bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Diet and health
Authors: Bender David A.
Published: April 2017

‘Diet and Health’ is concerned with the epidemiological evidence that diet is a factor in the development of chronic non-communicable diseases—especially atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, hypertension, type II diabetes, and cancer—and how we can use these findings to produce guidelines for a prudent diet and to promote healthy eating. A diet that is associated with reduced risk of developing chronic non-communicable diseases provides 30 per cent of energy from fat, with only one-third of the fat as saturated fat and 6 to 10 per cent of the fat as polyunsaturated fat, 55 per cent of energy from carbohydrates (mainly starch, with only 10 per cent of energy from sugars), and 15 per cent of energy from protein.
2. Studying minerals
Authors: Vaughan David
Published: April 2017

The study of minerals begins with their characterization, identification, and classification determined from their chemical compositions and crystallographic properties. ‘Studying minerals’ shows that historically this was based on properties observable in hand specimens, but the development of wide-ranging techniques has allowed the study of all aspects of minerals: their structures, chemistries, surface chemistries, and reactivities. Techniques described include transmitted light and reflected light microscopy using thin and polished sections; X-ray crystallography based on Bragg’s Law; techniques using various forms of electromagnetic radiation; and electron microscopes including the transmission electron microscope, scanning electron microscope, scanning tunnelling microscope, and atomic force microscope.
3. Minerals and the interior of the Earth
Authors: Vaughan David
Published: April 2017

‘Minerals and the interior of the Earth’ looks at the role of minerals in plate tectonics during the processes of crystallization and melting. The size and range of minerals formed are dependent on the temperature and pressure of the magma during its movement through the crust. The evolution of the continental crust also involves granite formation and processes of metamorphism. Our understanding of the interior of the Earth is based on indirect evidence, mainly the study of earthquake waves. The Earth consists of concentric shells: a solid inner core; liquid outer core; a solid mantle divided into a lower mantle, a transition zone, and an upper mantle; and then the outer rigid lithosphere.
The fundamentals of financial accounting
Authors: Nobes Christopher
Published: April 2017

‘The fundamentals of financial accounting’ explores the basic ideas of financial accounting: the way accounting actually works, the logic behind the double-entry recording system, and the contents of the basic financial statements (balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement). The following questions are addressed: What does a balance sheet try to show? Why does it balance? How is it that any one transaction has two accounting effects? Which costs lead to assets and which lead to expenses? How do cash flows fit in? How can a profitable company go bust because of a lack of cash?
Financial reports of listed companies
Authors: Nobes Christopher
Published: April 2017

‘Financial reports of listed companies’ considers the components of an annual report and the types of financial statement that companies generally provide: balance sheet, income statement, statement of changes in equity, and cash flow statement. It addresses the following questions: what are assets and how are they measured? What is the difference between depreciation and impairment? Why are various expected expenses and losses not accounted for as liabilities? How can an investor decide which company to lend to or buy shares in? How could managers use accounting to mislead investors? Tangible assets, intangible assets, and financial assets are defined along with liabilities and accounting ratios.
Star-struck: journalism as entertainment
Authors: Hargreaves Ian
Published: April 2017

Journalism has always entertained as well as informed, but has the recent instinct to amuse driven out the will, and depleted the resource, for serious reporting and analysis? ‘Star-struck: journalism as entertainment’ analyses tabloid reporting, the rise of reality TV, the entertainment and sales potential of celebrity reporting, and the recent blurring of the boundaries between fact and fiction in journalist reporting. Good tabloid journalism can, and does, widen access to politics and other serious subjects, but it’s not funny when high-profile mainstream journalism becomes infected with an easy-going relationship with facts.
Up to a point, Lord Copper’s: who owns journalists?
Authors: Hargreaves Ian
Published: April 2017

Traditionally, we imagine journalists to be free-spirited mavericks unbound by rules and regulation. However, most modern journalism takes place within a corporate setting. ‘Up to a point, Lord Copper’s: who owns journalists?’ explores issues of news media ownership, noting the decline of the press baron. There are many good political, economic, and cultural reasons to care about who owns the institutions from which we get our journalism. Can any conclusions be drawn about which ownership conditions make for a great newspaper or a great TV news channel? Experience says that the goal should be to achieve the greatest diversity of institutional form possible.
4. The calendar and festivals
Authors: Solomon Norman
Published: April 2017

The key to the Jewish calendar is Nature and the pattern of sunrise and sunset. Temple procedures were scheduled into a day that began at dawn and for other purposes the day began at nightfall, such as the Sabbath. ‘The calendar and festivals’ looks at how the Jewish year is structured. The New Moon and changing seasons are celebrated. In biblical times, the New Moon was a festival of importance. Three of the most popular Bible-based festivals are known as ‘pilgrim’ or ‘foot’ festivals. Not all festivals are joyful. The New Year (Rosh Hashana) and Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) are serious occasions marking the beginning and end of the Ten Days of Penitence.
9. ‘Eternal law’, changing times
Authors: Solomon Norman
Published: April 2017

‘“Eternal law”, changing times’ takes a look at how poskim (rabbis who decide the law) have drawn on traditional sources to deal with contemporary issues such as abortion, artificial insemination, euthanasia, and surrogate motherhood. General moral principles are easy to derive from the Bible and Talmud, but they don’t always provide answers to specific questions. Judaism provides a wealth and variety of responses to modern issues. This gives testimony to the ongoing vitality of an ancient tradition which seems ready to adapt itself to a changing world. Peace remains elusive in the Land of Israel, diaspora Jewry are diminishing in number, and divisions still exist. But what lies ahead for Judaism?
Beliefs, rituals, and narratives
Authors: Woodhead Linda
Published: April 2017

‘Beliefs, rituals, and narratives’ considers the common signs, stories, symbols, and rituals—in particular dealing with sin and salvation—that serve as the basic building blocks of Christianity. The picture that emerges is of a faith with its origins in an explosion of spiritual energy—focused and channelled by Jesus Christ—that empowered his followers to think, feel, and desire in new ways. In early Christian history it gave rise to a wide range of different spiritual movements and to many different versions of the faith. As Christianity developed, its leaders tried to maintain unity not only by creating a canon of scripture, the Bible, but by formulating creeds, theologies, and liturgies.
9. The Epicurean legacy
Authors: Wilson Catherine
Published: April 2017

‘The Epicurean legacy’ begins by reviewing the Epicurean philosophy outlined in this VSI. It concludes that the Epicurean depiction of the world was both inspiration for and anathema to generations of later philosophers and their readers. The moral, political, and theological ideas associated with it stimulated metaphysics, science, and social thought, arousing at times furious resistance. Epicureanism is not a fatalistic philosophy. It lays great weight on human choices and preferences, and on the role of chance in presenting challenges and opportunities that call on our powers of invention as well as our rationality. It is also the most compassionate of the ancient ethical systems.
International
Authors: Cronin Mike
Published: April 2017

The first recorded international sporting fixture was a cricket match between the United States and Canada in New York in 1844. ‘International’ shows that once sporting organizations, the media, and even politicians began to realize the value of international competition it spread quickly from sport to sport. Groups of national federations came together to form international federations that governed their particular sport, and arranged and sanctioned international competitions. Such organizations included the International Rugby Board (founded 1886), International Olympic Committee (1894), and Fédération Internationale de Football Association (1904). The history of the IOC, the Olympic Games, and their political and financial aspects are described, including the boycotts of the 1970s and 1980s.
Business
Authors: Cronin Mike
Published: April 2017

‘Business’ describes the commercialization of sport that began in the late 19th century and, with the advent of television, became even greater in the second half of the 20th century. Sport is regularly cited as the third biggest business in the world. The sports business speaks to two separate markets: the players who consume goods and services such as equipment, specialist diets, sports medicine, and affiliation fees; and the spectators of elite sports who avail themselves of stadium tickets, media packages, sporting memorabilia, and various forms of social media as a means of identifying with their sport or team. The role of sponsorship and the media in sport is also explained.
Dark side
Authors: Cronin Mike
Published: April 2017

Sport is not simply about who wins or loses the game. While events on the field of play may constitute the limits of the actual physical sporting experience, the impact of sport is felt far wider. Drug taking, gender twisting, match fixing, playing to the referee, all of these issues have plagued modern sport for a century and a half, and none of them have gone away no matter how the purists objected and the rule book adapted. ‘Dark side’ considers the key issues that continue to affect sport: gender equality; sex and sexuality; institutional racism; cheating, including doping to enhance performance; technological advances; and how sport reflects local culture.
War in the West: 1940
Authors: Weinberg Gerard L.
Published: April 2017

‘War in the West: 1940’ outlines Germany's plans to invade England and France. The original plan was to strike in late 1939, but the postponement to spring 1940 had three major effects on that offensive. First, the time was utilized by the Germans to remedy some of the problems encountered in the campaign against Poland. Secondly, repeated warnings of the forthcoming offensive by German opponents of the Hitler regime had the unintended effect of having the last—and accurate—warning essentially disregarded. Thirdly, the time was used for a major reorientation of the planned German offensive that interacted fatally with the plans of the French and British to cope with any German attack.
Barbarossa: the German invasion of the Soviet Union
Authors: Weinberg Gerard L.
Published: April 2017

‘Barbarossa: The German invasion of the Soviet Union’ outlines Germany's attack on the Soviet Union, which began in the early hours of June 22 1941 with an army of over three million men and over six hundred-thousand horses joined by half a million men in the armies of Romania and Finland. The German air force struck Soviet airfields and Soviet planes, destroying several thousand in the first few days and securing control of the air for the early phase of the campaign. Stalin's errors made for easy early German victories. However, the superior Soviet tanks and tenacity of the Red Army resulted in a much longer and, eventually, unsuccessful battle for Germany.
Japan expands its war with China
Authors: Weinberg Gerard L.
Published: April 2017

Japan had been in open war with China since July 1937 and was continuing occasional advances against Chinese resistance. ‘Japan expands its war with China’ describes how German victories in the West in early 1940 suggested an opportunity to close off much of China's outside aid. In July 1941, Japanese forces occupied the southern part of French Indo-China, moving away from war with China to prepare attacks on territories controlled by the Netherlands, Britain, and the United States in East and Southeast Asia as well as the South Pacific. Japan's attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941 brought the United States fully into the war, in both the Pacific and in Europe.
Allied victory, 1944–5
Authors: Weinberg Gerard L.
Published: April 2017

The Western Allies intended to fight until the Axis powers surrendered unconditionally. ‘Allied victory, 1944–45’ considers the Allied strategy, agreed at a conference in Tehran, that there would be 1944 offensives on all major fronts in Europe, specifically including an invasion across the Channel to be supported by an invasion on the Mediterranean coast of France. The Soviet Union push into Germany met with the Americans in Berlin in April 1945. Hitler committed suicide on April 30, and Germany surrendered on May 8. It took the devastation of the atomic bomb later in the year for Japan to surrender.
Fungi and decomposition
Authors: Money Nicholas P.
Published: April 2017

Fungi that do not form supportive or parasitic relationships with plants and animals feed on the debris of life. These are saprotrophs that decompose dead roots, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, twigs, branches, upright tree trunks, and fallen logs. Wood is decomposed by a combination of white rot and brown rot basidiomycetes that produce mushrooms. Other fungi grow on animal faeces and decompose the tissues of dead invertebrates and vertebrates. Fungi also clear up our mess, breaking down every natural product used in a lifetime of consumerism and destroying synthetic materials made by industry. ‘Fungi and decomposition’ describes the saprotrophic fungi and considers their significance in the global carbon cycle.
Edible mushrooms and fungal biotechnology
Authors: Money Nicholas P.
Published: April 2017

‘Edible mushrooms and fungal biotechnology’ turns to the ways fungi are used to improve our lives. The pleasure of eating wild mushrooms, tempered with awareness of the poisonous nature of a few species, is an ancient experience born from our prehistory as hunter-gatherers in forest ecosystems. Cultivation of edible mushrooms is one of the oldest biotechnological uses of fungi, although brewing and baking with yeast go back further. In modern times, fungi are used to produce antibiotics, cyclosporin, and other medicines. Fungi are a source of industrial enzymes and acids, and the use of fungi in biofuel production is one of the most exciting ventures in modern biotechnology.
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis
Authors: Wayne Marta L. , Bolker Benjamin M.
Published: April 2017

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is a fungal pathogen that infects many different amphibian species, driving some of them to extinction. ‘Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis’ considers the physiology and natural history of this emerging pathogen; its discovery in the late 1990s in Australia and Central America; and the concepts and strategies used to try to determine its origins. Has it arrived relatively recently in the communities it was destroying, or did it lie dormant in those communities for millennia before suddenly beginning to cause harm? The debate between the novel pathogen hypothesis and the endemic pathogen hypothesis, versions of which apply to most emerging diseases of wildlife, is ongoing.
Matter from the outside
Authors: Atkins Peter
Published: April 2017

‘Matter from the outside’ focuses on the applications of thermodynamics in physical chemistry. Thermodynamics is the science of energy and the transformations that it can undergo. It plays a central role in understanding chemical reactions. There are four laws of thermodynamics: the Zeroth Law establishes the concept of temperature; the First Law concerns the conservation of energy; the Second Law deals with entropy (a measure of the quality of energy); and the Third Law concerns the absolute zero of temperature. The property enthalpy is explained along with Gibbs energy and free energy. Physical chemists can deploy the laws of thermodynamics, laws relating to matter from the outside, to establish relations between properties and to make important connections.
Bridging matter
Authors: Atkins Peter
Published: April 2017

‘Bridging matter’ introduces statistical thermodynamics, which provides the link between the notional insides and outsides of atoms and molecules. It identifies the bulk properties of a sample with the average behaviour of all the molecules that constitute it. A key concept is the Boltzmann distribution, which shows the exponentially decaying function of the energy of molecules as temperature is increased. It captures two aspects of chemistry: stability and reactivity. Statistical thermodynamics is used by physical chemists to understand the composition of chemical reaction mixtures that have reached equilibrium. It also provides an explanation of Le Chatelier's principle, which states that a system at equilibrium responds to a disturbance by tending to oppose its effect.
Changing the identity of matter
Authors: Atkins Peter
Published: April 2017

A great deal of chemistry is concerned with changing the identity of matter by the deployment of chemical reactions. Physical chemists are interested in a variety of aspects of chemical reactions, including the rates at which they take place (chemical kinetics) and the details of the steps involved during the transformation (chemical dynamics). Chemical reactions can be achieved simply by mixing and heating, but some are stimulated by light (photochemistry) and others by electricity (electrochemistry). ‘Changing the identity of matter’ explains the key terms of chemical kinetics and chemical dynamics such as spontaneous reaction, reaction quotient, equilibrium constant, rate law, reaction mechanism, rate-determining step, activation energy, and catalysis.
2. Freud and psychoanalysis
Authors: Burns Tom , Burns‐Lundgren Eva
Published: April 2017

Almost all modern psychotherapies owe their origins to Freud and psychoanalysis. ‘Freud and psychoanalysis’ shows that although psychoanalysis is no longer the dominant psychotherapy, it has influenced virtually all subsequent therapies. Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), a neurologist based in Vienna, started it all. He used hypnosis for many years with his neurotic patients, but moved on to free association and dream interpretation. His psychoanalysis involved gaining an understanding of a person’s mental structures: the ego, id, super-ego, and defence mechanisms. The spread of psychoanalysis to the US, the UK, and South America was a result of the rise of Nazism in the 1930s, which forced many early analysts to leave Austria.
8. Psychotherapy now and in the future
Authors: Burns Tom , Burns‐Lundgren Eva
Published: April 2017

Psychotherapy has reached into almost every aspect of our lives—how we treat the mentally ill, how we understand our relationships, our appreciation of art and artists, and even how we manage our schools, prisons, and workplaces. ‘Psychotherapy now and in the future’ reviews the current state of psychotherapy in the Western world as well as in non-Western societies, and considers what the future holds for psychotherapy. How we judge psychotherapy’s future will probably reflect what we think of it now: as a profound breakthrough in understanding ourselves and a step forward in social evolution, or as simply one among many technical procedures to reduce distress and improve human well-being.
What and why of microeconomics
Authors: Dixit Avinash
Published: April 2017

‘What and why of microeconomics’ explains that microeconomics studies how consumers choose what goods and services to buy, how producers make decisions to meet these demands, and how the two sides interact. Mostly the transactions work fairly smoothly, but occasionally things do go wrong. Sometimes failures are drastic, like the gasoline shortages in the 1970s and the housing bubble and its collapse in the 2000s, so a basic understanding of microeconomics is important. When and how do transactions go well? When and why do they fail? What can be done if they fail? Information and incentive mechanisms to coordinate transactions and how prices work are the main subject matter of microeconomics.
Producers
Authors: Dixit Avinash
Published: April 2017

‘Producers’ addresses production, an activity that transforms inputs (raw materials and other produced goods, as well as services of labour, land, and capital) into outputs. Producers must pay attention to the costs of these inputs — the prices of inputs that are used up, as well as wages, rents, and costs of capital — which involves judgement about uncertain prospects. Supply curves, pricing strategies, rivalry between firms, supply chains, and firm organization are considered. Firms buy some inputs to their production from other firms and make some inputs in-house. The choice is theirs. But why not produce each link of the supply chain in a separate firm? Or why not make everything in-house?
What works?
Authors: Dixit Avinash
Published: April 2017

Given the long list of defects in markets and governments outlined in this VSI, the world has not fared too badly. ‘What works?’ concludes that a mixed economy — where competitive markets or similar institutions generate information about scarcity and create incentives to alleviate the scarcity in a reasonably efficient manner, where antitrust policies keep the markets open to competition, where the government and other social organizations help overcome the inefficiencies of externalities, and where political competition acts as a corrective mechanism against abuses of power and serious errors of judgement — is the best way of organizing microeconomic activity.
Introduction: American Wests
Authors: Aron Stephen
Published: April 2017

‘Introduction: American Wests’ shows that the confusion of legend and fact, of myth and history, makes it hard to disentangle the stories we have told about the development of the American West from our understanding of what really happened. This VSI explains how the gap between projections and reality has shaped the development of the West and confounded our interpretations of its history. This history of the American West expands the chronology, enlarges the geography, complicates the casting, and pluralizes the subject to show that across the centuries, the movements of peoples and the minglings of cultures have shaped the history of sharp confrontations and murky convergences.
3. Making the first American West
Authors: Aron Stephen
Published: April 2017

‘Making the first American West’ outlines the “First West”, a vast territory beyond the Appalachian Mountains that remained the focus of intense rivalries between French, Spanish, and British empire-builders in the decades before and after the Revolution. Their expansionist schemes were entangled with the counter-colonial aspirations and determined occupations of diverse Indian inhabitants. In the wake of the Louisiana Purchase, which gave the United States a farther West, and the War of 1812, which brought a further withdrawal of imperial rivals, Indians' options narrowed. By the 1820s, the inclusive relations that had characterized the lands between the Appalachians and the Mississippi had largely given way to exclusive American occupations.
4. Taking the farther West
Authors: Aron Stephen
Published: April 2017

By the time the last Indian removals from the First West were being carried out in the early nineteenth century, the demands of Americans for lands farther west, within and beyond the borders of the Louisiana Purchase, were creating conflicts with existing occupants and rival claimants. Over time, these claims displaced prior arrangements between fur traders and Indians. They also led to war between the United States and Mexico. ‘Taking the farther West’ describes this United States expansion, the war with Mexico, and the subsequent discovery of gold in California, which precipitated an unprecedented number of people heading to the western end of the continent. The Gold Rush had devastating consequences for the native Californian Indians.
7. The worldly West
Authors: Aron Stephen
Published: April 2017

The 1965 Immigration Reform Act dramatically changed the pattern of immigration into the United States and particularly into the western states that bordered the Pacific or Mexico. These post-1965 flows significantly altered the national origins of the region's population. Along with the twentieth-century transformations wrought by global wars and globalized commerce, the new immigration amplified the connections between the West and the world. ‘The worldly West’ explains that like the growing import of the national government in the West's affairs, the international presence generated resentments and efforts at restriction of immigration. Yet, in the second and third quarters of the twentieth century, the region's fate was increasingly defined by federal interventions and entwined with international developments.
3. The work of slavery
Authors: Williams Heather Andrea
Published: April 2017

‘The work of slavery’ describes the wide range of work and duties allocated to enslaved people—men, women, and children—in the North and South. From the 1600s to 1865 the vast majority worked in agriculture producing the cash crops that generated the wealth of the nation. The slave trade created mass consumer markets that traded sugarcane, sugar, rum, molasses, tobacco, indigo, coffee, rice, and cotton. Slavery also existed in urban spaces, where people worked in owner's homes and in commercial enterprises performing domestic duties or skilled work in factories and textile mills. Many enslaved people took great pride in their work—it sustained their egos and their need to have meaningful lives.
popFBA: tackling intratumour heterogeneity with Flux Balance Analysis
Authors: Damiani Chiara , Di Filippo Marzia , Pescini Dario , Maspero Davide , Colombo Riccardo , Mauri Giancarlo
Published: April 2017

Motivation

Intratumour heterogeneity poses many challenges to the treatment of cancer. Unfortunately, the transcriptional and metabolic information retrieved by currently available computational and experimental techniques portrays the average behaviour of intermixed and heterogeneous cell subpopulations within a given tumour. Emerging single-cell genomic analyses are nonetheless unable to characterize the interactions among cancer subpopulations. In this study, we propose popFBA, an extension to classic Flux Balance Analysis, to explore how metabolic heterogeneity and cooperation phenomena affect the overall growth of cancer cell populations.

Results

We show how clones of a metabolic network of human central carbon metabolism, sharing the same stoichiometry and capacity constraints, may follow several different metabolic paths and cooperate to maximize the growth of the total population. We also introduce a method to explore the space of possible interactions, given some constraints on plasma supply of nutrients. We illustrate how alternative nutrients in plasma supply and/or a dishomogeneous distribution of oxygen provision may affect the landscape of heterogeneous phenotypes. We finally provide a technique to identify the most proliferative cells within the heterogeneous population.

Availability and implementation

the popFBA MATLAB function and the SBML model are available at https://github.com/BIMIB-DISCo/popFBA.
Party Polarization in Legislatures with Office-Motivated Candidates*
Authors: Polborn Mattias K. , Snyder James M.
Published: April 2017

We develop a theory of legislative competition in which voters care about local candidate valence and national party positions that are determined by the parties’ median legislators. As long as election outcomes are sufficiently predictable, the only stable equilibria exhibit policy divergence between the parties. If the degree of uncertainty about election outcomes decreases, and if voters place less weight on local candidates’ valence, polarization between the parties increases. Furthermore, a systematic electoral shock makes the party favored by the shock more moderate, while the disadvantaged party becomes more extreme. Finally, we examine data on state elections and the ideological positions of state legislatures and find patterns that are consistent with key predictions of our model.
Does pregnancy influence melanoma prognosis? A meta-analysis
Authors: Kyrgidis Athanassios , Lallas Aimilios , Moscarella Elvira , Longo Caterina , Alfano Roberto , Argenziano Giuseppe
Published: April 2017

The literature has not been able to conclude whether pregnancy influences the prognosis of melanoma. The aim of this study was to explore the prognosis of melanoma diagnosed during pregnancy or post partum [pregnancy-associated melanoma (PAM)] compared with melanoma in female patients who were not pregnant. We systematically searched for studies of female patients with melanoma that reported outcomes related to survival. Fifteen eligible studies were found. Overall, PAM was associated with a 17% higher mortality compared with melanoma diagnosed in female patients who were not pregnant (hazard ratio=1.17, 95% confidence interval: 1.03–1.33, P=0.02). The heterogeneity associated with this test was moderate (P=0.07; I
2=38%). PAM was also associated with a 50% higher recurrence rate compared with melanoma not associated with pregnancy (hazard ratio=1.50, 95% confidence interval: 1.19–1.90, P<0.001). The heterogeneity associated with this test was low (P=0.69; I
2=0%). A limitation of this meta-analysis is the definition of PAM, which is not unanimous among the studies included. Our results indicate that PAM is associated with a worse prognosis than melanoma not related to pregnancy, both in terms of overall survival and disease-free survival. On the basis of our data, we anticipate that the survival difference we report here will be further amplified with the addition of future well-carried out studies. We suggest that detection of PAM requires particular awareness by healthcare professionals.
Exploring the Interaction Between Nursing Decision Making and Patient Outcomes in 2 European Cancer Centers
Authors: Valcarenghi Dario , Bagnasco Annamaria , Aleo Giuseppe , Catania Gianluca , Zanini Milko , Cavaliere Bruno , Carnevale Franco , Sasso Loredana
Published: April 2017

Background:

In some clinical settings, nurses have difficulty describing the outcomes of their caring activities. Understanding the reasons for this could help nurse leaders to improve the effectiveness and visibility of nursing practice and safeguard nurses’ working conditions.

Objective:

The aims of this study were to understand how nurses working in 2 different adult cancer centers make healthcare decisions and assess the respective outcomes on their patients.

Methods:

Through a constructivist grounded theory approach, we involved 15 clinical cancer nurses with different experiences and educational backgrounds and 6 nurse managers, working in 2 comprehensive cancer centers, 1 in Italy and 1 in Switzerland. Data were collected in 2 phases using 20 semistructured interviews and 9 field observations.

Results:

Six macrocategories emerged: interacting with situational factors, deciding relevant interventions, using multiple decision-making approaches, evaluating interventions and reporting them, pursuing healthcare outcomes, and clarifying professional identity and roles. Nurses’ decision-making processes varied and were influenced by various factors, which mutually influenced one another. This process was interpreted using an explicative theory called “dynamic decision-making adaptation.”

Conclusions:

The present study showed how the aims, contents, and degree of autonomy in the nurses’ decision-making process are strongly influenced by the dialectic interaction between professional and contextual factors, such as competency and professional identity.

Implications for Practice:

Cancer nurses could influence their clinical practice by developing nursing competencies that effectively resolve patients’ problems. This is a key factor that nurses govern autonomously and therefore a responsibility that involves the entire nursing educational, organizational, and scientific leadership.
Supportive Care Needs and Association With Quality of Life of Mexican Adults With Solid Cancers
Authors: Doubova Svetlana V. , Casales-Hernández Maria Guadalupe , Perez-Cuevas Ricardo
Published: April 2017

Background:

Patients with cancer have supportive care needs. Studies that analyze the relationship between supportive care needs and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are scarce. Cultural differences in supportive care needs and perceived QoL are also worth analyzing.

Objective:

The aim of this study was to assess the association between supportive care needs and HRQoL of Mexican adults given a diagnosis of solid cancers.

Methods:

We performed a secondary data analysis of a cross-sectional survey of 825 adult patients with cancer treated at the Oncology Hospital of the Mexican Institute of Social Security. The QLQ-30 from the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer served to measure HRQoL, and the Supportive Care Needs Questionnaire was used to ascertain the needs. The analysis included multiple linear regression models for each HRQoL domain controlled for demographic, clinical, and social support covariates.

Results:

There was an association between psychological needs with low scores in the HRQoL domains of global health, emotional functioning, and increased fatigue. Physical and daily living needs were associated with most HRQoL domains except the emotional domain. Patient care needs were related to low scores in the emotional and social functioning domains. Health systems and information needs were associated with low scores on cognitive functioning.

Conclusions:

Physical, psychological, patient care, and informational needs were associated with decreased HRQoL of Mexican patients with cancer.

Implications for Practice:

Healthcare providers, including nurses, are encouraged to perform routine, comprehensive evaluations of the supportive care needs and HRQoL of patients with solid cancers to respond in a timely manner to their needs.
Long-term Impact of Bile Duct Injury on Morbidity, Mortality, Quality of Life, and Work Related Limitations
Authors: Booij Klaske A. C. , de Reuver Philip R. , van Dieren Susan , van Delden Otto M. , Rauws Erik A. , Busch Olivier R. , van Gulik Thomas M. , Gouma Dirk J.
Published: April 2017

Objective:

Assessment of long-term comprehensive outcome of multimodality treatment of bile duct injury (BDI) in terms of morbidity, mortality, quality of life (QoL), survival, and work related limitations.

Background:

The impact of BDI on work ability is scarcely investigated.

Methods:

BDI patients referred to a tertiary center after BDI were included (n = 800). QoL and work related limitations (HLQ) were compared with 175 control patients after uncomplicated laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Results:

The mean survival after BDI was 17.6 years (95% confidence interval, CI, 17.2–18.0 years). BDI related mortality was 3.5% (28/800). Corrected for sex, ASA classification, treatment and type of injury, survival is worse in male patients (hazard ratio, HR 1.50, 95% CI 1.01–2.33) and progressively worse with higher ASA classification (ASA2: 5.25 (2.94–9.37), ASA3: 18.1 (9.79–33.3). Patients treated surgically had a significantly better survival (HR: 0.45 (95% CI: 0.25–0.80). BDI patients reported a significantly worse physical QoL compared with the control group and worse disease specific QoL. Loss of productivity of work was significantly higher among BDI patients. There also was a significant hindrance in unpaid work. A higher number of bile duct injury patients were receiving disability benefits after long-term follow-up (34.9% vs 19.6%, P = 0.004).

Conclusions:

Reconstructive surgery in BDI patients is associated with improved survival. Although the clinical outcome of multidisciplinary treatment of bile duct injury is good, it is associated with a significant decrease in QoL, loss of productivity in both paid and unpaid work and high rates of disability benefits use.
An Investigation of Comprehension Processes Among Adolescent English Learners With Reading Difficulties
Authors: Lesaux Nonie K. , Harris Julie Russ
Published: April 2017

This mixed-methods study examines the reading skills and processes of early adolescent Latino English learners demonstrating below-average reading comprehension performance (N = 41, mean age = 13 years). Standardized measures were used to estimate participants' word reading and vocabulary knowledge, and interviews were conducted to examine reading comprehension processes used when reading and responding to a grade-level passage. Results demonstrated participants' adequate word-reading skills and below-average vocabulary knowledge, coupled with seemingly active engagement in comprehension processes, including paraphrasing and inference making. Reading comprehension processes, as reported by participants, did not appear to benefit comprehension unequivocally, and participants' descriptions of the passage indicated imprecise comprehension, including substantive misunderstandings. These results are interpreted in light of extant reading research and theories, suggesting that for reading comprehension processes to support effective construction of a rich mental representation of the text, they must be accompanied by relevant background knowledge and language skills.
Population Genetics Based Phylogenetics Under Stabilizing Selection for an Optimal Amino Acid Sequence: A Nested Modeling Approach
Authors: Beaulieu Jeremy M. , O’Meara Brian C. , Zaretzki Russell , Landerer Cedric , Chai Juanjuan , Gilchrist Michael A.
Published: April 2017

We present a new phylogenetic approach SelAC (Selection on Amino acids and Codons), whose substitution rates are based on a nested model linking protein expression to population genetics. Unlike simpler codon models which assume a single substitution matrix for all sites, our model more realistically represents the evolution of protein coding DNA under the assumption of consistent, stabilizing selection using cost-benefit approach. This cost-benefit approach allows us generate a set of 20 optimal amino acid specific matrix families using just a handful of parameters and naturally links the strength of stabilizing selection to protein synthesis levels, which we can estimate. Using a yeast dataset of 100 orthologs for 6 taxa, we find SelAC fits the data much better than popular models by 104–105AICc units. Our results indicate there is great potential for more accurate inference of phylogenetic trees and branch lengths from already existing data through the use of nested, mechanistic models. Additional parameters estimated by SelAC indicate that a large amount of non-phylogenetic, but biologically meaningful, information can be inferred from exisiting data. For example, SelAC prediction of gene specific protein synthesis rates correlates well with both empirical (r=0.33−0.48) and other theoretical predictions (r=0.45−0.64) for multiple yeast species. SelAC also provides estimates of the optimal amino acid at each site. Finally, because SelAC is a nested approach based on clearly stated biological assumptions, future modifications, such as including shifts in the optimal amino acid sequence within or across lineages, are possible.
Amplified visual immunosensor integrated with nanozyme for ultrasensitive detection of avian influenza virus
Authors: Ahmed Syed Rahin , Neethirajan Suresh
Published: April 2017

Nanomaterial-based artificial enzymes or nanozymes exhibits superior properties such as stability, cost effectiveness and ease of preparation in comparison to conventional enzymes. However, the lower catalytic activity of nanozymes limits their sensitivity and thereby practical applications in the bioanalytical field. To overcome this drawback, herein we propose a very simple but highly sensitive, specific and low-cost dual enhanced colorimetric immunoassay for the detection of avian influenza virus A (H5N1) through facilein situsynthesis of gold nanoparticles and their peroxidase-like enzymatic activity. 3,3’,5,5’-Tetramethylbenzidine (TMBZ) was used as a reducing agent to produce gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) from a viral target-specific antibody-gold ion complex. The developed blue color from the sensing design was further amplified through catalytic activity of Au NPs in presence of TMBZ–hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) complex. The developed dual enhanced colorimetric immunosensor enables the detection of avian influenza virus A (H5N1) with a limit of detection (LOD) of 1.11 pg/mL. Our results further confirms that the developed assay has superior sensitivity than the conventional ELISA method, plasmonic-based bioassay and commercial flu diagnostic kits.
Vitamin and amino acid auxotrophy in anaerobic consortia operating under methanogenic condition
Authors: Hubalek Valerie , Buck Moritz , Tan BoonFei , Foght Julia , Wendeberg Annelie , Berry David , Bertilsson Stefan , Eiler Alexander
Published: April 2017

Syntrophy among Archaea and Bacteria facilitates the anaerobic degradation of organic compounds to CH4and CO2. Particularly during aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbon mineralization, as in crude oil reservoirs and petroleum-contaminated sediments, metabolic interactions between obligate mutualistic microbial partners are of central importance1. Using micro-manipulation combined with shotgun metagenomic approaches, we disentangled the genomes of complex consortia inside a short chain alkane-degrading cultures operating under methanogenic conditions. Metabolic reconstruction revealed that only a small fraction of genes in the metagenome-assembled genomes of this study, encode the capacity for fermentation of alkanes facilitated by energy conservation linked to H2metabolism. Instead, inferred lifestyles based on scavenging anabolic products and intermediate fermentation products derived from detrital biomass was a common feature in the consortia. Additionally, inferred auxotrophy for vitamins and amino acids suggests that the hydrocarbon-degrading microbial assemblages are structured and maintained by multiple interactions beyond the canonical H2-producing and syntrophic alkane degrader–methanogen partnership2. Our study uncovers the complexity of ‘interactomes’ within microbial consortia mediating hydrocarbon transformation under anaerobic conditions.
Low mitochondrial diversity in native Italian pig breeds is consistent with the occurrence of strong population bottlenecks
Authors: Kubejko Joanna , Amills Marcel , Pilla Fabio , D’Andrea Mariasilvia , Clop Alex
Published: April 2017

In this study, we have analysed the variation of 81 Italian pigs from the Calabrese, Casertana, Cinta Senese, Sarda and Nero Siciliano breeds as well as 54 Italian wild boars by using a dataset of mitochondrial control region sequences generated by us and others. Diversity parameters were rather low in Italian native pigs, with haplotype and nucleotide diversities ranging between 0.35-0.79 and 0.0013-0.0061, respectively. This result is consistent with the strong population bottlenecks that traditional Italian breeds have suffered due to competition with more productive foreign pig varieties. Moreover, median-joining network analysis showed that the majority of Italian pig sequences are distributed in two main clusters and that all of them belong to the E1 haplogroup. Conversely, Italian wild boars were more diverse than their domestic counterparts and they harboured the E1 and E2 haplogroups. The absence of the E2 haplogroup in Italian pigs and its moderate frequency in wild boars might suggest that this haplogroup was rare at the time that wild boars were domesticated in Italy.
“Like Sugar in Milk”: Reconstructing the genetic history of the Parsi population
Authors: Chaubey Gyaneshwer , Ayub Qasim , Rai Niraj , Prakash Satya , Mushrif-Tripathy Veena , Mezzavilla Massimo , Pathak Ajai Kumar , Tamang Rakesh , Firasat Sadaf , Reidla Maere , Karmin Monika , Selvi-Rani Deepa , Reddy Alla G. , Parik Jüri , Metspalu Ene , Rootsi Siiri , Dalal Kurush , Khaliq Shagufta , Mehdi Syed Qasim , Singh Lalji , Metspalu Mait , Kivisild Toomas , Tyler-Smith Chris , Villems Richard , Thangaraj Kumarasamy
Published: April 2017

Background

The Parsis, one of the smallest religious community in the world, reside in South Asia. Previous genetic studies on them, although based on low resolution markers, reported both Iranian and Indian ancestries. To understand the population structure and demographic history of this group in more detail, we analyzed Indian and Pakistani Parsi populations using high-resolution autosomal and uniparental (Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA) markers. Additionally, we also assayed 108 mitochondrial DNA markers among 21 ancient Parsi DNA samples excavated from Sanjan, in present day Gujarat, the place of their original settlement in India.

Results

Our extensive analyses indicated that among present-day populations, the Parsis are genetically closest to Middle Eastern (Iranian and the Caucasus) populations rather than their South Asian neighbors. They also share the highest number of haplotypes with present-day Iranians and we estimate that the admixture of the Parsis with Indian populations occurred ∼1,200 years ago. Enriched homozygosity in the Parsi reflects their recent isolation and inbreeding. We also observed 48% South-Asian-specific mitochondrial lineages among the ancient samples, which might have resulted from the assimilation of local females during the initial settlement.

Conclusions

We show that the Parsis are genetically closest to the Neolithic Iranians, followed by present-day Middle Eastern populations rather than those in South Asia and provide evidence of sex-specific admixture from South Asians to the Parsis. Our results are consistent with the historically-recorded migration of the Parsi populations to South Asia in the 7thcentury and in agreement with their assimilation into the Indian sub-continent’s population and cultural milieu “like sugar in milk”. Moreover, in a wider context our results suggest a major demographic transition in West Asia due to Islamic-conquest.