bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Interdependent and Independent Priming on Western Participants’ Ability to Perceive Changes in Visual Scenes
Authors: Choi Hohyung , Connor Cherelle B. , Wason Sarah E. , Kahan Todd A.
Published: September 2015

The current study examined whether priming interdependent relative to independent self-knowledge would induce different thinking styles among Western participants, and whether this would, in turn, affect the speed of detecting changes in a change-blindness task. Based on predictions from the semantic–procedural interface model, we predicted that participants would attend more to the context following an interdependent self-construal priming manipulation than following an independent self-construal priming manipulation. Sixty individuals were asked to circle the pronouns we/us/our or I/me/my in a paragraph of text. Following this, all participants were shown alternating images in a change-blindness task. Reaction times and accuracy rates at identifying focal and contextual changes were measured. Though our Western participants were faster at identifying changes in focal objects relative to contextual objects, this difference in reaction times was reduced in half for participants who were primed with interdependency (we/us/our pronoun circling) relative to independence (I/me/my pronoun circling). This result is consistent with the claim that interdependent and independent self-construals are stored in a semantic network which is connected to different procedural modes of thinking and that by priming these different views of the self, participants activate a mode of thinking that influences attention.
A pilot single-blind multicentre randomized controlled trial to evaluate the potential benefits of computer-assisted arm rehabilitation gaming technology on the arm function of children with spastic cerebral palsy
Authors: Preston Nick , Weightman Andrew , Gallagher Justin , Levesley Martin , Mon-Williams Mark , Clarke Mike , O’Connor Rory J
Published: September 2015

Objective:

To evaluate the potential benefits of computer-assisted arm rehabilitation gaming technology on arm function of children with spastic cerebral palsy.

Design:

A single-blind randomized controlled trial design. Power calculations indicated that 58 children would be required to demonstrate a clinically important difference.

Setting:

Intervention was home-based; recruitment took place in regional spasticity clinics.

Participants:

A total of 15 children with cerebral palsy aged five to 12 years were recruited; eight to the device group.

Interventions:

Both study groups received ‘usual follow-up treatment’ following spasticity treatment with botulinum toxin; the intervention group also received a rehabilitation gaming device.

Main measures:

ABILHAND-kids and Canadian Occupational Performance Measure were performed by blinded assessors at baseline, six and 12 weeks.

Results:

An analysis of covariance showed no group differences in mean ABILHAND-kids scores between time points. A non-parametric analysis of variance on Canadian Occupational Performance Measure scores showed a statistically significant improvement across time points (χ2 (2,15) = 6.778, p = 0.031), but this improvement did not reach minimal clinically important difference. Mean daily device use was seven minutes. Recruitment did not reach target owing to unanticipated staff shortages in clinical services. Feedback from children and their families indicated that the games were not sufficiently engaging to promote sufficient use that was likely to result in functional benefits.

Conclusion:

This study suggests that computer-assisted arm rehabilitation gaming does not benefit arm function, but a Type II error cannot be ruled out.
Transgender Inmates in Prisons
Authors: Routh Douglas , Abess Gassan , Makin David , Stohr Mary K. , Hemmens Craig , Yoo Jihye
Published: September 2015

Transgender inmates provide a conundrum for correctional staff, particularly when it comes to classification, victimization, and medical and health issues. Using LexisNexis and WestLaw and state Department of Corrections (DOC) information, we collected state statutes and DOC policies concerning transgender inmates. We utilized academic legal research with content analysis to determine whether a statute or policy addressed issues concerning classification procedures, access to counseling services, the initiation and continuation of hormone therapy, and sex reassignment surgery. We found that while more states are providing either statutory or policy guidelines for transgender inmates, a number of states are lagging behind and there is a shortage of guidance dealing with the medical issues related to being transgender.
Egypt’s Neoliberal Reforms and the Moral Economy of Bread
Authors: Frerichs Sabine
Published: September 2015

The Egyptian Revolution 2011 has its roots in neoliberal policies, the premises of which are not shared by a large part of the Egyptian population. Starting from the call for “bread, freedom, social justice,” this paper sheds light on the moral economy of the Egyptian people and finds the seeds of the revolution in a loss of entitlements which structural adjustment policies entailed for Egyptians as producers and consumers of bread, the symbol of life.
Sexual Attitudes Moderate the Effects of Alcohol Intoxication on Women’s Risk Judgments
Authors: Yeater Elizabeth A. , Treat Teresa A. , Viken Richard J. , Lenberg Kathryn L.
Published: September 2015

This study evaluated the effects of alcohol intoxication, sexual attitudes, and sexual victimization history on the cognitive processes underlying undergraduate women’s risk judgments. Participants were 116 unmarried, undergraduate women between the ages of 21 and 29. The sample was diverse ethnically and composed primarily of heterosexual women. Stimuli were written vignettes describing social situations that varied on dimensions of sexual victimization risk and potential impact on women’s popularity. Participants were assigned randomly to an alcohol or a no-alcohol condition, and completed an explicit classification task in which they rated how risky each situation was in terms of their having an unwanted sexual experience. They then completed the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES) and the Sociosexuality Scale (SS); SES responses were used to quantify the severity of victimization experiences, and SS responses were used to measure endorsement of positive attitudes toward casual, impersonal sex. Although there was no main effect for condition, higher sociosexuality predicted use of higher thresholds for judging situations as risky. Importantly, sociosexuality interacted with condition such that higher sociosexuality predicted lower sensitivity to risk information in the alcohol condition but not in the no-alcohol condition. More severe victimization history predicted increased use of popularity impactwhen judging risk. This study emphasizes the importance of identifying specific cognitive processes affected by alcohol that may explain why women have difficulty processing contextual cues signaling risk in social situations. It demonstrates also the relevance of examining individual difference factors that may exacerbate the relationship between intoxication and cognitive processing of risk-relevant information.
Blood binds: Confronting the moral and political economies of orphanhood and adoption in Uganda
Authors: Cheney Kristen
Published: September 2015

Strong extended-family fostering traditions and beliefs about “blood” as a substance that not only binds kin but also carries pathogens like HIV and certain character traits make formal adoption of unrelated children rare. Even so, there is strong public sentiment against the increasing number of foreigners seeking to adopt Ugandan children in the wake of other African countries closing adoption programs. Institutionalized orphans are thus in a double “blood bind,”—where, on one hand, they are nobody’s children but, on the other, they are Uganda’s children—rekindling Ugandan debates about orphan care against the hegemonic, international moral and political economies of adoption. This article examines how the situation is confronting Ugandan conceptions of kinship, belonging, and child protection—the moral and political economies of Ugandan “blood binds.”
‘Foreign agents’ in the field of social policy research: The demise of civil liberties and academic freedom in contemporary Russia
Authors: Romanov Pavel , Iarskaia-Smirnova Elena
Published: September 2015

Independent scholarship in the Russian social sciences has received significant support from the West in the 1990s, but since 2000, it has faced increasing difficulties. In this overview, the authors describe the development of the non-profit sector and its relationship with academia from the founding of the Soviet state to today, paying particular attention to the social sciences and social policy analysis. The survival of many independent research facilities established over the last decades is threatened by a government deeply suspicious of Western influence. This will limit the possibilities to include Russia in comparative research and make collaboration between Russian and international social scientists much more difficult.
An embedded sectioning scheme for multiprocessor topology-aware mapping of irregular applications
Authors: Kirmani Shad , Park Jeonghyung , Raghavan Padma
Published: September 2015

We consider the problem of mapping irregular applications to multiprocessor architectures whose interconnect topologies affect the latencies of data movement across processor nodes. The starting point for solutions to this problem concerns suitable weighted graph representations of an irregular application and a processor topology. Prior results for this problem have demonstrated that graph partitioning approaches can provide high-quality solutions. Additionally, when coordinate information is available for the weighted graph of the application, the geometric mapping schemes can also provide high-quality solutions. We develop and present a scheme that we call ‘embedded sectioning’ that directly computes a locality enhancing embedding of the weighted graph representation which is then mapped to the processor topology using recursive coordinate bisection. Our scheme is specifically directed at gaining high-quality mappings for highly irregular applications where the amount of communication can vary greatly. We evaluate the quality of mappings produced by embedded sectioning for mesh-based processor topologies using well-accepted measures including congestion, dilation and their product, referred to as the communication volume. For a test suite of unit-weight graphs mapped to a 32 × 32 mesh of processors, our method improves congestion by 26%, dilation by 52% and communication volume by 64% relative to the best values of these measures from nine other schemes. Additionally, we observe that these improvements increase with an increase in the skewness of communication in applications. For a test suite with a skewness of two the corresponding improvements for congestion, dilation and communication volume are 72%, 52% and 87%, respectively.
Republicanism and the political economy of democracy
Authors: Casassas David , De Wispelaere Jurgen
Published: September 2015

Europe is experiencing rapidly accelerating poverty and social exclusion, following half a decade of financial crisis and austerity politics. The key problem behind Europe's malaise, in our view, is the economic disenfranchisement of large parts of its population in the winner-takes-all-society. This article proposes that we examine the contribution of republican political theory as a distinctive approach that provides us with the conceptual and normative resources to reclaim what we call the political economy of democracy, the constellation of political and economic institutions aimed at promoting broad economic sovereignty and individuals’ capacities to govern their own lives. This article identifies three key ideas that together constitute a distinctively republican approach to political economy: (1) establish an economic floor; (2) impose an economic ceiling to counter excess economic inequality; and (3) democratize the governance and regulation of the main economic institutions.
Theodor W. Adorno’s homecoming
Authors: Bielsa Esperança
Published: September 2015

Theodor Adorno has often been portrayed as the prototypical example of the permanent exile, even though, after living fifteen years in Britain and the US, he returned to Germany in 1949 and spent the last twenty years of his life there. This article traces Adorno’s reflections on his homecoming and analyses how his experiences of exile and return shaped his mature thought. Conceiving homecoming not simply as a return to one’s origins but as a continuation of a radical experience of the foreign, it builds on the remarkable continuity of Adorno’s theory of intellectual experience over time. The article also explores homecoming in relation to Adorno’s thought on language and translation, an aspect that has been little studied in the existing literature, both in terms of the articulation of a philosophy of language where the foreign plays an important role, and in terms of how language and translation were directly connected with Adorno’s return.
Private education, positional goods, and the arms race problem
Authors: Halliday Daniel
Published: September 2015

This article defends the view that markets in education need to be restricted, in light of the problem posed by what I call the ‘educational arms race’. Markets in education have a tendency to distort an important balance between education’s role as a gatekeeper – its ‘screening’ function – and its role in helping children develop as part of a preparation for adult life. This tendency is not merely a contingent fact about markets: It can be traced to ways in which education is a partly positional good and how markets respond to (and stimulate) demand for positional goods over non-positional goods. The problem with arms races is that they allow markets to facilitate wider use of defection in a collective action problem. Using these claims, I argue that markets in education have a distinctive tendency to become objectionably exploitative. I conclude by applying some of my conclusions to illuminate various egalitarian claims about justice in education.
Stress Testing of an Artificial Pancreas System With Pizza and Exercise Leads to Improvements in the System’s Fuzzy Logic Controller
Authors: Mauseth Richard , Lord Sandra M. , Hirsch Irl B. , Kircher Robert C. , Matheson Don P. , Greenbaum Carla J.
Published: September 2015

Background:

Under controlled conditions, the Dose Safety artificial pancreas (AP) system controller, which utilizes “fuzzy logic” (FL) methodology to calculate and deliver appropriate insulin dosages based on changes in blood glucose, successfully managed glycemic excursions. The aim of this study was to show whether stressing the system with pizza (high carbohydrate/high fat) meals and exercise would reveal deficits in the performance of the Dose Safety FL controller (FLC) and lead to improvements in the dosing matrix.

Methods:

Ten subjects with type 1 diabetes (T1D) were enrolled and participated in 30 studies (17 meal, 13 exercise) using 2 versions of the FLC. After conducting 13 studies with the first version (FLC v2.0), interim results were evaluated and the FLC insulin-dosing matrix was modified to create a new controller version (FLC v2.1) that was validated through regression testing using v2.0 CGM datasets prior to its use in clinical studies. The subsequent 17 studies were performed using FLC v2.1.

Results:

Use of FLC v2.1 vs FLC v2.0 in the pizza meal tests showed improvements in mean blood glucose (205 mg/dL vs 232 mg/dL, P = .04). FLC v2.1 versus FLC v2.0 in exercise tests showed improvements in mean blood glucose (146 mg/dL vs 201 mg/dL, P = .004), percentage time spent >180 mg/dL (19.3% vs 46.7%, P = .001), and percentage time spent 70-180 mg/dL (80.0% vs 53.3%, P = .002).

Conclusion:

Stress testing the AP system revealed deficits in the FLC performance, which led to adjustments to the dosing matrix followed by improved FLC performance when retested.
Lighting and Nurses at Medical–Surgical Units
Authors: Hadi Khatereh , DuBose Jennifer R. , Ryherd Erica
Published: September 2015

Objective:

This study investigates the perception of nurses about their lighting environment at medical–surgical hospital units in order to understand areas of improvement for lighting at these units.

Background:

The bulk of the research about nurses and lighting is focused on nighttime nursing, exploring the disruptions of nurses’ circadian rhythm and maintaining alertness. The understanding of nurses’ perception about lighting and its impact on nurses’ task performance and patient examination remains imprecise.

Methods:

This study used an online survey to ask a set of questions about lighting in medical–surgical units at five key locations including centralized nurse stations, decentralized nurse stations (DCNS), patient bedsides, patient bathrooms, and corridors from 393 survey participants. It then explored the survey findings in more depth through conducting focus groups with eight volunteer nurses.

Results:

Lighting conditions at patient besides and DCNSs were significantly less desirable for nurses compared to other locations. A significant relationship between nurses’ access to lighting controls (switches and dimmers) and satisfaction about the lighting environment was found. No significant relationship was observed between the individual characteristics of nurses (such as age, years of experience, etc.) and findings of this study.

Conclusions:

Thoughtful design of the lighting environment can improve nurses’ satisfaction and perception about their working environment.
Interventions to Increase Dairy Consumption in Adolescents
Authors: Marquez Olivia , Racey Megan , Preyde Michèle , Hendrie Gilly A. , Newton Genevieve
Published: September 2015

Objective. Effective interventions are needed to address the reported inadequacies of dairy product and calcium (Ca) intakes among adolescents. The present review investigated interventions aimed at increasing adolescent dairy and/or Ca intakes and determined the characteristics associated with successful interventions. Design. A PRISMA systematic review search identified 17 interventions, described in 16 publications, between 1993 and 2015 (February). Studies were evaluated for population, delivery, dietary targets and outcomes measures, measure of intervention intensity, use of behavior change techniques, intervention effectiveness, and effect size and quality. Setting. Interventions targeting an increase in dairy food or Ca intake, either exclusively or in combination with other dietary modifications. Subjects. Adolescents, aged 12 to 18 years. Results. Twelve of the 17 interventions were found to be effective. Effective interventions tended to be higher in overall intensity (mean intensity: negative interventions 12.2, positive interventions 14.25), with the most notable difference in the duration category, such that effective interventions tended to be longer in duration. The number of behavior change techniques applied did not differentiate effective and ineffective interventions, but prompting the review of behavioral goals and including interviews or brief counseling appeared to be important for effective interventions. Effective interventions tended to have higher methodological quality, while the majority of ineffective interventions were qualitatively assessed as weak. Conclusions. The current review has identified characteristics of effective interventions that offer insight into promising strategies likely to increase dairy consumption and Ca intakes in countries where adolescent intake is insufficient. These findings may have important implications for future intervention design.
Pooping Shouldn’t Be This Hard
Authors: Childs Akosua A. , John Rita Marie
Published: September 2015

Primary care providers commonly see and treat cases of constipation. The condition can be emotionally and financially taxing for the patient and family. Nutrition as a therapeutic measure for constipation should be discussed with the family as an acceptable nonpharmacologic solution. There is not enough equivocal evidence to support or discredit the use of nutrition as the only tool in addressing constipation, and additional research is still needed to understand its role in functional constipation. Improved nutrition as treatment for functional constipation may be requested by patients, with no harmful consequences. This article intends to summarize the available clinical evidence regarding the use of diet and nutrition to resolve functional constipation in the pediatric primary care setting.
Screening for Metabolic Bone Disease in Preterm Infants
Authors: Stewart Kathryn , Rittenhouse Melissa , Gloeckner Janet , Torisky Danielle
Published: September 2015

Objective. To determine which method(s) of metabolic bone disease (MBD) screening and treatment seem(s) to be most common in current neonatal intensive care units (NICU) across the country. Methods. Used an anonymous survey to determine current practices of NICUs across the country regarding MBD screening and treatment methods. Results. Ninety-four percent of participants worked in NICUs where infants are checked for MBD. One hundred percent of participants used alkaline phosphatase to check for MBD in their NICUs, while other biochemical laboratory values were used less frequently. Conclusion. It is clear that further research is needed to identify biochemical laboratory values and/or radiological techniques that can be used as reliable MBD screening tools.
Myelodysplastic Syndrome Presenting as Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia in a Collodion Baby
Authors: Al Pakra Mohammed , Al Jabri Abdullah , Hanafy Ehab
Published: September 2015

We report a rare case of myelodysplastic syndrome that presented early as amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia in a collodion baby, which is a rare congenital disorder characterized by thick, taut membrane resembling oiled parchment or collodion, which is subsequently shed. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of a collodion baby who presented with amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia and who has a significant family history of the same condition. We document the rarity of this possible association and also the need for further study to establish whether a causal relationship exists.
A Doctor’s Worth
Authors: Roth Louise Marie
Published: September 2015

Pay-for-performance (P4P) programs, based on productivity, patient satisfaction, quality of care, efficiency profiling, or unspecified criteria have become popular in American medicine. Theoretically, such programs hold the potential to narrow the gender pay gap among physicians by employing what are arguably neutral, meritocratic criteria. Such criteria are often unspecified in prior analyses but in reality may include a host of indicators, including objective features of performance, dimensions that entail a high degree of discretion, and gendered aspects, such as masculine competence (i.e., intelligence, confidence, efficiency, and decisiveness) or feminine warmth (i.e., kindness, trustworthiness, sympathy, and selflessness). Using data from four waves of the Community Tracking Study (CTS) Physician Surveys, I analyze the effects of such unique P4P criteria on the gender pay gaps among physicians. Most notable among findings is more pronounced gender inequality when criteria are unspecified as opposed to being based on productivity. No effect is found when P4P centers on warmer patient satisfaction criteria. I conclude by discussing how and why P4P schemes may reduce but also exacerbate gender inequalities in pay.
Evolution of the avian β-defensin and cathelicidin genes
Authors: Cheng Yuanyuan , Prickett Michael Dennis , Gutowska Weronika , Kuo Richard , Belov Katherine , Burt David W.
Published: September 2015

Background

β-defensins and cathelicidins are two families of cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) with a broad range of antimicrobial activities that are key components of the innate immune system. Due to their important roles in host defense against rapidly evolving pathogens, the two gene families provide an ideal system for studying adaptive gene evolution. In this study we performed phylogenetic and selection analyses on β-defensins and cathelicidins from 53 avian species representing 32 orders to examine the evolutionary dynamics of these peptides in birds.

Results and conclusions

Avian β-defensins are found in a gene cluster consisting of 13 subfamiles. Nine of these are conserved as one to one orthologs in all birds, while the others (AvBD1, AvBD3, AvBD7 and AvBD14) are more subject to gene duplication or pseudogenisation events in specific avian lineages. Avian cathelicidins are found in a gene cluster consisting of three subfamilies with species-specific duplications and gene loss. Evidence suggested that the propiece and mature peptide domains of avian cathelicidins are possibly co-evolving in such a way that the cationicity of the mature peptide is partially neutralised by the negative charge of the propiece prior to peptide secretion (further evidence obtained by repeating the analyses on primate cathelicidins). Negative selection (overall mean dN < dS) was detected in most of the gene domains examined, conserving certain amino acid residues that may be functionally crucial for the avian β-defensins and cathelicidins, while episodic positive selection was also involved in driving the diversification of specific codon sites of certain AMPs in avian evolutionary history. These findings have greatly improved our understanding of the molecular evolution of avian AMPs and will be useful to understand their role in the avian innate immune response. Additionally, the large dataset of β-defensin and cathelicidin peptides may also provide a valuable resource for translational research and development of novel antimicrobial agents in the future.
To beta block or not to beta block; that is the question
Authors: Ince Can
Published: September 2015

The fast-acting β-1 blocker esmolol has been the center of attention since the landmark article by Morrelli and colleagues suggesting that, in patients with sepsis, reducing heart rate by administering esmolol can result in a survival benefit. However, the use of esmolol for the treatment of sepsis and the underlying mechanism responsible for this benefit remain controversial. This commentary discusses the study by Jacquet-Lagrèze and colleagues, who in a pig model of sepsis tested the hypothesis that administration of esmolol to reduce heart rate may correct sepsis-induced sublingual and gut microcirculatory alterations which are known to be associated with adverse outcome.
Targeting stem cell niche can protect hematopoietic stem cells from chemotherapy and G-CSF treatment
Authors: Li Sidan , Zou Dehui , Li Changhong , Meng Hengxing , Sui Weiwei , Feng Sizhou , Cheng Tao , Zhai Qiongli , Qiu Lugui
Published: September 2015

Introduction

Hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) reside in a tightly controlled local microenvironment called bone marrow niche. The specialized microenvironment or niche not only provides a favorable habitat for HSPC maintenance and development but also governs stem cell function.

Method

We investigated the effect of cytotoxic drugs on bone marrow niche. To mimic the multiple rounds of chemotherapy followed by autologous hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) transplantation in a clinical setting, we further verified the hypothesis that targeting the niche might improve stem cell–based therapies in mouse models.

Results

We found that multiple rounds of cytotoxic drug treatment significantly disrupted niche and serum osteocalcin level was significantly reduced after treatment in autologous HSPCs transplanted patients (P= 0.01). In mouse models, the number of CD45−Ter119−OPN+osteoblasts was significantly reduced after multiple rounds of chemotherapies and granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) treatment (P < 0.01). Parathyroid hormone (PTH) or receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL) treatment significantly increased the number of HSCs mobilized into peripheral blood (PB) for stem cell harvesting and protected stem cells from repeated exposure to cytotoxic chemotherapy. Treatments with G-CSF and PTH significantly increased the preservation of the HSC pool (P < 0.05). Moreover, recipient mice transplanted with circulation HSPCs that were previously treated with PTH and RANKL showed robust myeloid and lymphatic cell engraftment compared to the mice transplanted with HSCs after chemotherapy or G-CSF treatment.

Conclusion

These data provide new evidence that the niche may be an important target for drug-based stem cell therapy.
Incidence of differentiated thyroid cancer in Canada by City of residence
Authors: Corsten Martin J. , Hearn Matthew , McDonald James Ted , Johnson-Obaseki Stephanie
Published: September 2015

Background

Thyroid cancer incidence in Canada is increased in high socioeconomic groups, and in urban compared with rural areas. The objective of this study was to analyze patterns in thyroid cancer incidence across Canada, particularly with respect to the major urban areas across the country, to identify whether there are any discrepancies in thyroid cancer incidence between Canadian cities.

Methods

Cases were drawn from the Canadian Cancer Registry. Demographic and socioeconomic information were extracted from the Canadian Census of Population data. We linked cases to income quintiles (InQs) by patients’ postal codes, and categorized residence by census metropolitan area ((CMA), population >100,000). Within the Toronto CMA we further classified by census subdivision (CSD).

Results

There were a total of 33 CMAs across the country. After controlling for demographic and socio-economic factors, we found that the Toronto CMA had an IRR of thyroid cancer that was significantly higher than all other CMAs across the country. For 70 % of CMAs and CAs across Canada, the IRR for thyroid cancer was less than half of the IRR for thyroid cancer in the Toronto CMA. As Toronto is one of the largest CMAs, we then subdivided the Toronto area into CSDs to examine how incidence of thyroid cancer varies within this large area. The Toronto City core was used as the reference category and all other areas were compared directly to it. In doing so, we found that a contiguous area of three CSDs North of Toronto had higher IRRs compared with the Toronto city core: Markham, Vaughan and Richmond Hill.

Conclusions

After controlling for demographic and socioeconomic factors, we found that the Toronto CMA has the highest incidence of thyroid cancer nationwide. Several explanations could account for this discrepancy including increased detection due to increased access to imaging, differences in ethnicity or environmental exposures.
Correlation of PET-CT nodal SUVmax with p16 positivity in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma
Authors: Clark Jessica , Jeffery Caroline C. , Zhang Han , Cooper Tim , O'Connell Daniel A. , Harris Jeffrey , Seikaly Hadi , Biron Vincent L.
Published: September 2015

Background

The incidence of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) has been rising in recent years. Given the clinical impact of HPV/p16 positivity in OPSCC, identifying surrogate markers of this disease early in the diagnostic work-up of these patients could improve patient care.

Methods

Demographic, pathologic, staging and PET-CT data from patients diagnosed with OPSCC from 2009–2014 were obtained from a prospectively collected provincial cancer registry. Tumor HPV/p16 status was correlated to the maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax) of the primary tumor and cervical nodes. Comparisons of means and multinomial regression models were used to determine associations between p16 status and SUVmax. A diagnostic odds ratio was calculated using a cut off value for predicting HPV/p16 positivity based on nodal SUVmax.

Results

PET-CT and HPV/p16 data was obtained for 65 patients treated surgically for OPSCC. Significantly higher nodal SUVmax was associated with HPV/p16 positive nodes (SUVmax 10.8 vs 7.9). No significant differences were seen between HPV/p16 positive vs negative primary tumor SUVmax (10.3 vs 13.7). In combination with other clinical parameters, higher nodal SUVmax was highly correlated with HPV/p16 positivity.

Conclusion

Elevated nodal SUVmax is a significant predictor of HPV/p16 positive disease.
Surgical Excision Without Radiation for Ductal Carcinoma in Situ of the Breast: 12-Year Results From the ECOG-ACRIN E5194 Study
Authors: Solin Lawrence J. , Gray Robert , Hughes Lorie L. , Wood William C. , Lowen Mary Ann , Badve Sunil S. , Baehner Frederick L. , Ingle James N. , Perez Edith A. , Recht Abram , Sparano Joseph A. , Davidson Nancy E.
Published: September 2015

Purpose

To determine the 12-year risk of developing an ipsilateral breast event (IBE) for women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) of the breast treated with surgical excision (lumpectomy) without radiation.

Patients and Methods

A prospective clinical trial was performed for women with DCIS who were selected for low-risk clinical and pathologic characteristics. Patients were enrolled onto one of two study cohorts (not randomly assigned): cohort 1: low- or intermediate-grade DCIS, tumor size 2.5 cm or smaller (n = 561); or cohort 2: high-grade DCIS, tumor size 1 cm or smaller (n = 104). Protocol specifications included excision of the DCIS tumor with a minimum negative margin width of at least 3 mm. Tamoxifen (not randomly assigned) was given to 30% of the patients. An IBE was defined as local recurrence of DCIS or invasive carcinoma in the treated breast. Median follow-up time was 12.3 years.

Results

There were 99 IBEs, of which 51 (52%) were invasive. The IBE and invasive IBE rates increased over time in both cohorts. The 12-year rates of developing an IBE were 14.4% for cohort 1 and 24.6% for cohort 2 (P = .003). The 12-year rates of developing an invasive IBE were 7.5% and 13.4%, respectively (P = .08). On multivariable analysis, study cohort and tumor size were both significantly associated with developing an IBE (P = .009 and P = .03, respectively).

Conclusion

For patients with DCIS selected for favorable clinical and pathologic characteristics and treated with excision without radiation, the risks of developing an IBE and an invasive IBE increased through 12 years of follow-up, without plateau. These data help inform the treatment decision-making process for patients and their physicians.
Improving Prospects for Targeting RAS
Authors: Singh Harshabad , Longo Dan L. , Chabner Bruce A.
Published: September 2015

RAS mutations are among the most common oncogenic drivers in human cancers, affecting nearly a third of all solid tumors and around a fifth of common myeloid malignancies, but they have evaded therapeutic interventions, despite being the focus of intense research over the last three decades. Recent discoveries lend new understanding about the structure, function, and signaling of RAS and have opened new avenues for development of much needed new therapies. We discuss the various approaches under investigation to target mutant RAS proteins. The recent development of direct RAS inhibitors specific to KRAS G12C mutations represents a landmark discovery that promises to change the perception about RAS's druggability. Multiple clinical trials targeting synthetically lethal partners and/or downstream signaling partners of RAS are underway. Novel inhibitors targeting various arms of RAS processing and signaling have yielded encouraging results in the laboratory, but refinement of the drug-like properties of these molecules is required before they will be ready for the clinic.
Strange Bedfellows at the Revue Wagnérienne: Wagnerism at the Fin de Siècle
Authors: Maynard Kelly J.
Published: September 2015

This article reexamines the legacy of Wagnerism in France through the lens of cultural and intellectual history. Taking the Revue wagnérienne (1885–88) as its central subject of analysis, it demonstrates that contributors to the Revue developed from Richard Wagner's work several strategies for transcending the Franco-German nationalist conflicts so trenchant in the 1880s. Falling beyond the confines of any one academic discipline or aesthetic category, the Wagnerism presented on the pages of the Revue wagnérienne borrowed from scientific thought, aesthetics, religion, and politics in equal measure. This comingling of approaches expressed by the authors suggests that Wagnerism in the 1880s created an intellectual space for seemingly contradictory perspectives to coexist. Grappling with Wagner's works and ideas, then, provided French intellectuals with an opportunity to imagine alternatives to many of the political, cultural, and ideological polarizations of the early Third Republic.
From the Firm to Economic Policy: The Problem of Coase's Cost
Authors: Bertrand Elodie
Published: September 2015

One of Ronald Coase's insights was to extend the economic theory of choice to include the policy choice among institutional arrangements, which had to be analyzed with the same framework as the producer's choice. Both choices, he argued, are amenable to an opportunity-cost approach. The similarity he points to, however, is somewhat limited: while some of his articles from the 1930s stressed the subjectivity of producers' decisions, his later criticisms of standard policies, as well as the method he suggests for the design of policy, are based on the idea that costs are objective and measurable. Are the subjective aspects of the production decision reconcilable with the objective aspects of the policy decision in Coase's analysis? I shall argue that the framework he adopts is objectivist or subjectivist depending on the nature of the criticism he is leveling against standard theory and on the type of decision he is studying. Eventually he did propose a univocal analysis—an objectivist one—of the producer's decision between making and buying and the policy decision among institutional arrangements. This essay initiates a study of Coase's theory of decision. It returns to his subjectivist account of choice and contributes to solving the apparent contradiction between the subjectivist young Coase and the more mature objectivist scholar. It thereby sets out the diversity of the criticisms that Coase levels against standard theory and shows the evolution of his strategy. Ultimately, the problem of the difference between Coase's analyses of production decisions and policy decisions is more subtle than simply being an apparent contradiction: it turns on the subjectivity of individual decisions having no consequence for his analysis of policy.
Endothelial cell division in angiogenic sprouts of differing cellular architecture
Authors: Aydogan Vahap , Lenard Anna , Denes Alexandru Stefan , Sauteur Loic , Belting Heinz-Georg , Affolter Markus
Published: September 2015

The vasculature of the zebrafish trunk is composed of tubes with different cellular architectures. Unicellular tubes form their lumen through membrane invagination and transcellular cell hollowing, whereas multicellular vessels become lumenized through a chord hollowing process. Endothelial cell proliferation is essential for the subsequent growth and maturation of the blood vessels. However, how cell division, lumen formation and cell rearrangement are coordinated during angiogenic sprouting has so far not been investigated at detailed cellular level. Reasoning that different tubular architectures may impose discrete mechanistic constraints on endothelial cell division, we analyzed and compared the sequential steps of cell division, namely mitotic rounding, cytokinesis, actin re-distribution and adherence junction formation, in different blood vessels. In particular, we characterized the interplay between cell rearrangement, mitosis and lumen dynamics within unicellular and multicellular tubes. The lumen of unicellular tubes becomes constricted and is ultimately displaced from the plane of cell division, where a de novo junction forms through the recruitment of junctional proteins at the site of abscission. By contrast, the new junctions separating the daughter cells within multicellular tubes form through the alteration of pre-existing junctions, and the lumen is retained throughout mitosis. We also describe variations in the progression of cytokinesis: while membrane furrowing between daughter cells is symmetric in unicellular tubes, we found that it is asymmetric in those multicellular tubes that contained a taut intercellular junction close to the plane of division. Our findings illustrate that during the course of normal development, the cell division machinery can accommodate multiple tube architectures, thereby avoiding disruptions to the vascular network.
Modeling dioxygenase enzyme kinetics in familial paraganglioma
Authors: Peters Justin P. , Her Yeng F. , Maher L. James
Published: September 2015

Hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs) play vital roles in cellular maintenance of oxygen homeostasis. These transcription factors are responsible for the expression of genes involved in angiogenesis, metabolism, and cell proliferation. Here, we generate a detailed mathematical model for the enzyme kinetics of α-ketoglutarate-dependent HIF prolyl 4-hydroxylase domain (PHD) dioxygenases to simulate our in vitro data showing synergistic PHD inhibition by succinate and hypoxia in experimental models of succinate dehydrogenase loss, which phenocopy familial paraganglioma. Our mathematical model confirms the inhibitory synergy of succinate and hypoxia under physiologically-relevant conditions. In agreement with our experimental data, the model predicts that HIF1α is not stabilized under atmospheric oxygen concentrations, as observed. Further, the model confirms that addition of α-ketoglutarate can reverse PHD inhibition by succinate and hypoxia in SDH-deficient cells.
Matching Value and Market Design in Online Advertising Networks: An Empirical Analysis
Authors: Wu Chunhua
Published: September 2015

Advertising networks have recently played an increasingly important role in the online advertising market. Critical to the success of an advertising network are two mechanisms: an allocation mechanism that efficiently matches advertisers with publishers and a pricing scheme that maximally extracts surplus from the matches. In this paper, we quantify the value and investigate the determinants of a successful advertiser-publisher match, using data from Taobao’s advertising network. A counterfactual experiment reveals that the platform’s profit under a decentralized allocation mechanism is close to the profit level when the platform centrally assigns the matching under perfect platform knowledge of matching values. In another counterfactual experiment, we explore the effect of platform technology and revenue model on the strategic choice of the pricing schemes of list price versus generalized second price (GSP) auction pricing. We find that platforms that profit from the advertiser side may have less incentive to adopt GSP auction than platforms that profit from the publisher side.
Maxima of the Q-index, Forbidden 4-ycle and 5-cycle
Authors: De Freitas Maria Aguieras , Nikirofov Vladimir , Patuzzi Laura
Published: September 2015

this is a test
Signless Laplacian spectral characterization of some joins
Authors: Liu Xiaogang , Lu Pengli
Published: September 2015

The join of two disjoint graphs G and H, denoted by G â¨ H, is the graph obtained by joining each vertex of G to each vertex of H. In this paper, the signless Laplacian characteristic polynomial of the join of two graphs is first formulated. And then, a lower bound for the i-th largest signless Laplacian eigenvalue of a graph is given. Finally, it is proved that G â¨ K_m, where G is an (n â 2)-regular graph on n vertices, and K_n â¨ K_2 except for n = 3, are determined by their signless Laplacian spectra.
Minimum Rank of Graphs with Loops
Authors: Bozeman Chassidy , Ellsworth AnnaVictoria , Hogben Leslie , Lin Jephian Chin-Hung , Maurer Gabi , Nowak Kathleen , Rodriguez Aaron , Strickland James
Published: September 2015

A loop graph $\mf G$ is a finite undirected graph that allows loops but does not allow multiple edges. The set $\sym(\lG)$ of real symmetric matrices associated with a loop graph $\lG$ of order $n$ is the set of symmetric matrices $A=[a_{ij}]\in\Rnn$ such that $a_{ij}\ne 0$ if and only if $ij\in E(\lG)$. The minimum (maximum) rank of a loop graph is the minimum (maximum) of the ranks of the matrices in $\sym(\lG)$. We characterize loop graphs having minimum rank at most two (by forbidden induced subgraphs and graph complements) and loop graphs having minimum rank equal to the order of the graph. A Schur complement reduction technique is used to determine the minimum ranks of cycles with various loop configurations; we also determine the minimum ranks of complete graphs and paths with various configurations of loops. Unlike simple graphs, loop graphs can have maximum rank less than the order of the graph. We present some results on maximum rank and which ranks between minimum and maximum can be realized. Interesting open questions remain.
Pseudo Schur complements, pseudo principal pivot transforms and their inheritance properties
Authors: Sivakumar K. , G. Ravindran , Bisht Kavita
Published: September 2015

Extensions of the Schur complement and the principal pivot transform, where the usual inverses are replaced by the Moore-Penrose inverse, are revisited. These are called the pseudo Schur complement and the pseudo principal pivot transform, respectively. First, a generalization of the characterization of a block matrix to be an M-matrix is extended to the nonnegativity of the Moore-Penrose inverse. A comprehensive treatment of the fundamental properties of the extended notion of the principal pivot transform is presented. Inheritance properties with respect to certain matrix classes are derived, thereby generalizing some of the existing results. Finally, a thorough discussion on the preservation of left eigenspaces by the pseudo principal pivot transformation is presented.
A norm inequality for pairs of commuting positive semidefinite matrices
Authors: Audenaert Koenraad
Published: September 2015

For $k=1,\ldots,K$, let $A_k$ and $B_k$ be positive semidefinite matrices such that, for each $k$, $A_k$ commutes with $B_k$. We show that, for any unitarily invariant norm, \[ |||\sum_{k=1}^K A_kB_k||| \le ||| (\sum_{k=1}^K A_k)\;(\sum_{k=1}^K B_k)|||. \] The $K=2$ case was recently conjectured by Hayajneh and Kittaneh and proven by them for the trace norm and the Hilbert-Schmidt norm. A simple application of this norm inequality answers a question by Bourin in the affirmative.
On Derivatives and Norms of Generalized Matrix Functions and Respective Symmetric Powers
Authors: Carvalho Sonia , Freitas Pedro
Published: September 2015

In recent papers, S. Carvalho and P. J. Freitas obtained formulas for directional derivatives, of all orders, of the immanant and of the m-th $\xi$-symmetric tensor power of an operator and a matrix, when $\xi$ is a character of the full symmetric group. The operator bound norm of these derivatives was also calculated. In this paper similar results are established for generalized matrix functions and for every symmetric tensor power.
On the fixed-point type Sylvester matrix equations over complete commutative dioids
Authors: Hashemi Benham , Mirzaei Khalilabadi Mahtab , Tavakolipour Hanieh
Published: September 2015

This paper extends the concept of tropical tensor product defined by Butkovic and Fiedler to general idempotent dioids. Then, it proposes an algorithm in order to solve the fixed-point type Sylvester matrix equations of the form X = A â X â X â B â C. An application is discussed in efficiently solving the minimum cardinality path problem in Cartesian product graphs.