bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Entrepreneurial habits in the Kenya red cross society
Authors: Ndemo Bitange , Mkalama Benedict , Aiko Dennis Moiro
Published: July 2020

Learning outcomes

The case study takes students through basic principles and applications of entrepreneurship theory as demonstrated by the story of Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS). The case further demonstrates the significance of communicating a rallying vision in a change management situation. The case further allows the students to evaluate the concept and implication of entrepreneurial leadership thereby enhancing creativity and innovativeness in a firm.

Case overview/synopsis

An area that has had little interaction in the study of entrepreneurship is within the development and humanitarian agencies. This is a case study on Entrepreneurial Habits in the KRCS. The leadership of KRCS combined different entrepreneurial actions that were able to deliver commercial goals in a not-for-profit organization. The final overarching consideration was the sustainability of the changes implemented over a period of time.

Complexity academic level

Graduate level.

Supplementary materials

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

Subject code

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.
The case of motivprints: balancing entrepreneurial instinct with managerial approach
Authors: Bhatt Kedar , Singh Abhinava S.
Published: July 2020

Learning outcomes

After studying this case, the students/participants would be able to: discuss important personality traits of an entrepreneur; understand specific challenges faced by a venture as it moves toward higher growth stage; discuss the importance of strategic planning and managerial style as the ventures move from establishment stage to growth stage.

Case overview/synopsis

The case is about MotivPrints, a two years old venture, offering custom designing and commercial printing to businesses in Gujarat, India. MotivPrints was established by Himanshu Dhadnekar in 2016 and had 85 SME clients and 35 vendors by 2019. Himanshu, a young entrepreneur had been involved in entrepreneurial activities since his school days and was also involved in a couple of business ventures during his MBA. However, he had been flip-flopping as an employee and entrepreneur, as then. At MotivPrints, he handled key responsibilities of developing client networks, generating business, marketing and managing relationship with vendors. With limited support of a team of freelancer associates, no permanent staff for assistance and lack of funds made it imperative for Himanshu to plan for scaling up his venture for survival and growth. Could he envision MotivPrints as a larger entity? If yes, what changes, mandated by growth, were needed to be made in both – the entrepreneur and the organization?

Complexity academic level

The case can be discussed in the class of entrepreneurship at the master’s level. It can also be used in the entrepreneurship specialization course in the second year of post-graduation. The case can be also be used for young entrepreneurs in an executive development program focusing on new ventures.

Supplementary materials

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

Subject code

CSS: 3 Entrepreneurship.
Facilitation of team communication skill among engineers: an empirical study
Authors: Mehta Nikhil K. , Jha Sumi
Published: July 2020

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to understand the team communication skill among students with engineering background.

Design/methodology/approach

Labour market offers more employment to those who have better social skills than those who fair less on these skills. It is pertinent to integrate these skills among engineers. In the study, a Qual-quant-Qual platform was created to develop social skill andragogy for engineers from India. Involving 132 engineers, the authors gathered qualitative and quantitative data to understand their perspective on communication and the emergent factors of team communication skill.

Findings

The qualitative study supports the view that despite theoretical awareness, the actions may differ. The factor analysis of the data revealed five important factors of interpersonal communication. The study offers six utilities in support of andragogy.

Originality/value

The study offers a platform to engineers to internalize and reflect differences in order for the real learning to take place, and it also offers space to faculty members to simulate and offer relevant interventions.
Thermal convection in a chamber filled with a nanosuspension driven by a chemical reaction using Tiwari and Das’ model
Authors: Sheremet Mikhail A. , Grosan Teodor , Pop Ioan
Published: July 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study numerically the steady thermal convection in a chamber filled with a nanoliquid affected by a chemical reaction using the single-phase nanofluid approximation.

Design/methodology/approach

Water was considered as a host fluid while nanoparticles are aluminum oxide. Homogeneous reactions are analyzed. The nonlinear partial differential equations describing the considered problem are simulated using the finite difference technique.

Findings

The results of streamlines, isotherms, isoconcentrations, nanofluid flow rate, mean Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are discussed. The data demonstrate that the mean Sherwood number increases with the homogeneous reaction rate. Further, nanofluid flow rate can be increased with nanoparticles concentration for high Rayleigh numbers owing to the homogeneous chemical reaction inside the cavity.

Originality/value

Searching the existent references illustrates that the homogeneous-heterogeneous reactions influence on the nanoliquid motion and energy transport within enclosures has not been investigated before. The results of this paper are completely original and the numerical results of the present paper were never published by any researcher.
Adaptive task scheduling in IoT using reinforcement learning
Authors: Pandit Mohammad Khalid , Mir Roohie Naaz , Chishti Mohammad Ahsan
Published: July 2020

Purpose

The intelligence in the Internet of Things (IoT) can be embedded by analyzing the huge volumes of data generated by it in an ultralow latency environment. The computational latency incurred by the cloud-only solution can be significantly brought down by the fog computing layer, which offers a computing infrastructure to minimize the latency in service delivery and execution. For this purpose, a task scheduling policy based on reinforcement learning (RL) is developed that can achieve the optimal resource utilization as well as minimum time to execute tasks and significantly reduce the communication costs during distributed execution.

Design/methodology/approach

To realize this, the authors proposed a two-level neural network (NN)-based task scheduling system, where the first-level NN (feed-forward neural network/convolutional neural network [FFNN/CNN]) determines whether the data stream could be analyzed (executed) in the resource-constrained environment (edge/fog) or be directly forwarded to the cloud. The second-level NN ( RL module) schedules all the tasks sent by level 1 NN to fog layer, among the available fog devices. This real-time task assignment policy is used to minimize the total computational latency (makespan) as well as communication costs.

Findings

Experimental results indicated that the RL technique works better than the computationally infeasible greedy approach for task scheduling and the combination of RL and task clustering algorithm reduces the communication costs significantly.

Originality/value

The proposed algorithm fundamentally solves the problem of task scheduling in real-time fog-based IoT with best resource utilization, minimum makespan and minimum communication cost between the tasks.
Diversity and health strategies for newly resettled refugees
Authors: Vikdahl Linda , Ståhle Göran , Gunnarsson David , Saboonchi Fredrik
Published: July 2020

Purpose

In general, newly resettled refugees have poorer physical and mental health than native-born Swedes. This indicates that the society must make special efforts to enable refugees to attain health that is on a par with the rest of the population. The challenges rest primarily with employees in the public sector. But what resources do professionals need to meet the refugees’ health needs? This paper is about the need to develop strategies for professionals working with diversity and health, with a focus on the establishment of newly resettled refugees in Sweden. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to identify the needs and obstacles in working with diversity and health for the newly resettled.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on focus group interviews with 40 professionals working in three large municipalities and one County Administrative Board, all of whom work with challenges related to migration and health on a daily basis.

Findings

The needs expressed by the interviewees are primarily about developing and improving communications. Three important areas of communication were expressed: how information can be transferred from sender to receiver, institutionalization and interactions at different levels.

Originality/value

This paper identifies important needs and obstacles when working with diversity and health in Sweden, with a focus on the establishment of newly resettled refugees. It is an important contribution because refugees in general have poorer physical and mental health than native-born Swedes and strategies to improve their health, therefore, need to be further developed.
Hybrid RPL-based sensing and routing protocol for smart city
Authors: AlSawafi Yahya , Touzene Abderezak , Day Khaled , Alzeidi Nasser
Published: July 2020

Purpose

Wireless sensor network (WSN) and mobile crowd sensing (MCS) technologies face some challenges, especially when deployed in a large environment such as a smart city environment. WSN faces network latency, packets delivery and limited lifetime due to the nature of the used constrained internet of things small devices and low power network. On the other hand, most of the current applications that adapt MCS technology use 3G or long term evalution network to collect data and send them directly to the server. This leads to higher battery and bandwidth consumption and higher data cost.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper proposes a hybrid routing protocol based on the routing protocol (RPL) protocol that combines the two wireless sensing technologies (WSN and MCS) and allows the integration between them. The aim is to use MCS nodes in an opportunistic way to support static WSN nodes to enhance the performance.

Findings

The evaluation of the proposed protocol was conducted in a static WSN to study the impact of the integration on the WSN performance. The results reveal a good enhancement on packet delivery ratio (17% more), end-to-end delay (50% less) and power consumption (25% less) compared with native RPL (without MCS integration).

Originality/value

The authors believe that the hybrid-RPL protocol can be useful for sensing and data collection purposes, especially in urban areas and smart city contexts.
Mining GitHub for research and education: challenges and opportunities
Authors: AlMarzouq Mohammad , AlZaidan Abdullatif , AlDallal Jehad
Published: July 2020

Purpose

This study aims to highlight the challenges and opportunities of using GitHub as a data source in both research and programming education.

Design/methodology/approach

This study provides general overview of the challenges and opportunities faced while conducting empirical research using GitHub as a data source. The challenges and opportunities are framed using the input–process–output model of open-source software.

Findings

GitHub data accessed from the application programming interface (API) can have several limitations, which can be overcome by Web scraping and using external data repositories such as GHArchive and GHTorrent. There are also several idiosyncrasies about GitHub that researchers need to be aware of to be able to use the data effectively, which can represent an opportunity for research. The challenges and opportunities are summarized for the licenses, community, development process and product of free/libra and open-source software communities hosted on GitHub.

Originality/value

This study provides a summary of GitHub-related challenges and opportunities that researchers can leverage to improve their empirical research. Furthermore, this summary can be a valuable resource for instructors that plan to use GitHub as a data source in their data-focused programming courses.
Discovering the sustainable hotel brand personality on TripAdvisor
Authors: Paiva Neto Aureo , Lopes da Silva Elaine Aparecida , Ferreira Lissa Valéria Fernandes , Araújo José Felipe Ribeiro
Published: July 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to explore a hotel brand personality performance through electronic word-of-mouth. A complementary attribute is designed and tested in addition to the already existing five dimensions from the brand personality scale, denominated sustainability.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 16,175 reviews from the rating session of three hotel properties behind a brand was retrieved from TripAdvisor for a data mining procedure. A complementary list of associated words was considered in addition to the 42 personality traits of Aaker’s model, and a brief inventory was developed based on the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) to compose the sustainability dimension.

Findings

This study registered sincerity as the most representative dimension in its results, and ruggedness as the lowest. This is evidence that the latter is not suitable for representing a brand personality scale for hotels and could be replaced by sustainability.

Research limitations/implications

Despite the relevant findings, new surveys and tests are recommended to provide better support to the new proposed dimension.

Practical implications

This investigation enables hotel managers to work more effectively on their brand strategies based on sustainability-oriented brand personality, which could deliver economic, social and environmental benefits to the world by influencing consumption behavior in association with the SDGs.

Originality/value

This study differs from existing literature by attempting to fill a gap on the limitations of studies focused on linking brand personality to sustainability, and using data mining to reach this goal.
Sustainable development of the business environment in smart cities: a hierarchical framework
Authors: Jiang Mingnan , Gao Yang , Jin Mingwei , Liu Sitong
Published: July 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore a sustainable hierarchical framework for the business environment in smart cities. However, this hierarchical framework must consider unnecessary attributes and interrelationships between criteria to capture the difference between smart cities and traditional cities.

Design/methodology/approach

Hence, the fuzzy set theory is used for screening unnecessary attributes, the decision-making and trial evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) is applied to manage the complex interrelationships among the aspects and attributes and interpretive structural modeling (ISM) is used to divide the hierarchy and construct a hierarchical theoretical framework. Ultimately, this research is applied to develop a sustainable hierarchical framework of the business environment in smart cities.

Findings

The results show that traditional social problems are still at the core of business environment development in smart cities, new smart opportunities may be discovered, but they are still limited by traditional social factors, the economy is still the main aspect of the business environment and there are still obstacles to solving social problems with smart technologies.

Originality/value

This theoretical hierarchical framework aims to guide smart cities toward sustainability. This study also proposes creating a predictable business environment by improving administrative efficiency, transparency, social mobility and infrastructure services and cultivating new business opportunities with intelligent technology.
Research watch: Coronavirus (COVID-19), mental health and social inclusion in the UK and Ireland
Authors: Holttum Sue
Published: July 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to examine recent papers on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, including implications for some of the groups of people already less included in society.

Design/methodology/approach

A search was carried out for recent papers on mental health and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Findings

Two papers describe surveys of adults in the UK and Irish Republic in the first days of lockdown. Low income and loss of income were associated with anxiety and depression. These surveys could not examine distress in Black and minority ethnicities, who have higher death rates from COVID-19. Two surveys of children and young people report distress and what can help. One paper summarises a host of ways in which the pandemic may affect mental well-being in different groups, and what might help. Another calls for research to understand how to protect mental well-being in various groups.

Originality/value

These five papers give a sense of the early days of the pandemic, especially in the UK. They also highlight the needs of some specific groups of people, or the need to find out more about how these groups experience the pandemic. They suggest some ways of trying to ensure that everyone has the best chance to thrive in the aftermath of the pandemic.
Unsettling Knowledge: Irony and Education
Authors: Smith Richard
Published: July 2020

Philosophy is sometimes thought of as having two principal dimensions: one that aims to build systems and doctrines, and another that is concerned to unsettle fixed ways of thinking. Richard Peters seems to position himself in both camps. I suggest that education in the UK today increasingly bears the marks of rigid thinking, largely as a result of the domination of neoliberal fundamentalism, and is in particular need of unsettling. This, I argue, was a major part of western philosophy's mission at what we think of as its birth in the work of Socrates and Plato's dialogues. In these texts too we see depicted the arrogance and complacency of characters who may sometimes remind us of our contemporaries. The Socratic irony that is evident everywhere in the dialogues is their undoing.
Prenatal visualisation of the torcular herophili by means of a Doppler technology highly sensitive for low‐velocity flow in the expert assessment of the posterior fossa: a prospective study
Authors: Dall'Asta A , Grisolia G , Volpe N , Schera GBL , Sorrentino F , Frusca T , Ghi T
Published: July 2020

Objective

To evaluate the usefulness of a Doppler technology highly sensitive for low‐velocity flow in the antenatal imaging of the torcular herophili (TH) in the second trimester of pregnancy.

Design

Prospective study.

Setting

Referral Fetal Medicine Unit.

Population

Non‐consecutive series of singleton pregnancies submitted to antenatal neurosonogram between 20 and 28 weeks of gestation.

Methods

A midsagittal section of the fetal brain was obtained by insonating through the anterior fontanelle, then the MV‐Flow™ and LumiFlow™ presets were selected to visualise the TH as the posterior confluence of the superior sagittal sinus and the straight sinus.

Main outcome measures

Evaluation of the anatomic relationship of the TH with the ‘transpalatal line’ joining the upper bony palate to the fetal skull.

Results

A total of 99 pregnant women were recruited, including one fetus with open spina bifida, one with Dandy–Walker malformation (DWM) and two with Blake's pouch cysts. In normal fetuses, the TH appeared to lie on or just below the ‘transpalatal line’. In the cases of Blake's pouch cyst, the position of the TH appeared normal if compared with controls, whereas in DWM a supra‐elevated position of the TH in respect of the transpalatal line was demonstrated. Finally, in the fetus with Chiari II malformation the TH was identified below the ‘transpalatal plane’.

Conclusions

Prenatal ultrasound visualisation of the TH by means of newly developed Doppler technologies characterised by high sensitivity for low‐velocity flow is feasible and allows the indirect evaluation of the insertion of cerebellar tentorium in the second trimester.

Tweetable abstract

Prenatal imaging of the torcular herophili using a Doppler technology highly sensitive for low‐velocity flow.
Holistic vision of the patient with chronic kidney disease in a universalistic healthcare system
Authors: Clementi Anna , Coppolino Giuseppe , Provenzano Michele , Granata Antonio , Battaglia Giovanni Giorgio
Published: July 2020

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an increasing public health problem. Aging is one of the leading causes, particularly in Western countries, but several comorbidities, such as hypertension and diabetes are involved in its pathogenesis. Thus, the treatment of CKD patient is very complex and requires an integrated strategy. In this context, the holistic approach to the CKD patient and not to the disease itself should be the answer. General practitioners, specialists, voluntary associations, and nonprofit organizations, in addition to the family of the patient, all contribute to the patient care. Moreover, due to the low sensitivity of creatinine values in the early stages of renal failure, its diagnosis often occurs in the advanced phases of the disease. Therefore, the health costs for CKD patients are hardly sustainable by health systems. The reorganization of economic and epidemiological data through new models is necessary to allow the sustainability of the system and to ensure medical care for all patients. In this review, we aim to deal with all the issues about patient care, standards of care, and the impact of chronicity from a global perspective in light of the current state of the Italian healthcare system.
Effects of forced taxonomic transitions on metabolic composition and function in microbial microcosms
Authors: Louca Stilianos , Rubin Ilan N. , Madilao Lufiani L. , Bohlmann Jörg , Doebeli Michael , Wegener Parfrey Laura
Published: July 2020

Surveys of microbial systems indicate that in many situations taxonomy and function may constitute largely independent (‘decoupled’) axes of variation. However, this decoupling is rarely explicitly tested experimentally, partly because it is hard to directly induce taxonomic variation without affecting functional composition. Here we experimentally evaluate this paradigm using microcosms resembling lake sediments and subjected to two different levels of salinity (0 and 19) and otherwise similar environmental conditions. We used DNA sequencing for taxonomic and functional profiling of bacteria and archaea and physicochemical measurements to monitor metabolic function, over 13 months. We found that the taxonomic composition of the saline systems gradually but strongly diverged from the fresh systems. In contrast, the metabolic composition (in terms of proportions of various genes) remained nearly identical across treatments and over time. Oxygen consumption rates and methane concentrations were substantially lower in the saline treatment, however, their similarity either increased (for oxygen) or did not change significantly (for methane) between the first and last sampling time, indicating that the lower metabolic activity in the saline treatments was directly and immediately caused by salinity rather than the gradual taxonomic divergence. Our experiment demonstrates that strong taxonomic shifts need not directly affect metabolic rates.
The impact of roller pump‐assisted cardiotomy suction unit on hemolysis
Authors: Jahren Silje Ekroll , Jenni Hansjoerg , Roesch Yannick , Arn Rafael , Tevaearai Hendrik , Obrist Dominik , Carrel Thierry , Erdoes Gabor
Published: July 2020

Hemolysis in cardiac surgery is often related to the contact of blood with air or artificial surfaces. Variations of negative pressure in the suction cannulas may represent an additional factor. Limited data exist on the contribution of a roller pump‐assisted (RPA) cardiotomy suction unit to hemolysis. Elevation of free hemoglobin (fHb) following air suction (AS) or suction tip occlusion (STO) events of a pump‐assisted cardiotomy suction unit was investigated in a mock circuit filled with blood from slaughtered domestic pigs. AS‐associated hemolysis was measured over 240 minutes with 2 minutes of AS occurring every 10 minutes. STO‐associated hemolysis was analyzed over 80‐minute periods: configuration 1 (c1) comprised a cycle of 20 minutes (min) occlusion and 60 minutes RPA flow (20/60 minutes); c2 comprised 20 cycles of 1/3 minutes; c3 comprised 40 cycles of 0.5/1.5 minutes; and c4 comprised 80 cycles of 0.25/0.75 minutes. The AS setup did not lead to significant hemolysis after 2 (P = .97), 3 (P = .40) or 4 (P = .11) hours. The STO setup showed the greatest hemolysis (ΔfHb of 30 mg/dL) in c1 after 20 minutes. ΔfHb was different in c1 from all other configurations at 20 minutes (P < .0001) and 80 minutes (P < .05). Ex vivo generation of large negative pressures by STO events is the main cause of cardiotomy suction‐associated hemolysis. The clinical relevance of this mechanism needs further investigations.
Is Grit Hurting You? The Dark Side of Psychological Resources in Goal Pursuit
Authors: Khan Rahman , Neveu Jean‐Pierre , Murtaza Ghulam
Published: July 2020

This article presents a study of the curvilinear role of psychological resources during goal striving through an interactive model linking work goal progress to a valued resource. Specifically, we explore the nonlinear relationship of grit with work goal progress. Additionally, we test the moderating role of perceived organizational support (POS) for this relationship. We hypothesized that an employee’s goal pursuit is not merely contingent on the excessive availability of the selected resources but instead might be an outcome of interaction between personal resources and the environment. Our sample comprises 293 university professors working in the United States who completed questionnaires at two time points. The study findings confirm the curvilinear role of grit in predicting work goal progress. Furthermore, the moderating role of POS on the nonlinear relationship between grit and work goal progress is confirmed to be significant. We discuss the theoretical implications for industry concerning performance and self‐regulation based on our findings.
Effects of dietary phytol on tissue accumulation of phytanic acid and pristanic acid and on the tissue lipid profiles in mice
Authors: Nakanishi Tomonori , Kagamizono Kazuhiro , Yokoyama Sayaka , Suzuki Ryoji , Sakakibara Hiroyuki , Erickson Laurie , Kawahara Satoshi
Published: July 2020

Recent in vitro evidence suggests that the phytol‐derived fatty acids, phytanic acid (PA) and pristanic acid (PrA), are components of animal products with the potential to cause both beneficial and harmful effects on human health. In this study, we investigated the in vivo tissue accumulation of PA and PrA and the changes in tissue lipid profiles, using mice fed a phytol‐containing diet. After 4 weeks of treatment with a diet containing 1.0% phytol, plasma, adipose tissue, liver, and brain were collected and their lipid profiles were biochemically and gas‐chromatographically determined. Dietary phytol caused PA and PrA accumulation in the adipose tissue and liver but not in the brain, and reduced plasma and liver triacylglycerol levels. Phytol intake also decreased the fatty acid concentrations in the adipose tissue, especially polyunsaturated fatty acids such as linoleic acid, but increased the concentrations of these fatty acids in the liver. However, dietary phytol had a low impact on the brain lipid profile. This study suggests that dietary phytol intake caused accumulation of PA and PrA and modified lipid profiles in the adipose tissue and liver, but that the brain is an insusceptible tissue to dietary phytol‐induced changes.
Coffin‐Siris syndrome with bilateral macular dysplasia caused by a novel exonic deletion in ARID1B
Authors: Fujita Takako , Ihara Yukiko , Hayashi Hitomi , Ishii Atsushi , Ideguchi Hiroshi , Inoue Takahito , Imaizumi Taichi , Yamamoto Toshiyuki , Hirose Shinichi
Published: July 2020

Coffin‐Siris syndrome (CSS) is a congenital anomaly syndrome characterized by developmental delay, coarse facial features, and hypoplasia of the fifth digit's nail or phalanges. Herein, we report a case of the 8‐year‐old female patient who showed developmental delay associated with dysplasia in the macular and large toe area. Comprehensive genomic analysis showed no possible candidate variants, but the subsequent genomic copy number analysis revealed a novel exonic deletion in the coding region of AT‐rich interactive domain‐containing protein 1B (ARID1B), a gene responsible for CSS. Genomic copy number analysis can aid in diagnosing CSS by confirming undiagnosed exonic deletions in ARID1B. Furthermore, this is the first report of CSS associated with bilateral macular dysplasia.
Patch test results of the European baseline series among 1309 patients in Turkey between 2013 and 2019
Authors: Boyvat Ayse , Kalay Yildizhan Incilay
Published: July 2020

Background

Prevalences of sensitivity to contact allergens change over time as a result of variations in allergen exposure.

Objectives

The aim of the study was to describe trends in sensitisation to allergens of the European baseline series in Turkey between 2013 and 2019.

Methods

The patch test results of 1309 patients with suspected allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) were analysed retrospectively, and the prevalence of contact allergies to European baseline series allergens was compared with previous data (for 1998‐2005).

Results

A total of 534 (40.8%) patients exhibited one or more positive patch test reaction. The five most frequent allergens were nickel sulfate (19.6%), potassium dichromate (6.5%), cobalt chloride (6%), Myroxylon pereirae resin (5%), and p‐phenylenediamine (PPD; 3.7%). Statistically significant increases in the prevalence of sensitisation to methylchloroisothiazolinone/methylisothiazolinone (MCI/MI; P < .001), Myroxylon pereirae resin (P < .001), PPD (P = .008), and fragrance mix I (P = .036) were observed in the 2013 to 2019 period compared with the 1998 to 2005 period. Conversely, positive reactions to neomycin sulfate (P = .029), clioquinol (P = .031), and primin (P = .001) decreased significantly.

Conclusion

This study provides a comprehensive profile of ACD in Turkey. The remarkable increase in the MI and MCI/MI contact allergy observed underlines the urgent need for regulatory measures to reduce exposure to MI and MCI/MI in Turkey.
Sotagliflozin added to optimized insulin therapy leads to HbA1c reduction without weight gain in adults with type 1 diabetes: A pooled analysis of inTandem1 and inTandem2
Authors: Rodbard Helena W. , Giaccari Andrea , Lajara Rosemarie , Stewart John , Strumph Paul S. , Oliveira Juliana , Lapuerta Pablo , Castro Rita
Published: July 2020

Aim

To evaluate whether the addition of sotagliflozin to optimized insulin significantly increases the proportion of adults with type 1 diabetes who achieve HbA1c goals without weight gain.

Materials and methods

In a patient‐level pooled analysis (n = 1575) of data from two phase 3, 52‐week clinical trials (inTandem1 and inTandem2), the change from baseline in HbA1c and weight as well as the proportion of participants achieving an HbA1c of less than 7% without weight gain were compared between groups treated with placebo, sotagliflozin 200 mg and sotagliflozin 400 mg.

Results

From a mean baseline HbA1c of 7.7%, mean HbA1c changes at week 24 were −0.36% (95% CI −0.44% to −0.29%) and −0.38% (−0.45% to −0.31%) with sotagliflozin 200 and 400 mg versus placebo (P = .001 for both), respectively, with sustained effects through week 52. Weight significantly decreased at weeks 24 and 52 in both sotagliflozin groups compared with placebo. At week 52, the proportion of patients who achieved an HbA1c of less than 7% without weight gain was 21.8% with sotagliflozin 200 mg, 26.1% with sotagliflozin 400 mg and 9.1% with placebo (P < .001). Other HbA1c, weight and safety composite variables showed similar significant trends.

Conclusion

When added to optimized insulin therapy, sotagliflozin improved glycaemic control and body weight and enabled more adults with type 1 diabetes to achieve HbA1c goals without weight gain over 52 weeks, although there was more diabetic ketoacidosis relative to placebo.
Effect of a health‐education program using motivational interviewing on oral health behavior and self‐efficacy in pregnant women: a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Saffari Mohsen , Sanaeinasab Hormoz , Mobini Masoume , Sepandi Mojtaba , Rashidi‐Jahan Hojat , Sehlo Mohammad G. , Koenig Harold G.
Published: July 2020

Oral health problems are common among pregnant women. The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of motivational interviewing (MI) as a behavior‐change technique to enhance self‐efficacy and oral health among pregnant women. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 112 pregnant Iranian women. Women in the intervention group received an education program on oral health using MI during two face‐to‐face sessions, along with routine health education (two 1‐h lectures on oral health changes and needs during pregnancy presented as a lecture by an oral health technician over a 2‐wk period). Those in the control group received two 1‐h lectures on oral health changes and needs during pregnancy. Oral health behaviors, oral health self‐efficacy, and general self‐efficacy, were assessed, along with gingival and dental health from baseline to the 3‐month follow‐up. Analysis of covariance was used to determine differences between intervention and control groups. Scores for both general and specific self‐efficacy and for healthy behaviors increased in the intervention group, whereas there was no significant change within controls from baseline to follow‐up. Between‐group analyses also indicated a significant difference in the scores for self‐efficacy and behavior favoring the intervention group. Scores on the gingival inflammation index decreased, as did the number of decayed teeth in the intervention group relative to the control group. The number of filled teeth increased significantly in the intervention group. Health education interventions using MI techniques may help to improve oral health‐related self‐efficacy and behaviors among pregnant women.
Temporal‐plus epilepsy in children: A connectomic analysis in magnetoencephalography
Authors: Martire Daniel J. , Wong Simeon , Workewych Adriana , Pang Elizabeth , Boutros Sarah , Smith Mary Lou , Ochi Ayako , Otsubo Hiroshi , Sharma Roy , Widjaja Elysa , Snead O. Carter , Donner Elizabeth , Ibrahim George M.
Published: July 2020

Objective

Seizure recurrence following surgery for temporal lobe (TL) epilepsy may be related to extratemporal epileptogenic foci, so‐called temporal‐plus (TL+) epilepsy. Here, we sought to leverage whole brain connectomic profiling in magnetoencephalography (MEG) to identify neural networks indicative of TL+ epilepsy in children.

Methods

Clinical and MEG data were analyzed for 121 children with TL and TL+ epilepsy spanning 20 years at the Hospital for Sick Children. Resting‐state connectomes were derived using the weighted phase lag index from neuromagnetic oscillations. Multidimensional associations between patient connectomes, TL versus TL+ epilepsy, seizure freedom, and clinical covariates were performed using a partial least squares (PLS) analysis. Bootstrap resampling statistics were performed to assess statistical significance.

Results

A single significant latent variable representing 66% of the variance in the data was identified with significant contributions from extent of epilepsy (TL vs TL+), duration of illness, and underlying etiology. This component was associated with significant bitemporal and frontotemporal connectivity in the theta, alpha, and beta bands. By extracting a brain score, representative of the observed connectivity profile, patients with TL epilepsy were dissociated from those with TL+, independent of their postoperative seizure outcome.

Significance

By analyzing 121 connectomes derived from MEG data using a PLS approach, we find that connectomic profiling could dissociate TL from TL+ epilepsy. These findings may inform patient selection for resective procedures and guide decisions surrounding invasive monitoring.
Phenotypic suppression of acral peeling skin syndrome in a patient with autosomal recessive congenital ichthyosis
Authors: Mohamad Janan , Nanda Arti , Pavlovsky Mor , Peled Alon , Malchin Natalia , Malovitski Kiril , Pramanik Rashida , Weissglas‐Volkov Daphna , Shomron Noam , McGrath John , Sprecher Eli , Sarig Ofer
Published: July 2020

Autosomal recessive congenital ichthyosis (ARCI) manifests with generalized scaling often associated with generalized erythema. Mutations in at least 13 different genes have been reported to cause ARCI. Acral peeling skin syndrome (APSS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder manifesting with peeling over the distal limbs and dorsal surfaces of hands and feet. APSS is mostly due to mutations in TGM5, encoding transglutaminase 5. Both ARCI and APSS are fully penetrant genetic traits. Here, we describe a consanguineous family in which one patient with mild ARCI was found to carry a homozygous mutation in ALOXE3 (c.1238G > A; p.Gly413Asp). The patient was also found to carry a known pathogenic homozygous mutation in TGM5 (c.1335G > C; p.Lys445Asn) but did not display acral peeling skin. Her uncle carried the same homozygous mutation in TGM5 but carried the ALOXE3 mutation in a heterozygous state and showed clinical features typical of APSS. Taken collectively, these observations suggested that the ALOXE3 mutation suppresses the clinical expression of the TGM5 variant. We hypothesized that ALOXE3 deficiency may affect the expression of a protein capable of compensating for the lack of TGM5 expression. Downregulation of ALOXE3 in primary human keratinocytes resulted in increased levels of corneodesmosin, which plays a critical role in the maintenance of cell‐cell adhesion in the upper epidermal layers. Accordingly, ectopic corneodesmosin expression rescued the cell‐cell adhesion defect caused by TGM5 deficiency in keratinocytes as ascertained by the dispase dissociation assay. The present data thus provide evidence for phenotypic suppression in a human hereditary skin disorder.
Bone age estimation from carpal radiography images using deep learning
Authors: Ding Yih An , Mutz Filipe , Côco Klaus F. , Pinto Luiz A. , Komati Karin S.
Published: July 2020

Bone age estimation has been used in medicine to verify whether the bone structure development degree of a person corresponds to their chronological age. Such estimate is useful for prognosis about the development of children and adolescents, as well as for the diagnosis of endocrinological diseases. This work proposes a fully automated methodology for bone age estimation from carpal radiography images. The methodology comprises two steps, the preprocessing of the image and the classification using a convolutional neural network. The system accuracy for different types of preprocessing is evaluated. We compare the accuracy achieved using the full radiography image as input for the neural network and using only parts of the image corresponding to the Phalangeal region, the Epiphyseal region, and the concatenation of these parts with a crop around the wrist. Digital image processing techniques are employed to segment these regions. Experiments are performed using radiography images from the California University Database. The impact of using different pre‐trained neural networks for transfer learning is evaluated.
Risk and Resiliency Factors Related to Dementia Caregiver Mental Health
Authors: Altamirano Olivia , Weisman de Mamani Amy
Published: July 2020

Prevalence rates for dementia are expected to rise exponentially as the elderly population rises. With this comes a corresponding increase in the number of family members who will become dementia caregivers. Caregivers of people with dementia often experience a deterioration in mental health. Identifying factors that relate to caregiver mental health is necessary to develop appropriate interventions. The current study explored how family functioning (measured with a latent variable that includes family cohesion, family balance, and family communication), caregiver expressed emotion (EE), and patient symptom severity related to caregiver mental health (measured with a latent variable that includes depression, anxiety, and stress). Participants included 107 dementia caregivers. The following specific hypotheses were tested: lower levels of both (1) EE and (2) patient symptom severity, and (3) higher levels of family functioning would be related to better caregiver mental health. Results produced a well‐fitting model: X2(18) = 14.858, p = .672; CFI = 1.00; RMSEA = .00; SRMR = .037. Moreover, results indicated that better family functioning (Ɣ = −3.54, SE = 1.34, p = .008), lower levels of caregiver EE (β = .36, SE = 0.07, p < .01), and higher patient symptom severity (β = −3.03, SE = 0.88, p = .001) were related to better caregiver mental health. Results from this study suggest that efforts to bolster family functioning (i.e., enhance communication, promote cohesion, encourage flexibility) could help improve caregiver mental health.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: Interparental Processes When Coparenting Two Children
Authors: DeMartini Sarah E. , Hazen Nancy L.
Published: July 2020

Background

Little is known about coparenting processes for two parents with two children, as observational studies of coparenting in families of four are virtually nonexistent.

Objective

The aim of the present study was to use observational methods to examine coparenting process in 52 families of four (mother–father–older child–younger child; N = 208 subjects).

Method

Mothers' and fathers' support of their partner and involvement with both children were examined in relation to the mothers' and fathers' cooperative coparenting. Observations were of 25‐minute home interactions that were rated using a newly developed coding system based on previous research with families of three.

Results

Results largely replicated findings from studies of coparenting in families of three (i.e., two parents and one child) in that higher levels of cooperative coparenting were related to both parents' higher involvement in coparenting and mutual support of their partner. However, significant interaction effects in families with two children revealed cooperative coparenting as more nuanced than in families with one child. Interactions indicated that cooperative coparenting was highest when both parents' involvement was high. Cooperative coparenting was lowest when both parents showed low support for one another, as well as when mothers showed low support of fathers and fathers showed low involvement.

Conclusions

Results of this study reveal several commonalities in the coparenting of one child versus two children, as well as several notable differences. Results suggest that cooperative coparenting of two children may often require “all hands on deck” to provide adequate attention and resources for two young lives. Our findings also suggest that cooperative coparenting can still occur when one parent shows low behavioral support of the other or when a father's involvement is low, as long as the partner is highly supportive.

Implications

Implications for family intervention and future directions for research in this area are discussed.
Cognitive function has a stronger correlation with perceived age than with chronological age
Authors: Umeda‐Kameyama Yumi , Kameyama Masashi , Kojima Taro , Ishii Masaki , Kidana Kiwami , Yakabe Mitsutaka , Ishii Shinya , Urano Tomohiko , Ogawa Sumito , Akishita Masahiro
Published: July 2020

Aim

The perceived age of older adults, as measured by their facial appearance, has been shown to be a robust biomarker of aging predictive of survival, telomere length and DNA methylation, and reportedly correlates with carotid atherosclerosis and bone status. This study aimed to determine whether metrics of dementia, including general cognition, vitality, depressive state and self‐supportability, have stronger correlations with perceived age than with chronological age.

Methods

This study included 124 patients who were admitted to the Department of Geriatric Medicine, The University of Tokyo Hospital, on account of being suspected of cognitive decline. The Mini‐Mental State Examination, Vitality Index, Geriatric Depression Scale‐15, instrumental activities of daily living and Barthel Index were carried out. Five experienced geriatricians and five experienced clinical psychologists determined the perceived age of participants based on photographs.

Results

The average values of the 10 raters showed excellent reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient (3, 10) = 0.941). Steiger's test revealed that perceived age showed a significantly better correlation with the Mini‐Mental State Examination (female) and Vitality Index (total, female) than did chronological age, but not with Geriatric Depression Scale‐15, instrumental activities of daily living or the Barthel Index.

Conclusions

Perceived age was shown to be a reliable biomarker for cognitive assessment. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2020; 20: 779–784.
Nutritive value, fermentation profile and effluent loss in sweet potato vine silage, with or without microbial inoculant
Authors: Pereira Rosana Cristina , Dornas Marcus Flávius Silva , Ribeiro Karina Guimarães , de Souza Igor Alexandre , Agarussi Mariele Cristina Nascimento , da Silva Vanessa Paula , de Andrade Junior Valter Carvalho , Pereira Odilon Gomes
Published: July 2020

The nutritive value, fermentation profile, microbial population, and effluent and gases losses of sweet potato vine silages, with and without microbial inoculant, were evaluated. The experiment was conducted in a 5 × 2 factorial arrangement, with five sweet potato genotypes (BD‐08, BD‐23, BD‐25, BD‐31TO and BD‐43) and presence/absence of microbial inoculant (Sil‐All® 4 × 4), in a randomized blocks design, with three replicates. After 48 hr of wilting in field, the vines were chopped, inoculated with microbial inoculant and ensiled in 10‐L plastic buckets. The genotype × microbial inoculant interaction was significant (p < .05) only for in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), whose coefficients ranged from 64.2% to 74.2%. The genotype affected significantly (p < .05) the pH, dry matter and acid detergent fiber contents, and lactic and acetic acid concentrations of the silages. The inoculant affected significantly (p < .05) the pH, ammonia nitrogen, and lactic acid contents, and gases losses. We concluded that all genotypes of sweet potato produced good quality silages. Microbial inoculant reduced pH, ammonia nitrogen concentration and gases losses, and increased lactic acid content of silages. The IVDMD of silages made from BD‐25 and BD‐31TO genotypes was improved with microbial inoculant.
Reflections on front‐line medical work during COVID‐19 and the embodiment of risk
Authors: Yarrow Emily , Pagan Victoria
Published: July 2020

Drawing on the voice of a woman NHS front‐line doctor during the current COVID‐19 pandemic, we explore her lived experience of the embodiment of risk in the crisis. We explore her struggles and difficulties, giving her voice and mobilizing our writing to listen to these experiences, reflecting on them as a way of living our own feminist lives. Her story illustrates that the current crisis is not only a crisis of health, but a crisis for feminism. Through telling her story, we cast light upon the embodied amplification of inequalities, paternalistic discourses around risk and lived experience of exposure to risk of contracting a deadly virus. We explore her work on the NHS front line, providing a conceptual framework of the multi‐level facets of the embodiment of risk, through lived experiences of risk and observations of the inequality of risk in the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic in the UK.