bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Incidence and risk of hypertension with vandetanib in cancer patients: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of clinical trials
Authors: Qi Wei‐Xiang , Shen Zan , Lin Feng , Sun Yuan‐jue , Min Da‐liu , Tang Li‐Na , He Ai‐Na , Yao Yang
Published: August 2012

Aim

To perform a systematic review and meta‐analysis of published clinical trials to determine incidence rate and overall risk of hypertension with vandetanib in cancer patients.

Methods

A comprehensive literature search for studies published up to March 2012 was performed. Summary incidence rates, relative risk (RR), and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated employing fixed‐ or random‐effects models depending on the heterogeneity of the included trials.

Results

A total of 11 trials with 3154 patients were included for the meta‐analysis. The summary incidences of all‐grade and high‐grade hypertension in patients with cancer were 24.2% [95% confidence interval (CI), 18.1–30.2%] and 6.4% (95% CI, 3.3–9.5%), respectively. Subgroup analysis demonstrated that the pooled incidences of all‐grade and high‐grade hypertension were 21.8% [95% CI, 15–30.5%] and 7.6% (95% CI, 2.8–18.8%), respectively, among non‐small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, and 32.1% (95% CI: 27.3–37.3%) and 8.8% (5.9%–12.9%), respectively, among MTC patients, and 15.4 (95% CI: 3.2–33.7%) and 3.4% (95% CI: 1%–11.1%) respectively, among non‐MTC/NSCLC tumors patients. Furthermore, vandetanib was associated with a significant increased risk of all‐grade hypertension (RR 5.1, 95% CI: 3.76–6.92, P = 0.000) and high‐grade hypertension (RR 8.06, 95% CI: 3.41–19.04, P = 0.000) in comparison with controls.

Conclusions

There is a significant risk of developing hypertension in cancer patients receiving vandetanib. Appropriate monitoring and treatment is strongly recommended to prevent cardiovascular complications.
FOXE1 polymorphisms are associated with familial and sporadic nonmedullary thyroid cancer susceptibility
Authors: Tomaz Rute A. , Sousa Inês , Silva Joana G. , Santos Catarina , Teixeira Manuel R. , Leite Valeriano , Cavaco Branca M.
Published: August 2012

Objective

FOXE1 is a transcription factor required for thyroid differentiation and function. FOXE1 locus polymorphisms (chromosome 9q22.33) were recently associated with increased sporadic thyroid cancer risk. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association of FOXE1 variants with nonmedullary thyroid cancer (NMTC), in both sporadic and familial (FNMTC) cases from the Portuguese population.

Design and Methods

Nine variants located at the FOXE1 locus were sequenced in genomic DNA from 60 FNMTC probands and 80 patients with sporadic NMTC. Alleles were tested for association with thyroid cancer, against 130 healthy matched Portuguese controls.

Results

All variants were significantly associated with increased thyroid cancer risk when combining familial and sporadic cases (OR range = 1·62–2·58). In particular, two reported risk variants were associated with the disease: rs965513 (allele A) with familial (OR = 2·30, 95% CI = 1·48–3·59, P = 0·0002) and sporadic (OR = 2·81, 95% CI = 1·87–4·22, P < 0·0001) NMTC and rs1867277 (allele A) with the sporadic (OR = 1·76, 95% CI = 1·18–2·62, P = 0·0052) and combined NMTC cases (OR = 1·70, 95% CI = 1·21–2·40, P = 0·0022). Interestingly, we also identified association of FOXE1 polyalanine tract expansions (>14 alanines) with thyroid cancer risk, in both familial (OR = 2·56, 95% CI = 1·64–4·01, P < 0·0001) and sporadic (OR = 2·44, 95% CI = 1·61–3·68, P < 0·0001) cases.

Conclusions

We found compelling evidence of association between FOXE1 variants and thyroid cancer risk in the Portuguese population. To our knowledge, this is the first study supporting the association of this locus with both sporadic and familial NMTC susceptibility.
Treatment of hypovitaminosis D with pharmacologic doses of cholecalciferol, oral vs intramuscular; an open labeled RCT
Authors: Zabihiyeganeh Mozhdeh , Jahed Adel , Nojomi Marzieh
Published: August 2012

Objective

Vitamin D deficiency is a worldwide health problem. Usual supplements are inadequate for prevention of hypovitaminosis D, and much higher doses are needed for its treatment. This study was designed to compare the efficacy and practicality of high‐dose intramuscular and oral cholecalciferol in treatment of hypovitaminosis D and to evaluate durability of the effect of each remedy.

Design

Ninety‐two patients with hypovitaminosis D [serum 25(OH) D level < 75 nmol/l] were enrolled in a randomised clinical trial. Participants were randomly assigned to receive 300 000 IU cholecalciferol, either intramuscularly as a single injection or orally in six divided doses during 3 months period. Serum 25(OH) D level was measured at baseline and at 3 and 6 months.

Results

Both treatment regimens significantly increased the serum 25(OH)D level. Delta change in serum 25(OH) D level from baseline (presented as mean ± SEM) at month 3 was significantly higher in oral than injection group (90 ± 11·2 and 58·8 ± 8·9 nmol/l, respectively, P = 0·03); but was similar at 6th month intervention (52·1 ± 7·6 and 62·2 ± 6·7 nmol/l, respectively, P = 0·32). There was a marginally significant trend in favour of oral group in the proportion of cases attained vitamin D adequacy at 6th month (P = 0·06); but still 15% of all patients remained at < 50 nmol/l.

Conclusion

Both regimens were considerably effective, safe and practical in treating hypovitaminosis D. Although we revealed superiority of oral route, at least at early short time, the way of treatment may depend on the patient's choice, compliance and availability of various forms of the drug in any regions.
Tidal geomorphology affects phytoplankton at the transition from forested streams to tidal rivers
Authors: ENSIGN SCOTT H. , DOYLE MARTIN W. , PIEHLER MICHAEL F.
Published: August 2012

1. Coastal rivers can have long tidally influenced reaches that are affected by tides but do not contain saline water. These tidal freshwater reaches have steep geomorphic gradients where the river transitions from narrow, heavily shaded streams to wide, unshaded channels. The influence of these gradients on river ecosystem production is poorly understood.

2. We characterised gradients in irradiance, geomorphology, water clarity and chlorophyll a along 9‐ to 16‐km tidal freshwater reaches of the Newport and White Oak Rivers in North Carolina, USA, and examined the effect of nutrient enrichment on phytoplankton growth in the Newport River. Underwater irradiance was modelled at 2–4 week intervals along both rivers using measurements of the above‐canopy irradiance, canopy cover, water column light attenuation (Kd) and water depth. Suspended material (TSS), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and chlorophyll a were sampled at 2‐week interval at five sites on the Newport River and on four dates at four sites on the White Oak River over the course of one year.

3. Phytoplankton nutrient limitation was assessed at three locations along the tidal gradient. River water was collected during March, April, June and October, and incubated in 10‐L plastic outdoor containers under ambient water temperature and sunlight. Additions of inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus served as treatments; growth rate during the 4 days of incubation was calculated from the change in chlorophyll a concentration over time.

4. Canopy cover decreased from more than 90% to <10% over the length of both tidal freshwater rivers. Water column irradiance and phytoplankton biomass increased as tree canopy cover decreased and channel width increased. Channel width exceeded predictions for non‐tidal rivers by threefold because of tidal influence. TSS and DOC decreased significantly along the length of the Newport River, but no significant gradients were observed in the White Oak River. Kd did not vary along the tidal gradient of either river.

5. Mesocosm experiments indicated that inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus enhanced the growth of phytoplankton advected from the non‐tidal river into the tidal freshwater river during spring and summer. Phytoplankton in the tidal freshwater reach were generally not nutrient limited.

6. Tidal hydrology (in the absence of saltwater) directly affected the morphology of the channel and indirectly affected biological growth and production. The significant increase in river width, irradiance and phytoplankton biomass distinguished these tidal freshwater ecosystems from their upstream (non‐tidal fluvial) counterparts, while the strong influence of riparian shading distinguished them from the saline estuaries downstream. Future development of ecosystem and biogeochemical models for tidal freshwater rivers will benefit from the linkages between geomorphology and biological processes identified here.
Morphological features of coronary arteries and lesions in hearts from five species of sharks collected from the northwestern Atlantic Ocean
Authors: Borucinska J D , Obasa O A , Haffey N M , Scott J P , Williams L N , Baker S M , Min S J , Kaplan A , Mudimala R
Published: August 2012

Morphological features of coronary arteries and incidental lesions are reported from hearts in five species of sharks, the shortfin mako shark, Isurus oxyrhinchus Rafinesque, thresher shark Alopias vulpinus (Bonaterre), blue shark, Prionace glauca L., the smooth dogfish, Mustelus canis (Mitchill), and spiny dogfish, Squalus acanthias L. Sharks were collected from the northwestern Atlantic between June and August from 1996 to 2010. They were necropsied dockside and the hearts were preserved in buffered formalin. Routine sections including ventricle/conus arteriosus and the atrio‐ventricular junctions were embedded in paraffin, stained with common histological and immunohistochemical methods and examined by brightfield microscopy. Myointimal hyperplasia, medial myo‐myxomatous hyperplasia and bifurcation pads were observed commonly, and medial muscle reorientation and epicardial myeloid tissues were rare. All the above features differed in severity, prevalence and distribution depending on anatomical site and shark species/size. Morphometric analysis indicated that myomyxomatous hyperplasia is associated with luminal narrowing of blood vessels. As suggested previously, the described morphological features are most likely physiological responses to blood flow characteristics. Vascular and cardiac lesions were uncommon and included, granulomatous proliferative epicarditis with fibroepitheliomas, myxomatous epicardial expansions, medial arterial vacuolation, myocardial fibrosis, acute ventricular emboli and parasitic granulomas. The lesions of embolism, proliferative and granulomatous epicarditis and myocardial fibrosis were in all sharks associated with capture events including retained fishing hooks. The significance and aetiopathogenesis of medial vacuolation and epicardial myxomatous expansions remains unclear.
Masticatory muscle disorders diagnostic criteria: the American Academy of Orofacial Pain versus the research diagnostic criteria/temporomandibular disorders (RDC/TMD)
Authors: REITER S. , GOLDSMITH C. , EMODI‐PERLMAN A. , FRIEDMAN‐RUBIN P. , WINOCUR E.
Published: August 2012

Summary  In this study, relevant cases were retrospectively reviewed to identify patients who were diagnosed as suffering from myofascial pain only according to the research diagnostic criteria/temporomandibular disorders (RDC/TMD) criteria, in order to examine whether or not they could fulfil the American Academy of Orofacial Pain (AAOP) diagnostic criteria for TMD‐related masticatory muscle disorders. One hundred and twenty‐seven patients, diagnosed according to the RDC/TMD criteria as having myofascial pain with or without limited jaw opening only, were allocated to two groups according to their answers to the RDC/TMD ‘jaw disability checklist’. The two groups were compared for Axis I and II data taken from the RDC/TMD questionnaire. Thirty‐eight of the patients (29·9%) did not associate their symptoms with jaw functions (e.g. chewing and yawning). This group was characterised by increased range of motion (ROM) and older average age. The AAOP diagnostic criteria for TMD require pain on function in all subtypes of TMD‐related muscle disorders. An association between pain and jaw function is common and research is needed to determine whether this should be categorised differently to muscle pain unrelated to jaw function. There may well be different pathophysiological mechanisms and consequently different management strategies for these two pain conditions.
A cross‐sectional study: non‐carious cervical lesions, cervical dentine hypersensitivity and related risk factors
Authors: Que K. , Guo B. , Jia Z. , Chen Z. , Yang J. , Gao P.
Published: August 2012

The present survey aims to study the prevalence and clinical characteristics of non‐carious cervical lesions (NCCLs) and cervical dentine hypersensitivity (CDH), as well as their possible risk factors in a general population in China. A total of 1023 subjects were included in the present study. Each subject completed a structured interview, and all teeth of each subject were examined by a practitioner to determine NCCLs and CDH. Teeth with NCCLs and CDH were diagnosed according to the tooth wear index and by a blast of air from a triple syringe, respectively. Binary logistic regression was completed by analysing the association of risk factors with the occurrence of NCCLs and CDH. Loss of attachment (LOA) and gingival recession (GR) of teeth with NCCLs and/or CDH were measured using Williams periodontal probe. The diagnoses of NCCLs and CDH established following a clinical assessment yielded an overall prevalence of 61·7% and 27·1%, respectively. The 60–69 age group had the greatest proportion of subjects with NCCLs or CDH. The pre‐molars were the most commonly affected teeth type with NCCLs or CDH. The proportion of teeth with CDH associated with NCCLs increased significantly with age, but the proportion of teeth with CDH only associated with LOA or GR decreased slowly with age. The single variables and interactive effects of variables associated with the occurrence of NCCLs include the following: age group, occupation type, method of toothbrushing, frequency and method of toothbrushing, and method of toothbrushing and duration of a toothbrush used. Gender, age group, occupation type and frequency of toothbrushing were associated with the occurrence of CDH. The current study presented higher prevalence of NCCLs and CDH in a general Chinese population. Both diseases were closely associated with age and periodontal status. The portion of the population with NCCLs or CDH had different risk factors.
Fully automatic measuring system for assessing masticatory performance using β‐carotene‐containing gummy jelly
Authors: Nokubi T. , Yasui S. , Yoshimuta Y. , Kida M. , Kusunoki C. , Ono T. , Maeda Y. , Nokubi F. , Yokota K. , Yamamoto T.
Published: August 2012

Despite the importance of masticatory performance in health promotion, assessment of masticatory performance has not been widely conducted to date because the methods are labour intensive. The purpose of this study is to investigate the accuracy of a novel system for automatically measuring masticatory performance that uses β‐carotene‐containing gummy jelly. To investigate the influence of rinsing time on comminuted jelly pieces expectorated from the oral cavity, divided jelly pieces were treated with two types of dye solution and then rinsed for various durations. Changes in photodiode (light receiver) voltages from light emitted through a solution of dissolved β‐carotene from jelly pieces under each condition were compared with those of unstained jelly. To investigate the influence of dissolving time, changes in light receiver voltage resulting from an increase in division number were compared between three dissolving times. For all forms of divided test jelly and rinsing times, no significant differences in light receiver voltage were observed between any of the stain groups and the control group. Voltages decreased in a similar manner for all forms of divided jelly as dissolving time increased. The highest coefficient of determination (R2 = 0·979) between the obtained voltage and the increased surface area of each divided jelly was seen at the 10 s dissolving time. These results suggested that our fully automatic system can estimate the increased surface area of comminuted gummy jelly as a parameter of masticatory performance with high accuracy after rinsing and dissolving operations of 10 s each.
Cryptic species, native populations and biological invasions by a eucalypt forest pathogen
Authors: PÉREZ GUILLERMO , SLIPPERS BERNARD , WINGFIELD MICHAEL J. , WINGFIELD BRENDA D. , CARNEGIE ANGUS J. , BURGESS TREENA I.
Published: August 2012

Human‐associated introduction of pathogens and consequent invasions is very evident in areas where no related organisms existed before. In areas where related but distinct populations or closely related cryptic species already exist, the invasion process is much harder to unravel. In this study, the population structure of theEucalyptusleaf pathogenTeratosphaeria nubilosawas studied within its native range in Australia, including both commercial plantations and native forests. A collection of 521 isolates from across its distribution was characterized using eight microsatellite loci, resulting in 112 multilocus haplotypes (MLHs). Multivariate and Bayesian analyses of the population conducted instructurerevealed three genetically isolated groups (A, B and C), with no evidence for recombination or hybridization among groups, even when they co‐occur in the same plantation. DNA sequence data of the ITS (n = 32), β‐tubulin (n = 32) and 27 anonymous loci (n = 16) were consistent with microsatellite data in suggesting thatT. nubilosashould be considered as a species complex. Patterns of genetic diversity provided evidence of biological invasions by the pathogen within Australia in the states of Western Australia and New South Wales and helped unravel the pattern of invasion beyond Australia into New Zealand, Brazil and Uruguay. No significant genetic differences in pathogen populations collected in native forests and commercial plantations were observed. This emphasizes the importance of sanitation in the acquisition of nursery stock for the establishment of commercial plantations.
Population genetic structure and its implications for adaptive variation in memory and the hippocampus on a continental scale in food‐caching black‐capped chickadees
Authors: Pravosudov V. V. , Roth T. C. , Forister M. L. , LaDage L. D. , Burg T. M. , Braun M. J. , Davidson B. S.
Published: August 2012

Food‐caching birds rely on stored food to survive the winter, and spatial memory has been shown to be critical in successful cache recovery. Both spatial memory and the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in spatial memory, exhibit significant geographic variation linked to climate‐based environmental harshness and the potential reliance on food caches for survival. Such geographic variation has been suggested to have a heritable basis associated with differential selection. Here, we ask whether population genetic differentiation and potential isolation among multiple populations of food‐caching black‐capped chickadees is associated with differences in memory and hippocampal morphology by exploring population genetic structure within and among groups of populations that are divergent to different degrees in hippocampal morphology. Using mitochondrial DNA and 583 AFLP loci, we found that population divergence in hippocampal morphology is not significantly associated with neutral genetic divergence or geographic distance, but instead is significantly associated with differences in winter climate. These results are consistent with variation in a history of natural selection on memory and hippocampal morphology that creates and maintains differences in these traits regardless of population genetic structure and likely associated gene flow.
The energy value of biodiesel glycerine products fed to broilers at different ages
Authors: Lima E. M. C. , Rodrigues P. B. , Alvarenga R. R. , Bernardino V. M. P. , Makiyama L. , Lima R. R. , Cantarelli V. S. , Zangeronimo M. G.
Published: August 2012

The objective of this study was to determine the apparent metabolisable energy corrected for nitrogen balance (AMEn) of some products containing glycerine from soybean oil (GOIL), a mixture of frying oil and lard (GMIX) and a semi‐purified process (GSP) in broilers of different ages (10, 20, 30 and 40 days post‐hatching), using two methodologies. In trial 1, the basal diets were replaced with 100 g/kg of each studied glycerine product and the diets were supplied ad libitum. Three hundred broilers were used in five replicates, with five, four, three and three animals per cage in each age group, respectively. The AMEn was calculated for each experimental unit. In trial 2, dietary treatments included the addition of glycerine at 0, 40, 80 or 120 g/kg for each crude glycerine product, with 900 broilers in six replicates, using the same number of animals per cage as described in trial 1. Depending on the experimental unit, the feeding was restricted in 88%, 92%, 96% and 100% of estimated intake according to the Cobb guide. The AMEn was determined using linear regression between the feed intake and the AMEn of each diet. In both trials, the total excreta collection method was used. Because of the chemical composition, GMIX was not considered crude glycerine. The mean AMEn values of the products were 20.55 MJ/kg, 15.80 MJ/kg and 15.05 MJ/kg for GMIX, GSP and GOIL, respectively. There was a linear decrease (p < 0.01) in the AMEn values with the increasing age of the broilers. Numerically, it was observed that the AMEn values decreased until 28–30 day post‐hatching and then remained constant until the finishing phase. It is concluded that products containing glycerine can be used as an energy source for broilers, but that AMEn values can vary according to age. Younger broilers have a higher capacity of energy utilisation from these feedstuffs.
Occurrence of infection among children with nephrotic syndrome during hospitalizations
Authors: WEI CHANG‐CHING , YU I‐WEN , LIN HSIANG‐WEN , TSAI ALAN C
Published: August 2012

Aim:  The present study was conducted to investigate the trends of childhood nephrotic syndrome (NS) admissions and factors associated with childhood NS admissions with major infections in Taiwan.

Methods:  A retrospective analysis was performed using Taiwan National Health Research Insurance Database (NHIRD) to explore the associated factors and health care burden for childhood NS admissions with major infections in 1997 to 2007.

Results:  Of 133 927 children, a total of 176 children had NS, which incurred 508 hospital admissions. Nineteen percent of admissions were associated with major infections. Pneumonia was the most common infection (49%), followed by urinary tract infection (UTI), bacteraemia/sepsis, peritonitis and cellulitis. Pneumonia was the most common infection among children age younger than 10 years, whereas UTI was more common among children aged greater than 10 years. NS admission with infections had longer periods of hospital length of stay and higher hospital total costs compared to those without infections. Regression analysis reveals that younger age, regional hospitals, admission hospital located in middle and south areas and admission made in spring were associated with increased risk for developing major infections.

Conclusions:  While 19% of childhood NS admissions were associated with major infections, young age, admissions made in spring, located in middle and south Taiwan and in regional hospitals were the major associated factors for infection. Age plays an important role in risk and types of infection.
Spine surgery outcomes in a workers' compensation cohort
Authors: Harris Ian A. , Dantanarayana Nandu , Naylor Justine M.
Published: August 2012

Introduction

Lumbar spine surgery (fusion, disc replacement or decompression) is common, yet indications are unclear and outcomes, particularly in a workers' compensation setting, are not consistently favourable. This study aimed to determine the outcomes of spine surgery in an Australian workers' compensation cohort.

Methods

A retrospective review of prospectively collected data from WorkCover NSW and insurer agents was performed. Subjects were included if they had lumbar spine decompression, fusion or disc replacement procedures performed between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2006 (inclusive). Main outcome measures were as follows: need for further lumbar spine surgery, return to work (RTW), return to pre‐injury duties (PID) and need for ongoing physical treatment or prescription opioids. All outcomes were measured at 24 months post‐surgery.

Results

A total of 476 patients had undergone lumbar spine surgery within the workers' compensation system. The revision surgery rate was 9.2%. The RTW rate and return to PID rate were 50.3% and 14.2%, respectively. The proportion of patients still undergoing treatment was 77.7%. The rates of RTW (or PID) and need for ongoing treatment were significantly worse in patients undergoing fusion and disc replacement, compared with patients undergoing decompressive procedures (laminectomy, discectomy).

Discussion

The findings do not support the use of lumbar spine fusion or disc replacement surgery as a method of achieving RTW and relief of pain in patients treated under workers' compensation.
Effect of the elderly and increasing injury severity on acute hospital resource utilization in a cohort of inner city trauma patients
Authors: Dinh Michael M. , McNamara Kylie , Bein Kendall J. , Roncal Susan , Barnes Elizabeth H. , McBride Kate , Byrne Christopher M.
Published: August 2012

Objective

This study aimed to determine the relative effect of elderly patients and increasing injury severity on acute hospital costs and inpatient length of stay.

Methods

A prospective study of all trauma team activations at a single inner city trauma centre was conducted over a 1‐year period. Costs were imputed using Australian Refined Diagnosis‐Related Groups. Costs and inpatient length of stays were compared between elderly (age ≥65 years) and non‐elderly patients. Relative effects of increasing injury severity score (ISS) and age categories were modelled using generalized linear regression.

Results

Over the study period, 1096 consecutive patients were studied. Falls were the most common mechanism and contributed the highest proportion of aggregate costs. There was a moderately high correlation between cost and ISS (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient 0.65, P < 0.001). Median costs for elderly patients were around three times higher than that for non‐elderly patients and median length of stay was over twice that of non‐elderly patients (7 days versus 3 days, P < 0.001). After adjusting for injury severity, the predicted costs of elderly trauma patients were around 30% higher compared with non‐elderly patients. An increasing effect of injury severity on cost was observed across minor and major trauma.

Conclusion

Both injury severity and elderly patients have a significant impact on acute hospital costs across the spectrum of major and minor trauma.
Single purse string with four‐point traction for better haemorrhoid retraction
Authors: Chen Shao‐Quan , Cai Ai‐Zhen , Wang Ning , Chen Lin
Published: August 2012

Background

Traction method is important to stapled haemorrhoidopexy (SH) for its impact on haemorrhoidal prolapse reduction. Single purse string with one‐point traction is most commonly used in SH. This traction method often results in an irregular mucosal doughnut with inadequate height, which leads to insignificant and uneven haemorrhoidal prolapse reduction. Single purse string with two‐point traction is a modified traction method. According to some authors, it has significantly improved the height and regularity of the mucosal doughnut in SH. However, the reduction of haemorrhoidal prolapse is not always satisfactory, especially in patients with large prolapse. Our assumption is that single purse string with four‐point traction, a more balanced traction method, will provide better control to increase the doughnut height using the same amount of traction. This study was designed to evaluate the outcomes of single purse string with four‐point traction as compared with two‐point traction in SH.

Methods

Consecutive patients with symptomatic grade III haemorrhoids were randomized to two groups: Group 1, G1; Group 2, G2. Each group underwent SH by colorectal surgeons. The patients in G1 underwent single purse string with two‐point traction. The patients in G2 underwent SH using single purse string with four‐point traction. Preoperative, intraoperative and post‐operative patient characteristics were evaluated.

Results

Sixty patients with a median age of 44 (range, 21–78) years were identified. Patient demographic and clinical characteristics were similar in the two groups. The height of the mucosectomy specimens significantly increased in patients of G2 (P < 0.01, t‐test). The variation in mucosal doughnut height significantly decreased in patients of G2 (P < 0.01, t‐test). The anatomy score after SH also significantly decreased in patients of G
2 (P = 0.029, Mann–Whitney U‐test). No significant difference in complications was observed between the two groups. Median follow‐up was 14 (range, 6–22) months. No haemorrhoidal symptoms were found in these patients.

Conclusion

Single purse string with four‐point traction ensures a taller and more regular mucosal doughnut during SH, thus it brings a more satisfactory haemorrhoid retraction.
Enhancing motivation to change in eating disorders with an online self‐help program
Authors: Leung Sau Fong , Ma Joyce , Russell Janice
Published: August 2012

Ambivalence to change is a major obstacle to treating people with eating disorders. Enhancing motivation to change can contribute to recovery from the disorders. This study used an Internet‐based self‐help program developed in the Asia–Pacific region to identify the motivational stages of change in people with eating disorders. It explored their perceptions of the benefits and costs of taking action against their eating disorders, and assessed their involvement in motivational enhancement exercises and their improvement in eating disorder psychopathology. A total of 185 participants, aged 16–50 years (mean age, 26.5) were involved in the open‐trial program with a motivational enhancement component and completed the Motivational Stages of Change Questionnaire (MSCARED), the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire version 5 (EDE‐Q5) and the Eating Disorder Inventory version 3 (EDI‐3). The results show that more participants perceived the benefits of taking action against their eating disorders than the costs. Completer analysis shows that they experienced significant improvement in motivational stages of change and eating disorder psychopathology, from a baseline assessment to 1‐month and 3‐month follow ups. The self‐help program has potential benefit for people with eating disorders and its use could be encouraged by health‐care professionals to enhance the motivation to change and facilitate recovery.
How Useful Are the Strategic Tools We Teach in Business Schools?
Authors: Wright Robert P. , Paroutis Sotirios E. , Blettner Daniela P.
Published: August 2012

abstract

Strategic tools are indispensible for business and competitive analysis. Yet we know very little about managers' internal logic as they put these tools into practical use. We situate our study in a business school context using action learning prior to the manifestation of practice to complement our understanding of practice. UsingPersonalConstructTheory andRepertoryGrids, our mid‐range theorizing showed that, contrary to current thinking about strategic tools, managers think in dualities (often paradoxically) and have a preference for multiple‐tools‐in‐use, tools that provide different perspectives, peripheral vision, connected thinking, simultaneously help differentiate and integrate complex issues, and guide the thinking process. These findings are important for designing better tools and the nurturing of critical managerial competencies needed for a complicated world. Our study's focus also has wider implications for scholars as we see our own material evaluated by those who will put these lessons into practice.
Teachers' source evaluation self‐efficacy predicts their use of relevant source features when evaluating the trustworthiness of web sources on special education
Authors: Andreassen Rune , Bråten Ivar
Published: August 2012

Building on prior research and theory concerning source evaluation and the role of self‐efficacy in the context of online learning, this study investigated the relationship between teachers' beliefs about their capability to evaluate the trustworthiness of sources and their reliance on relevant source features when judging the trustworthiness of websites concerning special education. We constructed the Source Evaluation Self‐Efficacy Scale (SESES) and used the scores of 263 teachers on this measure to predict their reliance on source features related to the product and the producer of websites when evaluating their trustworthiness. Results showed that even after variance related to gender, age, domain knowledge and frequency of searching the Internet for special education information had been accounted for, teachers' source evaluation self‐efficacy beliefs uniquely predicted their self‐reported use of information about websites' products and producers when judging their trustworthiness. Thus, this research applies self‐efficacy theory and research to a new area and contributes to the burgeoning literature on source evaluation within both reading and information literacy.
Learning About Tool Categories via Eavesdropping
Authors: Phillips Brenda , Seston Rebecca , Kelemen Deborah
Published: August 2012

Prior research has found that toddlers will form enduring artifact categories after direct exposure to an adult using a novel tool. Four studies explored whether 2‐ (N = 48) and 3‐year‐olds (N = 32) demonstrate this same capacity when learning by eavesdropping. After surreptitiously observing an adult use 1 of 2 artifacts to operate a bell via a monitor, 3‐year‐olds returned to the demonstrated kind of tool as “for” the task and avoided it for an alternative task over 2 days. Two‐year‐olds performed similarly after eavesdropping on someone with more discriminable artifacts via the method of a window rather than a monitor. These results demonstrate that toddlers can acquire enduring artifact categories after less than 40 s of surreptitious observation.
The Role of Individual Correlates and Class Norms in Defending and Passive Bystanding Behavior in Bullying: A Multilevel Analysis
Authors: Pozzoli Tiziana , Gini Gianluca , Vieno Alessio
Published: August 2012

This study investigates possible individual and class correlates of defending and passive bystanding behavior in bullying, in a sample of 1,825 Italian primary school (mean age = 10 years 1 month) and middle school (mean age = 13 years 2 months) students. The findings of a series of multilevel regression models show that both individual (e.g., provictim attitudes and perceived peer pressure for intervention) and class characteristics (e.g., class provictim attitudes, peer injunctive norms, and descriptive norms) help explain defending and passive bystanding behavior in bullying. These results significantly expand previous findings in this field, by demonstrating the need for a social‐ecological approach to the study of the different aspects of bullying. Implications for antibullying programs are discussed.
Flexible Developable Surfaces
Authors: Solomon Justin , Vouga Etienne , Wardetzky Max , Grinspun Eitan
Published: August 2012

We introduce a discrete paradigm for developable surface modeling. Unlike previous attempts at interactive developable surface modeling, our system is able to enforce exact developability at every step, ensuring that users do not inadvertently suggest configurations that leave the manifold of admissible folds of a flat two‐dimensional sheet. With methods for navigation of this highly nonlinear constraint space in place, we show how to formulate a discrete mean curvature bending energy measuring how far a given discrete developable surface is from being flat. This energy enables relaxation of user‐generated configurations and suggests a straightforward subdivision scheme that produces admissible smoothed versions of bent regions of our discrete developable surfaces.
Microtiles: Extracting Building Blocks from Correspondences
Authors: Kalojanov Javor , Bokeloh Martin , Wand Michael , Guibas Leonidas , Seidel Hans‐Peter , Slusallek Philipp
Published: August 2012

In this paper, we develop a theoretical framework for characterizing shapes by building blocks. We address two questions: First, how do shape correspondences induce building blocks? For this, we introduce a new representation for structuring partial symmetries (partial self‐correspondences), which we call “microtiles”. Starting from input correspondences that form point‐wise equivalence relations, microtiles are obtained by grouping connected components of points that share the same set of symmetry transformations. The decomposition is unique, requires no parameters beyond the input correspondences, and encodes the partial symmetries of all subsets of the input. The second question is: What is the class of shapes that can be assembled from these building blocks? Here, we specifically consider r‐similarity as correspondence model, i.e., matching of local r‐neighborhoods. Our main result is that the microtiles of the partial r‐symmetries of an object S can build all objects that are (r+ε)‐similar to S for any ε >0. Again, the construction is unique. Furthermore, we give necessary conditions for a set of assembly rules for the pairwise connection of tiles. We describe a practical algorithm for computing microtile decompositions under rigid motions, a corresponding prototype implementation, and conduct a number of experiments to visualize the structural properties in practice.
Modeling Polyhedral Meshes with Affine Maps
Authors: Vaxman Amir
Published: August 2012

We offer a framework for editing and modeling of planar meshes, focusing on planar quad, and hexagonal‐dominant meshes, which are held in high demand in the field of architectural design. Our framework manipulates these meshes by affine maps that are assigned per‐face, and which naturally ensure the planarity of these faces throughout the process, resulting in a linear subspace of compatible planar deformations for any given mesh. Our modeling metaphors include classical handle‐based editing, mesh interpolation, and shape‐space exploration, all of which allow for an intuitive way to produce new polyhedral and near‐polyhedral meshes by editing.
Computing Extremal Quasiconformal Maps
Authors: Weber Ofir , Myles Ashish , Zorin Denis
Published: August 2012

Conformal maps are widely used in geometry processing applications. They are smooth, preserve angles, and are locally injective by construction. However, conformal maps do not allow for boundary positions to be prescribed. A natural extension to the space of conformal maps is the richer space of quasiconformal maps of bounded conformal distortion. Extremal quasiconformal maps, that is, maps minimizing the maximal conformal distortion, have a number of appealing properties making them a suitable candidate for geometry processing tasks. Similarly to conformal maps, they are guaranteed to be locally bijective; unlike conformal maps however, extremal quasiconformal maps have sufficient flexibility to allow for solution of boundary value problems. Moreover, in practically relevant cases, these solutions are guaranteed to exist, are unique and have an explicit characterization.

We present an algorithm for computing piecewise linear approximations of extremal quasiconformal maps for genus‐zero surfaces with boundaries, based on Teichmüller's characterization of the dilatation of extremal maps using holomorphic quadratic differentials. We demonstrate that the algorithm closely approximates the maps when an explicit solution is available and exhibits good convergence properties for a variety of boundary conditions.
Growing Least Squares for the Analysis of Manifolds in Scale‐Space
Authors: Mellado Nicolas , Guennebaud Gaël , Barla Pascal , Reuter Patrick , Schlick Christophe
Published: August 2012

We present a novel approach to the multi‐scale analysis of point‐sampled manifolds of co‐dimension 1. It is based on a variant of Moving Least Squares, whereby the evolution of a geometric descriptor at increasing scales is used to locate pertinent locations in scale‐space, hence the name “Growing Least Squares”. Compared to existing scale‐space analysis methods, our approach is the first to provide a continuous solution in space and scale dimensions, without requiring any parametrization, connectivity or uniform sampling. An important implication is that we identify multiple pertinent scales for any point on a manifold, a property that had not yet been demonstrated in the literature. In practice, our approach exhibits an improved robustness to change of input, and is easily implemented in a parallel fashion on the GPU. We compare our method to state‐of‐the‐art scale‐space analysis techniques and illustrate its practical relevance in a few application scenarios.
Dihedral Angle Mesh Error: a fast perception correlated distortion measure for fixed connectivity triangle meshes
Authors: Váša Libor , Rus Jan
Published: August 2012

In computer graphics, triangle meshes are ubiquitous as a representation of surface models. Processing of this kind of data, such as compression or watermarking, often involves an unwanted distortion of the surface geometry. Advanced processing algorithms are continuously being proposed, aiming at improving performance (compression ratio, watermark robustness and capacity), while minimizing the introduced distortion.

In most cases, the final resulting mesh is intended to be viewed by a human observer, and it is therefore necessary to minimise the amount of distortion perceived by the human visual system. However, only recently there have been studies published on subjective experiments in this field, showing that previously used objective error measures exhibit rather poor correlation with the results of subjective experiments.

In this paper, we present results of our own large subjective testing aimed at human perception of triangle mesh distortion. We provide an independent confirmation of the previous result by Lavoué et al. that most current metrics perform poorly, with the exception of the MSDM/MSDM2 metrics. We propose a novel metric based on measuring the distortion of dihedral angles, which provides even higher correlation with the results of our experiments and experiments performed by other researchers. Our metric is about two orders of magnitude faster than MSDM/MSDM2, which makes it much more suitable for usage in iterative optimisation algorithms.
Stream Surface Parametrization by Flow‐Orthogonal Front Lines
Authors: Schulze Maik , Germer Tobias , Rössl Christian , Theisel Holger
Published: August 2012

The generation of discrete stream surfaces is an important and challenging task in scientific visualization, which can be considered a particular instance of geometric modeling. The quality of numerically integrated stream surfaces depends on a number of parameters that can be controlled locally, such as time step or distance of adjacent vertices on the front line. In addition there is a parameter that cannot be controlled locally: stream surface meshes tend to show high quality, well‐shaped elements only if the current front line is “globally” approximately perpendicular to the flow direction. We analyze the impact of this geometric property and present a novel solution – a stream surface integrator that forces the front line to be perpendicular to the flow and that generates quad‐dominant meshes with well‐shaped and well‐aligned elements. It is based on the integration of a scaled version of the flow field, and requires repeated minimization of an error functional along the current front line. We show that this leads to computing the 1‐dimensional kernel of a bidiagonal matrix: a linear problem that can be solved efficiently. We compare our method with existing stream surface integrators and apply it to a number of synthetic and real world data sets.
Fast and Robust Normal Estimation for Point Clouds with Sharp Features
Authors: Boulch Alexandre , Marlet Renaud
Published: August 2012

This paper presents a new method for estimating normals on unorganized point clouds that preserves sharp features. It is based on a robust version of the Randomized Hough Transform (RHT). We consider the filled Hough transform accumulator as an image of the discrete probability distribution of possible normals. The normals we estimate corresponds to the maximum of this distribution. We use a fixed‐size accumulator for speed, statistical exploration bounds for robustness, and randomized accumulators to prevent discretization effects. We also propose various sampling strategies to deal with anisotropy, as produced by laser scans due to differences of incidence. Our experiments show that our approach offers an ideal compromise between precision, speed, and robustness: it is at least as precise and noise‐resistant as state‐of‐the‐art methods that preserve sharp features, while being almost an order of magnitude faster. Besides, it can handle anisotropy with minor speed and precision losses.
Control of Structural Response Under Earthquake Excitation
Authors: Aldemir Unal , Yanik Arcan , Bakioglu Mehmet
Published: August 2012

Abstract: This study firstly proposes some representative simple methods to obtain the suboptimal passive damping and stiffness parameters from the optimal control gain matrix since it is not possible to add the exact optimal damping and stiffness parameters to the structure in practice. It is shown numerically that modifying the structural damping and the stiffness in the proposed suboptimal ways may suppress the uncontrolled vibrations while the performance levels depend on the seismic inputs. Since the proposed approach is intrinsically passive and has no adaptive property against changing dynamic effects, this study secondly proposes a new performance index so that the mechanical energy of the structure, control and the seismic energies are considered simultaneously in the minimization procedure. The implementation of the resulting closed‐loop control algorithm does not require both a priori knowledge of the seismic excitation and the solution of the nonlinear matrix Riccati equation. The performance of the proposed approach is investigated, e.g., structures subjected to three seismic inputs and compared to the performance of the uncontrolled, the classical linear optimal control, and the passive cases. It is shown by the numerical simulation results that the proposed algorithm is capable of suppressing the uncontrolled seismic structural displacements and the absolute accelerations simultaneously and performs almost as well as the classical linear optimal control in reducing the displacements with comparable control effort and performs better than the classical linear optimal control in reducing the absolute accelerations. The results show that while the proposed active approach has similar performance to the classical linear optimal control, the classical linear optimal control increases the absolute accelerations slightly compared to the proposed active approach in regulating displacements, while the proposed active approach regulates and reduces both displacements and absolute accelerations. The proposed approach is promising in protecting both the structural and non‐structural members from the seismic forces since a simultaneous reduction both in the displacements and the absolute accelerations is achieved.