bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Achieving E-Health Success
Authors: Wickramasinghe Nilmini , Tatnall Arthur
Published: November 2017

Healthcare delivery continues to be challenged in all OECD countries. To address these challenges, most are turning their attention to e-health as the panacea. Indeed, it is true that in today's global and networked world, e-health should be the answer for ensuring pertinent information, relevant data, and germane knowledge anywhere anytime so that clinicians can deliver superior healthcare. Sadly, healthcare has yet to realize the full potential of e-health, which is in stark contrast to other e-business initiatives such as e-government and e-education, e-finance, or e-commerce. This chapter asserts that it is only by embracing a rich theoretical lens of analysis that the full potential of e-health can be harnessed, and thus, it proffers Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as such a lens.
Expanding Role of Telephone Systems in Healthcare
Authors: Shi Jing , Erdem Ergin , Liu Heping
Published: November 2017

The telephone systems in healthcare settings serve as a viable tool for improving the quality of service provided to patients, decreasing the cost, and improving the patient satisfaction. It can play a pivotal role for transformation of the healthcare delivery for embracing personalized and patient centered care. This chapter presents a systematic review of new developments of healthcare telephone system operations in various areas such as tele-health. Current research on topics such as tele-diagnosis, tele-nursing, tele-consultation is outlined. Specific issues associated with the emerging applications such as underreferral, legal issues, patient acceptance, on-call physician are discussed. Meanwhile, the architecture and underlying technologies for healthcare telephone systems are introduced, and the performance metrics for measuring the system operations are provided. In addition, challenges and opportunities related with improving the healthcare telephone systems are identified, and the potential opportunities of optimizing these systems are pointed out.
ICT Use and Multidisciplinary Healthcare Teams in the Age of E-Health
Authors: Olaniran Bolanle A.
Published: November 2017

This paper explores ICTs in the medical field specifically in the Multidisciplinary teams (MDTMs) in healthcare settings. The discussion offers benefits and disadvantages of ICTs along with implications for teams' communication and interaction. The paper also provides a few formidable challenges facing MTDMs while offering suggestions on how to overcome them in an attempt to fully experience and utilize technologies in an effective manner. Finally the paper presents areas for future research given the fact that ICT use in MTDMs will only continue to grow as e-health becomes the norm in patients care and healthcare delivery. In an attempt to accomplish these goals, Retchin's (2008) conceptual framework for inter-professional and co-managed care will be used. Retchin's framework considers the impact of temporality, urgency of care, and structure of authority. Specifically, this framework focuses on how information communication technologies can impact overall patient health care and delivery. In conclusion, the author provides guidelines and recommendations for how physicians and other health practitioners can use technologies to work with each other are provided.
CARMIE
Authors: Lobo Joana , Ferreira Liliana , Ferreira Aníbal JS
Published: November 2017

The incidence of chronic diseases is increasing and monitoring patients in a home environment is recommended. Noncompliance with prescribed medication regimens is a concern, especially among older people. Heart failure is a chronic disease that requires patients to follow strict medication plans permanently. With the objective of helping these patients managing information about their medicines and increasing adherence, the personal medication advisor CARMIE was developed as a conversational agent capable of interacting, in Portuguese, with users through spoken natural language. The system architecture is based on a language parser, a dialog manager, and a language generator, integrated with already existing tools for speech recognition and synthesis. All modules work together and interact with the user through an Android application, supporting users to manage information about their prescribed medicines. The authors also present a preliminary usability study and further considerations on CARMIE.
Communication AssessmenT Checklist in Health
Authors: Genova Juliana , Bender Jackie
Published: November 2017

There is no comprehensive and standardized tool for evaluating the communication quality of web resources for patients. The purpose of this study was to assess prostate cancer websites using the Communication AssessmenT Checklist in Health (CATCH) and to compare the results with those of the Consumer and Patient Health Information Section of the MLA (CAPHIS). CATCH is a theory-based tool consisting of 50 elements nested in 12 concepts. Two raters independently applied it to 35 HON certified websites containing information on prostate cancer treatment. The CATCH summary scores for these websites were then compared to the 2015 list of credible health websites published by CAPHIS. Websites contained a mean 24.1 (SD= 3.6) CATCH items. The concepts Language, Readability, Layout, Typography and Appearance were present in over 80% of sites. Content, Risk Communication, Usefulness, and Scientific Value were present in 50% or less. CATCH provided an overall score of the selected sites that was consistent with CAPHIS ratings. The prostate cancer websites evaluated in this study did not present treatment information in a useful, informative or credible way for patients. The communication quality of these resources could be improved with a clear strategic intent focused on decision-making, using CATCH as a guiding framework. CATCH is a tool that can be used independently or with other health resource evaluation tools to select the most trustworthy web resources for health information.
Activities and Evaluations for Technology-Based Upper Extremity Rehabilitation
Authors: Annett Michelle , Anderson Fraser , Bischof Walter F.
Published: November 2017

Recent advances in projection and sensing have resulted in an increased adoption of virtual reality, video games, and interactive interfaces to improve patient compliance with rehabilitation programs. In this chapter, we describe the application of multi-touch tabletop surfaces to physical and occupational rehabilitation programs that are focused on the upper extremities. First, we detail the participatory design processes undertaken with local physical and occupational therapists to design and integrate a ‘patient-friendly' multi-touch tabletop system in their workplace. We then explore the design considerations that informed the development of a suite of sixteen multi-touch interactive activities. The design considerations highlighted the need for customization and flexibility in the software, as well as the importance of supporting a variety of activity types. We then detail the laboratory-based methods that were used to evaluate the efficacy of the activity interventions as well as our deployment of the system in a local rehabilitation hospital. Our evaluation, which employed both qualitative and quantitative components (i.e., the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory, semi-structured interviews, kinetics and kinematics recorded from motion trackers and an electromyogram recorder), determined that it is the design of activities, rather than the utilization of technology itself, that impacts the success of technology-assisted rehabilitation. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of our system and its deployment.
RFID in Health Care-Building Smart Hospitals for Quality Healthcare
Authors: Manzoor Amir
Published: November 2017

RFID is a new technology that is quickly gaining ground in healthcare industry. RFID is being used in many areas of healthcare from asset tracking to patient care to access control. RFID can also be used to provide real-time information for decision support and to create a smart hospital supported by a secure and reliable smart hospital management information system (SHMIS). Such system can enable hospitals dynamically control different objects and transforms operational processes while minimizing any potential risks to patients and staff. The objective of this article is to discuss how RFID can be used to build a smart hospital and how healthcare industry can gain long-term benefits from smart hospitals. Findings indicate that use of RFID to develop smart hospitals require various enablers. There also exist ethical/cultural issues related to smart hospital implementation that require close collaboration among RFID products manufactures and healthcare providers. This article also provides several recommendations for healthcare industry in order gain competitive advantage from the use of smart hospitals.
A Demand-Driven Cloud-Based Business Intelligence for Healthcare Decision Making
Authors: Miah Shah Jahan
Published: November 2017

Technology development for process enhancement has been a topic to many health organizations and researchers over the past decades. In particular, on decision support aids of healthcare professional, studies suggest paramount interests for developing technological intervention to provide better decision-support options. This chapter introduces a combined requirement of developing intelligent decision-support approach through the application of business intelligence and cloud-based functionalities. Both technological approaches demonstrate their usage to meet growing end users' demands through their innovative features in healthcare. As such, the main emphasis in the chapter goes after outlining a conceptual approach of demand-driven cloud-based business intelligence for meeting the decision-support needs in a hypothetical problem domain in the healthcare industry, focusing on the decision-support system development within a non-clinical context for individual end-users or patients who need decision support for their well-being and independent everyday living.
Integrated Smart TV-Based Personal E-Health System
Authors: Raffaeli Laura , Spinsante Susanna , Gambi Ennio
Published: November 2017

This paper discusses the design and experimental implementation of an integrated system for the delivery of health related services, based on different technologies and devices. The idea is to create a unique point of access for the user, towards both a cloud-based remote service for the consultation of medical reports, and a personal local service that allows to collect and display data from biomedical sensors, to manage user's reminders for medicines, and to monitor the patient's dietary habits. The proposed system employs suitable technologies to simplify the user interaction, such as Near Field Communications enabled devices, and a smart TV equipment. By this way, it is possible to effectively deliver telehealth services also to users who may be less familiar with technological equipments, such as older adults, or people living in rural communities. The experimental implementation proves the feasibility of the proposed service, and the possibility to gain users' adherence and compliance, through proper design criteria.
Healthy Avatars, Healthy People
Authors: Triberti Stefano , Chirico Alice
Published: November 2017

Recent literature shows that new technologies can be used to promote patient engagement. The present contribution focuses on Virtual Worlds (VWs), namely virtual environments that multiple users can experience together thanks to the use of avatars. Indeed, VWs offer interesting opportunities for patient engagement interventions on two levels. On the individual level, customized avatars are known to have relationships with users' inner experience and Self-conception, so that they may constitute a peculiar additional tool for psychological assessment. Moreover, they are able to promote healthy behaviors thanks to a strong vicarious reinforcement (Proteus effect). On the collective level, VWs constitute an ideal platform to support the emergence of collective flow states (Networked Flow) which are related to the patients' creative activity and well-being. The present contribution deepens these phenomena, presenting VWs as an innovative and interesting tool for the patient engagement interventions of the future.
Confrontation of Human Rights in Daily Clinical Situations
Authors: Konieczna Anna , Słomkowski Przemysław
Published: November 2017

The chapter concerns human rights as they are enacted in daily clinical situations. It invokes basic documents describing human rights as well as legislative acts dealing more specifically with the rights of doctors and patients. Basing on the theoretical legislative background, the text presents cases of conflict and misunderstanding between various participants of clinical situations. The authors are mainly concerned with the clash of values and beliefs concerning terminal care treatment of ICU patients and with the issue of patient's autonomy and self-determination. The concepts of informed consent and moral distress are explained and visualized with real life examples.
Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) Friend or Foe to Patients in Healthcare?
Authors: Litinski Veronika
Published: November 2017

Failure to appropriately measure Value is one of the reasons for slow reform in health. Value brings together quality and cost, both defined around the patient. With technology we can measure value in the new ways: commercially developed algorithms are capable of mining large, connected data sets to present accurate information for patients and providers. But how do we align these new capabilities with clinical and operational realities, and further with individual privacy? The right amount of information, shared at the right time, can improve practitioners' ability to choose treatments, and patients' motivation to provide consent and follow the treatment. Dynamic Consent, where IT is used to determine just what patients are consenting to share, can address the inherent conflict between the demand from AI for access to data and patients' privacy principles. This chapter describes a pragmatic Commercial Development framework for building digital health tool. It overlays Value Model for healthcare IT investments with Patient Activation Measures and innovation management techniques.
A Stepped Care mHealth-Based Approach for Promoting Patient Engagement in Chronic Care Management of Obesity With Type 2 Diabetes
Authors: Castelnuovo Gianluca , Pietrabissa Giada , Manzoni Gian Mauro , Corti Stefania , Novelli Margherita , Borrello Maria , Giusti Emanuele Maria , Borgia Francesco , Molinari Enrico , Middleton Nicole Ann , Cattivelli Roberto , Simpson Susan
Published: November 2017

Diabesity could be defined as a new global epidemic of obesity and being overweight with many complications and chronic conditions. The financial direct and indirect burden of diabesity is a real challenge in many Western health-care systems. Even if multidisciplinary protocols have been implemented, significant limitations in the chronic care management of obesity with type 2 diabetes concern costs and long-term adherence and efficacy. mHealth approach could overcome limitations linked with the traditional, restricted and highly expensive in-patient treatment of diabesity. The mHealth approach could help clinicians by motivating patients in remote settings to develop healthier lifestyles and could be implemented in the Chronic Care Model. A practical stepped-care model for diabesity, including mhealth approach and psychological treatments with different intensity, is discussed.
Mobile Health Literacy to Improve Health Outcomes in Low-Middle Income Countries
Authors: Vaz Nafisa Fatima Maria
Published: November 2017

Despite improvements in health indicators over time, such as decreased mortality and morbidity, significant challenges remain with regard to the quality in the delivery of healthcare in low and middle-income countries (LMIC's), especially in rural and remote regions of developing countries. In the effort to find feasible solutions to these issues, a lot of importance is given to the information and communication technologies (ICTs) The author reviews the evidence of the role mobile phones facilitating health literacy to contribute to improved health outcomes in the LMIC's. This was done by exploring the results of ten projects. The author examines the extent to which the use of mobile phones could help improve health outcomes in two specific ways: in improving health literacy and promoting health and well-being, thus increasing life expectancy in LMIC's. Analysis of the papers indicates that there is important evidence of mobile phones boosting increased access, promoting education and increased health literacy leads to the better health status of the population.
One of Many Tools to Win the Election
Authors: Shafi Ashik , Vultee Fred
Published: November 2017

Presidential campaigns today are increasingly integrating social media such as Facebook as an efficient tool to communicate with the public and organize their supporters. In a bid to explore how the Facebook is used by the politicians during election campaigns, this chapter explored official Facebook posts by two presidential candidates ahead of the 2012 US presidential election. The findings suggest Facebook was used in the campaign as a platform to organize like-minded voters, and reporting a virtual presence to the voters. Facebook was used strategically to resonate with the real-life campaign, and disseminate instant messages, rather than engaging in discussion with the public. The two candidates had only minor difference in the characteristics of their Facebook contents. The implication of the research for the online political agenda-building tactics is discussed.
Attitudes of University Students Voters Towards Political Messages in Social Media
Authors: Selvi Murat Selim
Published: November 2017

In recent years, social media has become one of the most important political marketing tools. The aim of the research is to determine how university students voting have attitudes towards political messages run across several different social media channels. Undergraduate students in Tekirdağ Central Campus of Namik Kemal University are generating the population of the study. In this research, sample was not taken. Questionnaire form was used as data collecting tool. Data obtained through questionnaire forms were presented as descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation). For differences between group means, T-test and One-way ANOVA were implemented. It was concluded that messages with political content in social media had intensifier effects on present preferences of university student voters and had directive effects on indecisive students. Twitter users had more negative attitudes towards messages with political content in social media.
Adoption of Social Media as Communication Channels in Government Agencies
Authors: Alotaibi Reemiah , Ramachandran Muthu , Kor Ah-Lian , Hosseinian-Far Amin
Published: November 2017

Social media has become an integral part of many people's lives around the world. The main use of this communication channel is to connect with social circles. It is also widely used for commercial and business purposes. Governments are also keen to use social media as an alternative to the traditional communication channels. Nonetheless, when the level of use of social media in the government is compared to other fields, a clear gap becomes apparent. This chapter investigates the adoption of social media as a communication channel between citizens, public agencies and government departments; and considers a wide range of factors that affect the issue from the perspective of public agencies. This chapter presents an extensive literature review and proposes a framework that organises the critical factors that affect public agencies' efforts while implementing social media. We also provide a list of hypotheses to validate and evaluate the significance of these factors.
Grassroots Political Campaign in Russia
Authors: Gambarato Renira Rampazzo , Medvedev Sergei Andreevich
Published: November 2017

This chapter analyzes the transmedia strategies of opposition candidate Alexey Navalny's campaign during the 2013 Moscow mayoral election. The goal is to highlight how the use of information and communication technology contributed to the development of democratic practices in Russia. His westernized, grassroots political campaign was a novelty in the country, involving online fundraising, door-to-door canvassing, engagement of volunteers, digital projects, and meetings with voters, for instance. The argument is that, although Navalny lost the election, his candidacy represented advancement in terms of both the use of new media and the promotion of democratic development in the midst of autocratic Russia. If the progress will be maintained, it remains to be seen. The theoretical framework includes the reality of the Russian political scenario and the conceptualization of transmedia storytelling strategies in the context of participatory politics. The methodological approach is based on the transmedia analytical model by Gambarato (2013).
The Influence of Leadership and Strategic Emphasis on Social Media Use of Regional Nonprofit Organizations
Authors: Sihi Debika
Published: November 2017

Prior work has established the prevalence of social media as an information dissemination tool for large, national nonprofit organizations. This project adds to that literature by examining the impact of an organization's leadership (executive director background and board influence) and strategic emphasis (customer orientation and financial allocations to social media) on the use of social media for information transmission by regional nonprofit organizations. Insights are gained from leadership at 121 nonprofits and through analysis of 377 days of Facebook data for seven nonprofit organizations. The results suggest that organizations with executive directors who have more experience in the corporate sector and board members who exert greater influence are more likely to utilize social media for information transmission. Greater financial investments in social media actually result in less strategic use of social media, suggesting more investment does not always equate to more effective strategy.
Civic Cultures and Skills in European Digital Rights Campaigning
Authors: Breindl Yana
Published: November 2017

Technical skills are increasingly necessary to successfully intervene in policy-making, especially when dealing with technical matters such as Internet or telecommunications regulation. Skills are rooted in experience and cultural practices. Dahlgren's concept of civic cultures is used in this chapter to investigate the cultural underpinnings of the emergent European digital rights movement that has repeatedly targeted EU legislation on copyright enforcement, software patents, and the Internet. The values and identity of the movement are investigated along with the way knowledge and information are processed and trust established through repeated practices in a variety of online and offline spaces. The analysis illustrates how digitally skilled actors can substantially affect policy-making by disrupting the course of parliamentary law-making at the European level. However, technical skills need to be complemented by social and political competencies to gain access and provide convincing input to political institutions that increasingly rely on extra-institutional expertise.
Secure Steganography in JPEG Images Based on Histogram Modification and Hyper Chaotic System
Authors: Zhang Shun , Yang Liang , Xu Xihao , Gao Tiegang
Published: November 2017

Security always plays an important role in the communication. Steganography, which conceals the process of communication, is another efficient way to achieve secure communication besides encryption. This paper proposes a secure steganography scheme in JPEG images with high embedding capacity and low distortion to the cover image. It embeds the additional information by modifying the DCT coefficients in JPEG images. Considering the size of the additional information, some DCT coefficients are adaptively selected in the embedding process. Two chaotic encryption strategies are designed based on the hyper-chaotic system to encrypt the additional information before the embedding to enhance the security. Extensive experiments have demonstrated the validity and efficiency of this proposed scheme. Compared with some existing schemes, it offers larger embedding rate and lower distortion with stronger security.
Geometrically Invariant Image Watermarking Using Histogram Adjustment
Authors: Liang Zhuoqian , Feng Bingwen , Xu Xuba , Wu Xiaotian , Yang Tao
Published: November 2017

In this article, a blind image watermarking scheme, which is a robust against common image processing and geometric attacks is proposed by adopting the concept of histogram-based embedding. The average filter is employed to low-pass pre-filter the host image. The watermark bits are embedded into the histogram of the low-frequency component and the template bits are embedded in the high-frequency residual. The embedding is performed by adjusting the value of two consecutive histogram bins. Furthermore, a post-quantization is employed after the embedding round to improve robustness. All pixel modifications incurred are based on the human visual system (HVS) characteristics. As a result, a good tradeoff between robustness and imperceptibility is achieved. Experimental results reported the satisfactory performance of the proposed scheme with respect to both common image processing and geometric attacks.
A Perceptual Encryption Scheme for HEVC Video with Lossless Compression
Authors: Chen Juan , Peng Fei
Published: November 2017

Aiming to protect the video content and facilitate online video consumption, a perceptual encryption scheme is proposed for high efficiency video coding (HEVC) video. Based on RC4 algorithm, a key stream generation method is constructed, whose proportion of “1” and “0” can be regulated. During HEVC encoding, four kinds of syntax elements including motion vector difference (MVD)' sign, MVD's amplitude, sign of the luma residual coefficient and sign of the chroma residual coefficient, are encrypted by the regulated key stream. Experimental results and analysis show that the proposed scheme has good perceptual protection for the video content, and some advantages such as low computational cost, format-compliance and no bitrate increase can be achieved. It provides an effective resolution for the paid video-on-demand services.
Evaluation of the Attack Effect Based on Improved Grey Clustering Model
Authors: Yue Chen , Tianliang Lu , Manchun Cai , Jingying Li
Published: November 2017

There are a lot of uncertainties and incomplete information problems on network attack. It is of great value to access the effect of the attack in the current network attack and defense. This paper examines the characteristics of network attacks, there are problems with traditional clustering that index attribution is not clear and the cross of clustering interval. A two-stage grey synthetic clustering evaluation model based on center-point triangular whitenization weight function was proposed for the attack effect. The authors studied the feasibility of applying this model to the evaluation of network attack effect. Finally, an example is given, which showed the model could evaluate the effect of the denial-of-service attack precisely. It is also shown that the model is viable to evaluate the attack effect.
The Decision Support System and Conventional Method of Telephone Triage by Nurses in Emergency Medical Services
Authors: Masoud Mohammad Parvaresh , Nejad Mahdi Kashani , Darebaghi Hamid , Chavoshi Mohsen , Farahani Mahdi
Published: November 2017

The demand for medical emergencies often begins with a call to a dispatch center. An appropriate performance of this unit influences providing effective services significantly. This study aimed to compare the effect of using revised New Jersey telephone triage manual as a Decision Support System and the conventional methods on the time duration of mission taking and the performance of emergency medical dispatchers which were done by 115 emergency nurses of Qom, Iran, in 2012.This quasi-experimental study aimed to compare the effects of two methods on the performance of nurses of Qom. Conventional (September and October) and DSS data (December and January) were extracted and compared. November was skipped due to nurses' familiarity with the program. Performing the new method improved the overall performance significantly (P < 0.05). The DSS method increased the appropriate performance and decreased inappropriate performance significantly, but in the time duration of mission taking there was no a significant difference comparing two methods (p = 0.342). This method has been shown to improve both patient outcomes, as well as the cost of care.
Knowledge Management Models
Authors: Sensuse Dana Indra , Cahyaningsih Elin
Published: November 2017

Knowledge and knowledge management started to be an option of organizational strategic step for reach organizational objectives and goals. Knowledge management believed to resolve organizational problem in managing their organizational and individual knowledge. Implementation of knowledge management (KM) has received increased interests. This paper aims to discuss KM models based on KM related definitions, concepts, functions, activities and approaches. Literatures on knowledge management models were collected from a number of sources. Each document then was analyzed and categorized in a certain group. The study shows that there are four categories of KM models i.e.: process, strategy, knowledge type, and maturity based knowledge management models.
Retail Location Decision Using an Integrated DEMATEL-ANP Method
Authors: Sharma Satyendra , Routroy Srikanta , Desai Rohan
Published: November 2017

This study focuses on developing a model for making retail location decisions which addresses the limitations of existing methods. The integrated DEMATEL-ANP method used here successfully accounts for interdependencies between the selected criteria. After reviewing the existing methods for decision making, the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation (DEMATEL) and the Analytical Network Process (ANP) methods were chosen. DEMATEL evaluates the degrees of influence the criteria have on each other. ANP is used to assign weights to criteria and the sub-criteria, and eventually derive the weights for the alternative locations. The integrated model helps prioritize among the available alternatives based on scientific methods, much more reliable than intuition and experience based methods still practiced today. Adopting this method can help retail chains make more informed decisions. This is the first time an integrated DEMATEL-ANP method has been applied in the context of retail location decision.
Peripherally Generated Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cells Mediate the Immunomodulatory Effects of IVIg in Allergic Airways Disease
Authors: Massoud Amir H. , Kaufman Gabriel N. , Xue Di , Béland Marianne , Dembele Marieme , Piccirillo Ciriaco A. , Mourad Walid , Mazer Bruce D.
Published: November 2017

IVIg is widely used as an immunomodulatory therapy. We have recently demonstrated that IVIg protects against airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and inflammation in mouse models of allergic airways disease (AAD), associated with induction of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Treg). Using mice carrying a DTR/EGFP transgene under the control of the Foxp3 promoter (DEREG mice), we demonstrate in this study that IVIg generates a de novo population of peripheral Treg (pTreg) in the absence of endogenous Treg. IVIg-generated pTreg were sufficient for inhibition of OVA-induced AHR in an Ag-driven murine model of AAD. In the absence of endogenous Treg, IVIg failed to confer protection against AHR and airway inflammation. Adoptive transfer of purified IVIg-generated pTreg prior to Ag challenge effectively prevented airway inflammation and AHR in an Ag-specific manner. Microarray gene expression profiling of IVIg-generated pTreg revealed upregulation of genes associated with cell cycle, chromatin, cytoskeleton/motility, immunity, and apoptosis. These data demonstrate the importance of Treg in regulating AAD and show that IVIg-generated pTreg are necessary and sufficient for inhibition of allergen-induced AAD. The ability of IVIg to generate pure populations of highly Ag-specific pTreg represents a new avenue to study pTreg, the cross-talk between humoral and cellular immunity, and regulation of the inflammatory response to Ags.
Genome-Wide Identification and Evolutionary Analysis of the Animal Specific ETS Transcription Factor Family
Authors: Wang Zhipeng , Zhang Qin
Published: November 2017

The ETS proteins are a family of transcription factors (TFs) that regulate a variety of biological processes. We made genome-wide analyses to explore the classification of the ETS gene family. We identified 207 ETS genes which encode 321 ETS TFs from ten animal species. Of the 321 ETS TFs, 155 contain only an ETS domain, about 50% contain a ETS_PEA3_N or a SAM_PNT domain in addition to an ETS domain, the rest (only four) contain a second ETS domain or a second ETS_PEA3_N domain or an another domain (AT_hook or DNA_pol_B). A Neighbor-Joining phylogenetic tree was constructed using the amino acid sequences of the ETS domain of the ETS TFs. The results revealed that the ETS genes of the ten species can be divided into two distinct groups. Group I contains one nematode ETS gene and 18 vertebrate animal ETS genes. Group II contains the majority of the ETS TFs and can be further divided into eleven subgroups. The sequence motifs outside the DNA-binding domain and the conservation of the exon-intron structural patterns of the ETS TFs in human, cattle, and chicken further support the phylogenetic classification among these ETS TFs. Extensive duplication of the ETS genes was found in the genome of each species. The duplicated ETS genes account for ~69% of the total of ETS genes. Furthermore, we also found there are ETS gene clusters in all of the ten animal species. Statistical analysis of the Gene Ontology annotations of the ETS genes showed that the ETS proteins tend to be related to RNA biosynthetic process, biopolymer metabolic process and macromolecule metabolic process expected from the common GO categories of transcriptional factors. We also discussed the functional conservation and diversification of ETS TFs.
Commensal Viruses of Mosquitoes: Host Restriction, Transmission, and Interaction with Arboviral Pathogens
Authors: Hall Roy A. , Bielefeldt-Ohmann Helle , McLean Breeanna J. , O'Brien Caitlin A. , Colmant Agathe M.G. , Piyasena Thisun B.H. , Harrison Jessica J. , Newton Natalee D. , Barnard Ross T. , Prow Natalie A. , Deerain Joshua M. , Mah Marcus G.K.Y. , Hobson-Peters Jody
Published: November 2017

Recent advances in virus detection strategies and deep sequencing technologies have enabled the identification of a multitude of new viruses that persistently infect mosquitoes but do not infect vertebrates. These are usually referred to as insect-specific viruses (ISVs). These novel viruses have generated considerable interest in their modes of transmission, persistence in mosquito populations, the mechanisms that restrict their host range to mosquitoes, and their interactions with pathogens transmissible by the same mosquito. In this article, we discuss studies in our laboratory and others that demonstrate that many ISVs are efficiently transmitted directly from the female mosquito to their progeny via infected eggs, and, moreover, that persistent infection of mosquito cell cultures or whole mosquitoes with ISVs can restrict subsequent infection, replication, and transmission of some mosquito-borne viral pathogens. This suggests that some ISVs may act as natural regulators of arboviral transmission. We also discuss viral and host factors that may be responsible for their host restriction.
Prefiltering Model for Homology Detection Algorithms on GPU
Authors: Retamosa Germán , de Pedro Luis , González Ivan , Tamames Javier
Published: November 2017

Homology detection has evolved over the time from heavy algorithms based on dynamic programming approaches to lightweight alternatives based on different heuristic models. However, the main problem with these algorithms is that they use complex statistical models, which makes it difficult to achieve a relevant speedup and find exact matches with the original results. Thus, their acceleration is essential. The aim of this article was to prefilter a sequence database. To make this work, we have implemented a groundbreaking heuristic model based on NVIDIA's graphics processing units (GPUs) and multicore processors. Depending on the sensitivity settings, this makes it possible to quickly reduce the sequence database by factors between 50% and 95%, while rejecting no significant sequences. Furthermore, this prefiltering application can be used together with multiple homology detection algorithms as a part of a next-generation sequencing system. Extensive performance and accuracy tests have been carried out in the Spanish National Centre for Biotechnology (NCB). The results show that GPU hardware can accelerate the execution times of former homology detection applications, such as National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), Basic Local Alignment Search Tool for Proteins (BLASTP), up to a factor of 4.

KEY POINTS

• Owing to the increasing size of the current sequence datasets, filtering approach and high-performance computing (HPC) techniques are the best solution to process all these information in acceptable processing times. • Graphics processing unit cards and their corresponding programming models are good options to carry out these processing methods. • Combination of filtration models with HPC techniques is able to offer new levels of performance and accuracy in homology detection algorithms such as National Centre for Biotechnology Information Basic Local Alignment Search Tool.
SPR Distance Computation for Unrooted Trees
Authors: Hickey Glenn , Dehne Frank , Rau-Chaplin Andrew , Blouin Christian
Published: November 2017

The subtree prune and regraft distance ( dSPR) between phylogenetic trees is important both as a general means of comparing phylogenetic tree topologies as well as a measure of lateral gene transfer (LGT). Although there has been extensive study on the computation of dSPR and similar metrics between rooted trees, much less is known about SPR distances for unrooted trees, which often arise in practice when the root is unresolved. We show that unrooted SPR distance computation is NP-Hard and verify which techniques from related work can and cannot be applied. We then present an efficient heuristic algorithm for this problem and benchmark it on a variety of synthetic datasets. Our algorithm computes the exact SPR distance between unrooted tree, and the heuristic element is only with respect to the algorithm's computation time. Our method is a heuristic version of a fixed parameter tractability (FPT) approach and our experiments indicate that the running time behaves similar to FPT algorithms. For real data sets, our algorithm was able to quickly compute dSPR for the majority of trees that were part of a study of LGT in 144 prokaryotic genomes. Our analysis of its performance, especially with respect to searching and reduction rules, is applicable to computing many related distance measures.
Detecting Microsatellites in Genome Data: Variance in Definitions and Bioinformatic Approaches Cause Systematic Bias
Authors: Merkel Angelika , Gemmell Neil J. , Merkel Angelika , Gemmell Neil J.
Published: November 2017

Microsatellites are currently one of the most commonly used genetic markers. The application of bioinformatic tools has become common practice in the study of these short tandem repeats (STR). However, in silico studies can suffer from study bias. Using a meta-analysis on microsatellite distribution in yeast we show that estimates of numbers of repeats reported by different studies can differ in the order of several magnitudes, even within a single genome. These differences arise because varying definitions of microsatellites, spanning repeat size, array length and array composition, are used in different search paradigms, with minimum array length being the main influencing factor. Structural differences in the implemented search algorithm additionally contribute to variation in the number of repeats detected. We suggest that for future studies a consistent approach to STR searches is adopted in order to improve the power of intra- and interspecific comparisons
The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics
Authors: Greenhill Simon J. , Blust Robert , Gray Russell D.
Published: November 2017

Phylogenetic methods have revolutionised evolutionary biology and have recently been applied to studies of linguistic and cultural evolution. However, the basic comparative data on the languages of the world required for these analyses is often widely dispersed in hard to obtain sources. Here we outline how our Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database (ABVD) helps remedy this situation by collating wordlists from over 500 languages into one web-accessible database. We describe the technology underlying the ABVD and discuss the benefits that an evolutionary bioinformatic approach can provide. These include facilitating computational comparative linguistic research, answering questions about human prehistory, enabling syntheses with genetic data, and safe-guarding fragile linguistic information.
Article Commentary: Where is the Theoretical Basis for Understanding and Measuring the Environment for Physical Activity?
Authors: Nelson N.M. , Wright A. , Lowry R.G. , Mutrie N.
Published: November 2017

Researchers are beginning to explore environmental correlates to further the field of physical activity research. Before interventions and experimental investigations can be undertaken, it is necessary to identify specific environmental features that are consistent correlates of physical activity. There has been a plethora of research measuring such cross-sectional associations since this field came to the fore in 2003. This paper posits that it is time for researchers to evaluate the state of knowledge, and suggests that future developments in this field focus on the theoretical bases for (i) measurement of the environment and (ii) understanding the links between perceptions of the environment and behaviour through psychological theories of cognition. Key theories considered include social ecology and the theory of planned behaviour. It is suggested that with a continued absence of a common conceptual framework, vocabulary and measurement tools the majority of studies may remain at a correlates stage. In highlighting issues with current methodologies, this commentary encourages more grounded theoretical approaches to the study of the environment and physical activity.
Entitlement to Sickness Benefits in Sweden: The Social Insurance Officers Experiences
Authors: Söderberg Elsy , Mussener Ulrika
Published: November 2017

Background

Social insurance offices (SIOs) handle a wide range of complex assessments of the entitlement to sickness benefits for an increasing number of clients on sick leave and consequently, the demands on the SIOs have increased considerably.

Aim

To gain deeper knowledge of the problems experienced by the SIOs in their work associated with entitlement to sickness benefits.

Method

A descriptive and explorative qualitative approach was used to analyse data from two focus-group interviews, including six participants in each group.

Results

The participants discussed different dilemmas in regard to; physicians’ responsibility for issuing sickness certificates, interactions with the insured individuals, disclosure of decisions, communications with medical consultants, documentation of sickness benefit claims, threats in the workplace, as well as their own competence. The SIOs regarded incomplete information on sickness certificates as a main problem, because they frequently had to contact the client and the physicians who issued the certificates in order to obtain further details, leading to delays in the decision-making whether to grant sickness benefits.

Conclusions

More knowledge regarding SIOs work is required to improve the methods used in the sickness insurance system and to ensure adequate training of new staff members.
Violence and Asthma: A Review
Authors: Fujiwara Takeo
Published: November 2017

Recent research shows that exposure to community violence is, directly and indirectly, associated with asthma. This article reviews the findings on the impact of violence on asthma, and the pathways for the association of violence and asthma are suggested: 1) exposure to violence is directly associated with asthma, mainly through dysregulation of sympathetic-adrenal-medullary (SAM) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, 2) exposure to violence is associated with the change of susceptibility of outdoor air pollution on asthma, probably through the change of an immune response, and 3) behavioral change due to exposure to violence (e.g. keeping children indoors) leads to more exposure to indoor pollutants. The suggested framework may be useful to develop health policy on asthma in high-violence communities.
The Cow in the Room: Public Knowledge of the Links between Dietary Choices and Health and Environmental Impacts
Authors: Joyce Andrew W , Dixon Sarah , Comfort Jude , Hallett Jonathan
Published: November 2017

Issue Addressed

This paper describes results of a survey comparing people's knowledge of health and environmental impacts of dietary choices. Dietary choice is one of the key ways in which individuals can reduce their environmental impact in relation to water use and greenhouse gas emissions but this may not be widely known amongst the public due to limited press coverage.

Methods

A street intercept survey was conducted asking open ended questions on how people can help the environment, maintain or improve health and basic demographics. The sample size was 107 with a refusal rate of 51%.

Results

Only 3.2% of the sample made a link between dietary choice and environmental impact whereas 85.6% of the sample referred to dietary choice in relation to personal health. Transport options and keeping active were popular responses to both health and environmental categories.

Conclusions

It seems that very few people are aware that the livestock sector is the second largest contributor to equivalent greenhouse gas emissions and one of the largest users of fresh water. Reduction in red meat consumption could have both important positive health and environmental impacts.