bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Gatekeeping access to the midwifery unit: Managing complaints by bending the rules
Authors: Allan Helen T , Odelius Anki , Hunter Billie J , Bryan Karen , Knibb Wendy , Shawe Jill
Published: January 2015

While poor communication between service users and front-line staff causes many service user complaints in the British National Health Service, staff rarely reflect on the causes of these complaints. We discuss findings from an action research project with midwives which suggest that the midwives struggled to fully understand complaints from women, their partners and families particularly about restricted visiting and the locked door to the midwifery unit. They responded to individual requests to visit out of hours while maintaining the general policy of restricted visiting. In this way, the door was a gatekeeping device which allowed access to the unit within certain rules. The locked door remained a barrier to women and their families and as a result was a common source of informal complaints. We argue that the locked door and restricted visiting to the midwifery unit were forms of gatekeeping and boundary making by midwives which reveals a tension between their espoused woman-centred care and contemporary midwifery practice which is increasingly constrained by institutional values.
Breastfeeding and introduction of complementary food in Danish infants
Authors: Kronborg Hanne , Foverskov Else , Væth Michael
Published: January 2015

Aim: The purpose of the present study was to describe early feeding patterns in Danish infants. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was sent to 7113 mothers of newborns in the western part of Denmark approximately 6 months postpartum. A total of 5127 mothers (72%) returned the questionnaire and 4526 (88%) of the responding mothers provided valid answers to questions on infant nutrition. Results: Breastfeeding was initiated after birth by 97%. At the ages of 2, 4 and 6 months, 68%, 55% and 7% of the infants, respectively, were fully breastfed, i.e. they received mother’s milk only. Full breastfeeding at 4 months was for infants significantly associated with higher birth weight, longer gestational age and singleton birth; for mothers it was associated with older ages, higher educational level, lower BMI and multiparity. During the first weeks, 14% of the infants were introduced to formula and this proportion increased to 32%, 43% and 74% at 2, 4 and 6 months, respectively. Only 20% of the infants never received formula during the first 6 months of life. Time for introduction of solid food was associated with breastfeeding status. At 4 months, 3% of the previously fully breastfed infants were introduced to solid food, 12% of the partially breastfed and 17% of the non-breastfed. At 6 months, 87% of the infants had been introduced to solid food. Conclusions: The majority of Danish mothers introduced infants to solid food between 4 and six months, and did not exclusively breastfeed until 6 months, as recommended by WHO.
Thickness and thermal processing contribution on piezoelectric characteristics of Pb(Zr-Ti)O3 thick films deposited on curved IN738 using sol–gel technique
Authors: Hoshyarmanesh Hamidreza , Nehzat Naser , Salehi Mehdi , Ghodsi Mojtaba , Lee Hong-Sub , Park Hyung-Ho
Published: January 2015

Lead zirconate-titanate (PZT) thick films of perovskite structure Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O3 were fabricated on the curved surface of IN738 nickel-based supper alloy substrate up to 15 µm thickness using sol–gel deposition technique without polyvinylpyrrolidone. The films were heated at 200℃ with 10 wt% excess PbO, pyrolyzed at 400℃, and subsequently annealed at 650℃, 700℃, and 800℃. Au and Pt thin films were deposited as bottom and top electrodes, respectively. PZT films of different thicknesses and thermal treatment conditions were characterized to investigate the effect of process on crystalline phase development, orientation, and microstructure morphology. Thereby, formation of fairly smooth, semi-dense, and crack-free random orientated thick films as well as an increase in the average grain size and stress relaxation was observed as the film thickness increased. Having optimized the coating process, intrinsic and extrinsic dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties were measured as a function of the film thickness, orientation, grain size, and domain wall motions to evaluate the remnant polarization ( Pr = 7.6–17.5 µC/cm2), coercive field ( Ec = 2.5–4 kV/cm), permittivity ( ɛr = 276–326), dielectric loss (tan δ(%) = 2.7–3), and piezoelectric charge coefficient ( d33 = 71–145 pm/V) of the PZT thick films prepared potentially to be used as high bandwidth 1–5 MHz structural health monitoring transducers.
Migrant families as effective buffers against discrimination: The perceived work–care conflict and household conditions of mothers
Authors: Ho Wing-Chung , Cheung Chau-Kiu
Published: January 2015

Past social work studies on discrimination perceived by immigrants mainly concerned the negative impacts of social dislocation on the immigrants, such as their loss of social support, devaluation of education and work skills, and acculturative stress. Important features of family efficacy, notably the immigrant’s perceived control over the work–care management and household conditions are yet to be considered in any conceptual model of perceived discrimination.

Findings

The present study tested both the social dislocation and family efficacy models for 372 Chinese migrant mothers living in low-income communities of Hong Kong. While path analyses supported both models, the family efficacy model had substantially higher power in explaining perceived discrimination.

Application

Implications for social service practitioners and policy advocates to promote the life chances of poor migrant mothers are discussed.
Mission sites as indigenous heritage in southern Vanuatu
Authors: Flexner James L , Spriggs Matthew
Published: January 2015

Christian missions are often characterized as a physical expression of Western colonial power, institutions that were resisted by indigenous people in various ways. In Vanuatu, while there was indeed dramatic resistance to mission incursion, the success of Christianity in many places (for not everyone converted) developed from a series of complex entanglements between indigenous Melanesians and Christian missionaries. This is apparent in oral traditions and in the physical remains relating to mission encounters. Indigenous ni-Vanuatu see the archaeological remains of mission sites as an integral part of their heritage, rather than as relics of a foreign colonial past. This tendency relates to other aspects of missionary heritage as well, including museum collections and sacred texts. The historical archaeology of missions in Vanuatu and beyond can be best understood through the lens of colonial entanglement, destabilizing categorical oppositions such as colonizer–colonized, foreign–indigenous, and power–resistance.
The ethics of pandering in Boston Public Schools’ school assignment plan
Authors: Levinson Meira
Published: January 2015

How can access to public elementary schools of variable quality be justly distributed within a school district? Two reasonable criteria are: (a) that children should have equal opportunity to attend high-quality schools, and (b) school assignment policies should foster an overall increase in the number of high-quality schools. This article analyzes Boston Public Schools’ new school assignment plan in light of these criteria. It shows that Boston Public Schools’ plan violates equal opportunity by giving middle-class families privileged access to existing high-quality schools. Boston Public Schools arguably panders to more-advantaged families, however, in order to pull them into the system and deploy their economic, political, and social capital to increase the total number of high-quality schools. Is this ethically defensible? To answer this question, we need to develop an ethical theory of pandering: of privileging the interests and preferences of already unjustly privileged actors because the consequences tend to benefit everyone. Such a theory will need to be ethically pluralistic and weighted along a contextually sensitive continuum, rather than rendered in all-or-nothing terms.
Effect of liner for single-piece continuously textile reinforced riot helmet shells
Authors: Zahid Bilal , Chen Xiaogang
Published: January 2015

This work is a part of research carried out for the manufacturing and evaluation of riot helmet shells having continuous textile reinforcement. The paper is focused only on the effect of expanded polystyrene internal liner on the riot police helmet shells. Energy absorption and force attenuation at different position on the developed single-piece continuously textile reinforcement helmet shells have been studied. Low energy impact tests were carried out at different positions on the developed riot helmet shells. The result shows the internal liner plays a vital role in energy absorption and in force attenuation for a riot helmet shell.
“Internet Gaming Disorder” in China
Authors: Bax Trent
Published: January 2015

“Internet addiction” in China and elsewhere is considered a serious social problem. In China, some psychiatrists have claimed 10% of all Internet users—60 million—are potentially “addicted” to the Internet. Following on the heels of the publication of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM-5), this qualitative-based research article critically investigates the new concept Internet gaming disorder, a category recently included in the DSM-5 as a condition “warranting more clinical research and experience before it might be considered for inclusion in the main book as a formal disorder.” This article takes up this challenge and responds in the following way: When we investigate the social existence of online gamers labeled Internet addicts in China, and then subject their social existence to the DSM’s own definition of a mental disorder, we discover not a clearly understood mental disorder called Internet gaming disorder but more so an issue of social deviance.
Racial Logics, Franchising, and Video Game Genres
Authors: Young Helen
Published: January 2015

This article explores the ways game adaptations engage with existing popular culture constructions of race within the framework of commercial franchises. Its focus is on games which are part of the so-called “Frodo Franchise” based on Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films. It considers the role played by licensing agreements, the conventions, and ludic elements of different game genres, the need for new characters and narratives to keep audiences engaged with an existing world, and the opportunity games offer for interactive exploration of a digital world, to illuminate both the challenges to and the opportunities for disrupting conventional representations of race and difference.
Assessing the quality of human research protection programs to improve protection of human subjects participating in clinical trials
Authors: Tsan Min-Fu , Tsan Linda W
Published: January 2015

Introduction:

Institutions conducting research involving human subjects establish human research protection programs to ensure the rights and welfare of research participants as well as to meet ethical and regulatory requirements. It is important to determine whether human research protection programs have achieved these objectives.

Methods:

The Department of Veterans Affairs has developed quality indicators and annually collected human research protection program quality indicator data from its 108 research facilities since 2010.

Results:

Analysis of Department of Veterans Affairs human research protection program quality indicator data revealed that facilities using affiliated university institutional review boards performed as well as those using their own Department of Veterans Affairs institutional review boards and that facilities with small research programs, that is, less than 50 human research protocols, performed at least as well as those with larger research programs. These quality indicator data also provided Department of Veterans Affairs facilities with valuable information for quality improvement. Many of these quality indicators have improved in subsequent years, and none has deteriorated. Lapse rates in institutional review board continuing reviews remained high and relatively constant at above 6.0% over a 4-year period from 2010 through 2013.

Discussion:

Future efforts should be directed at developing a set of human research protection program quality indicators truly reflecting the quality of human research protection programs that are applicable to both Department of Veterans Affairs and non-Department of Veterans Affairs institutions and determining whether high-quality human research protection programs as measured using these quality indicators translate into better human subject protections.
A training, assessment and feedback package for the trainee shoulder sonographer
Authors: Smith Michael J , Rogers Alison , Amso Nazar , Kennedy Julia , Hall Alison , Mullaney Peter
Published: January 2015

Diagnostic ultrasound of the shoulder is recognised as being one of the most technically challenging aspects of musculoskeletal ultrasound to master. It has a steep learning curve and makes gaining competency a time-intensive training process for both the trainee and their trainer. This article describes a training, assessment and feedback package developed within the framework of a Consortium for the Accreditation of Sonographic Education approved post-graduate ultrasound course. The package comprises: (i) a shoulder diagnostic ultrasound scan protocol with definition of findings, differential diagnosis and pro forma for recording scan findings, (ii) an assessment form for performance of shoulder diagnostic ultrasound scans with assessment criteria and (iii) a combined performance assessment and scan findings form, for each tissue being imaged. The package has been developed using medical education principles and provides a mechanism for trainees to follow an internationally recognised protocol. Supplementary information includes the differential diagnostic process used by an expert practitioner, which can otherwise be difficult to elicit. The package supports the trainee with recording their findings quickly and consistently and helps the trainee and trainer to explicitly recognise the challenges of scanning different patients or pathologies. It provides a mechanism for trainers to quantify and trainees to evidence their emerging competency. The package detailed in this article is therefore proposed for use in shoulder ultrasound training and its principles could be adapted for other musculoskeletal regions or other ultrasound disciplines.
Functional Evaluation of the Reusable JuniorSTAR® Half-Unit Insulin Pen
Authors: Klonoff David , Nayberg Irina , Rabbone Ivana , Domenger Catherine , Stauder Udo , Oualali Hamid , Danne Thomas
Published: January 2015

Background: The functional performance of the JuniorSTAR® (Sanofi, Paris, France) half-unit insulin pen was evaluated through a series of specific objective tests to assess the dose accuracy, pen weight, injection force, and dialing torque. Method: Pens (n = 60) were tested under standard atmospheric conditions with 3 different types of insulins manufactured by Sanofi (insulin glargine, insulin glulisine, and biphasic insulin isophane). The dose accuracy was tested according to the ISO 11608-1:2012 standards. Injection doses of 0.010, 0.155, and 0.300 ml were evaluated. For mean weight evaluation, the pens without the cartridge were weighed on precision balances. The injection force was measured using a texture analyzer and the dialing torque was measured using a torque meter. Results: JuniorSTAR met the ISO 11608-1:2012 criteria for dose accuracy as all the delivered doses were within the predefined limits for all types of insulin tested. The mean weight of the JuniorSTAR pen was 33.4 g (SD = 0.075). The mean injection force was 6.0 N (SD = 0.8), 4.3 N (SD = 0.4), and 5.1 N (SD = 0.6) for insulin glargine, insulin glulisine, and biphasic insulin isophane, respectively. The mean dialing torque was 5.09 Ncm (SD = 0.29) and 5.88 Ncm (SD = 0.53) for setting and correcting a dose, respectively. Conclusions: Together with results from a previously reported usability survey, these results show that the JuniorSTAR reusable, half-unit pen is a lightweight and accurate device for insulin delivery with a dialing torque and injection force suitable for young people with type 1 diabetes.
Procedure for the Disposal of Controlled Medication in the School Setting
Authors: Kleinschmidt Karen A.
Published: January 2015

The disposal of controlled medication left in the school nurse office is problematic for school nurses. Medications are left for a variety of reasons: students transfer out of the district, state, or country; parents and guardians lack transportation to pick up their child’s medication; and some families simply forget. The medications of concern are controlled substances, primarily Schedule II medications including Adderall, Concerta, and methylphenidate. Over time, these medications begin to accumulate in a school nurse’s office. Schools should establish procedures that address safe disposal of controlled medications as well as liability protection for the school nursing staff. This article will discuss a procedure created for the Christina School District in conjunction with a state board of pharmacy and subsequently shared with other school nurses in the State of Delaware.
Sad and Alone
Authors: Bastian Brock , Koval Peter , Erbas Yasemin , Houben Marlies , Pe Madeline , Kuppens Peter
Published: January 2015

Western culture has become obsessed with happiness, while treating negative emotions like sadness, depression, or anxiety as pathological and nonnormative. These salient cultural norms communicate social expectations that people should feel “happy” and not “sad.” Previous research has shown that these “social expectancies” can increase feelings of sadness and reduce well-being. In this study, we examined whether these perceived social pressures might also lead people to feel socially disconnected—lonely—when they do experience negative emotions? Drawing on a large stratified sample prescreened for depressive symptoms and utilizing both trait measures and moment-to-moment “experience sampling” over a 7-day period, we found that people who felt more negative emotions and also believe that others in society disapprove of these emotions reported more loneliness. Our data suggest that social pressures to be happy and not sad can make people feel more socially isolated when they do feel sad.
Menopausal hormone therapy and breast cancer mortality: clinical implications
Authors: Chlebowski Rowan T. , Anderson Garnet L.
Published: January 2015

The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) has conducted two randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials to evaluate the influence of menopausal hormone therapy on chronic disease risk. Estrogen plus progestin was evaluated in 16,608 postmenopausal women without prior hysterectomy during 5.6 years’ intervention. In that setting, combined hormone therapy use significantly increased breast cancer incidence and interfered with breast cancer detection. The breast cancers were not limited to estrogen receptor positive, favorable prognosis cancers and were identified at more advanced stage. As a result, deaths from breast cancer were significantly increased by estrogen plus progestin use. While the absolute breast cancer risk for relatively short term (2–4 years) use of combined hormone therapy is small, on a population basis a therapy which nearly doubles deaths from breast cancer requires cautious use. Estrogen alone was evaluated in 10,739 postmenopausal women with prior hysterectomy during 7.1 years’ intervention. There was an overall reduction of breast cancer incidence seen with estrogen alone use and a suggestion that the effect on risk was more pronounced in women initiating hormone therapy further from menopause. Nonetheless, women with prior hysterectomy can be assured that short duration estrogen alone use for climacteric symptom management is relatively safe. Neither estrogen plus progestin nor estrogen alone should be used for chronic disease risk reduction. The safety of duration of use on chronic disease risk longer than in the WHI clinical trials is not defined.
Hygiene factors: Using VLE minimum standards to avoid student dissatisfaction
Authors: Reed Peter , Watmough Simon
Published: January 2015

Inconsistency in the use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) has led to dissatisfaction amongst students and is an issue across the Higher Education sector. This paper outlines research undertaken in one faculty within one university to ascertain staff and student views on minimum standards within the VLE; how the VLE could reduce student dissatisfaction; and to propose a conceptual framework surrounding student satisfaction with the VLE.

A questionnaire was sent to staff and students asking if they agreed with the need to introduce minimum standards in the VLE and what criteria they wanted. The National Student Survey (NSS) results were analysed for six schools within the faculty over a 4-year period. Many of the NSS results were relevant to developing minimum standards with the VLE.

The questionnaire results showed the vast majority of staff and students favour the introduction of minimum standards and identified specific items that should be included, for example handbooks, contact information for staff, access to previous modules, assessment information, further reading, etc. The NSS data showed that students wanted lectures available in the VLE, improved feedback, more computers for students and information about cancelled sessions/timetable changes in the VLE.

The results suggest the presence of many minimum standards may reduce student dissatisfaction with the VLE. However, a distinction is made between those pre-potent factors that cause dissatisfaction and those that lead to satisfaction, using Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory as a theoretical basis.

When considering minimum standards as ‘hygiene factors’, their presence can prevent student dissatisfaction and provide the foundations for innovation in technology-enhanced learning.
Can large surveys conducted on highly selected populations provide valid information on the epidemiology of common health conditions? An analysis of UK Biobank data on musculoskeletal pain
Authors: Macfarlane Gary J , Beasley Marcus , Smith Blair H , Jones Gareth T , Macfarlane Tatiana V
Published: January 2015

Introduction:

Biobank-type studies are typically large but have very low participation rates. It has been suggested that these studies may provide biased estimates of prevalence but are likely to provide valid estimates of association. We test these hypotheses using data collected on pain in a large Biobank study in the United Kingdom.

Methods:

UK Biobank recruited 503,325 persons aged 40–69 years (participation rate 5.5%). Participants completed questionnaires, including pain, lifestyle and environment factors. As a comparison, we used both a large population study of pain (MUSICIAN: n = 8847, aged: 40–69 years) conducted 2008–2009 and the National Child Development study (NCDS) which recruited all persons in Great Britain born during one week of 1958 and followed them up at age 44 years ( n = 9377).

Results:

‘Any pain’ (UK Biobank 61.0%; MUSICIAN 63.9%), chronic pain (42.9%, 52.2%) and site-specific musculoskeletal pain (back 26.2%, 29.7%; shoulder/neck 23.3%, 25.3%) were generally similar in UK Biobank and MUSICIAN. The prevalence of chronic pain and most regional musculoskeletal pains in UK Biobank were all within 2% of that in NCDS.

Conclusion:

UK Biobank has provided estimates of the prevalence of pain which are similar to those from previous large-scale studies, although a formal comparison of the estimates cannot be made. It has also confirmed known associations with the reporting of pain. Despite its very low participation rate, such a study provides the opportunity to investigate novel exposure–pain relationships and investigate rarer exposures and characteristics to further our knowledge of the epidemiology of pain.
Between technical features and analytic capabilities: Charting a relational affordance space for digital social analytics
Authors: Madsen Anders Koed
Published: January 2015

Digital social analytics is a subset of Big Data methods that is used to understand the social environment in which people and organizations have to act. This paper presents an analysis of eight projects that are experimenting with the use of these methods for various purposes. It shows that two specific technological features influence the work with such methods in all the cases. The first concerns the need to distribute choices about the structure of data to third-party actors and the second concerns the need to balance machine intelligence and human intuition when automating the analysis. These features set specific conditions for knowledge production, and the paper identifies two opposite approaches for engaging with each of these conditions. These features and approaches are finally combined into a two-dimensional affordance space that illustrates how there is flexibility in the way project leaders interact with the features of the data environment. It thereby also shows how digital social analytics come to have different affordances for different projects.
The mind–body connection in irritable bowel syndrome: A randomised controlled trial of hypnotherapy as a treatment
Authors: Phillips-Moore Julie S , Talley Nicholas J , Jones Michael P
Published: January 2015

Background:

Hypnotherapy has been reported as being beneficial in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). We aimed to test the hypothesis that patients with IBS treated ‘holistically’ by hypnosis (i.e. by combined psychological and physiological symptom imagery) would have greater improvement in their IBS symptoms than patients treated by hypnosis using standard ‘gut-directed’ hypnotherapy, and both would be superior to simple relaxation therapy.

Methods:

Patients ( n = 51) with Rome II criteria were randomised to ‘individualised’ (holistic) hypnotherapy, standard ‘gut-directed’ hypnotherapy or relaxation therapy for a period of 11 weeks with two follow-up assessments at 2 weeks and at 3 months after the completion of the trial. The primary outcome was bowel symptom severity scale (BSSS).

Results:

All the participants in this study improved their IBS symptoms (pain, bloating, constipation and diarrhoea) and physical functioning at the end of the treatment from baseline, but this was not significantly different across the treatment arms.

Conclusion:

Neither ‘individualised’ nor ‘gut-directed’ hypnotherapy is superior to relaxation therapy in IBS.
Deterrence Versus Marginalization
Authors: Beckley Amber L.
Published: January 2015

Immigration policies that attach citizenship and deportation consequences to crime may be aimed at deterring crime, but they also effectively marginalize immigrants and may promote crime. Evidence from Sweden and around the world indicates that, where citizenship is concerned, marginalization may have won out. This research used a population-based sample of approximately 20,000 Swedish males and more rigorous methods than past studies to test the effects of citizenship and region of origin on official police suspicion for a serious crime. The findings showed that a lack of citizenship is related to greater involvement in crime, indicating support for the marginalizing effects of immigration policies. Yet, the region of origin results presented a conflicting picture in which neither ideas on deterrence nor marginalization could be supported. In conclusion, neither the potential deterrent effects of immigration policy nor its marginalizing effects were strongly supported.
First-Year Physical Education Teachers’ Experiences With Teaching African Refugee Students
Authors: Baldwin Christopher Francis
Published: January 2015

The purpose of this study was to analyze and explore the experiences of eight first-year physical education teachers who have taught African refugee students. Interviews were conducted at the end of each participant’s first year of teaching. The findings of this study highlight the vast different learning styles of students from Africa and the strategies that these teachers trialed and incorporated into their lessons in an attempt to minimize the disruptions they experienced when first introduced to the students. The results of this study, together with information from the literature, suggest that the training and education of teachers in Australia must incorporate strategies for teaching students from different backgrounds, cultures, and living situations to better facilitate the inclusion of them in school-based activities and learning.
Troubleshooting the Femoral Attachment During Medial Patellofemoral Ligament Reconstruction
Authors: Burrus M. Tyrrell , Werner Brian C. , Conte Evan J. , Diduch David R.
Published: January 2015

The medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) has been recognized as an important soft tissue restraint in preventing lateral patellar translation. As many patients with acute or chronic patellar instability will have a deficient MPFL, reconstruction of this ligament is becoming more common. Appropriately, significant research has been undertaken regarding graft biomechanics and techniques, as intraoperative errors in graft placement often result in poor patient outcomes. Although the research has not answered all of the dilemmas encountered during reconstruction, publications consistently emphasize the importance of re-establishing an anatomic femoral attachment. The purpose of this study was to briefly review the current literature on MPFL reconstruction. Graft selection and patellar graft attachment and fixation are discussed, but the main focus is the femoral attachment as this is where most errors are seen and, unfortunately, where getting it right appears to matter the most. Using a sawbones knee model, the concepts of an MPFL graft that is “high and tight” or “low and loose” are presented, with the goal of providing physicians with intraoperative tools to adjust an incorrectly placed femoral MPFL attachment. This model is also used to justify the recommendation of graft fixation in 30° to 45° of knee flexion.
Selection and characterisation of HVOF cermet coatings for volutes of high capacity pumps of opencast lignite mines
Authors: Kumarasamy M. , Natarajan S.
Published: January 2015

The centrifugal pumps made of grey cast iron deployed in mining conditions encounter severe erosion and corrosion problems causing sudden failures. To combat this, the thermal spray ‘high velocity oxyfuel’ (HVOF) process was selected to provide a cermet coating, namely, WC–Co–Cr–Ni. After design investigation on coatings, erosion and corrosion experiments were conducted and characterisation studies involving microstructure, surface morphology and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis were made. The operating parameters on the different sections of impact volute surface were assessed and accordingly, the coating thickness was designed scientifically for maximum impact loads and minimum corrosion failures. The life of the coated pump casings has been improved up to 12 times by optimising the coating thickness.
A Template for Non-Religious-Based Discussions against Euthanasia
Authors: Bloodworth Melissa , Bloodworth Nathaniel , Ely E. Wesley
Published: January 2015

We submit this manuscript as part of the ongoing conversation in society at large about physician-assisted death (PAD) and euthanasia. This outlines an approach used by lay healthcare professionals in arguing against PAD/euthanasia during a 1-hour debate conducted on a secular medical school campus. We have included the elements chosen for the “con” side of the argument (i.e., against PAD) by the medical students and attending physician. The goal of this manuscript is to provide a focused and pithy template upon which to build an approach that honors the dignity of life in all circumstances.

Lay summary: The discussion over physician assisted death and euthanasia remains ongoing in secular academic medical institutions across the United States and much of the western world. These debates have incentivized efforts to develop a framework for arguments against Euthanasia that will find traction in an environment generally hostile to religion and religious thought. In this essay, we present arguments given by the “con” side in a student-led debate over physician assisted death and euthanasia at Vanderbilt University with the hope that they will provide a foundation for future discussions promoting truth and life without alienating our secular colleagues.
Epstein-Barr virus LMP2A suppresses MHC class II expression by regulating the B-cell transcription factors E47 and PU.1
Authors: Lin Jiun-Han , Lin Ju-Yin , Chou Ya-Ching , Chen Mei-Ru , Yeh Te-Huei , Lin Chung-Wu , Lin Sue-Jane , Tsai Ching-Hwa
Published: January 2015

Key Points

EBV LMP2A alters B-cell gene expression; E47 and PU.1 are repressed by LMP2A, resulting in downregulation of MHC class II expression.
Studies on the mechanical stretchability of transparent conductive film based on graphene-metal nanowire structures
Authors: Lee Mi-Sun , Kim Joohee , Park Jihun , Park Jang-Ung
Published: January 2015

Transparent electrodes with superior flexibility and stretchability as well as good electrical and optical properties are required for applications in wearable electronics with comfort designs and high performances. Here, we present hybrid nanostructures as stretchable and transparent electrodes based on graphene and networks of metal nanowires, and investigate their optical, electrical, and mechanical properties. High electrical and optical characteristics, superb bendability (folded in half), excellent stretchability (10,000 times in stretching cycles with 100% in tensile strain toward a uniaxial direction and 30% in tensile strain toward a multi-axial direction), strong robustness against electrical breakdown and thermal oxidation were obtained through comprehensive study. We believe that these results suggest a substantial promise application in future electronics.
Field pathogenomics reveals the emergence of a diverse wheat yellow rust population
Authors: Hubbard Amelia , Lewis Clare M , Yoshida Kentaro , Ramirez-Gonzalez Ricardo H , de Vallavieille-Pope Claude , Thomas Jane , Kamoun Sophien , Bayles Rosemary , Uauy Cristobal , Saunders Diane GO
Published: January 2015

Background

Emerging and re-emerging pathogens imperil public health and global food security. Responding to these threats requires improved surveillance and diagnostic systems. Despite their potential, genomic tools have not been readily applied to emerging or re-emerging plant pathogens such as the wheat yellow (stripe) rust pathogen Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (PST). This is due largely to the obligate parasitic nature of PST, as culturing PST isolates for DNA extraction remains slow and tedious.

Results

To counteract the limitations associated with culturing PST, we developed and applied a field pathogenomics approach by transcriptome sequencing infected wheat leaves collected from the field in 2013. This enabled us to rapidly gain insights into this emerging pathogen population. We found that the PST population across the United Kingdom (UK) underwent a major shift in recent years. Population genetic structure analyses revealed four distinct lineages that correlated to the phenotypic groups determined through traditional pathology-based virulence assays. Furthermore, the genetic diversity between members of a single population cluster for all 2013 PST field samples was much higher than that displayed by historical UK isolates, revealing a more diverse population of PST.

Conclusions

Our field pathogenomics approach uncovered a dramatic shift in the PST population in the UK, likely due to a recent introduction of a diverse set of exotic PST lineages. The methodology described herein accelerates genetic analysis of pathogen populations and circumvents the difficulties associated with obligate plant pathogens. In principle, this strategy can be widely applied to a variety of plant pathogens.
Novel Three Dimensional Human Endocervix Cultures Respond to 28-Day Hormone Treatment
Authors: Arslan Sevim Yildiz , Yu Yanni , Burdette Joanne E. , Pavone Mary Ellen , Hope Thomas J. , Woodruff Teresa K. , Kim J. Julie
Published: January 2015

The endocervix has both anatomical and biological functions that participate in the delicate balance between tolerance necessary for conception and protection from pathogens. Our goal was to develop a robust 3-dimensional (3D) endocervix model that was a reliable representation of the in vivo tissues and to identify the physiological responses to changing levels of steroid hormones during a 28-day time period. Human endocervical cells were grown on polystyrene scaffolds, and the morphologic and hormonal responses of cultured cells were assessed in response to fluctuating levels of estradiol (E2) or progesterone (P4). Morphologically, the 3D cultures were composed of a mixed population of cells, including epithelial and stromal cells. Treatment with E2 and P4 (d 28) increased cell growth and proliferation as compared with no treatment control. Cells expressed estrogen receptor and P4 receptor and produced both neutral and acidic mucins, including Mucin 16. In addition, a 45-plex Luminex assay identified numerous factors secreted and regulated by hormones. Specifically, IL-1β and leukemia inhibitory factor significantly decreased in the presence of E2 and P4 as compared with the no hormone control at day 26. Cotreatment with RU486 (mifepristone) attenuated the inhibition of IL-1β and leukemia inhibitory factor secretion. In summary, a robust, novel 3D endocervical culture was developed, and physiologic responses to the menstrual cycle mimic of E2 and P4 levels for a period of 28 days were identified.
Body Mass Index (BMI) Trajectories in Infancy Differ by Population Ancestry and May Presage Disparities in Early Childhood Obesity
Authors: Roy Sani M. , Chesi Alessandra , Mentch Frank , Xiao Rui , Chiavacci Rosetta , Mitchell Jonathan A. , Kelly Andrea , Hakonarson Hakon , Grant Struan F.A. , Zemel Babette S. , McCormack Shana E.
Published: January 2015

Context:

No consensus definition exists for excess adiposity during infancy. After age 2 years, high body mass index (BMI) is related to adverse cardiometabolic outcomes. Before age 2 years, the utility of BMI as a metric of excess adiposity is unknown.

Objectives:

The objective of the study was to characterize infant BMI trajectories in a diverse, longitudinal cohort and investigate the relationship between the infancy BMI trajectory and childhood obesity.

Subjects:

Healthy, nonpreterm infants (n = 2114) in the Genetic Causes for Complex Pediatric Disorders study (The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) with six or more BMI measurements in the first 13.5 months participated in the study.

Design:

For each infant, the BMI trajectory was modeled using polynomial regression. Independent effects of clinical factors on magnitude and timing of peak BMI were assessed. The relationship between infancy BMI and early childhood BMI (age 4 y) was examined (n = 1075).

Results:

The cohort was 53% male and 61% African-American. Peak BMI was 18.6 ± 1.7 kg/m2 and occurred at 8.6 ± 1.4 months. In multivariate analysis, boys had a higher (0.50 kg/m2, P < .001) peak BMI than girls. The peak was higher (0.53 kg/m2, P ≤ .001) and occurred earlier (by 12 d, P < .001) in African-American vs white children. The odds of obesity at age 4 years increased among children with higher (odds ratio 2.02; P < .001) and later (odds ratio 1.26; P = .02) infancy peak BMI.

Conclusions:

We demonstrate sex- and ancestry-specific differences in infancy BMI and an association of infancy peak BMI with childhood BMI. These findings support the potential utility of infancy BMI to identify children younger than age 2 years with increased risk for later obesity.
Speculative Naturalism and the Problem of Scale: Richard Jefferies’sAfter London, After Darwin
Authors: Plotz John
Published: January 2015

Although naturalism shares some features with realism and others with modernism, it has properties that contrast with the realist and modernist prioritization of felt individual experience as the evidentiary matrix on which their accounts of the world are based. Naturalist fiction is committed to microscopic description, below the level of experiential subjectivity, and to macroscopic abstraction. Some of the odder fictional experiments of the era are best understood with reference to the morphology of naturalism, including what might be called the speculative naturalism of Richard Jefferies, Mark Twain, and others. Jefferies’s 1885 After London, an early and critically neglected work of British speculative fiction, is a bellwether of the widely distributed naturalist impulses among novelists responding to the era of scientific naturalism marked by the appearance of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859) and Descent of Man (1871).
Identification of cardiovascular lineage descendants at single-cell resolution
Authors: Li Guang , Plonowska Karolina , Kuppusamy Rajarajan , Sturzu Anthony , Wu Sean M.
Published: January 2015

The transcriptional profiles of cardiac cells derived from murine embryos and from mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) have primarily been studied within a cell population. However, the characterization of gene expression in these cells at a single-cell level might demonstrate unique variations that cannot be appreciated within a cell pool. In this study, we aimed to establish a single-cell quantitative PCR platform and perform side-by-side comparison between cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) and cardiomyocytes (CMs) derived from mESCs and mouse embryos. We first generated a reference map for cardiovascular single cells through quantifying lineage-defining genes for CPCs, CMs, smooth muscle cells (SMCs), endothelial cells (EDCs), fibroblasts and mESCs. This panel was then applied against single embryonic day 10.5 heart cells to demonstrate its ability to identify each endocardial cell and chamber-specific CM. In addition, we compared the gene expression profile of embryo- and mESC-derived CPCs and CMs at different developmental stages and showed that mESC-derived CMs are phenotypically similar to embryo-derived CMs up to the neonatal stage. Furthermore, we showed that single-cell expression assays coupled with time-lapse microscopy can resolve the identity and the lineage relationships between progenies of single cultured CPCs. With this approach, we found that mESC-derived Nkx2-5+ CPCs preferentially become SMCs or CMs, whereas single embryo-derived Nkx2-5+ CPCs represent two phenotypically distinct subpopulations that can become either EDCs or CMs. These results demonstrate that multiplex gene expression analysis in single cells is a powerful tool for examining the unique behaviors of individual embryo- or mESC- derived cardiac cells.
Auxin-induced degradation dynamics set the pace for lateral root development
Authors: Guseman Jessica M. , Hellmuth Antje , Lanctot Amy , Feldman Tamar P. , Moss Britney L. , Klavins Eric , Calderón Villalobos Luz Irina A. , Nemhauser Jennifer L.
Published: January 2015

Auxin elicits diverse cell behaviors through a simple nuclear signaling pathway initiated by degradation of Aux/IAA co-repressors. Our previous work revealed that members of the large Arabidopsis Aux/IAA family exhibit a range of degradation rates in synthetic contexts. However, it remained an unresolved issue whether differences in Aux/IAA turnover rates played a significant role in plant responses to auxin. Here, we use the well-established model of lateral root development to directly test the hypothesis that the rate of auxin-induced Aux/IAA turnover sets the pace for auxin-regulated developmental events. We did this by generating transgenic plants expressing degradation rate variants of IAA14, a crucial determinant of lateral root initiation. Progression through the well-established stages of lateral root development was strongly correlated with the engineered rates of IAA14 turnover, leading to the conclusion that Aux/IAAs are auxin-initiated timers that synchronize developmental transitions.
Zebrafish as a model for apolipoprotein biology: comprehensive expression analysis and a role for ApoA-IV in regulating food intake
Authors: Otis Jessica P. , Zeituni Erin M. , Thierer James H. , Anderson Jennifer L. , Brown Alexandria C. , Boehm Erica D. , Cerchione Derek M. , Ceasrine Alexis M. , Avraham-Davidi Inbal , Tempelhof Hanoch , Yaniv Karina , Farber Steven A.
Published: January 2015

Improved understanding of lipoproteins, particles that transport lipids throughout the circulation, is vital to developing new treatments for the dyslipidemias associated with metabolic syndrome. Apolipoproteins are a key component of lipoproteins. Apolipoproteins are proteins that structure lipoproteins and regulate lipid metabolism through control of cellular lipid exchange. Constraints of cell culture and mouse models mean that there is a need for a complementary model that can replicate the complex in vivo milieu that regulates apolipoprotein and lipoprotein biology. Here, we further establish the utility of the genetically tractable and optically clear larval zebrafish as a model of apolipoprotein biology. Gene ancestry analyses were implemented to determine the closest human orthologs of the zebrafish apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I), apoB, apoE and apoA-IV genes and therefore ensure that they have been correctly named. Their expression patterns throughout development were also analyzed, by whole-mount mRNA in situ hybridization (ISH). The ISH results emphasized the importance of apolipoproteins in transporting yolk and dietary lipids: mRNA expression of all apolipoproteins was observed in the yolk syncytial layer, and intestinal and liver expression was observed from 4-6 days post-fertilization (dpf). Furthermore, real-time PCR confirmed that transcription of three of the four zebrafish apoA-IV genes was increased 4 hours after the onset of a 1-hour high-fat feed. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that zebrafish ApoA-IV performs a conserved role to that in rat in the regulation of food intake by transiently overexpressing ApoA-IVb.1 in transgenic larvae and quantifying ingestion of co-fed fluorescently labeled fatty acid during a high-fat meal as an indicator of food intake. Indeed, ApoA-IVb.1 overexpression decreased food intake by approximately one-third. This study comprehensively describes the expression and function of eleven zebrafish apolipoproteins and serves as a springboard for future investigations to elucidate their roles in development and disease in the larval zebrafish model.
Crosslinking-assisted Stabilization of Beaded Nanofibers from Elastin-like Double Hydrophobic Polypeptides
Authors: Le Duc H T , Kawakami Reiko , Teraoka Yusuke , Okubo Tatsuya , Sugawara-Narutaki Ayae
Published: January 2015

A double hydrophobic elastin-like block polypeptide having crosslinkable amino groups at both termini has been constructed for the first time. Upon an increase in temperature, the block polypeptide assembles into beaded nanofibers in water. The noncrosslinked nanofibers partially dissociate at lower temperatures, while their crosslinked counterparts retain their beaded fiber morphology.