bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
SU‐C‐BRD‐05: Implementation of Incident Learning in the Safety and Quality Management of Radiotherapy: The Primary Experience in a New Established Program with Advanced Techniques
Authors: Yang R , Wang J
Published: July 2014

Purpose:

To explore the implementation and effectiveness of incident learning for the safety and quality of radiotherapy in a new established radiotherapy program with advanced technology.

Methods:

Reference to the consensus recommendations by American Association of Physicist in Medicine, an incident learning system was specifically designed for reporting, investigating, and learning of individual radiotherapy incidents in a new established radiotherapy program, with 4D CBCT, Ultrasound guided radiotherapy, VMAT, gated treatment delivered on two new installed linacs. The incidents occurring in external beam radiotherapy from February, 2012 to January, 2014 were reported.

Results:

A total of 33 reports were analyzed, including 28 near misses and 5 incidents. Among them, 5 originated in imaging for planning, 25 in planning, 1 in plan transfer, 1 in commissioning and 1 in treatment delivery. Among them, three near misses originated in the safety barrier of the radiotherapy process. In terms of error type, 1 incident was classified as wrong patient, 7 near misses/incidents as wrong site, 6 as wrong laterality, 5 as wrong dose, 7 as wrong prescription, and 7 as suboptimal plan quality. 5 incidents were all classified as grade 1/2 of dosimetric severity, 1 as grade 0, and the other 4 as grade 1 of medical severity. For the causes/contributory factors, negligence, policy not followed, inadequate training, failure to develop an effective plan, and communication contributed to 19, 15, 12, 5 and 3 near misses/incidents, respectively. The average incident rate per 100 patients treated was 0.4; this rate fell to 0.28% in the second year from 0.56% in the first year. The rate of near miss fell to 1.24% from 2.22%.

Conclusion:

Effective incident learning can reduce the occurrence of near miss/incidents, enhance the culture of safety. Incident learning is an effective proactive method for improving the quality and safety of radiotherapy.
SU‐C‐BRF‐07: A Pattern Fusion Algorithm for Multi‐Step Ahead Prediction of Surrogate Motion
Authors: Zawisza I , Yan H , Yin F
Published: July 2014

Purpose:

To assure that tumor motion is within the radiation field during high‐dose and high‐precision radiosurgery, real‐time imaging and surrogate monitoring are employed. These methods are useful in providing real‐time tumor/surrogate motion but no future information is available. In order to anticipate future tumor/surrogate motion and track target location precisely, an algorithm is developed and investigated for estimating surrogate motion multiple‐steps ahead.

Methods:

The study utilized a one‐dimensional surrogate motion signal divided into three components: (a) training component containing the primary data including the first frame to the beginning of the input subsequence; (b) input subsequence component of the surrogate signal used as input to the prediction algorithm: (c) output subsequence component is the remaining signal used as the known output of the prediction algorithm for validation. The prediction algorithm consists of three major steps: (1) extracting subsequences from training component which best‐match the input subsequence according to given criterion; (2) calculating weighting factors from these best‐matched subsequence; (3) collecting the proceeding parts of the subsequences and combining them together with assigned weighting factors to form output. The prediction algorithm was examined for several patients, and its performance is assessed based on the correlation between prediction and known output.

Results:

Respiratory motion data was collected for 20 patients using the RPM system. The output subsequence is the last 50 samples (∼2 seconds) of a surrogate signal, and the input subsequence was 100 (∼3 seconds) frames prior to the output subsequence. Based on the analysis of correlation coefficient between predicted and known output subsequence, the average correlation is 0.9644±0.0394 and 0.9789±0.0239 for equal‐weighting and relative‐weighting strategies, respectively.

Conclusion:

Preliminary results indicate that the prediction algorithm is effective in estimating surrogate motion multiple‐steps in advance. Relative‐weighting method shows better prediction accuracy than equal‐weighting method. More parameters of this algorithm are under investigation.
SU‐C‐17A‐01: MRI‐Based Radiotherapy Treatment Planning In Pelvis
Authors: Hsu S , Cao Y , Jolly S , Balter J
Published: July 2014

Purpose:

To support radiotherapy dose calculation, synthetic CT (MRCT) image volumes need to represent the electron density of tissues with sufficient accuracy. This study compares CT and MRCT for pelvic radiotherapy.

Methods:

CT and multi‐contrast MRI acquired using T1‐ based Dixon, T2 TSE, and PETRA sequences were acquired on an IRBapproved protocol patient. A previously published method was used to create a MRCT image volume by applying fuzzy classification on T1‐ weighted and calculated water image volumes (air and fluid voxels were excluded using thresholds applied to PETRA and T2‐weighted images). The correlation of pelvic bone intensity between CT and MRCT was investigated. Two treatment plans, based on CT and MRCT, were performed to mimic treatment for: (a) pelvic bone metastasis with a 16MV parallel beam arrangement, and (b) gynecological cancer with 6MV volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) using two full arcs. The CT‐calculated fluence maps were used to recalculate doses using the MRCT‐derived density grid. The dose‐volume histograms and dose distributions were compared.

Results:

Bone intensities in the MRCT volume correlated linearly with CT intensities up to 800 HU (containing 96% of the bone volume), and then decreased with CT intensity increase (4% volume). There was no significant difference in dose distributions between CT‐ and MRCTbased plans, except for the rectum and bladder, for which the V45 differed by 15% and 9%, respectively. These differences may be attributed to normal and visualized organ movement and volume variations between CT and MR scans.

Conclusion:

While MRCT had lower bone intensity in highly‐dense bone, this did not cause significant dose deviations from CT due to its small percentage of volume. These results indicate that treatment planning using MRCT could generate comparable dose distributions to that using CT, and further demonstrate the feasibility of using MRI‐alone to support Radiation Oncology workflow.

NIH R01EB016079
SU‐C‐17A‐02: Sirius MRI Markers for Prostate Post‐Implant Assessment: MR Protocol Development
Authors: Lim T , Wang J , Kudchadker R , Stafford R , Bathala T , Pugh T , Ibbott G , Frank S
Published: July 2014

Purpose:

Currently, CT is used to visualize prostate brachytherapy sources, at the expense of accurate structure contouring. MRI is superior to CT for anatomical delineation, but the sources appear as voids on MRI images. Previously we have developed Sirius MRI markers (C4 Imaging) to replace spacers to assist source localization on MRI images. Here we develop an MRI pulse sequence protocol that enhances the signal of these markers to enable MRI‐only post‐implant prostate dosimetric analysis.

Methods:

To simulate a clinical scenario, a CIRS multi‐modality prostate phantom was implanted with 66 markers and 86 sources. The implanted phantom was imaged on both 1.5T and 3.0T GE scanners under various conditions, different pulse sequences (2D fast spin echo [FSE], 3D balanced steadystate free precession [bSSFP] and 3D fast spoiled gradient echo [FSPGR]), as well as varying amount of padding to simulate various patient sizes and associated signal fall‐off from the surface coil elements. Standard FSE sequences from the current clinical protocols were also evaluated. Marker visibility, marker size, intra‐marker distance, total scan time and artifacts were evaluated for various combinations of echo time, repetition time, flip angle, number of excitations, bandwidth, slice thickness and spacing, fieldof‐ view, frequency/phase encoding steps and frequency direction.

Results:

We have developed a 3D FSPGR pulse sequence that enhances marker signal and ensures the integrity of the marker shape while maintaining reasonable scan time. For patients contraindicated for 3.0T, we have also developed a similar sequence for 1.5T scanners. Signal fall‐off with distance from prostate to coil can be compensated mainly by decreasing bandwidth. The markers are not visible using standard FSE sequences. FSPGR sequences are more robust for consistent marker visualization as compared to bSSFP sequences.

Conclusion:

The developed MRI pulse sequence protocol for Sirius MRI markers assists source localization to enable MRIonly post‐implant prostate dosimetric analysis.

S.J. Frank is a co‐founder of C4 Imaging (manufactures the MRI markers).
SU‐C‐17A‐03: Evaluation of Deformable Image Registration Methods Between MRI and CT for Prostate Cancer Radiotherapy
Authors: Wen N , Glide‐Hurst C , Zhong H , Chin K , Kumarasiri A , Liu C , Liu M , Siddiqui S
Published: July 2014

Purpose:

We evaluated the performance of two commercially available and one open source B‐Spline deformable image registration (DIR) algorithms between T2‐weighted MRI and treatment planning CT using the DICE indices.

Methods:

CT simulation (CT‐SIM) and MR simulation (MR‐SIM) for four prostate cancer patients were conducted on the same day using the same setup and immobilization devices. CT images (120 kVp, 500 mAs, voxel size = 1.1×1.1×3.0 mm3) were acquired using an open‐bore CT scanner. T2‐weighted Turbo Spine Echo (T2W‐TSE) images (TE/TR/α = 80/4560 ms/90°, voxel size = 0.7×0.7×2.5 mm3) were scanned on a 1.0T high field open MR‐SIM. Prostates, seminal vesicles, rectum and bladders were delineated on both T2W‐TSE and CT images by the attending physician. T2W‐TSE images were registered to CT images using three DIR algorithms, SmartAdapt (Varian), Velocity AI (Velocity) and Elastix (Klein et al 2010) and contours were propagated. DIR results were evaluated quantitatively or qualitatively by image comparison and calculating organ DICE indices.

Results:

Significant differences in the contours of prostate and seminal vesicles were observed between MR and CT. On average, volume changes of the propagated contours were 5%, 2%, 160% and 8% for the prostate, seminal vesicles, bladder and rectum respectively. Corresponding mean DICE indices were 0.7, 0.5, 0.8, and 0.7. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.9 among three algorithms for the Dice indices.

Conclusion:

Three DIR algorithms for CT/MR registration yielded similar results for organ propagation. Due to the different soft tissue contrasts between MRI and CT, organ delineation of prostate and SVs varied significantly, thus efforts to develop other DIR evaluation metrics are warranted.

Conflict of interest: Submitting institution has research agreements with Varian Medical System and Philips Healthcare.
Genome Analysis of a Tembusu Virus, GX2013H, Isolated from a Cheery Valley Duck in Guangxi, China
Authors: Xie Zhixun , Zeng Tingting , Xie Liji , Deng Xianwen , Xie Zhiqin , Liu Jiabo , Fan Qing , Pang Yaoshan , Luo Sisi
Published: July 2014

We report here the complete genome sequence of a duck Tembusu virus (DTMUV) strain, GX2013H, isolated from a duck from Cheery Valley in the Guangxi Province of southern China in 2013. We obtained the strain GX2013H from a Cheery Valley duck with severely decreased egg production and neurological signs. The genome of GX2013H is 10,990 nucleotides (nt) in length and contains a single open reading frame encoding a putative polyprotein of 3,425 amino acids (aa). A comparison of the complete sequence and the deduced amino acid sequence of GX2013H with published sequences of 15 other chicken anemia viruses from China showed that the homologies of the nucleotides are approximately 96.5% to 97.5% and the homologies of the deduced amino acid sequences are approximately 98.9% to 99.3%. This report will help to understand the epidemiology and molecular characteristics of TMUV in Guangxi.
Draft Genome Sequence of Environmental Vibrio cholerae 2012EL-1759 with Similarities to the V. cholerae O1 Classical Biotype
Authors: Katz Lee S. , Turnsek Maryann , Kahler Amy , Hill Vincent R. , Boyd E. Fidelma , Tarr Cheryl L.
Published: July 2014

Vibrio cholerae
2012EL-1759 is an environmental isolate from Haiti that was recovered in 2012 during a cholera outbreak. The genomic backbone is similar to that of the prototypical
V. cholerae
O1 classical biotype strain O395, and it carries the
Vibrio
pathogenicity islands (VPI-1 and VPI-2) and a cholera toxin (CTX) prephage.
Draft Genome Sequence of Weissella oryzae SG25
T
, Isolated from Fermented Rice Grains
Authors: Tanizawa Yasuhiro , Fujisawa Takatomo , Mochizuki Takako , Kaminuma Eli , Suzuki Yutaka , Nakamura Yasukazu , Tohno Masanori
Published: July 2014

Weissella oryzae
was originally isolated from fermented rice grains. Here we report the draft genome sequence of the type strain of
W. oryzae
. This first report on the genomic sequence of this species may help identify the mechanisms underlying bacterial adaptation to the ecological niche of fermented rice grains.
Draft Genome Sequence of the Brazilian
Cyanobium
sp. Strain CACIAM 14
Authors: Lima Alex Ranieri Jerônimo , Siqueira Andrei Santos , dos Santos Bruno Garcia Simões , da Silva Fábio Daniel Florêncio , Lima Clayton Pereira , Cardoso Jedson Ferreira , Vianez Júnior João Lídio da Silva Gonçalves , Dall'Agnol Leonardo Teixeira , McCulloch John Anthony , Nunes Márcio Roberto Teixeira , Gonçalves Evonnildo Costa
Published: July 2014

Given the scarcity of data pertaining to whole-genome sequences of cyanobacterial strains isolated in Brazil, we hereby present the draft genome sequence of the
Cyanobium
sp. strain CACIAM 14, isolated in southeastern Amazonia.
Draft Genome Sequence of the Bordetella bronchiseptica Swine Isolate KM22
Authors: Nicholson Tracy L. , Shore Sarah M. , Bayles Darrell O. , Register Karen B. , Kingsley Robert A.
Published: July 2014

Bordetella bronchiseptica
swine isolate KM22 has been used in experimental infections of swine as a model of clinical
B. bronchiseptica
infections within swine herds and to study host-to-host transmission. Here we report the draft genome sequence of KM22.
First Complete Genome Sequence of Staphylococcus xylosus, a Meat Starter Culture and a Host to Propagate Staphylococcus aureus Phages
Authors: Labrie Simon J. , El Haddad Lynn , Tremblay Denise M. , Plante Pier-Luc , Wasserscheid Jessica , Dumaresq Jeannot , Dewar Ken , Corbeil Jacques , Moineau Sylvain
Published: July 2014

Staphylococcus xylosus
is a bacterial species used in meat fermentation and a commensal microorganism found on animals. We present the first complete circular genome from this species. The genome is composed of 2,757,557 bp, with a G+C content of 32.9%, and contains 2,514 genes and 79 structural RNAs.
Acute hepatitis after starting pinaverium bromide in a patient taking mirtazapine
Authors: Tak Sandeep , Tak Shubhanjali
Published: July 2014

A 56-year-old man presented with chronic abdominal pain. He had been evaluated extensively in the recent past undergoing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, colonoscopy and CT scan of the abdomen with normal results. The provisional diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome was performed and pinaverium bromide was started. The patient had pre-existing hypertension, a major depressive disorder and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. He had been taking nebivolol and pantoprazole for several years and mirtazapine for the last 1 year. The patient developed nausea, vomiting and anorexia after 5 days of starting pinaverium bromide. Investigations revealed marked elevation of liver enzymes and bilirubin. He was negative for HIV, HBSAg, anti-hepatitis C virus, IgM for hepatitis A virus, hepatitis E virus, antinuclear antibody and antimitochondrial antibody. An ultrasound showed mild hepatomegaly with hypoechoic echo texture; the rest of scan was normal. Pinaverium and mirtazapine were stopped immediately. The patient was treated symptomatically and his liver profile returned to normal after 4 weeks.
Adenocarcinoma of the pigmented ciliary epithelium
Authors: Sukeda Aoi , Mori Taisuke , Suzuki Shigenobu , Ochiai Atsushi
Published: July 2014

Adenocarcinoma of the pigmented ciliary epithelium is an exceptionally rare eye tumour, with only a few cases reported to date. We encountered such a case in a 50-year-old woman who reported seeing floaters in her right eye. Fundus examination and MRI revealed an elevated lesion located in the ciliary body compressing the lens. The ciliary body was resected under the diagnosis of ciliary adenoma. On histological examination, the tumour exhibited epithelial features with glandular formation and moderate nuclear pleomorphism. The tumour invaded the subepithelial stroma of the ciliary body. Immunohistochemical findings were positive for cytokeratin OSCAR, AE1/AE3, CK7, EMA, S100, Melan A, HMB45, and microphthalmia-associated transcription factor.
Medicines management support to older people: understanding the context of systems failure
Authors: Rogers Stephen , Martin Graham , Rai Gurcharan
Published: July 2014

Objectives

Changing demographics and pressures on the healthcare system mean that more older people with complex medical problems need to be supported in primary and community care settings. The challenge of managing medicines effectively in frail elderly patients is considerable. Our research investigates what can go wrong and why, and seeks insight into the context that might set the scene for system failure.

Setting

North London; a district general hospital and surrounding health authorities.

Participants

7 patients who had been admitted to hospital and 16 informants involved in their care.

Design

Patients with preventable medication-related admissions were identified in an occurrence screening study. An accident investigation approach was used to create case studies from accounts of staff involved in each patient's care prior to their admission. Structured analysis of case studies according to the accident investigation approach was complemented by a separate analysis of interviews using open coding with constant comparison to identify and illustrate higher-level contextual themes.

Outcomes

The study sheds light on care management problems, their causes and the context in which care management problems and their causes have occurred.

Results

Care management problems were rooted in issues with decision-making, information support and communications among staff members and between staff, patients and carers. Poor judgement, slips and deviations from best practice were attributed to task overload and complexity. Within general practice, at the interface with community services and with hospitals, we identified disruption to traditional intraprofessional and interprofessional roles, assumptions, channels and media of communication which together created conditions that might compromise patient safety.

Conclusions

New ways of working driven by the ethos of productivity are disrupting traditional intraprofessional and interprofessional roles, assumptions, channels and media of communication. Concomitant improvements in communications technology, process and protocol are urgently required to offset potentially serious risks to patient safety.
Factors associated with failure of enhanced recovery protocol in patients undergoing major hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery: a retrospective cohort study
Authors: Lee Anna , Chiu Chun Hung , Cho Mui Wai Amy , Gomersall Charles David , Lee Kit Fai , Cheung Yue Sun , Lai Paul Bo San
Published: July 2014

Objective

This study examined the risk factors associated with failure of enhanced recovery protocol after major hepatobiliary and pancreatic (HBP) surgery.

Setting and participants

A retrospective cohort of 194 adult patients undergoing major HBP surgery at a university hospital in Hong Kong was followed up for 30 days. The patients were from a larger cohort study of 736 consecutive adults with preoperative urinary cotinine concentration to examine the association between passive smoking and risk of perioperative respiratory complications and postoperative morbidities.

Outcome measures

The primary outcome was failure of enhanced recovery protocol. This was defined as a composite measure of the following events: intensive care unit (ICU) stay more than 24 h after surgery, unplanned admission to ICU within 30 days after surgery, hospital readmission, reoperation and mortality.

Results

There were 25 failures of enhanced recovery after HBP surgery (12.9%, 95% CI 8.5% to 18.4%). After adjusting for elective ICU admission, smokers (relative risk (RR ) 2.21, 95% CI 1.10 to 4.46), high preoperative alanine transaminase/glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (RR 3.55,95% CI 1.68 to 7.49) and postoperative morbidities (RR 2.69, 95% CI 1.30 to 5.56) were associated with failures of enhanced recovery in the generalised estimating equation risk model. Compared with those managed successfully, failures stayed longer in ICU (median 19 vs 25 h, p<0.001) and in hospital for postoperative care (median 7 vs 13 days, p=0.003).

Conclusions

Smokers and patients having high preoperative alanine transaminase/glutamic-pyruvic transaminase concentration or have a high risk of postoperative morbidities are likely to fail enhanced recovery protocol in HBP surgery programmes.
Public perceptions of cancer: a qualitative study of the balance of positive and negative beliefs
Authors: Robb Kathryn A , Simon Alice E , Miles Anne , Wardle Jane
Published: July 2014

Objectives

Cancer's insidious onset and potentially devastating outcomes have made it one of the most feared diseases of the 20th century. However, advances in early diagnosis and treatment mean that death rates are declining, and there are more than 30 million cancer survivors worldwide. This might be expected to result in more sanguine attitudes to the disease. The present study used a qualitative methodology to provide an in-depth exploration of attitudes to cancer and describes the balance of negative and positive perspectives.

Design

A qualitative study using semistructured interviews with thematic analysis.

Setting

A university in London, UK.

Participants

30 participants (23–73 years), never themselves diagnosed with cancer.

Results

Accounts of cancer consistently incorporated negative and positive views. In almost all respondents, the first response identified fear, trauma or death. However, this was followed—sometimes within the same sentence—by acknowledgement that improvements in treatment mean that many patients can survive cancer and may even resume a normal life. Some respondents spontaneously reflected on the contradictions, describing their first response as a ‘gut feeling’ and the second as a more rational appraisal—albeit one they struggled to believe. Others switched perspective without apparent awareness.

Conclusions

People appear to be ‘in two minds’ about cancer. A rapid, intuitive sense of dread and imminent death coexists with a deliberative, rational recognition that cancer can be a manageable, or even curable, disease. Recognising cancer's public image could help in the design of effective cancer control messages.
Parenting roles and knowledge in neonatal intensive care units: protocol of a mixed methods study
Authors: Alves Elisabete , Amorim Mariana , Fraga Sílvia , Barros Henrique , Silva Susana
Published: July 2014

Introduction

There is a strong focus on the translation of scientific knowledge into evidence-based practice when dealing with very preterm births. The aim is to standardise and rationalise healthcare. The incorporation of parents’ perspectives with respect to the organisation of care and technical interventions in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) is needed. This study aims to analyse the repertoire of meanings, knowledge and emotions actualised by the parents of very preterm infants hospitalised in NICUs in the decision process regarding parental care, treatment options and uses of information sources.

Methods and analysis

This is a mixed-methods, observational study. The methodological strategy will rely on: (1) Ethnographic observation, carried out in a level III NICU located in the North of Portugal, during 6 months; (2) NICU-based surveys of mothers and fathers of very preterm infants born between July 2013 and June 2014 and admitted at the seven public level III NICUs of the Northern Health Region of Portugal; (3) Single and couple semistructured interviews to a subsample of mothers and fathers of very preterm infants, 4 months after birth. Inferential statistics will be used to analyse the quantitative data and content analysis, with an iterative and reflexive process and will be implemented to assess qualitative data.

Ethics and dissemination

The study protocol was approved by the National Data Protection Commission and the Ethics Committee of all the hospitals involved. The current project will contribute to develop resources for enriched good medical practices in the context of neonatal services through integrating insights from social sciences, public health, epidemiology and ethics. The expected dissemination actions are effective tools in designing strategies that aim to develop family-centred care and to improve medical practices in the context of neonatal services.
Medical treatment of 145 cases of gastric dilatation in rabbits
Authors: Schuhmann B. , Cope I.
Published: July 2014

Gastric dilatation is an acute and life‐threatening condition in pet rabbits commonly caused by an intestinal obstruction with pellets of compressed hair. Surgery is normally considered to be the treatment of choice to alleviate the obstruction. However, for various reasons such as restrictions by the owner, a high anaesthetic risk due to the critical condition of the patient or concurrent diseases, surgical treatment may be impossible. In a three‐year period, 145 cases of gastric dilatation were treated medically with a combination of metoclopramide, metamizole, balanced fluid electrolyte solution with glucose and syringe feeding. No gender or breed predisposition could be noted. Four animals were euthanased, three of them directly after diagnosis. Eleven animals died, eight of them on the day of presentation. The medical treatment was successful in 130 cases (89 per cent) with a mean treatment time of three days. The animals were released from hospital when eating and defecating normally. Although the use of medical treatment of gastric dilatation has to be thoroughly considered, especially regarding the severity of obstruction, the painfulness and the animal's welfare, the good survival rate observed with these animals makes it a good option for all cases where surgical treatment is contraindicated.
On the Higgs-like quintessence for dark energy
Authors: Ketov Sergei V. , Watanabe Natsuki
Published: July 2014

We propose a dynamical (quintessence) model of dark energy in the current Universe with a renormalizable (Higgs-like) scalar potential. We prove the viability of our model (after fine-tuning) for the certain range of the average scalar curvature values, and study the cosmological signatures distinguishing our model from the standard description of dark energy in terms of a cosmological constant.
Kazhdan–Lusztig cells in planar hyperbolic Coxeter groups and automata
Authors: Belolipetsky Mikhail V. , Gunnells Paul E. , Scott Richard A.
Published: July 2014

Let C be a one- or two-sided Kazhdan–Lusztig cell in a Coxeter group (W, S), and let Red (C) be the set of reduced expressions of all w ∈ C, regarded as a language over the alphabet S. Casselman has conjectured that Red (C) is regular. In this paper, we give a conjectural description of the cells when W is the group corresponding to a hyperbolic polygon, and show that our conjectures imply Casselman's.
Gravitational waves and the (quantum) nature of the primordial seed
Authors: Porto Rafael A.
Published: July 2014

At first glance, the (indirect) measurement of primordial tensor modes by the BICEP2 Collaboration supports an inflationary paradigm for early universe cosmology together with quantum vacuum fluctuations (aka gravitons) as the origin of the spectrum. In this paper, we argue the observed signal may instead be a signature of semiclassical sources of perturbations during inflation. In this scenario, despite a large tensor-to-scalar ratio r ≃ 0.2, it may be possible to write an effective field theory (EFT) of a rolling scalar field without super-Planckian excursions. If the results from BICEP2 withstand further scrutiny, measurements of primordial non-Gaussianity with large scale structure surveys, and direct detection of gravitational waves (GWs) with the new generation of observatories, will be of paramount importance to elucidate the (quantum) origin of structure in the universe.
Studies of chirality in the mass 80, 100 and 190 regions
Authors: Bark R. A. , Lieder E. O. , Lieder R. M. , Lawrie E. A. , Lawrie J. J. , Bvumbi S. P. , Kheswa N. Y. , Ntshangase S. S. , Madiba T. E. , Masiteng P. L. , Mullins S. M. , Murray S. , Papka P. , Shirinda O. , Chen Q. B. , Zhang S. Q. , Zhang Z. H. , Zhao P. W. , Xu C. , Meng J. , Roux D. G. , Li Z. P. , Peng J. , Qi B. , Wang S. Y. , Xiao Z. G.
Published: July 2014

A brief survey of results of studies of nuclear chirality in the mass 80 and 190 region at iThemba LABS is given, before looking at the case of 106 Ag in detail. Here, the crossing of a pair of candidate chiral bands is re-interpreted as the crossing of a prolate band by an aligned four-quasiparticle band.
Compositeness of hadron resonances in chiral dynamics
Authors: Hyodo Tetsuo
Published: July 2014

Recent experimental observations of many unconventional hadronic states stimulate an interest in the structure of hadrons. While various internal configurations have been proposed, it is a subtle problem to identify the structure of hadron resonances in a model independent manner. Here we discuss the composite/elementary nature of hadrons using the field renormalization constant Z. In particular, we show that the magnitude of the effective range parameter re is related to the structure of s-wave near-threshold resonances.
Life on earth — An accident? Chiral symmetry and the anthropic principle
Authors: Meißner Ulf-G. ,   (for the NLEFT Collaboration)
Published: July 2014

I discuss the fine-tuning of the nuclear forces and in the formation of nuclei in the production of the elements in the Big Bang and in stars.
Spectroscopy of heavy quark hadrons
Authors: Oka Makoto
Published: July 2014

Heavy quarks play special roles in the hadron spectroscopy. Some distinct features of heavy quark dynamics and their significance in the P-wave baryons with a single heavy quark are discussed. We also explore a new color configuration in exotic tetra-quark mesons with two heavy quarks. Finally, possibility of bound states of a charmed baryon with a nucleon and nuclei are examined.
Recent developments on hadron interaction and dynamically generated resonances
Authors: Oset E. , Albaladejo M. , Xie Ju-Jun , Ramos A.
Published: July 2014

In this talk I report on the recent developments in the subject of dynamically generated resonances. In particular I discuss the γp → K0Σ+ and γn → K0Σ0 reactions, with a peculiar behavior around the K*0Λ threshold, due to a 1/2- resonance around 2035 MeV. Similarly, I discuss a BES experiment, [Formula: see text] decay, which provides evidence for a new h1 resonance around 1830 MeV that was predicted from the vector–vector interaction. A short discussion is then made about recent advances in the charm and beauty sectors.
Present status of light scalars
Authors: Peláez J. R.
Published: July 2014

I will briefly review in this talk the most significant developments in light scalars spectroscopy that have occurred since the last edition of this Conference, although I will comment on the updates of the mass and width of different light scalar mesons in the latest edition of the Particle Data Tables, I will be mostly focusing on the major revision of the f0(500) meson, also known as σ meson. I will explain how this major update has been driven both by new data and rigorous dispersive analysis.
Measurement of word frequencies in genomic DNA sequences based on partial alignment and fuzzy set
Authors: Shida Fumiya , Mizuta Satoshi
Published: July 2014

Accompanied with the rapid increase of the amount of data registered in the databases of biological sequences, the need for a fast method of sequence comparison applicable to sequences of large size is also increasing. In general, alignment is used for sequence comparison. However, the alignment may not be appropriate for comparison of sequences of large size such as whole genome sequences due to its large time complexity. In this article, we propose a semi alignment-free method of sequence comparison based on word frequency distributions, in which we partially use the alignment to measure word frequencies along with the idea of fuzzy set theory. Experiments with ten bacterial genome sequences demonstrated that the fuzzy measurements has the effect that facilitates discrimination between close relatives and distant relatives.
Separation and identification of porphyrin biomarkers from a heavy crude oil Zaap-1 offshore well, Sonda de Campeche, México
Authors: Espinosa Marcela , Pacheco Ubaldo S. , Leyte Florentino , Ocampo Ruben
Published: July 2014

The task to isolate metalloporphyrin compounds from crude oils is difficult, especially from reservoirs; the existence of well-known complexes homologous series type etioporphyrin (E), deoxophyloerythroetioporphyrin (DPEP), tetrahydrobenzodeoxoerythroetioporpyrin (THBD), benzoetio- porphyrin(BE) and benzodeoxoerythroetioporphyrin (BD) of vanadyl and nickel porphyrins, compounds found in crude oils around the world makes it hard. This includes natural porphyrins found in Mexican crude oils such as Ixtal-101, Zaap-1 and Ceh-1 from Sonda de Campeche, México, were the vanadyl porphyrins mixtures of the main series Etio and DPEP have also been reported elsewhere [14]. The objective of this investigation was to isolate porphyrins isomers from a single heavy crude oil from the Sonda de Campeche area, in México, and is based on the modified reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method (RP-HPLC) [9, 11, 12]. Forty vanadyl porphyrin isomers, such as nickel porphyrin complexes were successfully isolated for the first time from heavy crude oil Zaap-1, through an exhaustive work which included a process of demetallization of vanadyl porphyrins to transmetallization to nickel porphyrins, in agreement with other methods [9, 11, 12, 14]. Further purification was achieved by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) with small glass chromatographic columns, packed with silica gel; then the purified isomers were analyzed and identified by electron impact mass spectrometry (EI-MS), providing the following results: from the Etio series seven isomers C 27 E , C 28 E , C 29 E , C 30 E , C 31 E , C 32 E , C 33 E were identified. From DPEP series six isomers C 29 D , C 30 D , C 31 D , C 32 D , C 33 D , C 34 D were identified; from the BD series it was identified only 1 isomer of vanadyl from BD.
Herding Cats
Authors: Alglave Jade , Maranget Luc , Tautschnig Michael
Published: July 2014

We propose an axiomatic generic framework for modelling weak memory. We show how to instantiate this framework for Sequential Consistency (SC), Total Store Order (TSO), C++ restricted to release-acquire atomics, and Power. For Power, we compare our model to a preceding operational model in which we found a flaw. To do so, we define an operational model that we show equivalent to our axiomatic model.

We also propose a model for ARM. Our testing on this architecture revealed a behaviour later acknowledged as a bug by ARM, and more recently, 31 additional anomalies.

We offer a new simulation tool, called herd, which allows the user to specify the model of his choice in a concise way. Given a specification of a model, the tool becomes a simulator for that model. The tool relies on an axiomatic description; this choice allows us to outperform all previous simulation tools. Additionally, we confirm that verification time is vastly improved, in the case of bounded model checking.

Finally, we put our models in perspective, in the light of empirical data obtained by analysing the C and C++ code of a Debian Linux distribution. We present our new analysis tool, called mole, which explores a piece of code to find the weak memory idioms that it uses.
Participatory design
Authors: Oswal Sushil K.
Published: July 2014

Scholars conducting analytical research in multimodal interaction design have not paid enough attention to the use of disabled participants in their work. In this column I argue that participatory action research with these users is overdue for the sake of building a culture of accessible designs. Working on a larger project on participatory design for a book, this commentary records my initial thoughts on how participation by disabled users needs to be central to the overall production cycle. I begin with the premise that each disabled user participates in this multimodal discourse from an entirely different vantage point shaped by their social, physical, and artistic experiences. It also emphasizes that each user interacts with multimodality differently depending upon the body they have, the adaptive technology they employ, and the uses they have for multimodality.
Review of
Cross-cultural technology design: creating culture-sensitive technology for local users
by Sun, H. (2012), New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc.
Authors: Labriola Jack T.
Published: July 2014

In Huatong Sun's recent book,
Cross-cultural technology design: Creating culture-sensitive technology for local users
, the author presents a study of text messaging usage in both American and Chinese culture. Sun introduces the field to her "design philosophy and model of Culturally Localized User Experience" or "CLUE" (xiv-xv). Using the CLUE approach, Sun explores the differences in how a technology such as text messaging has developed, and has been interpreted by users, within each culture, including case studies of specific users. Sun breaks up her book into three distinctive parts: Grounding, Experiences, and Implications.
Electrophysiological effects of right and left vagal nerve stimulation on the ventricular myocardium
Authors: Yamakawa Kentaro , So Eileen L. , Rajendran Pradeep S. , Hoang Jonathan D. , Makkar Nupur , Mahajan Aman , Shivkumar Kalyanam , Vaseghi Marmar
Published: July 2014

Vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) has been proposed as a cardioprotective intervention. However, regional ventricular electrophysiological effects of VNS are not well characterized. The purpose of this study was to evaluate effects of right and left VNS on electrophysiological properties of the ventricles and hemodynamic parameters. In Yorkshire pigs, a 56-electrode sock was used for epicardial ( n = 12) activation recovery interval (ARI) recordings and a 64-electrode catheter for endocardial ( n = 9) ARI recordings at baseline and during VNS. Hemodynamic recordings were obtained using a conductance catheter. Right and left VNS decreased heart rate (84 ± 5 to 71 ± 5 beats/min and 84 ± 4 to 73 ± 5 beats/min), left ventricular pressure (89 ± 9 to 77 ± 9 mmHg and 91 ± 9 to 83 ± 9 mmHg), and dP/d tmax (1,660 ± 154 to 1,490 ± 160 mmHg/s and 1,595 ± 155 to 1,416 ± 134 mmHg/s) and prolonged ARI (327 ± 18 to 350 ± 23 ms and 327 ± 16 to 347 ± 21 ms, P < 0.05 vs. baseline for all parameters and P = not significant for right VNS vs. left VNS). No anterior-posterior-lateral regional differences in the prolongation of ARI during right or left VNS were found. However, endocardial ARI prolonged more than epicardial ARI, and apical ARI prolonged more than basal ARI during both right and left VNS. Changes in dP/d tmax showed the strongest correlation with ventricular ARI effects ( R2 = 0.81, P < 0.0001) than either heart rate ( R2 = 0.58, P < 0.01) or left ventricular pressure ( R2 = 0.52, P < 0.05). Therefore, right and left VNS have similar effects on ventricular ARI, in contrast to sympathetic stimulation, which shows regional differences. The decrease in inotropy correlates best with ventricular electrophysiological effects.
Aging alters reactivity of microvascular resistance networks in mouse gluteus maximus muscle
Authors: Sinkler Shenghua Y. , Segal Steven S.
Published: July 2014

Aging occurs with enhanced sympathetic nerve activity and endothelial dysfunction; however, little is known of how successive branches of microvascular resistance networks are affected in vivo. We questioned whether vascular reactivity is altered differentially along resistance networks with advanced age. The left gluteus maximus muscle of anesthetized 4-mo-old and 24-mo-old male C57BL/6 mice (Young and Old, respectively) was exposed for intravital microscopy and superfused with physiological salt solution (3 ml/min; pH 7.4, 34°C). Spontaneous vasomotor tone increased progressively from proximal feed arteries (FA) and first-order (1A) arterioles through distal second-order (2A) and third-order (3A) arterioles and was ∼15% greater in 2A and 3A of Old versus Young. Vasoconstriction during elevated superfusion Po2 increased with branch order and to a greater extent in Young. Peak constrictions to phenylephrine [α1 adrenoreceptor (α1AR) agonist] were similar for FA and 1A of both ages and ∼20% greater for 2A and 3A of Young. Across arterioles (but not FA), constrictions to UK 14304 (α2AR agonist) were depressed ∼30% in Old versus Young. Thus advanced age attenuated vasoconstriction to O2 throughout networks while blunting vasoconstriction to α1AR and α2AR activation in arterioles. With ACh, endothelium-dependent dilation (EDD) was ∼20% greater in FA of Young yet was approximately twofold greater for 2A and 3A of Old. Sodium nitroprusside evoked maximal dilations similar to ACh. Thus, with advanced age, EDD was attenuated in FA while robust in distal arterioles having enhanced vasomotor tone. We conclude that advanced age differentially alters reactivity among branches of microvascular resistance networks.
Incidence of Colorectal Adenomas: Birth Cohort Analysis among 4.3 Million Participants of Screening Colonoscopy
Authors: Brenner Hermann , Altenhofen Lutz , Stock Christian , Hoffmeister Michael
Published: July 2014

Background: Most colorectal cancers develop from adenomas. We aimed to estimate sex- and age-specific incidence rates of colorectal adenomas and to assess their potential implications for colorectal cancer screening strategies.

Methods: Sex- and age-specific incidence rates of colorectal adenomas were derived by a birth cohort analysis using data from 4,322,085 screening colonoscopies conducted in Germany and recorded in a national database in 2003–2012. In addition, cumulative risks of colorectal cancer among colonoscopically neoplasm-free men and women were estimated by combining adenoma incidence rates with previously derived adenoma-colorectal cancer transition rates.

Results: Estimated annual incidence in percentage (95% confidence interval) in age groups 55–59, 60–64, 65–69, 70–74, and 75–79 was 2.4 (2.2–2.6), 2.3 (2.1–2.6), 2.4 (2.1–2.6), 2.2 (1.8–2.5), and 1.8 (1.2–2.3) among men, and 1.4 (1.3–1.5), 1.5 (1.4–1.7), 1.6 (1.4–1.8), 1.6 (1.3–1.8), and 1.2 (0.8–1.6) among women. Estimated 10- and 15-year risks of clinically manifest colorectal cancer were 0.1% and 0.5% or lower, respectively, in all groups assessed.

Conclusions: Annual incidence rates of colorectal adenomas are below 2.5% and 2% among men and women, respectively, and show little variation by age.

Impact: Risk of clinically manifest colorectal cancer is expected to be very small within 10 years and beyond after negative colonoscopy for men and women at all ages. The use of rescreening after a negative screening colonoscopy above 60 years of age may be very limited. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 23(9); 1920–7. ©2014 AACR.
Phase I Safety and Pharmacodynamic of Inecalcitol, a Novel VDR Agonist with Docetaxel in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Patients
Authors: Medioni Jacques , Deplanque Gael , Ferrero Jean-Marc , Maurina Tristan , Rodier Jean-Michel P. , Raymond Eric , Allyon Jorge , Maruani Gerard , Houillier Pascal , Mackenzie Sarah , Renaux Stephanie , Dufour-Lamartinie Jean-Francois , Elaidi Reza , Lerest Celine , Oudard Stephane
Published: July 2014

Purpose: We conducted a phase I multicenter trial in naïve metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer patients with escalating inecalcitol dosages, combined with docetaxel-based chemotherapy. Inecalcitol is a novel vitamin D receptor agonist with higher antiproliferative effects and a 100-fold lower hypercalcemic activity than calcitriol.

Experimental Design: Safety and efficacy were evaluated in groups of three to six patients receiving inecalcitol during a 21-day cycle in combination with docetaxel (75 mg/m2 every 3 weeks) and oral prednisone (5 mg twice a day) up to six cycles. Primary endpoint was dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) defined as grade 3 hypercalcemia within the first cycle. Efficacy endpoint was ≥30% PSA decline within 3 months.

Results: Eight dose levels (40–8,000 μg) were evaluated in 54 patients. DLT occurred in two of four patients receiving 8,000 μg/day after one and two weeks of inecalcitol. Calcemia normalized a few days after interruption of inecalcitol. Two other patients reached grade 2, and the dose level was reduced to 4,000 μg. After dose reduction, calcemia remained within normal range and grade 1 hypercalcemia. The maximum tolerated dose was 4,000 μg daily. Respectively, 85% and 76% of the patients had ≥30% PSA decline within 3 months and ≥50% PSA decline at any time during the study. Median time to PSA progression was 169 days.

Conclusion: High antiproliferative daily inecalcitol dose has been safely used in combination with docetaxel and shows encouraging PSA response (≥30% PSA response: 85%; ≥50% PSA response: 76%). A randomized phase II study is planned. Clin Cancer Res; 20(17); 4471–7. ©2014 AACR.
Brief Tests such as the Clock Drawing Test or Cognistat Can Be Useful Predictors of Conversion from MCI to Dementia in the Clinical Assessment of Outpatients
Authors: Nesset Magnar , Kersten Hege , Ulstein Ingun Dina
Published: July 2014

Background: The identification of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who are at high risk of conversion to dementia is a challenging clinical task. Aims: To investigate whether simple cognitive screening tests can predict the conversion from MCI to dementia and to study the impact of different patient characteristics on the progression rate. Methods: A retrospective, longitudinal study of 90 outpatients diagnosed with MCI at a psychogeriatric clinic in Norway was conducted. Baseline scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Clock Drawing Test (CDT), and Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (Cognistat) were related to ICD-10 diagnosis during 46 months. The influence of demographic, life situational, and clinical data were analyzed. Results: Sixty-four patients were diagnosed with dementia, significantly more females (82%) than males (50%) (p < 0.01). Low scores on the CDT [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 0.85; 95% CI 0.73-0.97; p = 0.020] and Cognistat (adjusted HR = 0.78; 95% CI 0.65-0.93; p = 0.007) significantly predicted the conversion from MCI to dementia, whereas the MMSE score did not. Conclusions: A high proportion of patients converted from MCI to dementia within 46 months, and females seem to be at higher risk. CDT and Cognistat significantly predicted the conversion from MCI to dementia and are therefore considered appropriate tests in clinical practice.