bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Rules and Rule‐Following
Authors: Pearce Kenneth L.
Published: May 2017

Rules and rule-following play a foundational role in Berkeley’s philosophy, yet Berkeley never offers an explicit theory of these phenomena. This chapter pulls together Berkeley’s scattered remarks on these topics to explain how Berkeley thinks about them. In particular, it is argued that Berkeley holds that it is possible to follow rules without being able to state them and that we can be mistaken about what rules we are following. Rule-following does require a kind of understanding or know-how, but this is often not articulable. It is further argued that, according to Berkeley, both language and inference depend on the following of rules that have the status of public conventions. Berkeley thus endorses a form of formalism, not only about mathematics, but about all forms of inference.
Edmund Burke and the Invention of Modern Conservatism, 1830-1914
Authors: Jones Emily
Published: May 2017

Between 1830 and 1914 in Britain a dramatic modification of the reputation of Edmund Burke (1730–97) occurred. Burke, an Irishman and Whig politician, is now most commonly known as the ‘founder of modern conservatism’—an intellectual tradition which is also deeply connected to the identity of the British Conservative Party. The idea of ‘Burkean conservatism’—a political philosophy which upholds ‘the authority of tradition’, the organic, historic conception of society, and the necessity of order, religion, and property—has been incredibly influential in international academic analysis and in the wider political world. This is an intellectual construct of high significance, but its origins have not yet been understood. This book demonstrates that the transformation of Burke into the ‘founder of conservatism’ was in fact part of wider developments in British political, intellectual, and cultural history in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Drawing from a wide range of sources, including political texts, parliamentary speeches, histories, biographies, and educational curricula, this volume shows how and why Burke’s reputation was transformed over a formative period of British history. It bridges the significant gap between the history of political thought as conventionally understood and the history of the making of political traditions. By 1914, it is demonstrated that Burke had been firmly established as a ‘conservative’ political philosopher and was admired and utilized by political Conservatives in Britain who identified themselves as his intellectual heirs. This was one essential component of a conscious re-working of C/conservatism which is still at work today.
The New Conservatism, c.1885–1914
Authors: Jones Emily
Published: May 2017

This chapter details the further intellectual work needed to transform Burke into ‘the founder of modern conservatism’. Crucially, it was from the 1890s that Burke’s thought began to be systematized into a more rigorous ‘political theory’, especially within the universities. The historical and biographical scholarship written during the first three-quarters of the century was superseded by more abstract expositions of Burke’s thought. A political philosophy of ‘conservatism’ was extracted from Burke’s corpus that is indistinguishable from the version of ‘Burkean conservatism’ still in use today. The chapter continues by documenting the increasing Conservative appropriation of Burke after 1885. For Burke to truly become a founder of conservatism it was necessary for political Conservative Unionists to see themselves as his intellectual heirs. Taken together, political and academic constructions of C/conservatism ensured Burke’s centrality not only as the originator of conservatism as a political philosophy, but as a proto-political Conservative.
Introduction
Authors: Croft Clare
Published: May 2017

The Introduction offers key modes of entry into the larger project, both the anthology and the performance documentation and interview material on the website. First, the essay situates the larger stakes of the project, identifying key impulses, including the centering of feminism, the representation of a range of queer geographies, a gathering of both concert and social dance forms, and a commitment to anti-racist and postcolonial work. Second, the essay positions Queer Dance relative to a range of definitions of queer. Third, the essay considers the larger ramifications of the project for both dance and queer studies. Finally, the essay concludes with an overview of the project, including offering possible pairings of the works that encourage “promiscuous engagements,” a spectatorial mode described as particularly queer in its openness to how work—both written and performed—might collide into provocative meaning-making.
“Our Love Was Not Enough”
Authors: Chatterjee Sandra , Lee Cynthia Ling
Published: May 2017

This essay recounts and analyzes the Post Natyam Collective’s process of creating the contemporary abhinaya work, “rapture/rupture.” Working in a feedback loop between theory and practice, it researched ways to denaturalize Indian classical kathak’s script of idealized femininity to facilitate fluid, diverse possibilities for performing gender and cultural belonging in South Asian aesthetic contexts. “Rapture/rupture” produces a dancing subject whose ethnic mismatch, hybrid movement vocabulary, gender nonconformity, and same-sex love across cultural difference exceed the boundaries of a kathak discourse that calls for purist notions of culture, race, nation, religion, and femininity. In theoretically analyzing how gender, cultural belonging, and desire are conceptualized through abhinaya, postmodern dance, US identity politics, and poststructuralist critiques of identity, it argues that embracing lack—being “not enough”—is a mode of exceeding dominant boundaries that enables a multilayered, intersectional dance-making practice that queers gender, queers cultural belonging, and embodies queer female desire.
Chasing Feathers
Authors: Carter Julian B.
Published: May 2017

This chapter puts Jerome Bel’s 2004 dance Veronique Doisneau in conversation with recent critical work on re-enactment to explore the complex temporal politics that emerge when postmodern dance draws on and restages classical forms. The chapter describes how such restaging can make time fold and pleat around dancing bodies and their audiences, soliciting embodied participation in the power structures of both past and present.
In Praise of Latin Night at the Queer Club
Authors: Torres Justin
Published: May 2017

This short essay, originally published in The Washington Post only days after the 2016 shooting in the Orlando gay club PULSE, highlights the range of lives and practices that find their space, find their moment in the queer Latinx club. The essay mourns those lost in Orlando by celebrating all the ways people get to the club, share space in the club, and come home from the club. Torres’s writing opens a space not then only for mourning what is lost, but also to celebrate the many reasons queer Latinx people have found refuge and hope in the space of the club, while also acknowledging it is not a utopic space.
An Buachaillín Bán
Authors: Gareiss Nicholas
Published: May 2017

Helen O’Shea asserts that ‘Irish’ and ‘queer’ are mutually exclusive identifications in the discourse of Irish nationalism and Irish traditional arts. If indigenous Irish cultural practices are indeed devoid of queerness, how can queer dancers working within these forms make sense of their role as both cultural exponents and sexual and gender outsiders? Embodying alterity within idioms historically touted as the representation of essentialized Irishness, how do queer Irish step dancers negotiate their queerness through a dance form historically cast so close to the heteronormative heart of rural Ireland? This chapter queries the experience of the author to excavate nascent queerness within Irish traditional dance practice. Drawing upon his fifteen years of performance and ethnography with many of the luminaries of traditional Irish music and dance, the essay offers a queer reimagining of contemporary performance conventions of Irish step dance, revealing insights into the form’s ethnology and proposing new possibilities for Irish dance as a polysemic means of cultural and personal expression.
“Oh No! Not This Lesbian Again”
Authors: Monroe Raquel L.
Published: May 2017

Propelled into black popular culture by their appearance on HBOs Real Sex 24 in 2000, Jessica Holter’s Punany Poets have been touring and performing erotic performance poetry, song and dance to bolster black female sexual agency for over twenty-five years. This critical performance analysis of “Cucumber Cu Cum Her,” a duet between veteran lesbian spoken word artist Lucky Seven and erotic dancer Punany’s Pearl reveals how their erotic condom demonstration literally and discursively propels lesbian sexuality and fantasy into commercial hip-hop’s hyper-masculinist sphere. The duet queer the reviled pimp-ho aesthetic to reimagine rapper-turned-movie star Ice Cube’s 1991 hit “Look Who’s Burnin.’ ” The erotic dancer’s body creates space for women to pleasurably explore their gender identities and sexual fantasies. As a skilled laborer Punany’s Pearl imbues the heretofore-imagined disempowered, objectified, erotic dancer with agency and challenges black respectability politics.
Expressing Life Through Loss
Authors: Whitehead Anna Martine
Published: May 2017

This chapter examines the relationship between blackness, queer vulnerability, and the mechanics of movement and dance. It uses anecdotes to make an argument for downward movement and concaveness as movement techniques, responses to the physical threats intrinsic to black ontology. It examines the relationship between those movements and shapes in the black body to an emergent style of performance called “queer dance.” This relationship might be identified as a type of “freak technique”—and always already othered practice. The chapter also considers a more familiar relationship to gravity in terms of making interventions into dominant narrative arcs in dance as well as capitalist America. It argues that these interventions are made complete by their pairing with recovery—it is not only the get-down that steals movement away into blackness and potential queerness, but its coupling with the get-back-up.
OMSim: a simulator for optical map data
Authors: Miclotte Giles , Plaisance Stéphane , Rombauts Stephane , Van de Peer Yves , Audenaert Pieter , Fostier Jan
Published: May 2017

Motivation

The Bionano Genomics platform allows for the optical detection of short sequence patterns in very long DNA molecules (up to 2.5 Mbp). Molecules with overlapping patterns can be assembled to generate a consensus optical map of the entire genome. In turn, these optical maps can be used to validate or improve de novo genome assembly projects or to detect large-scale structural variation in genomes. Simulated optical map data can assist in the development and benchmarking of tools that operate on those data, such as alignment and assembly software. Additionally, it can help to optimize the experimental setup for a genome of interest. Such a simulator is currently not available.

Results

We have developed a simulator, OMSim, that produces synthetic optical map data that mimics real Bionano Genomics data. These simulated data have been tested for compatibility with the Bionano Genomics Irys software system and the Irys-scaffolding scripts. OMSim is capable of handling very large genomes (over 30 Gbp) with high throughput and low memory requirements.

Availability and implementation

The Python simulation tool and a cross-platform graphical user interface are available as open source software under the GNU GPL v2 license (http://www.bioinformatics.intec.ugent.be/omsim).

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
A deep learning framework for improving long-range residue–residue contact prediction using a hierarchical strategy
Authors: Xiong Dapeng , Zeng Jianyang , Gong Haipeng
Published: May 2017

Motivation

Residue–residue contacts are of great value for protein structure prediction, since contact information, especially from those long-range residue pairs, can significantly reduce the complexity of conformational sampling for protein structure prediction in practice. Despite progresses in the past decade on protein targets with abundant homologous sequences, accurate contact prediction for proteins with limited sequence information is still far from satisfaction. Methodologies for these hard targets still need further improvement.

Results

We presented a computational program DeepConPred, which includes a pipeline of two novel deep-learning-based methods (DeepCCon and DeepRCon) as well as a contact refinement step, to improve the prediction of long-range residue contacts from primary sequences. When compared with previous prediction approaches, our framework employed an effective scheme to identify optimal and important features for contact prediction, and was only trained with coevolutionary information derived from a limited number of homologous sequences to ensure robustness and usefulness for hard targets. Independent tests showed that 59.33%/49.97%, 64.39%/54.01% and 70.00%/59.81% of the top L/5, top L/10 and top 5 predictions were correct for CASP10/CASP11 proteins, respectively. In general, our algorithm ranked as one of the best methods for CASP targets.

Availability and implementation

All source data and codes are available at http://166.111.152.91/Downloads.html.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
PopFly: the Drosophila population genomics browser
Authors: Hervas Sergi , Sanz Esteve , Casillas Sònia , Pool John E , Barbadilla Antonio
Published: May 2017

The recent compilation of over 1100 worldwide wild-derived Drosophila melanogaster genome sequences reassembled using a standardized pipeline provides a unique resource for population genomic studies (Drosophila Genome Nexus, DGN). A visual display of the estimated metrics describing genome-wide variation and selection patterns would allow gaining a global view and understanding of the evolutionary forces shaping genome variation.

Availability and implementation

Here, we present PopFly, a population genomics-oriented genome browser, based on JBrowse software, that contains a complete inventory of population genomic parameters estimated from DGN data. This browser is designed for the automatic analysis and display of genetic variation data within and between populations along the D. melanogaster genome. PopFly allows the visualization and retrieval of functional annotations, estimates of nucleotide diversity metrics, linkage disequilibrium statistics, recombination rates, a battery of neutrality tests, and population differentiation parameters at different window sizes through the euchromatic chromosomes. PopFly is open and freely available at site http://popfly.uab.cat.
An analysis of sailfish daily activity in the Eastern Pacific Ocean using satellite tagging and recreational fisheries data
Authors: Pohlot Bruce G , Ehrhardt Nelson
Published: May 2017

Analysing hourly behavioural patterns of Pacific sailfish, Istiophorus platypterus, provide an ecological perspective relative to their exploitation. In the Pacific off Central America, sailfish sustain important recreational fisheries while impacted as bycatch in commercial tuna fisheries. Given their susceptibility and potential for overexploitation, it is important to define their behavioural activity to better regulate exploitation patterns. In this study, we discuss concepts of sailfish vision related to light availability and its role on successful foraging patterns. For this purpose, activity patterns were analysed using data collected by satellite tags equipped with accelerometers and, separately, recreational fishery statistics from the region. Data are incorporated with physical and ecological information to offer a means of analysing hourly habitat use. The results reveal a positive photokinetic response to sunlight in both sailfish acceleration activity and recreational fishery statistics. Tagged sailfish also showed this activity increase as a response to full moon light. Such information is further integrated with knowledge of intra-species relationships and other key species within the pelagic fish community. Findings on daily behaviour allow the drawing of some generic conceptualizations that aid understanding of sailfish community dynamics in the region.
The Certainty, Modality, and Grounding of Newton’s Laws
Authors: Biener Zvi , Schliesser Eric
Published: May 2017

Newton began his Principia with three Axiomata sive Leges Motus. We offer an interpretation of Newton’s dual label and investigate two tensions inherent in his account of laws. The first arises from the juxtaposition of Newton’s confidence in the certainty of his laws and his commitment to their variability and contingency. The second arises because Newton ascribes fundamental status both to the laws and to the bodies and forces they govern. We argue the first is resolvable, but the second is not. However, the second tension shows that Newton conceives laws as formal causes of bodies and forces. This neo-Aristotelian conception goes missing in Kantian accounts of laws, as well as accounts that stress laws’ grounding in powers and capacities.
Prognostic Factors for Satisfaction After Decompression Surgery for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis
Authors: Paulsen Rune Tendal , Bouknaitir Jamal Bech , Fruensgaard Søren , Carreon Leah , Andersen Mikkel
Published: May 2017

BACKGROUND

Surgical treatment for lumbar spinal stenosis is associated with both short- and long-term benefits with improvements in patient function and pain. Even though most patients are satisfied postoperatively, some studies report that up to one-third of patients are dissatisfied.

OBJECTIVE

To present clinical outcome data and identify prognostic factors related to patient satisfaction 1 yr after posterior decompression surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis.

METHODS

This multicenter register study included 2562 patients. Patients were treated with various types of posterior decompression. Patients with previous spine surgery or concomitant fusion were excluded. Patient satisfaction was analyzed for associations with age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, duration of pain, number of decompressed vertebral levels, comorbidities, and patient-reported outcome measures, which were used to quantify the effect of the surgical intervention.

RESULTS

At 1-yr follow-up, 62.4% of patients were satisfied but 15.1% reported dissatisfaction. The satisfied patients showed significantly greater improvement in all outcome measures compared to the dissatisfied patients. The outcome scores for the dissatisfied patients were relatively unchanged or worse compared to baseline. Association was seen between dissatisfaction, duration of leg pain, smoking status, and patient comorbidities. Patients with good walking capacity at baseline were less prone to be dissatisfied compared to patients with poor walking capacity.

CONCLUSION

This study found smoking, long duration of leg pain, and cancerous and neurological disease to be associated with patient dissatisfaction, whereas good walking capacity at baseline was positively associated with satisfaction after 1 yr.
Ceftaroline for Severe Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infections: A Systematic Review
Authors: Cosimi Reese A. , Beik Nahal , Kubiak David W. , Johnson Jennifer A.
Published: May 2017

Ceftaroline is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for acute bacterial skin and skin-structure infections and community-acquired bacterial pneumonia, including cases with concurrent bacteremia. Use for serious methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections has risen for a multitude of reasons. The aim of this article is to review the literature evaluating clinical outcomes and safety of ceftaroline prescribed for serious MRSA infections. We conducted a literature search in Ovid (Medline) and PubMed for reputable case reports, clinical trials, and reviews focusing on the use of ceftaroline for treatment of MRSA infections. Twenty-two manuscripts published between 2010 and 2016 met inclusion criteria. Mean clinical cure was 74% across 379 patients treated with ceftaroline for severe MRSA infections. Toxicities were infrequent. Ceftaroline treatment resulted in clinical and microbiologic cure for severe MRSA infections. Close monitoring of hematological parameters is necessary with prolonged courses of ceftaroline.
Philosophy as Philosophical Anthropology
Authors: Taylor Charles
Published: May 2017

Herder’s early philosophy is widely seen as a project of destroying metaphysics and replacing it with anthropology. Through an analysis of two early texts, this chapter investigates the relationship of metaphysics and anthropology in the early Herder. It explains his attempt to in fact transform, and not destroy, metaphysics such that psychology, and no longer ontology, becomes the foundational discipline in philosophy. Metaphysics still possesses priority over anthropology, but only on condition that metaphysics be revised into a form of psychology that provides the basic concept of the human being and from which are to be borrowed the principles for a new philosophy of the education of the people. Only through reflection on the whole human being and on the cultural and historical ways of its realization can the deficiencies of philosophy be named and plans for its improvement worked out.
Herder
Authors: Buchenau Stefanie
Published: May 2017

A distinctive feature of Herder’s attempt to develop an anthropology is the crucial role played by aesthetics. Anthropology is a naturalized form of understanding human motivations and behaviour, replacing traditional religious and humanist forms of understanding. It is naturalist in the sense of opening up human motivations and behaviour to empirical evidence, and deciding questions on this basis. Naturalism here is not a reduction to the physical sciences, but rather to sources of evidence that can be gleaned from comparative areas such as history, geography, and, more problematically, anatomy. That aesthetics could play a role in such an exercise may seem somewhat puzzling at first, but for Herder and his German contemporaries, an aesthetic sensibility was central to what it was to be a human being, just as, for his predecessors, a religious sensibility was crucial to what it was to be a human being.
The Role of Aesthetics in Herder’s Anthropology
Authors: Gaukroger Stephen
Published: May 2017

The aim of this chapter is to offer insight into what it would mean to bridge the methodological gap between the human and natural sciences, by examining one of the most interesting, yet under-studied, episodes in the history of philosophy and science: Herder’s and Goethe’s “science of describing.” Through the use of various artistic devices, Herder and Goethe developed a methodology that enabled them to better understand natural forms and gain insights into the relations between these forms––thereby paving the way for the study of living forms, i.e., biology. In addition to developing a systematic account of their methodology, the chapter will consider its relevance for contemporary attempts to overcome the gap between the human and natural sciences.
Understanding as Explanation
Authors: Nassar Dalia
Published: May 2017

The animal-human boundary was central to the revolt against mechanism over the course of the eighteenth century: if humans were not machines, then neither were animals. But then, what were they? And how could they be explained? Hermann Samuel Reimarus embraced the view that only a supernatural recourse was possible. By contrast, Herder sought to naturalize the issue. His treatise on language is usually seen as a dispute with Süßmilch, rejecting the idea of a divine origin of human language, and, with Condillac, denying continuity with mere animal sounds. What needs to be brought to light is the central role of his engagement with Reimarus and the theory of animal instinct. It is this third interlocutor who brought out what was most distinctive in Herder’s naturalistic theory of the origin of human language, by drawing a new conception of the animal-human boundary.
Herder between Reimarus and Tetens
Authors: Zammito John H.
Published: May 2017

This essay argues that Herder’s conception of history as a form of natural growth is grounded in his claim that humans are a part of nature and develop historically situated forms of reason in communication with the features of their natural and social environments. By stressing this developmental aspect of human reason, Herder not only helps us to correct an overly universalistic conception of reason that ignores the importance of situational contexts in the shaping of cognitive structures; he also allows us to comprehend that the very capacity that has traditionally been seen as distinguishing humans from all other animals—namely human reason—evolves out of a capacity we share with them, namely the capacity to adapt to specific environmental demands.
Herder and Human Rights
Authors: Forster Michael N.
Published: May 2017

The aim of this article is to reassess Herder’s complex attitude toward the Jews. The liberal image of Herder made him into a philo-Semitic humanitarian who greatly valued Jewish culture. Recently, however, Paul Lawrence Rose has argued that Herder has been misread as a protoliberal and that he did not advocate anything like Jewish emancipation; rather, Herder adopted a “statist” view which tolerated Jews in the modern state only to the extent that they were useful to it. Against Rose’s criticism, this chapter argues that although Herder did not conceive of different cultures within one state, he still insisted upon tolerance toward minorities and peoples of different cultures. While Herder did share some prevalent negative views about Jews, his general opinion was highly positive and he expressly ascribed their negative characteristics to their oppression, their compulsory confinement to trade. Herder believed that prejudices against Jews would disappear with greater political reform.
Controversies about fertility and pregnancy issues in young breast cancer patients: current state of the art
Authors: Lambertini Matteo , Goldrat Oranite , Clatot Florian , Demeestere Isabelle , Awada Ahmad
Published: May 2017

Purpose of review

For trying to help physicians in counseling their young patients with breast cancer interested in fertility preservation and future reproductive plans, this manuscript aims to perform an overview of the main available data on 10 controversies in this field.

Recent findings

Thanks to the improvement in patients’ prognosis, a growing attention towards fertility and pregnancy issues has been given over the past years and is currently provided to young breast cancer patients. However, several grey zones persist in many domains of this field and some physicians are still uncomfortable to deal with these issues.

Despite the great number of breast cancer patients experiencing fertility and pregnancy concerns at the time of diagnosis, the pursuit of fertility preserving strategies is realized only for a small proportion of them. The lack of adequate oncofertility counseling at the time of anticancer treatment decisions and the high costs of fertility preserving procedures can be considered the main explanations for these findings. The several ongoing registries and prospective studies investigating fertility and pregnancy issues in young breast cancer patients are crucial to acquire more robust data and try to address and solve the still unmet controversies in this field.
Immunogenicity of Therapeutic Antibodies: Monitoring Antidrug Antibodies in a Clinical Context
Authors: Bloem Karien , Hernández-Breijo Borja , Martínez-Feito Ana , Rispens Theo
Published: May 2017

One of the factors that may impact drug levels of therapeutic antibodies in patients is immunogenicity, with potential loss of efficacy. Nowadays, many immunogenicity assays are available for testing antidrug antibodies (ADA). In this article, we discuss different types of immunogenicity assays and their clinical relevance in terms of drug tolerance, relation with pharmacokinetics (PK), neutralizing antibodies, potential adverse events associated with ADA, and prediction of ADA production. Drug-tolerant assays can provide insight into the process of immunogenicity, but for clinical management, these assays do not necessarily outperform drug-sensitive assays. The usefulness of any ADA assay for clinical decision making will be larger when drug concentrations are also measured, and this is true, in particular, for drug-tolerant assays.
Time to transient and stable reductions in hot flush frequency in postmenopausal women using conjugated estrogens/bazedoxifene
Authors: Pinkerton JoAnn V. , Bushmakin Andrew G. , Abraham Lucy , Komm Barry S. , Bobula Joel
Published: May 2017

Objective:

This post hoc analysis estimates time to transient and stable reductions in hot flush frequency in postmenopausal women using conjugated estrogens/bazedoxifene.

Methods:

In the 12-week Selective estrogens, Menopause, And Response to Therapy (SMART)-2 trial of conjugated estrogens/bazedoxifene 0.45 mg/20 mg and 0.625 mg/20 mg, women with at least seven moderate/severe hot flushes per day or 50 per week at screening recorded frequency of moderate/severe hot flushes in diaries. Nonparametric models and SAS Proc Lifetest were used to estimate median times to various degrees of transient reductions (first day with improvement) and stable reductions (first day with improvement maintained through study's end) in hot flush frequency.

Results:

Treatment produced transient hot flush reductions of 40% to 100% and stable reductions of 30% to 100% significantly faster than placebo. Median time to a transient 50% reduction was 8 days for conjugated estrogens/bazedoxifene 0.45 mg/20 mg, 9.5 for 0.625 mg/20 mg, and 10 for placebo; median time to a stable 50% reduction was 9, 10, and 38 days. Median time to a transient 90% reduction was 32 and 22.5 days for 0.45 mg/20 mg and 0.625 mg/20 mg, and median time to a stable 90% reduction was 83 and 29 days, respectively; median times to transient/stable 90% reductions were not reached during the 12-week study in the placebo group.

Conclusions:

Although not all women using conjugated estrogens/bazedoxifene achieve permanent elimination of hot flushes, the frequency is likely to be substantially reduced during the first week to month. Women can expect approximately 50% reduction in hot flush frequency after about 8 to 10 days, and sustained improvement with continued treatment.
Estimating Total Corneal Astigmatism From Anterior Corneal Data
Authors: Næser Kristian , Savini Giacomo , Bregnhøj Jesper Flethøj
Published: May 2017

Purpose:

To determine keratometric astigmatism (KA), posterior corneal astigmatism (PCA), and total corneal astigmatism (TCA) in 951 normal eyes, to establish a model for estimating TCA from anterior corneal data, and to test this method in a new group of eyes with toric intraocular lenses (TIOLs).

Methods:

We used a Pentacam HR (high-resolution) Scheimpflug camera to determine KA, PCA, and TCA in 951 normal eyes. A model to estimate TCA from anterior corneal data was evaluated by the difference (=error) between the measured TCA and the estimated value. The model was tested in 40 eyes with TIOLs.

Results:

KA, TCA, and PCA averaged 1.06 (±0.85) D, 1.05 (±0.83) D, and 0.33 (±0.17) D. The error of the model to estimate TCA averaged zero with an SD of ±0.21 D. Application of this model and of direct Pentacam TCA measurements in TIOL calculation gave similar results, namely a slight reduction of overcorrection in with-the-rule astigmatism, but an eradication of undercorrection in against-the-rule astigmatism.

Conclusions:

It was possible to estimate TCA accurately from anterior corneal data with a new formula. However, application of both this model on keratometric data and of direct Pentacam measurements in a group of 40 eyes with TIOLs did not completely eradicate the refractive error in TIOL calculation. More studies comparing Pentacam TCA and refractive astigmatism are required.
Substance Use Among Nurses and Nursing Students
Authors: Strobbe Stephen , Crowley Melanie
Published: May 2017

Alcohol and other substance use by nurses potentially places patients, the public, and nurses themselves at risk for serious injury or death. Nursing students are also at risk for problems related to substance use. When viewed and treated as a chronic medical illness, treatment outcomes for substance use disorders are comparable with those of other diseases and can result in lasting benefits. Professional monitoring programs that employ an alternative-to-discipline approach have been shown to be effective in the treatment of health professionals with substance use disorders and are considered a standard for recovery, with high rates of completion and return to practice. It is the position of the Emergency Nurses Association and the International Nurses Society on Addictions that 1. health care facilities provide education to nurses and other employees regarding alcohol and other drug use and establish policies, procedures, and practices to promote safe, supportive, drug-free workplaces; 2. health care facilities and schools of nursing adopt alternative-to-discipline approaches to treating nurses and nursing students with substance use disorders, with stated goals of retention, rehabilitation, and reentry into safe, professional practice; 3. drug diversion, in the context of personal use, is viewed primarily as a symptom of a serious and treatable disease and not exclusively as a crime; and 4. nurses and nursing students are aware of the risks associated with substance use, impaired practice, and drug diversion and have the responsibility and means to report suspected or actual concerns.
Diffusion Restriction in the Optic Nerve and Retina in Patients With Carotid Occlusion
Authors: Vicente Mikel , Serrano Alba R. , Falgàs Neus , Borrego Sergio , Amaro Sergio , Cardenal Carlos , Urra Xabier
Published: May 2017

Objectives:

The primary role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a patient with suspected optic neuropathy is to rule out nonischemic disorders, and many of the reported cases of ischemic optic neuropathy with positive neuroimaging are atypical forms of ischemic optic neuropathy. We studied the role of diffusion-weighted images of MRI in patients with ocular ischemia.

Methods:

We describe the clinical, fundoscopic and neuroimaging characteristics of 3 patients with definite ocular ischemia related to occlusion of the carotid artery.

Results:

Diffusion-weighted images revealed typical changes of ischemia in a “cup of wine” shape, with increased signal intensity in diffusion-weighted imaging and a decrease in diffusivity in the apparent diffusion coefficient maps. A repeated MRI 8 days after presentation showed persistent hypointensity in apparent diffusion coefficient maps in 1 of the patients.

Conclusions:

Patients with ocular ischemia can disclose typical ischemic changes on dedicated brain MRI sequences. These findings might be beneficial in the diagnosis of patients with acute vision loss.
Unilateral Parkinsonism
Authors: Pandey Sanjay , Singh Amit Shankar
Published: May 2017

We present the case of a patient having left-sided Parkinsonism due to multiple brain tuberculoma on the right side and review the reversible causes of secondary parkinsonism.
Thrombolyic and Vasodilator Treatment in a Patient With Prolonged Retinal Ischemia
Authors: Sista Sri Raghav , Pula John H. , Reddy Deepak , Abdo Chris , Parker Sarah , Getz Mark A. , Kattah Jorge C.
Published: May 2017

Vasospastic transient monocular vision loss associated with systemic lupus erythematosus and antiphospholipid syndrome is typically short lasting and responsive to vasodilators. Virchow’s triad of endothelial dysfunction, arterial stasis, and a hypercoagulable state are factors in systemic lupus erythematosus/antiphospholipid syndrome that may potentially contribute to prolonged retinal hypoperfusion and central retinal artery occlusion. Consequently, rapid intervention to address all components of Virchow’s triad may increase the probability of a good outcome. Time of retinal viability should guide the management strategy. We report a systemic lupus erythematosus/antiphospholipid syndrome patient with prolonged monocular blindness coinciding with retinal arterial narrowing and rouleaux formation who responded favorably to sequential use of vasodilators and intravenous thrombolysis, addressing each component of Virchow’s triad.
Early Neurological Deterioration During Alteplase Infusion for Acute Ischemic Stroke
Authors: Safouris Apostolos , Kargiotis Odysseas , Magoufis Georgios , Katsanos Aristeidis H. , Stamboulis Eleftherios , Tsivgoulis Georgios
Published: May 2017

Introduction:

Recognizing new-territory ischemic stroke as an uncommon complication of intravenous thrombolysis is very important as it can lead to neurological deterioration during tissue-plasminogen-activator infusion.

Case Report:

We report a case of an 80-year-old patient that has been treated with intravenous thrombolysis for right middle cerebral artery acute ischemic stroke. During infusion he had an abrupt neurological deterioration that proved to be a distal embolization of an asymptomatic non-occluding tip-of-the-basilar thrombus to the territory of left posterior cerebral artery that has been missed by the treating neurologist and radiologist in the pretreatment computed tomography angiography. In the thrombectomy that followed, only the right carotid artery has been catheterized and only the right middle cerebral artery was successfully recanalized, leaving the left posterior cerebral artery occlusion untreated.

Conclusions:

This case highlights that the use of thrombectomy in clinical practice provides an effective therapeutic option for large vessel occlusion in this setting. However, high clinical suspicion for this rare complication is mandatory to proceed to correct diagnosis and treatment.
Right Hand Weakness and Headache During Ascent to Mount Everest
Authors: Kim Jeong Hee , Kim Soo Jeong , Kim Hahn Young
Published: May 2017

Introduction:

The increasing popularity of trekking in alpine regions has drawn attention to high altitude-associated health concerns.

Case Report:

Here, we report a case of cerebral venous infarction as a consequence of a hypercoagulable state induced by secondary polycythemia as an adaptation to high altitude.

Conclusions:

When patients present focal neurological symptoms such as hemiparesis in addition to symptoms of acute mountain sickness or high-altitude cerebral edema such as headache, nausea, vomiting, and dizziness, cerebral venous infarction should be considered.
Recurrent Optic Neuritis Associated With MOG Antibody Seropositivity
Authors: Chang Thashi , Waters Patrick , Woodhall Mark , Vincent Angela
Published: May 2017

Introduction:

Optic neuritis (ON) can be the first manifestation of autoimmune central nervous system diseases such as multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica, but it can also occur as an isolated monophasic or relapsing disease. A proportion of these patients have antibodies against myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG). We report a case of recurrent ON with MOG antibodies in a South Asian patient.

Case Report:

A 50-year-old Sri Lankan female with a previous history of 2 episodes of steroid-responsive ON presented with a 20/120 visual impairment of her right eye. On examination on admission, visual acuity was noted to be 20/30 on the left and visual evoked potentials were prolonged bilaterally, but all other neurological investigations including screening tests for infections and vasculitis were unremarkable. AQP4 antibodies were negative but MOG antibodies were positive. She responded to intravenous and long-term steroids combined with mycophenolate mofetil, but relapsed when steroids were discontinued. She has been relapse free on low-dose steroids and mycophenolate for 2 years.

Conclusions:

Recurrent ON occurs in association with MOG antibodies distinct from neuromyelitis optica and multiple sclerosis, and may require steroid-based immunosuppression to maintain remission. This case report from South Asia adds to map the worldwide occurrence of MOG antibody disease.
Utility of Ultrasound Guidance for Central Venous Access in Children
Authors: He Chen , Vieira Rebecca , Marin Jennifer R.
Published: May 2017

Background

Placement of a central venous catheter (CVC) in a pediatric patient is an important skill for pediatric emergency medicine physicians but can be challenging and time consuming. Ultrasound (US) guidance has been shown to improve success of central line placement in adult patients.

Objectives

This article aims to review the literature and evaluate the benefit of US guidance in the placement of CVCs, specifically in pediatric emergency department patients, and to review the procedure.

Results

Four meta-analyses of US-guided CVC placement in adult patients concluded that US guidance reduces placement failure, decreases complications, and decreases the need for multiple attempts. Two studies in the emergency department setting support these conclusions. Pediatric-specific data related to US-guided CVC placement include data suggesting a benefit with US guidance, as well as data indicating no difference in outcome measures when US guidance is used compared with the landmark technique.

Conclusions

The evidence surrounding US-guided CVC insertion supports its use in adult patients. Pediatric-specific literature is sparse and includes mixed results. As more pediatric emergency physicians adopt the use of point-of-care US, we expect an increase in data supporting its use for CVC placement in pediatric emergency department patients.
Diaper Slit Perineal Bag Urine Sampling
Authors: Naimer Sody A.
Published: May 2017

Objective

Many indications justifiably drive the pediatrician to request a urine sample in order to assess the health status of the incontinent baby or infant. Urine collection by means of an adhesive perineal bag is the most widely used in children who do not control urine emission, despite its inaccurate reflection of bacteriuria. We suggest a novel technique to immediately visualize the micturition event upon occurrence, in attempt to shorten waiting times and exhausting checking and rechecking opaque diapers in order to determine whether the desired sample has finally been delivered.

Methods

The perineal urine collection bag is pulled through a vertical slit created in the front of the disposable diaper. The bag is now visible at all times.

Results

In general, waiting times appear shortened since the implementation of this practice. Since the adoption of this technique at a number of our clinics, we have not experienced bag displacement as was previously experienced. Forgoing the need to manipulate the diaper and repeatedly awakening irritable infants was gladly welcomed by parents.

Conclusions

Widespread adoption of the diaper slit technique seems a promising procedure enhancing comfort and facilitating the process of obtaining a urine sample in the incontinent child. Assumptions that this procedure actually shortens waiting times and raises the success rates of sample retrieval remain to be proven by formal comparative trials.
Changing Dynamics of HIV Transmission in Côte d'Ivoire: Modeling Who Acquired and Transmitted Infections and Estimating the Impact of Past HIV Interventions (1976–2015)
Authors: Maheu-Giroux Mathieu , Vesga Juan F. , Diabaté Souleymane , Alary Michel , Baral Stefan , Diouf Daouda , Abo Kouamé , Boily Marie-Claude
Published: May 2017

Introduction:

Understanding the impact of past interventions and how it affected transmission dynamics is key to guiding prevention efforts. We estimated the population-level impact of condom, antiretroviral therapy (ART), and prevention of mother-to-child transmission activities on HIV transmission and the contribution of key risk factors on HIV acquisition and transmission.

Methods:

An age-stratified dynamical model of sexual and vertical HIV transmission among the general population, female sex workers (FSW), and men who have sex with men was calibrated to detailed prevalence and intervention data. We estimated the fraction of HIV infections averted by the interventions, and the fraction of incident infections acquired and transmitted by different populations over successive 10-year periods (1976–2015).

Results:

Overall, condom use averted 61% (95% credible intervals: 56%–66%) of all adult infections during 1987–2015 mainly because of increased use by FSW (46% of infections averted). In comparison, ART prevented 15% (10%–19%) of adult infections during 2010–2015. As a result, FSW initially (1976–1985) contributed 95% (91%–97%) of all new infections, declining to 19% (11%–27%) during 2005–2015. Older men and clients mixing with non-FSW are currently the highest contributors to transmission. Men who have sex with men contributed ≤4% transmissions throughout. Young women (15–24 years; excluding FSW) do not transmit more infections than they acquired.

Conclusions:

Early increases in condom use, mainly by FSW, have substantially reduced HIV transmission. Clients of FSWs and older men have become the main source of transmission, whereas young women remain at increased risk. Strengthening prevention and scaling-up of ART, particularly to FSW and clients of female sex workers, is important.
Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Prostate
Authors: Fedorov Andriy , Vangel Mark G. , Tempany Clare M. , Fennessy Fiona M.
Published: May 2017

Objectives

The aim of this study was to evaluate the repeatability of a region of interest (ROI) volume and mean apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in standard-of-care 3 T multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) of the prostate obtained with the use of endorectal coil.

Materials and Methods

This prospective study was Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliant, with institutional review board approval and written informed consent. Men with confirmed or suspected treatment-naive prostate cancer scheduled for mpMRI were offered a repeat mpMRI within 2 weeks. Regions of interest corresponding to the whole prostate gland, the entire peripheral zone (PZ), normal PZ, and suspected tumor ROI (tROI) on axial T2-weighted, dynamic contrast-enhanced subtract, and ADC images were annotated and assessed using Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) v2. Repeatability of the ROI volume for each of the analyzed image types and mean ROI ADC was summarized with repeatability coefficient (RC) and RC%.

Results

A total of 189 subjects were approached to participate in the study. Of 40 patients that gave initial agreement, 15 men underwent 2 mpMRI examinations and completed the study. Peripheral zone tROIs were identified in 11 subjects. Tumor ROI volume was less than 0.5 mL in 8 of 11 subjects. PI-RADS categories were identical between baseline-repeat studies in 11/15 subjects and differed by 1 point in 4/15. Peripheral zone tROI volume RC (RC%) was 233 mm3 (71%) on axial T2-weighted, 422 mm3 (112%) on ADC, and 488 mm3 (119%) on dynamic contrast-enhanced subtract. Apparent diffusion coefficient ROI mean RC (RC%) were 447 × 10−6 mm−2/s (42%) in PZ tROI and 471 × 10−6 mm−2/s (30%) in normal PZ. Significant difference in repeatability of the tROI volume across series was observed (P < 0.005). The mean ADC RC% was lower than volume RC% for tROI ADC (P < 0.05).

Conclusions

PI-RADS v2 overall assessment was highly repeatable. Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging sequences differ in volume measurement repeatability. The mean tROI ADC is more repeatable compared with tROI volume in ADC. Repeatability of prostate ADC is comparable with that in other abdominal organs.