bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Activity Intensity During Free-Living Activities in Children and Adolescents With Inherited Arrhythmia Syndromes
Authors: Gow Robert M. , Borghese Michael M. , Honeywell Christina R. , Colley Rachel C.
Published: August 2013

Background—

International guidelines recommend restriction of activities for many children and adolescents with inherited arrhythmia syndromes to moderate activity (<7 metabolic equivalents [METs]). We hypothesized that moderate levels of intensity would be exceeded during free-living daily activity in these individuals when assessed objectively by combined heart rate and accelerometry monitor (Actiheart).

Methods and Results—

Participants wore the Actiheart for ≤7 days on 2 occasions after a maximal exercise test that was used to calibrate the monitor individually against intensity levels. Of 16 participants, 13 (81%) had long QT syndrome, 9 (56%) were female, and median age was 12 years. Monitors were worn for a median (range) of 13 (6–14) days, and a mean (SD) of 11.3 (1.7) hours per day. Vigorous (7 MET) and very vigorous (10 MET) thresholds were exceeded by 15 and 13 participants, respectively. The median (interquartile range), individual, total weekly time spent >7 MET threshold was 113 (65–330) minutes, whereas such time spent >10 MET threshold was 53 (9–115) minutes. Total time >7 MET threshold was 2.3% of monitor wear time. There were no differences in time above threshold between male and female participants (
P
=0.357) or among those with different levels of activity restriction (
P
=0.769).

Conclusions—

Current recommended activity guidelines are frequently exceeded during routine free-living activities in young participants with inherited arrhythmia syndromes. Whether this indicates increased risk for these individuals or excessively restrictive guidelines remains to be determined.
Impact of QRS Morphology and Duration on Outcomes After Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy
Authors: Birnie David H. , Ha Andrew , Higginson Lyall , Sidhu Kiran , Green Martin , Philippon François , Thibault Bernard , Wells George , Tang Anthony
Published: August 2013

Background—

The impact of QRS morphology and duration on the effectiveness of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has been usually assessed separately. The interaction between these 2 simple ECG parameters and their effect on CRT has not been systematically assessed in a large-scale clinical trial.

Methods and Results—

The Resynchronization–Defibrillation for Ambulatory Heart Failure Trial showed that implantable cardioverter defibrillator-CRT was associated with a significant reduction in the primary end point of all-cause mortality or heart failure hospitalization. For this substudy, we excluded patients in atrial fibrillation and those with a previous pacemaker. All baseline ECGs were reviewed by a panel of 3 experienced electrocardiographers. A total of 1483 patients were included in this study. Of these, 1175 had left bundle-branch block (LBBB) and 308 had non-LBBB. In patients with LBBB receiving implantable cardioverter defibrillator-CRT, there was a reduction in the primary outcome and in each individual component of the primary outcome. Furthermore, there was continuous relationship between QRS duration and extent of benefit. In patients with non-LBBB and QRS ≥160 ms, the hazard ratio for the primary outcome was 0.52 (0.29–0.96;
P
=0.033); in patients with QRS <160 ms, the hazard ratio was 1.38 (0.88–2.14;
P
=0.155).

Conclusions—

In patients with LBBB, there was a continuous relationship between broader QRS and greater benefit from implantable cardioverter defibrillator-CRT. However, our data do not support the use of implantable cardioverter defibrillator-CRT in patients with non-LBBB, especially when the QRS duration is <160 ms. There may be some delayed benefit when the QRS is ≥160 ms, but this needs further investigation.

Clinical Trial Registration—

URL:
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov
. Unique identifier: NCT00251251.
The Anatomy of an International Crime: Aggression at the International Criminal Court
Authors: Gillett Matthew
Published: August 2013

In 2010 in Kampala, Uganda, the States Parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC) adopted a set of amendments to the Rome Statute that define the elements and trigger mechanisms of the crime of aggression. However, significant questions remain as to what was actually agreed upon in Kampala, including with respect to the parameters of the crime itself. These questions, which include the applicability of exceptions for humanitarian intervention and anticipatory self-defence, affect not only the potential criminal responsibility of individuals charged with the crime of aggression, but also the interests of States in whether their acts are considered to amount to aggression or not. This article explores the anatomy of the crime of aggression and highlights issues that remain to be resolved.
In Search of Shambhala? Nicholas Roerich’s 1934–5 Inner Mongolian Expedition
Authors: Boyd James
Published: August 2013

During the 1920s and 1930s, Western visitors to Inner Mongolia came for a variety of reasons. Some came for the purpose of scholarship, others passed through on their way to visit the new ‘independent’ nation of Manchukuo, often at the invitation of the Japanese authorities. Among these visitors was Nicholas Roerich, the purpose of whose visit is still the subject of debate. Roerich’s journey through Inner Mongolia has attracted some scholarly attention, but there are still many unanswered questions about what it was that Roerich actually did while he was there, or what he hoped to achieve. This article draws on earlier studies, but analyses the available reports from the US State Department in China together with contemporary news reports, to place Roerich’s journey within the geopolitical context of the time.
Religious ‘Revival’ After Socialism? Eclecticism and Globalisation Amongst Lay Buddhists in Ulaanbaatar
Authors: Abrahms-Kavunenko Saskia
Published: August 2013

This article questions whether the term ‘revival’ is apt for describing the reidentification of Mongols with Buddhism in Ulaanbaatar. Religious beliefs and practices of lay Buddhists in Ulaanbaatar tend to be characterised by openness, a lack of dogmatism, and eclecticism, rather than a revival of old religiosities. Due to the styles of and preferences for religious education, religious concepts such as reincarnation, enlightenment and karma are often very different to conventional Buddhist interpretations and from one another; meditation is frequently learned about from New Religious Movements rather than from Buddhist institutions; and the concept of Buddha (Burkhan) is being influenced by monotheistic religious ideas.
Taxonomic, nomenclatural, and faunistic records for species in tribes Melaenini, Moriomorphini, Pterostichini, Licinini, and Sphodrini (Coleoptera: Carabidae)
Authors: GUÉORGUIEV BORISLAV
Published: September 2013

Mexyclothorax baehri, sp. n. (type locality: Papua New Guinea, West Sepik Province, summit of Mount Capella, 3960 m), Atrotus indicus, sp. n. (type locality: India, Nilgiri Hills, Coonoor env.), Microzargus pakistanus, sp. n. (type locality: Pakistan, Kaghan Valley, Shogran env.) and Pterostichus (Oreophilus) podgoricensis, sp. n. (type locality: Montenegro, Podgoritsa env.) are described. The following nomenclatural acts are proposed: Hexagonia vartianorum Jedlička, 1967, syn. n. of Cymbionotum semirubricum (Reitter 1914); Poecilus (Derus) jarkendis (Jedlička, 1965), comb. n. of Pterostichus (Melanius) jarkendis Jedlička, 1965; Pterostichus (Pseudorthomus) namrun Jedlička, 1963, syn. n. of Amphimasoreus amaroides Piochard de la Brûlerie, 1875; Synuchus hummeli (Jedlička, 1935), comb. n. of Pterostichus hummeli Jedlička, 1935. In addition, new distributional records are recorded for Microzargus hartmanni Sciaky & Facchini, 1997, M. nepalensis Sciaki & Facchini, 1997 and Amphimasoreus amaroides.
Response Styles and the Rural–Urban Divide
Authors: Thomas Troy D. , Abts Koen , Vander Weyden Patrick
Published: August 2013

This article investigates the effect of the rural–urban divide on mean response styles (RSs) and their relationships with the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents. It uses the Representative Indicator Response Style Means and Covariance Structure (RIRSMACS) method and data from Guyana—a developing country in the Caribbean. The rural–urban divide affects substantial mean RSs differentials, and it moderates both their relationships with and the explanatory power of the respondents’ sociodemographic characteristics. Within-country research is therefore subject to substantial rural–urban RSs bias, and it is hence imperative that researchers control RSs in such studies. Previous research findings should also be reexamined with RSs controlled. In addition, joint modeling of culture, RSs, and their sociodemographic predictors may clarify some of the conflicting results about their effects in the cross-cultural research literature.
Concluding Comment: Theology of the City, or Theology from the City?
Authors: Harvey Anthony
Published: September 2013

This concluding article draws attention to three new features of Urban Theology since Faith in the City – the shift of emphasis from deprivation to community relations and multiculturalism, the recognition of our own cultural conditioning, and the significance of ‘reader response’. It is suggested that genuine ‘urban theology’ should arise from the situation itself rather than be the product of such sophisticated academic analysis.
Complexity or meaning in health professional education and practice?
Authors: Lowe Wendy Anne
Published: August 2013

Objectives:

Discourses of complexity have entered health professional education. This paper explores the meaning of complexity by asking how health professionals are educated and some of the consequences of that education.

Design:

A qualitative study was carried out drawing on reflexivity, discourse analysis and grounded methodology.

Setting:

Two rural healthcare settings in Western Australia.

Methods:

Seventeen health professionals were interviewed using semi-structured open-ended questions based on a theoretical framework developed from the analysis of three case studies of education in healthcare practice. The interview responses were transcribed then analysed. Themes were identified using an iterative process of reflexivity. Narratives of health professional identity were explored within the context of health professional education.

Results:

The responses from the participants indicated that they managed discourses of autonomy, control and empowerment alongside their own narratives of passivity and powerlessness. Management of different discourses seemed to make other discourses recede. For example, reference to broader issues such as race, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic determinants of health and age were minimal.

Conclusions:

Health professional education discourses could be seen as obscuring broader issues that impact on healthcare practice. Health professional curricula occupy a privileged location within society and as such need to provide a socially accountable practice. Ways to develop socially accountable practices are explored within the context of the widening gap between disadvantaged and advantaged people on a global level.
Psychological Growth in Aging Vietnam Veterans
Authors: McCormack Lynne , Joseph Stephen
Published: August 2013

This study offers alternative interpretations of war-related distress embedded within the social and political context of the Vietnam War. Subjective interpretations from aging Vietnam veterans were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. A central theme— Moral authenticity: Overcoming the betrayal and shame of war—overarched five subordinate themes. Four subordinate themes encapsulated layers of war-related betrayal associated with shame. Shame was likely to be described as either (a) internal/sense of personal failure, with no acts of rage; or (b) external/reckless or threatening acts of others, engendering rage. A fifth theme, reparation with self, reflected humility, gratitude, and empathy, currently undefined domains of the growth construct.
Incarcerated Fathers and Their Children
Authors: Swanson Cheryl , Lee Chang-Bae , Sansone Frank A. , Tatum Kimberly M.
Published: August 2013

High incarceration rates have led to more interest in the effects of incarceration on families, especially children. Most research has focused on the relationship between incarcerated mothers and their children. This study centered on father–child relationships and potential barriers to maintaining and developing them. A sample of 185 incarcerated fathers was interviewed within a maximum security state prison in the southern United States. Multiple regression analyses indicated two family barriers (children’s mother’s attitude and children’s attitude) made a statistically significant contribution to explaining inmates’ self-reports concerning relationships with their children. Measures of institutional barriers were not found to statistically contribute to the models. Fathers’ responses to an open-ended question about relationships with their children support the quantitative findings. The research suggests that strategies for improving parent–child relationships for the male incarcerated population should focus not only on institutional barriers but also on family barriers.
International Perceptions of Stalking and Responsibility
Authors: Scott Adrian J. , Rajakaruna Nikki , Sheridan Lorraine , Sleath Emma
Published: August 2013

This study investigates the influence of prior relationship and severity of behavior on perceptions of stalking and responsibility with a combined sample of 1,080 members of the community from Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Participants were presented with 1 of 12 versions of a hypothetical stalking scenario and responded to scale items regarding the behavior of a male perpetrator toward a female target. Prior relationship and severity of behavior influenced perceptions of stalking and responsibility, and the pattern of findings was consistent across the three countries. The perpetrator’s behavior was perceived to constitute stalking, and necessitate police intervention and a criminal conviction to the greatest extent when the perpetrator and target were portrayed as strangers. In addition, the target was perceived to be the least responsible and the perpetrator was perceived to be the most responsible when they were portrayed as strangers.
Child Protagonism in Transformational Community Development
Authors: Burch Greg W.
Published: August 2013

The study draws from learning experiences in Latin America with emphasis on the concept protagonismo infantil (child protagonism). Child protagonism results in new understandings of childhood experiences in mission and development work today. The research focuses on the role children play in society and it looks to children as social actors who are participants in looking for solutions to problems affecting local communities. Children are often perceived as passive recipients in need of care. Without disregarding the need to protect and care for children, the study argues that children, as protagonists, seek to bring innovative solutions to community needs.
Principles of quantile regression and an application
Authors: Chen Fang , Chalhoub-Deville Micheline
Published: August 2013

Newer statistical procedures are typically introduced to help address the limitations of those already in practice or to deal with emerging research needs. Quantile regression (QR) is introduced in this paper as a relatively new methodology, which is intended to overcome some of the limitations of least squares mean regression (LMR). QR is more appropriate when assumptions of normality and homoscedasticity are violated. Also QR has been recommended as a good alternative when the research literature suggests that explorations of the relationship between variables need to move from a focus on average performance, that is, the central tendency, to exploring various locations along the entire distribution. Although QR has long been used in other fields, it has only recently gained popularity in educational statistics. For example, in the ongoing push for accountability and the need to document student improvement, the calculation of student growth percentiles (SGP) utilizes QR to document the amount of growth a student has made. Despite its proven advantages and its utility, QR has not been utilized in areas such as language testing research. This paper seeks to introduce the field to basic QR concepts, procedures, and interpretations. Researchers familiar with LMR will find the comparisons made between the two methodologies helpful to anchor the new information. Finally, an application with real data is employed to demonstrate the various analyses (the code is also appended) and to explicate the interpretations of results.
Aesthetics of Silence in Indian and International Cinema
Authors: Kumar Divya
Published: September 2013

While extensive research on film sound has undertaken the study of formal and informal structures of silence, the aesthetics of silence in film deserves greater exploration. This article pursues the origination and design of silence amid diverse contexts and varied forms, namely in the spectre of the acousmetre, the gesticulation of the mute character and in the discontinuities, ellipses and gaps that are characteristic of the European modernists. In the interrelation between cinema and modernism, the concept of silence is of critical consideration. Silence is fundamental to the emergence of histories, theories and practices of film sound. The aesthetics of silence enables the movement of the artist’s work beyond linguistic expression and linguistic consciousness towards an enlightened state of pure contemplation, wherein the perceiver indulges in self-forgetfulness. The use of suggestive emptiness through de-articulation positions the message at the fringes of language, meaning and clarity allowing a trans-linguistic, liberated interpretation and an enlightened conscious experience. Silence is evoked through a rhetoric effect, as it does not occur in its objective sense. The determination of silence comprises the form that composes it. It enriches character and narrative and bestows a spiritual quality of silence upon modern living. The aesthetics of silence is studied in Indian classical and avant-garde films and compared to trends in world cinema to assess how this methodology transcends linguistic consciousness and allows a studied interpretation that can be diverse, universal and unifying.
Bengal Elephants (in Blues and Greys)
Authors: Mukherjee Madhuja
Published: September 2013

This article charts a narrative history of the studios situated in Calcutta, during the 1930s and 1940s. Through an exhaustive research of the studio documents and archival material, along with the study of the mesh of material found in the public domain, this article shows the collective function of disparate houses. It demonstrates the import of smaller stories, which are often appropriated to produce a larger national narrative. The purpose of this article is to look into specific production companies located in Calcutta, in the effort to recount the multifarious accounts of the Indian studios. Clearly, one of the methodological difficulties of writing histories for cinema from the sub-continent appears to be the zeal to produce a concise history of our manifold experiences. This article aims at confronting and disturbing such conjectures, and brings up new material and fresh methods in its attempt to write history of the ‘studio era’ in India. Within this framework, this article argues for a ‘shared history of Bengali cinema’, produced particularly by New Theatres Ltd., and Sree Bharat Lakshmi Pictures and describes it as ‘histories of elephant pictures’. Briefly, this article presents rare archival material and proposes new approaches of writing history.
Political Economy of the Telugu Film Industry
Authors: Shaw Padmaja
Published: September 2013

India has the distinction of being one of the largest producers of films. The Telugu film industry is the second largest in India, sometimes producing more number of films than the Hindi film industry. However, there has been a serious dearth of ‘good cinema’, as evidenced by the absence of National Awards in the Telugu language category over the last several years.

The analysis in this article is based on the assumption that alternative perspectives find space even within the capitalist mode of production when contradictory pressures of class interests operate. In the cultural industries, the intellectuals—both bourgeois and progressive—are jostling for space. In this struggle, there are class contradictions within the cultural industries, which enable the progressive intellectual to play a visible role, even though it is not a dominant one. The near complete absence of such spaces and processes is the subject of this analysis.

This article examines the practices within the Telugu film industry and attempts to identify the barriers to creativity and new talent using Marxian analysis. The study comes to the broad conclusion that given the social totality of Telugu society, a better regulatory environment could make a difference.
The Theory of Pleasure-Pauses
Authors: Kumar Ranjit K.
Published: September 2013

Scholars like Ganti (2004), Mishra (2002) and Desai (2004) have described how Bollywood has its own unique structure with a focus on its song-and-dance sequences but Gopalan (2002) in her book Cinema of interruptions: Action genres in contemporary Indian cinema provides a framework of interruptions specifically detailing the narrative features that render Indian films unique. She notes that Indian films can be understood as an assemblage of interruptions that halt the linear narrative and flow of the film. Since Bollywood films differ from the diegesis of other film narratives they need to be analyzed from a uniquely Indian perspective rather than a Western critical perspective. The aim of this article is to first take these interruptions and rename them as ‘pleasure-pauses’ to better explain their presence within an Indian context and then analyze their functional aspects from a Bollywood perspective.
The Indian Film Market
Authors: Chitrapu Sunitha
Published: September 2013

Media economics investigations of the international flow of media such as films reveal the importance of domestic consumer spending on films. Television penetration is seen as a threat to this. In this article, the effect of television penetration on the annual number of theatrical admissions, the annual number of films produced and the number of screens was examined using time series data from the introduction of television until the year 2005. This was examined in the context of the five major film producing countries: US, UK, France, Germany and Japan. Statistically, India fits the international pattern of a significant negative effect of television penetration on aggregate and per capita theatrical film admissions. Further, television penetration had a negative but non-significant effect on the number of films produced and on the number of screens. Descriptive data show that India’s persistent aggregate admissions appear to be more an artifact of the population size rather than a higher frequency in visits to the theatres. Since 74 per cent of Indian film industry revenues come from theatrical admissions, these results may interest policy makers in view of the fact that India is the only country in the world other than the US where domestic films have approximately 93 per cent market share.
Gay Globalization Via Goa in My Brother… Nikhil
Authors: Ferrão R. Benedito
Published: September 2013

‘Gay Globalization via Goa in My Brother… Nikhil’ examines the 2005 film, which was the first to have focused on homosexuality in India. Despite this claim, the film articulates gay subjectivity as emerging from a global, rights-based perspective, it is argued. Central to this analysis of the film is its setting in Goa which is employed as a site of liminality between ‘traditional’ India and global modernity. Goa is both cleaved to and from India as a whole by casting the former’s historical regionality through a misconstrual of its religious identities, as well as through references to colonial and alleged racial difference. The film’s basis for such differentiation is considered as being in large part due to Goa’s longer colonization by the Portuguese in comparison to the reign of the British in most of the rest of India. Modernity and diaspora are also explored as key features of the representation of Goa in the film, especially as they tie in to issues of gay rights. Further, the essay scrutinizes the parallels between the title character and the real-life inspiration behind the film, the Goan AIDS activist Dominic D’souza. In concluding, it is made apparent that the film centres gay male subjectivity while relegating Goan identity to an ambivalent marginality.
Ram Gopal Varma as an Auteur
Authors: Vemireddy Vamshi
Published: September 2013

This article examines various aspects of Ram Gopal Varma’s films in order to assess his contribution to Indian cinema as an auteur. Varma’s films are critically analyzed through the tenets of authorship and control over a film, auteur sign or brand, consistent visual style in film production that comprise the main discussion among auteur critics. This article also attempts to analyze Varma’s work as a director, from Shiva to Sarkar, that have significantly pushed the borders of the Bollywood formula. Varma’s films are not studied with any prior assumption to prove him an auteur but to analyze his works within the French and American auteur theoretical framework. While probing into the arguments of the auteur theorists for its basic tenets, various features of auteur theory are clearly seen in his films in terms of personal vision, style, expression and treatment, narration and technique (especially photography, screenplay and characterization), the interconnecting plots and the way the various issues are dealt with.
Predictors of the length of stay in a psychiatric emergency care centre
Authors: Brakoulias Vlasios , Seymour Joanne , Lee Jane , Sammut Peter , Starcevic Vladan
Published: August 2013

Objective:

This paper aims to ascertain predictors of the length of stay in a Psychiatric Emergency Care Centre (PECC).

Methods:

Demographic and clinical characteristics were recorded retrospectively via file audit in 477 patients who were admitted to a PECC within a six-month period. Associations between these variables and length of stay were analysed using logistic regression.

Results:

Length of stay in the PECC was predicted by medical complications arising in the PECC, absconding behaviour, diagnosis of depression and being brought in by family members. Aggression within the PECC and previous contact with mental health services predicted a shorter stay.

Conclusions:

Length of stay in the PECC is predicted by a number of variables that are different from those that predict length of stay in an acute psychiatric unit. A comprehensive assessment of these variables prior to admission may decrease the length of stay in the PECC and improve efficiency of acute psychiatric services.
Inflammatory “Cap” Polyposis
Authors: De Petris Giovanni , Dhungel Bal M. , Chen Longwen , Pasha Shabana F.
Published: August 2013

Inflammatory cap polyposis (ICP) is a rare nonneoplastic polyposis of the colon of unknown etiology that can be confused with prolapse-induced polyps and hyperplastic polyposis. We contribute a case of ICP from a 59-year-old woman who was affected by severe constipation and hematochezia. Numerous sessile and semipedunculated polyps were found in the colon, all with cap of whitish fibrin. Histology revealed erosion of the surface, superficial dilated crypts filled with mucoid inflammatory exudate, and minimal crypt serration, all findings typical of ICP. Only the largest polyps had smooth muscle in the mucosa. Ki-67 showed modest expansion and irregular distribution of the crypts proliferative areas. Low-degree positivity for p16, similar to that of hyperplastic polyps, was found. CK20 was expressed as in normal mucosa. Distinguishing between ICP and other polyposis is important because of difference in management.
Tissue microstructure, physicochemical properties, and bioactive compound locations in different sweet pepper types
Authors: Hernández-Carrión María , Hernando Isabel , Quiles Amparo
Published: August 2013

This article focuses on the location and content of some bioactive compounds in three different California sweet pepper types (red, green and yellow). The location was studied using different microscopic techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy at low temperatures (cryo-SEM) and light microscopy. Several physicochemical properties of the samples (carotenoid content, total soluble phenol content, antioxidant activity, dietary fibre content, total soluble solids content, pH and textural properties) were also examined. The degree of compaction and structuring of the cell wall was found to be indirectly related to solute transport at the cellular level and directly related to total dietary fibre content. The three types of pepper displayed formation and accumulation of phenolic aggregates and an active circulation of solutes. Yellow pepper tissue had the most labile cell walls and the highest transport of solutes. Red peppers could be suitable for obtaining extracts rich in carotenoid compounds, yellow peppers for obtaining phenolic compounds with a high antioxidant activity and green peppers for extracts with high dietary fibre content.
Development of a Very Brief Measure of ADHD: The CHAOS Scale
Authors: Levy Jess D. , Kronenberger William G. , Dunn David W.
Published: August 2013

Objective: We sought to develop a brief, easy to use behavior checklist to address common limitations in the use of ADHD rating scales in busy clinical settings. Method: Items for the CHAOS ( Conduct- Hyperactive- Attention Problem- Oppositional Symptom) scale were developed based on the ratings of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV) criteria provided by experienced clinicians. The scale was administered to mothers of 205 clinically referred children for the purpose of subscale creation based on principal components analysis (PCA). Reliability and validity were analyzed using a separate sample of 139 children referred for psychological testing. Results: PCA resulted in four subscales (Attention Problems, Hyperactivity-Impulsivity, Oppositional Behavior, and Conduct Problems), which demonstrated moderate to high test–retest and interrater reliability. Subscale scores correlated significantly with subscales from a DSM-referenced behavior checklist, along with tests of executive functioning. Conclusion: These data suggest that the CHAOS scale is a brief, psychometrically sound tool for evaluation and monitoring of ADHD symptoms.
Parents’ Perspectives About Factors Influencing Adherence to Pharmacotherapy for ADHD
Authors: Ahmed Rana , Borst Jacqueline , Wei Yong C. , Aslani Parisa
Published: August 2013

Objective: The aim of the present study was to explore factors influencing parents’ decisions to adhere and persist with ADHD pharmacotherapy in children. Method: Focus groups ( n = 3) were conducted with 16 parents recruited from metropolitan Sydney. Group discussions explored factors impacting on treatment initiation, continuation, and cessation. Focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematically content analyzed. Results: Parents commenced and continued pharmacotherapy due to its positive impact on their child’s behavior. Improvements in the child’s academic performance and social interactions encouraged persistence with therapy. Parents elected to cease therapy after their children experienced side effects including appetite suppression, weight loss, and sleep disturbances. Concerns about long-term effects of ADHD medication use including potential for addiction and growth stunting, in addition to the stigma surrounding ADHD also contributed to parents ceasing treatment. Conclusion: The findings highlight a need for the provision of accurate information about ADHD and its treatments to parents to empower their treatment decisions and promote adherence.
Feline CKD
Authors: Reynolds Brice S , Lefebvre Hervé P
Published: September 2013

Practical relevance:

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of the most frequently encountered disorders in cats, having increased in prevalence in recent decades. Although the underlying cause is rarely identified, the common final outcome of feline CKD is tubulointerstitial fibrosis. Knowledge of CKD pathophysiology is necessary for optimal individualised patient management, especially with regard to diagnosis and treatment of extrarenal complications.

Patient group:

CKD is most common in senior and geriatric cats, but should be considered in any feline patient with ureterolithiasis, hyperthyroidism, retrovirus infection, systemic hypertension, cardiovascular disease or urinary tract infection.

Evidence base:

Most of our knowledge of the pathogenesis of CKD is extrapolated from human nephrology and experimental animal studies. There is, therefore, a need for further studies in cats. The prevalence of clinical signs in feline CKD is well documented. Several concurrent diseases associated with CKD have also been reported in cats, especially in the geriatric population, but there is no or only limited published evidence demonstrating a cause-and-effect relationship between most of these conditions and CKD. Studies performed over the past 15 years have nevertheless allowed identification of major risk factors (proteinuria, plasma phosphate and plasma creatinine) influencing the progression of feline CKD.

Clinical challenges:

Clinical signs occur in the late stages of renal disease, so populations at higher risk of CKD should be screened routinely. CKD-associated complications (systemic hypertension, secondary renal hyperparathyroidism, hypokalaemia, anaemia, metabolic acidosis) must not be overlooked as they may affect the progression of disease. Disease progression is itself unpredictable and renal function may remain stable for extended periods. Most cats with early CKD do not progress to end-stage CKD before they die.

Audience:

General practitioners play a major role in screening feline patients at risk of development or progression of CKD.
Feline CKD
Authors: Korman Rachel M , White Joanna D
Published: September 2013

Practical relevance:

Treatment of feline chronic kidney disease (CKD) tends to focus on minimising the adverse effects of reduced renal function, rather than addressing an underlying cause. Despite this, and the progressive nature of CKD, treatment can improve quality of life and enable many cats to have long survival times.

Evidence base:

Strong evidence supports the provision of renal diets, which are protein and phosphorus restricted; compliance is improved by gradual dietary transition. Additional phosphorus restriction is achieved by the use of phosphate binding agents, although it is unknown if these yield similar survival benefits to those provided by renal diets. Interventions to control hypokalaemia and hypertension in affected cats are important to prevent serious complications. Administration of benazepril to cats with proteinuric kidney disease has been shown to significantly improve their appetite but not their survival. As CKD progresses, many cats will benefit from treatment to control clinical signs of uraemic gastroenteritis and anaemia.
Feline CKD
Authors: Taylor Samantha , Sparkes Andrew H
Published: September 2013

Practical relevance:

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is common in humans as well as in cats, and is a significant human health problem. In feline medicine, despite recent research and improvements in our understanding of the condition, management remains limited by late diagnosis and an inadequate ability to prevent progression of disease. Investigation of future treatments that both delay the progression of CKD and manage clinical signs, and that are also easy and cost effective to administer, is desirable. To this end, we may learn from our colleagues in the medical profession.

Audience:

CKD is commonly encountered in general practice and so all practitioners dealing with cats will benefit from understanding future treatment possibilities and interventions in the management of CKD.

Evidence base:

Large-scale medical studies have been performed to provide an evidence base for treatment decisions in human CKD. Several studies in cats have looked at various aspects of treatment and prognosis, but large-scale studies are needed to assess the benefits of treatments such as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers.

Clinical challenges:

Providing treatment that is effective, easy to administer and not cost-prohibitive is the challenge currently faced by clinicians in the management of feline CKD.
Transmission efficiency and noise, vibration and harshness refinement of differential hypoid gear pairs
Authors: Mohammadpour M , Theodossiades S , Rahnejat H , Kelly P
Published: August 2013

This article presents a combined multi-body dynamics and lubricated contact mechanics model of vehicular differential hypoid gear pairs, demonstrating the transient nature of transmission efficiency and noise, vibration and harshness performance under various driving conditions. The contact of differential hypoid gears is subjected to mixed thermo-elastohydrodynamic regime of lubrication. The coefficient of friction is obtained using an analytical approach for non-Newtonian lubricant shear and supplemented by boundary interactions for thin films. Additionally, road data and aerodynamic effects are used in the form of resisting torque applied to the output side of the gear pair. Sinusoidal engine torque variation is also included to represent engine order torsional input resident on the pinion gear. Analysis results are presented for New European Driving Cycle transience from low-speed city driving condition in second gear to steady-state cruising in fourth gear for a light truck. It is shown that the New European Driving Cycle captures the transmission efficiency characteristics of the differential hypoid gear pair under worst case scenario, with its underlying implications for fuel efficiency and emissions. However, it fails to address the other key attribute, being the noise, vibration and harshness performance. In the case of hypoid gears, the resultant noise, vibration and harshness characteristics can be particularly annoying. It is concluded that broader transient manoeuvres encompassing New European Driving Cycle are required for assessment, in order to obtain a balanced approach for transmission efficiency and noise, vibration and harshness performance. This approach is undertaken in this article, which is not hitherto reported in the literature.
European unilateralism and involuntary burden-sharing in global climate politics: A public opinion perspective from the other side
Authors: Bernauer Thomas , Gampfer Robert , Kachi Aya
Published: August 2013

Powerful political actors in the international system quite frequently adopt unilateral policies whose implications extend beyond their respective borders. Examples include financial market regulation as well as taxation, trade and environmental policies. They do so to avoid lowest common-denominator outcomes in areas where they desire more ambitious international policies, and to motivate or coerce other countries to shoulder a part of the burden associated with problem solving. This article explores whether and how such unilateralism affects public opinion in other countries, arguing that such analysis can point to external constraints on unilateralism and is worthwhile also for normative reasons. Empirically, we examine the effect of a major unilateral European Union (EU) climate policy initiative, which regulates emissions from aircraft, on public opinion in India and the United States, the two largest democracies outside the EU. Based on survey experiments, we study the effects of cost and sovereignty considerations on people’s evaluation of the EU’s new policy. The results show that both types of concern play a significant role and may act as a constraint on unilateral European climate policy.
Culture shock, what culture shock? Conceptualizing culture unrest in intercultural tourism and assessing its effect on tourists’ perceptions and travel propensity
Authors: Moufakkir Omar
Published: August 2013

Hottola introduced ‘culture confusion’ as a new theoretical model to overcome the inadequacies of Oberg’s ‘culture shock’. This article proposed culture unrest as a new conceptualization whereby culture shock is negotiated at home before the overseas trip begins. In the past years, the growing number of immigrants in some countries has transformed culture shock into culture unrest, defined as the context where two cultures live together, but at a level of acceptance that has developed from a state of interest or curiosity to apathy, annoyance or even antagonism. Based on a background of ‘multicultural drama’, the study examined the perceptions of native Dutch respondents about the Moroccan community resident in the Netherlands and assessed their intentions to visit Morocco in the future. The ‘rapid implosion of the “Third World” into the “First”’ should no longer go unnoticed in tourism studies.
Hysteretic moisture properties of porous materials: Part I: Thermodynamics
Authors: Funk Max
Published: August 2013

This article develops a thermodynamic description of hysteretic behaviour of moisture in materials. The moisture sorption is described by a ‘condensation potential’ using a ‘pore interaction energy’ that is considered as an attribute of the condensate. Surface subsystems, (liquid–solid) and (liquid–gaseous), are not needed. In conformity with the classical domain theory, hysteretic effects can be explained as metastable states of the condensation potential (static, time-independent hysteresis) or as unstable states (dynamic, time-dependent hysteresis). The hysteretic extension of the standard heat, air and moisture transport model is derived in an easy and efficient way using a combined-phase thermodynamic approach. This article comprises three parts. First, the general thermodynamic description is given, and later, the condensation potential will be calculated for many different physical sorption mechanisms.
Severe refractory asthma: an update
Authors: Wener Reinier R.L. , Bel Elisabeth H.
Published: August 2013

Asthma is a heterogeneous disease in which adequate asthma control cannot be achieved in a substantial proportion despite currently available treatment possibilities. This subgroup has been defined as “severe refractory” asthma. Over the past years considerable progress has been made regarding a more exact definition of severe refractory asthma. A systematic approach to evaluate the asthma patient has been postulated. Further detailed classification into distinct phenotypes is ongoing to target the right treatment to the right patient. And, new therapeutic targeted treatment options are currently in development to provide possible new targets to improve disease state, symptoms and quality of life. This review will provide an update on the latest advancements with regard to all these domains.
Surgery for nonsmall cell lung cancer
Authors: Lang-Lazdunski Loïc
Published: August 2013

Surgery remains the best curative option in patients with early stage lung cancer (stage I and II). Developments in minimally invasive techniques now allow surgeons to perform lung resections on elderly patients, patients with poor pulmonary function or significant cardiopulmonary comorbidities. New techniques, such as stereotactic radiotherapy and ablative procedures, are being evaluated in early-stage lung cancer and may represent an alternative to surgery in patients unfit for lung resection. Perioperative mortality rates have dropped significantly at most institutions in the past two decades and complications are managed more efficiently. Progress in imaging and staging techniques have helped cut futile thoracotomy rates and offer patients the most adequate treatment options. Large randomised trials have helped clarify the role of neoadjuvant, induction and adjuvant chemotherapy, as well as radiotherapy. Surgery remains an essential step in the multimodality therapy of selected patients with advanced-stage lung cancer (stage III and IV). Interventional and endoscopic techniques have reduced the role of surgery in the diagnosis and staging of nonsmall cell lung cancer, but surgery remains an important tool in the palliation of advanced-stage lung cancer. Large national/international surgical databases have been developed and predictive risk-models for surgical mortality/morbidity published by learned surgical societies. Nonetheless, lung cancer overall survival rates remain deceptively low and it is hoped that early detection/screening, better understanding of tumour biology and development of biomarkers, and development of efficient targeted therapies will help improve the prognosis of lung cancer patients in the next decade.
Tender coconut water an economical growth medium for the production of recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli
Authors: Sekar Narendrakumar , Veetil Soumya Kariyadan , Neerathilingam Muniasamy
Published: September 2013

Background

Escherichia coli is most widely used prokaryotic expression system for the production of recombinant proteins. Several strategies have been employed for expressing recombinant proteins in E.coli. This includes the development of novel host systems, expression vectors and cost effective media. In this study, we exploit tender coconut water (TCW) as a natural and cheaper growth medium for E.coli and Pichia pastoris.

Result

E.coli and P.pastoris were cultivated in TCW and the growth rate was monitored by measuring optical density at 600 nm (OD600nm), where 1.55 for E.coli and 8.7 for P.pastoris was obtained after 12 and 60 hours, respectively. However, variation in growth rate was observed among TCW when collected from different localities (0.15-2.5 at OD600nm), which is attributed to the varying chemical profile among samples. In this regard, we attempted the supplementation of TCW with different carbon and nitrogen sources to attain consistency in growth rate. Here, supplementation of TCW with 25 mM ammonium sulphate (TCW-S) was noted efficient for the normalization of inconsistency, which further increased the biomass of E.coli by 2 to 10 folds, and 1.5 to 2 fold in P.pastoris. These results indicate that nitrogen source is the major limiting factor for growth. This was supported by total nitrogen and carbon estimation where, nitrogen varies from 20 to 60 mg/100 ml while carbohydrates showed no considerable variation (2.32 to 3.96 g/100 ml). In this study, we also employed TCW as an expression media for recombinant proteins by demonstrating successful expression of maltose binding protein (MBP), MBP-TEV protease fusion and a photo switchable fluorescent protein (mEos2) using TCW and the expression level was found to be equivalent to Luria Broth (LB).

Conclusion

This study highlights the possible application of TCW-S as a media for cultivation of a variety of microorganisms and recombinant protein expression.