bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cutaneous Metastatic Melanoma Resembling a Halo Nevus, in the Setting of PD-1 Inhibition
Authors: Harvey Nathan Tobias , Millward Michael , Macgregor Kirstie , Bucat Robert Paul , Wood Benjamin Andrew
Published: November 2016

Malignant melanoma is a common source of cutaneous metastases and can occasionally adopt a histological appearance which mimics a primary melanocytic lesion, either benign or malignant. The authors describe a case of new cutaneous deposits of metastatic melanoma in a 70-year-old woman with a prominent admixed lymphocytic infiltrate, imparting a striking resemblance to a halo nevus. The authors believe this appearance was a direct reflection of treatment with pembrolizumab, a humanized antibody against the immune checkpoint inhibitor programmed death-1. With increasing use of immune-modulating drugs, this potential histological mimic may be seen more frequently in the future.
Cannabinoid Receptor 2 Functional Variant Contributes to the Risk for Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Authors: Strisciuglio Caterina , Bellini Giulia , Miele Erasmo , Martinelli Massimo , Cenni Sabrina , Tortora Chiara , Tolone Carlo , Miraglia del Giudice Emanuele , Rossi Francesca
Published: November 2016

Goals:

We conducted a case-control association analysis to establish the role of a common CB2 functional variant, Q63R, in the susceptibility to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Background:

Endocannabinoids may limit intestinal inflammation through cannabinoid receptor 1 and/or 2 (CB1, CB2).

Study:

We genotyped 217 pediatric IBD patients [112 Crohn’s disease (CD), 105 ulcerative colitis (UC)] and 600 controls for the CB2-Q63R variant by Taqman assay. Data were collected from clinical records on age at diagnosis, disease activity, duration and location, extraintestinal manifestations, therapy, clinical relapses, and need for surgery.

Results:

We found a significant association of the CB2-R63 variant with IBD (allele frequencies, P=0.04; genotype distributions, P=0.0006), in particular with CD (allele frequencies, P=0.002; genotype distributions, P=0.00005) and with UC only for genotype distributions (P=0.03). RR carriers showed an increased risk for developing IBD [odds ratio (OR)=1.82; P=0.0002 for IBD; OR=2.02; P=10−1 for CD; OR=1.63; P=0.02 for UC at 95% confidence interval]. Upon genotype-phenotype evaluation, RR patients showed an increased frequency of moderate-to-severe disease activity at diagnosis in the case of both CD and UC (P=0.01 and P=0.02, respectively) and also an earlier clinical relapse in UC (P=0.04). In UC, all the clinical features related to the CB2 risk allele were still significantly associated with the variant when analyzed using a multivariate logistic regression model (P=0.001).

Conclusions:

The CB2-Q63R variant contributes to the risk for pediatric IBD, in particular CD. The R63 variant is associated with a more severe phenotype in both UC and CD. Taken together, our data point toward the involvement of the CB2 receptor in the pathogenesis and clinical features of pediatric IBD.
Antiviral Treatment for Colonic Cytomegalovirus Infection in Ulcerative Colitis Patients Significantly Improved Their Surgery Free Survival
Authors: Wang Yinghong , Aggarwal Pankaj , Liu Xiuli , Lu Haiyan , Lian Lei , Wu Xianrui , Guo Shibin , Aggarwal Nitin , Lashner Bret , Shen Bo
Published: November 2016

Background:

The frequency of cytomegalovirus (CMV) colitis in steroid-refractory inflammatory bowel disease has been reported to range from 15.8% to 34.0%. Infected patients are more likely to become hospitalized, have longer lengths of stay, and higher mortality rates. Current data are limited to small scale studies and showed conflicting result regarding the role of antiviral therapy.

Aims:

(1) To investigate the role of antiviral treatment in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients with CMV infection. (2) To investigate the role of viremia in the outcomes of these patients.

Materials and Methods:

The Cleveland Clinic pathology database identified 1478 patients who had colon biopsy and were tested for CMV during 1990 to 2013. After inclusion and exclusion, 41 UC patients were selected. Among them, 24 (58.5%) received treatment, 17 (41.5%) did not. A total of 14 demographic data and 4 clinical outcomes (surgery free survival, hospitalization, rehospitalization, and mortality) were compared between treated and nontreated patients. The same outcomes were also compared in patients who received treatment based on their viremia status.

Results:

All demographic variables are similar between those treated and nontreated groups. Antiviral therapy significantly improved the surgery free survival within 30 days, and lasted 70 months (P<0.01). In contrast, hospitalization, rehospitalization, and mortality were comparable (P>0.05). No significant difference was observed in any of the clinical outcomes based on viremia status.

Conclusions:

Our small scale study demonstrates that antiviral treatment for colonic CMV infection significantly improves the surgery free survival short-term and long-term in patients with UC.
Nonclassic features of pseudohypoparathyroidism type 1A
Authors: Shoemaker Ashley H. , Jüppner Harald
Published: November 2016

Purpose of review

To provide readers with a review of contemporary literature describing the evolving understanding of the pseudohypoparathyroidism type 1A (PHP1A) phenotype.

Recent findings

The classic features of PHP1A include multihormone resistance and the Albright Hereditary Osteodystrophy phenotype (round facies, short stature, subcutaneous ossifications, brachydactyly, and early-onset obesity. Obesity may be because of a decrease in resting energy expenditure because most patients do not report significant hyperphagia. Patients with PHP1A have an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. In addition to brachydactyly and short stature, orthopedic complications can include spinal stenosis and carpal tunnel syndrome. Hearing loss, both sensorineural and conductive, has been reported in PHP1A. In addition, ear–nose–throat findings include decreased olfaction and frequent otitis media requiring tympanostomy tubes. Sleep apnea was shown to be 4.4-fold more common in children with PHP1A compared with other obese children; furthermore, asthma-like symptoms have been reported. These new findings are likely multifactorial and further research is needed to better understand these nonclassic features of PHP1A.

Along with the Albright Hereditary Osteodystrophy phenotype and hormone resistance, patients with PHP1A may have additional skeletal, metabolic, ear–nose–throat, and pulmonary complications. Understanding these nonclassic features will help improve clinical care of patients with PHP1A.
Impact of Community Health Workers on Elderly Patients’ Advance Care Planning and Health Care Utilization
Authors: Litzelman Debra K. , Inui Thomas S. , Griffin Wilma J. , Perkins Anthony , Cottingham Ann H. , Schmitt-Wendholt Kathleen M. , Ivy Steven S.
Published: November 2016

Background:

Advance care planning (ACP) is recommended for all persons to ensure that the care they receive aligns with their values and preferences.

Objective:

To evaluate an ACP intervention developed to better meet the needs and priorities of persons with chronic diseases, including mild cognitive impairment.

Research Design:

A year-long, pre-post intervention using lay community health workers [care coordinator assistants (CCAs)] trained to conduct and document ACP conversations with patients during home health visits with pre-post evaluation.

Subjects:

The 818 patients were 74.2 years old (mean); 78% women; 51% African American; 43% white.

Measures:

Documentation of ACP conversation in electronic health record fields and health care utilization outcomes.

Results:

In this target population ACP documentation rose from 3.4% (pre-CCA training) to 47.9% (post) of patients who had at least 1 discussion about ACP in the electronic health record. In the 1-year preintervention period, there were no differences in admissions, emergency department (ED) visits, and outpatient visits between patients who did and did not have ACP discussion. After adjusting for prior hospitalization and ED use histories, ACP discussions were associated with a 34% less probability of hospitalization (hazard ratios, 0.66; 95% confidence interval, 0.45–0.97), and similar effects are apparent on ED use independent of age and prior ED use effects.

Conclusions:

Patients with chronic diseases including mild cognitive impairment can engage in ACP conversations with trusted home health care providers. Having ACP conversation is associated with significant reduction in seeking urgent health care and in hospitalizations.
Management of venous thromboembolism in myeloproliferative neoplasms
Authors: Barbui Tiziano , De Stefano Valerio
Published: November 2016

Purpose of review

Venous thromboembolism is frequent in chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). The current strategy for its management includes cytoreductive therapy and antithrombotic prophylaxis, but many issues remain uncertain. In this review, the risk factors and prevention of recurrences will be discussed.

Recent findings

Around one-third of patients with polycythemia vera and essential thrombocythemia experience a major thrombosis at diagnosis or during follow-up. According to the European Leukemia Net guidelines, these patients must be included in the high-risk group for thrombotic recurrence and should be treated with cytoreduction and antiplatelet or anticoagulant drugs in the presence of arterial or venous thrombosis, respectively. Despite this treatment, the annual incidence of recurrence after the first venous thrombosis varies from 4.2 to 6.5% on vitamin K-antagonists and is doubled after discontinuation. The highest incidence of recurrence occurs after cerebral and hepatic vein thrombosis (8.8 and 8 per 100 pt-years, respectively). The occurrence of major bleeding on vitamin K-antagonists is similar to a non-MPN population and accounts for a rate of 1.8–2.4 per 100 pt-years.

After venous thrombosis, the incidence of recurrence in MPN remains elevated, which suggested there was a need to review the current recommendations of primary and secondary prophylaxis.
Diabetes Self-management Quality Improvement Initiative for Medically Underserved Patients
Authors: Seol Haesun , Thompson Mark , Kreider Kathryn Evans , Vorderstrasse Allison
Published: November 2016

The burden of diabetes is greater for minorities and medically underserved populations in the United States. An evidence-based provider-delivered diabetes self-management education intervention was implemented in a federally qualified health center for medically underserved adult patients with type 2 diabetes. The findings provide support for the efficacy of the intervention on improvement in self-management behaviors and glycemic control among underserved patients with diabetes, while not substantially changing provider visit time or workload.
Attenuation of Choroidal Thickness in Patients With Alzheimer Disease
Authors: Trebbastoni Alessandro , Marcelli Michela , Mallone Fabiana , D’Antonio Fabrizia , Imbriano Letizia , Campanelli Alessandra , de Lena Carlo , Gharbiya Magda
Published: November 2016

Introduction:

To compare the 12-month choroidal thickness (CT) change between Alzheimer disease (AD) patients and normal subjects.

Methods:

In this prospective, observational study, 39 patients with a diagnosis of mild to moderate AD and 39 age-matched control subjects were included. All the subjects underwent neuropsychological (Mini Mental State Examination, Alzheimer disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale, and the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale) and ophthalmological evaluation, including spectral domain optical coherence tomography, at baseline and after 12 months. CT was measured manually using the caliper tool of the optical coherence tomography device.

Results:

After 12 months, AD patients had a greater reduction of CT than controls (P≤0.05, adjusted for baseline CT, age, sex, axial length, and smoking).

Discussion:

CT in patients with AD showed a rate of thinning greater than what could be expected during the natural course of aging.
Complementary learning systems within the hippocampus: a neural network modelling approach to reconciling episodic memory with statistical learning
Authors: Schapiro Anna C. , Turk-Browne Nicholas B. , Botvinick Matthew M. , Norman Kenneth A.
Published: November 2016

A growing literature suggests that the hippocampus is critical for the rapid extraction of regularities from the environment. Although this fits with the known role of the hippocampus in rapid learning, it seems at odds with the idea that the hippocampus specializes in memorizing individual episodes. In particular, the Complementary Learning Systems theory argues that there is a computational trade-off between learning the specifics of individual experiences and regularities that hold across those experiences. We asked whether it is possible for the hippocampus to handle both statistical learning and memorization of individual episodes. We exposed a neural network model that instantiates known properties of hippocampal projections and subfields to sequences of items with temporal regularities. We found that the monosynaptic pathway—the pathway connecting entorhinal cortex directly to region CA1—was able to support statistical learning, while the trisynaptic pathway—connecting entorhinal cortex to CA1 through dentate gyrus and CA3—learned individual episodes, with apparent representations of regularities resulting from associative reactivation through recurrence. Thus, in paradigms involving rapid learning, the computational trade-off between learning episodes and regularities may be handled by separate anatomical pathways within the hippocampus itself.

This article is part of the themed issue ‘New frontiers for statistical learning in the cognitive sciences’.
The impact of cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on learning fine-motor sequences
Authors: Shimizu Renee E. , Wu Allan D. , Samra Jasmine K. , Knowlton Barbara J.
Published: November 2016

The cerebellum has been shown to be important for skill learning, including the learning of motor sequences. We investigated whether cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) would enhance learning of fine motor sequences. Because the ability to generalize or transfer to novel task variations or circumstances is a crucial goal of real world training, we also examined the effect of tDCS on performance of novel sequences after training. In Study 1, participants received either anodal, cathodal or sham stimulation while simultaneously practising three eight-element key press sequences in a non-repeating, interleaved order. Immediately after sequence practice with concurrent tDCS, a transfer session was given in which participants practised three interleaved novel sequences. No stimulation was given during transfer. An inhibitory effect of cathodal tDCS was found during practice, such that the rate of learning was slowed in comparison to the anodal and sham groups. In Study 2, participants received anodal or sham stimulation and a 24 h delay was added between the practice and transfer sessions to reduce mental fatigue. Although this consolidation period benefitted subsequent transfer for both tDCS groups, anodal tDCS enhanced transfer performance. Together, these studies demonstrate polarity-specific effects on fine motor sequence learning and generalization.

This article is part of the themed issue ‘New frontiers for statistical learning in the cognitive sciences’.
Statistical learning in songbirds: from self-tutoring to song culture
Authors: Fehér Olga , Ljubičić Iva , Suzuki Kenta , Okanoya Kazuo , Tchernichovski Ofer
Published: November 2016

At the onset of vocal development, both songbirds and humans produce variable vocal babbling with broadly distributed acoustic features. Over development, these vocalizations differentiate into the well-defined, categorical signals that characterize adult vocal behaviour. A broadly distributed signal is ideal for vocal exploration, that is, for matching vocal production to the statistics of the sensory input. The developmental transition to categorical signals is a gradual process during which the vocal output becomes differentiated and stable. But does it require categorical input? We trained juvenile zebra finches with playbacks of their own developing song, produced just a few moments earlier, updated continuously over development. Although the vocalizations of these self-tutored (ST) birds were initially broadly distributed, birds quickly developed categorical signals, as fast as birds that were trained with a categorical, adult song template. By contrast, siblings of those birds that received no training (isolates) developed phonological categories much more slowly and never reached the same level of category differentiation as their ST brothers. Therefore, instead of simply mirroring the statistical properties of their sensory input, songbirds actively transform it into distinct categories. We suggest that the early self-generation of phonological categories facilitates the establishment of vocal culture by making the song easier to transmit at the micro level, while promoting stability of shared vocabulary at the group level over generations.

This article is part of the themed issue ‘New frontiers for statistical learning in the cognitive sciences’.
Abstraction and generalization in statistical learning: implications for the relationship between semantic types and episodic tokens
Authors: Altmann Gerry T. M.
Published: November 2016

Statistical approaches to emergent knowledge have tended to focus on the process by which experience of
individual
episodes accumulates into generalizable experience
across
episodes. However, there is a seemingly opposite, but equally critical, process that such experience affords: the process by which, from a space of types (e.g. onions—a semantic class that develops through exposure to individual episodes involving individual onions), we can perceive or create, on-the-fly, a specific token (a specific onion, perhaps one that is chopped) in the absence of any prior perceptual experience with that specific token. This article reviews a selection of statistical learning studies that lead to the speculation that this process—the generation, on the basis of semantic memory, of a novel episodic representation—is itself an instance of a statistical, in fact associative, process. The article concludes that the same processes that enable statistical abstraction across individual episodes to form semantic memories also enable the generation, from those semantic memories, of representations that correspond to individual tokens, and of novel episodic facts about those tokens. Statistical learning is a window onto these deeper processes that underpin cognition.

This article is part of the themed issue ‘New frontiers for statistical learning in the cognitive sciences’.
Ubiquity and quantitative significance of bacterioplankton lineages inhabiting the oxygenated hypolimnion of deep freshwater lakes
Authors: Okazaki Yusuke , Fujinaga Shohei , Tanaka Atsushi , Kohzu Ayato , Oyagi Hideo , Nakano Shin-ichi
Published: November 2016

Freshwater bacterioplankton in the oxygenated hypolimnion are reportedly dominated by specific members that are distinct from those in the epilimnion. However, no consensus exists regarding the ubiquity and abundance of these bacterioplankton, which is necessary to evaluate their ecological importance. The present study investigated the bacterioplankton community in the oxygenated hypolimnia of 10 deep freshwater lakes. Despite the broad geochemical characteristics of the lakes, 16S rRNA gene sequencing demonstrated that many predominant lineages in the hypolimnion were shared by several lakes and consisted of members occurring in the entire water layer and members specific to the hypolimnion. Catalyzed reporter deposition fluorescencein situhybridization (CARD-FISH) revealed that representative hypolimnion-specific lineages, CL500–11 (Chloroflexi), CL500–3, CL500–37, CL500–15 (Planctomycetes), and the MGI group (Thaumarchaeota), together accounted for 1.5–32.9% of all bacterioplankton in the hypolimnion of the lakes. Furthermore, an analysis of micro-diversification based on single-nucleotide variation in the partial 16S rRNA gene sequence (oligotyping) suggested the presence of hypolimnion-specific ecotypes among the lineages occurring in the entire water layer (e.g., acI andLimnohabitans). Collectively, these results demonstrate the uniqueness, ubiquity, and quantitative significance of bacterioplankton in the oxygenated hypolimnion, motivating future studies to focus on their eco-physiological characteristics.
ConfocalGN: a minimalistic confocal image simulator
Authors: Dmitrieff Serge , Nédélec François
Published: November 2016

We developed a user-friendly software to generate synthetic confocal microscopy images from a ground truth specified as a 3D bitmap with pixels of arbitrary size. The software can analyze a real confocal stack to derivate noise parameters and will use them directly to generate new images with similar noise characteristics. Such synthetic images can then be used to assert the quality and robustness of an image analysis pipeline, as well as be used to train machine-learning image analysis procedures. We illustrate the approach with closed curves corresponding to the microtubule ring present in blood platelets.

Availability and implementation

ConfocalGN is written in MATLAB but does not require any toolbox. The source code is distributed under the GPL 3.0 licence onhttps://github.com/SergeDmi/ConfocalGN.
HiC-Spector: A matrix library for spectral and reproducibility analysis of Hi-C contact maps
Authors: Yan Koon-Kiu , Yardimci Galip Guürkan , Noble William S. , Gerstein Mark
Published: November 2016

Genome-wide proximity ligation based assays like Hi-C have opened a window to the 3D organization of the genome. In so doing, they present data structures that are different from conventional 1D signal tracks. To exploit the 2D nature of Hi-C contact maps, matrix techniques like spectral analysis are particularly useful. Here, we present HiC-spector, a collection of matrix-related functions for analyzing Hi-C contact maps. In particular, we introduce a novel reproducibility metric for quantifying the similarity between contact maps based on spectral decomposition. The metric successfully separates contact maps mapped from Hi-C data coming from biological replicates, pseudo-replicates and different cell types.

Availability

Source code in Julia and the documentation of HiC-spector can be freely obtained athttps://github.com/gersteinlab/HiC_spector

Contact

pi@gersteinlab.org
1,5-Dichloro-1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5-decaphenylpentasilane
Authors: Neumeyer Felix , Kotil Leyla , Auner Norbert , Bolte Michael
Published: November 2016

The title compound, C60H50Cl2Si5, was obtained by a ring-opening reaction of decaphenylcyclopentasilane. The chain of silicon atoms adopts an alltransconformation [Si—Si—Si—Si torsion angles = −156.31 (5) and −161.02 (5)°]. One of the Cl atoms is in anantiperiplanarconformation with respect to the Si chain [Cl—Si—Si—Si = −156.40 (5)°] while the other Cl substituent adopts asynclinalconformation [Si—Si—Si—Cl = 78.82 (6)°].
1-Benzyl-3-hydroxy-4-phenyl-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-1,5-benzodiazepin-2-one
Authors: Rida Mohammed , El Bakri Youness , Doumbia Mohamadou Lamine , Essassi El Mokhtar , Mague Joel T.
Published: November 2016

The title compound, C22H20N2O2, forms chains in the [001] direction in the monoclinic crystal, through N—H...O hydrogen bonding. The chains are associatedviaO—H...π(ring) and C—H...π(ring) interactions involving one phenyl ring and the benzene ring of the benzodiazepine as acceptors. For these intermolecular contacts, the H...π separations are close to 2.7 Å.
Career control, career dialogue and managerial position
Authors: Veld Monique , Semeijn Judith H. , van Vuuren Tinka
Published: November 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine three-way interactions among career control, career dialogue and managerial position in predicting perceived employability. The authors expected that participation in career dialogue strengthens the positive relationship between career control and employability. Furthermore, the authors expected that managers benefit more from career dialogue than employees. Hence, the relationship between career control and employability was expected to be strongest when employees engage in career dialogue and hold a managerial position.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected in 2014 conducting a cross-sectional survey among managers (n=206) and employees (n=254) at a Dutch location of a large science-based multinational. Moderated regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

Career control was positively related to perceived employability. This relationship was significantly stronger for the managerial group that did participate in a career dialogue than for the managerial group that did not engage in a career dialogue. For the non-managerial group of employees participation in a career dialogue did not strengthen the relationship between career control and perceived employability.

Practical implications

Career control is beneficial for enhancing perceived employability among employees regardless of their position in the organization. Hence, training employees to master this competency may be a fruitful starting point for enhancing employability.

Originality/value

This is the first study to investigate whether the relation between career control, career dialogue and employability differs for employees with a managerial and a non-managerial role.
Mirror trade statistics between China and Latin America
Authors: Benita Francisco , Urzúa Carlos M.
Published: November 2016

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the accuracy of the trade statistics between the People’s Republic of China and 20 Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper contrasts the mirror trade statistics between China and 20 Latin American countries during 2009-2014, after adding to the Chinese side the trade figures corresponding to Hong Kong and adjusting for some valuation issues. Using the resulting panel data, the paper then explores some of the possible explanatory variables, in the case of Latin America, which can account for the significant trade misinvoicing that is found among most of the countries involved.

Findings

Trade misinvoicing, be that from the part of China or of its partners, varies substantially across Latin America. It is quite large in the case of some countries such as Bolivia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama and Paraguay, and, on the opposite side, relatively small in the case of other countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala and Venezuela. It is found that, from a Latin American perspective, trade misinvoicing is positively related to the countries’ lack of statistical capacity and their degree of financial openness.

Originality/value

This is the first empirical paper that examines the mirror trade statistics between China and Latin American.
Dependence between the Chinese and MILA stock markets
Authors: Mata Leovardo , Núñez Mora José Antonio
Published: November 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the dependence between the Chinese and Market Integrated Latin America (MILA) stock markets.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors adjust the multivariate probability distribution Variance Gamma (VG) on data yields from the Hang Seng Index (HSI) and MILA and they use the estimated parameters under VG to find a robust estimator of the correlation matrix yields.

Findings

The degree of dependence between stock indices from China, Peru, Mexico, Colombia and Chile. In addition, the impact of the change in the HSI affects mostly the movements of the selective stock price index (IPSA) and equally affects the index of the Mexican stock exchange (IPC) and Lima Stock Exchange (S&P/BVL). The effect on index of the Colombia Stock Exchange (COLCAP) is not significant.

Research limitations/implications

Over time there are different structural changes so the time has been restricted to the years 2000-2015, but could extend the analysis to other time periods and sectors of listed companies in the indices.

Practical implications

The results can guide policy makers to assess the effect of a random crash on stock markets and measure the level of risk from other markets.

Social implications

The results can generate a greater understanding of the relationship between the stock markets of China and the emerging countries of Latin America.

Originality/value

The value of this paper is to focus on alternative methodology to calculate the correlation matrix yields and measure the dependence between the Chinese and MILA stock markets.
An enterprise based decision support system for engineering aggregate selection: a case study
Authors: Goswami Mohit , Singh Jaswinder , Kumar Vijay
Published: November 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework that would help manufacturers to select the design concept that provides optimal solutions to the entire value chain involving multiple functional teams such as product design, development, planning, sourcing, service and marketing. The selection of an optimal design concept is based on the highest value index of a design concept. This is derived from quality function deployment (QFD) and a functional analysis system using customer requirement, quality deployment, development and design constraint as inputs. The framework systematically considers different alternatives to converge at an optimal solution.

Design/methodology/approach

All high-level product requirements from customer and market analysis are translated into different engineering parameters using QFD. Thereafter, the functional analysis system technique (FAST) is employed to determine the range of functions and identify components that would achieve different functionalities. The relative importance of each function is determined by functional cost analyses, enabling us to generate different design concepts. Thereafter, business parameters are extracted from the business objective of each functional area. These business parameters are compared with different design concepts using the analytical hierarchical process (AHP), thus evolving the enterprise value index (EVI) for each design concept.

Findings

The design concepts are evaluated with different business parameters using the AHP methodology to form EVI. The design concept 2 with highest enterprise EVI (4.549) is selected for further development. To validate the consistency of the business parameters, the consistency ratio (CR) has been calculated using Saaty’s Eigenvector method. The value of CR is 8.4 per cent, which indicates that the judgment made in this paper as far as populating the business parameters weight matrix is concerned is quite reasonable. This framework would enable an enterprise’s dealing in the area of complex engineering systems/aggregates to choose the design concept that would maximize the value of the enterprise.

Originality/value

This research develops an integrated methodology for design concept selection from an enterprise point of view. Major functional agencies and their respective attributes are considered for the development of the framework and subsequent selection. An enterprise’s mission and vision framework function as the primary input for the extraction of related attributes of the functional agency.
A case study on application of ORESTE for agile concept selection
Authors: Arjun Raj A.S. , Vinodh Sekar
Published: November 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report a research on application of ORESTE (Organization, Rangement Et Synthese De Donnees Relationnelles, when translated into English means organization, storage and summarizing data relational) for agile concept selection.

Design/methodology/approach

The concept selection problem has been formulated as a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem to select the best concept design of the rotary switch component. ORESTE has been used as solution methodology. The selected concept design alternatives were subjected to implementation.

Findings

As ORESTE is a preferential outranking method, it uses ordinal data, enabling decision makers in situations where practically sufficient data are not available. This paper uses ORESTE for agile concept selection where gathering sufficient data is difficult. Also, the results generated by ORESTE have been compared with technique for order performance by similarity to an ideal solution.

Research limitations/implications

In the present study, ORESTE has been applied for concept selection of rotary switch component. In future, more number of studies need to be conducted to select more concept design alternatives where getting prior information is difficult or consumes more time to ensure practical effectiveness of ORESTE.

Practical implications

The application of ORESTE for concept design selection enabled the practitioners to select the best concept with ordinal data and also enabled scope for indifferentiability and incomparableness of any two alternatives in the final outranking.

Originality/value

Formulation of MCDM problem for agile concept selection and solution generation using ORESTE is the original contribution of the authors.
Data, Open Science and libraries – The Data Deluge Column
Authors: Frederick Donna Ellen
Published: November 2016

Purpose

For those immersed in the environment of academic and research libraries, the word “data” seems to be everywhere. One hears about linked data, big data, open data, proprietary data, research data, metadata, geospatial data, data repositories, etc.

Design/methodology/approach

Some libraries even have data librarians and data services departments.

Findings

The author of this column wonders if she were to collect all of the library and information science literature published in the past three years and plug it into a word cloud app, which of the two, i.e. “data” or “books”, would be displayed in a larger font.

Originality/value

The author suspects that the chances are more than good that “data” would come out on top.
Peer-reviewed publications analysis of chemical engineering faculty at the University of Florida
Authors: Bharti Neelam , Bossart Jean
Published: November 2016

Purpose

A citation analysis was conducted on publications of the faculty from the University of Florida (UF), Department of Chemical Engineering. The analysis was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the research programs in chemical engineering and to examine how the library aligns its research support through resources and journals to the needs of the department’s faculty. The analysis focused on where the faculty published, their most frequently cited resources, and what growth patterns were evident. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Five years of publications (2011-2015) by the UF chemical engineering faculty were included in the analysis. Web of Science was used to compile a list of the articles published in peer-reviewed journals as well as the citations.

Findings

Faculty were found to have published 279 articles in the last five years, with 27 percent of those articles shared by five journals, and with an average impact factor of 3.459. Applied Physics Letters was the most cited journal and Advanced Materials had the highest impact factor of 17.493. The library owned 95 percent of the publications in which faculty published their work and at least 82 percent of the resources cited in their publications. The pattern of the publications was not consistent and the most articles in one year (69) were published in 2013.

Originality/value

Since this study focused on the current patterns regarding where the faculty are publishing and citing, it should be a fairly accurate indicator of their future needs. Therefore, the study impacts decisions regarding future directions by enabling the library to maintain a high-quality collection for the faculty.
Integrated sociotherapy – IS from rehabilitation to recovery integrating sociotherapy and cognitivism in a TC for borderline personality disorders
Authors: Lombardo Aldo
Published: November 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explain that an integration of cognitivism with sociotherapy is possible and appropriate to help severe BPD cases. What follows is both an outline and a rationale of this integration.

Design/methodology/approach

Recovery programs for serious BPD represent a challenge because they require complex answers in three problematic areas: interdependent relationships, emotional intensity and identity, virtually at the same time. This prompted Raymond Gledhill Community the opportunity to integrate recovery programs with treatments that have yielded proven results for each cluster. Schema therapy and Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving have been integrated with sociotherapy.

Findings

This integration has led to considerable results including: increased motivation among the resident community, the adoption of a shared language, improved communication levels in the community, greater mutual support, increased trust in, and empathy toward, fellow residents, and more self-awareness – even among the facilitators.

Originality/value

It is the belief that the integration of cognitive tools with sociotherapy can indeed target recovery for people with BPD in a much more efficacious and cost effective manner.
Group-apartments for recovery of people with psychosis in Italy: Democratic therapeutic communities in post-modern social communities
Authors: Bruschetta Simone , Barone Raffaele
Published: November 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a model of democratic therapeutic community (DTC) for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and psychotic disorder, namely the Group-Apartment (GA). The authors will describe it in more detail, discussing the ideas which lie behind it, considering the relative cost of treating people in larger residential DTCs and in GAs, outlining findings from the first data gathered on a GA and looking at the usefulness of this model in post-modern societies, with particular reference to Sicily.

Design/methodology/approach

In brief a GA is a flat, located in an urban apartment building, inhabited by a small group of people. In this paper the authors consider an apartment inhabited by a group of three or four patients with the presence of clinical social workers who work in shifts for several hours a day on all or most days of the week (Barone et al., 2009, 2010). GA is also inspired by the pioneering work of Pullen (1999, 2003), in the UK tradition of the apartment post TC for psychosis.

Findings

GAs in Italy have become one of the main methods of support housing in recovery-oriented treatment, because it allows the empowerment of the users and fights against the stigma of mental illness (Barone et al., 2014; Bruschetta et al., 2014). The main therapeutic activities provided in the GA depend on the type of recovery route being supported, on the level of autonomy being developed and on the level of participation in the democratic life of the local community.

Originality/value

GAs appear better, cheaper and a more appropriate treatment for mental problems in the current financial and social climate than larger institutions. Where they have been tried out, they have been found to be effective, by users and by stakeholders. They exemplify the advantages of the DTC for encouraging recovery, but cost less to run. In accordance with DTC principles, the social democratic process is used not only to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of GAs, but also to build a network to support the development of innovative mental health services and new enabling environments (Haigh et al., 2012).
Ignorance management in hospitals
Authors: Wilkesmann Maximiliane
Published: November 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how professionals, like doctors, deal with their ignorance? Which strategies do they apply? How can the organization support activities that encourage dealing with ignorance in a positive way? The paper shows how ignorance can be managed in professional organizations like hospitals.

Design/methodology/approach

To explore this touchy subject, the research follows a sequential mixed method design. The advantage of combining research methods is the opportunity to explore an uninvestigated research field. In the first exploratory research sequence (empirical study 1) preliminary questions were defined by means of 43 qualitative semi-structured interviews with hospital physicians and literature analysis. The results of the qualitative content analysis also served as a starting point for the development of a Germany-wide online-questionnaire survey with more than 2,500 physicians (empirical study 2).

Findings

The results show that breaks, a lack of negative organizational constraints, collective learning, positive role models and intrinsic motivation have the highest impact on ignorance sharing of physicians in hospitals. In reverse, negative organizational constraints, distrust, a lack of intrinsic motivation and omitting the implementation of evidence-based insights in terms of collective learning have the highest impact on hiding ignorance. These findings help to manage ignorance in a positive way.

Originality/value

Physicians all over the world have to deal with incomplete information and ignorance in their daily work. Mostly, they have no time and/or resources to gather all relevant information before they make a diagnosis or administer a therapy. It is quite evident that scientific discourses on knowledge management and professions mostly emphasize the power of expertise and knowledge, whereas research on ignorance is currently more or less neglected. This paper is one of the first attempts to overcome this research gap.
Isoquercitrin protects against pulmonary hypertension via inhibiting PASMCs proliferation
Authors: Zhang Yongtao , Cui Yuqian , Deng Wei , Wang Hao , Qin Weidong , Huang Chengmin , Li Chen , Zhang Jianning , Guo Yuan , Wu Dawei , Guo Haipeng
Published: November 2016

Pulmonary vascular remodelling is a common feature among the heterogeneous disorders that cause pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), and pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) proliferation impact the long‐term prognosis of the patient. Isoquercitrin (IQC) is a flavonoid with anti‐oxidative, anti‐inflammatory and anti‐proliferative activations. This study aimed to investigate whether IQC could prevent PASMCs proliferation and vascular remodelling in monocrotaline (MCT) induced PAH. Male Wistar rats were administered with Vehicle or 0.1% IQC maintain feed after MCT (40 mg/kg) injection. Haemodynamic changes, right ventricular hypertrophy and lung morphological features were assessed 3 weeks later. MCT‐induced PAH, pulmonary vascular remodelling and PASMCs proliferation in Vehicle‐treated rats. IQC reduced the right ventricle systolic pressure (RVSP), the ratio of RV/LV+S and the RV hypertrophy. IQC significantly alleviated the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), smooth muscle α‐actin (α‐SMA), and the percentage of fully muscularized small arterioles. In vitro studies, PASMCs were pretreated with IQC and stimulated with platelet‐derived growth factor (PDGF)‐BB (20 ng/mL). IQC suppressed PDGF‐BB‐induced PASMCs proliferation and caused G0/G1 phase cell cycle arrest. IQC downregulated the expression of Cyclin D1 and CDK4 as well as inhibited p27Kip1 degradation. Meanwhile, IQC negatively modulated PDGF‐BB‐induced phosphorylation of PDGF‐Rβ, Akt/GSK3β and ERK1/2. IQC ameliorated MCT‐induced pulmonary vascular remodelling via suppressing PASMCs proliferation and blocking PDGF‐Rβ signalling pathway.
Incapacity of the Mind Secondary to Medication Misuse as a Not Criminally Responsible Defense
Authors: Prat Sebastien S. , Losier Bruno J. , Moulden Heather M. , Chaimowitz Gary A.
Published: November 2016

The manifestations of disorders of the mind may play a role in the occurrence of criminal behavior. In the majority of the cases, the presence of a psychiatric disorder is cited as the reason that an individual was not fully aware of his behavior. However, other conditions, such as seizure disorders or hypoglycemia, have also been linked to an inability to understand the nature and consequences of one's actions. On occasion, these situations can be explained by a state of automatism that may be described as insane or noninsane. In this article, we describe the case of a 77‐year‐old man, suffering from Parkinson's disease, where the issue of criminal responsibility associated with incapacity of the mind secondary to medication misuse was raised. We elaborate on the thinking behind this opinion and the implications according to Canadian law. Although the legal outcome of this case is specific to our jurisdiction, the clinical implication may be common to any patient suffering from a similar condition and may inform physicians, families, and lawyers.
The Differentiation of Menstrual from Venous Blood and Other Body Fluids on Various Substrates Using ATR FT‐IR Spectroscopy
Authors: Quinn Alicia A. , Elkins Kelly M.
Published: November 2016

Crime scene investigators and laboratory analysts use chemical tests to detect and differentiate body fluids. Testing often requires a sample of the stain, and the chemicals may cause degradation of the fluid or interfere with subsequent tests. Colorimetric chemical tests do not differentiate between different types of the same fluid, such as venous and menstrual blood, and there is no presumptive test available to simultaneously differentiate several body fluids. In this study, we recorded ATR FT‐IR spectra of venous and menstrual blood, semen, saliva, and breastmilk. Neat and simulated casework body fluid samples were analyzed on cotton, nylon, wood, paper, and glass substrates. Differences in fluid composition, including proteins and small molecules, resulted in spectral differences. Venous and menstrual blood is differentiated by the peak at 1039 cm−1 attributed to phosphoric acid found in menstrual blood. Peak intensity is influenced by the porosity and weave of the substrate fabric.
Clinically Detectable Dental Identifiers Observed in Intra‐oral Photographs and Extra‐oral Radiographs, Validated for Human Identification Purposes
Authors: Angelakopoulos Nikolaos , Franco Ademir , Willems Guy , Fieuws Steffen , Thevissen Patrick
Published: November 2016

Screening the prevalence and pattern of dental identifiers contributes toward the process of human identification. This research investigated the uniqueness of clinical dental identifiers in photographs and radiographs. Panoramic and lateral cephalometric radiographs and five intra‐oral photographs of 1727 subjects were used. In a target set, two observers examined different subjects. In a subset, both observers examined the same subjects (source set). The distance between source and target subjects was quantified for each identifier. The percentage of subjects in the target set being at least as close as the correct subject was assessed. The number of molars (34.6%), missing teeth (42%), and displaced teeth (59.9%) were the most unique identifiers in photographs and panoramic and lateral cephalometric radiographs, respectively. The pattern of rotated teeth (14.9%) was the most unique in photographs, while displaced teeth was in panoramic (37.6%) and lateral cephalometric (54.8%) radiographs. Morphological identifiers were the most unique, highlighting their importance for human identifications.