bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Power of Predictions: An Emerging Paradigm for Psychological Research
Authors: Hutchinson J. Benjamin , Barrett Lisa Feldman
Published: April 2019

In the last two decades, neuroscience studies have suggested that various psychological phenomena are produced by predictive processes in the brain. When considered together, these studies form a coherent, neurobiologically inspired program for guiding psychological research about the mind and behavior. In this article, we consider the common assumptions and hypotheses that unify an emerging framework and discuss the ramifications of such a framework, both for improving the replicability and robustness of psychological research and for renewing psychological theory by suggesting an alternative ontology of the human mind.
Estimation of overdiagnosis by detection to incidence ratio in cancer screening
Authors: Hakama Matti , Malila Nea
Published: April 2019

Objective

We aimed to introduce a concept of overdiagnosis with actual formulae. In screening for invasive cancer, the detection proportion to incidence rate (D/I) ratio is used as an intermediate indicator of effect. D is the detection rate (proportion) at screen and I is the background risk (i.e. the expected incidence rate if there were no screening). We sought to determine a proper use of the D/I ratio in the estimation of overdiagnosis in screening.

Methods

We propose the difference between the D/I ratio per year and incidence-based sensitivity as an estimate of overdiagnosis. As an example to evaluate this, we used screening for colorectal cancer, run as a randomized public health policy in Finland.

Conclusion

The use of the D/I ratio is inappropriate in predicting effect, and we recommend that the D/I ratio be used as a component in the estimation of overdiagnosis in screening for invasive cancer.
Livelihood of the Char Dwellers of Western Assam
Authors: Kumar Balram , Das Debarshi
Published: April 2019

The Brahmaputra and other rivers of Assam are replete with numerous sandbars, which are locally called chars. Chars are home to nearly 10 per cent population of Assam. Char dwellers live a precarious life. Battered by recurrent floods and soil erosion, chars have an impermanent existence. In western Assam, the char dwellers, mostly belonging to the migrant Muslim community of East Bengal origin, live in backwardness and poverty. The article examines two questions pertaining to their economic life: income and seasonal migration. Through a primary data survey and statistical analysis, the article seeks to delineate the salient factors which influence their income and migration decision. We conclude that land holding, land lost due to erosion, household size and education are some of the factors which play a key role in this regard. We find that location of a char is important: some chars are more migration-prone than others. Policy implications have been spelled out in the end.
Dissociation of identity following left parietal haematoma – a single case report
Authors: Sreenivasa Vyjayanthi , Mayur Prashanth
Published: April 2019

Objectives:

Dissociative identity disorder in relation to brain injury has only rarely been reported in literature. This case report, which illustrates a de novo onset of dissociative identity for the first time in an elderly man who had a left parietal haematoma, adds to this scant literature base and supports an integrative view of bridging the dichotomy between organic and functional to explain complex psychiatric phenomena.

Methods:

It is a single case report collected through serial semi-structured interviews of the patient and his family over a 12-week period.

Results:

The patient was an elderly man transiently dissociated into various identities, some of whom seemed to be based upon individuals who had traumatized him in the past. This occurred three weeks after recovery from hemiparesis and delirium following a left parietal haematoma. The dissociations ended after six weeks, which coincided not only with the resolution of the haematoma but also with a faith-healing ritual. A speculative psychobiological formulation was drawn of possible brain origins of dissociation of identity.

Conclusions:

This report is a compelling account of temporal correlation between dissociation of identity and left parietal haematoma.
The necessity of extended autopoiesis
Authors: Virgo Nathaniel
Published: April 2019

The theory of autopoiesis holds that an organism can be defined as a network of processes. However, an organism also has a physical body. The relationship between these two things—network and body—has been raised in this issue of Adaptive Behaviour, with reference to an extended interpretation of autopoiesis. This perspective holds that the network and the body are distinct things, and that the network should be thought of as extending beyond the boundaries of the body. The relationship between body and network is subtle, and I revisit it here from the extended perspective. I conclude that from an organism = network perspective, the body is a biological solution to the problem of maintaining both the distinctness of an organism, separate from but engaged with its environment and other organisms, and its distinctiveness as a particular individual.
Numerical solution of fractional variational problems depending on indefinite integrals using transcendental Bernstein series
Authors: Hassani Hossein , Avazzadeh Zakieh , Machado José António Tenreiro , Naraghirad Eskandar
Published: April 2019

This paper proposes an optimization method for solving fractional variational problems depending on indefinite integrals, where the fractional derivative is described in the Caputo sense. The method is based on the new basis functions consisting of the transcendental Bernstein series (TBS) and their operational matrices. In the first step, we derive an approximate solution for the problem using TBS with the free coefficients and control parameters. In the second step, we use the fractional operational matrix, with the help of the Lagrange multipliers technique, for converting the fractional variational problem into an easier one, described by a system of nonlinear algebraic equations. The convergence analysis of the method, will be guaranteed by proving a new theorem concerning TBS. Finally, for illustrating the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed technique, several numerical examples are analyzed and the results compared with the analytical solutions or the approximation obtained by other techniques.
Studies on the energy and deep memory behaviour of a cache-oblivious, task-based hyperbolic PDE solver
Authors: Charrier Dominic E , Hazelwood Benjamin , Tutlyaeva Ekaterina , Bader Michael , Dumbser Michael , Kudryavtsev Andrey , Moskovsky Alexander , Weinzierl Tobias
Published: April 2019

We study the performance behaviour of a seismic simulation using the ExaHyPE engine with a specific focus on memory characteristics and energy needs. ExaHyPE combines dynamically adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) with ADER-DG. It is parallelized using tasks, and it is cache efficient. AMR plus ADER-DG yields a task graph which is highly dynamic in nature and comprises both arithmetically expensive tasks and tasks which challenge the memory’s latency. The expensive tasks and thus the whole code benefit from AVX vectorization, although we suffer from memory access bursts. A frequency reduction of the chip improves the code’s energy-to-solution. Yet, it does not mitigate burst effects. The bursts’ latency penalty becomes worse once we add Intel Optane technology, increase the core count significantly or make individual, computationally heavy tasks fall out of close caches. Thread overbooking to hide away these latency penalties becomes contra-productive with noninclusive caches as it destroys the cache and vectorization character. In cases where memory-intense and computationally expensive tasks overlap, ExaHyPE’s cache-oblivious implementation nevertheless can exploit deep, noninclusive, heterogeneous memory effectively, as main memory misses arise infrequently and slow down only few cores. We thus propose that upcoming supercomputing simulation codes with dynamic, inhomogeneous task graphs are actively supported by thread runtimes in intermixing tasks of different compute character, and we propose that future hardware actively allows codes to downclock the cores running particular task types.
Changes in the stress markers cortisol and glucose before and during intradermal testing in cats after single administration of pre-appointment gabapentin
Authors: Hudec Christopher P , Griffin Craig E
Published: April 2019

Objectives

Intradermal allergy testing can be difficult to interpret in cats. Studies have shown that intradermal testing leads to elevations in blood cortisol, which may be an explanation for weak wheal reactions in cats. The primary objective of this study was to determine whether utilizing pre-appointment gabapentin will alter stress before and during intradermal testing, as determined by cortisol/glucose concentrations.

Methods

This was a randomized, single-blinded, crossover clinical trial of 16  privately owned healthy cats. Cats were scheduled two veterinary visits and randomly assigned to receive either gabapentin (25.0–30.5 mg/kg) or no treatment prior to the first visit and the opposite treatment prior to the second visit. Blood samples were obtained to measure cortisol/glucose concentrations at three time points: directly after physical examination; directly after sedation; and 10 mins after the second blood sample. A limited intradermal test was performed after the second blood sample. The primary author also recorded which visit they believed gabapentin was administered with low/high confidence. A non-blinded owner assessment survey documenting stress levels in their cats was also obtained.

Results

Mean cortisol concentrations were calculated to be 0.30 μg/dl lower in the gabapentin group but this reduction was not significant. Mean glucose concentrations were calculated to be 18 mg/dl higher in the gabapentin group. Gabapentin had no negative effect on intradermal histamine readings. The author was able to correctly identify when 14/16 cats received gabapentin. Non-blinded owners (n = 14/16) believed their cats were less stressed when gabapentin was administered.

Conclusions and relevance

Gabapentin did not significantly decrease cortisol/glucose concentrations. A sedative effect, rather than suppression of the pituitary–adrenocortical axis, may have led to the lower stress assessment. It is unlikely that pre-appointment gabapentin will alter intradermal testing in a majority of cats. This study supports recent clinical trials demonstrating that administration of gabapentin can lower veterinarian/owner assessment of stress in cats.
Interchromosomal Translocations as a Means to Map Chromosome Territories in Breast Cancer
Authors: Parl Fritz F , Dupont William D , Crooke Philip S
Published: April 2019

The genome-wide identification of mutated genes is an important advance in our understanding of tumor biology, but several fundamental questions remain open. How do these genes act together to promote cancer development and, a related question, how are they spatially arranged in the nucleus to allow coordinated expression? We examined the nuclear topography of mutated genes in breast cancer and their relation to chromosome territories (CTs). We performed a literature review and analyzed 1 type of mutation, interchromosomal translocations, in 1546 primary breast cancers to infer the spatial arrangement of chromosomes. The cosegregation of all observed fusion genes was used to create a matrix of genome-wide CT contacts and develop a tentative CT map of breast cancer. Regression analysis was performed to determine the association between CTs and all types of mutations. Chromosomes 17, 11, 8, and 1 had the majority of interchromosomal fusions and are presumably clustered in the nuclear center, whereas chromosomes 22, 21, X, and 18 had the lowest number of contacts, likely reflecting a more peripheral position. Regression analysis revealed that there was no significant association between chromosome length indicated by the number of base pairs per chromosome and the number of total (inter- and intrachromosomal) translocations, point mutations, or copy number aberrations (CNAs). The gene density of chromosomes (genes/Mb) was significantly correlated with total translocations ( P = .02), but not with point mutations P = .19 and CNAs P = .62. Finally, the association of the 3 genetic alterations with the CT map deduced from the interchromosomal fusions was significant, ie, total translocations P = 7 × 10−11, point mutations P = .01, CNAs P = .002. In conclusion, we developed a tentative CT map and observed a spatial association with genetic alterations in breast cancer.
Eroding the protection against discrimination: The procedural and de-contextualized approach to S.A.S. v France
Authors: Nieminen Kati
Published: April 2019

Can human rights law adequately address implicit modes of racism and gender discrimination? This question is discussed in this article through the analysis of the European Court of Human Rights case S.A.S. v. France (2014) concerning the ban on the Islamic full-face veil. The so-called ‘headscarf cases’ have been thoroughly discussed by many scholars, yet they seem to offer an endless source of different points of view. Departing from the previous discussion on the headscarf and full-face veil cases, which have largely concentrated on the questions of personal autonomy, identity and subjectivity, this article approaches S.A.S. v. France from the point of view of discrimination. It is suggested that the Court’s procedural and de-contextualized approach to rights results in eroding the protection against discrimination. Procedural approach refers to the Court’s tendency to emphasize procedural aspects of the Convention rights and not to engage sufficiently with substantive analysis. The de-contextual approach to rights on the other hand refers to lack of sensitivity to empirical information concerning the facts of the case at hand. Together the procedural and de-contextual approaches inadvertently erode the protection against discrimination of vulnerable groups, such as Muslim immigrant women.
Children’s and parents’ views on hospital contact isolation: A qualitative study to highlight children’s perspectives
Authors: Alvarez Evelyn N , Pike Megan C , Godwin Hilary
Published: April 2019

Background:

To date, there has been a paucity of studies conducted on the experiences of children under hospital contact isolation precautions. Furthermore, the studies that have examined children’s experiences at the hospital typically reflect the perspectives of their parents, and few have directly involved interviews with children themselves, and even fewer with children in isolation.

Methods:

To address this gap, we conducted semi-structured, open-ended interviews with hospitalized children to assess their experiences of being placed in isolation. Where possible, the children’s parents also completed written surveys to assess parental perspectives on their child’s experiences.

Results:

Two important findings of the study were the children’s resilience during a difficult time and children’s varying awareness of the pathophysiology of infections as it relates to isolation precautions. Examination of the parent–child dyads elucidated some discordance between parents’ and children’s perspectives on how children experienced their isolation, on what the children’s preferred activities were while in isolation, and how much children understood about the reasons they were in isolation.

Conclusion:

This study supports earlier studies that suggest that the benefits of isolation procedures may be outweighed by how negatively isolation is experienced by patients, particularly when the patients are children. It also highlights the need for child-friendly isolation signs. Because parental and child perceptions differed in cases where data from both were available, this study suggests larger studies on children’s perspectives and/or on parent–child dyads are needed.
Factor structure, validity, and reliability of a Persian version of the Body and Appearance Self-conscious Emotions Scale
Authors: Zemestani Mehdi , Abarin Morteza , Castonguay Andree L
Published: April 2019

This study examined the psychometric properties of a Persian translation of the Body and Appearance Self-conscious Emotions Scale. A total of 393 university students from Iran completed the Body and Appearance Self-conscious Emotions Scale, along with measures of depression, self-esteem, affect, body appreciation, physical self-perceptions, personality, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and body dysmorphic disorder. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the four-factor structure had adequate fit. Further analyses indicated that the Body and Appearance Self-conscious Emotions Scale scores evidenced internal consistency, convergent validity, and test–retest reliability. These results suggest that scores on the Persian version of the Body and Appearance Self-conscious Emotions Scale show evidence of reliability and validity in the Iranian population and can be used in the field of research and treatment.
Time is overestimated in obesity: A cohort study
Authors: Vicario Carmelo M , Caruso Vanni , Craparo Giuseppe , Felmingham Kim
Published: April 2019

Food addiction and high impulsivity are common traits in obesity. In accordance with the evidence that time is overestimated in patients with a history of impulsivity and/or drug addiction, we tested the hypothesis that duration is overestimated in obesity. A total of 92 obese participants and 182 healthy controls completed a timing task of visual stimuli. In line with our prediction, obese participants overestimated the duration of the displayed visual stimuli than controls. Our result has potential clinical implications in the field of obesity, as it suggests a potential contribution of this cognitive dysfunction in the emergence and maintenance of obesity-related behaviour.
Ethics and positionality in qualitative research with vulnerable and marginal groups
Authors: Shaw Rhonda M. , Howe Julie , Beazer Jonathan , Carr Toni
Published: April 2019

Social scientists are increasingly attentive to the practical importance of research ethics and professional codes of conduct when undertaking studies with human participants, especially around sensitive topics. In New Zealand, the social and cultural context of research praxis is also shaped by institutional principles that ensure research participants feel safe, respected, and heard when participating in research, and that the knowledge outcomes of the research process will be disseminated and shared with relevant cultural groups. In this article, we present four case studies based on projects that discuss researcher positionality in relation to the ethical and emotional work involved in undertaking research on sensitive topics with individuals from vulnerable and marginal groups. In doing so, we foreground the importance of articulating and managing emotion in research on sensitive topics, and suggest measures to ensure the well-being of researchers engaged in studies of this kind.
This other atmosphere: against human resources, emoji and devices
Authors: Leslie Esther
Published: April 2019

Frequently humans are invited to engage with modern visual forms: emoji, emoticons, pictograms. Some of these forms are finding their way into the workplace, understood as augmentations to workplace atmospheres. What has been called the ‘quantified workplace’ requires its workers to log their rates of stress, wellbeing and subjective sense of productivity on a scale of 1–5 or by emoji, in a context in which Human Resources (HR) professionals develop a vocabulary of Workforce Analytics, People Analytics, Human Capital Analytics or Talent Analytics, and all this in the context of managing the work environment or its atmosphere. Atmosphere is mood, a compote of emotions. Emotions are a part of a human package characterized as ‘the quantified self’, a self intertwined with – subject to but also compliant with – tracking and archiving. The logical step for managing atmospheres is to track emotions at a granular and large-scale level. Through the concept of the digital crowd, rated and self-rating, as well as emotion-tracking strategies, the human resource (as worker and consumer) engages in a new politics of the crowd, organized around what political philosopher Jodi Dean calls, affirmatively, ‘secondary visuality’, high-circulation communication fusing speech, writing and image as a new form. This is the visuality of communicative, or social media, capitalism. But to the extent that it is captured by HR, is it an exposure less to crowd-sourced democracy, and more a stage in turning the employee into an on-the-shelf item in a digital economy warehouse, assessed by Likert scales? While HR works on new atmospheres of work, what other atmospheres pervade the context of labour, and can these be deployed in the generation of other types of affect, ones that work towards the free association of labour and life?
Doing things with being undone
Authors: Casid Jill H
Published: April 2019

Mis-hear the ‘cene’ in Anthropocene and we are not beholders of an epoch or witnesses to a prospect of distancing projection onto a deep past or lost future but, rather, in the scene of our undoing. In this scene that I reframe as the Necrocene, there are still ways of doing things with being undone. Current art practice offers a new ars moriendi to make contestatorily palpable and even transform the necropolitical conditions of the Necrocene crisis by working with the strangely resilient powers of death. Current practices that deform the landscape-form demonstrate how the vulnerability of living our dying offers a queer material medium to agitate for livable life toward a black, trans* more-than-human commons.
Is this love that I’m feelin’?
Authors: Moussa Salim
Published: April 2019

Since its introduction, the brand love concept has been garnering great attention among both marketing academics and practitioners. An examination of the extant literature indicates that brand love is often offered as a relationship between the consumer and the brand. In this article, the author argues that brand love should be better conceived as an emotion rather than a relationship.
Friendships through the style choice of virtual stickers: Young adults manage aesthetic identity and emotion on a social messaging line app
Authors: Chen Chih-Ping
Published: April 2019

With social media and modern pop culture (e.g., virtual stickers) reshaping social dynamics, young Taiwanese consumers who engage in social messaging via the Line app are introducing new interaction avenues that change communication habits and style choices to meet their tastes and interpersonal needs. This article analyzes the links between style choice and young consumers’ experiences to elucidate the contours of virtual sticker possession when managing aesthetic identity and emotions for friendships. The methodological approach to this research follows the principles of interpretive phenomenology. The results demonstrate that Taiwanese culture’s consolidating forces clash with alternative styles in the different contexts of friendships. In terms of modern pop culture and Taiwanese cultural reflexivity, young consumers are contemplating the possibilities of embracing new ways of managing their friendships.
Connected and fearful? Exploring fear of online financial crime, Internet behaviour and their relationship
Authors: Brands Jelle , van Wilsem Johan
Published: April 2019

Although it is generally acknowledged that the development of the Internet created new criminal opportunities, the ways this is experienced by the general population has received limited attention. The current study seeks to explore the degrees to which people report fear of online crime, its correlates, and how online fear is related to protective and avoidance behaviour. We focus on online financial crimes. Results based on a large, representative, survey indicate an intermediate level of fear of online crime among the general Dutch population. Various sociodemographic characteristics and victimization experiences are shown to predict fear of online financial crime. We also find online fear to be a strong predictor of avoidance behaviour, given negative relationships with online purchasing and banking, thereby impeding individuals’ perceived online freedom and opportunities. Finally, the results found no indications that fear may stimulate protective behaviour of one’s computer.
Esports Research: A Literature Review
Authors: Reitman Jason G. , Anderson-Coto Maria J. , Wu Minerva , Lee Je Seok , Steinkuehler Constance
Published: April 2019

Accompanying esports’ explosion in popularity, the amount of academic research focused on organized, competitive gaming has grown rapidly. From 2002 through March 2018, esports research has developed from nonexistent into a field of study spread across seven academic disciplines. We review work in business, sports science, cognitive science, informatics, law, media studies, and sociology to understand the current state of academic research of esports and to identify convergent research questions, findings, and trends across fields.
Volatile Memories: Personal Data and Post Human Subjectivity in The Aspern Papers, Analogue: A Hate Story and Tacoma
Authors: Gallagher Rob
Published: April 2019

Contemporary narrative video games still owe a debt to notions of plotting and characterization inherited from realist novels, even as they demonstrate how digital technologies are driving the development not merely of new fictional forms but also new conceptions of identity and subjectivity. This article expands upon these claims through analyses of three texts. Published in 1888 and revised in 1908, Henry James’s novella The Aspern Papers follows a protagonist obsessed with laying his hands on a long-dead Romantic poet’s archive; released in the 21st-century, Christine Love’s (2012) Analogue: A Hate Story and Fullbright’s (2017) Tacoma imagine technologically advanced posthuman futures in order to pose questions about datafication, identity, and the terms on which the past remains accessible in the present. Considered together, they shed light on longer generic traditions, the relationship between literature and video games, and the ethical and epistemological issues raised by new technologies.
Comparing uncertainties in travel mode choice decisions for various trip chains
Authors: Wan Qian , Li Zhibin , Qi Yong , Yu Jingwei , Pu Ziyuan , Peng Guoqing , Liu Qianqian
Published: April 2019

The main purpose of this article is to compare the mode choice decisions between commuting and non-commuting trip chains and evaluate the uncertainties in the mode choice process. According to household survey data from a medium-sized city in China, the whole day of travel is divided into several types of travel chains. We used the multinomial logit model to estimate the impacts of factors on the choices of trip modes, which included walk, bike, public transit, and car. The entropy theory was introduced to evaluate the uncertainty of each traveler’s mode choice decision. The results indicate that there are great differences in mode choice between commuting and non-commuting trip chains. It is found that the causes and effects of different chains are different. The results help to understand the decision-making process of mode.
Development and validation of the Highly Effective Health Behavior Pattern Inventory – Short Form
Authors: Kang Eunkyo , Kim Soojeong , Rhee Ye E , Yun Young H
Published: April 2019

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a short form (SF) of the highly effective health behavior pattern inventory (HEBPI) for chronic disease patients for comfort to use.

Methods

HEBPI-SF is a self-reported questionnaire based on highly effective health behaviors associated with building healthy habits. HEBPI-SF was validated by calculating adjusted odds ratios (aOR) for the 12 HEBPI-SF health behavior subscales and the maintenance of the 12 corresponding health habits.

Results

HEBPI-SF developed in this study comprised 12 subscales and 53 items, utilizing patient data (N = 724) derived from the original HEBPI (12 subscales and 131items). HEBPI-SF demonstrated high reliability (Cronbach’s α of 0.703–0.859) and showed that the 12 health behaviors included in the HEBPI are associated with the maintenance of the corresponding health habits (aOR: 2.29–8.42). The scores of the HEBPI-SF showed a positive correlation with physical, mental, social, spiritual and general health status, quality of life, and self-management strategies.

Discussion

HEBPI-SF is a reliable tool for the assessment of health behaviors of chronically ill patients. Considering previous findings of simple health behaviors significantly affecting health status, this survey tool for the assessment of health behaviors is useful for promotion and maintenance of healthy habits.
ETAR and protein kinase A pathway mediate ET-1 sensitization of TRPA1 channel: A molecular mechanism of ET-1-induced mechanical hyperalgesia
Authors: Zheng Xiaoli , Tai Yan , He Dongwei , Liu Boyu , Wang Chuan , Shao Xiaomei , Jordt Sven-Eric , Liu Boyi
Published: April 2019

Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a potent endogenous vasoconstrictor that has been widely known as a pain mediator involved in various pain states. Evidence indicates that ET-1 sensitizes transient receptor potential cation channel, subfamily A, member 1 (TRPA1) in vivo. But the molecular mechanisms still remain unknown. We aim to explore whether ET-1 sensitizes TRPA1 in primary sensory neurons and the molecular mechanisms. Ca2+ imaging, immunostaining, electrophysiology, animal behavioral assay combined with pharmacological experiments were performed. ET-1 sensitized TRPA1-mediated Ca2+ responses in human embryonic kidney (HEK)293 cells as well as in cultured native mouse dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. ET-1 also sensitized TRPA1 channel currents. ET-1 sensitized TRPA1 activated by endogenous agonist H2O2. ETA receptor (ETAR) colocalized with TRPA1 in DRG neurons. ET-1-induced TRPA1 sensitization in vivo was mediated via ETAR and protein kinase A (PKA) pathway in HEK293 cells and DRG neurons. Pharmacological blocking of ETAR, PKA, and TRPA1 significantly attenuated ET-1-induced mechanical hyperalgesia in mice. Our results suggest that TRPA1 acts as a molecular target for ET-1, and sensitization of TRPA1 through ETAR–PKA pathway contributes to ET-1-induced mechanical hyperalgesia. Pharmacological targeting of TRPA1 and ETAR-PKA pathway may provide effective strategies to alleviate pain conditions associated with ET-1.
Associations between vitamin D receptor genetic variants and tuberculosis: a meta-analysis
Authors: Xu Xun , Shen Minghao
Published: April 2019

We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate potential associations between vitamin D receptor ( VDR) genetic variants and tuberculosis (TB). Systematic literature research was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to estimate strength of associations in all possible genetic models, and P values ≤ 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. In total, 42 studies were enrolled for analyses. Pooled overall analyses suggested that VDR rs1544410 (dominant model: P = 0.02; allele model: P = 0.03) and rs731236 (dominant model: P = 0.04; recessive model: P = 0.02; allele model: P = 0.01) variants were significantly associated with TB. Further subgroup analyses by ethnicity revealed that rs1544410 (dominant and allele models) and rs731236 (dominant, recessive, and allele models) variants were both significantly associated with TB in South Asians. When we stratified data by type of disease, positive results were detected for rs7975232 variant in EPTB (dominant, recessive, over-dominant, and allele models) subgroup, and for rs2228570 variant in PTB (dominant, recessive, and allele models) and EPTB (dominant, recessive, over-dominant, and allele models) subgroups. Our meta-analysis supported that rs7975232, rs1544410, rs2228570, and rs731236 variants might serve as genetic biomarkers of certain types of TB.
Switching from infliximab to biosimilar in inflammatory bowel disease: overview of the literature and perspective
Authors: Milassin Ágnes , Fábián Anna , Molnár Tamás
Published: April 2019

Background:

Biological therapy has revolutionized the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). After the expiration of patents for biological innovator products, development of biosimilars increased. CT-P13 was the first biosimilar approved for the same indications as the reference product; however, the approval was based on extrapolated data from rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. Our aim was to review clinical studies about switching from originator infliximab (IFX-O) to biosimilar infliximab (IXF-B) in IBD, focusing on recently published data and the future of biosimilars.

Methods:

The PubMed database was searched for original articles published up to 1 December 2018 reporting data on IFX-B in IBD.

Results:

A total of 29 studies assessing switching from IFX-O to IFX-B, 14 assessing induction therapy with IFX-B were found. Efficacy, safety and immunogenicity were discussed. Studies confirm that CT-P13 is safe and equally efficient as the reference product for both induction and maintenance therapy; and that switching from the reference product to biosimilar is non-inferior to continuous biosimilar use. However, efficacy and safety data on Flixabi (SB2) in IBD patients is lacking.

Conclusion:

Switching from the originator to a biosimilar in patients with IBD is acceptable, although scientific and clinical evidence is lacking regarding reverse switching, multiple switching and cross-switching among biosimilars in IBD patients.
Endovascular treatment of acute ischaemic stroke in octogenarians and nonagenarians compared with younger patients
Authors: Kawabata Yasuhiro , Nakajima Norio , Miyake Hidenori , Fukuda Shunichi , Tsukahara Tetsuya
Published: April 2019

Purpose: Endovascular therapy for emergent large vessel occlusion has been established as the standard approach for acute ischaemic stroke. However, the effectiveness and safety of endovascular therapy in the very elderly population has not been proved.

Objective: To determine the safety and effectiveness of endovascular therapy in octogenarians and nonagenarians.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all patients who underwent endovascular therapy at two stroke centres between April 2012 and July 2018. Functional outcome was assessed using the modified Rankin scale at 90 days after stroke or at discharge. A favourable outcome was defined as a modified Rankin scale score of 0–2 or not worsening of the modified Rankin scale score before stroke. Outcome was compared between younger patients (aged 46–79 years, n = 40) and octogenarians and nonagenarians (aged 80–97 years, n = 19).

Results: Octogenarian and nonagenarian patients had pre-stroke functional deficit (modified Rankin scale score >1) more frequently than younger patients (57.9% vs. 20.0%, respectively, P = 0.0059). No difference was observed between very elderly and younger patients in the rate of successful reperfusion (89.5% vs. 67.5%, respectively, P = 0.11), favourable functional outcome (47.4% vs. 45.0%, respectively, P = 1.00) and mortality (21.1% vs. 27.5%, respectively, P = 1.00). On multiple regression analysis, successful reperfusion, concomitant use of intravenous thrombolysis, and out-of-hospital onset were independent predictors of favourable outcome ( P = 0.0003, 0.015 and 0.028, respectively).

Conclusions: Successful reperfusion, concomitant use of intravenous thrombolysis, and out-of-hospital onset were clinical predictors of favourable outcome. However, we did not observe an age-dependent effect of clinical outcome after endovascular therapy.
Low Walking Impairment Questionnaire score after a recent myocardial infarction identifies patients with polyvascular disease
Authors: Jönelid Birgitta , Kragsterman Björn , Berglund Lars , Andrén Bertil , Johnston Nina , Lindahl Bertil , Oldgren Jonas , Christersson Christina
Published: April 2019

Objectives

To evaluate whether the Walking Impairment Questionnaire score could identify patients with polyvascular disease in a population with recent myocardial infarction and their association with cardiovascular events during two-year follow-up.

Design

A prospective observational study.

Setting

Patients admitted to the acute coronary care unit, the Department of Cardiology, Uppsala University Hospital.

Participants

Patients admitted with acute Non-STEMI- or STEMI-elevation myocardial infarction.

Main outcome measures

The Walking Impairment Questionnaire, developed as a self-administered instrument to assess walking distance, speed, and stair climbing in patients with peripheral artery disease, predicts future cardiovascular events and mortality. Two hundred and sixty-three patients with recent myocardial infarction answered Walking Impairment Questionnaire. Polyvascular disease was defined as abnormal findings in the coronary- and carotid arteries and an abnormal ankle–brachial index. The calculated score for each of all three categories were divided into quartiles with the lowest score in first quartile.

Results

The lowest (worst) quartile in all three Walking Impairment Questionnaire categories was associated with polyvascular disease, fully adjusted; distance, odds ratio (OR) 5.4 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.8–16.1); speed, OR 7.4 (95% CI 1.5–36.5); stair climbing, OR 8.4 (95% CI 1.0–73.6). In stair climbing score, patients with the lowest (worst) score had a higher risk for the composite cardiovascular endpoint compared to the highest (best) score; hazard ratio 5.3 (95% CI 1.5–19.0). The adherence to medical treatment was high (between 81.7% and 99.2%).

Conclusions

The Walking Impairment Questionnaire is a simple tool to identify myocardial infarction patients with more widespread atherosclerotic disease and although well treated medically, stair climbing predicts cardiovascular events.
Risk factors attributed to failure of ultrasound-guided compression for post-cardiac catheterization femoral artery pseudoaneurysms
Authors: Shatnawi Nawaf J , Al-zoubi Nabil A , Jarrah Jadallah , Khader Yousef , Heis Mowafeq , Al-Omari Mamoon H
Published: April 2019

Background:

Femoral pseudoaneurysm is the most important access site complication following cardiac catheterization. Ultrasound-guided compression repair is a safe and effective therapeutic modality with variable failure rates and risk factors. The aim of this study was to investigate which factors were associated with a higher incidence of ultrasound-guided compression repair failure for post-cardiac catheterization femoral pseudoaneurysm.

Methods:

Data were retrospectively collected from medical records at King Abdullah University Hospital during the period from January 2011 to December 2016. A total of 42 patients with post-cardiac catheterization femoral pseudoaneurysm had attempted ultrasound-guided compression repair. Data regarding patients, procedure and aneurysm-related factors were evaluated by univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression.

Results:

Ultrasound-guided compression repair failed in 31% of the patients. Patients with body mass index of ⩾28 kg/m2, platelet count of ⩽180,000/L, time lag (age of aneurysm) of >48 h following puncture time, aneurysmal neck diameter of ⩾4 mm and communicating tract length of <8 mm were associated with higher rate of ultrasound-guided compression repair failure in the univariate analysis. In the multivariate analysis, time lag (age of aneurysm) > 48 h (odds ratio = 5.7), body mass index ⩾ 28 kg/m2 (odds ratio = 7.8), neck diameter > 4 mm (odds ratio = 14.4) and tract length < 8 mm (odds ratio = 18.6) were significantly associated with ultrasound-guided compression repair failure.

Conclusion:

Ultrasound-guided compression repair for patients with post-cardiac catheterization femoral pseudoaneurysm was successful in 69% of the patients. Risk factors for failed ultrasound-guided compression repair were as follows: delayed ultrasound-guided compression repair of >48 h, body mass index ⩾ 28 kg/m2, wide neck diameter > 4 mm and short aneurysmal communication tract < 8 mm.
Understanding Cultural Heritage: Multiplicity and Contestations in Chamba Town in the Western Himalayas
Authors: Kaushal Chandan
Published: April 2019

The idea of heritage is not new; originating in the West in the nineteenth century, it travelled in the world through colonial policy. However, heritage or world heritage, as it is known today, was conceived and propagated by global agencies like UNESCO in the second half of the twentieth century. The present article aims to explore the heritage status demand for Chamba town located in the Western Himalayas. Heritage is treated here not as a thing, but as a different kind of attitude towards past. Drawing form Ericksen’s idea heritage in this article is understood as different ‘historicity regimes’.

Pursuance for heritage status for Chamba which was ruled by a single dynasty until Independence, having vibrant past, can be seen as part of globalization. Heritage here means for some a ‘brand’ for marketing a place for tourist attraction and for others preservation of antiquities or veneration of past which plays a decisive role in negotiating, maintaining and creating a group identity. Official and unofficial heritage practices coexist which sometimes lead to contestation over meaning and practice. Analysing categories that organize experiences of temporality in Chamba such as antiquity and heritage employed by scholars and practitioners are coexistent with folklore, memory and beliefs that are part of everydayness and differ from how practitioners make sense of past.
Spatial Mapping of ‘People–Place Ties’ as an Integral Part of Heritage Management Process
Authors: Nanda Gayatri , Khare Ajay
Published: April 2019

Cultural manifestations of communities imbue deep-rooted meanings to places and establish intricate webs of relationships between people and places. These relationships cohesively add to the unique heritage of any place. In this era of urbanization, these webs are getting ruptured to make way for a globalized, homogenized and incoherent built environment leading to the loss of meanings, associations and identities. With the increasing recognition for the need of a holistic heritage management in both national and global platforms, a probe towards formulating a framework for such interventions becomes extremely essential today.

This article signifies the role of spatial mapping of ‘people–place ties’ in the heritage management process. The methodology of documenting community–place relationships, mapping and interpreting maps to form a basis for interventions is demonstrated by taking the case of Puri, India. A number of research methods such as mental maps, essays and precoded questionnaire surveys have been used. To visualize this qualitative aspect, choropleth maps have been generated with the help of Geographic Information System (GIS) to be compared for residents of various age groups to interpret built environment qualities which need to be conserved/intervened. Thus, this process could be a part of a framework designed to sensitively intervene in rapidly transforming morphologies of heritage cities and help in sustaining and reinforcing their ‘place identity’.
Review of Restoration Methods: Pyramids and Temples in Sudan
Authors: Fahmi Maha Mohani , Ahmad Yahaya Bin , Hashim Helena Aman
Published: April 2019

For future generations, comprehensive pragmatic restoration is very important for preserving and maintaining the nation’s history and heritage monuments. It requires archival documents, rigorous investigation and correct diagnosing of deteriorations before commencing on any restoration interventions. Three case studies from Sudan World Heritage Sites have been selected in order to throw light on pervious restoration problems and the methods employed. Fieldtrips and observations were carried out in addition to interviews with the National Corporation Antiquities and Museum (NCAM) staff and international directors. This article focuses on identifying the methodology needed to alleviate the problems while given more attention in protecting the authenticity aspects of the monuments. The article also seeks to highlight the need for greater awareness of the long-term maintenance of heritage monuments and sites. The study revealed that better awareness and continuous maintenance and capacity building among the local conservationists and leaders could significantly raise the effort to implement authentic restoration and sustaining conservation practice.
Crisis management in the treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: putting right what can go wrong (emergency complications of disease and treatment)
Authors: Hough Rachael , Vora Ajay
Published: April 2019

The improvement in overall survival in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) over the last 5 decades has been considerable, with around 90% now surviving long term. The risk of relapse has been reduced to such an extent that the risk of treatment-related mortality is now approaching that of mortality caused by relapse. Toxicities may also lead to the suboptimal delivery of chemotherapy (treatment delays, dose reductions, dose omissions), potentially increasing relapse risk, and short- and long-term morbidity, adding to the “burden of therapy” in an increasing number of survivors. Thus, the need to reduce toxicity in pediatric ALL is becoming increasingly important. This work focuses on the risk factors, pathogenesis, clinical features, and emergency management of the life-threatening complications of ALL at presentation and during subsequent chemotherapy, including leucostasis, tumor lysis syndrome, infection, methotrexate encephalopathy, thrombosis, and pancreatitis. Potential strategies to abrogate these toxicities in the future are also discussed.
Progress in adult ALL: incorporation of new agents to frontline treatment
Authors: Leonard Jessica , Stock Wendy
Published: April 2019

Treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in adults remains a challenge, as the delivery of intensive chemotherapeutic regimens in this population is less feasible than it is in the pediatric population. This has led to higher rates of treatment-related toxicity as well as lower overall survival in the adult population. Over the past several years, a host of novel therapies (eg, immunotherapy and targeted therapies) with better tolerability than traditional chemotherapy are now being introduced into the relapsed/refractory population with very encouraging results. Additionally, insights into how to choose effective therapies for patients while minimizing drug toxicity through pharmacogenomics and the use of minimal residual disease (MRD) monitoring to escalate/de-escalate therapy have enhanced our ability to reduce treatment-related toxicity. This has led to the design of a number of clinical trials which incorporate both novel therapeutics as well as MRD-directed treatment pathways into the frontline setting. The use of increasingly personalized treatment strategies for specific disease subsets combined with standardized and rapid molecular diagnostic testing in the initial diagnosis and frontline treatment of ALL will hopefully lead to further improvements in survival for our adult patients.