bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Electrophysiology Study for Complex Supraventricular Tachycardia in Congenital Heart Disease Patients With Single‐Ventricle Physiology
Authors: Chiu Shuenn‐Nan , Wang Jou‐Kou , Lu Chun‐Wei , Wu Kun‐Lang , Tseng Wei‐Chieh , Wu Mei‐Hwan
Published: November 2016

Background

Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is common in complex congenital heart disease (CCHD) patients with single‐ventricle physiology and may cause hemodynamic deterioration. We reported the outcomes of catheter ablation for such complex SVT in these single‐ventricle CCHD patients.

Methods and Results

Patients with single‐ventricle physiology (defined as CCHD patients) who received electrophysiology studies and catheter ablation between 1995 and 2015 were studied. We enrolled 30 CCHD patients (18 with right atrial isomerism, 5 with left atrial isomerism, and 7 with other CCHDs; 17 male, 13 female). The age of onset of clinical SVT was 6.7 years (±4.7 years). Electrophysiology studies and ablation were performed at age 7.1 years (±3.9 years); body weight was 20.7 kg (±10.0 kg). Twin atrioventricular nodes were present in 60% of patients (right atrial isomerism, 72.2%; left atrial isomerism, 40%; other CCHDs, 42.9%). Manifested preexcitation was noted in 10% of patients. SVT was induced in 21 patients. Twin atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia was the most common (57.1%), followed by atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia (28.6%), junctional tachycardia (14.3%), and atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (9.5%). Multiple arrhythmias were common (33.3%), particularly in patients with atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia (50%). Ablation successfully eliminated SVT in 12 of 14 patients (85.7%), with a recurrence rate of 16.7% during 6 years of follow‐up.

Conclusions

Transcatheter ablation of complex SVT substrates, including minor atrioventricular node of twin atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia, accessory pathways of atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia, and a slow pathway of atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia, is effective in CCHD patients. The limitations are limited vascular access and the risk of atrioventricular block.
A new genus of Hemerobiidae (Neuroptera) from Baltic amber, with a critical review of the Cenozoic Megalomus-like taxa and remarks on the wing venation variability of the family
Authors: MAKARKIN VLADIMIR N. , WEDMANN SONJA , WEITERSCHAN THOMAS
Published: November 2016

A new genus and two new species of Hemerobiidae (Neuroptera) are described from the late Eocene Baltic amber, i.e., Proneuronema gradatum gen. et sp. nov. and P. minor gen. et sp. nov. Several Early Eocene species (mostly unnamed) from Europe and North America are also considered to belong to this genus, including Proneuronema wehri (Makarkin et al., 2003), comb. nov. The new genus is probably most closely related to the extant genus Neuronema McLachlan, 1869, and therefore assigned to Drepanepteryginae. A critical review of Cenozoic taxa of the Megalomus-like hemerobiids is provided. Prophlebonema Krüger, 1923 is considered as a new subjective synonym of Drepanepteryx Leach, 1815. Plesiorobius Klimaszewski et Kevan, 1986 from the Late Cretaceous is considered as belonging to Hemerobiidae. It is noted that wing venation variability in species of Hemerobiidae (including these fossils) is high. Some of their venational abnormalities (anomalies) may have phylogenetic implications.
Cryptophlebia Walsingham, 1900, Thaumatotibia Zacher, 1915, and Archiphlebia Komai & Horak, 2006, in Australia (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Olethreutinae: Grapholitini)
Authors: HORAK MARIANNE , KOMAI FURUMI
Published: November 2016

The Australian species of the grapholitine genera Cryptophlebia Walsingham, 1900, Thaumatotibia Zacher, 1915 and Archiphlebia Komai & Horak, 2006, are revised, described and illustrated. A key to species is provided. Five named species of Cryptophlebia, C. ombrodelta (Lower), C. iridosoma (Meyrick), C. rhynchias (Meyrick) and C. pallifimbriana Bradley, are redescribed and three new species, C. wraggae, sp. nov., C. stigmata, sp. nov., and C. caulicola, sp. nov., are described. Cryptophlebia amblyopa Clarke, described from Micronesia, is synonymised with C. iridosoma. Cryptophlebia caulicola, sp. nov., is a borer in twigs of Acacia mangium Willd. in northern Queensland. Thaumatotibia aclyta (Turner) and T. zophophanes (Turner) are redescribed and the new species T. maculata, sp. nov., is described. Fruit of Acronychia spp. (Rutaceae) have been identified as native hosts of T. zophophanes, a pest species which damages macadamia (Proteaceae) and avocado (Lauraceae) on the Atherton Tableland. Archiphlebia endophaga (Meyrick) and A. rutilescens (Turner) are redescribed, and the new species A. gilva, sp. nov., is described.
Leaf-mining Nepticulidae (Lepidoptera) from record high altitudes: documenting an entire new fauna in the Andean páramo and puna
Authors: STONIS JONAS R. , DIŠKUS ARŪNAS , REMEIKIS ANDRIUS , GERULAITIS VIRGINIJUS , KARSHOLT OLE
Published: November 2016

The monograph treats 29 species of leaf-mining pygmy moths (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Nepticulidae) discovered in the northern Andean bush and grass páramo and the central Andean puna at altitudes above 3700 m. They represent the world’s highest-altitudinal Nepticulidae fauna known. The height record belongs to Stigmella nivea sp. nov. from Peru collected at an elevation of 4700 m. Except for one species, all belong to Stigmella Schrank. Twenty-two of the species recorded are new and are named and described in the current paper: Stigmella paramica Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. lachemillae Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. gynoxyphaga Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. calceolariae Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. rigida Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. altiplanica Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. robusta Remeikis & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. pseudorobusta Remeikis & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. auriargentata Remeikis & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. altimontana Remeikis & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. pandora Remeikis & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. ampla Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. evanida Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. mustelina Remeikis & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. angusta Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. alticosma Remeikis & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. nivea Remeikis & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. kristenseni Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. lobata Remeikis & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. ageratinae Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov.; S. clinopodiella Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov.; and S. calceolarifoliae Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov. Some of these species are leaf-miners on Asteraceae (Pentacalia, Baccharis, Gynoxys, and Ageratina plants), Calceolariaceae (Calceolaria), Lamiaceae (Clinopodium), and Rosaceae (Lachemilla). Twenty species are known only from adults with no data on their biology and host-plants. In addition, we present data and discuss recently discovered nepticulid taxa associated with Polylepis forests that is the natural vegetation in much of the High Andes. All High-Andean Stigmella species treated are illustrated with photographs of the adults and genitalia, distribution maps, including some with photographs of the leaf-mines and habitats.
In Situ Initiation of East Pacific Easterly Waves in a Regional Model
Authors: Rydbeck Adam V. , Maloney Eric D. , Alaka Ghassan J.
Published: November 2016

The in situ generation of easterly waves (EWs) in the east Pacific (EPAC) is investigated using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model. The sensitivity of the model to the suppression of EW forcing by locally generated convective disturbances is examined. Specifically, local forcing of EWs is removed by reducing the terrain height in portions of Central and South America to suppress robust sources of diurnal convective variability, most notably in the Panama Bight. High terrain contributes to the initiation of mesoscale convective systems in the early morning that propagate westward into the EPAC warm pool. When such mesoscale convective systems are suppressed in the model, EW variance is significantly reduced. This result suggests that EPAC EWs can be generated locally in association with higher-frequency convective disturbances, and these disturbances are determined to be an important source of EPAC EW variability. However, EPAC EW variability is not completely eliminated in such sensitivity experiments, indicating the importance for other sources of EW forcing, namely, EWs propagating into the EPAC from West Africa. Examination of the EW vorticity budget in the model suggests that nascent waves are zonally elongated and amplified by horizontal advection and vertical stretching of vorticity. Changes in the mean state between the control run and simulation with reduced terrain height also complicate interpretation of the results.
Generation of Gravity Waves by Singular Potential Vorticity Disturbances in Shear Flows
Authors: Kalashnik Maxim V. , Chkhetiani Otto
Published: November 2016

The linear mechanism of generation of gravity waves by potential vorticity (PV) disturbances in flows with constant horizontal and vertical shears is studied. The case of the initial singular distribution of PV, in which the PV is localized in one coordinate and is periodic with respect to other coordinates, is considered. In a stratified rotating medium, such a distribution induces a vortex wave (continuous mode), the propagation of which is accompanied by the emission of gravity waves. To find the emission characteristics, a linearized system of dynamical equations is reduced to wave equations with sources that are proportional to the initial distributions of PV. The asymptotic solutions of the equations are constructed for small Rossby numbers (horizontal shear) and large Richardson numbers (vertical shear). When passing through the inertial levels symmetrically located with respect to a vortex source, the behavior of the solutions for wave amplitudes radically changes. Directly in the vicinity of the source, the solutions are of monotonic character, corresponding to a quasigeostrophic vortex wave. At long distances from the source, the solutions oscillate. The horizontal momentum flux and the Eliassen–Palm flux are estimated using asymptotic solutions. It is found that, within the indicated range of both Rossby and Richardson numbers, these fluxes are exponentially small: that is, the emission of waves is weak.
Why Do LES of Langmuir Supercells Not Include Rotation?
Authors: Grosch C. E. , Gargett A. E.
Published: November 2016

Existing large-eddy simulations (LES) of Langmuir supercells (LS) do not include rotational terms. Despite the fact that the actual coastal ocean is certainly affected by rotation, such simulations are found to provide excellent agreement with a wide range of features of LS observed in the shallow coastal ocean. This note explains why it is indeed acceptable to compare results of a nonrotational LES of LS in a laterally unbounded domain with observations of LS made in a rotating fluid with a lateral boundary.
Fitting In or Standing Out? The Tradeoffs of Structural and Cultural Embeddedness
Authors: Goldberg Amir , Srivastava Sameer B. , Manian V. Govind , Monroe William , Potts Christopher
Published: November 2016

A recurring theme in sociological research is the tradeoff between fitting in and standing out. Prior work examining this tension tends to take either a structural or a cultural perspective. We fuse these two traditions to develop a theory of how structural and cultural embeddedness jointly relate to individual attainment within organizations. Given that organizational culture is hard to observe, we develop a novel approach to assessing individuals’ cultural fit with their colleagues based on the language expressed in internal e-mail communications. Drawing on a unique dataset that includes a corpus of 10.24 million e-mail messages exchanged over five years among 601 employees in a high-technology firm, we find that network constraint impedes, whereas cultural fit promotes, individual attainment. More importantly, we find evidence of a tradeoff between the two forms of embeddedness: cultural fit benefits individuals with low network constraint (i.e., brokers), whereas network constraint promotes attainment for people with low cultural fit.
Uptake of recommended common reference intervals for chemical pathology in Australia
Authors: Jones Graham RD , Koetsier Sabrina
Published: November 2016

Background

Reference intervals are a vital part of reporting numerical pathology results. It is known, however, that variation in reference intervals between laboratories is common, even when analytical methods support common reference intervals. In response to this, in Australia, the Australasian Association of Clinical Biochemists together with the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia published in 2014 a set of recommended common reference intervals for 11 common serum analytes (sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate, creatinine male, creatinine female, calcium, calcium adjusted for albumin, phosphate, magnesium, lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase and total protein).

Methods

Uptake of recommended common reference intervals in Australian laboratories was assessed using data from four annual cycles of the RCPAQAP reference intervals external quality assurance programme.

Results

Over three years, from 2013 to 2016, the use of the recommended upper and lower reference limits has increased from 40% to 83%. Nearly half of the intervals in use by enrolled laboratories in 2016 have been changed in this time period, indicating an active response to the guidelines.

Conclusions

These data support the activities of the Australasian Association of Clinical Biochemists and Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia in demonstrating a change in laboratory behaviour to reduce unnecessary variation in reference intervals and thus provide a consistent message to doctor and patients irrespective of the laboratory used.
The Effectiveness of Demand-Side Government Intervention to Promote Elderly Employment: Evidence from Japan
Authors: Kondo Ayako , Shigeoka Hitoshi
Published: November 2016

In this article, the authors examine the effect of a demand-side government intervention on employment of the elderly. The growing gap between the increasing pension eligibility age and the mandatory retirement age has emerged as a serious social concern in Japan. Starting in 2006, the government legally mandated employers to offer continuous employment up to the increased pension eligibility age. By comparing cohorts affected and unaffected by the policy, the authors find that such legal enforcement increases the employment rate of men in their early 60s. Furthermore, the effect is concentrated on employees at large-sized firms, where mandatory retirement was applied more strictly in the past. The authors then examine potential complementarity between pension reform—the conventional supply-side intervention—and the demand-side intervention. Evidence suggests that the impact of an increase in pension eligibility age on elderly employment is slightly larger when combined with legal demand-side enforcement.
Medicare Part D Implementation and Associated Health Impact Among Older Adults in the United States
Authors: Chen Cheng-Chia , Lin Hsien-Chang , Seo Dong-Chul
Published: November 2016

This study examined the effect of Medicare (Part D) implementation on health outcomes among U.S. older adults. Study participants were initially extracted from the 2004–2008 Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Data from respondents who further participated in the HRS 2005–2007 Prescription Drug Study were analyzed (N = 746). This was a retrospective pre-post design with a treatment and a control group. The difference-in-differences approach with panel ordered logistic regressions was used to examine the Part D effect on three patient health outcomes before and after the implementation, controlling for patient sociodemographic characteristics. People with continuous Part D enrollment from 2006–2008 were less likely to have a worse self-rated health than those who were not enrolled in Part D (odds ratio [OR] = 0.48; p < .05). A higher Charlson Comorbidity Index score was associated with a higher likelihood of having worse self-rated overall health, worse mental health, and worse activities of daily living impairment (ORs = 1.12, 1.17, and 1.36, respectively; all ps < .001). The Part D implementation appears to have a positive effect on older adults’ overall health outcomes. A decrease in out-of-pocket cost for health care may encourage older adults to utilize more needed medications, which in turn helped maintain better health.
Racialized rooms and technologies of stardom in Ondaatje’s Coming Through Slaughter
Authors: Deshaye Joel
Published: November 2016

Drawing on recent theories of race from critical race theory, this article examines Michael Ondaatje’s 1976 novel Coming Through Slaughter to assess the involvement, or lack, of technologies of stardom such as photography and radio in the celebrity of the fictionalized jazz musician Charles “Buddy” Bolden. This essay builds on established postcolonial and aesthetic readings, and offers an alternative to the often-held view that Ondaatje is not concerned by race, or the suggestion that he is only preoccupied by art and artists. Its textual focus is an interpretation of the counterfactual (put differently, anachronistic) scene involving a radio and scenes related to the darkroom and the racial significance of its black and white negatives. It argues that these technologies “colour” the rooms in which they are found and thereby complicate ideas of domestic privacy and opposing publicity.
Physical Illness in Gay, Lesbian, and Heterosexual Marriages
Authors: Umberson Debra , Thomeer Mieke Beth , Reczek Corinne , Donnelly Rachel
Published: November 2016

The inclusion of same-sex married couples can illuminate and challenge assumptions about gender that are routinely taken for granted in studies of physical illness. We analyze gender dynamics in gay, lesbian, and heterosexual marriages with in-depth interview data from 90 spouses (45 couples) to consider how spouses co-construct illness experiences in ways that shape relationship dynamics. Overall, findings indicate that men tend to downplay illness and thus provide minimal care work, whereas women tend to construct illness as immersive and involving intensive care work—in both same-sex and different-sex marriages. Yet same-sex spouses describe similar constructions of illness much more so than different-sex couples, and as such, same-sex spouses describe less illness-related disagreement and stress. These findings help inform policies to support the health of gay and lesbian, as well as heterosexual, patients and their spouses, an important goal given health disparities of gay and lesbian populations.
Severing of skull cap: A rare trauma attributed to transportation of bulldozer
Authors: Pramanik Parthasarathi , Vidua Raghvendra K , Patel Sweta
Published: November 2016

Bulldozer fatalities are usually due to accidental crushing of the body at the workplace. However, severance of the skull cap simulating a chopping injury to head is rare in the literature. Medico-legal investigation may be posed with different challenges when carrying out an autopsy of a victim with this devastating head injury. The police will seek an opinion about the type of weapon responsible for the injuries, the nature of injuries produced and manner of death. In the present case, the victim was hit at dusk by a protruding part of the bulldozer blade as he crossed in front of a bulldozer that was approaching his tractor from the opposite side of the road. His skull cap was severed and he died instantly. This report considers the circumstances of his death, its mechanisms and strategies for preventing such deaths.
Privatizing Participation? The Impact of Private Welfare Provision on Democratic Accountability
Authors: Gingrich Jane , Watson Sara
Published: November 2016

For many citizens, public services are the most direct and tangible output of the democratic process, and yet in the past thirty years policymakers have privatized a broad swath of these services. This article asks whether privatization of state services changes citizens’ willingness to use the ballot box to hold governments to account for service performance. It argues that citizens can hold governments to account for privatization, but only if they have genuine political alternatives. Where quality falls with privatization and citizens can vote for an anti-privatization party, what we call a clear signal, privatization can mobilize citizens to sanction incumbents. By contrast, where quality falls but there are few anti-privatization alternatives, a mixed signal, privatization reduces sanctioning behavior. To test this theory, the article draws on a panel difference-in-differences analysis of disability reform from the United Kingdom, leveraging a geographically varied introduction of private provision across two political contexts.
We-Narratives and the Stability and Depth of Shared Agency
Authors: Tollefsen Deborah , Gallagher Shaun
Published: November 2016

The basic approach to understanding shared agency (or joint action) has been to identify individual intentional states that are somehow “shared” by participants and that contribute to guiding and informing the actions of individual participants. But, as Michael Bratman suggests, there is a problem of stability and depth that any theory of shared agency needs to solve. Given that participants in a joint action might form shared intentions for different reasons, what binds them to one another such that they have some reason for continuing to participate in the joint action in the face of conflicting reasons? This is particularly pressing in cases of joint actions that unfold over long periods of time. There are a variety of ways that the problem of stability and depth of shared intention might be addressed. We review some of those ways in section 1. We do not intend to challenge these approaches. Instead, in this article, we want to suggest that narrative is an additional, perhaps in some cases a predominant, way in which stability and depth are achieved. According to some theories, narrative plays a crucial role in the development of the self. Our suggestion is that the narratives we tell about our joint projects contribute to the development of a stable and deep “we.”
In Search of the “Human Scale”
Authors: Kuchenbuch David
Published: November 2016

The article explores one of the most important tropes in twentieth-century urban planning discourses: the “human scale.” Drawing from printed and archival sources from Sweden and Germany, it demonstrates how, in the 1930s and 1940s, this metaphor provided urban planning experts—architects, social scientists, and housing reformers—with an important epistemological framework: it helped them define the social in technical terms and thus substantiated ideas about the malleability of society by means of spatial intervention. In practice, in both countries, the human scale informed schemes for a decentralization and delimitation of the urban fabric. Neighborhood units or settlement cells, as they were called in Germany, were to correlate with—and thus reinforce—“organic” social entities: primary groups like families and small communities of neighbors. Planners were attempting to re-calibrate urban agglomerations to what they perceived as measurable, natural social entities. They were compiling anthropometric data, claiming that quantifiable dimensions like the “pram-pushing distance” were ideal criteria in delimiting the built environment. Such data even crossed borders between political systems as different as those of the Nazi-“Third Reich” and the social-democratic “People’s Home” in Sweden. Thus, notwithstanding the great differences regarding its political implication, analyzing the semantics of humanization in urban planning helps explain transnational efforts to “engineer” the social to overcome the disorder attributed to modernity itself.
Questioning Racial Prescriptions: An Interview with Jonathan Xavier Inda
Authors: Merz Sibille , Xavier Inda Jonathan
Published: November 2016

In Racial Prescriptions, Jonathan Xavier Inda offers a critical and timely analysis of the making of BiDil, the first (and only) drug that was marketed exclusively to African Americans. Sibille Merz speaks to him about the re-articulation of racial politics under neoliberalism, the legacies of scientific racism and the molecularization of biopolitics in the genomic age.
Rethinking Arendt’s Theory of Necessity: Humanness as ‘Way of Life’, or: the Ordinary as Extraordinary
Authors: Lechte John
Published: November 2016

If genuine political activity can only be undertaken by citizens in the public sphere in a nation-state, what of stateless people today – asylum seekers and refugees cut adrift on the high seas? This is what is at stake in Hannah Arendt’s political theory of necessity. This article reconsiders Arendt’s notion of the Greek oikos (household) as the sphere of necessity with the aim of challenging the idea that there is a condition of necessity or mere subsistence, where life is reduced to satisfying basic biological needs. For Arendt, the Greek oikos is the model that provides the inspiration for her theory because necessity activities were kept quite separate from action in the polis. The ordinary and the undistinguished happen in the oikos and its equivalent, with the polis being reserved for extraordinary acts done for glory without any regard for life. The exclusionary nature of this theory of the polis as action has, at best, been treated with kid gloves by Arendt’s commentators. With reference to Heidegger on the polis and Agamben’s notion of oikonomia, I endeavour to show that the so-called ordinary is embedded in a way of life that is extraordinary and the key to grasping humanness.
A standardized ultrasound approach to pelvic congestion syndrome
Authors: Labropoulos Nicos , Jasinski Patrick T. , Adrahtas Demetri , Gasparis Antonios P. , Meissner Mark H.
Published: November 2016

Pelvic congestion syndrome is one of the many causes of chronic pelvic pain and is often diagnosed based on exclusion of other pathologies. Over the past decades, pelvic congestion syndrome was recognized to be a more common cause of chronic pelvic pain. Multiple diagnostic modalities including pelvic duplex ultrasonography, transvaginal ultrasonography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance were studied. In the current literature, selective ovarian venography, an invasive imaging approach, is believed to be the gold standard for diagnosing pelvic congestion syndrome.
Tris-acryl gelatin microspheres versus gelatin sponge particles in uterine artery embolization for leiomyoma
Authors: Katsumori Tetsuya , Miura Hiroshi , Arima Hisatomi , Hino Akihiko , Tsuji Yusuke , Masuda Yoko , Nishimura Takeshi
Published: November 2016

Background

Tris-acryl gelatin microspheres (TAGM) and gelatin sponge particles (GS) have been used in uterine artery embolization (UAE) for leiomyoma. No direct comparisons of both embolic agents have been reported.

Purpose

To compare the outcomes of UAE with TAGM with those of UAE with GS for uterine leiomyoma.

Material and Methods

This was a non-randomized, single-institute, non-inferiority study. Between July 2008 and August 2015, 67 consecutive patients with symptomatic leiomyoma underwent UAE. GS was used for the first 49 patients and TAGM was used for the following 18 patients. The primary endpoint was tumor infarction on contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) 1 week after UAE. The secondary endpoints were changes in symptoms and quality-of-life scores with UFS-QOL questionnaires at 4 months, and adverse events (AEs) in the 4 months after UAE.

Results

The baseline characteristics of both groups were similar. Complete or nearly complete tumor infarction (≥90%) was achieved in 94.4% (17/18) of the TAGM group and 93.6% (44/47) of the GS group. This difference (0.8%; 95% CI, –11.9% to 13.5%) indicated the non-inferiority of the TAGM group to the GS group, with a pre-specified non-inferiority margin of 20%. No significant differences were observed in improvements in symptoms or quality-of-life scores at 4 months ( P = 0.56 and P = 0.19) or in 4-month AEs ( P = 0.29).

Conclusion

The outcomes of UAE with TAGM were comparable to those of UAE with GS, suggesting that both embolic agents are acceptable for the treatment of leiomyoma.
Prognostic impact of pleural effusion in acute pulmonary embolism
Authors: Kiris Tuncay , Yazıcı Selçuk , Koc Ali , Köprülü Cinar , Ilke Akyildiz Zehra , Karaca Mustafa , Nazli Cem , Dogan Abdullah
Published: November 2016

Background

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common and life-threatening condition associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. Pleural effusion occurs in about one in three cases; however, data on its prognostic value are scarce.

Purpose

To investigate the association between pleural effusion and both 30-day and long-term mortality in patients with acute PE.

Material and Methods

We retrospectively evaluated 463 patients diagnosed with acute PE using computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA). Echocardiographic, demographic, and laboratory data were collected. The study population was divided into two groups: patients with and without pleural effusions. Pleural effusion detected on CT was graded as small, moderate, and large according to the amount of effusion. The predictors of 30-day and long-term total mortality were analyzed.

Results

Pleural effusions were found in 120 patients (25.9%). After the 30-day follow-up, all-cause mortality was higher in acute PE patients with pleural effusions than in those without (23% versus 9%, P < 0.001). Also, patients with pleural effusions had significantly higher incidence of long-term total mortality than those without pleural effusions (55% versus 23%, P < 0.001). In a multivariate analysis, pleural effusion was an independent predictor of 30-day and long-term mortality (odds ratio [OR], 2.154; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.186–3.913; P = 0.012 and OR, 1.591; 95% CI, 1.129–2.243; P = 0.008, respectively).

Conclusion

Pleural effusion can be independently associated with both 30-day and long-term mortality in patients with acute PE.
Evaluation of sacroiliac joint MRI for pelvic venous congestion signs in women clinically suspected of sacroiliitis
Authors: Cimsit Canan , Yoldemir Tevfik , Tureli Derya , Aribal Mustafa Erkin
Published: November 2016

Background

Pelvic congestion syndrome (PCS) is a commonly overlooked condition which is a potential cause of chronic pelvic pain. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the sacroiliac joint (SIJ) may demonstrate unexpected conditions that can mimic sacroiliitis (SI). Awareness of MRI-defined pelvic venous congestion (PVC) may help in identifying PCS, where vascular abnormality may be the sole manifestation of SIJ pain.

Purpose

To detect incidental MRI-defined PVC in patients who underwent SIJ-MRI for presumed SI and define the variance of its incidence.

Material and Methods

A total of 870 women who underwent SIJ-MRI were retrospectively evaluated. Incidental findings of PVC and other genitourinary and musculoskeletal system disorders were documented.

Results

Of the 774 included patients, 37% demonstrated incidentally detected imaging findings related to the genitourinary system, musculoskeletal system, and PVC. The prevalence of MRI-defined PVC signs was higher in patients without SI than with SI. The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was higher in patients with SI whereas prevalence for genitourinary disorders was similar. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed a statistically significant correlation between SI–PVC and SI–genitourinary disorders but not between SI–musculoskeletal disorders pairs ( P = 0.001, 0.001, and 0.057 > 0.05). The probability of observing SI in SIJ-MRI is positively correlated with the absence of PVC or genitourinary disorders.

Conclusion

Patients who underwent MRI for presumed SI demonstrated incidental PVC as well as other genitourinary and musculoskeletal findings. An awareness of these imaging findings can help identify PVC and may draw clinicians’ attention to the possibility of PCS.
Segment-by-segment assessment of left ventricular myocardial affection in Anderson-Fabry disease by non-enhanced T1-mapping
Authors: Walter Thula C , Knobloch Gesine , Canaan-Kuehl Sima , Greiser Andreas , Sandek Anja , Blaschke Daniela , Denecke Timm , Hamm Bernd , Makowski Marcus R
Published: November 2016

Background

Anderson-Fabry disease (AFD) is an X-linked lysosomal enzyme disorder associated with an intracellular accumulation of sphingolipids, which shorten myocardial T1 relaxation times. Myocardial affection, however, varies between different segments.

Purpose

To evaluate the specific segmental distribution and degree of segmental affection in AFD patients.

Material and Methods

Twenty-five patients with AFD, 14 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), and 21 controls were included. A Modified Look-Locker Inversion Recovery sequence (MOLLI) was used for non-enhanced T1 mapping at 1.5 T in addition to standard cardiac imaging in 10–12 short axis views. T1 values were evaluated with a mixed model ANOVA and regression analysis to determine the best diagnostic cutoff values for T1 for each myocardial segment.

Results

Regression analysis showed the best diagnostic cutoff compared to controls in cardiac segments 1–4, 8–9, and 14. Mean differences between T1 for AFD versus HCM were greatest in segment 3, 4, and 9 (99 ms, 103 ms, 86 ms, respectively). Overall T1 times were 888 ± 70 ms and 903 ± 14 ms (AFD with and without LVH); 1014 ± 17 ms and 1001 ± 22 ms (HCM and controls, P < 0.05).

Conclusion

Myocardial segments are affected by a varying degree of T1 shortening in AFD patients. Segment-specific cutoff values allow the most specific detection and quantification of the extent of myocardial affection.
Predicting Re-Incarceration Status of Prisoners in Contemporary China: Applying Western Criminological Theories
Authors: Messner Steven F. , Liu Jianhong , Zhao Yunhan
Published: November 2016

Studies have revealed that self-control theory, social learning theory, and strain theory are useful in explaining criminal activity in China. Previous research with Chinese data, however, has focused almost exclusively on samples of adolescents and the minor types of offending that are typically captured in such samples. The present study builds upon prior work by considering the extent to which these three major etiological theories of crime can help differentiate between profiles of Chinese prisoners categorized with respect to re-incarceration status. Specifically, we derive hypotheses that predict prisoners’ status as first-time inmates or inmates with multiple incarcerations. These hypotheses are assessed with recently collected data for a sample of approximately 1,800 prisoners in Southern China. The results reveal that indicators of peer criminality, low self-control, and negative emotions (a theorized outcome of experiences of strain) are all positively associated with re-incarceration status.
Bridging the great divide: Conspiracy theory research for the 21st century
Authors: Butter Michael , Knight Peter
Published: November 2016

This article starts from the observation that research on conspiracy theories is currently thriving, but that it is also fragmented. In particular there is an increasing divide between disciplines with culturalist and qualitative approaches, such as history, cultural studies and ethnology, and disciplines with quantitative and empirical approaches, such as psychology and political science. The article argues that this ‘great divide’ has to be bridged for research to arrive at a genuine understanding of conspiracy theories. As a first step in such a bridge-building process, the article engages, from the vantage point of (American) cultural studies, with research done on the other side of the divide, namely in psychology and political science. It summarizes the work done in these fields and evaluates it critically, concentrating on methodology; the assumptions about the dysfunctionality of conspiracy beliefs; the circularity of some arguments; the focus on individual rather than social and collective aspects; the lack of engagement with the definition of the phenomenon; and the neglect of cultural and historical difference. The article ends with recommendations for future collaborative research projects.
To Verbalize the Unspeakable. The Group Analytical Aspect of Peace and War
Authors: Klavora Vlasta Meden , Korenjak Roman
Published: November 2016

In the following article we will focus on the group analytic outlook on war. We will not only discuss the immeasurable suffering of soldiers, but also the civilian victims of wartime events. The correspondence between Einstein and Freud gives rise to many questions about the causes of wars. The life of every individual, since birth and through the earliest developmental processes, according to certain concepts, oscillates between the drives of Eros and Thanatos. During this processes, ‘inaudibility’, as Winnicott puts it, can take place, resulting in disorders and disruptions in the individual’s internal as well as external dialogue. We go on to consider how the ‘inaudibility’ and the consequences of war are dealt with in the Sophocles’ drama Antigone. As group analysts, in our contribution we have focused especially on the importance of group analytic treatment as a form of help for people suffering from PTSD, which Foulkes, the father of group analysis, realized as well. In the process of therapy, group members are able to verbalize the wordless world of trauma and face the deeper personality layers of their own past as well as the transgenerational transmission of aggression and other difficult feelings and experiences. The treatment may proceed on the individual basis as well.
Motivation and Engagement in Jamaica: Testing a Multidimensional Framework Among Students in an Emerging Regional Context
Authors: Martin Andrew J. , Martin Tamica G. , Evans Paul
Published: November 2016

This study explored motivation and engagement among 585 Jamaican middle and high school students. Motivation and engagement were assessed via students’ responses to the Motivation and Engagement Scale. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) found satisfactory fit, and by most measures, multigroup CFA demonstrated comparable factor structure for males and females, younger and older students, lower and higher socio-economic groups, and Jamaican students compared with a randomly selected sample of 585 Australian students from a normative archive data set. Correlations with a set of validational factors (e.g., engagement, achievement) were also in line with previous research. Taken together, findings suggest that motivation and engagement instrumentation that has received psychometric support in other national and regional contexts also generalizes to students in an emerging regional context (Jamaica).
Bridgework
Authors: Otis Eileen M.
Published: November 2016

Scholars have yet to understand the gendered performance of aesthetic and emotional labor that maintains routine global power asymmetries. An ethnographic case study of service labor in a global luxury hotel in Beijing, China, reveals how women workers learn to span cultural divides as gendered capacities. These workers must not only “look good and sound right,” they must look familiar and sound understandable. Adopting the term “bridgework,” the research tracks the institutionalization of labor requiring acquisition of the body and the feeling rules of western customers, which reflect the global cultural hegemony of the United States. Managers conceive of these rules as universal, natural feminine orientations, even as they systematically deconstruct and teach them to women workers. Workers bear responsibility for putting rules that bridge divides into practice. When misunderstandings occur, managers attribute them to a failure of the worker’s femininity, rather than the customer’s lack of facility with local practice. Bridgework creates cosmopolitan capital, a form of status accruing to a white, western male business class through ease of movement and preservation of a sense of competence while traveling across borders.
HIV decline associated with changes in risk behaviours among young key populations in Nepal: analysis of population-based HIV prevalence surveys between 2001 and 2012
Authors: Deuba Keshab , Ekström Anna Mia , Tomson Göran , Shrestha Rachana , Marrone Gaetano
Published: November 2016

We assessed changes in HIV prevalence and risk behaviours among young key populations in Nepal. A total of 7505 participants (aged 16–24 years) from key populations who were at increased risk of HIV infection (2767 people who inject drugs (PWID); 852 men who have sex with men/transgender (MSM/TG); 2851 female sex workers (FSW) and 1035 male labour migrants) were recruited randomly over a 12-year period, 2001–2012. Local epidemic zones of Nepal (Kathmandu valley, Pokhara valley, Terai Highway and West to Far West hills) were analysed separately. We found a very strong and consistent decline in HIV prevalence over the past decade in different epidemic zones among PWID and MSM/TG in Kathmandu, the capital city, most likely due to a parallel increase in safe needle and syringe use and increased condom use. A decrease in HIV prevalence in 22 Terai highway districts, sharing an open border with India, was also consistent with increased condom use among FSW. Among male labour migrants, HIV prevalence was low throughout the period in the West to Far West hilly regions. Condom use by migrant workers involved with FSW abroad increased while their condom use with Nepalese FSW declined. Other risk determinants such as mean age at starting first injection, injection frequency, place of commercial sex solicitation, their mean age when leaving to work abroad did not change consistently across epidemic zones among the young key populations under study. In Nepal, the decline in HIV prevalence over the past decade was remarkably significant and consistent with an increase in condom use and safer use of clean needles and syringes. However, diverging trends in risk behaviours across local epidemic zones of Nepal suggest a varying degree of implementation of national HIV prevention policies. This calls for continued preventive efforts as well as surveillance to sustain the observed downward trend.
Risk of high-grade cervical dysplasia and cervical cancer in women with systemic lupus erythematosus receiving immunosuppressive drugs
Authors: Feldman C H , Liu J , Feldman S , Solomon D H , Kim S C
Published: November 2016

Objective

Prior studies suggest an increased risk of cervical cancer among women with systemic lupus erythematosus. However, the relationship with immunosuppressive drugs is not well studied in US nationwide cohorts. We compared the risk of high-grade cervical dysplasia and cervical cancer among women with systemic lupus erythematosus who started immunosuppressive drugs versus hydroxychloroquine.

Methods

We identified systemic lupus erythematosus patients initiating immunosuppressive drugs or hydroxychloroquine using claims data from two US commercial health plans and Medicaid (2000–2012). We used a validated claims-based algorithm to identify high-grade cervical dysplasia or cervical cancer. To account for potential confounders, including demographic factors, comorbidities, medication use, HPV vaccination status, and health care utilization, immunosuppressive drugs and hydroxychloroquine initiators were 1:1 matched on the propensity score. We used inverse variance-weighted, fixed effect models to pool hazard ratios from the propensity score-matched Medicaid and commercial cohorts.

Results

We included 2451 matched pairs of immunosuppressive drugs and hydroxychloroquine new users in the commercial cohort and 7690 matched pairs in Medicaid. In the commercial cohort, there were 14 cases of cervical dysplasia or cervical cancer among immunosuppressive drugs users and five cases among hydroxychloroquine users (hazard ratio 2.47, 95% CI 0.89–6.85, hydroxychloroquine = ref). In Medicaid, there were 46 cases among immunosuppressive drugs users and 29 cases in hydroxychloroquine users (hazard ratio 1.24, 95% CI 0.78–1.98, hydroxychloroquine = ref). The pooled hazard ratio of immunosuppressive drugs was 1.40 (95% CI 0.92–2.12).

Conclusion

Among women with systemic lupus erythematosus, immunosuppressive drugs may be associated with a greater, albeit not statistically significant, risk of high-grade cervical dysplasia and cervical cancer compared to patients receiving hydroxychloroquine alone.
Students With Chronic Conditions: Experiences and Challenges of Regular Education Teachers
Authors: Selekman Janice
Published: November 2016

School nurses have observed the increasing prevalence of children with chronic conditions in the school setting; however, little is known about teacher experiences with these children in their regular classrooms. The purpose of this mixed-method study was to describe the experiences and challenges of regular education teachers when they have students with chronic conditions in their classroom and implications for the school nurse. The national sample consisted of regular education teachers. The methodologies consisted of focus groups and an online survey. Seven themes emerged: Teachers want to be informed about their students with chronic conditions, teachers lack information about the conditions, there is a lack of preparation in preteacher education programs about students with chronic conditions, teachers feel frustration and stress in working effectively with these students, teachers shared concerns about their students, teachers are asked to perform health-related tasks for students, and teachers made recommendations of what they need from the school nurse.
The Prevalence of Thrombophilia in Women With Recurrent Fetal Loss and Outcome of Anticoagulation Therapy for the Prevention of Miscarriages
Authors: Nahas Rawan , Saliba Walid , Elias Adi , Elias Mazen
Published: November 2016

Objective:

To estimate the prevalence of thrombophilia in women with recurrent miscarriages and to assess the effect of antithrombotic therapy.

Design:

A retrospective cohort study between the years 2004 and 2010.

Setting:

A hypercoagulation community clinic in northern Israel.

Patients:

Four hundred ninety pregnant women referred for thrombophilia screening.

Main Outcome Measures:

Screening results for thrombophilia and antithrombotic treatment with enoxaparin, aspirin, or both and pregnancy outcomes.

Results:

The most common thrombophilia in our study group was factor V Leiden mutation with a prevalence of 20.9% followed by protein S deficiency with a prevalence of 19%. Live birth rate was higher in the group of women who received enoxaparin regardless of whether a specific thrombophilia could be found. This finding was more pronounced in women who had ≥4 miscarriages.

Conclusion:

The prevalence of thrombophilia was higher in our study group than in the general population. Furthermore, treatment with enoxaparin might improve the rate of live births in women with or without evidence of thrombophilia, especially in women with ≥4 miscarriages.