bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Stochastic Conceptual Modeling Approach for Examining the Effects of Climate Change on Streamflows in Mountain Basins
Authors: Furey Peter R. , Kampf Stephanie K. , Lanini Jordan S. , Dozier Andre Q.
Published: January 2012

This study presents a modeling approach for examining how changes in climate affect streamflow in mesoscale mountain basins dominated by snowmelt runoff. A conceptual snowmelt-runoff model was developed that is forced by daily time series of temperature and precipitation. The model can be run using either observed climate data or artificial climate data generated from a GCM or a stochastic model. The model was applied to a case-study basin, the north fork of the Clearwater River in Idaho, using stochastically generated climate scenarios. Climate scenarios were generated using a contemporaneous auto-regressive integrated moving average (CARIMA) model for temperature and a precipitation model based on a two-state first-order Markov process. A baseline climate scenario was developed that represents recently observed temperature and precipitation conditions and then 15 additional climate scenarios that represent shifts in recent conditions. For each scenario, model application produced an ensemble of 50 streamflow traces each spanning 30 yr. Results show that an increase in temperature among scenarios leads to a decrease in streamflow and vice versa. Decreases in temperature shift the basin runoff to fully snowmelt dominated, whereas increases in temperature increase the frequency of midwinter runoff events. Increasing precipitation leads to increased runoff in cases where the temperature remains the same as the observed record, but not in cases where the temperature increases. The modeling approach presented here can be used by water managers to examine which types of climate change could require modifications in water planning and operations.
The Exxon Valdez and BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spills
Authors: Sylves Richard T. , Comfort Louise K.
Published: January 2012

One way to assess whether governments and industry (at any level) learn from their disaster experience is to examine two similar events at different points in time. The authors investigate and compare the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster with the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster to determine whether oil spill prevention and oil spill risk management have advanced over time. The study recounts facts, analyzes features of both incidents, and offers an intergovernmental interpretation of changes in policy and practice over four decades of oil spill management informed by theories of nested sets, distributed cognition, and socio-technical systems.
Ankle–Brachial Index and Coronary Artery Lesion Complexity in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndromes
Authors: Korkmaz Levent , Adar Adem , Erkan Hakan , Ağaç Mustafa Tarık , Acar Zeydin , Kurt Ibrahim Halil , Akyuz Ali Riza , Bektas Huseyin , Celik Sukru
Published: January 2012

We investigated the relationship between peripheral artery disease (PAD) and coronary artery disease (CAD) complexity in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Consecutive patients with first time diagnosis of ACS (n = 150) were enrolled. SYNTAX score (SS), a marker of CAD complexity, was assessed by dedicated computer software and diagnosis of PAD was established by ankle–brachial index (ABI) value. SYNTAX score was higher in patients with overt and borderline PAD (ABI ≤ 0.99) than normal participants (ABI 1-1.29; 16.7 ± 8.2 vs 10.1 ± 5.5; P < .001). In addition, there was a strong negative correlation between ABI and SS ( r = –.46; P < .001).We have demonstrated increased CAD complexity in patients with ACS and PAD and strong correlation between degree of PAD and coronary lesion complexity.
Borderline personality disorder and bipolar affective disorder. Spectra or spectre? A review
Authors: Bassett Darryl
Published: January 2012

Objective: Bipolar affective disorder and borderline personality disorder have long been considered to have significant similarities and comorbidity. This review endeavours to clarify the similarities and differences between these disorders, with an effort to determine whether they reflect different forms of the same illness or separate illness clusters.

Method: The published literature relating to bipolar affective disorders, borderline personality disorders, and related areas of knowledge was reviewed using searches of several electronic databases (AMED, CINHAL, Embase, Ovid, ProQuest, MEDLINE, Web of Science, ScienceDirect) and published texts. These findings were combined with the personal clinical experience of the author, and information gathered from colleagues, to create a review of this topic.

Results: Bipolar affective disorders and borderline personality disorders differ with respect to sense of self, disruption of relationships, family history of bipolar disorders, the benefits of medications, the extent of cognitive deficits, the form of affective dysregulation and mood cycling, the incidence of suicide and suicide attempts, the form of psychotic episodes, the incidence of early sexual abuse but not early trauma in general, the loss of brain substance, alterations in cortical activity, glucocorticoid receptor sensitivity, and mitochondrial dysfunction. They are similar with respect to non-specific features of affective dysregulation, the incidence of atypical depressive features, the incidence of self-mutilation, the incidence of transporter polymorphisms, possible genetic linkages, overall reduction in limbic modulation, reduction in the size of hippocampi and amygdala, and the incidence of sleep disruption.

Conclusions: This review concludes that bipolar affective disorders and borderline personality disorder are separate disorders, but have significant elements in common.
The relationship between physicians’ and nurses’ personal physical activity habits and their health-promotion practice: A systematic review
Authors: Fie Sun , Norman Ian J , While Alison E
Published: January 2012

Background:

Sedentary lifestyles are rising in many countries which has implications for global health. Health professionals are well placed to promote increased physical activity levels to their patients.

Objective:

To examine the relationship between physicians’ and nurses’ personal physical activity and their physical activity promotion practices.

Methods:

Cochrane Library, PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsychInfo, British Nursing Index and four Chinese databases were searched to March 2011. Extracted data were verified by a second researcher.

Results:

Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria and were cross-sectional surveys employing a variety of self-report questionnaires. The majority of studies found that a higher personal physical activity level was associated with higher physical activity-promoting practices, and that health professionals with positive attitudes towards physical activity were more likely to promote physical activity to their clients.

Conclusion:

The findings of this review need to be confirmed by well-designed large studies which employ validated measures of physical activity and physical activity-promoting practices and involve multivariate analyses to identify the relative contribution of personal physical activity levels to physical activity-promoting practices.
Scrolling and Driving
Authors: Lee John D. , Roberts Shannon C. , Hoffman Joshua D. , Angell Linda S.
Published: January 2012

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess how scrolling through playlists on an MP3 player or its aftermarket controller affects driving performance and to examine how drivers adapt device use to driving demands.

Background: Drivers use increasingly complex infotainment devices that can undermine driving performance. The goal activation hypothesis suggests that drivers might fail to compensate for these demands, particularly with long tasks and large search set sizes.

Method: A total of 50 participants searched for songs in playlists of varying lengths using either an MP3 player or an aftermarket controller while negotiating road segments with traffic and construction in a medium-fidelity driving simulator.

Results: Searching through long playlists (580 songs) resulted in poor driving performance and required more long glances (longer than 2 s) to the device compared with other playlist lengths. The aftermarket controller also led to more long glances compared with the MP3 player. Drivers did not adequately adapt their behavior to roadway demand, as evident in their degraded driving performance. No significant performance differences were found between short playlists, the radio-tuning task, and the no-task condition.

Conclusion: Selecting songs from long playlists undermined driving performance, and drivers did not sufficiently adapt their use of the device to the roadway demands, consistent with the goal activation hypothesis. The aftermarket controller degraded rather than enhanced performance.

Application: Infotainment systems should support drivers in managing distraction. Aftermarket controllers can have the unintended effect of making devices carried into the car less compatible with driving. These results can motivate development of new interfaces as alternatives to scrolling lists.
The Impact of the Title III Program on Doctoral and Professional Programs at Historically Black Universities
Authors: Powell Kimberly K.
Published: January 2012

The impact of Part B, Section 326, of the Title III program was assessed using data from three historically Black universities. Part B, Section 326, of the Title III program aims at strengthening the resource capacity of historically Black colleges and universities with eligible doctoral and professional programs. The lack of documented impact contributes to ongoing skepticism regarding program efficacy. A web-based survey instrument, with one version for administrators and faculty and another version for students, was used for data collection. The participants were asked to rank the impact of the program using a five-ordered Likert-type scale. The questions were grouped into multiple domains. Findings from this study suggest that increased stakeholder input needs to be utilized when communicating the success of the Title III program for wider support and advocacy.
Acculturation Style and Alcohol Use Among African American College Students
Authors: Abdullah Tahirah , Brown Tamara L.
Published: January 2012

This study examined whether a relationship exists between acculturation and alcohol use among African American college students and if the relationship varies by religiosity and gender. Most researchers use unidimensional African American acculturation measures that cannot capture the construct’s complexity; this study is the first to use a bidimensional measure. Results revealed a relationship between acculturation and alcohol use. Less frequent drinking occurred among marginalists (those who reject both African and Eurocentric U.S. culture), while assimilationists (those who reject African culture in favor of Eurocentric U.S. culture) drank more frequently. Religiosity and gender also significantly influenced the nature of the relationship.
Resilience of ‘Nightingale’ hospital wards in a changing climate
Authors: Lomas KJ , Giridharan R , Short CA , Fair AJ
Published: January 2012

The National Health Service (NHS) Estate in England comprises more than 30 Mm2 with 18.83 Mm2 of acute hospital accommodation on 330 sites. There is concern about the resilience of these buildings in a changing climate, informed by the experience of recent heatwaves. However, the widespread installation of air conditioning would disrupt the achievement of ambitious energy reduction targets. The research project ‘Design and Delivery of Robust Hospital Environments in a Changing Climate’ is attempting to estimate the resilience of the NHS Estate on the basis of current and projected performance, using an adaptive comfort model. This paper presents results relating to a 1920s traditionally built block with open ‘Nightingale’ wards, a representative type. The paper demonstrates the relative resilience of the type, and illustrates a series of light-touch measures that may increase resilience while saving energy.

Practical application: The results presented in this paper will be of value to NHS Trusts: Estates staff charged with operating buildings as well as Boards and others involved in decision-making. It will also find an audience with policymakers in central government and the Department of Health, as well as those who own, operate or are tasked with working on non-domestic buildings with heavy traditional construction.
Building instantaneous cooling load fused measurement: multiple-sensor-based fusion versus chiller-model-based fusion
Authors: Huang Gongsheng , Sun Yongjun , Wang Shengwei
Published: January 2012

Building instantaneous cooling load is an essential variable for the optimisation and supervisory control of chiller plants, which can be estimated according to the measurements of the chilled water flow rate and the chilled water temperature drop through the chiller plants. Since the measurements of the flow rate and the temperature drop suffer from measurement uncertainties, two different fusion approaches have been developed to improve the measurement accuracy of the cooling load. One is the chiller-model-based fusion (CMF) approach and the other is the multiple-sensor-based fusion (MSF) approach. The two approaches use different disciplines to fuse available measurements. This paper describes a comparison study of the two fusion approaches, which analyses the influences of cooling load conditions of chiller plants on the performance of the two approaches. A case study based on computer simulation shows that the CMF approach is able to produce a better result when the cooling load condition is relatively stable and redundant measurements of the chilled water temperature and flow rate are deficient; while when the redundant measurements are abundant the MSF approach can produce a better result.

Practical applications: The study aims to identify the advantage/disadvantage of two fusion approaches proposed for improving the accuracy of building cooling load measurement under different load conditions. For practical applications, results may be used as a guideline for selecting a proper fusion approach for a particular chiller plant according to the characteristics of its actual load condition.
Cigarette Smoke Inhibits Dynamic Ciliary Beat Frequency in Pediatric Adenoid Explants
Authors: Wang Ling‐Feng , White David R. , Andreoli Steven M. , Mulligan Ryan M. , Discolo Christopher M. , Schlosser Rodney J.
Published: January 2012

Objective

Environmental tobacco smoke exposure in children increases the incidence of upper respiratory infections, chronic sinusitis, and chronic otitis media. This study investigated the effects of ex vivo and in vitro smoke exposure on dynamic ciliary beat frequency (CBF) in pediatric adenoid explants.

Study Design

Blinded and controlled prospective study.

Setting

Tertiary care pediatric hospital.

Subjects and Methods

Fifty‐five children undergoing adenoidectomy for obstructive sleep apnea and adenotonsillar hypertrophy were enrolled in this study. Adenoids were surgically removed using currettage. Hair was collected for nicotine analysis. Tissue was sectioned into 1‐mm strips and allowed to equilibrate in DMEM/F12 with 2% fetal bovine serum for 24 hours. Cilia‐bearing explant tissues were treated with either DMEM/F12 media, 5% cigarette smoke extract (CSE), or 10% CSE for 24 hours. Cilia were then stimulated using either isoproterenol (10−9 M) or methacholine (10−6M), and CBF was serially recorded using the Sisson‐Ammons Video Analysis (SAVA) software.

Results

Children with hair nicotine levels ≥1 ng/mg consistent with secondhand smoke exposure display blunted dynamic CBF response ex vivo. Explants incubated with CSE in vitro demonstrate significant impairment of isoproterenol and methacholine‐induced CBF.

Conclusion

CBF of adenoid explants increases when stimulated with isoproterenol and methacholine. Ex vivo and in vitro smoke exposure blunted ciliostimulation of CBF in adenoid explants. Smoke exposure impairs ciliary function in the pediatric airway and could potentially contribute to disorders such as chronic rhinosinusitis and chronic otitis media.
Calcium Management after Thyroidectomy
Authors: Singer Michael C. , Bhakta Dimpal , Seybt Melanie W. , Terris David J.
Published: January 2012

Objective

Hypocalcemia is one of the principal complications of total or completion thyroidectomy. A number of different protocols for managing this potential complication have been published. Our simple postoperative regimen is described and the safety and cost‐effectiveness assessed.

Study Design

Case series with planned data collection.

Setting

Academic medical center.

Subjects and Methods

All patients undergoing total or completion thyroidectomy from January 2008 through June 2010 were evaluated. Data collected included age; gender; procedure performed; levels of ionized calcium, parathyroid hormone, and vitamin D; complications; and need for readmission. Standard descriptive statistics were used to summarize these data.

Results

In total, 526 patients had thyroid surgery during the 30‐month study period. Of these, 307 underwent completion or total thyroidectomy and were prescribed a 3‐week tapering course of calcium carbonate postoperatively. Twenty‐three patients (7.5%) experienced symptoms of hypocalcemia that were managed on an outpatient basis with additional doses of oral calcium. Two patients (0.7%) required readmission. The cost of a 3‐week regimen of calcium carbonate is approximately $15. This is considerably less expensive than either the cost of overnight admission or published laboratory protocols that are designed to predict the risk of hypocalcemia.

Conclusions

Prophylactic calcium supplementation without routine laboratory assessment proved to be a safe and cost‐effective method of preventing and managing postoperative hypocalcemia following total or completion thyroidectomy.
Augmentation of Ocular Vestibular‐Evoked Myogenic Potentials via Bone‐Conducted Vibration Stimuli in Ménière Disease
Authors: Wen Ming‐Hsun , Cheng Po‐Wen , Young Yi‐Ho
Published: January 2012

Objective

The asymmetry ratio of ocular vestibular‐evoked myogenic potential (oVEMP) >40% is interpreted as augmented or reduced response depending on whether the nI‐pI amplitude of the lesion ear is larger or smaller than that of the opposite ear, respectively. This study compared unilateral Ménière disease patients with augmented oVEMPs vs reduced oVEMPs to elucidate the mechanism of augmented oVEMP.

Study Design

Case series with chart review.

Setting

University hospital.

Methods

Forty patients with unilateral definite Ménière disease were enrolled in this study, including 20 patients with augmented oVEMPs and another 20 patients with reduced oVEMPs in the hydropic side. All patients underwent audiometry, caloric test, and oVEMP and cervical VEMP (cVEMP) tests via bone‐conducted vibration stimuli. Then, the oVEMP and cVEMP test results were compared with the stage of Ménière disease, respectively.

Results

The augmented group had earlier nI and pI latencies and larger nI‐pI amplitude of oVEMPs compared with the reduced group. Caloric test also revealed a significant difference in abnormal responses between the augmented and reduced groups. However, both groups did not differ significantly in the abnormal percentage of cVEMP test results. A significant trend to decline in the prevalence of augmented oVEMPs was noted from stages I to III‐IV but not in that of abnormal cVEMPs.

Conclusion

The augmented oVEMPs have earlier latencies and larger amplitudes compared with the reduced oVEMPs, indicating that a relatively larger population of intact utricular afferents is activated during the early stage of Ménière disease.
Preliminary Report of Vocal Fold Augmentation with Cross‐Linked Porcine Collagen
Authors: Wang Chi‐Te , Liao Li‐Jen , Huang Tsung‐Wei , Cheng Po‐Wen
Published: January 2012

Objective

To evaluate the short‐term outcomes of using cross‐linked porcine collagen for vocal fold augmentation.

Study Design

Case series with planned data collection.

Setting

Tertiary referral hospital.

Subjects and Methods

Twenty consecutive patients of unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP) were recruited, including 10 males and 10 females. All the subjects received videolaryngostroboscopic (VLS) evaluation for the glottic closure pattern, perceptual grading using the GRB scale (grade, roughness, breathiness), acoustic analysis, maximal phonation time (MPT), and Voice Handicap Index (VHI) questionnaire. Purified telopeptide‐free, glutaraldehyde cross‐linked porcine collagen was injected under local anesthesia with fiberscopic guidance.

Results

Treatment outcomes were evaluated 3 months after the injection. Fifteen (75%) of 20 patients reported complete resolution of symptoms, whereas the other 5 (25%) patients had substantial improvements. The median score of perceptual analysis of voice quality showed significant improvements from G2/R2/B2 to G1/R1/B0 (P <. 001). Glottic closure pattern under stroboscopy had improved from “predominantly open” before the procedure to a “half‐open and half‐close” pattern after the procedure (P <. 001). Acoustic analysis demonstrated significant improvements of jitter and normalized noise energy (P <. 05). Maximal phonation time revealed a significant improvement from 7.5 ± 3.2 seconds to 13.1 ± 3.9 seconds (P <. 01). The VHI had also decreased from 53 ± 25 points to 27 ± 20 points (P <. 01). No patients had serious adverse events during the follow‐up period.

Conclusion

This case series demonstrated that porcine collagen may be a suitable material for temporary vocal fold augmentation.
From a View to a Kill
Authors: Gregory Derek
Published: January 2012

The proponents of late modern war like to argue that it has become surgical, sensitive and scrupulous, and remotely operated Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or ‘drones’ have become diagnostic instruments in contemporary debates over the conjunction of virtual and ‘virtuous’ war. Advocates for the use of Predators and Reapers in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism campaigns have emphasized their crucial role in providing intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance, in strengthening the legal armature of targeting, and in conducting precision-strikes. Critics claim that their use reduces late modern war to a video game in which killing becomes casual. Most discussion has focused on the covert campaign waged by CIA-operated drones in Pakistan, but it is also vitally important to interrogate the role of United States Air Force-operated drones in Afghanistan. In doing so, it becomes possible to see that the problem there may not be remoteness and detachment but, rather, the sense of proximity to ground troops inculcated by the video feeds from the aerial platforms.
Signs of the Sky, Signs of the Times
Authors: Beck John
Published: January 2012

From Alfred Stieglitz to Trevor Paglen, photographs of the sky have engaged with the relationship between abstraction and representation. This article argues that Stieglitz’s attempt to convert the ‘natural’ abstraction of the sky into the ‘cultural’ abstraction of the modernist image opens a space through which recent photographers have moved to use the sky photograph as a means of interrogating issues of openness and concealment that are at once aesthetic and political. The invisibility of signs of military-industrial power embedded within airspace is, in Richard Misrach’s and Paglen’s photographs, registered but not exactly shown, since the capacity of the photograph to reveal the unseen is challenged by the effectiveness of contemporary modes of concealment. What is shown in these images, however, is the condition of hiddenness itself, which is encountered by Misrach and Paglen not only through the abstraction of the sky photographs but by situating those images within a discursive field – through the use of titles, captions and an explication of working methods – that regrounds the atmospheric as a spectacular function of power’s open secret.
Applied Modernism
Authors: Saint-Amour Paul K.
Published: January 2012

This article is about a period of technology transfer – the late 1910s and 1920s – when wartime aerial reconnaissance techniques and operations were being adapted to a range of civilian uses, including urban planning, land use analysis, traffic control, tax equalization, and even archaeology. At the center of the discussion is the ‘photomosaic’: a patchwork of overlapping aerial photographs that have been rectified and fit together so as to form a continuous survey of a territory. Initially developed during the First World War to provide coverage of fronts, photomosaic mapping was widely practiced and celebrated during the postwar years as an aid to urban development. The article traces both the refinements in photomosaic technology after the Armistice and the rhetorical means by which the form’s avant-garde wartime reputation was domesticated into an ‘applied realism’ that often effaced its site-specific perspective, its elaborately rectified optics, and the oppositionality of both its military and civilian uses. The article has a broader theoretical aim as well. Classic statements of both structuralist and post-structuralist spatial theory (Barthes and de Certeau are the primary examples here) have produced an ossified geometry wherein the vertical is the axis of paradigm, top-down strategy, and manipulative distance and the horizontal the axis of syntagm, grassroots tactics, and resistant proximities and differences. In its close study of the technology and rhetoric surrounding interwar photogrammetry, the article provides an example of how one might reverse the long-standing misrecognition of high-altitude optics as effacing time, difference, and materiality – and what it might mean to view such optics as, instead, a resource in turning from abstract toward differential conceptions of both aerial photography and our theoretical habits. This turn I call ‘applied modernism’, a term that accesses both the wartime photomosaic’s affiliation with avant-garde painting and its insistence that portraits of the total are always projections from partial, specific vantages.
Rubbish as a Consequence of the Ever More Refined Industrialization
Authors: Jin Huimin
Published: January 2012

This article argues that neither the city nor the commodity is ultimately responsible for rubbish, but rather industrialization: rubbish is a consequence, an evil effect, of industrialization, which aims to produce anything but nature, which is considered rough and tough, and therefore needs to be refined out.
Beijing Time, Black Snow and Magnificent Chaoyang
Authors: Donald Stephanie Hemelryk
Published: January 2012

Modern social order is premised on a shared conception of and obedience to a set of defined temporal systems. Time is therefore a powerful tool with which to layer, classify and police the nature of social order. This article explores the relationship between temporality and the social in China’s capital, Beijing. The article draws on observations of Chinese film of the 1990s, the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2011, and the Chaoyang district beautification campaign, to identify how temporal structures and symbols are traded and manipulated in the pursuit of political rectification and harmony. The article is based on an extended review of Michael Dutton’s recent book, Beijing Time, and refers its new observations to the examples and premises in that book, which are in turn informed by Dutton’s other work on policing and street life in China.
Project ‘Transparent Earth’ and the Autoscopy of Aerial Targeting
Authors: Bishop Ryan
Published: January 2012

The import of underground facilities in military strategy in the US grew exponentially after the Gulf War. The success of precision-guided conventional missiles meant that any above-ground building or complex could be accurately targeted and destroyed, thus driving states with less sophisticated weapons to go underground to secure space for covert weapons development and the protection of command and control centres for military and governmental functions. Underground facilities have thus become the main challenge to objects of detection and targeting practices for US military research and development. This article provides a meditation on the underground in relation to military planning and technology, the limits of aerial visual control of terrain, the plans by the US military to counter underground defensive moves, the efficacy of tele-technologies to detect and destroy such installations at a distance, and an oblique genealogy of aerial and subterrestrial strategies in relation to technologies to overcome the limitations of each. In so doing, the article argues a deeply connected relationship between the imaginary and the material in attempts to realize a mastery of space and populations essential to military operations, thus posing questions about sensory perception, the status of the subject with regard to agency and control, and the prosthetic outfitting of the subject that both supports and blunts agency and control.
The 20-Kilometer University
Authors: Phillips John W.P. , Benjamin Andrew , Bishop Ryan , Shiqiao Li , Lorenz Esther , Xiaodu Liu , Yan Meng
Published: January 2012

This piece presents the work of academics and architects in a collaborative venture. It provides an architectural design and a series of statements towards the hypothetical creation of an unconventional city centre in the Chinese city of Shenzhen. The idea is to create a linear university that would run the 20-kilometer length of the Shenzhen Strip: the 20K university. The contributors outline, in the diversity of their idioms, a complex spatial condition fundamental to life, and demonstrate new relationships between knowledge and the city. The design of the proposed ‘open university space’ responds to two simultaneous and interrelated challenges: that posed to architecture, and that posed to science. The university would embody the meeting of these at the intersection of the urban infrastructure and the knowledge infrastructure. The purpose is thus also to develop the notion of knowledge, embodied in institutions, as urban infrastructure.
Personality traits and marital satisfaction within enduring relationships
Authors: Claxton Amy , O’Rourke Norm , Smith JuliAnna Z. , DeLongis Anita
Published: January 2012

In this study of 125 heterosexual long-wed couples, we examined both spouses’ personality traits and relative differences in partner perceptions of personality as predictors of marital satisfaction, simultaneously for both husbands and wives. As hypothesized, each of the Big Five personality traits emerged as significantly associated with marital satisfaction though significant between-trait and between-sex differences were observed. Most notably, trait levels predicted marital satisfaction less consistently than positive reporting discrepancies (i.e., comparatively greater extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and lower neuroticism reported by spouses vis-à-vis their partners’ self-descriptions). While previous research points to a central role of neuroticism, our findings suggest that conscientiousness is the trait most broadly associated with marital satisfaction in this sample of long-wed couples. These differences between study findings may reflect change over the course of married life, the degree to which neuroticism determines divorce, overreliance on younger samples in previous marital research, or some combination of these three.
Effects of the combination of metyrapone and oxazepam on cocaine craving and cocaine taking: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled pilot study
Authors: Kablinger Anita S , Lindner Marie A , Casso Stephanie , Hefti Franz , DeMuth George , Fox Barbara S , McNair Lindsay A , McCarthy Bruce G , Goeders Nicholas E
Published: January 2012

Although cocaine dependence affects an estimated 1.6 million people in the USA, there are currently no medications approved for the treatment of this disorder. Experiments performed in animal models have demonstrated that inhibitors of the stress response effectively reduce intravenous cocaine self-administration. This exploratory, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was designed to assess the safety and efficacy of combinations of the cortisol synthesis inhibitor metyrapone, and the benzodiazepine oxazepam, in 45 cocaine-dependent individuals. The subjects were randomized to a total daily dose of 500 mg metyrapone/20 mg oxazepam (low dose), a total daily dose of 1500 mg metyrapone/20 mg oxazepam (high dose), or placebo for 6 weeks of treatment. The outcome measures were a reduction in cocaine craving and associated cocaine use as determined by quantitative measurements of the cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine (BE) in urine at all visits. Of the randomized subjects, 49% completed the study. The combination of metyrapone and oxazepam was well tolerated and tended to reduce cocaine craving and cocaine use, with significant reductions at several time points when controlling for baseline scores. These data suggest that further assessments of the ability of the metyrapone and oxazepam combination to support cocaine abstinence in cocaine-dependent subjects are warranted.
The hidden third: improving outcome in treatment-resistant depression
Authors: Schlaepfer Thomas E , Ågren Hans , Monteleone Palmiero , Gasto Cristobal , Pitchot William , Rouillon Frederick , Nutt David J , Kasper Siegfried
Published: January 2012

Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) presents many challenges for both patients and physicians. This review aims to evaluate the current status of the field of TRD and reflects the main findings of a consensus meeting held in September 2009. Literature searches were also conducted using PubMed and EMBASE. Abstracts of the retrieved articles were reviewed independently by the authors for inclusion. Evaluation of the clinical evidence in TRD is complicated by the absence of a validated definition, and there is a need to move away from traditional definitions of remission based on severity of symptoms to one that includes normalisation of functioning. One potential way of improving treatment of TRD is through the use of predictive biomarkers and clinical variables. The advent of new treatments may also help by focusing on neurotransmitters other than serotonin. Strategies such as the switching of antidepressants, use of combination therapy with lithium, atypical antipsychotics and other pharmacological agents can improve outcomes, and techniques such as deep brain stimulation and vagus nerve stimulation have shown promising early results. Despite consistent advances in the pharmacotherapy of mood disorders in the last decade, high rates of TRD are still a challenging aspect of overall management.
Marketing Education for the Next Four Billion
Authors: Rosa José Antonio
Published: January 2012

This article argues for a third transformation in marketing pedagogy, one made necessary by the emergence of subsistence consumers as a high-growth market segment. Continued double-digit growth in buying power and consumption among the world’s poor appear certain, provided that the subsistence merchants serving such markets are effective. Ensuring such effectiveness, however, demands the training of millions of such marketers, which in turn requires the development of pedagogical approaches that take into account their unique capabilities, characteristics, and orientation. The article begins with a brief review of the historical record of transformation in marketing education in response to market changes, and then moves into a detailed description of subsistence merchants and the challenges they present to contemporary marketing education practices. Focus then shifts to the Marketplace Literacy Project (MLP) and its evolving methodologies for teaching marketing to subsistence merchants in India. The article concludes with takeaways from Marketplace Literacy Project’s efforts that are generalizable to other subsistence contexts and serve to inspire marketing educators to devote energy and resources to improving marketing effectiveness among the global poor.
Gender Differences in Personal Selling Ethics Evaluations
Authors: Donoho Casey , Heinze Timothy , Kondo Christopher
Published: January 2012

Sales career opportunities are growing, and the number of women in sales is increasing. Educators must adequately prepare both men and women for today’s ethical sales dilemmas. Using the Personal Selling Ethics Scale, the current study analyzes the impact of idealism and relativism on the sales ethics evaluations of men and women. Results indicate that women evaluate sales ethics scenarios as less ethical than males and that varying positions on these ethical frameworks partially explain the divergence. Results also imply that today’s sales educators should primarily emphasize moral idealism when teaching sales ethics. Ethical codes and situation-based frameworks can aid this effort. When teaching relativistic individuals, educators can supplement idealistic methods via the use of cognitive moral development frameworks.
Aquaporin-4 antibodies are not present in patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension
Authors: Ekizoglu Esme , Içoz Sema , Tuzun Erdem , Birisik Omer , Kocasoy-Orhan Elif , Akman-Demir Gulsen , Baykan Betul
Published: January 2012

Objectives: We aimed to investigate anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP-4) water channel antibodies, affecting cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) secretion and absorption, in idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) patients.

Methods: Patients fulfilling the modified Dandy’s diagnostic criteria for IIH were included and their clinical features and CSF findings were reviewed. Their serum samples and control groups were investigated by immunofluorescence and a cell-based assay for anti-AQP-4 antibodies and by immunohistochemistry for IgG binding patterns.

Results: Twenty-nine patients diagnosed with IIH were investigated. We could not detect any anti-AQP-4 antibodies in our series. However, we identified different serum IgG binding patterns in 11 IIH patients.

Conclusion: There is only one report investigating the anti-AQP4 antibodies in IIH. Our study with a larger sample confirmed the results of this report and indicated that AQP4 antibodies did not have a primary role in IIH pathogenesis, but provided some support for the contribution of inflammatory mechanisms in IIH.
Prospective Analysis of Failure Rate and Predictors of Failure After Anatomic Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction With Allograft
Authors: van Eck Carola F. , Schkrohowsky Joshua G. , Working Zachary M. , Irrgang James J. , Fu Freddie H.
Published: January 2012

Background: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction is one of the most frequently performed orthopaedic procedures. Failures are a reality of surgery; to limit failures, we must first understand and quantify them.

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to determine the rate and factors associated with graft failure after anatomic ACL reconstruction performed with allograft.

Study design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4.

Methods: All consecutive subjects who underwent anatomic single- or double-bundle ACL reconstruction with allograft between January 2007 and December 2009 were included and followed clinically. Graft failure was defined as patient-reported instability, pathological laxity during the physical examination, or evidence of a failed graft on magnetic resonance imaging or during arthroscopy. Potential predictors of graft failure that were explored included subject age, sex, height, weight, body mass index, meniscus injury, and time of return to preinjury sports.

Results: There were 206 subjects included in this study: 168 double-bundle and 38 single-bundle reconstructions. Overall, 27 (13%) subjects experienced graft failure. Twenty-three (13%) double-bundle subjects failed. The characteristics associated with double-bundle graft failure were younger age (19 vs 25 years, P < .001) and earlier return to sports (at 222 vs 267 days, P = .007). Four (11%) of the single-bundle subjects failed. The characteristics associated with single-bundle graft failure were younger age (19 vs 24 years, P = .049) and increased body mass (83 vs 65 kg, P = .031).

Conclusion: The overall graft failure rate after anatomic ACL reconstruction with allograft was 13%. Younger age, earlier return to sports, and a higher body weight were associated with graft failure.
Hindfoot Joint Pressure in Supination Sprains
Authors: Krause Fabian , Blatter Stefanie , Waehnert Dirk , Windolf Markus , Weber Martin
Published: January 2012

Background: Hindfoot trauma including ankle and subtalar sprains may be followed by osteochondral lesions and persisting pain originating from posttraumatic arthritis.

Hypothesis: “Acute severe” supination sprains and “mild supination sprains with increasing ligamentous incompetence” of the hindfoot lead to medial ankle and subtalar stress concentrations that may contribute to osteochondral lesions (OCLs) and subsequent arthritis.

Study Design: Controlled laboratory study.

Methods: “Acute severe” sprains and “mild sprains with increasing ligamentous incompetence” (consecutive anterior talofibular ligament [ATFL], calcaneofibular ligament [CFL], and lateral talocalcaneal ligament [LTCL] transections) were simulated in human lower leg specimens (7 different specimens for each condition). The effect on the migration of the center of force (COF) and on the tibiotalar and subtalar pressures at 700-N (acute severe) and 150-N (mild sprain with increasing ligamentous incompetence) axial static and dynamic loads, respectively, was recorded using pressure sensors.

Results: In the “acute severe” sprain, the peak pressure increase reached the level of significance in the ankle ( P = .042) and in the subtalar medial facet ( P = .046). The ankle COF migrated significantly toward the medial ( P = .001) and posterior ( P = .023) directions. In the “mild sprain with increasing ligamentous incompetence” condition, the ankle ( P = .018) and subtalar (medial facet, P = .022) peak pressure increased significantly with intact ligaments and with all ligaments cut. The ankle COF migrated significantly toward the medial direction when the ATFL and CFL or when all 3 ligaments were severed. The anteroposterior ankle COF migration was anterior when all ligaments were intact or when only the ATFL was severed but posterior when the CFL or when the CFL and the LTCL were severed in addition.

Conclusion: Next to chronic inhomogeneous load distribution in the unstable hindfoot and shear stress during sprains, intra-articular pressure elevation (impact) in the ankle and subtalar joint during hindfoot supination sprains with intact ligaments or incompetent ligaments likely contributes to OCLs of the medial talar dome and the medial subtalar facet.

Clinical Relevance: Intra-articular hindfoot pressure elevation (impact) in “acute severe” and in “mild hindfoot supination sprains with increasing ligamentous incompetence” is substantial for the development of OCLs at the medial midtalar dome and the medial facet of the subtalar joint.
Ultrasound-Guided Sclerosis of Neovessels in Patellar Tendinopathy
Authors: Hoksrud Aasne , Torgalsen Thomas , Harstad Herlof , Haugen Simen , Andersen Thor Einar , Risberg May Arna , Bahr Roald
Published: January 2012

Background: A randomized controlled study has shown promising clinical results after treatment with sclerosing injections in a group of patients with patellar tendinopathy, but no study has investigated medium- or long-term outcome in a large and unselected group of patients.

Purpose: To investigate if sclerosing treatment would affect the level of patellar tendon pain and knee function after 24 months in a large group of patients with patellar tendinopathy.

Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4.

Methods: This prospective study recruited patients with a clinical diagnosis of jumper’s knee and visible neovascularization corresponding to the painful area on power Doppler ultrasound. They received up to a maximum of 5 ultrasound-guided sclerosing injections using polidocanol at 4- to 6-week intervals. Knee pain and function were recorded using the Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment–Patella (VISA-P) score before treatment and 6, 12, and 24 months after the first injection.

Results: In total, 101 patients (15 women and 86 men) with 120 tendons were included and given from 1 to 5 sclerosing injections (mean [SD], 2.5 [0.9]). The patients reported a significantly improved VISA-P score from baseline (mean, 39; 95% confidence interval [CI], 36-42) to the 24-month follow-up (mean, 65; 95% CI, 60-70) (range, 21-100; P < .001, paired t test). However, a VISA-P score of >95 points was reported in only 22 cases (20%), whereas 37 cases (36%) reported a VISA-P score of <50 at 24 months.

Conclusion: Sclerosing treatment with polidocanol resulted in a moderate improvement in knee function and reduced pain in a heterogeneous group of patients with patellar tendinopathy. Nevertheless, few of the patients were cured, and the majority still had reduced function and substantial pain after 24 months of follow-up.
Unlikely Optimists, Skeptics, and Believers
Authors: Halpern-Meekin Sarah
Published: January 2012

Attitudes formed in adolescence create a foundation for family-formation decisions in adulthood. Drawing on qualitative interviews with fifty American adolescents, this article details five relationship-relevant factors that emerge in the teens’ discussions of their relationship views. These are personal communication style, divorce acceptance, relationship efficacy, preferred family-formation timing and sequencing, and romantic relationship examples seen growing up. There is systematic variation in the teens’ views along these factors, which cluster together into distinct relationship orientations that range in their skepticism of romantic relationships in general and marriage specifically. These relationship orientations among adolescents are compared with those in previous research on college student samples. The importance of these findings for adolescent-focused relationship education is discussed.
To Bully or Not to Bully, That Is Not the Question
Authors: Houghton Stephen John , Nathan Elijah , Taylor Myra
Published: January 2012

Twenty-eight early adolescent boys and girls suspended from school for bullying provided accounts of the importance of reputation in their daily lives, specifically how they initiated, promoted, and then maintained their reputation through bullying. Overall, bullying was a deliberate choice perpetrated to attain a nonconforming reputation and was initially promoted through visibility of physical bullying. These actions became more covert, particularly among girls, during the promotion phase. Sex differences were most marked in the maintenance phase. Although both boys and girls used cyber bullying to deliberately induce a sense of apprehension and fear, boys also deliberately damaged their victim’s houses and gardens outside of school hours to induce a greater sense of fear and hence maintain their nonconforming reputation.