by factor analysis. Statistical investigations revealed that anthropogenic factors and notably lead and zinc plant and pedo-geochemical pollution sources are influencing water quality in the studied area.
CalloseMeasurer: a novel software solution to measure callose deposition and recognise spreading callose patterns
Authors: Zhou Ji , Spallek Thomas , Faulkner Christine , Robatzek Silke
Published: December 2012

Background

Quantification of callose deposits is a useful measure for the activities of plant immunity and pathogen growth by fluorescence imaging. For robust scoring of differences, this normally requires many technical and biological replicates and manual or automated quantification of the callose deposits. However, previously available software tools for quantifying callose deposits from bioimages were limited, making batch processing of callose image data problematic. In particular, it is challenging to perform large-scale analysis on images with high background noise and fused callose deposition signals.

Results

We developed CalloseMeasurer, an easy-to-use application that quantifies callose deposition, a plant immune response triggered by potentially pathogenic microbes. Additionally, by tracking identified callose deposits between multiple images, the software can recognise patterns of how a given filamentous pathogen grows in plant leaves. The software has been evaluated with typical noisy experimental images and can be automatically executed without the need for user intervention. The automated analysis is achieved by using standard image analysis functions such as image enhancement, adaptive thresholding, and object segmentation, supplemented by several novel methods which filter background noise, split fused signals, perform edge-based detection, and construct networks and skeletons for extracting pathogen growth patterns. To efficiently batch process callose images, we implemented the algorithm in C/C++ within the Acapella™ framework. Using the tool we can robustly score significant differences between different plant genotypes when activating the immune response. We also provide examples for measuring the in planta hyphal growth of filamentous pathogens.

Conclusions

CalloseMeasurer is a new software solution for batch-processing large image data sets to quantify callose deposition in plants. We demonstrate its high accuracy and usefulness for two applications: 1) the quantification of callose deposition in different genotypes as a measure for the activity of plant immunity; and 2) the quantification and detection of spreading networks of callose deposition triggered by filamentous pathogens as a measure for growing pathogen hyphae. The software is an easy-to-use protocol which is executed within the Acapella software system without requiring any additional libraries. The source code of the software is freely available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/bioimage/files/Callose.
High-dose pre-operative helical tomotherapy (54 Gy) for retroperitoneal liposarcoma
Authors: Sargos Paul , Dejean Catherine , Figueiredo Bénédicte Henriques de , Brouste Véronique , Nguyen Bui Binh , Italiano Antoine , Stoeckle Eberhard , Kantor Guy
Published: December 2012

Purpose

To evaluate the feasibility of pre-operative radiotherapy (54 Gy) with Helical Tomotherapy (HT) followed by surgery.

Methods and materials

Ten patients with non-metastatic resectable retroperitoneal liposarcomas were treated by pre-operative tomotherapy (54 Gy) and surgery. Clinical and biological toxicities were evaluated on the CTCAEV3.0 scale. For nine patients, delivered tomotherapy plans were compared with retrospectively-planned dynamic intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) dosimetric studies.

Results

No immediate or late Grade>2 toxicities were observed after radiotherapy. Post-operatively, one patient died and three patients experienced Grade 3 toxicity (two digestive and one metabolic). These toxicities disappeared and only two patients presented persistent Grade 1 paresthesia. R0 resection was obtained for four patients, R1 for four, and R2 resection for two. With a median follow-up of 26 months, no local or metastatic relapse was observed. Dosimetric comparisons between HT and retrospectively-planned IMRT demonstrate adequate target volume coverage for both techniques. Gastrointestinal sparing is higher with HT with a D200cc reduced by 5 Gy. Integral dose (ID) was increased in HT.

Conclusions

High dose pre-operative radiotherapy (54 Gy) for retroperitoneal liposarcoma is feasible and mostly well tolerated. Cumulative toxicity and tolerance depend mainly on patient’s general status. Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) is essential, irrespective of the IMRT technique used. Furthermore, HT offers the possibility of sparing selected areas in such complex volumes.
A vertex similarity-based framework to discover and rank orphan disease-related genes
Authors: Zhu Cheng , Kushwaha Akash , Berman Kenneth , Jegga Anil G
Published: December 2012

Background

A rare or orphan disease (OD) is any disease that affects a small percentage of the population. While opportunities now exist to accelerate progress toward understanding the basis for many more ODs, the prioritization of candidate genes is still a critical step for disease-gene identification. Several network-based frameworks have been developed to address this problem with varied results.

Result

We have developed a novel vertex similarity (VS) based parameter-free prioritizing framework to identify and rank orphan disease candidate genes. We validate our approach by using 1598 known orphan disease-causing genes (ODGs) representing 172 orphan diseases (ODs). We compare our approach with a state-of-art parameter-based approach (PageRank with Priors or PRP) and with another parameter-free method (Interconnectedness or ICN). Our results show that VS-based approach outperforms ICN and is comparable to PRP. We further apply VS-based ranking to identify and rank potential novel candidate genes for several ODs.

Conclusion

We demonstrate that VS-based parameter-free ranking approach can be successfully used for disease candidate gene prioritization and can complement other network-based methods for candidate disease gene ranking. Importantly, our VS-ranked top candidate genes for the ODs match the known literature, suggesting several novel causal relationships for further investigation.
Acaricidal activity of ethanolic extract from aerial parts of Tagetes patula L. (Asteraceae) against larvae and engorged adult females of Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille, 1806)
Authors: Politi Flávio Augusto Sanches , Figueira Glyn Mara , Araújo Andréa Mendez , Sampieri Bruno Rodrigues , Mathias Maria Izabel Camargo , Szabó Matias Pablo Juan , Bechara Gervásio Henrique , dos Santos Lourdes Campaner , Vilegas Wagner , Pietro Rosemeire Cristina Linhari Rodrigue
Published: December 2012

Background

The tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus is the species with the largest worldwide distribution and is proven to be involved in the transmission of pathogens such as Babesia canis, Ehrlichia canis, Coxiella burnetii, Rickettsia ricketsii, Rickettsia conorii, among others. Studies have demonstrated acquisition of resistance to some of the active principles used in commercial formulations of acaricides. Tagetes patula (Asteraceae) is a plant with highlighted economic and commercial importance due to the production of secondary metabolites with insecticide and acaricide potential, mainly flavonoids, thiophenes and terpenes.

Methods

The in vitro acaricide action of the ethanolic 70% extract from aerial parts of T. patula, obtained by percolation, was evaluated against larvae and engorged adult females of Rhipicephalus sanguineus by immersion test for 5 minutes. The chemical characterization of this extract was done by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS), using direct injection of sample.

Results

Despite T. patula not proving lethal to adults in any of the concentrations tested, at 50.0 mg/mL oviposition rate decreased by 21.5% and eliminated 99.78% of the larvae. Also it was determined that the best results were obtained with 5 minutes of immersion. From the chromatographic analysis twelve O-glycosylated flavonoids were identified.

Conclusions

This is the first report on the acaricidal activity of T. patula extract against Rh. sanguineus. If we consider the application of the product in the environment, we could completely eliminate the larval stage of development of the ixodid Rh. sanguineus.
Anaemia and associated risk factors among pregnant women in Gilgel Gibe dam area, Southwest Ethiopia
Authors: Getachew Million , Yewhalaw Delenesaw , Tafess Ketema , Getachew Yehenew , Zeynudin Ahmed
Published: December 2012

Background

Anaemia is known to be one of the outcomes of parasitic infection and it may result in impaired cognitive development, reduced physical work capacity and in severe cases increased risk of mortality, particularly during the prenatal period. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and associated risk factors of anaemia among pregnant women in Gilgel-Gibe dam area, southwestern Ethiopia.

Methods

A cross-sectional community based study was conducted on 388 pregnant women living in three districts around Gilgel Gibe Dam area, southwestern Ethiopia. Socio-demographic and socio-economic data were collected from each participant. A single stool sample was also collected from each selected pregnant woman. Haemoglobin concentration was determined by the cyanmethemoglobin method. Plasmodium infection prevalence and intensity were assessed with thin and thick blood film examination.

Results

Of the total 388 study participants, 209 (53.9%) were anaemic. Pregnant woman who were rural residents (Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.62, 95% C.I: 1.02-2.62, P= 0.042), not using insecticide treated nets (ITNs) during the study period (AOR = 2.84, 95% C.I: 1.33-6.05, p = 0.007), those who were Plasmodium malaria infected (AOR = 11.19, 95% C.I: 3.31-37.7, p= 0.01) and those with Soil Transmitted Helminth (STH) infections (AOR=1.82, 95% C.I: 1.16-2.87, p=0.001) had higher odds of being anaemic than those who were urban residents, using ITNs, free of Plasmodium malaria and Soil transmitted helminth infection, respectively. There was a significant correlation between increasing hookworm parasite load (r = −.110, P< 0.001), Ascaris lumbricoides (r = −.122, P < 0.001) and Trichuris trichiura(r = −.025, P < 0.001) and decreasing hematocrit values.

Conclusion

The high prevalence of anaemia indicates it is currently a serious health problem of pregnant women living in Gilgel Gibe Dam area. Plasmodium malaria and soil transmitted helminth infections were significantly associated with anaemia. Antenatal care should promote de-worming and education on personal hygiene. Therefore, there is a need to design strategies that help to diagnose pregnant women for malaria and STH infections during their antenatal care (ANC) visit instead of testing for only haemoglobin (Hgb) levels and blood group.
A Colonial Cul de Sac
Authors: Cheney Paul
Published: December 2012

This article is a microlevel study of the effects of international warfare on one sugar plantation situated in one of the most highly developed and profitable areas of sugar cultivation in eighteenth-century Saint-Domingue (Haiti) during the War of American Independence (1775 – 83). During this and similar conflicts, which were endemic to the Atlantic economy of the eighteenth century, planters were cut off from the food supplies, capital goods and credit they required; as their produce became temporarily worthless and slaves suffered from malnutrition, planters shifted their efforts to subsistence food production and infrastructural improvements such as irrigation works in the hopes of weathering the effects of international blockade. Yet in reality, as this article shows, these plantations had a very limited capacity to adapt to such circumstances; very quickly, debilitating economic losses and social unrest took hold of these highly profitable, but essentially fragile, operations.