bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Overlap between Autism Spectrum Disorder and Bipolar Affective Disorder
Authors: Skokauskas Norbert , Frodl Thomas
Published: August 2015

Background: At present there is a substantial uncertainty regarding the extent and nature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and bipolar affective disorder (BPAD) co-occurrence due to disparate findings in previous studies. This paper aimed to find and review original studies on co-occurrence rates of ASD with BPAD, assess them, synthesize the findings in a systematic way, present an overview and make recommendations for future research. Methods: Systematic literature searches were performed using several databases. Selected articles had to describe an original study that provided prevalence and/or incidence analysis on ASD co-occurring together with BPAD. Results and Conclusion: A significant minority of patients (7%) with ASD suffers from BPAD. An accurate detection of co-occurring ASD and BPAD can lead to a more targeted treatment and improve the patients' functioning and quality of life.
Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis of 11 Cases in China - Detailed Clinical, Laboratory and Imagiological Description
Authors: Liu Junfeng , Wang Deren , Xiong Yao , Liu Bian , Liu Ming
Published: August 2015

Background and Purpose: Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis is a synaptic autoimmune disorder in which the auto-antibodies target NMDARs were first reported in 2007. Now, anti-NMDAR encephalitis is a widely recognized disease in the world. Our purpose was to analyze the clinical characteristics of anti-NMDAR encephalitis patients in West China Hospital in China and report the prognosis of the patients after accepting immunotherapy. Methods: Patients admitted to the West China Hospital who were diagnosed with anti-NMDAR encephalitis from 2013 to 2014 were retrospectively collected and their clinical features were analyzed. Results: We ultimately included 11 anti-NMDAR encephalitis patients. The median age of the 11 patients was 25 years, 46% patients were females, 27% patients were 15-18 years, and 73% patients were over 18 years. One of them was diagnosed with teratoma after discharging from hospital. The application of immunotherapy produced favorable outcomes in 67% patients included in our study. Conclusions: Anti-NMDAR encephalitis should be suspected in patients who developed a rapid change in behavior or psychosis, seizures, dyskinesia, and hypoventilation. Anti-NMDAR encephalitis is a kind of fatal but treatable disease. Timely diagnosis and treatment may yield favorable prognosis.
22q11.21 Deletion Syndromes: A Review of Proximal, Central, and Distal Deletions and Their Associated Features
Authors: Burnside Rachel D.
Published: August 2015

Chromosome 22q11.21 contains a cluster of low-copy repeats (LCRs), referred to as LCR22A-H, that mediate meiotic non-allelic homologous recombination, resulting in either deletion or duplication of various intervals in the region. The deletion of the DiGeorge/velocardiofacial syndrome interval LCR22A-D is the most common recurrent microdeletion in humans, with an estimated incidence of ∼1:4,000 births. Deletion of other intervals in 22q11.21 have also been described, but the literature is often confusing, as the terms ‘proximal', ‘nested', ‘distal', and ‘atypical' have all been used to describe various of the other intervals. Individuals with deletions tend to have features with widely variable expressivity, even among families. This review concisely delineates each interval and classifies the reported literature accordingly.
Case Report: Trigeminal Neuralgia Caused by a Minute Meningioma with Hyperostosed Suprameatal Tubercle
Authors: Ishi Yukitomo , Asaoka Katsuyuki , Sugiyama Taku , Yokoyama Yuka , Yamazaki Kazuyoshi , Echizenya Sumire , Itamoto Koji , Echizenya Kohei
Published: August 2015

Cerebellopontine angle tumors might occasionally provoke trigeminal neuralgia but are usually large enough to be diagnosed radiographically. We present a case of trigeminal neuralgia caused by a very small meningioma covering the suprameatal tubercle that displayed hyperostosis at the entrance of Meckel's cave and was not obvious on routine magnetic resonance (MR) images. A 72-year-old woman with intractable trigeminal neuralgia in the left V3 territory was referred to our institution. Preoperative imaging studies revealed that the left trigeminal nerve was medially distorted at the entrance of Meckel's cave by a laterally seated bone bulge covered by a minute enhanced lesion. Trigeminal nerve decompression surgery was performed via a retrosigmoid intradural suprameatal approach. We found a small meningioma that had compressed and flattened the trigeminal nerve root at the entrance of Meckel's cave, which was grossly and totally removed by suprameatal tubercle resection. There was no vascular compression of the trigeminal nerve root. The trigeminal neuralgia ceased completely after the operation. Accurate preoperative determination of the causative pathologies is essential to achieve adequate surgical results after microvascular decompression for neurovascular compression syndrome. Because conventional MR sequences are inadequate for the precise interpretation of complex neurovascular anatomy in the cerebellopontine angle and such small tumors can be overlooked on routine MR studies, high-resolution thin-slice MR examinations and careful radiological interpretations are required for correct diagnosis and treatment.
Risk Factors for Long‐Term Coronary Artery Calcium Progression in the Multi‐Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis
Authors: Gassett Amanda J. , Sheppard Lianne , McClelland Robyn L. , Olives Casey , Kronmal Richard , Blaha Michael J. , Budoff Matthew , Kaufman Joel D.
Published: August 2015

Background

Coronary artery calcium (
CAC
) detected by noncontrast cardiac computed tomography scanning is a measure of coronary atherosclerosis burden. Increasing
CAC
levels have been strongly associated with increased coronary events. Prior studies of cardiovascular disease risk factors and
CAC
progression have been limited by short follow‐up or restricted to patients with advanced disease.

Methods and Results

We examined
cardiovascular disease
risk factors and
CAC
progression in a prospective multiethnic cohort study.
CAC
was measured 1 to 4 times (mean 2.5 scans) over 10 years in 6810 adults without preexisting
cardiovascular disease
. Mean
CAC
progression was 23.9 Agatston units/year. An innovative application of mixed‐effects models investigated associations between
cardiovascular disease
risk factors and
CAC
progression. This approach adjusted for time‐varying factors, was flexible with respect to follow‐up time and number of observations per participant, and allowed simultaneous control of factors associated with both baseline
CAC
and
CAC
progression. Models included age, sex, study site, scanner type, and race/ethnicity. Associations were observed between
CAC
progression and age (14.2 Agatston units/year per 10 years [95%
CI
13.0 to 15.5]), male sex (17.8 Agatston units/year [95%
CI
15.3 to 20.3]), hypertension (13.8 Agatston units/year [95%
CI
11.2 to 16.5]), diabetes (31.3 Agatston units/year [95%
CI
27.4 to 35.3]), and other factors.

Conclusions

CAC
progression analyzed over 10 years of follow‐up, with a novel analytical approach, demonstrated strong relationships with risk factors for incident cardiovascular events. Longitudinal
CAC
progression analyzed in this framework can be used to evaluate novel cardiovascular risk factors.
Beyond Electoral Authoritarianism in Transitional Myanmar
Authors: Farrelly Nicholas
Published: August 2015

This article reassesses notions of ‘electoral authoritarianism’ as applied to the changed political terrain in Myanmar. It examines the various mechanisms through which the lingering influences of earlier political contestation are being integrated into transitional Myanmar’s public and social life. While the evolving Myanmar system is inevitably informed by the dictatorial experience there is a new effort to embrace counter-currents in the shift away from long-term military rule. The argument is that the transitional system mobilises key elements and personnel from the dictatorial period alongside growing opportunities for those who most actively opposed the military dictatorship, including in the pivotal 1988 period. The paradox of political culture under these arrangements means that the notion of a stable electorally authoritarian model needs careful reappraisal. Such stability has been replaced by an appreciation that incremental liberalisation and gradually increasing participation can help to change an entrenched political order. The efforts of the transitional government (2011 to 2015) to implement changes to the economy, the political system and the wider social situation have ensured that creeping reform has become the new norm in a post-authoritarian system where compromise had previously been hard to find.
State, Market and Social Order
Authors: Gabusi Giuseppe
Published: August 2015

Since the beginning of the latest and most convincing phase of transition, Myanmar has emerged as the new possible frontier of economic development in Southeast Asia. Investors, political analysts, businessmen and NGOs alike have all rushed to the country in search of a new El Dorado. Are these hopes justified? Can Myanmar—one of the poorest countries in Asia—start a new phase of economic development which would not only benefit the owners of global capital, but also lift Myanmar’s population from poverty? Drawing on the literature on the political economy of institutions and some field research, the paper assesses whether policy choices made by the new government are heading the country in a direction which could generate a ‘new miracle’ in East Asia. To this purpose, domestic institutional constraints and the system of patronage are examined. Looking beyond the democracy vs dictatorship debate, the paper finds that Myanmar could well start a new phase of economic growth, provided that the government builds a strong vertical and horizontal institutional capacity. However, a more open political environment, and the consequent multiplication of economic interests, could hijack the reform plan the government has adopted, unless these stakeholders are inserted into a coordinated framework revolving around a transformational project of national development.
Grewia nagensium Prain vs Grewia denticulata Wall. ex Prain (Tiliaceae), which is to be accepted?
Authors: Kumar Venkatachalam Sampath
Published: August 2015

Prain (1900: 168) described the species Grewia nagensium based on specimens collected from Assam and Nagaland in Northeast India. Few months later, while preparing “A second century of new and rare Indian plants”, Prain (1901: 10) noted that his G. nagensium is indeed G. denticulata Wall. ex Voigt (1845: 128) and treated the former as a synonym of latter. However, “G. denticulata Wall. ex Voigt” is a nomen nudum as Voigt did not provide any description. Kanjilal et al. (1934) in their account of Flora of Assam mentioned only “Grewia denticulata, Wall. Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Calc. lx. 10. t. 12” and did not discuss its nomenclature. After about 6 decades, in Flora of India, Daniel & Chandrabose (1993) accepted the name as “Grewia denticulata Wall. ex Prain” (1901), and cited Grewia nagensium Prain (1900) as its synonym, which was followed by the Chowdhery et al. (1996). In some taxonomic database such as The Plant List (2013 onwards) and Tropicos (2015) the name Grewia denticulata Wall. ex Prain is also accepted! The name G. denticulata was indeed validly published by Prain (1901), with a full description and plate with analyses, but as Prain ascribed it to “Wall. ex Voigt” (i.e. essentially, to Voigt) it is to be cited as G. denticulata Voigt ex Prain. However, it is an illegitimate, nomenclaturally superfluous name, as the earlier name G. nagensium Prain was cited in synonymy. G. denticulata Voigt ex Prain is therefore unavailable for use and is to be treated as a synonym.
Typification of two species names of Potamogeton (Potamogetonaceae)
Authors: Lastrucci Lorenzo , VICIANI DANIELE , FOGGI BRUNO , MIRANDA STEFANO , SANTANGELO ANNALISA , KAPLAN ZDENĚK
Published: August 2015

Two species names of the genus Potamogeton Linnaeus (1753: 126) are here typified: P. panormitanus Bivona-Bernardi in Bivona (1838: 6, sub P. panormitanum) and P. tuberculatus Tenore & Gussone in Tenore (1842: 4, sub P. tuberculatum). Potamogeton panormitanus is considered as a synonym of P. pusillus Linnaeus (1753: 127) (see Parlatore, 1860; Preston 1995; Wiegleb & Kaplan 1998; Garcia-Murillo 2010) and P. tuberculatus as a synonym of P. trichoides Chamisso & Schlechtendal (1827: 175) (see Parlatore, 1860; Wiegleb & Kaplan 1998; Garcia-Murillo 2010).
New species of Hippopleurifera (Bryozoa, Cheilostomata) from the Miocene
Pirabas Formation, Pará state, Brazil
Authors: RAMALHO LAÍS V. , TÁVORA VLADIMIR A. , TILBROOK KEVIN J. , ZÁGORŠEK KAMIL
Published: August 2015

The Pirabas Formation in Brazil has been studied for many years and a great diversity of animal groups (in particular fishes, molluscs and echinoderms) have been described from there, whereas the Bryozoa have scarcely been mentioned. New samples, collected specifically to focus on bryozoans, have shown that the diversity in this formation is higher than previously thought. Here we describe two new species belonging to the cheilostomate genus Hippopleurifera—H. barbosae sp. nov. and H. confusa sp. nov. Both species were collected at Atalaia Beach, northeastern Pará state, which boasts some of the best marine Cenozoic fossil outcrops in Brazil. After accounting for all described species, plus the two new species and four generic reassignments (new combinations) described herein, some 29 Hippopleurifera species are now known. Most of these are fossils from Europe or the USA, but a handful are known from the Recent Mediterranean, Caribbean and Indo-West Pacific.
A Global Repository for Planet-Sized Experiments and Observations
Authors: Williams Dean N. , Balaji V. , Cinquini Luca , Denvil Sébastien , Duffy Daniel , Evans Ben , Ferraro Robert , Hansen Rose , Lautenschlager Michael , Trenham Claire
Published: August 2015

Working across U.S. federal agencies, international agencies, and multiple worldwide data centers, and spanning seven international network organizations, the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) allows users to access, analyze, and visualize data using a globally federated collection of networks, computers, and software. Its architecture employs a system of geographically distributed peer nodes that are independently administered yet united by common federation protocols and application programming interfaces (APIs). The full ESGF infrastructure has now been adopted by multiple Earth science projects and allows access to petabytes of geophysical data, including the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP)—output used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment reports. Data served by ESGF not only include model output (i.e., CMIP simulation runs) but also include observational data from satellites and instruments, reanalyses, and generated images. Metadata summarize basic information about the data for fast and easy data discovery.
Responses of Multi-Aged Music Students to Mid-20th-Century Art Music
Authors: Madsen Clifford K. , Geringer John M.
Published: August 2015

This investigation replicates previous research into K–12 students’ responses to mid-20th-century art music. The study extends that research to include undergraduates and graduates as well as an additional group of graduate students who had taken a 20th-century music class. Children’s responses showed remarkable consistency and indicated that younger children gave higher mean liking ratings than did older students. Kindergarten and third-grade youngsters preferred all but two of the excerpts compared to their older counterparts. There appeared to be a large difference between younger students’ responses compared to 6th- and 9th-grade students, who were more similar to undergraduate and graduate music students, while 12th graders generally gave the lowest responses. Preferences for the group of graduate students who studied 20th-century music were not significantly higher than those of graduate students who had not had an additional course. These results corroborate previous research that illustrates differences in preference between different ages of listeners.
An Old Tool Reexamined
Authors: Prince Barbara F. , Kozimor-King Michele Lee , Steele Jennifer
Published: August 2015

This study examined the effectiveness of the Star Power simulation for teaching stratification and inequality to students of the net generation. The data for this study were obtained through the use of survey methodology and content analysis of 126 course papers from introductory sociology classes. Papers were analyzed for identification and application of class concepts, recommendation of the simulation, and perceived value of the simulation as a learning tool. Analysis of data revealed 100 percent of students found Star Power worthwhile, and 98 percent recommended it be used in future classes. The most common concepts students linked with their simulation experience were inequality, stratification, and social structure. Finally, six themes were identified illustrating students’ perceived value of the simulation.
Normative learning processes in evolutionary perspective: Remarks on Hauke Brunkhorst’s Critical Theory of Legal Revolutions
Authors: Wesche Tilo
Published: August 2015

The basic thesis of this article is that with his book on legal revolution Brunkhorst rewrites a dialectic of enlightenment. According to Brunkhorst, learning processes, which lead to the revolutionary institutionalization of a new constitutional order, are triggered by negativity. This begs the following questions. What is the account of the belief in a concurrency of dialectics of enlightenment and the learning process? Why do extreme forms of exploitation and oppression still lead to the learning process?
Depressed Spousal Caregivers Have Psychological Stress Unrelated to the Progression of Alzheimer Disease
Authors: Välimäki Tarja H. , Martikainen Janne A. , Hallikainen Ilona T. , Väätäinen Saku T. , Koivisto Anne M.
Published: August 2015

Objective:

To explore family caregiver (FC) long-term psychological distress after Alzheimer disease (AD) diagnosis in a family member.

Methods:

FC (n = 236) and patients with AD were prospectively followed up to 36 months after AD diagnosis. FC psychological distress was evaluated using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Furthermore, caregiver depressive symptoms and sense of coherence, along with AD patient measurements, were measured at baseline and annually. Generalized estimating equation models were applied to study associations of these baseline factors to caregiver GHQ.

Results:

After 36 months of follow-up, spousal caregivers (SCs) GHQ was significantly higher ( P < .001) than in the nonspousal caregivers (NSCs). The difference in GHQ scores was associated by depressive symptoms ( P < .001) at baseline, and the depressed SCs have more severe distress than NSCs over the observation period.

Conclusion:

During longitudinal caregiving, spousal and depressed caregivers of patients with AD report higher and increasing psychological stress than nonspousal and nondepressed caregivers. Spousal relationship, caregivers’ depressive symptoms, and the severity of patients’ neuropsychological symptoms at the time of AD diagnosis predict the trajectory of psychological distress. The current study highlights the need for evaluating AD caregiver mental health and level of coping.
Updating the Cognitive Performance Scale
Authors: Morris John N. , Howard Elizabeth P. , Steel Knight , Perlman Christopher , Fries Brant E. , Garms-Homolová Vjenka , Henrard Jean-Claude , Hirdes John P. , Ljunggren Gunnar , Gray Len , Szczerbińska Katarzyna
Published: August 2015

This study presents the first update of the Cognitive Performance Scale (CPS) in 20 years. Its goals are 3-fold: extend category options; characterize how the new scale variant tracks with the Mini-Mental State Examination; and present a series of associative findings. Secondary analysis of data from 3733 older adults from 8 countries was completed. Examination of scale dimensions using older and new items was completed using a forward-entry stepwise regression. The revised scale was validated by examining the scale’s distribution with a self-reported dementia diagnosis, functional problems, living status, and distress measures. Cognitive Performance Scale 2 extends the measurement metric from a range of 0 to 6 for the original CPS, to 0 to 8. Relating CPS2 to other measures of function, living status, and distress showed that changes in these external measures correspond with increased challenges in cognitive performance. Cognitive Performance Scale 2 enables repeated assessments, sensitive to detect changes particularly in early levels of cognitive decline.
Au-delà d’une esthétique : Le rôle des arts (peinture, musique, littérature) au sein de la philosophie symboliste
Authors: Hernández Barbosa Sonsoles
Published: August 2015

Résumé

La théorie de l’art symboliste conçoit l’œuvre d’art comme un outil privilégié de connaissance. Dans cette pensée, la conception d’un univers interconnecté issue de la tradition de la théorie des correspondances à travers laquelle est appréhendée la connaissance du monde, trouve son corrélat avec une approche à l’œuvre d’art expansive, qui ne limite pas sa nature à son aboutissement à travers une seule discipline mais qui revendique son caractère synesthésique. La possibilité d’une connaissance fragmentée du monde est donc écartée, de même que la conception d’une œuvre d’art conçue à partir des spécificités d’une discipline. Dans cet article, nous proposons d’approcher le cas de la théorie symboliste afin de tenter de comprendre comment se sont pensés au sein de ce mouvement les rapports entre connaissance et art ainsi que le rôle adopté par les différentes disciplines artistiques.
Who is a legitimate French speaker? The Senegalese in Paris and the crossing of linguistic and social borders
Authors: Smith Maya Angela
Published: August 2015

Just as the distinction between ‘French’ and ‘Francophone’ has implications in French literary studies, the boundaries that position certain groups as outsiders also exist in French society at large, where just because one speaks French, one is not necessarily a legitimate French speaker. For instance, while linguistic legislation in France stipulates that one must demonstrate a certain level of language proficiency in order to be granted citizenship as a means of fostering social integration, experiences of discrimination and exclusion evoked in interviews with 24 Senegalese immigrants and French citizens of Senegalese origin call into question the link between proficiency and acceptance. Through an applied linguistics perspective, this article demonstrates that linguistic competence is often determined by more than just the ability to use a language; it depends on the ability to prove cultural legitimacy, which is directly tied to understandings of race, nationality and language ownership.
Using Interpreters in Mental Health Care
Authors: van der Rijken Rachel E. A. , Bijlsma Erwin , Wilpert Julia , van Horn Joan E. , van Geffen Wim , van Busschbach Jan J.
Published: August 2015

As language may be an important barrier for ethnic minority families to access health care, interpreters can be a valuable aid to reach these families. Little is known, however, about the effects of using interpreters in mental health care. The present study investigated whether the use of interpreters affected treatment outcomes of Multisystemic therapy (MST) in the Netherlands. Ninety-one cases with an interpreter were compared with 91 cases without an interpreter. The two groups were matched regarding age, gender, imposed sanction, and therapist. Each case’s progress, treatment duration, and treatment outcomes were obtained. For 61 of the matched pairs, long-term re-conviction rates were retrieved from official judicial records. Comparing the cases with interpreter and the matched controls revealed no significant differences. Moreover, the treatment outcomes were the same for professional and family interpreters. Although there was a trend toward higher recidivism rates during MST when an interpreter had been used, the long-term judicial data did not reveal any differences between the interpreter group and the matched control group. Thus, it seems that in a highly structured and goal-oriented treatment like MST, both professional and family interpreters can be used to obtain treatment outcomes comparable with those of native speakers.
Measuring Hostile Interpretation Bias
Authors: Dillon Kirsten H. , Allan Nicholas P. , Cougle Jesse R. , Fincham Frank D.
Published: August 2015

Hostile interpretation biases are central to the development and maintenance of anger, yet have been inconsistently assessed. The Word Sentence Association Paradigm (WSAP) was used to develop a new measure of hostile interpretation biases, the WSAP-Hostility. Study 1 examined the factor structure and internal consistency of the WSAP-Hostility, as well as its relationship with trait anger. Study 2 provided convergent and divergent validity data by examining its associations with trait anger, aggression, depression, and anxiety. Study 3 examined the relationship between WSAP-Hostility and another measure of hostile interpretation biases, as well as another word sentence association measure, in a sample of community participants. Study 4 also used a sample of community participants to offer further evidence of convergent validity. Across the studies, the WSAP-Hostility demonstrated convergent and divergent validity and internal consistency, supporting its use as a measure of hostile interpretation biases.
Tire cavity resonance mitigation using acoustic absorbent materials
Authors: Mohamed Zamri
Published: August 2015

In this study, the use of acoustic absorbent materials specifically felt to mitigate tire cavity resonance noise is presented. The inclusion of a trim in the tire cavity is represented by the addition of the acoustic damping loss factor into the sound pressure response function. In addition, the possible solution of using multilayer trim materials to mitigate the cavity mode effect is presented using the sound absorption coefficient values from the impedance tube experiments and by adopting other empirical models. Moreover, the sound absorption coefficient calculated from the method of electrical-analogy is compared with that from the experimental data and found to be reasonable. Experimental modal analysis was performed to show the effect of inserting an absorbent material (polyfelt) onto the inside surface of the tire where reduction in both the inside cavity sound pressure level and the wheel hub acceleration was observed. A Taguchi analysis is also done to rank the effectiveness of varying trim thickness and mass density as well as adding air gap to suppress tire cavity resonance noise.
Sleep disturbance due to heartburn and regurgitation is common in patients with functional dyspepsia
Authors: Vakil N , Wernersson B , Wissmar J , Dent J
Published: August 2015

Background

Reflux symptoms (heartburn and regurgitation) are common in patients with functional dyspepsia who do not have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

Objective

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship of reflux symptoms with sleep disturbances in patients with functional dyspepsia without GERD and in those with GERD.

Methods

This post‐hoc analysis of data from the Diamond study (NCT00291746) included patients with frequent upper gastrointestinal symptoms, of whom 137 had functional dyspepsia and 193 had GERD (diagnosed by endoscopy and pH monitoring). Patients completed symptom questionnaires and were interviewed by physicians.

Results

During the seven nights before study entry, 46.0% of patients with functional dyspepsia and 64.8% of those with GERD reported sleep disturbances (any frequency) related to reflux symptoms. Frequent (often/every night) sleep disturbances were experienced by 12.4% of patients with functional dyspepsia and 24.9% of those with GERD (p  = 0.005). Among patients with functional dyspepsia, the prevalence of sleep disturbances was highest in those whose heartburn and/or regurgitation were moderate to severe (vs mild/very mild) and frequent (4–7 vs 1–3 days/week).

Conclusions

Sleep disturbances due to reflux symptoms are common in patients with functional dyspepsia who do not have GERD, and become more frequent with increasing reflux symptom severity and frequency.
Risk factors for complications after ileocolonic resection for Crohn’s disease with a major focus on the impact of preoperative immunosuppressive and biologic therapy: A retrospective international multicentre study
Authors: Yamamoto Takayuki , Spinelli Antonino , Suzuki Yasuo , Saad‐Hossne Rogerio , Teixeira Fabio Vieira , de Albuquerque Idblan Carvalho , da Silva Rodolff Nunes , de Barcelos Ivan Folchini , Takeuchi Ken , Yamada Akihiro , Shimoyama Takahiro , da Silva Kotze Lorete Maria , Sacchi Matteo , Danese Silvio , Kotze Paulo Gustavo
Published: August 2015

Background

In the era of biologic agents, risk factors for complications following resection for Crohn’s disease have not been fully identified. In particular, the association of preoperative use of immunosuppressive and biologic agents with the incidence of complications after resection remains to be elucidated.

Aim

This retrospective multicentre study aimed to identify risk factors for complications after ileocolonic resection for Crohn’s disease, with a major focus on the impact of preoperative immunosuppressive and biologic therapy.

Methods

A total of 231 consecutive patients who underwent ileocolonic resections for active Crohn’s disease in seven inflammatory bowel disease referral centres from three countries (Japan, Brazil and Italy) were included. The following variables were investigated as potential risk factors: age at surgery, gender, behaviour of Crohn’s disease (perforating vs. non‐perforating disease), smoking, preoperative use (within eight weeks before surgery) of steroids, immunosuppressants and biologic agents, previous resection, blood transfusion, surgical procedure (open vs. laparoscopic approach), and type of anastomosis (side‐to‐side vs. end‐to‐end). Postoperative complications occurring within 30 days after surgery were recorded.

Results

The rates of overall complications, intra‐abdominal sepsis, and anastomotic leak were 24%, 12% and 8%, respectively. Neither immunosuppressive nor biologic therapy prior to surgery was significantly associated with the incidence of overall complications, intra‐abdominal sepsis or anastomotic leak. In multivariate analysis, blood transfusion, perforating disease and previous resection were significant risk factors for overall complications (odds ratio [OR] 3.02, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.21–7.52; P  = 0.02), intra‐abdominal sepsis (OR 2.67, 95% CI 1.04–6.86; P  = 0.04) and anastomotic leak (OR 2.87, 95% CI 1.01–8.18; P  = 0.048), respectively.

Conclusions

Blood transfusion, perforating disease and previous resection were significant risk factors for overall complications, intra‐abdominal sepsis and anastomotic leak after ileocolonic resection for Crohn’s disease, respectively. Preoperative immunosuppressive or biologic therapy did not increase the risk of postoperative complications.
Twinning activity in high-manganese austenitic steels under high velocity loading
Authors: Gumus B. , Bal B. , Gerstein G. , Canadinc D. , Maier H. J.
Published: August 2015

Deformation temperature and manganese content dependencies of twinning activity in two types of high Mn austenitic steels were investigated upon high velocity tensile loading. It was observed that nanotwin formation within previously formed twins dominates at subzero temperatures and significantly contributes to work hardening.
Environment, but not genetic divergence, influences geographic variation in colour morph frequencies in a lizard
Authors: McLean Claire A. , Stuart-Fox Devi , Moussalli Adnan
Published: August 2015

Background

Identifying the causes of intraspecific phenotypic variation is essential for understanding evolutionary processes that maintain diversity and promote speciation. In polymorphic species, the relative frequencies of discrete morphs often vary geographically; yet the drivers of spatial variation in morph frequencies are seldom known. Here, we test the relative importance of gene flow and natural selection to identify the causes of geographic variation in colour morph frequencies in the Australian tawny dragon lizard,Ctenophorus decresii.

Results

Populations ofC. decresiiare polymorphic for male throat coloration and all populations surveyed shared the same four morphs but differed in the relative frequencies of morphs. Despite genetic structure among populations, there was no relationship between genetic similarity or geographic proximity and similarity in morph frequencies. However, we detected remarkably strong associations between morph frequencies and two environmental variables (mean annual aridity index and vegetation cover), which together explained approximately 45 % of the total variance in morph frequencies.

Conclusions

Spatial variation in selection appears to play an important role in shaping morph frequency patterns inC. decresii. Selection associated with differences in local environmental conditions, combined with relatively low levels of gene flow, is expected to favour population divergence in morph composition, but may be counteracted by negative frequency-dependent selection favouring rare morphs.
Highly conserved regions in Ebola virus RNA dependent RNA polymerase may be act as a universal novel peptide vaccine target: a computational approach
Authors: Oany Arafat Rahman , Sharmin Tahmina , Chowdhury Afrin Sultana , Jyoti Tahmina Pervin , Hasan Md. Anayet
Published: August 2015

Purpose

Ebola virus (EBOV) is such kind of virus which is responsible for 23,825 cases and 9675 deaths worldwide only in 2014 and with an average diseases fatality rate between 25 % and 90 %. Although, medical technology has tried to handle the problems, there is no Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved therapeutics or vaccines available for the prevention, post exposure, or treatment of Ebola virus disease (EVD).

Methods

In the present study, we used the immunoinformatics approach to design a potential epitope-based vaccine against the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase-L of EBOV. BioEdit v7.2.3 sequence alignment editor, Jalview v2 and CLC Sequence Viewer v7.0.2 were used for the initial sequence analysis for securing the conservancy from the sequences. Later the Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resource (IEDB-AR) was used for the identification of T-cell and B-cellepitopes associated with type I and II major histocompatibility complex molecules analysis. Finally, the population coverage analysis was employed.

Results

The core epitope “FRYEFTAPF” was found to be the most potential one, with 100 % conservancy among all the strains of EBOV. It also interacted with both type I and II major histocompatibility complex molecules and is considered as nonallergenic in nature. Finally, with impressive cumulative population coverage of 99.87 % for the both MHC-I and MHC-II class throughout the world population was found for the proposed epitope.

Conclusion

To end, the projected peptide gave us a solid stand to propose for vaccine consideration and that might be experimented for its potency in eliciting immunity through humoral and cell mediated immune responses in vitro and in vivo.
Traveling Companions: Women, Trade, and the Early East India Company
Authors: Sen Amrita
Published: August 2015

While considering the many economic and personal relationships forged in the Indian Ocean during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the friendships and collaborations among European women and their counterparts in Mughal India often remain neglected. In reality these women traveled back and forth between continents, often alongside their husbands, and created new avenues of cultural dialogue and commercial exchange. In particular this essay will examine the interactions of three women: the Armenian Christian maiden later identified as Mariam Khan, who was chosen by the Mughal emperor Jahangir to become the wife of Captain William Hawkins of the East India Company, and two English women, Frances Steele and Mrs. Hudson. Soon after her husband's death on the voyage to England in 1613, Mariam married another East India Company employee, Captain Gabriel Towerson. After a few years in London, she set sail for India in 1617, this time accompanied by Steele and Hudson. Together they formed personal bonds of friendship that also had significant economic and cultural implications, as the English ambassador Sir Thomas Roe discovered. Unlike company merchants, the English women were able to access the zenana quarters of Mughal India, and their acquaintance with Mariam possibly made it easier for them to build vital relationships with daughters and wives of Mughal officials. In so doing they secured privileges for themselves and their husbands, often countering the direct interests of the East India Company.
Trading Letters in the Arabian Seas: The Correspondence Networks of British Merchants in Eighteenth-Century Western India
Authors: Davies Timothy
Published: August 2015

This article explores the “private trade” network of British East India Company merchants in one segment of the eighteenth-century Indian Ocean world, foregrounding a new perspective on this element of European commerce in early modern Asia. Much recent work on this topic emphasizes the importance of the global or “diasporic” connections back to Europe that British merchants made for the success of private trade. By contrast, this article argues for the importance of regionally situated commercial associations for the day-to-day functioning of private trade, particularly emphasizing the role of Asian merchants. While private traders were clearly embedded in epistolary networks that connected them to an emerging global economy, looking at the western Indian Ocean reveals the extent to which they also relied on more localized commercial associations mediated through the exchange of letters. Letter-based ties to local merchants were vital for the exchange of commercial information, for the procurement of goods, and for the transfer of credit. Such synergistic transcultural interactions were central to the emergence, operation, and growth of British private trade networks in the eighteenth century.
Speaking Transnationally: Early Modern European Linguistic Exchanges with Islamic Southeast Asia
Authors: Ng Su Fang
Published: August 2015

This article considers European cross-cultural exchanges with Islamic Southeast Asia from the perspective of language. Earlier assumptions of the superiority of European languages over non-European ones are unwarranted. In the early modern period English was a peripheral language, and the English and other Europeans used various languages to communicate in trading relations with the East. In Southeast Asia (the “East Indies”), Malay was a significant early modern lingua franca. This study examines the circumstances under which the Dutch explorer Frederick de Houtman came to write a handbook on Malay, later translated into Latin, English, and other languages, when he joined a 1598–99 Dutch East Indies voyage to Aceh. Imprisoned by the sultan, he also wrote an account of his experience. The textual materials produced by this encounter include, aside from Houtman's own Dutch account, an account by the expedition's English pilot and an Acehnese chronicle, Hikayat Aceh, mentioning the European visitors. Using these varied materials—in English, Dutch, and Malay—this study analyzes Houtman's role as translator and interpreter to rethink early modern transnational communication.
Savage Comparisons: Dutch Cultural Distinctions in Seventeenth-Century Southern Africa and North America
Authors: Romney Susanah Shaw
Published: August 2015

During the seventeenth century the Dutch built a global economic system that depended on contact and trade with many different peoples and cultures. To create those connections, Dutch writers particularized and described those cultures to elaborate the role local peoples might play in Atlantic and Indian Ocean trade networks. Yet in southern Africa travelers who encountered Khoekhoe people often described them simply as wilden, or savages. Their choice to employ this catchall category of otherness at the Cape of Good Hope and several other sites around the world correlated with a failure to penetrate these locales commercially and could signal a desire to implement a model of colonization based on production by imported unfree or migrant populations. Scholars of the Dutch North American settlements, where the word wilden was the most common term for indigenous Americans, should be aware of the word's global usage and history.
Figuring Lateness in Modern German Culture
Authors: Leeder Karen
Published: August 2015

This introduction addresses the interrelated ideas of lateness, belatedness, anachronism, untimeliness, old age, and “late style” that run through this special issue. After a brief overview of recent thinking about time, especially in the transition from modernity to postmodernity, it sets up the possibilities of lateness as an intervention and form of (also political) resistance in the twentieth century and beyond. Aside from the field of old-age style or “late style” in its various iterations, which has been a central part of German discourses for some time, lateness more broadly can be understood as a category that speaks to several debates that have played an important role in twentieth-century Germany (demographic change, historical caesuras, generations, memory, etc.) and to contemporary discussions of “afterness,” “end times,” hauntology, postmodernity, and postapocalypse.
Human epidermal neural crest stem cells as a source of Schwann cells
Authors: Sakaue Motoharu , Sieber-Blum Maya
Published: August 2015

We show that highly pure populations of human Schwann cells can be derived rapidly and in a straightforward way, without the need for genetic manipulation, from human epidermal neural crest stem cells [hEPI-NCSC(s)] present in the bulge of hair follicles. These human Schwann cells promise to be a useful tool for cell-based therapies, disease modelling and drug discovery. Schwann cells are glia that support axons of peripheral nerves and are direct descendants of the embryonic neural crest. Peripheral nerves are damaged in various conditions, including through trauma or tumour-related surgery, and Schwann cells are required for their repair and regeneration. Schwann cells also promise to be useful for treating spinal cord injuries. Ex vivo expansion of hEPI-NCSC isolated from hair bulge explants, manipulating the WNT, sonic hedgehog and TGFβ signalling pathways, and exposure of the cells to pertinent growth factors led to the expression of the Schwann cell markers SOX10, KROX20 (EGR2), p75NTR (NGFR), MBP and S100B by day 4 in virtually all cells, and maturation was completed by 2 weeks of differentiation. Gene expression profiling demonstrated expression of transcripts for neurotrophic and angiogenic factors, as well as JUN, all of which are essential for nerve regeneration. Co-culture of hEPI-NCSC-derived human Schwann cells with rodent dorsal root ganglia showed interaction of the Schwann cells with axons, providing evidence of Schwann cell functionality. We conclude that hEPI-NCSCs are a biologically relevant source for generating large and highly pure populations of human Schwann cells.
Membrane manipulations by the ESCRT machinery
Authors: Odorizzi Greg
Published: August 2015

The endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRTs) collectively comprise a machinery that was first known for its function in the degradation of transmembrane proteins in the endocytic pathway of eukaryotic cells. Since their discovery, however, ESCRTs have been recognized as playing important roles at the plasma membrane, which appears to be the original site of function for the ESCRT machinery. This article reviews some of the major research findings that have shaped our current understanding of how the ESCRT machinery controls membrane dynamics and considers new roles for the ESCRT machinery that might be driven by these mechanisms.
Into space and beyond
Authors: Gallagher Rachael
Published: August 2015

Rachael Gallagher explains how she sent her nursery children on a multimedia learning adventure that has set them up to be independent learners at KS1.
When writing nonsense makes perfect sense…
Authors: Williams Brenda
Published: August 2015

Children's enjoyment of poetry will increase as they learn to understand its different forms. Unlock the fun in nonsense poems and encourage pupils to create their own.
Put fractions into words
Authors: Davis John
Published: August 2015

Try these year 3 activities to help children understand fractions in context and become more confident in carrying out calculations involving division.
Being ‘purposeful’ in today's digital world
Authors: Rachel  , Bosley Mark
Published: August 2015

It is important that pupils learn how to contribute online, rather than be passive consumers, or ‘lurkers’. Fire them up to create their own original content.
On groups with automorphisms generating recurrent sequences of the maximal period
Authors: Akishin Aleksandr V.
Published: August 2015

Let G be a finite group and f be an automorphism of the group G. The automorphism f specifies a recurrent sequence {a
Closed classed of three-valued logic that contain essentially multiplace functions
Authors: Marchenkov Sergey S.
Published: August 2015

All 23 closed classes of three-valued logic that contain essentially multiplace linear functions are defined. It is shown that the order of every such class is not greater than 3.
A generalization of Ore’s theorem on irreducible polynomials over a finite field
Authors: Nechaev Alexander A. , Popov Vladimir O.
Published: August 2015

For an arbitrary prime power q, a criterion for irreducibility of a polynomial of the form

over the field K = GF(qt) is established.
Ancestral protein reconstruction: techniques and applications
Authors: Merkl Rainer , Sterner Reinhard
Published: August 2015

Ancestral sequence reconstruction (ASR) is the calculation of ancient protein sequences on the basis of extant ones. It is most powerful in combination with the experimental characterization of the corresponding proteins. Such analyses allow for the study of problems that are otherwise intractable. For example, ASR has been used to characterize ancestral enzymes dating back to the Paleoarchean era and to deduce properties of the corresponding habitats. In addition, the historical approach underlying ASR enables the identification of amino acid residues key to protein function, which is often not possible by only comparing extant proteins. Along these lines, residues responsible for the spectroscopic properties of protein pigments were identified as well as residues determining the binding specificity of steroid receptors. Further applications are studies related to the longevity of mutations, the contribution of gene duplications to enzyme functionalization, and the evolution of protein complexes. For these applications of ASR, we discuss recent examples; moreover, we introduce the basic principles of the underlying algorithms and present state-of-the-art protocols.