bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Handling of medical knowledge in sport: Athletes' medical opinions, information seeking behaviours and knowledge sources
Authors: Gerbing Kim‐Kristin , Thiel Ansgar
Published: January 2015

Medical care in sport comprises a variety of treatments, from scientifically proven biomedicine to complementary and alternative medicine. Information and knowledge about these diverse treatment options is spread by different sources. Thus, athletes encounter information of varying content, quality and background. This exploratory pilot study addresses athletes' medical opinions, their health‐related information seeking behaviour and the knowledge sources they utilise. Questionnaires were used to examine n = 110 German athletes (nmale = 69, nfemale = 41; meanage = 24.28 ± 4.97 years) at high performance levels (national team and/or European championship and/or World championship n = 22; first national league and/or German championship n = 51, second national league and/or State championship n = 37) from various Olympic sports. A cluster analysis regarding the athletes' attitudes towards sport medicine exhibited four different types of athletes: ‘the autonomous athlete’, ‘the open‐minded athlete’, ‘the functionalistic athlete’ and ‘the conservative athlete’. In general, our findings show that the most used and trusted information sources are physicians and physiotherapists. However, medical information is trusted the most if it is experience‐ and field‐tested, and comes from the athletes' sport‐specific network. Our findings also suggest that professional medical knowledge management in competitive sport is needed.
Co-expression analysis of high-throughput transcriptome sequencing data with Poisson mixture models
Authors: Rau Andrea , Maugis-Rabusseau Cathy , Martin-Magniette Marie-Laure , Celeux Gilles
Published: January 2015

Motivation: In recent years, gene expression studies have increasingly made use of high-throughput sequencing technology. In turn, research concerning the appropriate statistical methods for the analysis of digital gene expression (DGE) has flourished, primarily in the context of normalization and differential analysis.

Results: In this work, we focus on the question of clustering DGE profiles as a means to discover groups of co-expressed genes. We propose a Poisson mixture model using a rigorous framework for parameter estimation as well as the choice of the appropriate number of clusters. We illustrate co-expression analyses using our approach on two real RNA-seq datasets. A set of simulation studies also compares the performance of the proposed model with that of several related approaches developed to cluster RNA-seq or serial analysis of gene expression data.

Availability and and implementation: The proposed method is implemented in the open-source R package HTSCluster, available on CRAN.

Contact:  andrea.rau@jouy.inra.fr

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Micafungin twice weekly as antifungal prophylaxis in paediatric patients at high risk for invasive fungal disease
Authors: Bochennek K. , Balan A. , Müller-Scholden L. , Becker M. , Farowski F. , Müller C. , Groll A. H. , Lehrnbecher T.
Published: January 2015

Background

Current guidelines recommend antifungal prophylaxis for children at high risk for invasive fungal disease (IFD), but the use of polyenes and triazoles may not be feasible in some patients due to toxicities and drug–drug interactions. Micafungin is well tolerated, with intravenous daily dosing being the current standard. Recent reports indicate safety and efficacy of intermittent dosing of micafungin.

Methods

We analysed safety, efficacy and micafungin serum concentrations of children at high risk for IFD receiving prophylactic micafungin between 3 and 4 mg/kg twice weekly. All children were intolerant or had contraindications to polyenes and triazoles.

Results

A total of 21 children (median age = 9 years) at high risk for IFD were included in the analysis. No significant clinical adverse event occurred, and end of treatment values of parameters of renal and hepatic function in serum were not different from baseline. Proven or probable breakthrough IFD did not occur in any of the patients. In 9 out of 11 patients in whom plasma micafungin concentrations were assessed, the first trough concentration exceeded 150 ng/mL, a concentration proposed to be effective for prophylaxis.

Conclusions

Our data indicate that micafungin administered twice weekly at a dosage of 3–4 mg/kg of bodyweight could be a convenient, safe and efficient alternative for antifungal prophylaxis in children at high risk for IFD.
Early agr activation correlates with vancomycin treatment failure in multi-clonotype MRSA endovascular infections
Authors: Abdelhady Wessam , Chen Liang , Bayer Arnold S. , Seidl Kati , Yeaman Michael R. , Kreiswirth Barry N. , Xiong Yan Q.
Published: January 2015

Objectives

Persistent MRSA infections are especially relevant to endovascular infections and correlate with suboptimal outcomes. However, the virulence signatures of Staphylococcus aureus that drive such persistence outcomes are not well defined. In the current study, we investigated correlations between accessory gene regulator (agr) activation and the outcome of vancomycin treatment in an experimental model of infective endocarditis (IE) due to MRSA strains with different agr and clonal complex (CC) types.

Methods

Twelve isolates with the four most common MRSA CC and agr types (CC5-agr II, CC8-agr I, CC30-agr III and CC45-agr I) were evaluated for heterogeneous vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (hVISA), agr function, agrA and RNAIII transcription, agr locus sequences, virulence and response to vancomycin in the IE model.

Results

Early agr RNAIII activation (beginning at 2 h of growth) in parallel with strong δ-haemolysin production correlated with persistent outcomes in the IE model following vancomycin therapy. Importantly, such treatment failures occurred across the range of CC/agr types studied. In addition, these MRSA strains: (i) were vancomycin susceptible in vitro; (ii) were not hVISA or vancomycin tolerant; and (iii) did not evolve hVISA phenotypes or perturbed δ-haemolysin activity in vivo following vancomycin therapy. Moreover, agr locus sequence analyses revealed no common point mutations that correlated with either temporal RNAIII transcription or vancomycin treatment outcomes, encompassing different CC and agr types.

Conclusions

These data suggest that temporal agr RNAIII activation and agr functional profiles may be useful biomarkers to predict the in vivo persistence of endovascular MRSA infections despite vancomycin therapy.
Epigraphic Research from its Inception
Authors: Buonocore Marco
Published: January 2015

This chapter provides a history of epigraphic research, dating back to the earliest manuscript tradition. It highlights the contributions of the most important antiquarians, humanists, and enlightenment scholars, from the ninth to the eighteenth centuries. The chapter demonstrates the importance of consulting manuscripts even today, especially in case of inscriptions that have now been lost, and explains why this is one of the most vibrant fields of epigraphy today.
Epigraphy and Digital Resources
Authors: Elliott Tom
Published: January 2015

In the last fifteen years digital resources have become essential to a number of key tasks in the realm of epigraphy. Whether one needs comparanda for a new text one is editing, images and translations for the classroom, or evidence to consider for a broad-ranging thematic or historical study, digital resources can significantly speed up research and improve completeness. This chapter covers the proliferation of digital resources and provides guidance on locating and using such resources that are likely to survive the passage of time. No attempt is made here to grapple with the history of digital epigraphy or to list pre-web resources that are no longer available.
Latin Epigraphy
Authors: Beltrán Lloris Francisco
Published: January 2015

This chapter presents a typology of the main types of inscriptions in Latin. The difference between public and private/domestic inscriptions is the most significant distinction to be made when categorizing the enormous mass of surviving epigraphic documents from the Roman world.
Inscribing Roman Texts
Authors: Edmondson Jonathan
Published: January 2015

This chapter considers how a Roman acquired an inscription and how Roman stonecutters went about producing the inscriptions that met this demand. Attention is paid to the layout (ordinatio) and carving of epigraphic texts, including letter forms, errors, modifications, and aids to visibility and legibility.
Senators and Equites
Authors: Bruun Christer
Published: January 2015

This chapter discusses the epigraphic evidence for senators and Roman knights (equites Romani), who had vastly more opportunities to be commemorated in an inscription than the rest of the population. It also covers the characteristics of inscriptions as commissioned by and for this elite group in Roman society. The chapter demonstrates how prosopographers use inscriptions to reconstruct the Roman ruling elite, its career patterns and place in society .
The City of Rome
Authors: Bruun Christer
Published: January 2015

This chapter shows how epigraphy can enhance our understanding of the city of Rome, which has produced a vast variety of inscriptions that are unparalleled in other cities of the Roman world. It focuses equally on the imperial elite and on the ordinary people of the city, as well as on popular associations and on urban administration. Insights gained from Rome, which has preserved by far the greatest epigraphic patrimony of any place or region in the Roman world, helps us understand Roman society and culture in a wider sense.
Slaves and Freed Slaves
Authors: Bruun Christer
Published: January 2015

Slavery was a fundamental feature of Roman society. This chapter considers how critical epigraphy is for the study of Roman slavery. Questions that epigraphy help to answer include modes of enslavement, the identification of slaves and freed slaves, the slave trade, the private life of slaves (family, wealth, religion), their role in business, manufacture, agriculture, and the household, slave resistance, manumission and the position of ex-slaves in Roman society, and imperial slaves and freedmen (the familia Caesaris).
Is Improvisation Present?
Authors: Gallope Michael
Published: January 2015

During the summer of 1997, Ornette Coleman, pianist Joachim Kühn, and philosopher Jacques Derrida performed together at theLa Villettefestival outside Paris. This chapter revisits this now famous event—one the philosopher reported to be a collaborative failure—and repurposes it into a philosophical inquiry by developing a question Derrida’s thinking poses to Ornette Coleman’s music: Is improvisation present? In search for an answer, the chapter places Derrida’s observations about improvisation in dialogue with a theory of improvisation forwarded by moral philosopher and amateur pianist, Vladimir Jankélévitch. It concludes by proposing a theory of improvisation centered on the playful exposure to the necessity of inscription, the instability and uncertainty of idiom, and a form of fidelity to the vanishing now.
Multiculturalism and Indigenous Peoples
Authors: Ivison Duncan
Published: January 2015

This chapter examines important connections and differences between multiculturalism and the claims of indigenous peoples, particularly relating to contemporary liberal democracies. It first considers what is meant by multiculturalism and the debates about it that involve issues of culture, freedom, equality, democracy, and justice, then looks at three broad approaches to or “logics” of multiculturalism: protective or communitarian multiculturalism; liberal multiculturalism; and the view that multiculturalism is neither protective nor liberal, but essentially a new version of the hierarchical and racialized modes of political order it was supposed to displace. The chapter also discusses what the proper subject of multiculturalism should be—individuals, groups, cultures, or peoples; arguments for and against liberal multiculturalism; and the problem of legitimacy with respect to indigenous peoples’ claims about multiculturalism. It concludes by suggesting that normative pluralism is the starting point—rather than the terminus—of new forms of democratic community.
Religious, Spiritual, and Cultural Aspects of Psychiatric Ethics in Hinduism
Authors: Chaturvedi Santosh K.
Published: January 2015

Religious practices and beliefs originating from Hinduism are closely related to the presentation of psychopathology and psychiatric disorders. Many Hindu rituals and interventions are used for well-being and relief from mental distress. The predominant belief in Karma, propagated in theVedasandBhagwada Gita, is noted in clinical practice. Explanatory models related to Hinduism need to be acknowledged by mental health professionals. Hinduism-based interventions are popular and may interfere with modern psychiatric treatment. At times, Hindu health-promoting practices may be useful as an alternative or complementary method of treatment. Ayurveda and yoga are primarily based on Hindu philosophy. Psychiatric ethics in relation to Hindu religion need to weigh the benefits of these religious beliefs and spiritual practices against the benefits from modern interventions, and the potential harm arising out of practicing or not practicing these rituals and cultural traditions.
Ethical Issues in Working with Criminal Offenders
Authors: Robertson Michael
Published: January 2015

This chapter examines the ethical issues associated with criminal offending by presenting a conceptualization of crime within the context of social contract theory. It also considers two issues relevant to psychiatry: the common problem of the person with a mental illness and the professional ethics of psychiatry and its fundamentally contractarian nature. It begins by discussing the problem of criminal offending amongst people affected by mental illness, followed by an analysis of the problem of “evil” in relation to mental illness. It then describes problems surrounding the conceptualization of criminal responsibility in the setting of psychiatric disorder, as well as the putative contribution of neuroscience. Finally, the chapter assesses the contractarian responsibilities of professional psychiatric ethics in the area of criminal offending, paying particular attention to the ethical challenges faced by psychiatrists working with criminal offenders.
Identities
Authors: Ehlers Nadine
Published: January 2015

This chapter explores how the concept of “identity” has been formulated within feminist theory. Looking specifically to the ongoing contestations to how identity has been imagined, it explores the ontological and epistemological assumptions of these imaginings. Additionally, the chapter addresses recent moves away from focusing on identity in some contemporary feminist thought and the implications of such a move. In considering how feminism has thought about identity, it becomes clear that there is no linear or teleological trajectory; there are competing theories within—and links across—each of the broad time periods and rubrics of thought traced out, and all feminist theories of identity are themselves marked by contradictory possibilities and imaginings for/of the self.
Storytelling/Narrative
Authors: Stone-Mediatore Shari
Published: January 2015

This article traces debates within feminist theory since the 1980s over the critical and democratic potential of experience-based storytelling. Focusing on accounts of storytelling that have developed within feminist standpoint theory, transnational feminism, feminist democratic theory, and feminist epistemology, the article examines arguments that experience-based narratives are necessary for more rigorous and inclusive civic and scholarly discussions. The article also examines the challenges that have been posed to storytelling from within feminist theory, including analyses that highlight the power relations, exclusions, and cultural conventions that characterize storytelling itself. The article explores what we might learn about the politics of knowledge from such varied but persistent feminist engagements with storytelling.
Sex/Gender
Authors: Viveros Vigoya Mara
Published: January 2015

This chapter examines the construction of the modern concept of “gender” and its distinct uses and formulations in relation to the categories “sex” and “sexuality.” It presents the main debates within international feminism concerning gender as a theoretical and political project. In particular, the article explores diverse ways in which gender has been differentiated from or opposed to sex; the meanings that “gender difference” came to bear during the 1960s and the 1970s; the place that men and masculinities have occupied in theories of gender; the borders that separate and link gender with sex and sexuality; diverse feminist challenges to gender binarism, attempts to universalize gender, and the discursive coloniality of hegemonic feminisms; and, the contributions of the feminisms of the global South to contemporary gender studies.
Maturing Nicely
Authors: Bowen Alister
Published: January 2015

This chapter maps the history of historical archaeological research on Chinese people in colonial Australia and New Zealand. The discussion addresses the thematic progress of historical archaeological thought and research methodologies from its beginning, as well as suggesting new study areas and investigative techniques. Practitioners in this field of historical archaeology have obtained an understanding of the complex nature of the associated material remains. Through a multidisciplinary approach, the current levels of awareness and existing hypothesis on colonial period overseas Chinese people can be challenged to penetrate deeper into the overseas Chinese experience, obtaining a more accurate and intimate understanding of overseas Chinese history.
Phylogeny and Ontogeny of Mathematical and Numerical Understanding
Authors: Brannon Elizabeth M. , Park Joonkoo
Published: January 2015

This navigator chapter situates the chapters that comprise the section on the phylogeny and ontogeny of mathematical and numerical understanding. How is number represented in the absence of language? What are the key questions that arise as we map out the continuities and discontinuities between non-human and human numerical cognition? What can we learn from studying individual differences in numerical cognition? How do the initial representations of quantity in the infant give rise to the uniquely human mathematical mind? Can we use the knowledge we are gaining about how the preverbal mind represents and manipulate quantity to improve mathematics education?
From Single-Cell Neuropathology to Mathematics Education
Authors: Cohen Kadosh Roi
Published: January 2015

One of the most productive research directions in numerical cognition is its combination with neuroscience. This navigator aims to provide the current outlook to this exciting line of studies, together with future directions. I will cover here studies from single-cell neurophysiology in monkeys, to non-invasive neuroimaging studies in children and adults, and will end by discussing a particularly exciting application of neuroscience to education.
Rhetoric and Architecture
Authors: Kirkbride Robert
Published: January 2015

To many, the phrase “architecture and rhetoric” might conjure the image of a palace overinflated with empty words, teeming with stylish yet superfluous ornament. For a Renaissance mind, imbued with medieval habitus and freshly infused with rediscovered texts and new horizons overseas, the complementarity of architecture and rhetoric was pragmatic and poetic, expanding memory practices and modes of figuration, including ekphrasis and ut pictura poesis. After the doubling of the known world, a new world of stuff precipitated new empirical methods of inquiry, problematizing rhetorical habits of establishing credible truth by persuasive argument. Throughout, architecture and its appointments stimulated compositional invention and performative gestures, outfitting personal identity and public decorum by offering transport from past to future, between the everyday and ideal.
Rhetoric and Science
Authors: Doyle Richard
Published: January 2015

This chapter explores the return of the problem of rhetoric for science in the modern period. In contemporary technoscience, rhetoric functions as an integral aspect of the production and circulation of knowledge as well as an often scapegoated reminder of the fundamental limits on knowledge understood as “objectivity” circulated by and for subjects experiencing nothing but “subjectivity.” By focusing on “entropy” as both a polyvalent term within thermodynamics and information theory and as an apparent constraint limiting and enabling the communication and production of scientific knowledge, the chapter points to the larger scaled ecosystem of attention within which the proliferating and diversifying locales of scientific knowledge production emerge in the modern and postmodern periods, an ecosystem labeled by diverse commentators as the “noösphere.”
Afterward
Authors: Bohlman Philip V.
Published: January 2015

This chapter frames world Christianities as a continuous dialogue within, across, and between worlds: the human world of the everyday and the divine (utopian) world of God. To mediate this contradiction inherent to Christianity—and perhaps to the human experience more generally—Christian soteriological and eschatological doctrines takes the shape of continuous journeys aimed at transcending the boundaries of both the sacred and the secular, producing an (altered) return that re-creates the everyday world, where difference is ever-present. Christian musics come into being at specific sites of origin—in early church history, at colonial encounter in the Americas, along the boundaries crossed by 21st-century immigrants in Chicago—forming sacred journeys articulated through worship and song. Connecting these sites is the path of return, realized musically through the centrality of revival. The intertextuality of music maps the trajectories of these journeys, embodying the multiple encounters generating the continuous re-creation.
The Diffusion of Gregorian Chant in Southern Italy and the Masses for St. Michael
Authors: Nardini Luisa
Published: January 2015

This chapter examines the ways in which liturgical chants used for the rites of the Catholic church often bear a multiplicity of cultural influences by drawing on local religious and mythic symbols and placing them in a set of shared biblical, theological, and liturgical elements. It focuses on Gregorian chant in the Beneventan region of southern Italy, tracing the ways that chant repertoires adapted thematic elements from the cultural heritage of the different populations who came into the area, including Lombards, Byzantines, and Normans, along with local pre-Christian cultic elements associated with the Monte Gargano. The chapter concludes that this chants show local processes of remodeling and adaptation of liturgical chants—processes of localization that characterize the repertory of Gregorian chant in other times and places as well.
Subjective Computing and Improvisation
Authors: Harrell D. Fox
Published: January 2015

Subjective computingis an approach to designing and understanding computational systems that serve improvisational, cultural, and critical aims typically exhibited in the arts. The termphantasmal mediadescribes media forms that evoke and reveal phantasms: blends of cultural knowledge and sensory imagination. Phantasmal media include subjective computing systems that deeply engage human culture, imagination, and aesthetics through computer programming (Harrell, 2009). Such subjective computing systems can powerfully useagency play(Harrell and Zhu, 2009), the interplay betweenuser agency(actions that users perform on systems) andsystem agency(experiences that the system enables for users), as a basis for creative expression. This chapter explores the relationship between user agency and system agency as analogous to the relationship between improvisation and composition. The result is a model articulating how subjective computing systems can embody an aesthetic approach grounded in improvisation.
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, and Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound Following Sport-Related Concussion
Authors: Gardner Andrew , Iverson Grant L. , van Donkelaar Paul , Ainslie Philip N. , Stanwell Peter
Published: January 2015

Sport-related concussion has been referred to as a functional rather than a structural injury with neurometabolic and microstructural alterations reported in several studies. Accordingly, conventional neuroimaging techniques, such as computed tomography (CT) and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), have limited value beyond ruling out structural injury such as a contusion or hemorrhage. This chapter presents a review of three neuroimaging techniques that offer insight into the connectivity and neurometabolic consequences of concussion. A number of studies have now been published using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)/diffusion-weighted imaging, and transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) with varying findings. The results of these studies will be presented, together with current and possible future application of these techniques within the field of sport-related concussion.
“A Muslim from America”
Authors: Shabazz Nadirah
Published: January 2015

Using the Autobiography of Malcolm X, this chapter examines the concept of Muslim American indigeneity and the emerging Muslim American literature canon as responses to a history of contested belonging. I explore Malcolm X’s narrative as a critical commentary on American race relations and what it means to be a Muslim from America, paying particular attention to Malcolm X’s engagement with and ultimate upending of popular tropes of American inception and Muslim representation, namely the Plymouth Rock landing and the image of the Black Muslim. Despite his embrace of “American type thinking”—a focus on public relations in controlling image—Malcolm X’s text reinforces a binary between the diasporic and the national that helps shape our understanding of Islam in America today. Reading Malcolm X’s work as a narrative of contested belonging and as a cultural investment in American “literary Muslimness” offers new insight on current claims to indigeneity.
Reimagining Tibet Through the Lens of Tibetan Muslim History and Identity
Authors: Singh Rohit
Published: January 2015

Tibet became the object of Western imagination in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when Britain and Russia coveted the territory. During this time, images emerged in European writings either romanticizing or demonizing the region. Contemporary Tibetan studies scholars have examined how many of these depictions continue to shape master narratives about Tibet. This article presents an alternative to these master narratives through a historical and ethnographic study of the Tibetan Muslims residing in Kashmir, a diaspora community that migrated from Lhasa to India after the Chinese government took full control of central Tibet in 1959. A study of this community’s history and living memories presents new, diverse, and unique lenses through which to view Tibetan history, religion, and identity.
Antibodies to Deamidated Gliadin Peptide in Diagnosis of Celiac Disease in Children
Authors: Lammi Anne , Arikoski Pekka , Simell Satu , Kinnunen Tuure , Simell Ville , Paavanen‐Huhtala Sari , Hinkkanen Ari , Veijola Riitta , Knip Mikael , Toppari Jorma , Vaarala Outi , Simell Olli , Ilonen Jorma
Published: January 2015

Objectives:

Determination of antibodies to synthetic deamidated gliadin peptides (anti‐DGPs) may work as an alternative or complement the commonly used test for tissue transglutaminase antibodies (TGA) in the diagnosis of celiac disease (CD). We analyzed the performance of a time‐resolved immunofluorometric anti‐DGP assay (TR‐IFMA) in the diagnosis of CD in children and also retrospectively analyzed the appearance of anti‐DGP antibodies before TGA seroconversion.

Methods:

The study included 92 children with biopsy‐confirmed CD. Serum samples were taken at the time or just before the clinical diagnosis. The control group comprised 82 TGA‐negative children who were positive for human leucocyte antigen‐DQ2 or ‐DQ8.

Results:

Based on receiver operating characteristic curves, the optimal cutoff value for immunoglobulin (Ig) A anti‐DGP positivity was 153 arbitrary units (AUs) with a sensitivity of 92.4% and specificity of 97.6% and that for IgG anti‐DGP 119 AU, with a sensitivity of 97.8% and specificity of 97.6%. All 92 children with CD were either IgA or IgG anti‐DGP positive at the time of diagnosis. Sera from 48 children with CD were also analyzed retrospectively before the diagnosis. Anti‐DGP antibodies preceded TGA positivity in 35 of the 48 children with CD and appeared a median of 1 year earlier.

Conclusions:

The TR‐IFMA assay for detecting anti‐DGP antibodies shows high sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of CD in children. In a majority of our study population, anti‐DGP seropositivity preceded TGA positivity, indicating that earlier detection of CD may be possible by monitoring anti‐DGP antibodies frequently in genetically susceptible children.
Fermentation Pattern of Infant Formulas Containing Different Prebiotics
Authors: Vanderhoof Jon , Ferguson Paul , Pauley‐Hunter Rosemary , Prestridge Laurel
Published: January 2015

Prebiotics play a role in the development of intestinal flora. When exposed to unabsorbed food, such as prebiotic carbohydrates, intestinal bacteria produce hydrogen. Increases in hydrogen may signify a slower rate of fermentation or digestion. In this blinded, crossover study, infants (n = 13) consumed formula containing either 4 g/L galactooligosaccharide (GOS) or 4 g/L polydextrose (PDX) + GOS, and breath hydrogen was measured. Breath hydrogen was higher in the PDX/GOS group versus GOS alone (mean ± standard error, 25.35 ± 2.87 ppm vs 13.69 ± 2.87 ppm, P = 0.0001). These results indicate that the formula with PDX/GOS may have undergone slower digestion.
Diagnostic and Therapeutic Roles of Endoscopic Ultrasound in Pediatric Pancreaticobiliary Disorders
Authors: Scheers Isabelle , Ergun Meltem , Aouattah Tarik , Piessevaux Hubert , Borbath Ivan , Stephenne Xavier , De Magnée Catherine , Reding Raymond , Sokal Etienne , Veyckemans Francis , Weynand Birgit , Deprez Pierre H.
Published: January 2015

Objectives:

The diagnostic role of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) in children has only recently been demonstrated, and that also to a lesser extent than in adults. Data on the technique's therapeutic indications remain scarce. We therefore sought to evaluate diagnostic and interventional EUS indications, safety, and impact in children with pancreaticobiliary disorders.

Methods:

We retrospectively reviewed our single pediatric center records, covering a 14‐year period.

Results:

From January 2000 to January 2014, 52 EUS procedures were performed in 48 children (mean age: 12 years; range: 2–17 years) with pancreaticobiliary disorders for the following indications: suspected biliary obstruction (n = 20/52), acute/chronic pancreatitis (n = 20), pancreatic mass (n = 3), pancreatic trauma (n = 7), and ampullary adenoma (n = 2). EUS was found to have a positive impact in 51 of 52 procedures, enabling us to avoid endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) (n = 13 biliary; n = 6 pancreatic), focusing instead on endotherapy (n = 7 biliary; n = 14 pancreatic) or reorienting therapy toward surgery (n = 7). EUS‐guided fine‐needle aspiration was carried out on 12 patients for pancreatic tumor (n = 4), pancreatic cyst fluid analysis (n = 4), autoimmune pancreatitis (n = 2), and suspicion of biliary tumor (n = 2). A total of 13 therapeutic EUS procedures (11 children) were conducted, including 9 combined EUS–ERCP procedures (7 children, mean age: 8 years, range: 4–11 years), 3 EUS‐guided pseudocyst drainage (2 children), and 1 EUS‐guided transgastric biliary drainage.

Conclusions:

Our study reports on a large pediatric EUS series for diagnostic and therapeutic pancreaticobiliary disorders, demonstrating the impact of diagnostic EUS and affording insights into novel EUS and combined EUS–ERCP therapeutic applications. We suggest considering EUS as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool in the management of pediatric pancreaticobiliary diseases.
Coeliac Disease and Noncoeliac Gluten Sensitivity
Authors: Meijer Caroline R. , Shamir Raanan , Mearin Maria L.
Published: January 2015

The spectrum of gluten‐related disorders was restricted to coeliac disease and wheat allergy, but the new contemporary entity referred to as noncoeliac gluten sensitivity has gained recognition mainly in adults but also in children. Noncoeliac gluten sensitivity is defined as the presence of a variety of symptoms related to gluten ingestion in patients in whom coeliac disease and wheat allergy have been excluded. The pathophysiology and biomarkers of coeliac disease and wheat allergy are well known, but this is not the case for noncoeliac gluten sensitivity. It is also not clear whether noncoeliac gluten sensitivity is caused by consumption of gluten or by consumption of fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols. Randomized trials on noncoeliac gluten sensitivity in children are lacking and are hardly needed to evaluate its role in paediatric patients with gastroenterology to avoid the use of unnecessary restrictive diets in children and interference with proper diagnosis of coeliac disease.
A Middle Triassic thoracopterid from China highlights the evolutionary origin of overwater gliding in early ray-finned fishes
Authors: Xu Guang-Hui , Zhao Li-Jun , Shen Chen-Chen
Published: January 2015

Gliding adaptations in thoracopterid flying fishes represent a remarkable case of convergent evolution of overwater gliding strategy with modern exocoetid flying fishes, but the evolutionary origin of this strategy was poorly known in the thoracopterids because of lack of transitional forms. Until recently, all thoracopterids, from the Late Triassic of Austria and Italy and the Middle Triassic of South China, were highly specialized ‘four-winged’ gliders in having wing-like paired fins and an asymmetrical caudal fin with the lower caudal lobe notably larger than the upper lobe. Here, we show that the new genus
Wushaichthys
and the previously alleged ‘peltopleurid’
Peripeltopleurus
, from the Middle Triassic (Ladinian, 235–242 Ma) of South China and near the Ladinian/Anisian boundary of southern Switzerland and northern Italy, respectively, represent the most primitive and oldest known thoracopterids.
Wushaichthys
, the most basal thoracopterid, shows certain derived features of this group in the skull.
Peripeltopleurus
shows a condition intermediate between
Wushaichthys
and
Thoracopterus
in having a slightly asymmetrical caudal fin but still lacking wing-like paired fins. Phylogenetic studies suggest that the evolution of overwater gliding of thoracopterids was gradual in nature; a four-stage adaption following the ‘cranial specialization–asymmetrical caudal fin–enlarged paired fins–scale reduction’ sequence has been recognized in thoracopterid evolution. Moreover,
Wushaichthys
and
Peripeltopleurus
bear hooklets on the anal fin of supposed males, resembling those of modern viviparious teleosts. Early thoracopterids probably had evolved a live-bearing reproductive strategy.
Modelling epidermis homoeostasis and psoriasis pathogenesis
Authors: Zhang Hong , Hou Wenhong , Henrot Laurence , Schnebert Sylvianne , Dumas Marc , Heusèle Catherine , Yang Jin
Published: January 2015

We present a computational model to study the spatio-temporal dynamics of epidermis homoeostasis under normal and pathological conditions. The model consists of a population kinetics model of the central transition pathway of keratinocyte proliferation, differentiation and loss and an agent-based model that propagates cell movements and generates the stratified epidermis. The model recapitulates observed homoeostatic cell density distribution, the epidermal turnover time and the multilayered tissue structure. We extend the model to study the onset, recurrence and phototherapy-induced remission of psoriasis. The model considers psoriasis as a parallel homoeostasis of normal and psoriatic keratinocytes originated from a shared stem cell (SC) niche environment and predicts two homoeostatic modes of psoriasis: a disease mode and a quiescent mode. Interconversion between the two modes can be controlled by interactions between psoriatic SCs and the immune system and by normal and psoriatic SCs competing for growth niches. The prediction of a quiescent state potentially explains the efficacy of multi-episode UVB irradiation therapy and recurrence of psoriasis plaques, which can further guide designs of therapeutics that specifically target the immune system and/or the keratinocytes.
Some perspectives on Eshelby-like forces in the elastica arm scale
Authors: O'Reilly Oliver M.
Published: January 2015

In a recent paper by Bosi
et al
. (2014
Proc. R. Soc. A
470
, 20140232. (
doi:10.1098/rspa.2014.0232
)) an ingenious deformable arm scale was designed and developed. The scale's operation relies on the presence of Eshelby-like forces. In this paper, we gain new insight into the operation of the arm scale by using a material (configurational) force balance and by exploiting an analogy to a system of two pendula.
Derivation of a generalized Fowler–Nordheim equation for nanoscopic field-emitters
Authors: Kyritsakis A. , Xanthakis J. P.
Published: January 2015

In this paper, we derive analytically from first principles a generalized Fowler–Nordheim (FN) type equation that takes into account the curvature of a nanoscopic emitter and is generally applicable to any emitter shape provided that the emitter is a good conductor and no field-dependent changes in emitter geometry occur. The traditional FN equation is shown to be a limiting case of our equation in the limit of emitters of large radii of curvature R. Experimental confirmation of the validity of our equation is given by the data of three different groups. Upon applying our equation to experimental FN plots complying with the above limitations, one may deduce (i) R and (ii) standard field emission parameters—e.g. enhancement factor—with better accuracy than by using the FN equation.
Solar activity at birth predicted infant survival and women's fertility in historical Norway
Authors: Skjærvø Gine Roll , Fossøy Frode , Røskaft Eivin
Published: January 2015

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) can suppress essential molecular and cellular mechanisms during early development in living organisms and variations in solar activity during early development may thus influence their health and reproduction. Although the ultimate consequences of UVR on aquatic organisms in early life are well known, similar studies on terrestrial vertebrates, including humans, have remained limited. Using data on temporal variation in sunspot numbers and individual-based demographic data (
N
= 8662 births) from Norway between 1676 and 1878, while controlling for maternal effects, socioeconomic status, cohort and ecology, we show that solar activity (total solar irradiance) at birth decreased the probability of survival to adulthood for both men and women. On average, the lifespans of individuals born in a solar maximum period were 5.2 years shorter than those born in a solar minimum period. In addition, fertility and lifetime reproductive success (LRS) were reduced among low-status women born in years with high solar activity
.
The proximate explanation for the relationship between solar activity and infant mortality may be an effect of folate degradation during pregnancy caused by UVR. Our results suggest that solar activity at birth may have consequences for human lifetime performance both within and between generations.
Temperature variability and moisture synergistically interact to exacerbate an epizootic disease
Authors: Raffel Thomas R. , Halstead Neal T. , McMahon Taegan A. , Davis Andrew K. , Rohr Jason R.
Published: January 2015

Climate change is altering global patterns of precipitation and temperature variability, with implications for parasitic diseases of humans and wildlife. A recent study confirmed predictions that increased temperature variability could exacerbate disease, because of lags in host acclimation following temperature shifts. However, the generality of these host acclimation effects and the potential for them to interact with other factors have yet to be tested. Here, we report similar effects of host thermal acclimation (constant versus shifted temperatures) on chytridiomycosis in red-spotted newts (
Notophthalmus viridescens
).
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis
(
Bd
) growth on newts was greater following a shift to a new temperature, relative to newts already acclimated to this temperature (15°C versus 25°C). However, these acclimation effects depended on soil moisture (10, 16 and 21% water) and were only observed at the highest moisture level, which induced greatly increased
Bd
growth and infection-induced mortality. Acclimation effects were also greater following a decrease rather than an increase in temperature. The results are consistent with previous findings that chytridiomycosis is associated with precipitation, lower temperatures and increased temperature variability. This study highlights host acclimation as a potentially general mediator of climate–disease interactions, and the need to account for context-dependencies when testing for acclimation effects on disease.
Neptunomonas phycophila sp. nov. isolated from a culture of Symbiodinium sp., a dinoflagellate symbiont of the sea anemone Aiptasia tagetes
Authors: Frommlet Jörg , Guimarães Bárbara , Sousa Lígia , Serôdio João , Alves Artur
Published: January 2015

A Gram-stain-negative, facultatively anaerobic, oxidase- and catalase-positive, rod-shaped bacterium, strain SYM1T, was isolated from a culture of Symbiodinium sp., an algal symbiont of the sea anemone Aiptasia tagetes collected in Puerto Rico. Growth was observed at 4–40 °C (optimum 30 °C), at pH 5.0–11.0 (optimum pH 8.0) and with 0.5–8 % (optimum 2 %) (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analyses of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain SYM1T was a member of the genus

Neptunomonas

with the type strain of

Neptunomonas naphthovorans

as the closest phylogenetic relative with a pairwise sequence similarity of 98.15 %. However, DNA–DNA relatedness between strain SYM1T and

N. naphthovorans

CIP 106451T was 24 %. Moreover, strain SYM1T could be distinguished from its closest relative by several phenotypic characteristics such as NaCl, pH and temperature tolerance, nitrate reduction and utilization of carbon substrates. The major cellular fatty acids were C16 : 0, C18 : 1ω7c and summed feature 3 (comprising C16 : 1ω7c and/or iso-C15 : 0 2-OH). The genomic DNA G+C content of strain SYM1T was 45 mol%. Ubiquinone-8 (Q-8) was the only respiratory quinone detected. Based on a polyphasic taxonomic characterization, strain SYM1T represents a novel species of the genus

Neptunomonas

, for which the name Neptunomonas phycophila sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SYM1T ( = LMG 28329T = CECT 8716T).
Hafnia psychrotolerans sp. nov., isolated from lake water
Authors: Gu Zhengquan , Liu Yongqin , Shen Liang , Liu Xiaobo , Xiao Na , Jiao Nianzhi , Liu Hongcan , Zhou Yuguang , Zhang Shuhong
Published: January 2015

A psychrotolerant, Gram-stain-negative, motile, aerobic, peritrichous bacterium, strain DJC1-1T, was isolated from Lake Dajiaco, Tibetan Plateau, China. The strain was negative for citrate utilization, lipase activity and α-glucosidase, but positive for the Voges–Proskauer reaction and N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that

Hafnia paralvei

ATCC 29927T,

Hafnia alvei

ATCC 13337T,

Serratia grimesii

DSM 30063T and

Serratia plymuthica

DSM 4540T were the closest relatives of strain DJC1-1T, with similarities of 97.76, 96.80, 97.71 and 97.58 %, respectively. The DNA G+C content of strain DJC1-1T was 53.9 mol%. The predominant fatty acids were C16 : 0 and C17 : 0 cyclo. Based on these characteristics, strain DJC1-1T can be assigned to the genus

Hafnia

. In DNA–DNA hybridization tests, strain DJC1-1T shared 50.6, 35.1, 36.5 and 18.1 % DNA–DNA relatedness with the type strains of

H. paralvei

,

H. alvei

,

S. grimesii

and

S. plymuthica

, respectively. The growth temperature ranged from 0 to 40 °C, with optimum growth at 15 °C. Physiological and biochemical tests differentiated strain DJC1-1T from the type strains of recognized species of the genus

Hafnia

. Therefore, strain DJC1-1T is identified as representing a novel species of the genus

Hafnia,
for which the name Hafnia
psychrotolerans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is DJC1-1T ( = JCM 30077T = CGMCC1.12806T).
Mucinivorans hirudinis gen. nov., sp. nov., an anaerobic, mucin-degrading bacterium isolated from the digestive tract of the medicinal leech Hirudo verbana
Authors: Nelson Michael C. , Bomar Lindsey , Maltz Michele , Graf Joerg
Published: January 2015

Three anaerobic bacterial strains were isolated from the digestive tract of the medicinal leechHirudo verbana, using mucin as the primary carbon and energy source. These strains, designated M3T, M4 and M6, were Gram-stain-negative, non-spore-forming and non-motile. Cells were elongated bacilli approximately 2.4 µm long and 0.6 µm wide. Growth only occurred anaerobically under mesophilic and neutral pH conditions. All three strains could utilize multiple simple and complex sugars as carbon sources, with glucose fermented to acid by-products. The DNA G+C contents of strains M3T, M4 and M6 were 44.9, 44.8 and 44.8 mol%, respectively. The major cellular fatty acid of strain M3Twas iso-C15 : 0. Phylogenetic analysis of full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the three strains shared >99 % similarity with each other and represent a new lineage within the familyRikenellaceaeof the orderBacteroidales, phylumBacteroidetes. The most closely related bacteria to strain M3Tbased on 16S rRNA gene sequences wereRikenella microfususDSM 15922T(87.3 % similarity) andAlistipes finegoldiiAHN 2437T(87.4 %). On the basis of phenotypic, genotypic and physiological evidence, strains M3T, M4 and M6 are proposed as representing a novel species of a new genus within the familyRikenellaceae, for which the nameMucinivorans hirudinisgen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain ofMucinivorans hirudinisis M3T( = ATCC BAA-2553T = DSM 27344T).
Morphological and biochemical features of Borrelia burgdorferi pleomorphic forms
Authors: Meriläinen Leena , Herranen Anni , Schwarzbach Armin , Gilbert Leona
Published: January 2015

The spirochaete bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato is the causative agent of Lyme disease, the most common tick-borne infection in the northern hemisphere. There is a long-standing debate regarding the role of pleomorphic forms in Lyme disease pathogenesis, while very little is known about the characteristics of these morphological variants. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of B. burgdorferi pleomorphic formation in different culturing conditions at physiological temperature. Interestingly, human serum induced the bacterium to change its morphology to round bodies (RBs). In addition, biofilm-like colonies in suspension were found to be part of B. burgdorferi’s normal in vitro growth. Further studies provided evidence that spherical RBs had an intact and flexible cell envelope, demonstrating that they are not cell wall deficient, or degenerative as previously implied. However, the RBs displayed lower metabolic activity compared with spirochaetes. Furthermore, our results indicated that the different pleomorphic variants were distinguishable by having unique biochemical signatures. Consequently, pleomorphic B. burgdorferi should be taken into consideration as being clinically relevant and influence the development of novel diagnostics and treatment protocols.